Lorrie

Chemistry, Now Available as a Polygendered Mixer!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:12:55 GMT

US Veteran? Thank You! Also, Dinner's on the House...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:44:40 GMT

Here's a link from Snopes describing all the national chains that are offering free food to veterans over the weekend and on into Veterans Day proper on Wednesday:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/veterans.asp

Sidebar: Outback (one of the listed players) donated in support of Proposition 8. Me, I'd just go, eat the freebies, and leave, but I don't qualify...

-- Lorrie

And Remember, Kids...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:23:34 GMT

...it's like dr_beowulf tells his students in his day job in Darkest Arkansas:

"If there IS an Intelligent Designer, he's a complete pervert."

Warning: Animal sexual congress described with words that are not necessarily Safe for Work, but there are no graphical depictions of naughtybits anywhere.

Bonus points for: Mentioning Captain Jack Harkness as one of the very few things more "sexually versatile" than dolphins.

Thanks, tanrinia!

-- Lorrie

Milo's Molting Again!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:38:16 GMT

Well, okay, medium crickets weren't the problem.

He really was working up to holy-crap-another-molt.

This morning, I found that he'd dug out, and webbed down, a concave saucer in his container. He's on his back now, working through a process that sheds not just his skin, but also his teeth and lungs.

Bugs is weird.

-- Lorrie

Milo and the Lesser Crickets

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:24:47 GMT

Once back from my trip, I threw a "medium" cricket into Milo's larger box.

Not only did he not eat it, but the cricket molted before weakly hopping about a few days more.

I've put Milo back in the smaller box, with small crickets. However, as he hasn't eaten these yet, either, perhaps this was premature, and he is refusing food as a preparation to molt--again! Yay!

We'll see what happens...

-- Lorrie

Dear Lazyweb...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:30:33 GMT

In Old Norse (Modern Icelandic, etc.), how would one cobble together a by-name for Odin on a train? In the spirit of "Vegtam" (Way-Tame), I was thinking one could do tolerably well with "Iron Horse Rider".

Thoughts?

-- Lorrie

A Fistful of Me-Spoons...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:13:44 GMT

Now that I've dug out from under the e-mail, had a little sleep, had a little food, and all that groovy regenerative stuff...

Many, unexpressible thanks to purplevenus and cruz531, for service Above and Beyond the Call.

Real friends really do help you move bodies.

After this, more Mike-stuff for "daily journal" purposes, which may be of limited interest to my flist; feel free to skip.

Potentially squicky medical TMI follows, although it occurred to me today that if I'd paid more attention when scrwtape went through similar bullpucky, I would have been better informed.

I had no idea that cellulitis/venal stasis left one so...gooey, and if I did, that likely would have changed my mind about going to LA. Watching cruz531 change his dressing this morning was the second-grossest thing I'd ever seen, and that was several days on; I can't imagine how it must have been earlier, with more open skin.

Today was the follow-up visit with the doctor. She didn't have the right equipment on hand to re-dress him, so she sent us right along to Surgery, which is the go-to place for wound care.

His dressing has been changed from "lots of absorbent pads covered in gauze and tape" that has to be changed twice a day to an Unna's Boot, changed twice a week. He mustn't get it wet--which returns the situation to in-home medical fussing I actually know how to deal with. H'ray.

I know this has really shaken him. It's shaken me, and once I'm through with being practical (which NSAID at which time, or do we go with acetaminophen here?) and emotional (variously cute noises), I keep loading on more woowoo stuff.

I popped 'round to the most spiritually aware rock shop I know--whatever I might think about their level of New Age-iness, I have to say, my ~~spidey~~ seidhy senses tell me They're Doing It Right. Anyhoo, they deliberately set up shop right 'round the corner from the hospital, and came back with a bracelet of big jet beads. That, even before I left, but he wore it until he came home. He'd quit wearing it shortly after he came home--when I found it, my sense was that, as it'd been acting as activated charcoal here, the filter was now full. Hokay, I cobbled the proprietor's cleaning directions (rinse under running water) with my own additions (rinse in plain water, rinse in salt water, rinse in plain water again, chanting throughout), and replaced it.

