lavendertook

Harry and Penny went home with Luesa, a friend of Lora’s on December 15th and won her heart quickly. Click on image to embiggen.



Luesa and Lora had talked about looking after each other’s cats if either died at the beginning of the pandemic, but Luesa’s 20 year old cat was succombing to kidney failure and died the second week of December, so Luesa was too preoccupied with caring for her and grief to reach out sooner about Harry and Penny at the rescue I had found for them. However, it was the perfect time for Harry and Penny who had time to get full health exams and profiles and treatments for what was needed. And under Carrera’s care at Feline Friends of Sammamish, they had some time to recover from their trauma and ailments and were just at a point where they needed to be fostered or adopted to be in a home with a human they could interact and snuggle with on their own terms to progress in healing. And that’s exactly when Luesa called the rescue to come visit Harry and Penny.

They’re doing wonderfully under Luesa’s care and the love is mutual. It’s everything for them Lora could have wanted. And it’s very cool it is a home and carer Lora preapproved. I wasn’t expecting that at this point. It was better than we could have hoped for.

Penny’s nose scrape is almost all healed up and Harry’s fur is filling out. Luesa has been taking them to her own vet since she does not live in Renton, but Max at the rescue is still picking up the bills for their care, so your donations are still covering Harry and Penny’s care. You have helped here and we are grateful. Although happy in his new home with his beloved Penny, Harry is not out of the woods yet. He’s still losing weight. On his second FeLV test he tested negative, but they’re going to give him a PCR test for FeLV to be absolutely sure it is a rule out in trying to determine why he is still losing weight.

I’ll update you when we know anything. But know Harry and Penny have been spending the holidays and cold and snowy days in a warm and wonderful home and well loved and all your well wishes have been fulfilled. It’s all worked out as well as possible for them. I only wish I could show all the pics of them acclimating and growing comfortable in their new home to Lora.

Luesa is not in Tolkien fandom, but she was with Lora when Lora got the books for Lori’s memorial printed and Lora shared some pics of the fandom with her at that time, so she knows about this part of Lora’s life and how we fit in. And she’s a wonderful cat mom I’m enjoying getting to know. If you’re on FB, you can see her posts on Harry and Penny on Lora’s timeline. So if you have any questions about Harry and Penny, feel free to ask me and I’ll get the questions to Luesa, or contact her directly on FB.

So here’s a bunch of pics Luesa has taken of Harry and Penny since they came to live with her in their new furrever home. Click on them to embiggen and enjoy. Happy New Year and I hope Harry and Penny’s happy new year is the comfort to you as it is to me as we grieve our loss of Lora.

It’s Giving Tuesday and it would be lovely for the rescue that is taking care of baranduin’s cats Harry & Penny got donations in their name. The wonderful rescue is called Feline Friends of Sammamish and their website is Feline Friends of Samamish and there donation page is: https://donorbox.org/general-donation-192 . Please check the write comment box on the donation page and write: For Harry & Penny.

If our donations stretch over the care these two need, it would be wonderful--this rescue has really earned it. Max Pau, their rescue coordinator Contacted me back so quickly, and went back and forth on the weekend to find Harry and Penny and get them safely inside, caught them, and brought them to the rescue with loving care. He is owned by a flame point siamese, and Lora told me she hoped to get a flame point one day.

After Max took them in and got them vet checked, he sent them home with his top vet tech volunteer Carerra who has been taking care of them in her guest room in her garage with loving care. They have been bathed, treated for parasites, as Harry had many which accounts for why he’s so thin, but can now begin to fatten up. They are undergoing multiple tests and vet visits as Harry tested positive once for FeLV, but the test is notorious for false positives, so both are getting more tests and Penny is getting the vaccine. She had one dose of the vaccine two years ago, so fingers crossed it protected her.

