I Meant to Write Something Today But Got Distracted By Cats, So Here’s a Photo of Krissy
Posted on November 29, 2018 Posted by John Scalzi 35 Comments
Which I think is probably more pleasing than anything I’d write today anyway. And yeah, I was actually distracted by cats, as I took them to the vet for checkups and shots.
They are happy and healthy and still a smidgen pissed at me, so that’s a thing.
Tell me about your Thursday. I crave the knowledge!
Here’s a photo of Daisy, who doesn’t mind the vet too much.
My Thursday was also partially spent at the vet, with a follow-up visit for our dog who was in for contrast X-rays. The good news is she’s doing better than yesterday; although she’s not back to 100%, she should be by Monday.
Thus I also did not spend Thursday on writing.
How do you get the second one in the box? I have two but have never tried to take both to the vet together. As soon as I try to put the first one in, the second one hides under the bed and is impossible to get out. Granted for me, the vet is half a mile away and in theory I could do a couple trips. You probably have to go several miles.
Our boy cat is large and feisty. I wear my leather motorcycle gauntlets to put him in the travel box. It’s a lot easier with the girl but she still makes herself larger than the box when she sees it. I hope your cats are better behaved.
Very nice.
In my Thursday, I’m listening to the new super deluxe edition of the Beatles’ White Album, contemplating the now unfolding climate apocalypse, the failure of most of the world to act, and the general Trumpocalypse.
Oh, and considering the November Wired cover story. On the richest man in the world, who thinks the Earth is finished for humanity and we must move off-world. Just like his all-time favorite writer Robert Heinlein always wrote…
Let’s just say that by the fourth day of the power being out the dogs discover that the radio fence is no longer working. Which is okay, except for the part Jack Russell who chooses not to come to her name unless it suits her. She is not happy with me for putting her on a long lead, but I’m not happy having to chase her up snowy roads in the car. Thank goodness she likes to go for rides in the car or I’d still be chasing her around the county.
Could the Scamperbeasts convince my cats that it’s okay to visit the vet? One turns into a sharp-clawed eel when we try to get him into the kennel for the trip (one year we had to call to postpone the appointment three times in a row). The other poops in the kennel on the way to the vet, and not in a solid manner, either (we now fully understand the song lyrics of “Smelly Cat:”).
I hit 50k on my NaNo project today, so it’s been a pretty good Thursday so far!
When we have to take our vet to the cat, we have to plop her into a mostly disassembled carrier and then surprise her with the lid. And then cover the whole thing with a towel or something during transport as if she were a bird. Otherwise, she literally caterwauls like it’s the end of the world. We previously had a cat who loved his carrier. Would just dart right in whenever the door was open. Go figure.
Congrats jmcoster, I did the same myself.
I probably shouldn’t tell you all about my cat, who just wanders into the cat carrier out of curiosity before we’ve even had a chance to line it properly with blankets for him…
Today I finished reading Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. It’s brilliant & clever & highly entertaining. I am now halfway through The Refrigerator Monologues; it is also brilliant but omg the rage is strong in this one.
We have another winter storm scheduled for the weekend, so I drove my aunt and uncle to the grocery store this afternoon to get the essentials. Well, some of the essentials, they still had plenty of ice cream ;) .
(Last weekend the “8 inches of snow and whiteout conditions from the high winds” turned out to be barely enough snow to cover the ground, so we probably could have waited. But they’re both mobility-impaired and the family doesn’t want them out when it’s icy.)
I sent my husband off to the airport today for a trip, and me and 2 key staff ran the construction crews/ dealt with customers/kept things running in our small business.
Our cats are going in for their checkups and shots a week from tomorrow. Let the heavens tremble!
I went downtown to the Chicago Public Library’s Harold Washington Library. Returned a bunch of books. Took out a bunch more from their “Popular Library” section, selected serendipitously, including your new “The Consuming Fire”. By the date stamp, it appears they stocked it just last month, so I count myself lucky to have found it so soon. 93 pages into it; so far so good.
My cats are long gone. Considering they both died at the vet’s, I’m surprised they never put up much of a fuss about their visits.
We have vets around here that come to your house for this sort of requirement (shots, basic checkups etc) – the theory being that it is less traumatising for your pet. The downside is that my neighbour has told me that now her cat hides under the bed every time the doorbell rings, instead of only when she gets the carrier out.
Today I went to visit one of my five cats at the vet hospital because when I took him in to his regular vet yesterday for his shots, she discovered he had a herniated diaphragm and various organs had migrated from their assigned places in his abdomen to his chest, where they were squeezing his lungs, leaving him breathing at about 1/4 capacity. Hurried call to surgical specialist, quick trip up the highway, surgery later in the afternoon. Today he is off supplemental oxygen, moving well, curious about strange smells, purring when his ears are scratched, and starting to eat again. Whew!
Got up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a plane from Baton Rouge, eventually ending up in Idaho Falls (where I’m house-hunting for my retirement abode). Had fifteen minutes to make a connection in Salt Lake City. I made the connection, but my luggage didn’t. So, I’m dining on Red Robin in my (empty) brother’s house whilst I wait for the airline to deliver my grip.
