The Cantina Staring Back At You From The Abyss

[Brightdreamer]

What is an 'ornament blitz', Brightdreamer?

The ornament blitz is me cranking out Xmas ornaments for family members, whether or not they want them. I've been doing it since 1993, when I painted up some cheap wooden nutcrackers in lieu of actually having any clue what anyone wanted for the holidays, and have only missed one year since. (Mostly, it's admittedly an excuse for me to actually make things, which I enjoy doing but I seem to need an excuse to let myself do it. And they haven't told me to stop making them yet.) They generally have some sort of theme: I did seashells and shark teeth the year the family did a beach vacation, and when my grandfather passed away I made mountain dulcimers (he made instruments as a retirement hobby).

Speaking of, just put in another order while there's something resembling paint selection available (again, heeding the numerous warnings of a major supply chain crunch come the holiday season.) Everything I'm getting can be used for other things, too, so it's not like it's a waste. Plus it's shiny. Shiny stuff is like chocolate, and chocolate is never wrong.

Hope the dog comes around soon... no advice to offer on a master evader like that. (With my cats, I resorted to dirty pool a few times and crushed meds, mixed them with Petromalt paste, and smudged it on their whiskers; they dosed themselves when they indignantly groomed it off. Don't think that would work with a dog, though.)

 

[MaeZe]

That's funny about the cat whiskers. Annie would rub it off on the back of the couch. She rubs her nose on stuff all the time to clean it or scratch it. I'm going to put very little food in the bowl and leave the peanut butter/meds. I'll wait her out. She gets hungry enough she might eat it. But it's still nowhere close to a day's dose. Hopefully I can find a vet tomorrow.

 

[greendragon]

I wish you best of luck with Annie, MaeZe... having a sick puppy is so stressful

 

[Brightdreamer]

Monday morning, meandering towards noon, and having an earlyish lunch on the theory that maybe I can get moving on something useful after lunch.

Sibling's been dropped by a gut bug that we're hoping is food related and not contagious; does not sound fun.

And I started poking at the story I was hoping to start shopping around. Looked at the other story - the one that could've been a match for an anthology - but it's a little rougher than I remembered. The one I'm poking at now is closer to ready, I think. (Plus the anthology's theoretically open through the end of the year, so I should have time to deal with it later.)

 

[E.F.B.]

Darn it all, FB had to go down globally right when I had a quiet moment to read crit group excerpts. And of course with all of last week's surgery stress I didn't download anyone's excerpts and now can't access our FB group to get to them. I've had to send an email out asking for everyone's excerpts. And to suggest that we might want to think about a back-up platform for our group unless we want to start trading excerpts and feedback via email and then just continue having our virtual meetings via Zoom. That doesn't sound like such a bad alternative, honestly....

In continuing family health drama, uncle has been getting his antibiotics for his infection(s). Seems he might have had some brewing in both legs, not just his foot. At first the hospital made it sound like they were going to take him straight to surgery to put in a pacemaker, but now it sounds like they're waiting until the infection is under control before they do that, which makes sense. But there is a bit of frustration in that my aunt, who lives with my uncle, can't get the hospital to talk to her because no one gave her a pin number despite uncle saying he told them that she's the one they should contact. Meanwhile, my dad, who lives 300 miles away from uncle, called down there yesterday and got a chatty nurse who told him everything that was going on just because he said he's the patients brother. The woman didn't ask for a pin number or anything, just took him at his word. But aunt calls the hospital a few hours later, tells them she's the patient's sister, and gets, "Do you have his pin number? Well, we can't talk to you unless you have that." What the heck? Hello, Sexism, is that you? Because that's utterly stupid that she's supposed to be uncle's contact and they won't talk to her, but they will talk to Dad.

 

[frimble3]

The ornament blitz is me cranking out Xmas ornaments for family members, whether or not they want them. I've been doing it since 1993, when I painted up some cheap wooden nutcrackers in lieu of actually having any clue what anyone wanted for the holidays, and have only missed one year since. (Mostly, it's admittedly an excuse for me to actually make things, which I enjoy doing but I seem to need an excuse to let myself do it. And they haven't told me to stop making them yet.) They generally have some sort of theme: I did seashells and shark teeth the year the family did a beach vacation, and when my grandfather passed away I made mountain dulcimers (he made instruments as a retirement hobby).

Speaking of, just put in another order while there's something resembling paint selection available (again, heeding the numerous warnings of a major supply chain crunch come the holiday season.) Everything I'm getting can be used for other things, too, so it's not like it's a waste. Plus it's shiny. Shiny stuff is like chocolate, and chocolate is never wrong.

Hope the dog comes around soon... no advice to offer on a master evader like that. (With my cats, I resorted to dirty pool a few times and crushed meds, mixed them with Petromalt paste, and smudged it on their whiskers; they dosed themselves when they indignantly groomed it off. Don't think that would work with a dog, though.)

