One of those nights

that makes you want to take to your bed for a week or two.

In the first place I'm running an infirmary here:

• Timber's fall allergies are kicking up, and he's on 100mg of benadryl 2x a day to keep him from being so itchy (I've also added salmon oil to his diet for the Omega 3s and 6s).


• Taenzer's got an upset tummy and has thrown up--mostly bile--3 times that I know of, twice on the bed (thank you, Taenzer) and pooped icky smelly dark green poop in the kitchen. *sigh* She got white rice, canned white chicken, and a couple of dabs of yoghurt for dinner, and is wandering around looking very ill-used and hungry.


• Annie, on the other hand, went on a hunger strike when I tried to feed her health food, so I caved and bought her some Fancy Feast. She ate 3 cans yesterday; only 1 today. She's lost so much weight, and I don't know what to do for her. Nutrical gives her diarrhea, so it's not much help. I tried looking on the web tonight for things to fatten up cats, but could only find stuff about putting your cat on a diet. I kept adding things *not* to search for: loss, diet, low calorie, but I never hit on anything helpful. A couple of sites said "Feed your cat high-calorie cat food." Yeah, thanks. Like for instance? I got her mostly chicken and beef food this time, but maybe I'll get some seafood varities next time--I did find something that said elderly cats lose their sense of smell, and if a cat can't smell it won't eat. But I'm desperately trying to think of something nutrient-dense and hi-cal that she would eat that I could add to her food. Maybe I'll try some whipping cream--she's often interested in licking ice cream from my spoon. Maybe some raw hamburger. She likes raw chicken livers. She's so terribly thin and tottery, it breaks my heart. I'd give anything to get another pound on her.

Meanwhile, I had to bake some cinnamon rolls so I'd have something for breakfast tomorrow (Pillsbury kind; don't start thinking I actually *bake*!). And about three months ago I started wish I had a vest made out of a mostly-red handpaint yarn to wear over a white t-shirt with jeans. One of the yarns I found while I was burrowing this past weekend just fits the bill, and I found a nice, if slightly weird, pattern, at Elann (http://www.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=244024 ), so I came home, found the yarn, picked up a pair of needles and started in.

Soon came to realize I probably didn't have enough yarn, and can't get more because it's a Cherry Tree Hill Potluck, so it's a one-of. So then I had this brilliant idea: it's 4-ply worsted weight, so I'll just split it into 2-ply! Yeah! Then it'll drape better and I bet then I'll have enough yarn!

Yeah. Easier said than done, let me tell you. Only now I've gotten stubborn and obsessive about it and don't want to give it up. It should only take me about a year or so...

And damn it, I ordered sock yarn. I keep saying I'm going to stop that. Here's my excuse this time: the father of a dear friend of mine fell in July and injured himself so badly that he's partly paralyzed. She, of course, is as torn up about it as you might expect. I, of course, wanted to do something, but she's in North Carolina, he's in Denver, and I'm in Forgottonia. So I thought--socks. Elderly people often have cold hands and feet, right? And being confined to a wheelchair probably makes it worse. And Denver. It gets cold in Denver in the winter! So I decided to make him some socks. I asked around on the socknitters list and was advised that a ribbed-pattern tube sock would be good--I don't have to know what size to make, and if it's ribbed, it will stay up. I also decided to use Alpaca Sox--which may be a mistake, I don't know. I got conflicting stories about who's responsible for patient's laundry in nursing homes. If they go into the institutional laundry, they're toast--or at least tiny felted socklets--but if whichever of his kids is out in Denver will take care of them, they'll be fine. But I especially wanted to use an alpaca blend because alpaca is so soft and something like 7 times warmer than wool. I ordered the Peacock colorway and a solid chestnut brown. I didn't want them to be too bright, but knowing my friend, and from what she's said about her dad, I thought he can probably stand a little more color than the black/grey/white colorway. I figure actually I'll get two pairs of socks out of the yarn, one Peacock with brown top ribbing and toes, and one solid brown, so he'll have a pair to wear when the other's in the wash.

But I sorta lost control and ordered some other sock yarn I didn't need. I didn't get too crazy, but if I was going to lose control and spend money, I should have bought dog food or gotten the van tuned and oil changed. At least I didn't get any more Schaefer Anne.

I'm hoping to start a genealogical website here pretty soon. The university I work for gives us free website space, I think; I just have to find out how to get it set up. That would be a fun thing to work on over Christmas break.