I spent my day writing a lengthy thesis that explains in mind-numbing detail how the governmental entity for which I work complies with the requirements in 2 CFR 200, also known as the Uniform Guidance, to comply with an annual requirement for federally funded entities.
And why on earth you (or anyone else, for that matter) would crave that particular bit of knowledge is beyond my ken. Although if you ever suffer from insomnia, boy howdy, do I have a cure for you.
I hung out with our friend who was visiting, went for a walk, then bought holiday lights & ornaments for a friend who lost all her decorations when her apartment burned as part of the Butte County Camp fire.
@Colonel Snuggledorf, I am proud of your perseverance!
One advantage to the single cat home – grab, shove into carrier preferably at warp speed, close door. No other cats to witness the horror and hide.
I hope that if I ever get married I look at my husband the way Krissy looks at you. I have yet to see a picture of her where she wasn’t just glowing with love.
Dear John,
Doing the sanity read on the new novel manuscript. Which is a GOOD thing, means this albatross will shortly be off from around our necks and around our agents’s**!
Insert possibly-premature happy dance, here.
pax / Ctein
**(the plural possessive is a grammatical shift that makes me crazy. Goddam living language…)
By coincidence I took \my dog to the vet today for his flu vaccine. Fortunately, he loves going for rides and visiting the vet (at 75 pounds its a problem getting him to do things he doesn’t want to do).
Then there’s always the equine vaccines…which are cheaper to do myself….
Went back to work tonight after being sick for a few days – stomach bug. Also got a definitive diagnosis for my mother – moderate to advanced dementia. Of course we already knew that but needed it it writing to get her into the nursing home where my sister works. Her dementia has advanced to where she doesn’t know our names anymore. It makes me sad to see her like this.
Also a NaNoWriMo winner – first time, too! – though I finished last week. No cats now: one was OK with going to the vet, the other was Miserable…. Writing other stuff on Thursday – this writing thing is quite addictive, y’know.
My Thursday:
Productive day at $work$ with actually useful meetings.
Entered a discussion on Twitter I shouldn’t have, but did step away.
Panicked over not knowing what to write in a story due to start on Saturday, decided to not worry about it.
Was faced with the pleasant conundrum of whether to start reading your latest, Stross’ latest, Ben Aaronovitch’s latest, or Ursula Vernon’s latest. Went with Lies Sleeping.
We just adopted cat #4 Belanna-Butterfly Wednesday evening. Glad to know that you are taking care of your scamper beast herd.
“…they know that regular checkups and up-to-date vaccines make a real difference in the quality of their lives. So, humans, take care of your pets! It matters, for you and them.”
Is there a wee subtextual reminder here for adults who are responsible for the care of humans – both themselves and the small non-adults who depend on them – as well?
Take care of yourself. Take care of your kids. Get regular checkups. Get those vaccines. It’s important.
My Thursday consisted of teaching 8th graders about misplaced and dangling modifiers, teaching 7th graders about the elements of story, then rushing out to finish moving from apartment to house. The house is actually smaller than the apartment, and Corningware is heavy. I was having trouble packing boxes of dishes that I could actually lift. My solution was to put the boxes in the car and carry the dishes down the apartment stairs to pack them into boxes I will never be able to lift. The basket of miscellaneous towels proved adequate packing material. I will need to unload them the same way, once I figure out how to cope with reduced cabinet space. I can’t compensate by using living room space, because it’s full of boxes of books. So, for today at least, the dishes are still in the car, and I walked the 2 blocks to school.
That’s never a cat!
Well, ok, I guess she might be.
I have a sure fire way to get my most frequent vet visiting cat into the carrier — once in the examination room take her out of the carrier and she will try to get back in as soon as possible…
There was the time I took my first cat to the vet on a leash. Half way home he curled up on my lap. Awww, he forgives me, I thought.
Then he peed on my lap.
Wait—all of them? That seems like that would be…arduous.
Currently between cats, but there is a house-call vet here, which makes checkups and vaccines much easier; also those sad shots for the last vet visit, so the cat just went to sleep on my lap and later just stopped breathing, then the vet went away and I could cry in my own apartment without having to go anywhere. Almost, not quite, ready to adopt another cat, and I hope that vet hasn’t retired meanwhile.
Found out my sister’s new movie is going to Sundance. :)
Knowledge you crave? Then you shall have it. Went to California to provide comfort and also celebrate the life that was my aunt and godmother, Cecilia. That was on Thursday. Flew home Friday, pondering Life and family. Also pondered Vikings, but that was because the 3rd season of ‘Last Kingdom’ is on Netflix. Saw a film on Netflix in Cali that made me think of my dog, Mochi,and that I missed hugging her. Fast forward to today finds me at work knowing we have a car that needs a new starter and I have to go pick up a 4k screen my son bought at Best Buy(he did take home the Xbox One X though). Life goes on. Oh, and destiny is all(I like ‘Last Kingdom’)!