lyorn: (Default)
I had the past week off on comp time, and absolutely crammed the week with everything I wanted/needed/had to do.

I would write about it, but Tully the Tabby is lying on the keyboard and i'm keeping him from rolling all over it with one-and-a-half hand, and am typing two-fingered...
lyorn: (Default)
Tully the Tabby seems well, if a bit deaf and forgetful.

He eats, he weighs 5.1 kilogram (stable), he plays (for short amounts of time), he grooms himself, he likes to be petted, he purrs. He still occupies the sink after I brush my teeth, and I have to be really fast to dry the sink before the cat jumps in.

When I come home it usually takes him a while to notice, but then he comes to greet me, most by saying "meh!" in what sounds like a complaining tone of voice, but I just assume that it means something nice.

No return of the thing yet.

--

In other news, I had some success shopping for presents yesterday , but my knee complained in a way I cannot fix by assuming, and even my peaceful and cooperative left shoulder whinged. I found a bandage for the knee, which helped.

So what did I do today? Helped a friend move. Carried boxes down four flights of stairs. I chose the light boxes, at least. I feel like I've run out of patience with being reasonable.

Goodness. Why do we have so much stuff? I want to throw things away now. It's maybe fortunate that I am too lazy.
lyorn: (Default)
Cut for bad cat news )

For now he seems like a mostly content elderly cat who likes to eat, likes to cuddle up to his human, and is very enthusiastic about watching birds on the balcony. That's something.

No news...

Oct. 20th, 2023 05:08 pm
lyorn: (Default)
No Covid, and the likeliness that I caught it on Sunday now going down.
No news from the veterinary clinic.

I continue the Week Of Not Doing Much, which is restful.
lyorn: (Default)
Tully the Tabby had surgery yesterday, to remove the whatever from his lower lip. It went well.

He was very unhappy with the situation as a whole: Annoyed when I arrived at the vet clinic, scared when I got him back. He also was extremely hungry, as he had to fast from 8 p.m. on Thursday. When we got back home around 4 p.m. on Friday, he was still groggy, stumbled out of his box, missed the living room door three times, but then beelined to his bowl, found it empty, and looked at me as if to say, "you have been weighted and found wanting".

It took a groggy cat attempting to jump on the kitchen workspace to look for food there, not quite managing, falling, taking a china bowl full of damp tea leaves with him, spilling tea leaves everywhere and ripping his stitches a bit before I saw the error of my ways and gave him a full day's ration against the vet's advice.

He's already much better today. Now it all depends on the result of the histological examination of the whatever. Best case it's a glorified pimple. Worst case, it's malicious, but I have lost a cat before to a benign tumor which would not stop growing. So... wait.
lyorn: (Default)
Nothing decisive, and so far generally neutral.

The vet recommended different meds for Tully's asthma, took an X-ray that that showed that the damage to the lungs has slightly worsened over the last year, but his heart (and the rest of him) seemed OK so far. The thing on his lower lip is really just there, it'd not connected to the jaw.

Friday they will remove the thing (the vet thinks that Tully is well enough for the required anaesthesia) and send it to a lab to see if it's harmless or not.

Tully coped with the one-hour drive rather well. No coughing, no extreme stress, no salivating. Ceridwen accompanied me, and I guess the two of us talking calmed him down.

So, Friday. We'll see.

Unfortunately, if that keeps me from working on Friday I'll have to work on Saturday. OTOH, I get a lot of things done if I come in the office on Saturdays, so it'll likely take only a half-day to get everything done before my (short) vacation.
--

Other than that, I got my flu shot today and got on the list for the next COVID-Booster. Also, got my teeth checked. One needs a filling. :(

Too much medical stuff in my calendar.

About cats

Sep. 9th, 2023 08:53 pm
lyorn: (Default)
1. Tully the Tabby has a new hobby: Lying in the wet sink after I brushed my teeth. He gets cuddles when he does that, because it is so cute. Then, I have a wet cat and a dry sink. I really have no idea why he does that. He could get cuddles everywhere. Without getting wet.

2. Today I grabbed a plastic clothes peg to keep my summer dress from malfunctioning on the motor scooter. Then I discovered that it was one of the clothes pegs chewed up by Big Monster (see icon), my first cat, 25 years or so ago. Big Monster died in May 2008. The clothes peg is still there. I carefully put it away and risked clothing malfunction, but I did not want to lose this peg.
lyorn: (Default)
It's made of ceramics, the kind you use for ovens, has a straw cushion, and within the ceramic, protected from everything but brute force and failure of electrical components, a low wattage electrical heater.

I put it in the place where his favourite basket was, and exchanged the straw cushion with the very old lumpy cat-haired cushion from the basket, and he seems quite happy with it. At 14, his joints are not what they used to be.

Considering the weather in the last two weeks, there were nights when I wished for a heated bed...

Still, I would never have bought that thing, but K___ and F___ got it for their very elderly cat (at least 15 years, more likely 18, probably over 20), but their cat did not like it, so now Tully has a trial period of one week before the bed gets either sent back or Tully gets to keep it.