Going from dpaxson's thesis that Bear is Big Healy Mojo, and adding to it that countgeiger's nature is, well, rather ursine, I made a small Bear altar by the recliner he's in all day.

It's got a seven-day candle in it. One, I was raised Catholic, although I admit I didn't do knee-jerk candle lighting until after I'd left them. Two, it's a handy mental bookmark to which one may tie small magical acts--like "another packet of healy-woo" or, in this case, "another reminder to see yourself with two good legs, hon, okay?".

One of the weird aspects of all this is...chronic hiccups. This might sound cute, but it's when it keeps you up nights, and when it's every few seconds, with little occasional clusters, er, it's not at all cute, really. The treatments for this that seem to have any real medical basis (aside from "doped to the gills") either involve raising CO₂ levels in the bloodstream, doing something to the vagus nerve, or flexing the diaphragm. In the doctor's office today, she specifically mentioned deep breathing exercises. HOORAY CRAZY TRANCE TRAINING BEING OF ACTUAL MEDICAL USE. If you're familiar with dpaxson's material at all, I've been running him through "four counts of four".

Oh, yeah. And I (swallowed my pride and) asked my (still living, Christian in the right way, all-round saintly) grandmother to pray for him.

What mildly wog-boggles me is that Mike's following through on his part of everything I've suggested so far. Whether for love of me, belief in all this craziness, or because he's pretty much at a loss for something better to do...I'm not sure. But it does make me feel like I have something to contribute.

In the meantime, we're both hanging in and chugging along. Thanks to everyone who's chipped in, all you hospital-visitors, candle-lighters, and chant-murmurers. Know that we appreciate every damn one of you.

-- Lorrie

"Well, I'm back," she said.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:25:02 GMT

Cut the post-workshop book research part of the LA trip off a day early to come home and take care of countgeiger.

dpaxson lost her voice nearly completely, so much so that I wound up giving a third to a half of the workshop. So, I actually really did need to be there.

I also actually really did need to be here. When that outweighed the other...we cut it short and flew up the road, from San Diego to Oakland with as few stops as possible, soup to nuts in ten hours.

Wifely Lorrie is wifely.

Tired Lorrie is tired.

-- Lorrie . o O (zzz)

countgeiger Update: 15 October

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:17:54 GMT

countgeiger is now enough better to send me texts and ask for stuff from home--yay!

He's also better enough to send me such texts at seven in the morning! *muffled zombie noises*

His currently projected release date is still Friday--after which he is home for a week with his leg up. Poor bear! Right now, he's still sleeping a lot, and still has some minor fever. However, he's on Vicodin now, which knocks the pain down enough that he can bear to walk across the room--a great improvement.

Again, go bother him. *grin*

And now--to packing!

-- Lorrie

countgeiger Update (14 October, 1245)

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:46:20 GMT

The Official Prognosis is that he'll be out of the hospital on FRIDAY, to be picked up by cruz531 (also known as Mr. pentaclemoon). The color of his entire leg is improving, swelling is somewhat reduced, although the area of swelling hasn't receded much. Temperature is still elevated, of course, and for those of you playing the Wheel of Chemistry home game, he's on a vancomycin IV and soon to be on Vicodin for the pain that still happens whenever he gets up.

After a lot of soul-searching and heart-tearing, and considerable discussions with dpaxson and countgeiger, I...will be going to Los Angeles. It's not what anyone would prefer, but cruz531 has medical training and time--frankly, training that I don't. countgeiger will be in better hands for all practical purposes, although obviously I win in the cuddle department.

But it's also so that dpaxson also needs me. I can't be in two places at once, but I can trust my community to take care of the piece of my heart that I must leave behind.

And so I do.

