elainegrey

Tuesday's brief clarity of breathing was a delight (and so i posted from the car as Christine drove me home). But then i was wiped out by the appointment. At least this time i closed my eyes to not see the pliers.

Tuesday to Wednesday night was the first with the CPAP. I had switched to an unheated tube, but the humidity meant condensed water and gurgling half the night. The other half the night everyone else in the house kept waking up: at one point i realized Christine was up looking under the furniture. She believed Marlowe had brought in a third skink and it was loose. Two others had been rescued on Tuesday and removed to the area Beyond the Pets, where hopefully the colony of traumatized skinks is thriving. Carrie barked sharply several times. Edward picked on Luigi. On the 5:30 am screaming of Luigi from the living room, i stalked out and Edward raced to the kitchen. I closed him in there. No rewards for picking on Luigi (except usually it's just before time to feed them anyhow).

Yesterday i saw my sister who has been struggling to get her ADHD meds -- it was so good to see and chat, i've missed her, and it's clear how hard it's been for us to get together -- then grocery shopping, then three hours having highlights put in my hair and bangs cut. (I like our stylist and we chat most of the time. Which is very tiring at the end.) I have to wear a strap around my head with a hook on which my glasses rest for the next month to protect the nose. I figure if i hate the bangs, i can tuck them out of the way with band. But the bangs soften the impact of the stupid strap.

Today first day back to work. I don't think i've been away this long since the move in 2016? The work issues of May 1st still bring up shame for me now when i think of work. I know that two weeks is an eternity and everyone has probably forgotten.

Luigi (one of our geriatric cats) seemed to be having even more trouble getting around, so Christine took him to an emergency vet visit. She has better advice for the laser treatments*, a prescription for gabapentin, and a plan for some medication delivered by injection. I think of Greycie Loo, racked by cancer but still with a will for life - -but not a will to eat. Luigi is so companionable and sweet: i hope we can find a reasonable course to keep the pain back until he shows us he's ready.

Still waiting for the doctor to write my prescription for the APAP.

Got the second booster. Assuming light malaise is that and not due to it being seven days after being out with my sister. I'll take a test before gathering with family at lunch.

* https://www.catcarecenter.com/services/cats/laser-therapy-pain-relief-for-cats is a high level explanation

Lots of random snippets

Before last night, I did not understand why i am so cold. I don't recall it being so hard to shift to being comfortable, indeed, i recall being delighted that it was finally not hot and humid. It does remind me of how -- before the wonderful shade tree was cut down -- our Mountain View apartment's concrete walls held a cool. I would be cold (we didn't run the electric baseboards in that place, but counted on the heat from the surrounding units or a space heater) then step outside to find it wonderfully balmy. Monday, in the sun, it was also quite pleasant outside. Christine and i had afternoon coffee on the front porch.

Last night we used the feather comforter. HA! I did not realize how important being toasty all night was to being warm the next day.

Tonight we might have frost. Nov 7 is the average date of the late quartile first frost so we are still within the bounds of normal for the date.

My Monday day off did not produce significant yard work, but i continue to putter with progress. I did get the bulbs i'd ordered from Old House Gardens in the ground. I hope the lily bulbs -- the native Lilium superbum in particular -- all settle in. I finally planted the fava beans. Weeding the area where the sweet potatoes might have grown was depressing as i could hear and see the seeds falling from the stilt grass. I've decided that i'll wait for the frost to kill the sweet potatoes, then burn as much of the stilt grass in place as i can -- the annoying weed isn't that flammable but surely the application of the weed flamer could encourage it to burn. (It apparently has a high silica content -- which is why it is "unpalatable" and the deer ignore it.)

Wednesday night i tried fried smelt. And... yes, that was something new. I'm thinking a few of the fish might have been just a bit too big to be really enjoyable. They did have the heads removed and were cleaned out, so that was good. Carrie thought they were the best thing ever. I suspect that hot from the fryer they would have been even better. I might order them again. This goes with my curiosity for what smoked mullet tastes like, and wondering if i could enjoy small inexpensive fish more regularly. I dunno. I have had sardines linger in the pantry for years.