As they say in German, "Alles für die Katz'!" (Which means "All for naught", but literally it says "everything for the cat".)

***

As this was the first day in two weeks or more that felt more like late spring that middle autumn, I went to the pool again. Hard to stop after 500 metres, although my arm hurt some, it was such a nice day. But I was careful.

***

Also, why does any interaction with telecommunication providers leave the gut feeling that one has just dealt with some demon and whatever one did or did not do or say will probably come back to haunt a person?

Cat

Jul. 10th, 2023 09:47 pm
lyorn: (Default)
Tully the Tabby is out on the balcony, enjoying the twilight, looking at things only cats can see.
lyorn: (Default)
I think the continuous form in the subject line is wrong.
Anyway:

The state of the cat

Tully the Tabby is well again (I hope). He behaves normally, which means, he wants to be fed, and to cuddle, and to be entertained, and for his human to sit quietly on the sofa with nothing in their hands so they can pet him.

The short-lived state of the sofa

He had his chance today: We had scheduled a role playing game, some World of Darkness crossover, that we are pretty much playing "second generation" now (about 25 years after the original campaign, both in real time and in play time)[1]. Unfortunately it had to be completely online today (GM not in shape to have people over) and that is Not My Thing. But I'm doing my best, so I sat with my laptop on my knees, cables all around me, a cushion with the mouse on it to my right, seven kilos of books to my left, mobile to my right, cat lying next to me purring, and a glass of water somewhere in reach. Getting out took some planning and gymnastics.

Turned out, however, none of us was up to playing. We talked for a while and then called it a day.

Playing, but not often enough

I am currently playing in this group, and in another one, both GMed by flederkatz.
The other group tries to meet in person. We managed two or three weekends a year in 2015 to 2019, then nothing at all during the pandemic, and now maybe once a year. We have pretty much lost the ability to play together as a group -- to read each other's cues, to keep the ball rolling, to know when the GM is pressuring for action and when she's throwing around possible story hooks and free interaction. Sometimes we get back into good play, but really, role playing games are a team sport, and the team has to practise.

So I'm not playing as much as I'd like, although I love the characters I play.

A cat girl and a vampire

In our MilSF RobotWars group (used to be "not-Professor-X's-school for gifted youngsters", but then the robots attacked), I play a young mutant cat person who can teleport. The other members of the group are two more mutants, and our three bodyguards/nannies/best friends/backup, and we fight a guerrilla against giant mad killer robots that have conquered our planet right as we were supposed to graduate.

The other campaign is World of Darkness, titled "New San Francisco Chronicles" because clever names are overestimated. We are playing crossover again, with a Mage, a Werewolf and a Vampire. Diversity is strength in that system. The "first generation" campaign* created collaboration between the supers in the area, now we are building on that. Flederkatz had looked at the world and said, "I want to make a nice hopeful campaign where the bad guys have butts that can be kicked and souls that can be damned (or sent back to hell from whence they came)", and that's what she did.

My character is a catholic high-humanity vampire fascinated by the sea. He sees his undeath as a second chance at salvation (at a higher difficulty level) after he had seriously messed up his mortal life. So, the group is not fighting for survival, or for justice, or against evil, but mostly tries to do good. OK, and banish the occasional demon or capture mad necromancers, before we go back to planting trees, feeding the hungry, and rescuing dogs out of cars.

--

GMing

I am also GMing two games, and my players wish that I'd do a third. I told them I'll do it when I win the lottery. More about that (not the lottery, probably) later.

--------

[*] I still have three stories about one NPC in that game on my webpage. Now if I only know where I last saw that webpage. Maybe I should upload them to AO3?

--------
2023-07-10: Brought descriptions more in-line with what I had written in earlier postings. No need to have two names for the same rabbit.
lyorn: (Default)
#1 Left upper arm now itches

#2 Yesterday, AC in office sounded like a storm at sea. Every time I looked out of the window I was surprised to see a calm, sunny, dry June afternoon, and not storm clouds, sea spray, and stuff blowing by that has no business being in the air, like socks or herring.

#3 Also yesterday, did not go to owner's association meeting despite waking up with the plan of being a responsible owner and going, because I could only leave work at five, because I had been waiting for two hours for a co-worker who had a "back in a few minutes" note out. So I did not finish my work, I barely managed to get the note so that the building administration could vote for me to them in time (with one minute to spare) and then....

#4 I discoverd that my keys were gone. Best case left in the office, worst (but very unlikely) case, the fell out of my pocket somewhere.

I picked up one of the three spare keys distributed among my part-time-cat-minders, got into my flat, fed the cat, had a cat nap and then ran off to choir practise.

Today, on my day off, I drove to the office -- the keys were exactly where I expected them to be, fortunatly. Drove back, met R--- for lunch, then loaded the cat into the car to get him to the vet for his yearly vaccination. When I arrived, the cat was in the middle of one hell of an asthma attack, breathing at 120 rpm, salivating, staring, then making the strangest dark rumbling noises. I thought he would have a heart attack or choke right in the vet's waiting room.