Harry and Penny have been coming out of their shells due to the repeated loving brushing Carerra has been giving them. She has been wonderful at updating me and hanarobi daily. Carerra told us Penny comes out from under the couch when she can’t stand the sound of Harry being brushed anymore and that she”is pretty sure Penny would sell her soul AND Harry’s for a good brushing." If I can upload pics here, you’ll see evidence of this.

Feel free to link and share the donation link to Feline Friends of Sammamish widely. And if you know anyone in the greater Renton, WA area (south Seattle down to Tacoma, WA) who can foster, even temporarily, two sweet cats who could benefit form being with someone they could climb into bed with right now or can spread the word where they live, please share all info here far and wide. There’s nothing more baranduin would want us to do in her memory.

Click each pic to embiggen:

2 Pics of Harry & Penny in the carrier when Max first got them to the rescue:





Pics of Harry & Penny in vet tech Carerra’s guest room:





Penny selling her soul for that brushing:





A pic of penny from earlier this year showing off her baby blues.

So. New kitten! I brought him home today! Loooooooook!



This pic was taken by his foster and put up on petfinder.com and I as not strong enough to resist applying for him. He was named Spencer, but I am calling him Kimba--my earliest childhood anime hero, and also a name close to our Kimbra. I’ll give him his full name when I'm sure it fits him. He is about 3 1/2 months old--about 2 weeks older than Shuri was when I brought her home last year, but the pic is probably closer to when he was 2 months. And OMG, he is soooooo sweet! He loves to be held and purrs like a motorboat and goes straight for your face with his nose locking his eyes on yours. So, so, so loving!

I met him on zoom almost 3 weeks ago--yup the kittens are all up on pandemic tech, too. And I of course said I would take him. The very next evening, poor Tuxie started bleeding out his rear all over the placeand peeing all over. I got him to the vet and it was a urinary tract infection as I suspected. They are apparently very painful, poor baby. The doc gave him a shot of Covenia, and gave he heavy duty probiotics to give him. We decided to wait 2 weeks before bringing in the kitten, depending on how he was doing, not wanting to add stress until he was well. He progressed wonderfully, and had his followup last Monday, and the go ahead on the kitten. So we worked out the details this very insane week in this country. Tuesday I was busy voluntering with Election Defenders as a poll monitor/voter aide for my county down in Fort Washington. Then I was scattered and kind of off the rest of the week like most of us. But we worked it out, and I drove out to Round Hill, VA a little town near the Appalachians, met his wonderful foster and brought him home with a gorgeous sunset over the mountains in my rear view mirror. It’s not far from El Trumpo’s golf course, so I am glad I did not run into his motorcade either way.

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Happy Birthday, claudia603!!!!!

Purrsimmon, Shuri, and Tuxie send their birthday greetings!

Shuri’s birthday was Sept 20th (she is 1) and Purrsimmon’s birthday will be Oct 1st (she will be 2) so they are very happy they get to sandwich yours between theirs.



Tuxie would like everyone to settle down so he can go back to sleep.



Hugs, love, and purrs!!!!!

Shuri just sneaked up to my bowl of salad on the table, extracted a crouton from it with her mouth, and ran off with it. Just a very smooth stealth meezer move as I was handing other things. Gave me the best belly laugh I've had in a while.

I just pulled the bowl away as another heist was underway--I don't think those spices are good for her tummy, or she'd get half of everything I eat. Tuxie is a good sneak as well, but his diabetes limits what I can let him have. Sweet Pursimmon, however, is a little too timid to steal, so far at least, or it may be beneath her royal status as a lost princess. We'll see if that changes over time.

Hi!

So back to a simpler time, when cat wrangling was my major anxiety and hope, back to the last day of 2019 and the saga of Purrsimmon and the rocky introduction of little Shuri.