We had a Carolina Wren caught by Marlow that we rescued, too late, and it died. The next day my sister had the same with their young car. Wednesday evening, driving home, we thought we hit a bird but when we got home it was a small, dead bat caught under the windshield wiper. I witness their deaths and hope i can also create a space for critters to thrive. I found several Eastern worm snakes while raking leaves over the weekend, and we continue to rescue anoles and skinks from Marlowe.

Edward has had a cold and we did get some antibiotics for him, but Christine gets terribly distressed by the force feeding of the liquid meds down his throat. We stopped after i squirted it down his throat and possibly in his airway. He's much better, but i worry about not doing the full course of antibiotics. If i could hold him and dose him that would be better, but he is a very big cat. Well, i will try not to worry and maybe next time i will be a little better at dosing.

I resent how much time moving to a new data management world takes. Here and there, five, ten, fifteen minutes as something happens (email received, task comes to mind, etc) and i realize evernote is no longer a good home for the thing.

I want to say it's alien to the physical world, having a tool change on you from something useful to something that no longer has the features you need. But that is what happens with something broken and worn out. So i should just get over myself.

I'm doing Edward's insulin shots these days, giving Christine and Edward a break from each other. I don't do the sympathetic "listening" to Edward's squirms that Christine does. We're doing the insulin shot now, buster. The "problem" was Edward was very agreeeable and compliant. Then i think a few times Christine didn't get the needle quite right (going through the skin and out the other side of the fold, injecting insulin onto fur). Then Edward picked up on her anxiety, and spiral happened. Hopefully, my more confident performance will spiral us out. But we're still worried about where he is: a year can bring a lot of change to a older cat. So he's off to the vet today to try and get a urine sample. (Although, why? I though blood sugar levels? Oh, the gold plated vet service!)

Throat still sore. Remembered we had Chloraseptic spray in the house last night. Expired 2020, but whatever.

Delight yesterday was enabled to being alerted to something outside by Carrie. Marlowe was stalking towards the wild back corner. I released the hound, on the theory that Carrie might startle off a mourning dove that Marlowe might actually catch. I watched Carrie bark-barking towards the woods and Marlowe staring towards the glade and finally saw what Marlowe saw. A nice sized raccoon rolling-strolling towards the "pool" -- the wading pool sunk into the ground which a pickerel frog has been frequenting. The raccoon got into the pool and, i presume, was hunting around for said frog. Marlowe stared, Christine and i stared. The 'coon hoisted themself out of the pool, and began to amble back towards the woods. Finally Carrie sees the 'coon and begins even more barking. The 'coon turns and stares at Carrie. Marlowe bolts to the deck (GOOD CAT! COME TO SAFETY!). After a good long stare, the 'coon resumes ambling back to the woods. Carrie continues barking. And barking. And barking. The poor dear finally came in, exhausted.

I am more confident now that raccoons (and maybe possums) are what she is barking at in the evening in the dark. I do think the deer are not that bold.

Later my mood was smashed. Carrie came running from the front room and wanted out NOW. I looked out to see Marlowe with a yellow form in her mouth. Carrie gallows over, steals it from her, and it takes me a few minutes to recover the hooded warbler's body. I take it to the glade, and bury it in the leaves underneath the copse of trees. I sit on the bench in front of St Francis and hope that i am doing more good for critters on the whole than not, knowing the lithe, grey angel of the hunt that is Marlowe has years ahead of her. Edward was a competent hunter as well and could probably still manage rodents, reptiles, and amphibians. (I can't imagine him catching birds now; he did in California.)

I know people have more enclosed spaces to keep cats from expressing all their predatory instincts. We've compromised on our fencing investment: deer out, dogs and cats in. Big enough for Carrie to run laps. My fruit trees have to cope with shade, but the chestnuts will be more or less protected from squirrels by Carrie. Part of the compromise is there is no separate "catio" and Marlowe is hunting. I guess i should prune the lower limbs of the spicebush plants back in that wild corner. I think one of the young dogwoods is already infected anyhow. Maybe a bigger gap between ground and branches will help the song birds.

On a slightly different note -- how was Carrie able to know that Marlowe had the bird?

Saturday morning:

Thanks to sonia for pointing out that http://riskliteracy.org/ has a math test that is adaptive. By judging your response to each question, it selects the next question as a harder or easier one to more quickly score your response.