If you want ideas for this year (all though I suppose you've already thought of a ton of things), how about something COVID-significant - simple ball-shaped Santa, elf or snowman heads, wearing little masks?

 

[MaeZe]

The doggie drama takes a turn for the worse. Her symptoms are back so she's clearly not well and probably on her way to an antibiotic resistant bacterial strain.

No one can see her today or even tomorrow. There is a vet at the Bamfield clinic but the guy who answered the phone won't so much as ask the vet if he can see her even though she was seen there in the first place and isn't better. When the vet she saw gets back I'm going to give her a piece of my mind, not that it will do any good.

They gave me the number to two other Bamfield clinics, neither of which could see her either. One of them suggested I try a clinic in Tacoma, an hour's drive south of here.

The emergency vet is still "at capacity" and the number they gave me to the nearby emergency vet isn't even answering the phone. They want you to leave a message and they'll call you back.

I guess it makes these guys all feel absolved from responsibility if they can give you another number to call.

Instead of calling a gazillion places only to find one that will see her if we wait nine hours I'm going to try again to get the antibiotic down. So far she ate around the peanut butter altogether. I'll wait a short bit to make sure the egg, maple syrup and bread stay down and I'll try again.

I am ready to try the 'shoving it down her throat' method next. You are probably right after all, Unimportant.

 

[CMBright]

If you can find a pill popper at a local pet supply store, those really help keep teeth away from fingers and make popping the pill down the throat much easier.

 

[Unimportant]

If you can find a pill popper at a local pet supply store, those really help keep teeth away from fingers and make popping the pill down the throat much easier.

Otherwise improvise by cutting the end off a 5 mL plastic syringe.

MaeZe, do you have any friends who have friends who are vets/vet techs/vet nurses? Can you put out a call for someone to pull in a favour for you, to get a house visit by somebody with vet experience? Dog breeders generally have a tame vet or vet nurse in their pocket.

 

[MaeZe]

Otherwise improvise by cutting the end off a 5 mL plastic syringe.

MaeZe, do you have any friends who have friends who are vets/vet techs/vet nurses? Can you put out a call for someone to pull in a favour for you, to get a house visit by somebody with vet experience? Dog breeders generally have a tame vet or vet nurse in their pocket.

Dog tales: season two.

Those pill poppers look interesting. And I have a gazillion syringes around the house. But given I couldn't even wipe her face after she tossed this afternoon, I'm not holding out much hope. She's truly an expert at the art of the dodge.

I gave up trying to get a vet to see her and tried one more time to get the med down. She was acting well, unlike this morning. I didn't feed her much but I also didn't worry about whatever might upset her stomach. Since she was avoiding anything remotely like peanut butter I used some spinach dip that is quite tasty. She swallowed the pills right down. Go figure.

And she kept them down for several hours before throwing up. It looked digested so I'm going to hope some of that antibiotic was absorbed. Bread and egg whites seem bland enough so I'm going to give her that in a bit and if she keeps it down, give her more antibiotic. I really don't know what else to do.

I made an appointment with a new vet for a month from now to get established with a vet that isn't the Bamfield drop-in clinic. They can't see her right away but maybe if she becomes an established patient, the next time we do need a vet we can see one. The vet we had for years retired a few years ago and I haven't really gotten established with another one. It's time to do that. She's old, this will not be her only medical issue.

 

[Unimportant]

You may be able to train her (trick her) to like the pill popper if you smear the outside end with a bit of something yummy. (Spinach dip? Honey?) After a few times, she'll develop positive associations (hopefully) and will let you put it in her gob long enough to deliver the pill for real.

Admittedly, I have no qualms being Mean Mummy. I'll pin a dog's head to the floor with my knee if necessary. Our setter screams like he's dying when I clip his nails, and I Do Not Care One Bit. I just clamp my fist round his paw and refuse to let go no matter what. Eventually I win, because I Always Do.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Still throwing healing vibes toward the ailing canine. (I'm stapling them to homing pigeons, so maybe they'll get there this time...)

Monday night, and I have to feign sleep earlier than usual because Mom has a PT appointment at gawdsawful o'clock and I'm the designated driver. Will have to wake up early enough to shower beforehand because simulated drowning will likely be all that keeps me from falling back asleep; not a morning person by nature.

Got a little more story poking in. It's actually fairly clean, just a few tiny bits to fix so far, then making sure the formatting fits whatever the people want at there end. And, yeah, figuring out who to fling it at first. Given my abysmal flung-stuff-reaching-target rate, I can't say I have high hopes of nailing a market, but might as well try...