In the meantime, he's still at Kaiser Oakland, room 624. There's a free shuttle from MacArthur BART every twenty minutes that will deposit you at the east hospital entrance, and pretty cheap parking garages on Howe (hospital east entrance) and the new one on Broadway (hospital main entrance). Follow signs to the Tower Elevators, take them to 6, turn left when you get out of the elevator, through that door, then right, then the second left for room 624. He's in the bed furthest from the door.

Especially, he'd appreciate company tomorrow while I'm out of town.

My love and thanks to you all.

-- Lorrie

Well, crap.

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:26:15 GMT

One of Milo's crickets has escaped.

It's crawling cheerfully up the wall.

ARGH!

-- Lorrie

@countgeiger Update

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:01:52 GMT

I spent the day with him today at Kaiser--from when visiting hours started through to when dpaxson had to pick me up for trance class.

It seems to be a simple cellulitus: not MRSA, not necrotizing fasciitis, no debriding required, no clots on ultrasound. By the end of the day, he didn't have his appetite back, but his temperature was approaching normal (from a high of 103!) and he was considerably more alert than he had been.

I doubt they'll be willing to release him Wednesday, but Thursday is not unlikely, although I gather from listening between the lines of the several doctors that the swelling may not have wholly subsided, and his mobility may yet be impaired, when this happens.

Mind you, I happen to have an unemployed, medically trained, gentleman to throw at him for in-home ~~bullying~~ care while dpaxson and I are off in the Great Southern Wilderness. HA! This is good--I would not feel comfortable leaving unless there were something highly available and in place.

No mistake, though: as long as he's in hospital, my place is at his side, every moment I can manage (and I can manage quite a few). I have to say, though, Kaiser's been quite on the ball, with responsive and pleasant staff every time we've interacted with them.

Tonight's section of the trance class had, as their exercise, a working on countgeiger that incorporated as many of the class's techniques as possible. *grin*

And now, adieux, my friends, that I may sleep!

-- Lorrie

[knit] Wait, start that sock WHERE?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:54:02 GMT

If one is so fiber-mad as to knit socks (and this one is), then it is Understood that, however one may fall out on the question of how many needles ought to be used (roll d5!), one may start from the cuff, or one may start from the toe, and until Cat Bordhi comes down from ~~Mt Sinai~~ her island in Puget Sound with New Pathways in Sock Knitting, Vol. 2 that, simply, is that.

But no! Inspiration is not to be so hemmed in! It marches on--and flies, creeps, leaps, and subtly insinuates into the ears, and onto the knitting needles, of anyone willing to listen.

Thus:

This month's issue of the popular online knitting webzine Knitty features a pattern that rejects your toe-up AND your cuff-down.

Nosir, this pattern starts at the heel.

I picked up three skeins of Regia Silk sock yarn, color 050 (Marine) at Stash Yarns of Berkeley, while they were having a "30% off EVERYTHING sale". While ordinarily this would be a two socks = one pair kind of yarn, well, these socks are for countgeiger, and he has Feet of Size and Note. He Approved of this yarn a week and a half ago, and as I've finished a test upper armwarmer for my sainted grand-mère, this is a logical next project while countgeiger is in hospital.

Yep, I'm gonna be at his side, knitting on his socks, and Keeping An Eye On Things. Kaiser, bless 'em, works best if the patient or a member of his party is cheerfully proactive and they know what's wrong already. Cellulitis has a set treatment path ("rehydrate, dump IV antibiotics, profit!"), so that's sorted, leaving Yrs Truly as the cheerfully proactive party member.

This is why dpaxson and I make it a point to do so many hospital visits.

Go well, all y'all!

-- Lorrie

Today? Let me tell you about today...

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:34:33 GMT

While Monday made an initial strong showing with the promise of lunch with purplevenus and dpaxson, those hopes were dashed when, after parking in a convenient space with a broken meter, lwood noticed that her car, the Trusty Taurus, was copiously leaking a nurglish green fluid that was not in fact Mountain Dew, but rather engine coolant.