The vet and I managed to calm him down, and he got over the acute attack. Instead of his vaccination he go a cortisone shot and a cleanup.

In the way home he pooped in the transport box. Poor cat. Poor human (green in face).
At home I cleaned him up (again) and then ran off to choir pracise again (different choir).

I'm home now, will be working tomorrow (wonder what the AC will do), cat is alive and has forgiven me (mostly) and I'm wondering why there is so much chaos in my life.
lyorn: (Default)
Time passes and I do not know where it goes. I should write more, in general, and in this journal, and I should not write too much about annoying things.

So, more (more than "next to nothing" can't be that hard) about cats, books, food, role playing games (pen & paper only), music, travel, and the other good things in life.

To start with cats:

Tully the Tabby is, if not exactly well (he's 14 years old, a little deaf, somewhat shortsighted, and a bit short of breath), so at least sweet and cuddly, still enthusiastic about food, and he seems to have understood that the laptop screen is a very important item for his human and his household, so he alwas tries to rub his head against it. I haven't the heart to stop him, because of cuteness.

Next, food:

I now have a subscription to a bi-weekly box of organic fruit and veggies. That's a bit of a challenge to a one-person-household: While the amount of food is just right for the time span, not everything will last two weeks. Need to make rhubarb cake, and ratatouille, and somthing with an Asian-style mix of salads, and won't have an evening at home until Friday...

Role playing games:

GM'd yesterday evening, and day before yesterday the whole day. Two different groups, two different systems, and both investigative adventures. Lots of things to keep track of, fortunately, one of the players (who is in both groups) is obsessive about note-taking and has a beautiful and clear handwriting.
lyorn: (Default)
2022. Hrmpf.

Generally, one can say "this could have been worse". Of course, everything could always have been worse and it does not help those hurt by how bad it was, but still, it could have been worse and I'm very glad that it wasn't.

Personally, I had a pretty equal (it feels) mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Only that I worked for or paid for everything good, while the bad and the ugly just dropped in like a bunch of moochers.


Cut for wordiness, bad English, animal death, and too much Kafka )

Four hours to midnight.

Cat drama

Jun. 24th, 2022 10:06 am
lyorn: (Default)
Yesterday the cats were tussling again (I always watch closely because with those two, it can get serious quickly) when suddenly Thin Cat yowled and jumped and retreated, dripping blood. Chubby Cat looked confused and walked off. On the floor was a bloody, one-inch long fang.

I nearly fainted.

Thin Cat, however, chewed some air (you know that, when they look like they are chewing on an invisible rat too large to swallow?) licked the blood away, jumped on his pillow and pretended to take a nap. He had already been missing one canine (had to be pulled years ago) and now looked a bit less piratical.

I picked up the tooth, wiped the floor, and calmed down a lot slower than Thin Cat. Called the vet, and a friend, and both assured me that if the cat was in no visible discomfort, and the bleeding had stopped, there was no reason to panic.

Chubby Cat, meanwhile, still looked confused.


I still want to take the cat to the vet this evening for a check.
lyorn: (Default)
Cut for cat TMI )

Happy end (for now).
lyorn: (Default)
When I sleep, my cats lie on my cover.
And when someone tries to wake me, I learned today, they try to scare them away.

***

Happy new year to everyone!
lyorn: (Default)
Yesterday, the cats had their yearly appointment at the vet to get their shots and have a check-up.

Now, getting cats into boxes can be risky and bloody (cats fight tooth and claw), or it can be annoying and stressful (cats diving under furniture), or very time-consuming, or all of the above.

Yesterday evening, I got out of bed from a little cat-nap. Got dressed. Picked up a sleepy Tully from the covers and set him down in front of his box. He got in and I closed the door. Repeated this with Jerry. Both cats boxed in less than two minutes.

Only when I carried the boxes out in the cold, there was a soft "human, what are you doing?"-meow from Jerry.

At the vet, the scary good behaviour continued.

Back home, they carefully left their boxes and looked for a place to nap in peace.

A bit later, mad_freddy and K___ came over for testing lebkuchen. We had nine different kinds, each cut in three and all pieces labelled, notepads and pencils, and very seriously set about to rank them by taste and lebkuchen-ness, or, in my case, just make notes of their distinguishing characteristics. I did that mostly one-handed, as Tully had decided that the best place to nap was right next to me, getting his ears rubbed.

After that, we were as happy and full as expected after finishing the equivalent of a three-course-dinner in lebkuchen.

Other than that, I feel as could be expected, all things considered. I.e. tired and in pain, but generally OK.

Also, dinosaur feathers! (via pallia.net)

Hot

Jun. 24th, 2016 04:06 pm
lyorn: (Default)
I have emptied a bucket of water on the balcony to cool it down a bit, and Tully the Tabby laid down right in the water.

Guess where he and his damp fur are now... and if you say "on your lap, and, um, aren't you wearing white trousers today?", you win a virtual cookie.

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