And I just looked into tremor-reducing options for mice, because Dad's got some shaking issues on and off. Looks like there's software that can help, so we might look into that; I'm not sure how well he could adapt to an all new mouse shape, which some places say can help, what with the dementia.

 

[E.F.B.]

Admittedly, I have no qualms being Mean Mummy. I'll pin a dog's head to the floor with my knee if necessary. Our setter screams like he's dying when I clip his nails, and I Do Not Care One Bit. I just clamp my fist round his paw and refuse to let go no matter what. Eventually I win, because I Always Do.

Heh, I'm similar. When da lab mix got a wound in her side in August (long story, but it's totally healed now) I had to put her in a headlock under my armpit for mom to be able to clean the wound. We can't do her nails, though. Ever since a PetSmart employee accidently cut her in the quick as a one year old (and then the table rattled and scared her more), no one can touch them, no matter whether we try positive association or physical restraint. She's just too big, strong, and determined that those evil clippers shall not hurt her again. Thankfully, she's active enough they wear down on their own.

 

[Brightdreamer]

And it's Tuesday afternoon, drizzly and gray, and lost the morning to the PT run for Mom. (At least I got to park in the parking garage; brought my own light, so I could read for the hour or so I waited.) Then we shopped our way slowly home and got lunch. The car is sounding oddly loud, but feels like it's running smooth (doesn't have the lurch or sluggishness or weird smell or other heart-spiking alarms), so I'm just going to keep an eye (or ear) on it in case it gets worse; it's an older car, not worth hauling down to the shop unless there's a tangible reason. Probably just rodents doing rodent things; couldn't see anything when I popped the engine to look, but could be deeper in an air filter or something.

May take a pass on other productivity today, because rainy and tired.

--

And it's Tuesday evening, and I managed to get about halfway through the final pass on that story I aim to submit somewhere ("somewhere" to be determined when I'm done). Feel like I want to watch something, but am undecided on what; not having my little Bluetooth thingy to shoot sound from my PC to my headphones makes it distinctly less convenient to stream stuff without irritating family. (The new one is supposed to be here tomorrow, fortunately.)

 

[MaeZe]

Dog tales: the almost finale.

Last night she had quit eating the pills in the spinach dip and I had purchased one of those pill poppers. We had a knock down drag out battle (not really, I never hit my dog, but it felt like one). I tried everything from wrapping her in a towel to holding her by the hair on her chin. Maybe if there had been two people...

I got some of the med down, some made it to the floor, and I got a nasty bite on my leg that I hope won't get infected. I ended up in tears, literally. Not because of the bite but because I was so frustrated that she wasn't getting the antibiotic she needed.

I called the emergency vet, the one that couldn't see her before because they were "at capacity". I was hoping since it was midnight maybe they could see her. They couldn't but said to try in the morning. I set my alarm, woke up groggy as hell, called and begged them to see her.

And they did!!!!! Finally!!!! They've given her nausea med, a long acting antibiotic injection, and another short term antibiotic because the injection was a cephalosporin and drug resistance could be an issue. They also gave me more nausea med in a liquid form that maybe I can get down. The antibiotic is a pill but it's only for three days, not ten, and hopefully it's not as bitter.

 

[Gatteau]

Oh Maeze, I am so sorry for your doggie woes! Here's hoping this latest chapter will be the climax!

Hm, speaking of, I need to call the vet for more of the pup's flea & tick meds. Fortunately, they must taste delicious, because he gets very excited when it comes time for them. Spins around on his butt in circles, apparently forgetting how to do a proper Roll Over. Quite adorable. But he is also another beast who won't let us near his nails with the clippers. They are really getting out of hand. We've managed to do it once, with both of us laying on top of him, one with the clippers, one with the peanut butter. It's quite messy and everyone is exhausted by the end. Looking like about time to plan that attack again...

I'm trying to get into some NaNoWriMo prep this month, and recently I've had the feeling I'm going to end up prepping two different things. One is an idea I think is just the coolest, but hasn't been able to coalesce into a story I can actually write for a couple years now. I think perhaps I'm too intimidated by it or something. The other is a character and world I've been working on for that idea, but I'm no longer sure they really fit each other, and it might be more interesting to explore this on its own. So I guess I can work on building both things out in tandem, see which feels better by November. At least I actually have ideas, which is more than I can say for some past years. Woo hoo.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Hopeful that the canine saga is nearing a happy conclusion.

And I'm contemplating NaNo again this year (if they're doing the Scrivner discount for "winning" that they used to do years ago when I last completed one), but am not sure whether I have a novel-length story in the brain or not; got a sort of short story I wrote a while back that may or may not have a novel around it...