Though Shuri did not have such a storied background as Purrsimmon, and thank goodness for that, here is what I do know about her history. Her mother Silverbell was found or surrendered to a shelter in Rowan County, NC between Winston Salem and Charlotte--central piedmont area of the state. I had driven just north of that county many times when I lived in Carrboro and Chapel Hill in the 80's. That shelter needed to make room for coastal shelter refugees from the effects of Hurricane Dorian in September, so a foster in Harford County, MD took in the pregnant Silverbell and there she gave birth to a litter of 7, on September 20th, Shuri among them. Here are pics of Silverbell I saw on petfinder:



Her fluffy coat is nothing like Shuri's short one or in color except for the cute little snowshoes. I can see a resemblance in face shape.

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When I was deciding whether or not to keep Purrsimmon's name, I googled "persimmon" and was surprised to learn it was a Native American word, or rather, an aglicization thereof. Specifically, it is an Algonquin word of the Powhatan people, which are the people who lived where Purry was found, fostered, and now lives, and if I followed correctly, some descendants have taken up tribal recognition in NJ, the state where I was born and grew up. So these are all awesome connections arguing for keeping the name.

I had always thought "persimmon" was an Asian word, probably because more grocery stores carry Chinese and Japanese varieties of persimmons. But since Purry is a siamese cat, it's good that there is an Asian connection here in usage and there are varieties of persimmon trees grown in the highlands of southeast Asia. There are hundreds of varieties world wide, but the Powhatan would have been referring to the Virginia Persimmon, a tree that grows throughout the eastern US up to CT and as far west as Minnesota, and has a smaller fruit than the popular Asian varieties. In those of these trees that live at least a century, their heart wood (dead core) becomes a hard ebony wood, and ebony trees are actually of the same family. Technically, the fruit is classified as a berry, which means I have me a Purry Berry! A Creamy Dreamy Sunny Funny Furry Purry Berry with the Bluest Blueberry eyes!!! Mooooore nicknames! I will save telling you her full name for another entry.

Here's a good pic I finally got of my Elf Princess's eyes:



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I've been looking at petfinder.com pretty much daily since Saki died 4 years ago, to get my siamese fix and see what meezers were out there for adoption. This was the longest stretch I've ever lived without a meezer in my home. I didn't think Moo would be happy with a new addition, being a competitive kitty who did not like competing for attention, and she finally had more of my attention after Saki was gone. And I think it was the right decision and I'm glad I got to give Moo all the attention she wanted for her last 4 years and got to see more sides of her and that there was nothing between her and me loving her up at the end. Tuxie is fine with giving room.

Though Moo and Tuxie didn't seem close since Moo was done mothering him 13 years ago back when I thought they were inseparable, they became close again the first nervous month after the move to the house this summer and huddled together, so they could still take comfort in each other and their sense of family was definitely still there. Since Tuxie had never lived without Moo, I didn't want Tuxie to be alone long after she died. I needed a kitty who craved more attention than Tuxie, as well. I always told Tuxie I was going to get a young siamese kitty to drive him nuts when he'd be an aggressive jerk to his beloved Saki, so it was time for karma to take it's course.

After Moo died the beginning of December, I put in an application on a 2 year old tortie-point siamese who looked like Saki in form, though she had a lot more colors (oranges and blacks) and was described as "an aggressively affectionate bowling ball" in her ad, which would have been a good description of Saki, but someone got there first with their accepted application. Then I applied for 2 more tortie points: a 6 month old, and then a small kitten. I didn't plan on applying for kittens because kittens, and especially siamese kittens, usually place pretty easily, and I'm happy with a young cat up to 5 years, who don't get forever homes as easily, but I was getting desperate to get me a tortie point siamese by the third. I'd love to be able to take in senior cats as they're the most loving and cuddly and so in need, but I've been medicating cats for so long now, I really could use someone young and healthy for a stretch, if luck would grant it, time wise, and also expense wise--there's only so far my retirement will stretch, and my diabetic Tuxie is an expensive little boy to keep healthy. But each of these kitties was spoken for first.

