Honestly, I love the guy, but sometimes John Shirley's rants tend to read like a liberal version of David Brin.

Then he writes something like this or especially this follow-up and one is reminded that, agree with John or not, he can make a clear, cogent, and short statement of solid opinion. Now if he would just re-do his blog's front page so that it had a readable design and findable permalinks. (Thank ghu for RSS, neh?)

Not that he's having to be coned, but Moose started limping slightly last Sunday, and this got worse enough by Tuesday that I took him into the vet and called his oncologist, etc. He was favoring the leg he'd had surgery on so this was pretty nervous-making.

So he got that leg (wrist and elbow) x-rayed, and while he has a little atrophy on the bone that might be arthritis, and some atrophy in his shoulder muscles that is probably from him being old and from him being fairly sedentary around the surgery, there wasn't any really good clue as to why he was limping. He's already on an anti-inflammatory for his arthritis, so we increased the dose from "one in the morning, a second in the evening if he seems to need it" to "two a day." Friday he went to the kennel where he didn't get to play, but he ran around excitedly when Brad came to pick him up and seems to have really thrown something out.

Saturday morning he went out for a walk with Brad and Jack, made it about to the end of the block (limping badly) and then just sat down. "That's enough!" Brad took him home and we were both very worried; it's really not good for a dog to not be able to walk. He was still eating with every sign of enjoyment, at least. Brad had to go out that day so I took him and Jack (not sure if Jack CAN be left home alone yet; we haven't proofed him) to the vet, and they were very sanguine about the Two! Giant! Dogs! in their waiting room, with Jack leaning on anyone he could. Then the vet took another good look at Moose and decided to x-ray his shoulder. While she was doing that... he started limping on the OTHER front leg. Her: ! So she x-rayed his other shoulder, which also showed no signs of real problems, but during this she noticed that while he was willing to turn his head to his right, he really did not like turning his head to his left.

So the theory is that he's done something to his neck/back, and the limping is referred pain that sometimes goes down one leg and sometimes goes down the other. It might be an issue with his spine, so he's going back in on Monday to get tranqed up for another x-ray (poor irradiated dog) in that area. It may be a soft tissue problem in which case the therapy is anti-inflammatories and rest, the first of which we have him on and the second of which we are now intensifying. She said that steroids are stronger than the rimadyl we already have him on, but not a LOT stronger. I am very relieved to have any sign of a cause at all; he's been basically letting people handle his legs all over, including where the surgery/skin graft/radiation/sore spot is, and looking mildly uncomfortable and that's about it. He doesn't even react much to having his head turned other than to passively resist it being turned to the left, turning his whole body instead of just his head. We're giving him some of the same painkillers we gave him after his surgery, which we know he doesn't react to (he reacts to morphine), and which will both help him with the pain so he can get in and out to the yard (he gets to do this no more than twice a day) and also keep him a little quieter so he doesn't stress his neck out any more.

He has some old spine damage around the base of his tail, which is where he developed arthritis a few years ago, and big heavy dogs are prone to it; what I'm hoping is that he's simply thrown out his back/neck so that the rest and medicine will fix him.

He likes staying in the bathroom anyhow, so maybe we'll get a baby gate so we can open the doors and cool it off a bit in the bedroom; I've been confining him to just the bathroom/bedroom and he's been sleeping in the cavelike no-windows bathroom, which really isn't much bigger than a crate. I've moved a water bowl in for him, and he's willing to get up to use it, and we'll start feeding him in here so he doesn't have to walk much for that either; we'll save all the walking for him going outside. We have stairs, which is hard on him, but he should be okay as long as we minimize it; based on how he acted before on the medicine he'll probably not be as interested in running around or going outside for the next week. I think he'd be less happy about staying in it if we actually closed the door on him in the bathroom, and I like him having access to the dog beds if he wants to flop down on one, and the bedroom has little enough free space that he can't exactly exert himself in here either.

On the sore spot front: it's gotten a lot smaller, though he still ritually licks it whenever he lies down. He doesn't lick and lick and lick and lick it anymore, and it's getting a chance to develop some real scar tissue because he doesn't keep stripping the scab. So the local injections the oncologist gave him to break the cycle seem to have broken the cycle.

In Jack news, he's not quite as housetrained as we'd like, probably because this is the largest house he's ever lived in and he's spent a lot of time living in small places and a kennel. But that's under control now; he's absolutely good if we keep him with us, and we can start getting him to think of one room at a time as his "den." The computer room is probably his den already, because he spends a lot of time hanging out there with Brad, and probably the kitchen as well because that's where he eats. There are some rooms in the house that we use less, though, so they'll take more time for him. Right now we're mostly just keeping him from having access to them alone and that makes it a non-problem, but we'll want to be careful and watch him if we take him over to someone else's large house, not to let him wander off alone and to make sure he doesn't need to go outside, etc. (Since he likes to be with The People it's not actually very hard to keep him in view, but he hasn't really figured out how to ask us to go outside yet.)