In any event, 'tis Wednesday afternoon, sauntering in an evening direction. Work is once again understaffed and overloaded, and I can't bring myself to give a dang anymore. (Also, Certain People are once again leaving their religious crud in the break room. I am coming exceptionally close to fighting fire with fire, here, since management's apparently okay with this - it keeps happening, and keeps happening, and it's passive but but as an atheist-leaning agnostic who is beyond sick of evangelical types cramming their beliefs into every nook and cranny of American existence on the presumption that everyone who isn't them needs "saving", it's really, really irksome.) And I'm still waiting for my replacement Bluetooth thingy so I can stream stuff in peace again; it's supposed to be out for delivery today, but who the heck knows when it actually shows up?

 

[Gatteau]

It looks like they are doing a Scrivener thing: free trial and 20% off for all participants. I think that deal is how I got it a few years ago too, though I feel like it might have been 40% then.

I didn't have a real novel to work on last year and it felt too stressful to force one, so I just took some existing characters I liked and threw them into a whole bunch of random situations, like linked short stories all taking place in the same world. That was kind of fun.

 

[Brightdreamer]

The 40% is what I remembered, as a code you got after validating the "win"... might even have been a full half off.

Will decide after I finish dealing with the current "short" story (17K), I think. If I decide to expand that one thing, there's research I want to do. Plus I need to decide if there really is more story around it. Or maybe I could do shorts in the same world...

Mergh.

Anyway, finally got my replacement Bluetooth thingy, but too late to do much with it tonight. And I didn't bother revising today because lazy. Need to do better tomorrow. Tonight, I might crawl into bed a bit early to get some reading time in; nearing the halfway point in my paperback, which is when the reading momentum usually really kicks in and I binge for longer stretches. (Not sure why that happens, but even if it takes me weeks to get around to the halfway point, I usually devour the rest of the book in a few days.)

 

[CMBright]

I am a rather mature parent. I took the little gas molecule, aka the 10yo, out for a walk today. I used to have energy like that. At forty it drained away for reasons that I never understood.

I'm a bit stiff from the distance. I suspect the kid would be up for a walk that was twice that distance, followed by playing in a playground for hours along with the same walk back and barely put a dent in all of that energy.

I love that kid, I just wish I could still keep up.

 

[Unimportant]

Dog tales: the almost finale.

Last night she had quit eating the pills in the spinach dip and I had purchased one of those pill poppers. We had a knock down drag out battle (not really, I never hit my dog, but it felt like one). I tried everything from wrapping her in a towel to holding her by the hair on her chin. Maybe if there had been two people...

I got some of the med down, some made it to the floor, and I got a nasty bite on my leg that I hope won't get infected. I ended up in tears, literally. Not because of the bite but because I was so frustrated that she wasn't getting the antibiotic she needed.

I called the emergency vet, the one that couldn't see her before because they were "at capacity". I was hoping since it was midnight maybe they could see her. They couldn't but said to try in the morning. I set my alarm, woke up groggy as hell, called and begged them to see her.

And they did!!!!! Finally!!!! They've given her nausea med, a long acting antibiotic injection, and another short term antibiotic because the injection was a cephalosporin and drug resistance could be an issue. They also gave me more nausea med in a liquid form that maybe I can get down. The antibiotic is a pill but it's only for three days, not ten, and hopefully it's not as bitter.

Oh, gosh, that sounds pretty danged awful. How's your leg?

But I am so relieved that a vet finally checked out the pupster and gave her the meds she needs. Fingers crossed that you will very soon be typing "And They All Lived Happily Ever After. The End" for this story!

 

[MaeZe]

Oh, gosh, that sounds pretty danged awful. How's your leg?

But I am so relieved that a vet finally checked out the pupster and gave her the meds she needs. Fingers crossed that you will very soon be typing "And They All Lived Happily Ever After. The End" for this story!

The puncture is okay, it's not warm so it's not infected. But there is a huge bruise around it, more because of the prednisone side effects than the actual injury.

Story's not over. She takes the liquid nausea med just fine in maple syrup. But there are 3 pills she needs. I'm not sure she even got 1/2 of one down this morning. I wish I'd have asked for a fourth pill in case I had any she spit out that I couldn't recover.

Right now it's a standoff: no other food until she eats the little bit with the pills in it. It works with kids but you can explain that to them, not so with a dog.

 

[Unimportant]

Are they capsules or tablets? How big are they (compared to her mouth)?

 

[MaeZe]

Are they capsules or tablets? How big are they (compared to her mouth)?

Small pills, not capsules. Size doesn't matter when you cannot get anything in her mouth she doesn't willingly put in it.

Tomorrow I will try crushing it so there is nothing to spit out or leave behind.

 

[Unimportant]

You might be able to break them into quarters and then coat each fragment with a thick paste of icing sugar and water. Let it dry and harden, and if she likes sweets she may eat them without getting the taste of anything but the sugar coating. Or use melted white chocolate.