Family

My brother and my dad

my dad and my mom

me, with a healing zit front and center there. lovely.

More photos of the family. I don't have much to say, so I will sign in again later. Ta.

Home again

Hello from Ohio!

I've been trying to download a bunch of images from my mom's photos, but I've only been able to get these two up. My parents' computer is a bit of a bastard at the moment, so perhaps that's why. My mom is an incredible artist - her photographs are lovely, and they have been since I was a child. I was hoping to be able to upload some of them. Perhaps later! Meanwhile, here I am. Parents are at work, I am here in their house with their dog and cat (bonus for me). I am supposed to be going next door to visit the neighbors, who I heartily love, but I am being a recluse at the moment. No big surprise. Anyhow, hopefully I will be able to share some of my mom's photos. Meanwhile, those above are me and my dad, and me and my aunt (his sister). I think I have quite a lot in common with these two - we share the squinty eye thing, the fair skin, and the melancholy. And the fire. It's just that those two show it - I usually don't. I think perhaps I should.

I'll sign back in later.

ta.

Hi.

Mah girl

Well. It's been a bit of time since I've written. I'm still here, still wanting to write, but not really having the time or motivation. The next big technology should be streaming your thoughts out into the ether - anyone who wanted could pick them up, or not, and there wouldn't be the bother of actually having to write them down or type them in or check your spelling and grammar. Ah, yes - the phenomenal laziness and narcissism of the American psyche! There isn't much to update, really. More of the same same same. I did start Weight Watchers 3 weeks ago, and the same for regular gym attendance. On the flip side of that, my left knee (the one that wasn't the object of surgery some months ago) has developed horrible tendonitis. Glee. Let's see... I'm visiting Ohio this coming week. My parents didn't end up visiting because I told them not to come after M. and I had a falling out. I fly out on Friday and return the following Friday. I'll get to see my grandpa and one set of aunt/uncle, with a possibility of cousins. I'm looking forward to it quite a lot. I don't think I'll get into a snit of some kind with my dad, but that ever remains to be seen. Nothing else right now. I don't have a picture of the rescued kitty because my camera batteries weren't charged (I will remedy that soon), but he's doing fine, and his name is Mac(Intosh). My new coworkers (most of whom I never see, since I only work there on Saturdays) liked that name best. He's a pain in the ass to medicate - I had to dose him this past weekend. He had a swollen scrotum post-surgically, hence the antibiotics. He's a strong little guy, and he was ever so displeased with being medicated. His black fur was adorned with Clavamox after the fact. Anyhow, enough out of me. Bo-ring. Ta for now.

Brief check-in

Just wanted to give an update about the kitty. When I go in to work this weekend, I will take a picture of him; I was remiss in not doing so this past weekend! He is doing fine. His name is "NoName ___" (my last name); I need to change that. I think I might name him Hudson; we'll see what my new coworkers think about that. His leg is bandaged; there will be no surgery. He will heal just fine, though he may have a limp and one day some arthritis in the leg. The veterinarian who owns the practice says he doesn't want any money from me for taking this fellow in; I intend to donate one of my paychecks from the clinic to him anyway. There is no reason for there to be no compensation at all. Compassion is often its own reward, but there are expenses involved in caring for an injured animal. "Hudson" is a doll. He eats heartily, purrs the very instant you stand in front of his cage, and is just a total lovebug (lots of headbutting, and he adores affection). There is no way in the world that this cat should have been euthanized. Despite the terrible fight I had with M. about the whole thing, I am glad I stood up for what I believe in, money or no money. There are some things that cannot be compromised. I am loving my new job, on the whole. It pays substantially less than what I'm getting here, but I like it better in some ways. I have always loved veterinary medicine, and chances are I always will. I got to do all kinds of cool things on Saturday - I drew blood, gave injections, gave enemas, read urinalyses, fecals, and CBC's, ran the blood machines, monitered catheters - in essence, I was treated like a licensed technician. It was awesome, because I *do* know my stuff. I'm a bit rusty, but I've been involved in veterinary medicine on and off (mostly on) since I was a teenager. Which is much longer ago than I would like. Be that as it may, it feels good to be back into it. What other job is there where, when you're feeling down, you can go pick up a kitten? Not very many. More soon. Ta. ----------------------------- Edited to add: Shannon (http://westeringhills.weblogged.net/) suggests that the kitty have a name reflecting the orchard he hung out in. The trees around here are: honeycrisp, red and golden delicious, empire, macintosh, jersey-mac, ginger-gold, macoun, cameo, fuji, braeburn, cortland, gala, jonagold, lady apple, liberty, mutsu, pristine, smoothee, spigold, winesap... and a bunch of cider apples whose names I don't know. We have a whole block of apples of other varieties I'm not familiar with, but they are few; the above represent what we have the most of. What do you think? Any of these names appeal? Going once, going twice....

Yet another hiatus

All one of you who still read here - greetings! I am taking a break for a bit for a few reasons: one, I have a ton (almost literally, I would guess) of work to get done around here. My boss handed me a list this morning that is nothing short of daunting. Two, things are not going terribly well in my relationship, and that puts me in the mood to either get way too personal or to not write at all, so I'm opting for the latter for the time-being. I had posted in some detail about how I'm feeling about M. (and vice versa); I took it down because it felt wrong to have it out there. Too much rawness, too close-up and personal. To top it off, I'm stressed about a cat I rescued two days ago. He was hit by a car right out in front of the lab where I work; I took him to the veterinary hospital where I just started a part time job (I've only worked there a day; this is the second hit-by-car cat I've brought in, and it makes me feel a bit guilty - I think I need to reassure them that I don't go around doing this all the time). As it turns out, he has a tricky fracture of the distal femur - the vet I work for says he wouldn't want to do the surgery himself; he'd refer it. Which, of course, would be extremely expensive. I can't find the owner - the cat is a young (one or two years old), intact male; he's very friendly (didn't even attempt to bite me even when he was in terrible pain - aside from the broken leg, he's covered in road rash and one of his pads was torn off; I'm sure he's also contused as all get-out). He was wearing a flea collar, and he's been seen around the lab and the orchard quite often over the past few weeks. I'd actually petted him before myself - he's the sort of cat who throws himself down on his side in anticipatory pleasure when you approach to stroke his fur. He's a sweetheart. Problem: M. thinks I should have him euthanized. I disagree. Further problem: money. As in I don't have enough of it to really go the whole distance for this cat - it would literally wipe out the savings I have left to my name. M. has over 15 grand in savings of his own (garnered before we got together), but he won't be donating to the cause, such as it is. At this point, I need to sit down with the vet and see if there are any options open to me - can I do a payment plan? (which is a really, really crappy way to begin a new job - what a wonderful impression that would make) Would he or either of his associates be willing to do sort of a patch job on the leg, knowing that they wouldn't do it as well as a specialist? (again, not something I relish asking a new employer - "Hey, can you compromise your ethics for me even though we only met 3 weeks ago?") Even further problem: I also need to find this boy a home once he's fixed up. I can't take him in; I can't do that to my aging kitty. So - this is a pretty sucky quandry to find myself in, basically. No doubt it will cause further stress on my relationship with M., which is the absolute last thing it needs right now. Meh. So yeah, that's what's going on. Work, relationship, and outside stress. Such is life, I suppose. Take those moments of happiness when they come your way, folks! I will be trying to do the same. Over and out for a bit. Ta.