Though getting a tortie point like Saki was my priority, I figured it would be best to get 2 cats and was thinking I would like to have a flame-point siamese as the second, as I've never lived with one of these red-headed beauties, and there had been a young flame-point who had been advertised for a long while on petfinder.com, which might not be a good sign, but she had a sweet face, and I had been considering her, so I put in an application.

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Moo/Mooshka/Mooshkin
Moo Brandybuck Breakstone
PriMoola Brandybuck
Princess Holstein the Winsome

April 1, 2005 (approx) - Dec 2, 2019

Moo was fading. She wouldn't eat any of the dozens of foods I set before her, and though the rugs I put down everywhere and padded steps helped her getting around better to get to her closer water and litter box stations, her front legs were beginning to go. I was giving her subcutaneous fluids at home over the weekend, and though they make them feel better over all, she was always weaker for hours after injection of them until the imbalance of the fluid bulge dispersed.

In the middle of the night last night, her breathing started to be more labored and she peed her little bed because she didn't have the strength to get up. So in the morning I determined it was time--I was afraid she was suffering with the labored breathing. And I was getting less able to get up and help her in the middle of the night after slipping on one the rugs and falling T-Day night. I took care of Tuxie's food and insulin and loved her up some more and took her to go. Tuxie didn't want to say goodbye--her breathing scared him and he turned his back on us and looked scared when I brought her to him to say goodbye.

I sat with her a couple of hours at the vet, as it turned out, because she was busy in surgery. Moo seemed stronger, her breathing back to normal, and more alert than she had been--she meowed, and made clear she wanted something. I asked for a litterbox and a cup of water brought--it was the water she wanted and she drank a lot. The strength was all probably due to the adrenaline surge of going to the vet. Otherwise I sat with her in my arms and lap, petting her, blinking love to each other as she rested. I had second thoughts as she seemed stronger, but Dr. S told me she's probably feeling worse than weak--kidney failure makes you feel lousy and nauseous.

I had a week to love her up and she blinked it back, and laid her head in my hand and paw on my lap, and seemed comforted by being carried as she always loved, but also cleaned up. She was so willing to accept help, letting me help her position her struggling legs in walking and sitting up by her water bowls and getting her tail out of the way in the litter box and purred at being cleaned up with wipes and fluffed with towels. I don't think my Saki or most other cats I know would have accepted this much help and be comforted by it. But all I needed was for her to have a fall and injure herself further or go into respiratory arrest and go in a painful and scary way. So it was time.

I held Moo in my arms, petting her and loving her as she looked back with tired love, and the Dr gave her the drugs through a catheter as she slipped away gently and was gone before I knew it.

Moo hunted me down outside my old apartment. She'd follow me down to the town center and the gym and I'd carry her back in my arms--she'd be full of delighted purrs at this--it was always her favorite thing, along with sitting in the sun. And Tuxie, her little feral shadow kitten, would cautiously but tenaciously follow behind us. I never aspired to have a black and white cow kitty--I'm imprinted for siamese cats but tabbies and calicoes have always turned my head, too. But now I'll always feel that special affection for cow kitties.

She hunted me down and I took her in my arms and carried her and loved her and then she was gone. That was Mooshka.

I hope to be able to dig a hole deep enough in the yard to plant the apricot tree and bury her beneath it. I don't know if I have the strength to get through that much clay--I may need to find someone to hire to help. But the vet is holding her body for now until I work this out. And now I need to love up Tuxie, because his relationship with his mom was complicated, and I think he knows she was dying and is gone, but we'll get through this together.

Hi! I missed you all! You didn't know I was gone, but I was soooo gone and with no ruby slippers to bring me back!

