See you later, dude

Claude passed away peacefully this afternoon. M and I were there to keep him company. I think in his next life Claude wants to keep his cat status and goofy personality but will negotiate to be the size of a Great Dane just so he can keep Chester and all other tabbies in line. Failing that, I think he'd be happy just to prance around in a catnip field somewhere, harass the local critters, and maybe catch an opera now and then.

We'll miss you, little guy.

Stupid cat*

Claude, our poor cow-cat, has been going through hell during the last few weeks. After his abscess drain and e-collar were removed, he perked up for a couple of days, but then lost interest in eating. The vet noticed that he had lost a lot of weight and looked a bit jaundiced, and was concerned that he might be developing hepatic lipidosis, so we tried a couple of different feeding methods, but he hated them and just seemed to get sicker. We ended up taking him to the local animal critical care clinic, where they hooked him up to a nasal feeding tube. He still doesn't like the tube, but at least he has stopped vomiting his food. The vets are still checking him out but suspect it's either pancreatitis or lymphoma. If it's pancreatitis we're hoping that he'll pull through if he's given some supportive care, but if it's lymphoma then things don't look good.


Claude getting down with his dapper self on a good day.


*Okay, fine, not stupid cat. Darned cat. Darned cow-cat who, less than a month ago, was bouncing around like a rabbit and smushing the inside of his ear all over my nose when he wanted me to wake up and give him his breakfast. Darned cat who was as capable of moving in a straight line as a broken shopping cart. Darned cat whose wildly waving tail of destruction could create chaos on a clean, empty tabletop. Darned cat who was full of piss and vinegar when he didn't want attention, and completely in our faces and all over our laps when he did. And darned me for wishing, despite everything else going on the world these days, that he were still well enough to be like that now.

More spinning and then some

I opened I can has cheezburger just as I took a sip of something, and nearly ruined my keyboard.

more cat pictures

In spinning news, I bought 4 oz of a wool-silk blend from the LYS. Here are some singles; this stuff is going to keep me occupied for a long time.




I try to comfort myself with the thought that, if we ever have an apocalypse, then as long as I have that drop spindle and the roving I can make my own dental floss.

Here's how it looks plied (yeah, I refused to ply it on the drop spindle...I just wish there were a way to do S-twist with the Lendrum regular flyer). Sorry about the poor focus--our camera doesn't like close-ups.

Longest 3 to 5 days ever

Our poor cow-cat had to go to the vet yesterday and today because his front right leg seemed a bit inflamed from all of his scraps with the tabby (bad tabby!). Yesterday the vet checked out the leg and said she thought it might be an abscess, so this morning we took him in and they anesthetized him, stuck in a drain, and...in the grossest insult to his dignity ever...clipped his claws. So now on one hand we have a hostile cow-cat who is barely able to walk in a straight line because of the painkillers and barely able to walk forward because of his Elizabethan collar, who is being given a foul-tasting antibiotic and hot compress every 12 hours, AND who has a rubber tube stuck in his leg.

Claude, showing his better side.

On the other hand (or side of the ring, it feels like), we have a tabby who opens doors and loves to chew on soft rubber and chase the cow-cat.

Chester, looking innocent.

The drain comes out in 3 to 5 days. In the meantime, we'll try to keep the two beasts separated. Aigh!

Der Dreifinger-Faultiere am Spinnrade* (and elsewhere)

The photo upload fairy finally visited. Here's what I've been up to:

1) I sang in the choir for Haydn's The Seasons last Sunday. It's a fun fun piece and my main regret is that I forgot to mention it earlier, so I'm going to compensate by plugging our next concert super-early. It will be on Sunday May 4 at 3 pm in Seattle's First Free Methodist Church, and will feature mostly Baroque music. The choir will sing Purcell's Masque in Dioclesian. Check the OSSCS website for more details.

It figures that that had no photos whatsoever. Anyway, going on...

2) I made my very first bread pudding, and judging from M's reaction it won't be the last. As usual, the recipe was from Joy of Cooking, but I threw in some walnut bread that was sitting around and topped the whole thing with raisins and chopped apricots.


3) I finished one of the German Stockings. The yarn is Trekking XXL and the needle sizes included 3 mm, 2.5 mm and 2.25 mm. The 3-mm set was for casting on so that I didn't end up with a tourniquet, the 2.25 mm was necessary to get gauge, and the 2.5 was for the cuff, because when I realized I had to go down a needle size I didn't feel like redoing the cuff, so I just ripped down to where the cuff ended and changed needle sizes there.


The horizontal stripes are, perhaps, not flattering to my leg shape, but unless I wear these with hot pants I don't think anyone will notice.

Come to think of it, if I did wear them with hot pants the stripes would probably be the least of my worries.

4) I've been procrastinating on the other stocking by working on some lacey stuff instead. First there is the Hydrangea Lace Scarf (you'll have to scroll a little down the left column). For this one I'm using a 2-ply silk-merino blend yarn that I spun last fall.


5) The other lacey thing is the Paisley Long Shawl. I'm making this one with Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight.


6) (the Spinnrade part) Back before Christmas, I picked up some roving at Urban Craft Uprising, and I finally started to ply it two days ago. It's...bright. And one bobbin is way fuller than the other. Odd...I could have sworn I split it properly.



*3-toed sloth at the spinning wheel. Sorry, Gretchen and Schubert.

Overload

I saw this on YouTube the other day. How can one creature be so damned cute?

Back in MY day...

I came across a speed-typing test link here and had to try it out. I guess that typing course in high school and the piano training came in handy (for more than playing piano) after all! Mind you, this score was for my second attempt, and I have a feeling the algorithm is more generous than what they used in high school (which was to exclude any characters/words typed after your third incorrect word).

107 words

Speedtest

Do people still learn to type first on typewriters, or do they start on computers right away?