They're In Space!

I didn't post about it, but last year I read Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series (2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, and 3001: The Final Odyssey). I didn't love them (though they were interesting enough for me to read the whole series) so I didn't mention them. Plus, if I had said anything, it likely would have been weird quotations from the book, possibly with some irritated commentary added.

Space pods were not the most elegant means of transport devised by man, but they were absolutely essential for construction and maintenance work in vacuum. They were usually christened with feminine names, perhaps in recognition of the fact that their personalities were sometimes slightly unpredictable. Discovery's trio were Anna, Betty, and Clara.

Yeah, I could say a few things about that.

A post devoted to those books would have ending up being rather long. And, while I didn't hate the books, reading them just left me with a sense of lost potential and, well, irritation.

Just as 2010: Odyssey Two was not a direct sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, so this book is not a linear sequel to 2010. They must all be considered as variations on the same theme, involving many of the same characters and situations, but not necessarily happening in the same universe.

Yes, the books weren't "linear sequels". A nice way of saying that the books contradicted each other.

But as awesome as contradictions in cannon is, there were bits that were even better!

[The students] had been helped - or hindered - by a team of four kongs, who Del Marco considered more trouble than they were worth. However, the students adored the genetically-enhanced gorillas, whom they treated like retarded but much-loved children. It was rumoured that the relationships were not always completely Platonic.

I... I just don't know what to say. I'm just going to leave that one there and slowly back away.

Anyway, while I did not love the books (and would be hard-pressed to say I even liked them) I did want to watch the movie version. Some movies are just classics, you know? So that's what I did yesterday.

Oh, I didn't watch the movie alone. I had company.

Cocoa and I were equally unimpressed with the ten minute acid trip at the end of the film, but she really enjoyed the monkey-things at the beginning of the movie. I don't think either of us really needs to watch it again though.

Monkey News

That unimpressed squishy face? Is the unimpressed squishy face of a kitty that has a healthy spleen!

A while back I think I mentioned that the vet discovered that Cooca had a heart murmur? Well, in testing to see if the heart murmur is a problem (it has been dubbed "incidental" which means her little heart should be fine), they noticed that she had an enlarged spleen. So yesterday we had her appointment to get her spleen all checked out and apparently, she just has a "generous" spleen. A "generous" but normal spleen.

So now she officially has a velvety soft shaved belly, a little bit of grump, and healthy organs.

Five Out of Seven Kitties Agree

Last week we had a huge vet trip. All of my health things meant that the kitties' health maintenance got pushed to the back burner for a bit and almost everyone was overdue for their yearly shots. But I'm doing mostly better and Olive had something weird going on with her lips, so we took the most egregiously out of date kitties to the vet.

So Cocoa, Chloe, Gidget, Bitty and Olive all went to the vet. Yes, five of them. And all of them save Olive qualify as seniors, which makes for a very expensive vet trip. But who needs money when you have healthy kitties, right?

Well, except not everyone was fully healthy. All of their blood tests came back just fine, which was good, but Cocoa had a little bit of a heart murmur so we've got to schedule a cardiologist appointment for her to get an ultrasound. And Chloe needs a dental cleaning, during which time they will scope her ear because she has something in there that is either a growth or a really tenacious ball of wax. (Bitty had something similar a few years ago. It was stubborn wax. I'm pulling for that this time.)

We also came home with some antibiotic wipes for Cocoa's chin and Olive's lips (Cocoa's chin seems to be breaking out from messy drinking habits and who knows what is going on with Olive's lips but the corners are crusty and she keeps scratching them). Cocoa also got some joint supplement powder since her right hip has been bothering her more and more lately. And lastly, Olive also got some cream for a little bald spot on her head which may be ringworm.

So not a totally clean bill of health for all the babies (Gidget and Bitty did pass with flying colors), but heart murmur aside, the kitties came back good all the big stuff (like blood work). Next up, getting Chloe's teeth cleaned and figuring out the cause of Cocoa's murmur.

