Knitnut.net. Watch my life unravel...
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Posted by zoom! on August 6, 2008, at 10:12 am |
Health update:
Yesterday Nancy left a bottle of wine at my door, so I got a little high on wine and Robaxicet and it seemed to help me turn the corner on this backache. (Thank you Nancy!) I’m still bent over and walking weirdly, but there’s definitely an improvement in terms of pain and flexibility. I think I’ll be able to have to go back to work tomorrow.
Home update:
It’s funny how you put off doing things when you can do them, but you suddenly want to do them when you can’t. (I say this like you do it too, but maybe you don’t.) I’m thinking specifically of the outrageous weeds which are my front garden. These things are taller than I am, and I’m not even kidding. I had no desire to weed the garden until I was immobilized by this backache, and now it’s driving me nuts that I can’t.
Duncan update:
In other news, PetSmart has run out of Feliway, which is the kitty aromatherapy product the vet recommended to help Duncan feel happier so he wouldn’t pee on the bed again. I went to two PetSmarts last week and they were both out of it. They’ve got it on back order, but Duncan hasn’t peed on anything else since the original two incidents, so maybe I’ll just save the $38 and consider the problem solved.
Camera update:
I’m leaning towards the Canon Powershot A650, but I might be just as happy with a less expensive camera.
Struggling artist update:
I made this.
It’s a mixed media collage. It incorporates acrylic paints, image transfers of old photographs and a playing card, sheet music, crumpled paper, and text blocks from classic feminist books.
I like it!
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Posted by zoom! on August 4, 2008, at 2:38 pm |
I hurt my back last week and have been pretty much incapacitated ever since. I don’t know how I did it. There was no heavy lifting, no sudden pain, nothing like that. Just one morning my back hurt, and as the day went on it got worse.
Sitting and lying down are reasonably comfortable, but standing and walking aren’t. And it gets worse as the day goes on. Most of the things I like doing can be done sitting or lying down, so it’s not that bad. But I’m due to go back to work tomorrow and it seems so unreasonable to call in sick after 37 days off work. I just don’t think I can get downtown like this. I haven’t left the house in days. I’m running out of food.
I’ve been getting an unusally good look at my floors as I shuffle gingerly, bent in half, from couch to fridge to computer to bed. I’m not a clean freak, not by any stretch, but I find myself thinking “While I’m down here I should maybe clean that up.”
But then when I try, I realize I’m only halfway down there, and the logistics and effort required to get the rest of the way down there is considerable. I’ve caused myself a few sudden jolts of acute pain by trying to do things like that. Sometimes the slightest twist can cause the sharpest pain.
Anyway. It’s inconvenient and it hurts, but I know it’s not serious. I’ve had it before. It goes away by itself after a few days.
On the bright side, Duncan is happy because I’m much closer to the ground now. He also likes that I’m spending more time reading on the couch. You know how cats are.
Photo Credit: My friend Gilles Seguin, taken in Erieau
Posted by zoom! on August 3, 2008, at 2:04 pm |
I made the mistake of reading several hundred comments on the Yahoo Canada News site yesterday, as people responded to the gruesome decapitation on the Greyhound bus.
The right-wing redneck racists were out in full force with their appalling opinions and atrocious spelling. They were clamoring for the guy’s head. Literally. They were blaming immigration policy. They were condeming Asians. They were huffing and puffing about how they would have jumped the guy and saved the victim’s life, unlike those 36 cowards who actually happened to be there. They were demanding the right to carry handguns so they could have shot the attacker themselves. They were criticizing the police for not shooting him on sight. They were asking what a person has to do to get charged with first degree murder in this country. They were screaming for reinstatement of the death penalty.
I was actually a little embarrassed, as a Canadian, reading what all these wingnuts had to say. Quite apart from our Canadian values, what’s happening to our education system? How come we have so many ignorant, illiterate, opinionated people on Yahoo Canada News?
And then there are the Chicken Little types, who see this one isolated incident as proof that the world is full of murderous monsters and we’re not safe anywhere anymore. They’re demanding that we immediately institute airport-type security on all the buses, and every person and every piece of luggage should be searched and all the bus drivers should carry guns.
People! Get a grip! It’s not about the bus – the bus was incidental. It could have happened on a city bus or a sidewalk or a mall or a public swimming pool or anywhere. We can’t invest resources in trying to prevent something that almost never happens, could happen anywhere, and affects almost nobody. It’s a monumental task and it’s just not worth it in terms of money, inconvenience, and the loss of our civil liberties.
If we’ve got that kind of money to invest in crime prevention, let’s do it wisely: put it into mental health resources, poverty reduction, recreation programs for at-risk kids, housing, or community development!