Carpenter dude coming today. Hoping for progress. Christine and i looked at the VERY rough cut more or less 8" wide cedar boards and identified the most aesthetic roughness bits for our balusters. Christine is very taken with the "eyes" or knots that mark where the branches were, and so we'll leave some at their full 8" width. This is going to be very rustic and i hope very charming. The 2x4 have significant heart wood and are just now quite red.

Discovered that redbuds are about to bloom when a dead tree fell and ripped a huge branch off an old redbud. I'll trim those for vases today and get rid of the winter arrangements. Where "Get rid of" means i want to find some place to stash the rye and sorghum seed heads that are so lovely still. Not the garage: the mice will eat them.

Speaking of mice, Marlowe launched herself off the porch railing to the ground to try and catch something -- i believe a rodent, given her poking around when she came up prey-less.

Significant frost this morning. I hope the saucer magnolia was sheltered enough. I decided that since i am supposed to not let the blueberries bear fruit yet i'd let the frost do what it will. The curly kale in the garden is bolting, making me rather grumpy.

Monday morning:

Weekend was glorious weather, perfect for working outside. And so i did. I'm sore and very achy, but very pleased as all the chipping is caught up, a decent amount of chips are applied to the new gardening spot, and the woods on the east side of the yard is all cleared up. I dream of chinquapins -- Castanea pumila, a dwarf chestnut -- and Chicasaw plums getting a good afternoon sun there. A few cedars and a holly will also get some sun and grow to help screen whatever future use is made of the current 60 acre woodslot. Plenty of clearing still to do, but i think it will all be shaded. At the back of our lot i realize that there are some open woods: it's not all thicket with a battle through huge grape vines and autumn olive. I can imagine planting the American crab apples (i am trying to get started from seed) under the huge maples. First, to get a path through the thickets. Generally, once the leaves come out i have avoided the woods. Maybe this year i'll start venturing.

VERY VERY VERY excited about the carpenter's work. The posts are in place, and the raw cedar delights me. I realize Carolina wrens will now visit and pull shreds of bark off to take off for their nests. I think his tools may have dropped oil on the sandstone so i will need to clean those spots -- hopefully before Christine notices.

Carrie developed a limp on Friday evening. She's been getting better all weekend. She whimpered a little Friday night, but has generally been problem solving and doing what she wants while favoring the leg. She avoids letting us put her harness on to help her up and down the porch stairs. I do wish we had a 24/7 vet near by. We were spoiled by that in California. Christine did call and get an appointment (the kennel service at the vet is open for the weekend so there's someone to call).

I had good phone chats with my dad and sister, took mom for a virtual walk around the yard. Violets burst forth by Sunday. The saucer magnolia is spectacular and will get more glorious.

I'm sitting here reading the interwebs and hear jingling. Jingling jingling jingling. Also, bam. Mire jingling. And i become aware that this is the sound of Marlowe hunting, so i make my way over to the hall and turn on a light. Jingle jingle. Ah, bathroom. I turn on its light, and see Marlowe chasing a dark shape scurrying behind the toilet scrubber. I probably went, "Eeek!" as my startle reaction is set to eleven.

I return to the basket of unused dog toys that also houses the butterfly net, one of the most unexpectedly useful purchases. Now to evict Marlowe from the bathroom -- two tries -- and then the little mouse (probably Peromyscus) scurried under the closet door. Fortunately, just a few boxes to pull out, and then i was able to get it encircled by the net. Then there's the challenge of off the floor and nudging into the pocket of the net. With the critter now safe in my control, i allow Marlowe back in, and she rushes to resume her hunt. Meanwhile i go out the front door, and (unthinkingly) release the little being too close to the house. I have to turn the net inside out, and it hangs a bit above the ground before disentangling its foot. I'm able to stroke it's back for a moment and enjoy the big bright black eyes, before it realizes it's free.

On returning through the front door i see Marlowe sitting in the center of the hall, giving me a death glare.

Yesterday i was able to observe a red shouldered hawk in the front yard, appearing to devour a snake. At which i pout, because -- February! But it was brief sunny spell, and warm, and apparently the snake made the fatal choice to lay out in the sun. The hawk then sat in one of the crepe myrtles for a nice long spell, small birds happily continuing to visit the feeder. The hawk returned to where i had seen it with the snake and then flew low and steady across the yard -- and after loosing it in the binoculars, i didn't see it any more.