So Wednesday after work, I went out of my way to bring my old Verizon equipment to the county Verizon store that would accept it back, because all the Verizon stores near me would not, which is just bogus crap, but that's how they do it. It was raining bad and the entrance to the store was hard to find and the clerk I brought it to didn't want to do anything because there was a power outage at the store and wanted me to come back another time, and I wasn't happy with that idea after all the efforts I had made with getting there and being turned away by reasonably near stores. I suggested he use ancient technology and put a post-it note on my box of old equipment with my info and process it when the power was back up, which he agreed was possibly doable, and I left it with his seething self. He got me back good by disconnecting my current service on Friday afternoon while I was teleworking at home and I lost hours of work time.

And I lost not only hours of work time. I was on the cell phone, and on chat on cell phone for 5 hours and much of that time on hold with sounds called music, and talked to a variety of Verizon workers of different departments and map locations who told me lots of things about calling back that didn't happen, some of it wrong, some of it lies, and champion question ignoring on chat, 5 hours went by this way and I had the biggest brain meltdown in years. Wow, did it make me crazy. Good thing I was in the privacy of my own home. I screamed, I cried, I lost my voice, and hated life, the universe, and everything and found my only comfort in Dorothy Parker's poem on the feeling. I put myself to bed early after ibuprofen and a big glass of wine and slept on and off for 12 hours with cuddly cats. Nothing can shoot my sanity out the window and into the stratosphere like dealing with utilities or new computer programs, but with the amount of contradictory info and being on hold I got I dare anyone prone to anxiety to hold onto their brain through that. My fault for my stupid, stupid tenacity to hang on for 5 damned hours of we-don't-care-if-we-keep-your-business-or-not crap, without food or get up and walk breaks. Gandalf should dub me "Will Beyond Sanity". I was so wrecked. Probably not being recovered from the hard move and fretting over how long getting stuff set up here is taking and other stuff didn't help.

Sleeping long, however, was a good idea. And I am so glad my cell phone is a separate account, also with Verizon, or I don't know how I'd have dealt with this. I dealt with them for a couple of hours on Saturday and did other things. Still no reconnection, but my identity verification was complete--because my current cell phone account and old home account with them cut off on Friday was not good enough. Today I went through 3 more Verizon people--I may have spoken to everyone who works at Verizon at this point, and got to a really good technician in New Jersey who pushed tech services and got my line turned on this afternoon. It's a new account, but I was able to forgo them making a home technician appointment and just activate the lines to my phone and internet equipment. And here I am. It was a journey through Shadow and Pain.

The only reason I did not switch to Xfinity is because I have no illusions it would take less crap to get set up with them, and dealing with home service visits, as well as MORE equipment to get back to Verizon. If I had just dumped the old equipment in the trash, I probably wouldn't have gone through this and there's no indication that they were ever intending to ask and bill me for the old equipment or give me a discount, among other things Verizon clerks make up.

But my vet called yesterday with Moo's biopsy results, and the lesion on her head was not cancerous, but it could have developed into cancer if left, so I am glad we had it removed, and that made Saturday better. More of these lesions could develop on her head area, so I will need to keep close watch. Her stitches come out Friday--so far she is not scratching them, thank goodness, and I will get more details on these lesions then. Tomorrow I see my oncologist about the results for the yearly breast MRI I went for last month, but I would have heard something already if the results were iffy, so no worries there. Next up, get the 3 tooth implants that I had put in last year checked and then start getting crowns for them, and get a new pcp and appointment for that.

I look forward to the heat breaking and being able to step into my yard without melting. I would have liked to have gone to see Apollo 11 projected on the Washington Monument, but no way I could in this heat. But I got to see the Apollo Saturn launch on location for the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, so I can't complain. If this crap had to happen, at least it did not happen on a weekend with nice weather to miss.

IT IS DONE!!!!

As of this evening, I am completely moved into my house. The apartment is empty and clean, and the storage bin now is too, and I turned n the keys to that apartment. Joy!!!!

I am HOME!!! The kitties and I are home!!!!

