Jupiter and Europa

NASA photo, my dialog

Hittin' some yard sales

Well, actually, an estate/moving sale and a garage sale, but anyway. It was my exercise for the day, a mile and a half (I was surprised it wasn't more - but then it was very hilly). I scored 7 Cherry Ames books (sans dust covers, and there are two of one title - that'll teach me to read the titles before scooping them up!), a tiny bird book that's lost its cover, so I'll have some fun re-covering it, a box cheese grater, and a brand-new 6" x 6" sketch book. That ate up my $10 cash. Walking to sales is a really good idea - not only is it good exercise, it keeps me from buying a lot of things, or any big things.

Still chilly here - 45° - but sunny and breezy. I heard my first cardinal of the year, but could NOT find the bugger even though there aren't any leaves on the trees yet. He was laughing at me, I'm sure.

At one curb I noticed what seemed to be an over-abundance of official markings: the concrete curb itself had been embossed with the contractor's name; there was a "this drain leads to river" disk, and right next to it was a manhole cover over a storm sewer access shaft. The cover was iron, with the Seal of Omaha:

I stood and stared at this for several minutes, trying to figure out what all the various images mean. But it's the one in the center that baffles me. It seems like it *should* be a buffalo head, but what's that object running down the middle of it? In white in this image - stamped in iron it just looks like a blob. Could be a not-quite-stuffed bag of wheat, maybe? I can't figure it out. Yay, city symbols!

In the rule book, right after

the rule that says the trainee grocery checker who's been holding up 13 customers for 15 minutes gets switched for the fast, experienced checker immediately after you move to a lane with a longer line, is

the rule that says the day after you bookmark a new blog because of a brilliant post you found through a favorite writer, the brilliant blogger walks away from their blog and forgets all about it for six months.

Yeah, I know privileged First World problems. I don't think of them as problems, though. If I remember, and try, I can relax into the thing and enjoy watching the people in the slow lane, and delve into the brilliant blogger's Archives and get to know more about them.

The little dickens

This forenoon I found a tiny little pink pill on the floor of the bathroom. This, after another fairly calm and easy pill-putting-down-the-throat. The little stinker! I gave it to her downstairs, and she had to go all the way upstairs into the bathroom to get it there. Going to have to be more careful. Trouble is, I have no idea whether it's this morning's or some earlier one. So I just discarded it, and we'll resume on schedule tonight.

The little dickens. She is looking and acting more like herself, though still thin; but this morning she ate her 2 Tbsp of Fancy Feast AND her brother's 2 Tbsp of Ocean Fish Formula so I'm taking that as a good sign.

Little things

Nothing big, here. O'Keefe and I are kind-of getting used to the administration of one tiny pill down her throat, two times a day. She doesn't like it, and neither do I, but perhaps we'll get to where it isn't so hard on both of us.

I got apps in for Medicare parts C & D yesterday, which was a HUGE relief. Just dental and vision coverage left to find.  So I felt like a grownup the rest of the day!

It's in the high 50s and sunny today! My mood can use the light. And the slightly longer days...oh, wait. Krep. We go back to CST - or do we leave it for DST? I can never remember - this very night. Well, when one's retired (have I mentioned that I'm retired?) the whole "losing an hour's sleep" isn't really an issue any more. I just need to remember to adjust all the clocks. I am so ready for Spring.

Some new kind of equilibrium, I think

Good news/bad news re: O'Keefe's blood work. Good news: no diabetes, her kidneys look good. Bad news: there may be something bad going on with her liver, but what the vet wants addressed first is hyperthyroidism. So, two tiny pink pills a day, morning and night. Two weeks of that then more blood work to see if it's helping. If so, she'll stay on that dose for life, or until it stops helping. I read the possible side effects of this stuff and they're pretty horrendous so I'm going to be keeping a close watch on that!

In more good news, O'Keefe seems to be feeling better, is up and walking around, going up and down stairs, though she is weak and may rest in the middle. She's eating Fancy Feast and drinking water. The vet says a Tbsp. of vanilla ice cream a couple times a day won't hurt and might help her put on some weight. She's not sleeping all the time like she was doing - this is a cat who *doesn't* lie around 16 hours a day sleeping, normally. Sometimes I've wished she *would* because instead she likes to bug the hell out of me with constant demands for pettins and attention.

Anyway, the intense worry stage is on hiatus for a couple of weeks. I don't think she's going to miraculously become her younger more vigorous self, but maybe I can make the decline easier and slower than what I saw over the weekend.

Still nothing noteworthy

Had a most successful Game Day here yesterday with my friends. We ate, laughed, and played 7 Wonders and Mille Bournes.

Overshadowing it for me is the illness of my little girl-cat, O'Keefe. I've got a 1:15 pm appointment at the vet's for her. Here's hoping it's something transitory and/or treatable.

MY sock #10 is just a few inches away from completion, then showing off the matching heels (accident! I'll never be able to do that on purpose) yesterday I clumsily let one of the needles slide all the way off about 25 stitches. ARGH! It'll take my 3rd Hand (magnifying glass on an articulated armature), a crochet hook, and large quantities of patience to fix that.

March 14th I'm entering a pie in Omaha Atheists's Pi/e Day Pie-off. Because Pie! Also, Pi. My pies aren't beautiful but usually they're tasty. Hmm. Maybe I should practice...heh.

Update: O'Keefe's got Feline Leukemia Virus. Waiting on further blood tests tomorrow. I have a sad.