Other than that, it's been work. I have great sympathy for pollsters as i tried to extrapolate numbers from small data sets.

Monday morning: Marlowe proves that cats can get in the way of work without lying on the keyboard, they can lie down on your hands on the keyboard. Fortunately a fussy Carolina Wren (CARW) came along and got her attention. The bird landed on the screen just inches away from her nose. Ha: when the masons drove up she growled (and then ran away). Carrie is barking alert punctuated with chuffs.

Earlier, over the weekend: while it has been wet, and grey, and my rain gauge has been down, it has also been warm. At night and sometimes during the day i could hear frog calls.

Later, Monday afternoon, the sun cam out, first i've seen of it since before Christmas. I harnessed up Carrie and myself and we went to join my sister for a dog walk while my niblings rode bikes. So good to have some day light!

In complaints, Evernote on my work machine is near useless.

Thanks to threeringedmoon's reminder, i found Diane Duane's Tale of the Five omnibus in my stack of eBooks and happily avoided my responsibilities while reading it. Then i went back and read some of the shorter Liaden novels and collections of short stories. I've forwarded on holds a couple times as i wait for the county to get the systems recovered from the cyber incident. (I have been impressed at the tight control on just what type incident has occurred.) This past weekend (Nov 14-15) was spent mainly reading and doing Quaker clerking and other things.

The Quaker things were not easy, but they were appreciated. Oh the clerks i have not expressed my appreciation to in the past.

This autumn has had surprisingly bright color in our woods. The red maples, which haven't caught my attention except int the spring (when they are covered with small red flowers), had a wonderful ombre of red orange to yellow, from top to bottom, and the spicebush is a clear yellow. The American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) i have loved for its muscular trunk covered with smooth grey bark. Today it had a thin canopy of small gold leaves.

It was a wet summer, no drought, and we had the two crisp nights. Christine assures me this is remarkable and that i didn't simply not see the fall color in previous years -- but i wonder. I see more distinct plants now. Am i finally seeing past the to-do list?

But now it's gone --just a brief window of loveliness. I guess an additional factor is whether there is little wind and rain during the window, so the leaves have a chance to all be on the tree together. I didn't get out to mark the lovely trees in time: perhaps next year.

The problems the cats were having that led to litter boxes all over the house has mostly been resolved. The bespoke litterbox in the cabinet designed for litterboxes has a battery powered motion activated light, in case the dark was an issue and Christine leaves one cabinet door open -- but the open box in the room gets all the action. I ponder that perhaps ambushes entering or leaving have made the cabinet unattractive. We've had Marlowe for a year now. I no longer worry that she is so small that she is at risk -- she's so fierce!

Too much time spent this morning trying to decide whether to subscribe to the new IFTTT service as set my own price point, so i went ahead and subscribed at the lowest price, comparable to one or two books (depending on the book). It's not my favorite freemium service: that would be airtable. But paying for airtable is nontrivial.

--== ∞ ==--

Marlowe was intimidated by Luigi this morning -- not sure that was Luigi's intent, but tiny Marlowe's low growl sounded like a fog horn. Luigi was attacked by Edward before 6 am, Edward's daily choice for rousting humans. And Marlowe continues to chase Edward. I am impressed at the circle of domination. Edward and Luigi, at least, spend hours close to each other napping. In general they get along. I thought Marlowe and Luigi were getting comfortable with each other....

Carrie has taken to showing up at hissy-fits to break them up. It's adorable.

Meanwhile, we've gone some time (a week or so) without inappropriate messes. Edward's insulin dose is significantly larger than his starting point, close to a dose for starting a human 6 times more massive. Maybe in a week or so we can consider removing one litter box.

--== ∞ ==--

I got called for a push poll last night. It was laughably biased. I suppose as an independent voter they expect to find someone who is not to the left of the Democratic party. They all but asked, "Biden has promised to eat babies and kill kittens, how will this affect your vote?"

Christine is fighting deep fears over the soon to be packed court. I find myself clinching my jaw frequently. We voted. We support groups that advocate for our values. We're not on the streets but i've supported those who are.

https://choosedemocracy.us/