It was quite a physical ordeal. Problems with movers--the first sucked--switched to others who were better, but didn't move as much as I hoped. I couldn't pay people to help me more. I'm grateful to my friend Rob for a couple sessions of help until he came down with a bad virus. Lots of leg joint pain and sciatica, and I had to take some days off from exhaustion, but I got everything down those stairs and tonight I finished the storage bin, so everything from there up a half flight. I threw out 2/3 of what I had in the apartment and bin--be proud of me! I took a full PT Cruiser load of stuff to the animal shelter, a full PT Cruiser load of stuff to the thrift shop, and have another load of stuff for the animal shelter to drop off. But even that 1/3 has filled my garage, and a lot of my guest room, and living room, so more culling ahead as I unbox. I am so grateful to have that garage aka The Holodeck. It really wasn't possible to move in until the builders cleared out of the garage the end of April, so I could put so much of my stuff in it. The digging out begins after a good week or two of extra sleep and the resumption of swimming at the aquatic center.

I moved the kitties here almost 3 weeks ago--a year to the day from buying the house. I expected Tuxie to have a hard time and Moo to adjust more easily, and for the first 3 hours, they were true to form: Tuxie wouldn't leave his carrier, and Moo snuffled his face encouraging. But once he came out he adjusted fairly quickly. I started them closed in the bedroom and established it as the Sanctuary room, let them explore the rest of the upstairs when they were ready with the stairway screened off, then downstairs a couple days later when they were ready. I think being able to huddle with Moo--they normally don't touch much--really helped Tuxie. Moo, however, wouldn't eat for 5 days, and I was afraid I'd lose her like I did my Storm when we moved to the efficiency and she never recovered. But I took some time off from moving to spend time with her, got her a dose of an appetite stimulant, and got all kinds of broth treats, and day by day she ate a little more, began to forget what she was upset about, got her spirits up, and at about 2 weeks she was acclimated and a relaxed cat. Though nervous, Tuxie quickly took obvious joy in exploring and immediately adored the new cat climber, and was delighted to see the old watchtower condo when the movers brought it, so he adjusted beautifully. The porch isn't done yet--the best yet awaits them.

Though there were many crashes, life upgrade installation is finally 100% complete! I did it! We're home! I am so not doing this ever again until I am in a little urn! Home!

If there's anything you posted that you want me to know about while I was completing my quest, please tell me and I'll try to catch up as I pick up with regular life again. (-:

Ursula K. Le Guin died yesterday. I'm glad to hear it was a peaceful passing and with family.

I'm especially holding her tuxedo cat Pard in my thoughts who is bereft a great adorer and missing accustomed scritches.

I am so sorry, but I am woefully behind on getting presents and cards sorted and out. Don't expect anything from me until January. Meh. And when the end of January comes, I will accept defeat for whatever didn't get done and turn toward trying to get things out for the next year end. Like every year.

I've wanted to be more of a presence here on my journal and posting pics, but life keeps feeling like a boat being rifted away from shore and I feel like I can't get anything done.

But I've gotten to do some fun things this year too I've wanted to tell ya'll about and haven't. Maybe I can do a year in review. What a year we've gotten through; on the macro level it has sucked rocks and spit them in our eyes. I am shaking less than this time last year, though--what new lows we've become accustomed to.

I'm starting working in a new department at work, and work and pressure is slowly revving up--both good and bad.

Nothing majorly bad has occurred so far this year for the cats and me, on the personal/health level, so I am grateful. And I am grateful for all of you being here, carrying on and reminding me I am not alone. <3



Great Blue Heron on Greenbelt Lake in October

I had 2 wisdom teeth pulled this morning due to an abscess that developed a couple of weeks ago in the lower tooth. The top one had to go, too, just for balance, or some semblance thereof. I had lovely nitrous oxide while their broadcast played the Moonlight Sonata, which was perfect, but all that did not manage to dull the pain of the roof of the mouth novocaine shot when it came--I involuntarily eeped high, followed by a growl, but fell back into the nitrous oxide calm in a few minutes. The dental surgeon was nice and quick and I was surprised when he told me both teeth were out. Now I'm on antibiotics. It's been 4 hours and the novocaine isn't completely worn off, but I suspect I won't need the percoset they gave me. I am slightly head achy.