Erring on the side of reasonable blood sugar, a fine lunch proceeded to be had by all, but the day was placed On Notice and a written reprimand was issued. An immediate upturn in effort was displayed by Monday, as time spend waiting for the tow truck could be pleasantly spent at a nearby bead store and, while public transit was made a sad necessity, the fact that this happened near a busy transit hub revealed that Monday's position in this week might yet be salvageable.

However, Monday had to be put on written notice a second time around 1830 PM, when countgeiger had to be admitted to the hospital, netik got hit by a car while himself operating a bicycle, and one of purplevenus's charges was, in an unrelated incident, admitted to an entirely different hospital.

The decision to terminate came some time before the action could be carried out. As a result, Monday's strong, if futile, efforts to retain its position in this week are duly and gratefully noted: lwood, dpaxson, et al wrapped up the day by bottling approximately 20% of one batch of mead. This mead shows promise in its field, and with the right guidance, should prove a credit to its kind.

Monday was reluctantly terminated from its position shortly before midnight PDT.

Due to Monday's erratic performance, Tuesday, which was promoted to the position based on Monday's strong recommendation, will have to undergo stringent review, especially in the areas of medical performance, postal performance, and bureaucratic detanglements of several and various sorts.

-- Lorrie

Brewbabble AND Results of Filmmaking Discussion

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:52:10 GMT

Hey! My first batch of mead should be contemplating drinkability! I'd better go test that tomorrow night!

From extensive research conducted at part two of my birthday party, we concluded that sake is tasty. We even flirted with brewing it, as the local booze makin' store has apparently some of the necessary fixins.

Alas, sake has the same significant hurdle to the home brewer as lager-style beers do: both require long amounts of time spent at rather chilly temperatures. In the case of sake, this is to retard the development of Lactobacillus or, less gently, to keep your sake from tasting like yogurt, sauerkraut, and kombucha.

It's annoying and expensive, in the average California home, to maintain a temperature of 50-55° F (10-13° C): they tend not to have basements or nearby handy caves.

And that's why we stick to ales and meads: they're Perfectly Happy at Room Temperature, Thank You. Given how little I drink of it, it's inexpensive enough not to bother with making at home...especially when we have a sake brewery right here in town!

I wonder if dpaxson and purplevenus still want to pop 'round for a tasting now that we're all sober? I'll find out in a few hours!

Last, in other party-related news, we decided that if Akira Kurosawa filmed Wagner's Ring...

...yes, alcohol was involved. ANYWAY. It's Kurosawa, so that comes with a nigh-obligatory Toshirō Mifune. Everybody knows this. And, apparently, somehow it was no longer an opera, because we didn't consider whether any of these guys could sing. Conversation was brief, but it settled on two key points:

Where do you put Toshirō Mifune?: While several roles were proposed, having such a talented actor to hand, particularly one who can be so physically expressive as Mifune, consensus was swiftly reached that he ought to play Siegfried.
Okay, so, who's playing Wotan?: After another round of arguing and sake, we remembered that Kurosawa has another strongly associated actor besides Mifune: Takashi Shimura. He player Kambei, the leader of the titular Seven Samurai--yeah, that helps nobody who's not into that sort of thing. Okay. You, O Mostly USan Audience, are likely to have seen The Magnificent Seven--and if not, you should, it's a helluva movie. Remember Yul Brynner's character? Him.

We never did work out what to do about the women--we hadn't seen enough Japanese cinema in general, Kurosawa in particular...or, really, enough sake to even take a stab at more of the cast.

Clearly, further research is called for!

-- Lorrie

PS: I will probably never write the Idunna article explaining Why Samurai Movies are Awesome Heathen Viewing. But they are. Both depend on a romanticized rewriting of a fairly bloody time to have any widespread appeal--ugh, this ties back into the article that I will write, one of these days, on the Victorian/Nationalist period in Europe, that period's "scholarship", and how that's relevant to the current modern heathen revival.

lwood's and dpaxson's Southern California Adventure!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:05:46 GMT

Diana and I have been invited to hold a trance workshop in Los Angeles, something we've been eager to do for some time. THEN, eager people down there just kept adding on book signings, so it's turned into rather an impressive junket.

