Me and my cat

Always listen to the brain niggles.

Just before Brian left, I awoke in the wee dark hours one morning to the sounds of a cat fight. I jumped up, opened our window, and called for Chuckie. There he was, barely discernible, in the yarn below; I didn't see 'anyone' else. I checked him over at chore time and couldn't find any wounds; I've continued to check him over periodically in case I missed anything. Nothing – although is it my imagination, or has he started to look ever-so-slightly less fat and shiny? If not my imagination, than probably seasonal;  he's losing some winter 'insulation.' He's been his usual lovable/ornery self; here he was Tuesday, lounging on the hay:

But this morning I sat down to give Chuckie some lap-time during chores, and the niggles turned to nagging, and then noisy sirens. His purr was subdued, his left hind foot was shaking, and his tail was super-sensitive. I looked closer, and could see that he had a couple angry-looking toes. Then he started meowing in a quiet, complaining way, and I noticed he was shaking, like he had a fever. Fortunately Rick hadn't left yet, so he got me some antibiotics from his truck for a likely infection/abcess.

So now my cat and I are both on amoxicillin (mine is prophylaxis after my tooth extraction).

Chuckie wasn't interested in his cat food this morning, but he did take a salmon treat before I insulted him with a dropper full of Clavamox. He took it better than I thought he would, though; I suspect that will change as he starts to improve. I will keep plying him with salmon treats in an effort to stay in his good graces.

Speaking of plying, here is my spindle this morning:

It's gone from deep purple to blue and is now going green – like a lot of trees and shrubs around here!

Some aren't to the greening stage yet, but are pregnant with promise:

The rain we got earlier this week certainly helps:

I haven't cast on a hat yet (I need more votes!), but I did get my yarn wound into a lovely gradient cake:

I'm thinking the purple at the crown and the red/orange at the brim. I need to take another vote!

That's it for now from . . .

Fits and starts

Yesterday was a busy day of appointments. I did have some time, in waiting and exam rooms, to ply. I like to think I give people something to look at while they are waiting; goodness knows I need something to keep myself busy! When I finally got home I was going to wind my Skittles yarn in order to cast on my chosen pattern, but started reading notes and found several bad reviews. I think the reviewers' issues could be solved with a tighter gauge/smaller needles, but do I want to chance it? So I looked through Ravelry for top-down hat patterns again, this time including patterns for purchase, and found this one. While not as slouchy as the first one, it has been made that way (example here). I only have around 150 yards and would like to use it all (hence the top-down preference). Which one would you vote for???

Other than pattern-waffling, my late afternoon/evening was totally unproductive because my gut started giving me grief for some supposed slight. I don't know if it's a complete coincidence or if I'm suffering from teenager deficiency, but my body seems to be sabotaging all my plans for getting things done while Brian is gone. Not that there was a lot of free time left after all the things I scheduled during these two weeks (I added a visit to the dermatologist next Monday after consulting with my ob/gyn yesterday)....

Unlike me, the chickens were very productive yesterday – nine eggs from ten hens!

This morning started with beautiful light:

I worked at the office job, attended and testified at a county commissioners' meeting on yet another proposed winery in our neighborhood, picked up horse feed, and got a haircut. Again, not a lot of time to get much done once I got home, but I did get Lance exercised, make supper and go for a two-mile walk with my husband, and take care of paperwork to get my four two-year-old ewes performance-registered with the Fine Fleece Shetland Sheep Association because I got their fleece histograms back from Texas A&M this morning. And with that, all nine of my breeding animals are performance-registered with FFSSA; hurray!

That's it for now from . . .

Treasures in bowls, sidelined

The chickens are returning to full production; Sunday they gave us five beautiful eggs, which I thought deserved to be equally beautifully displayed:

By Sunday afternoon I felt able to return to "full production" too, so I got busy with things other than blogging and sleeping. We visited some friends (the husband is Rick's woodturning mentor and the wife is a fellow spinner/knitter) and I got to see a WIP and an FO that both had intriguing stitch patterns. My fingers have been itching since I finished my February/March Ravelry challenge spinning project which I plan(ned) to ply for my April Ravelry challenge, but what I've really been jonesing to knit is my "Skittles" yarn spun and plied for an earlier Ravelry challenge. So after the visit I searched Ravelry and found the pattern for it, which motivated me to wash the yarn (I don't enjoy washing handspun yarn or knitting projects so they wait . . . and wait . . . and wait). Here it is washed and ready to wind into a ball,

which I planned to do yesterday after work. But while I was meeting with a student I mentored for his senior photography project, Rick texted that he was picking me up for a surprise outing. Eep! No time to wind the yarn and collect the tools, so I grabbed what I had set aside – the two smaller balls of the February/March singles and my big, elegant Birch Egret Jenkins spindle. And off we went to a Blazers game in Portland, me happily occupying my fingers during the drive with plying purple yarn.

The game was long and exciting. Our team struggled to get and maintain the lead. A tie at the end of the game sent us into overtime – then a tie at the end of overtime sent them into double overtime!

But minutes into the second overtime, tragedy struck. The Blazers' talented star center, Jusuf Nurkic, went down with a compound fracture of his left tibia and fibula, and although Portland ended up winning the game and securing a play-off berth, the mood in the Moda Center was hardly celebratory.

Fortunately, Nurkic has and will continue to receive the best of medical and rehab care, should make a full recovery, and will hopefully return to his career of choice. Those blessings had me pondering the more serious challenges faced by Blazers teammate Enes Kanter. I appreciate Senator Wyden's actions on Kanter's behalf, but given our current administration's love affair with autocratic rulers and the fate of dissidents around the world, I have shaky confidence at best that Kanter and his family back in Turkey will be protected.

This morning I got busy and vacuumed my filthy floors (having failed in my usual Friday chores due to vertigo) and enjoyed a ride on my mental health mustang. I figured I might not feel up to vigorous activities this afternoon after a tooth extraction. My neighbor was kind enough to drive me so I could take a prescribed oral sedative to take the edge of my anxiety, and it worked well – so well, in fact, that I came home and slept three hours!

More necessary appointments the rest of this week; have to take care of these things when I have scheduling freedom to do them, even if they aren't "fun."

That's the start of this week at . . .

Another day on the merry-go-round

Last week we attended a church in Salem to watch Brian's handbell choir play. These were three of my favorites:




This week Brian participated in Sabbath services in Guatemala and Rick participated here at our home church in extended activities. Me? I continued to lay low, trying to keep the spinning and nausea to a minimum. I tried a self-help treatment developed by a physician and shared with me by blogpal Alison, but it only made me more nauseated, so I took to bed for awhile. The dogs did their best to take care of me:

But eventually the sunshine lured me outside to look at the flowers, let the ewes out, and check for eggs.

Chuckie came running, then followed me up to the house to get as much attention as possible. Such a character!

Watching him lounge and pose makes me think that the inspiration for sexy centerfolds is feline!

After Rick got home Dozer got some lap time with 'daddy.'

Later when Rick was wiping off puppy paws so they could go back inside, Chuckie took advantage of his 'reverse lap'!

Thankfully walking doesn't aggravate my vertigo; tonight we went at sunset. Ever since, I've been doing okay; I'm cautious optimistic that tomorrow I may get to exit the merry-go-round.

That's it for now from . . .