Banshee196

Earthquake!

2009-12-17T04:37:55Z

Evidently there was a 3.5 earthquake at 8:53 PM in the county to our southeast, along the Humboldt fault. 0.o Since nobody was hurt...well, cool.

Oh cat, I hate Frontlining you. You were doing so well, for about 1 1/2 hours...and then you had to go and lick the spot, didn't you? And then you had to vomit on my rug and froth all over my living room and kitchen until I could get you to eat something to take the nasty taste away. Why must we do this every time?

I took a lot of snow off my roof this morning; I could've taken off a lot more. It's too cold for it to melt, but it is evaporating--slooooowly.

Dear Phil Jiminez: nice work on Astonishing X-Men, and thanks for remembering that Scott's nickname is Slim, heh. I hate it when artists bulk him up.

RAWR.

2009-12-11T04:39:42Z

I got up early this AM to clean up my driveway. The snow was indeed heavy. I only had time to get a lane for the car and I was beat after 30 minutes in -8F degrees. I thought I'd do a little more tonight and try to finish it tomorrow...

...but when I got home tonight the plow had come through AGAIN. Had sealed my driveway shut AGAIN. It was heaped so high there was no way I could've driven over it without tearing something off my car. Hey plow driver, if your ears were burning about 6:30 tonight, it was me. Lost a button off my damn coat too. Hurt my back. But the frickin' driveway is done.

Feels like my shovel is an extension of my arm.

2009-12-10T03:23:13Z

Started shoveling snow around 10:30 this morning. I had to take breaks--there was just too much and it was too cold (-8F wind chill) so I didn't get done until 5 PM...

...and then the snow plow came by and sealed my driveway shut. Dammit. Now I need probably around 30-45 minutes in the morning to take care of that. I tried tonight, but I needed a stronger shovel and I already couldn't feel my toes or wrists anymore, so I quit for the night. Rawr.

Now, at least, I'm warm and I've got a heating pad on my back so that feels better. I imagine I'll be pretty stiff in the morning though. Hope the crap in the driveway doesn't get too frozen overnight, it was already hard to move tonight.

Made it.

2009-12-08T15:50:10Z

I'm at work after a slower drive; the streets aren't in the best shape but still passable as long as you go slow. My motto for the next week (the rest of the winter, really) is 'slow & steady wins the race', heh. Don't think I'll stay much past 11:30, as the really heavy snow should be in here around noon or so, but if we're buried on Wednesday I thought I should give it a try today.

I picked up some 'allergen-free' food for Scotty last night from the vet. He ate a little bit of it this morning at least. That's my garbage pail. :) Although he's still in trouble with me for spitting out his steroid medicine last night. He has learned to block the back of his throat with his tongue and then wait until I'm not looking to spit it out. Clever little shit he is--sometimes I don't succeed at being smarter than the fuzzball. It's frustrating cause I'm trying to help and there's no way to make him understand that. Guess I'll be practicing some 'constant vigilance' and being 'top cat' with extra authority for a while.

Phew I'm sleepy. Thermal underwear in an already warm building will do that to you. But I'm ready to battle the snow when I get out of here!

That four letter word.

2009-12-07T22:01:29Z

Feeling more than a little spooked about potential for heavy snow on the way tonight...and more than a little tempted to just stay home tomorrow. I don't want to drive in it, don't want to get stuck in it...just plain don't want to deal with it. Seems strange that when I had my first job, I thought nothing about being up before the snowplows, making my slow way to work, digging myself out of snowdrifts when I got stuck. Guess I'm older and lazier now.

I'm a little disappointed. We had 3" of snow last night that I had to shovel this morning. I've been lifting weights since the summer, not a lot of weight but enough to keep me from hurting myself when I lay on my back wrong or whatever. I thought I might be a faster scooper. That...wasn't the case this morning. :/ On the other hand, I had a lot more stamina, wasn't winded, and I'm a little stiff now but not sore. Go me!

Darn it.

2009-12-06T05:37:22Z

One stinkin' point. Phooey.

Afternoon entertainment...

2009-12-04T20:04:39Z

...is watching co-worker T clean up the telephone of VP M because "it squicks him". With alcohol. He even cleaned the cord. And I thought I was a germophobe.

Thanksgiving.

2009-11-27T02:25:27Z

I had dinner with my grandma today at her care facility. The food was pretty good--I was surprised. She seemed happy that I came. Wish I could've stayed longer, but I had to go check on Sithcat at the parents' house and I wanted to get back into town before dark. Sithcat spent a frantic hour and some on the deck outside after being cooped up for 3 days--an interloper cat has been on his turf (I scared it off when I pulled in the driveway) and he desperately wanted outside so he could go re-scent everything. Since I got back I've been cleaning for the company coming tomorrow evening...I have to work tomorrow too, bleah, but only for 4 hours. Scotty seems better today, not licking or scratching himself as much. So it's been a good day.