Here's our current itinerary. Please feel free to pass it along to anyone you know who lives in Southern California and might be interested in attending anything listed here.

Thursday 15 October, 8:00-10:00 PM - LASFS @ Clubhouse

Diana has been asked to address the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, the world's oldest continuously-meeting science fiction and fantasy club. They meet at their own clubhouse, which is 11513 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601-2309. Doors open around 7:30, and the meeting should start somewhere between 8:15 and 8:30. There is no cover charge to attend this event. For more information, see the LASFS website.

Friday 16 October, 4:00-5:00 PM - Book signing @ Cauldron Kitty

The primary purpose for this trip is to hold a trance workshop, sponsored by the Cauldron Kitty bookstore, located at 2818 #1 Rowena Ave in Silverlake, a part of LA between Hollywood and Downtown. From four to five will be an open booksigning located at the bookstore proper. If you're interested in attending the workshop but haven't signed up yet, this would be the very last chance to do so!

Friday 16 October, 7:00-10:00 PM - Oracular Seidh

We will be performing oracular seidh to kick off the workshop weekend. I'm not sure when doors open, but they will close, promptly, at 7:30 PM so we can make best use of the time alloted. One may attend seidh without attending the workshop.

Seidh will be held near the USC campus, at a private home, so you'll have to call Cauldron Kitty for the exact address: (323) 644-0268. If you're not also attending the workshop, there will be a $5 cover charge for seidh to help defray expenses.

We will repair to some local eatery for dinner and debrief afterwards.

Saturday 17 October, 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM
Sunday 18 October, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM: Trance Workshop!

When last I spoke with event organizers, space was still available for the workshop proper. Participants are expected to have purchased, and read, Trance-Portation before attending the workshop, and are strongly encouraged to have attended the oracular seidh the night before. There will be meal breaks, but food is not included in your registration.

For more information, including whether there are any spaces left, call Cauldron Kitty at (323) 644-0268. The workshop will be held at a location rather near the USC campus; call the bookstore for more details.

Sunday 18 October, 5:00-7:00 PM, Book Signing @ Alexandria II, Pasadena

Once the workshop is over, we've been scheduled to do another book signing. This one will be at Alexandria II Metaphysical Bookstore, located at 170 S Lake Ave in Pasadena. For more information, see their website.

Monday 19 October, 7:00-9:00 PM, Lecture and Signing @ Borders, Brea

Our roadshow makes it into the OC on Monday, where we'll be making a stop at the Borders Books at 429 S Associated Rd in Brea. Their phone number is (714) 672-0120.

Tuesday 20 October, ???, Book Signing in San Diego

We may, or may not, have a signing scheduled for San Diego--if this settles out before we leave, we'll be sure to let you know!

Little Milo's Feeding Time, Part Deux

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:25:18 GMT

As discussed earlier, we upgraded Milo to larger crickets today, whereupon he seized and ate...a cricket's drumstick, savoring its juicy, juicy thigh meat.

By the time I got back from dinner, he'd finished his appetizer and is currently noshing on the rest of the cricket as an entree.

The rest of the future dinners have finished gorging themselves on cricket food and have crawled up into the tubes of their Cricket Keeper--er, this thingy:

The question of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is answered thus: with the arrangement in the picture, crickets eat and drink, then crawl up into the textured plastic tubes to...whatever crickets do. When it's feeding time, I shake a tube clear, and when a tube has exactly one cricket in it...that's the lucky winner!

-- Lorrie

Little Milo's Feeding Time

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:20:24 GMT

When last we left Little Milo, he had just molted. He's a black spider on coconut fiber bedding, so he really doesn't photograph very well--perhaps next molt. Milo has a near-black skin, covered all over in small grey hairs. He can, if very riled, throw these at an attacker to dissuage them.