Bad Picture, Not Bad News

Yesterday, two of the herd went to the vet. We were worried that Emmett had a urinary tract infection and Cocoa needed to have some blood work done to check the status of her (previously iffy) kidney levels.

Neither kitty was happy with this trip.

Yes, it's a horrible picture but it just defined the trip too much not to share. Cocoa yowled approximately every second and a half (not an exaggeration) for the whole 40 minute trip and Emmett did his best to become invisible underneath the towel in the kennel.

The end result of the vet visit (aside from a bit of a yowl-induced headache) wasn't too horrible. Emmett did have a urinary tract infection but he's been dosed with an antibiotic so that should take care if it. I'd prefer he not be sick at all, but at least a UTI is better than the bladder stones Chloe once had (and had to get surgically removed). And in better news, Cocoa's was given a very positive thumbs up on all of her tests.

Emmett will have to go in for a recheck in a couple of weeks but at least his hiding isn't like icepicks in my ears.

More Awesomeness

Cocoa likes my hot water bottle, too.

Your Awesome for the Day

Boxes

Oh my! We are moving at the end of the month! It's kind of hard to believe, but we are definitely getting prepared. We've been collecting boxes to pack in and I've even packed up a handful.

Most of our moving boxes are in the garage, but the few I've gathered from Costco have been hanging out in the kitchen. Which means the kitties are enjoying the influx of boxes to play in.

If moving wasn't such a stressful endeavor and full of unkitty-friendly change, I bet they would enjoy the process just for all the different boxes.

Toothlessness

Cocoa has started a trend. Five years ago, she ended up having all of her teeth removed because of stomatitis. Then this summer Bitty managed to have ten bad teeth that needed removing, leaving her with just her very front teeth (and not even all of those). She's not totally toothless, but most of the teeth she does have are the tiny little front ones so her "real" teeth count is two.

This has apparently made Gidget think that all the cool kitties were going toothless. This summer she only had two teeth removed and that apparently wasn't enough for her. A few months ago, she had another tooth removed. And Friday, she had her three remaining molars removed. She now matches Bitty fairly closely - all of her remaining teeth are at the very front (though she has one more "real" tooth than Bitty does).

Yep, the dental drama has not ended. Well, hopefully it will be over in a month after her recheck appointment. When we got back from vacation, Gidget was still air-chewing and started pawing some again. I was worried it was an ear infection or something non-dental that we were missing because we were doing dental-related hunting so we went to our regular vet and nope, still tooth-al. We thought we needed to remove two teeth but turns out three had "undergone root changes".

The good news is that if something has happened that has made Gidget's teeth go bad one by one, she only had a handful left to go bad. She's got so few teeth left, if we have to do another surgery I think Gidget will be sporting the toothless look, just like Cocoa.

Our Current Excitement

I (finally) got my order in from Le Palais des Thés, which means big excitement all around! I got new teas and the kitties got a new box.

What a thrilling life we all lead!

(Also, I feel the need to state that I did not, in fact, order so much tea that they needed to send me such a large box. I ordered a total of 400g of tea - less than a pound. Yet while I did not need such a large box, who am I to reject something that gives Cocoa such entertainment?)

Stop Mocking Me

It's been a bit too long since I've updated, so I figured it was time to fix that. It's not so much that I haven't had anything to talk about (I can babble about nothing with the best of them), but rather that the things going one aren't all that huge, I've had no related pictures and I've been rather busy doing housewife-y type stuff (or being in the pool) and that doesn't really mesh with being able to type up a blog post.

First off, an adorable Gidgie:

Gidget (and Bitty) have their post-extraction check up this weekend so hopefully that will all be good news. Happy-doodle gets to go in with them so she can get her teeth cleaned as she now has the stinkiest mouth in our herd. Hopefully that will just be a cleaning, no extractions needed.

