Home Again
Dec. 7th, 2023 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee341. I got home yesterday and slept in my own bed on clean sheets, and it was glorious.
I had been very anxious about this conference; I know many of you travel frequently, but I don't, and I was worried about basically every step of the process. LOL But it all worked out fine, and I think I will be more confident the next time this sort of opportunity arises.
2. Fiona got second place in the poetry competition at the Beta Convention, which qualifies her to go the National Beta Convention competition! It's being held in Savannah this year, so she'll definitely get to go; she didn't go last year despite qualifying because it was too far away. We are very proud of her. :)
3. I think we have finally found a regimen of meds that is working for Sammy's asthma. He takes an antiviral pill twice a day followed by an OTC supplement that is also an antiviral. He is such a good kitty. I shake the pill bottle, and he comes running and lets me pick him up. I put him on his back in my lap with his head against my chest and pop open his mouth, and he swallows down his pill with no fighting. Then he runs to go get his next med which is in paste form. Originally, we bought this med as a chew, and he would have nothing to do with it. We mixed it in his food, ground it up and mixed it with water, whatever--he would not eat it. So, I bought it as a paste with the intention of just holding him down and squirting it down his throat if necessary. Indeed, he would not eat it at first, but after a week of squirting it down his throat, Sammy decided his paste is the bomb, and now he begs for it.
We also have acquired a kitty inhaler but not had to use it yet. We've been getting him used to the mask, and he doesn't seem to mind it. We'll see.
4. When A. S. Byatt died, I didn't have the chance to make a proper post acknowledging how much her writing has meant to me since I encountered it decades ago. I'll link my Byatt reading tag here because I talk at much greater length in each of those posts about her novels and short story collections than I will here, especially Possession. That book was a game changer for me when I first encountered it as a college freshman and remains very special to me. It encapsulates like nothing else I have ever read the joys and frustrations of literary scholarship. The Potter Quartet is a structural masterpiece; I remember the moment when I was reading the final book and I realized what Byatt had done structurally with the way each book is introduced and the chronology and the awe I felt at that realization. And then, always, the words--such beautiful, beautiful words--sentences to read over and over again because they're too lovely to be done with quickly. I'm sad there will be no new words but glad the ones she gave us are words I want to visit again and again.
5. And last not but least,amejisuto sent me a wonderful early Christmas present--Brent Spiner's Fan-Fiction and a beautiful bookmark that says, "I have been and always shall be your friend." <3
I also got my first Christmas card of the season fromtroisoiseaux!
I had been very anxious about this conference; I know many of you travel frequently, but I don't, and I was worried about basically every step of the process. LOL But it all worked out fine, and I think I will be more confident the next time this sort of opportunity arises.
2. Fiona got second place in the poetry competition at the Beta Convention, which qualifies her to go the National Beta Convention competition! It's being held in Savannah this year, so she'll definitely get to go; she didn't go last year despite qualifying because it was too far away. We are very proud of her. :)
3. I think we have finally found a regimen of meds that is working for Sammy's asthma. He takes an antiviral pill twice a day followed by an OTC supplement that is also an antiviral. He is such a good kitty. I shake the pill bottle, and he comes running and lets me pick him up. I put him on his back in my lap with his head against my chest and pop open his mouth, and he swallows down his pill with no fighting. Then he runs to go get his next med which is in paste form. Originally, we bought this med as a chew, and he would have nothing to do with it. We mixed it in his food, ground it up and mixed it with water, whatever--he would not eat it. So, I bought it as a paste with the intention of just holding him down and squirting it down his throat if necessary. Indeed, he would not eat it at first, but after a week of squirting it down his throat, Sammy decided his paste is the bomb, and now he begs for it.
We also have acquired a kitty inhaler but not had to use it yet. We've been getting him used to the mask, and he doesn't seem to mind it. We'll see.
4. When A. S. Byatt died, I didn't have the chance to make a proper post acknowledging how much her writing has meant to me since I encountered it decades ago. I'll link my Byatt reading tag here because I talk at much greater length in each of those posts about her novels and short story collections than I will here, especially Possession. That book was a game changer for me when I first encountered it as a college freshman and remains very special to me. It encapsulates like nothing else I have ever read the joys and frustrations of literary scholarship. The Potter Quartet is a structural masterpiece; I remember the moment when I was reading the final book and I realized what Byatt had done structurally with the way each book is introduced and the chronology and the awe I felt at that realization. And then, always, the words--such beautiful, beautiful words--sentences to read over and over again because they're too lovely to be done with quickly. I'm sad there will be no new words but glad the ones she gave us are words I want to visit again and again.
5. And last not but least,
amejisuto sent me a wonderful early Christmas present--Brent Spiner's Fan-Fiction and a beautiful bookmark that says, "I have been and always shall be your friend." <3I also got my first Christmas card of the season from
troisoiseaux!
no subject
Date: 2023-12-09 01:44 pm (UTC)We didn't train our previous cats at all because we were very stupid. I guess we thought we'd always be living in dumps with people's garbage furniture and so it didn't matter if they were destructive LOL but lo and behold we eventually started making some money and acquired belongings that shouldn't be set on fire. So we immediately began training Sammy about not scratching and not messing with stuff. And he is so so good as a consequence. Some of it is temperament. He is not a jumper and doesn't get on top of stuff, which is wonderful. But a lot of it is that we took the time to train him.
no subject
Date: 2024-01-24 05:17 am (UTC)How did you train him not to scratch? Was that using the dry treat, or some other method?
no subject
Date: 2024-01-24 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-25 08:11 pm (UTC)It sounds like you have such a great relationship with Sammy. ♥ ♥ ♥
no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 12:22 pm (UTC)I think being vigilant and redirecting any time you see scratching, making sure she's got plenty of stuff that's okay to scratch on, getting a spray for furniture (but testing it to be sure it doesn't stain!), and using a water bottle if necessary will help.