In this molt his legs are starting to take on the arc I expect to see from a grown tarantula, as opposed to that of other spiders, and Milo is overall much bigger than he had been--with an appetite increase to match. Where before he couldn't be bothered to eat one, perhaps two small crickets per week, he's now happy to eat one each day.

So today, I thought I might try him on larger crickets--"medium" as the Pet Club describes them, as opposed to the "small" we'd had him on before. "Medium" is a a significant size increase: if you don't count the legs, the cricket and Milo have about the same body length.

~~Twenty~~ Nineteen crickets have been having a feeding frenzy, in shifts, since I brought them home. One was stuck behind in the bag, so I dropped it into Milo's pill bottle.

In his new molt, he would, quicker than a blink, seize upon and slay the Smaller Cricket--but the medium crickets are proving somewhat more sporting.

He seized upon the cricket, bit and paralyzed it--but after a few moments it started twitching again. A second scream-and-leap was enough to pacify it enough for Milo to get to eating.

countgeiger and I wondered if he would eat the cricket entire, as he had been: with the small crickets, he would kill them, and eat the whole thing, which is something you'll not have read about in Charlotte's Web--I was expecting dessicated cricket corpses, but never found any.

But after another few minutes, the cricket began to twitch, despite leaking a milky fluid in one spot and a Milo whose was clearly noshing on a partial cricket.

When the cricket finally crawled away, it was doing so on only five legs.

Milo, on his part, had a cricket drumstick in his palps and was showing down.

I wonder how this will play out through the night?

As a sidebar, one simply must ask, "can you overfeed a tarantula?"

After Googlewhacking this a few times, I see two distinct trends:

Don't worry, you can't overfeed your tarantula, he won't kill if he's not hungry.

Stupid American! You want all your pets to be obsese like you! Your tarantula is an opportunist who never knows where his next meal is coming from, so will gorge as a bulwark against famine. Of course you can overfeed your tarantula, and it can lead to (variously dire results)!

So, um, there's that...and it's not terribly useful. I'll continue as I have been and will see what happens.

-- Lorrie

Lorrie's 35th Birthday Party!

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:18:20 GMT

Thanks to everyone who responded in the poll, especially those who chimed in from lands afar!

But here, in lands anear, the place to be will be Akasaka Sushi in Berkeley, this Saturday, 10 October, from around 7:30 until we're so stuffed they'll name rolls after us. Akasaka has all-you-can-eat sushi as well as vegetarian, low-carb, and other items, as well as premium sushi that is not on the all-you-can-eat menu, e.g., uni^*, that may be ordered à la carte. They are reasonably priced for Japanese food; their menu is online at their web site so you may plan accordingly.

Akasaka is on the 1 and 1R AC Transit bus lines, giving you easy access from Downtown Berkeley BART, or you can call countgeiger and I for a pickup.

Ply me with enough sake, and we shall speculate how Wagner's Ring would look if Kurosawa filmed it.

RSVP! I don't know if they even take reservations, or if we'll just descend on the place like the pack of hairy barbarians we are, but if I know how many are coming, I'll know how big the advance party should say we are, so répondez s'il vous plaît!

-- Lorrie

^* -- Sea urchin gonads.

Birfday Party Poll!

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:12:12 GMT

View Poll: Lorrie's Birthday Party, Part Two

Birthday Dinner of Win and Awesome!

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:01:44 GMT

Thanks to everyone who attended my birthday dinner at Sea Salt!

For those of you who were double-booked or otherwise unavailable, check this space for a poll on where I should hold Round II!

-- Lorrie

Wibble Update

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:51:48 GMT

So, the vet called...

Her liver and kidneys are fine, actually. Her thyroid, on the other paw, is at 21.5--that's twenty times the normal amount, and seven times what it had been when she was on one pill of Tapezol per day.