Next: our garden. Meh. We've only had marginal success here and I don't think there will be much improvement because things are so darn hot. My squash and zucchini have decided to die gracelessly (the zucchini without doing anything, the squash after putting off lots and lots of blooms - all male), my tomatoes are alive and kicking but only one Marglobe is doing anything (happily, that "anything" is growing a tomato), my peppers are pretty but unproductive (though we did get one jalapeño) and my butterbeans have finally lost the battle against the grasshoppers.

I hate the grasshoppers. They keep perching on windows and I am convinced it is because they are mocking me. "We just ate your tender butterbean leaves and they were delicious. Muahahaha!" Evil, stupid things. Many have drown in our pool and I can't find it within myself to be sad. Drown butterflies? They make me sad and guilty. Drowned grasshoppers? I want to do a little dance.

On the plus side with the garden (the grasshoppers have no plus side), the okra seems pretty happy. We've gotten slightly less than a dozen okra from it and it is doing its best to give us two more in a few days (the blooms are just buds right now). The grasshoppers have attempted to munch on them some but don't seem to like them.

We have managed to get enough okra to fry some up, but we got them from my parents' garden so I don't think it really counts.

They were really good though. I'd say I've officially learned how to fry okra without cornmeal. Millet flour works great (and tastes pretty much the same)! Thumbs up!

And speaking of frying, no picture but I did learn a new way of cooking venison - frying it! Dan gave me some cookbooks for my birthday (no, I actually wanted them, they weren't a hint about my cooking or the equivalent of giving me an iron or anything like that) and there was a recipe for batter-fried venison which turned out to be so tasty. They were kind of like steak fingers but better since I'm not a huge fan of steak fingers but I really liked these. It's good to have another way to cook venison since my dad keeps us fairly well stocked in it. (I did recently learn that you can actually buy venison, but I'm not exactly sure where. I don't think my grocery store carries it though they tend to carry lots of not-so-typical products.)

Oh, in other news: tea! I'm one step closer to my New Year's resolution to buy from some new tea vendors! My tea pantry was getting pretty thin - I was down to 68 teas, which might sound like a lot, but manages not to be when I'm more used to having 100+ teas - so I placed two orders, one with American Tea Room and the other with Le Palais des Thés. Neither order has arrived yet (since I just ordered them yesterday) but I'm looking forward to it! That plus some stuff I picked up at the grocery store today and I'm at a much more comfortable 86 teas in my pantry. Whew. I was worried for a bit.

Speaking of being worried, last week I came to the realization that I didn't have enough yarn for the top I was knitting. I had enough for the pattern as written, but I needed to top a bit bigger than the pattern and that left me with enough yarn to make basically a crop top. So I hunted down a second ball of yarn through Ravelry, ripped back my almost 5" of stockinette and started alternating the yarns. (For the non-knitters, since the yarn is hand dyed, I have to alternate between the two since the two balls are slightly different from each other. That way there won't be a noticeable line when I switch to the second ball.) So now I've got about two and a half inches done with another foot or so to go.

I'm hoping it will be done in the next couple of weeks but we shall see. Fortunately, my lovely HiyaHiya needles make the stockinette portion go so easily and fast. I'm still in love with them!

I think that's about it as far as recent news. (Which is good cause who really wants to read this much?) Oh, one little thing - tomorrow is our anniversary. Ten years! Yes, ten! I can't believe Dan and I will have been married for a decade. I'm too young to have been married that long! But I'm totally pleased that he's put up with me that long!

In celebration, I give you Cocoa belly.

We Match

When Dan and I were in St. Louis, Dan's mom got some nifty little nail polish strip things (specifically Sally Henson nail strips). I didn't get a chance to try them out while we were there (thanks, stomach flu) so she let me take some home to play with. And that's what I did last week.

As of last night, they started to chip a bit, but honestly, they've lasted six days, which is pretty impressive. Most of the time polish on my fingernails only lasts two days, three if I'm really lucky. And even though they have a few chips now, they still look nice enough that I'm in no hurry to take them off.

Not that anyone needs to know about my manicure, but I thought they were pretty wild. Plus, kitty picture!