I am in particular solidarity with Tuxie because the poor baby had 2 teeth pulled on Monday and a dental cleaning, and he was given a shot of bupronephrine (narcotic) for pain and covenia (antibiotic), and I gave him onsinor anti-inflammatory pills for 3 days and he was in bad shape for those 3 days. I don't want him in pain, but I suspect he was over medicated and that may have been as bad as dealing with pain for him. He was restless, and probably didn't get a wink of sleep for at least a day, constipated and not eating well, and alternately head-butty affectionate and terrified hiding from me--I suspect fearing I would take him to the vet again. It was very sad-making. Since I don't seem to need the narcotic, I'm wondering if he would have been better off without it. I don't know if he would have had that reaction anyway to the drugs he was put out with for the procedure. He is thankfully all back to normal now. We're in it together, little boy!

I am now sitting comfortably on the sofa with Tuxie curled against my left side, and Moo with her head on my lap on the right side. For my reward I get this wonderful company, I will do nothing this afternoon but read my book--I'm in the middle of the second book in Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow duology: it's excellent--and, alternately nap when ready. It's sunny through the trees out my pretty window, but the world outside will have to carry on without me. As soon as I finish typing this, I get to have cake. I deserve cake for surviving those needles. If I feel up to it this evening, I will finish the eclipse post.

Awwww, Tuxie's little hot pink paw beans! And Moo's little fuzzy head! (-:

My Eclipse Trek was a short 3 day there and back again kind of trip that I started hopefully planning through google wanderings 2 months ago and really came together the end of July when Debra agreed to come with me and introduced me to her petsitter D at her party. I read an article on the upcoming eclipse, probably from the Washington Post 2 months ago and learned the term the "Path of Totality", that the eclipses I saw as a kid were only partial, and that all kinds of cool special effects I missed could be seen only if you are in the Path of Totality. So my desire to see this astronomical wonder only started then.

The closest route to the Path of Totality was straight down I-95 to South Carolina. I knew motels in the Path of Totality would have been sold out long already, so I looked at availability in Florence, SC, which also had the advantage of being on the cross roads to the closest point of totality straight down I-95 to Santee, SC, east to Charleston, SC, or west to Columbia, SC. I'd aim for Santee, but tried to do research for good viewing spots around Columbia and Charleston if clearer skies were predicted that morning in either of the latter places rather than Santee. Florence had plenty of vacancies in July, but started filling up fast in August.

I made a reservation 2 weeks before at the Thunderbird Inn , a basic economical 2 star hotel, much like most of the places my family stayed at during our family vacations. It had definitely seen better days, but was plenty comfortable, and yet seemed to put a lot of its budget into landscaping, which was a big attraction for me, because seeing palm trees out the window in the morning would be my solace if clouds spoiled the view we were traveling to see. I could take palm trees and Spanish moss as my consolation prize, as it's been more than a decade since I've seen them. Stretching my back swimming in a pool looking up at palm trees would help make the long drive more doable.



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zlabya and I just saw the documentary film KEDI at my town theater. It is THE WISEST FILM EVER MADE!!!1!!



KEDI follows the lives of several stray cats of Istanbul and the thoroughly enlightened humans they associate with. My flistmates who live with furry nonhuman beings, especially the cat-owned, you MUST see this film, if you haven't already! The paid utube site in the link above lets you use the service for a month free, also check the list on that page and see if it's coming to a theater near you--the international page lists when it will be at some US film festivals as well.

Besides the joy of seeing the stories of humans who have reached enlightenment and the cats who guided them there, the cinematography is beautiful and the soundtrack is terrific.