Vet recommendation is to add anti-nausea meds to her regimen, get her back on two Tapezol per day, and see where her blood levels are in two weeks.

Whew--doesn't stop her from being old, but as long as we can give her good quality of life, and as long as she's okay taking her medicine, I'm not inclined to euthanize.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

-- Lorrie

Wibble Update

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:11:40 GMT

So this morning (now yesterday morning), I saw Wibble at her food bowl, eating--and even after two hours, it was still down.

The vet gave her subcutaneous fluid, anti-nausea medication, and drew blood and urine. We'll know more tomorrow when all the labs come back.

sigh Poor Wibble

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:48:22 GMT

As some of you might remember from this pair of posts, as well as this pair and these pictures from countgeiger, I helped my cat George into the clearing at the end of the path fourteen months ago.

Not long after that, his littermate Wibble turned up hyperthyroid (this is often what it means when an old cat becomes a bag of bones: it's feline overclocking). Well, at least we knew the routine by now--and unlike her brother, she could take thyroid medicine twice a day without obvious adverse effects. We started treatment, figuring that at her age the nuclear option would cost more than relatively inexpensive pills, given the amount of time she likely had left.

The past couple days, while she's always had a delicate tummy, now she's throwing up more than usual (including the thyroid meds, of course), including a clear, slightly bilious vomitus under my desk this morning.

While she's been drinking more than usual, her eyes are sunken, a sign of dehydration.

The vet doesn't have any appointments today--while I could sit with her in a carrier in the vet's office on an emergency basis until someone had time...I don't think that's fair to Wibble, in a strange box in a strange place with no real access to water when she's drinking as much as she is.

There will be an appointment tomorrow instead.

We'll see what happens.

-- Lorrie

Road Show!

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:27:56 GMT

I love road trips.

Indeed, in my particularly eccentric and idiosyncratic religion, I believe they are sacraments, rites in which the road-gods, the wander-gods, the wisdom-gods, are active. When I see a corvid on the wing above the car, I see an outward and visible sign of an inward and visible...yes, grace, let's tell the truth and shame no-one. Yet, each god's grace is a different grace, and Odin's grace tempts and teases you to share in his fierce joy, and the deep sorrow that brings it into sharp relief.

More mundanely, dpaxson and I kept this wekeend scrupulously clear that we might possibly attend a local heathen campout, but the announcement of the proper date came, not only late, but on the weekend before the one we'd cleared out.

So, with two of her three grandchildren in tow, we are going anyway. We have headed upcountry, we have lit out for the Territories, and are on the road.

Tonight, we're at The Old West Inn in Willits. I certainly didn't choose room number nine--we were given a choice of two rooms without knowing their numbers, and here we are.

Each room here has a theme--not inside, but outside on a sign. #9 is the livery stable. Y'all can laugh now. *grin*

But now, Idunna is overripe and overdue, and and so do I bid ye all adieux; perhaps we'll post a picture on the morrow before heading down to Ukiah, and up to where we'll be pitching tent.

Go well!

-- Lorrie

Lorrie

Chemistry, Now Available as a Polygendered Mixer!

US Veteran? Thank You! Also, Dinner's on the House...

And Remember, Kids...

Milo's Molting Again!

Milo and the Lesser Crickets

Dear Lazyweb...

A Fistful of Me-Spoons...

"Well, I'm back," she said.

countgeiger Update: 15 October

countgeiger Update (14 October, 1245)

Well, crap.

@countgeiger Update

[knit] Wait, start that sock WHERE?

Today? Let me tell you about today...

Brewbabble AND Results of Filmmaking Discussion

lwood's and dpaxson's Southern California Adventure!

Little Milo's Feeding Time, Part Deux

Little Milo's Feeding Time

Lorrie's 35th Birthday Party!

Birfday Party Poll!

Birthday Dinner of Win and Awesome!

Wibble Update

Wibble Update

*sigh* Poor Wibble

Road Show!

sigh Poor Wibble