TAGS:
crime, violence, decapitation
Posted by zoom! on August 2, 2008, at 9:54 am |
Posted by zoom! on August 1, 2008, at 12:18 pm |
I feel bad about my last post being so gruesome and morbid. To cheer us all up, here’s a picture of my niece Kati’s cat, Tucker, whom Kati describes as a smart and delicate creature. I think Tucker should have his own blog, don’t you? And a TV show. And staff.
Photo credit: my sister Deb.
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Posted by zoom! on August 1, 2008, at 9:44 am |
I’m sure you’ve heard by now of the horrific beheading of a sleeping passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba. The stranger sitting next to him just suddenly started repeatedly stabbing him and then hacked off his head and carried it around.
I can’t even imagine how traumatized those poor travelers must be. I felt vicariously traumatized just listening to the radio interview with one of the passengers. There’s something about decapitation that just seems infinitely worse than plain old stabbing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way, because this story is making headlines all over the world.
Like most people, my first reaction was shock and horror. And then I felt so sad for everybody, because a lot of lives are going to be forever changed by this tragedy, and not for the better. I felt sad for the victim, his family, the witnesses, and the perpetrator and his family, because clearly he was psychotic and he and his family had probably been struggling with his mental illness for years.
So then I’m checking out news stories about it, and I read this:
“Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the full weight of the law must be brought to bear on the perpetrator.
‘We want to make sure the process is followed as aggressively as possible, the full legal process . . . . ‘ Day said from Levis, Que., where Conservative MPs are gathered for a summer planning session.”
How could punishment be the first thought that springs to mind when you hear about something like this? The full weight of the law? Aggressive prosecution? Deterrence? Does Stockwell Day believe the courts need to send a strong message to the rest of us that we won’t get away with hacking each other’s heads off?
This is a mental health problem, not a criminal justice problem. It’s not a Public Safety problem, because how can you possibly prevent isolated incidents from ever happening again? It has nothing to do with Stockwell Day, Public Safety, the Conservative Party or the Government of Canada. The only interest they should be taking in it is from a mental health perspective – did this man have unmet mental health needs that could have been identified and met before yesterday? Are there other Canadians in critical need of mental health resources, and what can we do for them?
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Posted by zoom! on July 31, 2008, at 12:07 pm |
The other day I met with most of my band – The Blue-Eyed Hermits and One Black Guy – at the Carleton Tavern. Ten groupies also showed up.
We have meetings periodically to review applications from people who want to join the band, and to talk about things like where and how often we should practice, and what kind of music we should play (there’s currently some unresolved tension between Hip Hop and Baroque).
It was an excellent afternoon, although now that I think about it I we didn’t accomplish anything or make any decisions.
My son, who plays the turntables for the Hermits, suggested that I give him my current camera for his birthday when I buy a new one. Good idea. It’s a perfectly good 3-year-old Canon Powershot A610 that takes good pictures. The only thing I don’t like about it is that the viewing screen is too small for me. My son, being half my age, doesn’t have this problem.
The very next day I went out for lunch with a friend. He dropped me off at my place afterwards. I got out of the car and dropped my camera case on the sidewalk. I picked it up. Then the camera fell out of the bag and smashed on the sidewalk. I picked it up and tested it and it still worked.
But not very well. The casing is bent and the menu doesn’t work anymore.
So it looks like my son and I will both be getting new cameras.
Any recommendations?
Posted by zoom! on July 30, 2008, at 2:06 pm |
Okay! I just got back from the laundromat, where I washed the duvet in a super-industrial front-loading washing machine which only takes quarters – eighteen of them.
Duncan went to the vet yesterday and she believes, as most of you do, that his peeing on clothing and the bed is a reaction to GC and TD (The Dog). She recommended letting Duncan get used to GC first before re-introducing TD very slowly and gently.
She also recommended Feliway, which is a kitty aromatherapy product, and she gave me some cleaning tips (ie never clean up cat pee with bleach or ammonia-based products or vinegar, because those products will remind the cat of pee and make him want to compete with them by peeing on them). (Cats are so complicated.)
The vet sent Duncan down to the basement with Jessica, the vet tech, to get a urine sample, so she could rule out urinary tract infections and crystals in the urine, which are both common causes of inappropriate urination in cats.
Jessica returned empty-handed several minutes later and said “I can’t get my hand around it.” I have no idea how they collect urine from cats, but this statement gave me pause.
So the vet went down to the basement to see if she would have better luck. She returned with Duncan but no urine sample. “I couldn’t get it,” she said, “because he’s too fat.”
How rude is that??