Which leads me to a nitpick--I saw Wonder Woman a couple of weeks ago and really loved it, except why were there no cats on Themyscira? That made the whole film less believable to me. Discuss.

Hi! <3 I'm trying to find my way back to posting . . . .

A very happy birthday to the most excellent Fooder1 baranduin!!! I hope you are spending a relaxing evening with warm Harry floof, and even Harry himself, and wonderful birthday treats. :-D

Moo and Tuxie would like to send their greetings--take it away, you two:


Moo: Happy Birthday, Baranduin!!! I woke up from my nap just to say that. You should be honored. Hey, King of the Mountain! You going to wish Baranduin a happy birthday?

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Also posted at http://lavendertook.dreamwidth.org/217258.html with comments

Our leaves peaked Friday and are past peak today. So there's as much brown and bare as color now, but there's still a lot of color and green still yet to turn. It's been a beautiful week here. This pic is from 2 weeks ago:



Cats: Tuxie is doing well. I succeeded in doing 2 blood glucose curves on him a couple of weeks back--the first day was really high, but he was just getting over whatever digestive upset he had--whether it was from a lot of bad food or a virus. The next day, his values were very normal and his tests at the vet went well, except for raised pancreatic values, like me and Moo had. I need to start spot checking him, but I wanted his ears to recover from the pin cushion I had made of them. It's been great to see him climbing both cat trees again and he's been a cuddle bun. Moo is still being a painfully slow eater who I have to monitor for a good hour or so in the morning and evening so her food doesn't get devoured by the Tuxie monster--good thing they're cute.

Health: I had a tooth pulled and just got the sutures out yesterday. In 3 weeks I'll have an implant put in. I'm on celebrex for my foot and pinched neck nerve pain. I've had a couple of podiatrist appointments, am sleeping with a night splint on my left foot, which is helping, and getting orthotics made. More appointments to go. The neuropathy in my left arm from the pinched neck nerve is still troublesome, but the celebrex is helping with the pain some. Unless it gets a lot better in the next couple of weeks, I'll probably need to do some traction therapy for it this winter to try to stretch the neck discs some, after I get through with the dentist and podiatrist. I'm just not sure what that's going to require time-wise and whether I'll have enough work leave time for it. The hot flash and anxiety problems are ongoing.

I met up with a science fiction meet-up group for lunch at the Museum of the American Indians cafe in DC. I had my first fry bread, but it wasn't hot, so not that good--will have to get fresher fry bread sometime. I even had breakfast at Denny's that morning for my full Thomas-Builds-the-Fire experience, but driving into DC made me nervous, and my anxiety level was a little high to make the day fun, what with the election and my personal chemistry. There were beautiful beaded clips in the gift shop that made me think of deluxvivens. I've been thinking of her quite a bit lately. I really miss her. Walks in the autumn beauty and framing pics of it, snuggling cats, and good novels remain the best medicine for me. And watching SNL election skits online really helps.

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So here's 2 of the pics I took this evening right before sunset. Which do you like better--the first one with the bit of water and sky or the closer one below? I can't decide.



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Finally, a campaign slogan for my whole family!

I told baranduin I'd post the whole quote this came from, so here it is:

On 10/13/16, Marina Fang of the Huffington Post quoted Hillary Clinton:

“'It makes you want to turn off the news. It makes you want to unplug the internet or just look at cat GIFs,' Mrs. Clinton told donors in San Francisco on Thursday, making her first remarks on Mr. Trump’s treatment of women since several came forward to accuse him.

'I’ve watched a lot of cats do a lot of weird and interesting things,” she said, drawing a few laughs. “But we have a job to do. And it’ll be good for people and for cats.'”

I think "Good for People and For Cats" makes a great bumper sticker.

I'm a lot more hopeful these days that we'll get Hillary for president in 2 weeks, but I'm nasty like that. I'm with purrrr!!!



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