( Things I learned from watching Iron Man )


Yes, I am sour and old and do not appreciate the glory of four-color. And get off my lawn, too.

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thedarememe

^--- Because you know you want to dare me to do something.

So~ I'm free until fall, finally, at last, thank god! Except for work, but work I can deal with it. It pays instead of vice versa, with me paying to go there. Commissions are still slow works in progress - but with more time on my hands, I hope to at least get one out soooooon! My apologies to anyone who hasn't received a reply from me lately via comments and whatnot. I-I kind of just deleted all the messages in my inbox recently. It was hitting the 300+ mark and it was scaring me O_o

Fangirl squee time nao? Yes, plz.

Bleach -102

sjlkdjf ... I think a keyboard smash is about all my brain can formulate at this time, kthxbai.

Reborn! 192

Can. Not. Wait. Until. Next. Chapter. XDDDD

... I wish I had more energy to fangirl better.

We had a heat wave a couple months back, lasted maybe two days, with "nice" weather preceding and some good, restful rainclouds after.

I've been looking at automated weather stations on the Weather Underground ... because a friend of mine has one ... and the Weather Underground is really pretty amazing.

We have something more like a heat-pulse right now. There is a weather station on the web a short distance from where I live, and according to that, on Thursday it hit 90 degrees very briefly around 4pm; Friday it was 99 degrees at 5pm and it was above 80 degrees from 10am to 10pm.

Today, it hit 80 around 10:15am and 90 at 12:30, and has been no higher than 94.
This is still Stinking Hot by my perception. The forecast is for 80 tomorrow, and for partial clouds to return by Monday.

For my friends and family suffering in Seattle, partially cloudy, I can only say, at least you have partially ;) and that Tuesday promises to be at least overcast.

For my friends and family suffering in Salem and Dallas, Oregon - five to eight degrees hotter than here - same forecast.


Now for friends and family in Redding, California... where it claims to be 101 degrees (and probably under-reports) ... and the Redding Area Weather Service automated station reports 108 ... WHY DO YOU LIVE IN THE STINKING DESERT????

Ahem. Yeah. And they live (get this) ABOVE GROUND rather than at least burrowing underneath, like sensible people would.

Chris needed to go downtown to pick out new frames for his yearly pair of glasses. Teo and I went with him to give our opinions. We stumbled through the art and wine festival to do this. Then, Chris asked if I wanted to get a drink ("You mentioned the other day you haven't had bubble tea in a while") or food ("Want to walk down to Vaso Azzuro to see if they have prociutto melone?") We decided on food, but the restaurant wasn't open for lunch, so we wandered a bit at random, walked through the Burt's Bees tent and washed our hands there, looked at some pottery. Chris said, "Oh, look, there's the new Fu Lam Mum" and we decided to try it out. It was dim sum time. So, we did.

I really like the design of the new space. Teo, of course, makes friends wherever he goes, but I also got some guy grinning at Teo who suddenly said, surprised, "You have him in a chinese style carrier!" (I was wearing him in the apple pattern mei tai.)

Also, I find it fascinating that, as a white family in a place filled with "happy locals" (most of the other caucasian patrons were at tables with chinese extended families and mixed race kids) we got offered lots of pork buns. But we scored points by asking for slimy noodles, mango pudding (Teo loved this, and yes, he'll probably pay for it in soy reaction) and being generally enthusiastic. Oh, and there was a fried taro root ball that was really yummy. Teo had a great time, ate bits of several things (and most of a mango pudding on his own) and slurped water from a teacup. I liked that the selection had a good mix of meat based dishes vs. sweet.

Dim sum is difficult with just two people, though. We kept wanting dishes that we realized we'd not be able to finish eating. We had to put two sesame balls and two small egg custards into a napkin to smuggle out with us. We were just too full otherwise.

We should go back sometime. Sadly, it's a bad place for vegetarians. But it would be fun to go with some more carnivores.

The house is warm, but I don't feel my brains dribbling out my ears. (Yet.) If we can hold on another hour, there will be shade out front and we can sit on the porch. There seems to be a breeze, which is heavenly. Now, if only Teo will settle in for a proper nap. Unfortunately, he slept for ten minutes on the drive home so he thinks he's already had a nap and is having trouble settling in.