 She then weighed Duncan, who has gained almost a pound since January*, and declared that he Must Lose Weight. Expensive diet foods were discussed and caloric calculations were made. I decided that we would tackle the diet after we’ve solved the other problem. First things first.
I was sent home with instructions to collect the urine sample myself. The method? Empty the litterbox. Wash it. Dry it. Sprinkle two little containers of non-absorbent kitty litter (provided by the vet) in the litterbox. In the morning, pour the urine into an empty container (provided) and deliver it to the vet. This method of couse depends on the cat’s willingness to use the facilities rather than the bed, and fortunately Duncan cooperated. The sample is being analyzed as we speak. I should know more before the day is out. (Remember when I had to collect a urine sample from my dog, Sam? That was a completely different procedure.)
Meanwhile, Duncan has not peed anywhere else that he oughtn’t. I keep my bedroom door closed during the day so he won’t be tempted. (The bedroom was the scene of the crime in both cases.)
I have no choice but to solve this problem as quickly as possible because I can’t live with the smell of cat pee everywhere, and I can’t live without Duncan.
Your comments, by the way, were so insightful and interesting. And some of them were hilarious.
*9.38 kg = 20.6793 lb
OR 20 lb and 10.86 oz
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Posted by zoom! on July 29, 2008, at 3:32 pm |
I really hesitate to tell you this, because I know you all love Duncan and I want you to keep on loving him and if anything could make you stop loving him, this would be it.
Last night, after I sang Duncan’s praises on this very blog, with the list of ten (okay, eleven) things I adore about Duncan…I went to bed only to discover that Duncan had peed on my bed.
PEED! ON MY BED! DUNCAN!
I was shocked and appalled, but the irony was not lost on me that he did this the very same day I blogged so lovingly of his wonderfulness and perfection. You’ve gotta hand it to him, he’s got a wicked sense of timing.
I immediately got out of the wet smelly bed and started doing laundry and consulting the internets for cat psychology and laundry tips. The sheets, duvet cover and mattress cover have all been washed, but the down duvet? At this moment it is out hanging on the clothesline while its fate hangs in the balance.
I made the bed with clean sheets and no duvet. Duncan cheerfully joined me in bed for some of our trademark snuggling while I lay there wondering what the hell he was thinking.
Here are some of the contextualizing facts which might have something to do with this bizarre turn of events.
1. Duncan had no litter box issues before last week.
2. For the first time since Duncan moved in, there was someone besides him and me in our bed last week. (For now, let’s just call him the Gentleman Caller, or GC.)
3. GC asked me one morning last week “Is it possible Duncan peed on my clothes during the night?” I replied, “No, it’s impossible, Duncan would never do something like that.” He then held out his soaking wet, cat-pee-scented clothing and I was appropriately horrified and forced to concede that maybe it was possible that Duncan might have had something to do with it.
4. There were no further incidents until he peed on my bed yesterday, which was three days after we last saw GC.
Some additional context:
1. Duncan seems to like GC.
2. GC brought his dog over for a brief visit a day or two before the clothes-peeing incident. Duncan hid from the dog and did not unhide until several hours after the dog left.
Some theories:
1. Duncan is jealous of GC and has a passive-aggressive streak.
2. Duncan likes GC but doesn’t want him in our bed.
3. Duncan misses GC because he hasn’t been around for a few days.
4. Duncan is stressed because there was a dog in his house.
5. There’s something physiologically wrong with Duncan.
6. Something else entirely.
I’ve made an appointment with the vet for 4:00 this afternoon, just to rule out physiological causes, but I’m pretty sure it’s psychological. Duncan’s got issues.
I’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime please share your theories, ideas and suggestions. Especially if you’ve ever had any luck getting a Cat with Issues to STOP peeing on your bed.
TAGS:
Duncan, cat
Posted by zoom! on July 28, 2008, at 10:01 pm |
He smells yummy.
He makes sweet sounds, like sighs and snuffles and snores.
He’s a luxurious and decadent creature.
He snuggles up and wraps his arm around me when we’re falling asleep.
He holds hands with me.
Nobody naps better than Duncan.
He’s got all the best dog-like qualities: he follows me around, he likes to watch me cook, he comes when he’s called.
He makes me laugh.
He’s got personality and good looks.
He likes it when I wake him up for a hug.
He strokes my face with his big soft velvety paw.
I didn’t know any of these things about him when I chose him from among all the cats at the Humane Society, but somehow I picked the perfect cat for me. (Robin helped. Robin pointed right at Duncan and said “Zoom, I think you should get that one.”)
I love this picture my son took of Duncan and me on his cell phone.
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