Silence at last.

2009-11-20T20:04:36Z

Unceasing cougher--and coughing to the point of gagging--has gone home. (I keep trying to coax him to see his doctor, so far no luck.) Others are at dentist or out to lunch. Blessed silence at last.

Now if only it was 6:00...

Well crap.

2009-11-18T04:41:21Z

Scotty had a vet visit tonight, and his skin problems are worse. We're going to try adding an antihistamine to his steroid regime, and if that doesn't work, we'll be looking at changing his food in case of food allergy, or anti-anxiety medication, or a third option to dull sensation in his pain/itch receptors in his skin, which are evidently one and the same in cats. So instead of going to CO for the holiday, I think I'll be staying here, since not only is he going to require meds twice a day (which is a lot to ask of a caregiver) but the vet said that if any of this is due to anxiety, my being gone for 6 days could be a really, really bad idea. And in the end, Scotty is my baby and he comes first. It just sucks, because I really wanted to go to CO, but I want him healthy more.

On the bright side of things, I guess I'll spend Thanksgiving with Grandma, so she won't be without family on the holiday. And I can go check on Sithcat at my parents', because 6 days alone is too long for him, really. And I can hang onto my vacation time, but I might take Friday off if I can get away with it...I think our game with CO is 2:30 that afternoon. I should be able to, there are already going to be a lot of people taking the day off, and I'm kind of hoping the office will just shut down for the day for once.

Voice geek.

2009-11-10T05:03:52Z

Watching Monster tonight...

I like Liam O'Brien in just about anything I've heard him in, and I did the happy dance when Jamieson Price came on tonight...but I'm congratulating myself on picking out Doug Erholtz when he's so not sounding like Conrad. Can't hide that distinctive purr, dude!

::is geek::

Wheeeee!

2009-11-08T04:33:45Z

SHUCKERS!!!!!!

My right big toe is black and blue after breaking a dinner plate's fall. Woe. And ow.

Big effin ACK.

2009-11-05T04:26:38Z

News story tonight about a cat in Iowa contracting H1N1 from its sick owner. Both recovered. A ferret in Nebraska wasn't so lucky. But another ferret in Oregon managed to recover.

OK, this just scares the crap out of me. I mean, it's one infection out of how many households with cats? But the idea of getting H1N1 and giving it to Scotty...sheez.

EDIT: Oops, both ferrets died, according to this: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jr75crEkS7CYHpDahQAdaXRWCdbwD9BP0G3O0

How lame am I?

2009-11-04T04:32:55Z

I turned up the heat in the house tonight. Not because I'm cold, but because Scotty is. I am a sucker! But he's a much happier kitty boy tonight, ha ha ha.

Rainy afternoon.

2009-10-22T20:13:49Z

It's raining (still!) outside and I had creamy chicken & wild rice soup in a bread bowl for lunch and stayed up until midnight last night partaking in RightStuf's DMP sale (saved @ $90, probably $100 if you count the free shipping). I am soooo sleepy and I need to work on the 3rd quarter taxes...zzz...

Wheeee, RightStuf is having a Go Comi sale...40% off, here I come! (I'm ordering future books for both sales, so it won't be available all at once, otherwise I might be able to hear my credit card actually scream, heh.)

Dad to the rescue.

2009-10-17T02:21:59Z

Earlier this year, a tornado went over my parents' neighborhood. The neighbors to the west lost their garage. Recently they began rebuilding, so there have been workers coming back and forth during the day. The garage will be actually more like a barn, so it's going to be pretty tall.

Dad went outside today planning to mow the lawn with the garden tractor and was getting ready to get it out of the garage when he heard a 'popping noise' followed by what he thought was a moan. Mind you, the neighbor's garage is at the bottom of the hill, so it's remarkable he heard the noise at all. He thought it sounded wrong, so he told my mom he was going to go check and went down the hill to investigate.

He found a man lying on a cement slab poured for the garage, a ladder lying nearby. The guy wasn't moving and his color was bad--my dad thought he was dead. He knelt by him, asked if he was okay. The man opened his eyes and talked to Dad--he'd fallen off the ladder while working on the garage, dropped maybe 6 feet and fallen on his back on the cement as well as hit his head. He had his cell phone in his hand but couldn't move enough to dial it.

Dad ran to the neighbor's house--a little distance, because she was home but hadn't heard the ladder go down; she didn't even know he was working on her garage, she thought all the workers had left. She called 911 and they both went back out with a blanket to cover the man. My mom arrived and went to the end of the driveway to wave in the rescue crews. Ironically, the man is a volunteer with one of the local fire departments, and he was fretting about having to ride 20 miles in their 'old and crappy' ambulance. Evidently moving him off the slab was awful, he screamed the entire time. But he was able to move his legs for them.