She's amazingly patient about it, too, and contemplates the board pretty well. I'm... impressed.

Spouse is sick. We managed to plant four things today anyway. Blargh. I do not like the not-quite-vision-going-light-headed stuff.
Nor do I like ticks. But I was wearing white pants and the two that jumped on me were found and flicked off quickly. Evil little blood-suckers.

INwatch: Lilith: 334, Core Rules: 324, Eli: 302, Liber Umbrarum: 197, Litheroy: 179, Asmodeus: 137, Infernal Player's Guide: 70, GURPS In Nomine: 17.
Adventures: City On Fire: 105, Feast of Blades: 84, Strange Bedfellows: 80, The Rats' Revenge: 76.
Free Adventures: A Very Nybbas Christmas: 3841, The Sorcerer's Impediments: 2340.

So emmacrew and I are in this show, it's actually kind of a big deal, the Mark Morris Dance Group is in town doing "L'Allegro, Il Penderoso, et Il Moderato," which has been described by some as Mr. Morris's masterwork. It's set to Handel's oratorio of the same name, which is in turn a musical setting of two poems by Milton. Being an oratorio, it has lyrics, and so they needed a choir; being a dance production, they needed a small enough ensemble to shoehorn us all in the orchestra pit along with the Seattle Symphony pit orchestra, so they culled 32 singers out of the 120-voice Seattle Symphony Chorale. And we're two of them. Truthfully it's quite an honor.

Yesterday we had a 2.5 hour dress rehearsal, followed by a 3 hour dinner break before we had to reconvene for the show at 8. Emma had discovered that these folks had a salon in Westlake Center, and that they promise a 20 minute manicure, and so we decided that that would be fun to do in the meantime. We went to make appointments and were told that the first availability was at 5:30, so we cheerfully signed up for that and went off to do some shopping in the interim. 15 minutes later, we got a phone call from the salon; there had been a scheduling snafu, and they needed to bump us to 6. No problem, we said, we'll grab dinner first in the food court. We arrived at 6, and the extremely nervous host was wringing his hands and hopping from foot to foot and told us, "the scheduling snafu was for two pedicures. It's going to be more like 6:15." We pointed out that we had our knitting, that we needed to be out of here by 7:00, but that as long as that happened, we could sit and knit in the salon as well as we could sit and knit backstage at the Paramount, and that it was truthfully no big deal. The host basically acted as though we'd just ended world hunger, and told us repeatedly how awesome we were for our flexibility, and offered us each a free $12 nail polish.

So now, we've just made these folks' day by not biting their heads off for something beyond their control (as depressing as that is), and it's time for us to choose nail polish. I pointed out that this is basically as close to glamour as I get these days, and grabbed the gold, sparkly iridescent polish called "West End Wonderland." The manicurist, who was this big black guy, said "Whoo! Yes, my sister, why half-ass it? We gonna get DOWN with some sparkly nails!" and then turned up the music and serenaded me with "You Gotta Be True to Yourself" while he did my manicure. It was, in all honesty, a super-awesome use of time, and now I have drag-queen nails (in color, not length; I sadly still have mommy nails), and I'm doing this very exclusive show, and I can't believe this is my life.

So. What does it take to repeal a constitutional amendment in California? Just a majority vote on a proposition? Tbat's how we get constitutional amendments to begin with, yes?

Or is it supermajority? I direct this question to those who know more California law than me. If anyone has a friend of a friend who can answer this definitively, I'd like to know.

It will have a lot to do with whether I celebrate this six-month period when we briefly have marriage equality, before the November constitutional amendment shuts it down definitively. Can we get the amendment repealed as soon as the state finishes converting 13% who voted in favor of a gay marriage ban five years ago but have to change their minds to overturn a ban now? Or does Prop 13 screw with this?

Um, just was able to get my finger in the other side of Maeve's mouth...tooth nine. Molar.

This sure explains a lot about sleep and crankifussesness.

And, I promise I'll stop publickly counting at ten.

I'm sure this is boring to everyone, but SO EXCITING to us.

I had a dream last night that we weren't paying attention and Maeve was pretty cranky and suddenly I noticed...she's got molars! (Which then seemed ridiculous...)

So, I looked this morning, and indeed, she has at least one of the big teeth in the back that cut through! Thursday she got another in the front, number seven, so I guess this is number eight.

My god, this is all happening in a rush. I guess she's trying to catch up.

On other notes, GAH, cranking on the writing deadlines, last big one before vacation is Monday. A designer profile for Interweave Crochet. Was a great interview, I'm looking forward to the writing of it. Once the transcript is done.

