Food--for animals and me

Night before last as my cat lay on my desk, I saw a flea crawl across her head--where the fur is sparse. A flea? On my desk? Next morning I was off to the vet to buy a flea pill for cats, though it only kills all the fleas on her for 18 hours. I figure that's enough since she's an indoor cat and the indoor/outdoor dog is on preventive medication. But how to give her the pill? With the vet's sanction, I crushed it up in part of a small can of tuna--man, did she wolf that down. So then I had to feed her the rest of the tuna by bits, and I'm afraid she's now spoiled. Tuna is the worst thing you can give an older cat with kidney disease (hers is mild) but oh, how I wish I could give it to her every day. I'm truly afraid now she'll turn up her nose at that kidney diet cat food.
Meantime I realized I was past due giving Scooby his flea and heartworm meds. I handed him one pill last night when hecame in and he threw it on the floor contemptuously, so this morning I crushed it up and spread it on a "sandwich" of saltines and peanut butter. He sniffed and ignored, and I truly thought he wasn't going to eat it,but eventually it was gone, there was a wet spot where it had been, and I found no trace of it in the yard. So tonight,, I crushed the other pill and spread it over a slice of liver cheese (like braunschweiger--one of my many indulgences) and hand fed it to him, sitting on the steps by the back door. He loved it. I'm going to have to figure out a better way of doing all this, but it still beats putting liquid flea medication between his shoulder blades, which always took two people.
Food for me: today was what I call a real retirement day--no obligations, no lunch dates, a blank slate. So one of the things I did was to boil the fresh beets that I had been given earlier (I'd boiled the greens much earlier before they wilted). Then I baked four chicken thighs (they come four to a packet--what is one to do?), seasoned them with soy, lemon pepper, and garlic powder (it's important to put the soy on first--otherwise it will rinse off the seasonings). Baked them mid-day and then refrigerated--I love cold chicken.
Other than that, I did piddly things around the house, putting away this and that, things I'd left lying around, did three loads of wash and still have one to do (how can one person have so much laundry?some of it was cleaning rags--Socorro cleaned yesterday--and some was napkins, etc., from having company).
Tonight I went to see my friend Charles and had a good, if brief, visit with him. He was a bit confused--when I called to ask if this was a good time, he asked what time it was and I said a little after four. He said, "In the morning?" Now why would I call him at four in the morning? Colin called just before I left and said, "Tell Uncle Charles to look out the window!" Then Charles had it in his head that I had ordered food for tonight (we'd been talking about going to lunch though now that he's pretty much in a wheelchair, I can't take him places since I can't fit the chair into my car). But I couldn't convince him I hadn't ordered food--I hope his dinner was good, since he thinks I ordered it. But I hate to see him confused like that.
No, I haven't written, but ideas are whirling in my brain, and I think I'll do a bit of internet research tonight. Now that my involvement with TCU Press is winding down--a new director starts June 1--it's time for me to get serious. And it would be a perfect time for my agent to tell me he's got a publisher interested in one of my manuscripts, but that hasn't happened yet. Oh, well.