His wife came later to get his pickup and gave Dad more news. Her husband is in bad shape--sixty years old with 7 broken ribs and 3 crushed vertebrae, and a concussion. But he's alive. Five minutes later, and my dad would have started the tractor and wouldn't have heard him fall. He would have laid there for hours, until the neighbor went to get the mail, and even then she might not have seen him. Maybe he would have been able to move enough to dial the cell phone...or maybe not. I'm not fanatically religious, but in instances like this, I don't believe in coincidence. The guy must have a guardian angel.

Dad's plenty spooked and seems a bit annoyed with himself that he 'couldn't help more'. But really, he did the most important thing--he found the guy minutes after he fell. I hope the man will be okay--60 is a crummy age to have such severe injuries.

I guess sometimes it really is all about being in the right place at the right time.

Hurray!

2009-10-16T03:56:51Z

I have a working porch light again! Just in time for Halloween trick or treaters, which is good, 'cause I bought a lot of candy tonight that I don't want to get stuck with like last year. Thanks, baby brother!

A letter came today.

2009-10-14T03:11:38Z

It was from the College of Veterinary Medicine in Missouri, saying sorry about Remy's passing and letting me know that my veterinarian made a donation to them in his memory. I'm...touched, actually. Hopefully sometime soon I can scrape together a little money and make my own donation.

WTH, weather gods?

2009-10-11T03:04:56Z

We had an inch of snow this morning. Out west they had a foot. 0.o It's only the 10th of October. I think most of it melted this afternoon, only went outside briefly and could see my breath. I decided it was much nicer inside.

I feel like I'm coming down with something, but my allergies have been so bad this week it's hard to say. Smelly co-worker coughed all over me Thursday, and has been out sick since Thursday afternoon. Dammit. I've been headachy and sniffly; the left side of my face and even my teeth hurt like heck until I took some aspirin and Mucinex a few hours ago. I feel a little better now. Still could be allergies, so I'm kinda glad about the freezing temps and snow. Take that, ragweed!

Cranky boy is cranky.

2009-10-05T00:32:00Z

I'm washing Scotty's blanket. He's more than a little unhappy about it. :) Hang in there buddy!

Yucky 'ol Frontline.

2009-10-02T01:19:07Z

No staph infection. No critters found. More scratching wounds, yay. So we decided he's getting steroids every other day for a while because the pollen count is so high right now that trying to wean him off just isn't a good idea. And he got a dose of Frontline, just in case.

Poor Scotty--I warned the vet he was very fastidious, tends to overgroom, and very agile. She put the stuff between his shoulderblades and was certain he couldn't reach it. Ha ha. He keeps going back there to lick and starts drooling, so I'm trying to keep him calm and quiet so I don't have to go back to the vet and get him a E-collar that will drive him batshit until this stuff dries.

::sighs:: At least he's eaten, finally. And I think I've found the worst of the drool splats. Gah.

sigh

2009-10-01T20:53:34Z

Back to the vet tonight for Scotty kitty, after he tried to scratch his right ear off. Lucky us. Phooey.

Finished X-Men: Misfits today.

2009-09-28T02:55:25Z

I am a fan of both the X-Men and manga, so I was looking forward to reading the Misfits manga. Story-wise, I didn't mind the "reimagination" of the story, nor the bishonenification of the characters. Dandy!Magneto and the Beast in particular were pretty amusing. But the art...it was hard to tell the boys, especially the "Hellfire Club" boys, apart.

The worst thing about this manga? was what the heck happened to spunky, sassy Kitty Pryde? Hey, writers, how about keeping a little of the original character's personality in your shoujo heroine, OK? This Kitty was wishy washy and emo and hard to identify with. I'll still probably get the next volume, so I hope it'll be better.

Whoa. And ew.

2009-09-27T01:15:27Z

That was some hit Tebow took...and they just took him back to the locker room with a red bucket he's puking into. Guess he's got something "respiratory" going on, so...is it a concussion, or is it H1N1? Wonder how long before video goes up on YT?

WTH, Urban Meyer? Bringing sick kids to a game? And not taking said sick kid out at halftime before he gets his bell massively rung and you're already up 24 points? For shame.

Explanation at last.

2009-09-17T17:33:50Z

The worker's comp inspector phoned this AM to apologize for the confusion Tuesday with the telephone calls and his accident. 0.o Evidently he went across the street to take a picture of the exterior of our building (assuming this is to show we're not in a factory or construction site) with one foot on the curb of the wheelchair-access sidewalk and the other on the regular curb--and slipped and fell. He hit his head and hurt his hand when he tried to catch himself, hence the paramedics. I asked if he was OK and he said yes, "but it was the stupidest accident ever!"

Well, maybe not ever...but I can't disagree with his assessment. However, I kept my mouth shut, cause I am glad it wasn't more serious.