Aaaaaaaand, we leave for Strawberry Music Festival (strawberrymusic.com) on Weds. HUZZZZZZAAAAAAAHHHHH! Vacation. Music. Camping.

So much love.

Now, to get some laundry away, and some packing started.

Branson bound! Updates to my Twitter account, Robotech_Master, by phone.

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Yay for Friday!

I made coffee and went to Moms' group this morning. We had a ton of moms and kids there today. One mom brought cupcakes to celebrate her kids' 2nd and 3rd birthdays. I think we had 9 moms and 13 kids there. It's a good thing I didn't bring mine. It was too hot to play outside, so we were all crammed into the room. And the air conditioning wasn't keeping up with us either. The hallway was nice and cool, but our room was quite stuffy. We ended a bit early, and as I was packing up my stuff, Charisse arrived. She'd forgotten that she said she'd be here this week, so she got there just as it ended. It was just as well that she missed the madhouse. We went over to the cafe to chat. Marci was there with her son, so the three of us went over our schedules to see if there was a day that we could get together for Marci's birthday lunch. Or breakfast. It turns out that there's only one morning that all three of us are free for brunch (for some definitions of "free" - I'm going to have to sneak out of distribution early) between now and the last day of school (June 12). We brought planners and compared them. We all have Schedules of Doom. :)

I went shopping after lunch. I went to JoAnn's and found the pattern I was looking for. Last year, I made Kate a dress, bonnet and apron for Apple Valley Days. This year, I'm helping a friend by making the outfit for her daughter. But sadly, I was missing a page of the directions, so I've been looking for another copy of the pattern. It was out in one store, and also in that JoAnn's when I was there last Friday. But today, it was there! Also, now it is on sale for $1.99, and it wasn't last week (regular price $15.95, so even with a 40% off coupon that's still much better this week). It was meant to be. I didn't take a basket because I was only looking for that one thing, but I got waylaid by some gift bags on clearance, and a few other things. Luckily, they have shopping baskets scattered throughout the store.

Josh and Kate missed skating because tonight was their orchestra concert. Josh's Gamma/Delta skating time was moved from 5:15-5:45 to 6:15-6:45 because he was the only skater in the earlier class. Kate has skating from 5:45-6:15, but she had to be at the concert at 5 for rehearsal. Josh had to be at the concert at 6:45, so he missed his skating. We are going to do a make-up lesson for Josh on Saturday, but Kate has a softball game that conflicts with that.

The concert was at the Multi-Purpose Building at the intermediate school where we went to the choir concert on Tuesday. It was stuffy and warm tonight, and it wasn't that noticeable on Tuesday, so I wonder if the air-conditioning was off or broken or not able to keep up. Robert sort of melted in his seat, and toward the end of the concert had his face on his knees. Josh had a very short performance with all the 1st-3rd graders. He was adorable, as usual. He saw us and waved to us. Then I saw him smiling and waving at someone else, definitely not looking at us. I looked over and figured he was waving to Heidi. Because he spent so much time hanging out with moms last year at Wednesday folders, he still considers her his friend. She thought he was adorable, and she was waving right back at him.

Sadly, we had technology failures. We failed to charge either the digital camera or the video camera, so we were only able to take a few pictures and record one of Josh's songs and a few bars of Kate's first song before the digital camera's battery died. Which makes me sulk because I'd really wanted a camera that took regular batteries, so that i could just swap them out. Sigh.

Otherwise, the concert was fine. We were roasting, though, which was distracting and not terribly fun. After Josh and Kate had finished their portions, I nudged Robert. "I'll give you five bucks if you cause trouble and I have to drag you out of here to scold you and we can go find some air-conditioning." He gave me a look. "No thanks." Sigh. It was worth a try.

Despite it being roasting in the auditorium, it was actually slightly warmer outside when we left at 8:20. Rommie claims that it was 105 degrees. Gah.

When we finished the concert, the kids all whined that they were hungry. They'd had a small bite to eat before 5 pm. Al suggested a few things he could pick up from the Safeway deli on the way home, but they vetoed everything he said. I said, "How about ice cream sundaes?" and they all cheered, so we went home. As we started serving ice cream, Josh asked, "But what's for dinner?" "Ice cream." "For *dinner*?" Yeah, yeah, I'm already not winning any mom awards. While they ate, Al found Bill Cosby's Chocolate cake routine online and played it for them. They found it absolutely hysterical.

Today almost looks leisurely compared to the rest of the week. :)

And if I'm stuttering, it's with cold because it was SNOWING when we got out at ohgod this morning! But ahwell, due to contingency planning Cat was all covered in layers of wool and ready to march. And now to get ready to go downtown and watch them myself...