When last we saw our Intrepid Heroine, she was cleaning out her fridge in the aftermath of last week’s pre-holiday ice storm.
Since then, Steve and I have. . .cautiously. . . replenished the fridge; and I have purchased a new U(ninterrupted) P(ower) S(upply), replacing the one that either (1) died of old age at a quasi-inconvenient moment (which is, after all, Time Honored) or! (2) took a hit during the fluctuating power surges which were a Feature of last week’s Weather Event, thereby saving the life of Jack the Giant Killer, aka, my desktop computer.
Steve and I also rose to the challenge of taking Mozart to the vet in the teeth of a mildish little snowstorm on Monday afternoon. Frequent readers of this blog will recall that Mozart celebrated his 15th birthday in March. The average lifespan for Maine Coon cats is about 12.5 years. The vet confirmed what we already knew, that Mozart is an Old Cat, and verified what we hoped was true — that he’s in pretty good shape, all things considered.
Despite this, Mozart had stopped eating — crunchies, gooshie food; not even baby food, the Food of Last Resort, tempted him — which was the reason why we had braved the snow to visit the vet.
The vet’s theory was that, given Mozart’s kidney function numbers are “high normal,” he might be feeling a little sour in the stomach, and thereby not interested in eating. So, after a little hydration, Mozart got a dose of appetite-increaser, and some special food to take home, in case he’ll eat it; and we got instructions to feed him whatever he’ll eat, and as much of it as he feels like eating.
Which, at the moment, is baby food. The special vet-food is OK, but baby food is much to be preferred. So, it looks like we’re on the right path, there.
Last night, we knocked off early to view “The Secret of Roan Inish,” a favorite in the Lee-Miller household. That was nice, though it appears that neither Trooper nor Sprite appreciate seals as much as they ought.
For those who are. . .concerned about the fate of the next Liaden book — yes, I am writing. Really. But this is a shy one — particularly so, after the exuberances of George and the Carousel books — and the only way to deal with a shy book is to pretend you aren’t really working on it. In these parts, that mostly means a dearth of snippets, but I’m sure we can all agree that having the whole book, written and turned in on time and in good order, is worth sacrificing a few snippets.
P’rhaps the next book will be more outgoing.
This morning, in between loads of laundry, I’ve been updating some of the pages at sharonleewriter.com and at korval.com. Take a look around, if you have a chance.
As I write this, we’re looking down the barrel of another Winter Storm Warning; we’re apparently going to enjoy the arrival of 6-10 inches of snow between 4 pm today and 6 am on Monday. That’ll give me a chance to shovel the steps and free the car and still make Sprite’s afternoon vet appointment (for annual shots).
And I think that catches us up — no, I’m wrong.
You have only until midnight Central Time on Tuesday December 31, 2013 to order a signed-and-personalized copy of Carousel Sun! Here’s the link.
You may order signed (but not personalized) copies until Uncle Hugo’s runs out, but do you really want to run the risk of not getting your copy? Here’s that link again.
There! Now, we’re caught up.
What is it with this year? I also have a shy book…one that has peeked out and then retreated multiple times in the past couple of months. So…I’m not even sure it’s a shy *book*–it might be just a shy story.
Maybe this afternoon the shy book will deign to come sit on my feet and stare at me until I understand its desires. Meanwhile, the non-shy story is under way pretty strongly.
When my Traveler cat (American shorthair, aka alley cat) was about 15 or so Andre Norton advised me to feed her turkey because she could not tolerate any commercial cat food, although she was willing to eat it. I cooked turkeys for her and diced them until she was 21 and said, “Enough”. I still miss her.
Did a double-take seeing Ms. Moon as a commentor. Last week I was in the used bookstore, and grabbed the trade paper of “Heris Serrano,” the three novels in one volume, more or less at random. Finished the whole thing last night. Fun. I may pass it on to one of my sisters who don’t read science fiction/fantasy but are horse people. I mean real horse people.
I am so glad for you all that Mozart is eating again!
I don’t mind waiting for a shy book. As with cats, one most observe the proprieties, of course.
But I’ve just finished Trade Secret (yes, I doled it out to myself in little, teeny nibbles, miser that I am!) and am glad to hear of my pre-ordered Carousel Sun in the woiks…
Kitties… well, we must do what we can, as regards their necessities, mustn’t we? I think we are all agreed upon THAT fundament of the Code. =)
Best of luck with the snow flurries… It’s too bad we can’t all live Under Tree.
do cats have some kind of fore=knowledge of the weather conditions worst for getting them to the vet on an emergency basis? Or is it just an extension of Murphy’s Laws?
As a Computer Person (since 1971) I want to remind everyone that a UPS uses batteries. Often those batteries are lead-acid like a car battery, and they lose capacity over time. So it is a Good Idea to once or twice a year check your UPS by saving everything and diconnecting the power. (You can usually replace lead-acid batteries in a UPS, but sometimes it makes more sense to buy a new one with different capacity and/or features.) Remember to recycle the old UPS or batteries rather than throwing them in the trash.