Word(s) of the Day

Yesterday my husband shared a new addition to the Urban Dictionary. He knows I’m a language geek and figured I’d be amused.

Vaxhole
One who has been fully vaccinated for the Covid-19 virus and brags about it.

I wasn’t terribly amused until I saw the entry using this slang term in a sentence. I mean, come on...

Two weeks after the second shot that vaxhole is posting selfies from a Cancun bar.

That is something a jerk would do. ~snort~ But I couldn’t resist turning the table on my guy, who decided to replace our kitchen faucet with an industrial grade unit he saw at his brother’s house.

Michael provided the information only to hear his baby brother brag about finding the exact same model for a huge discount. I promptly called my hubby a sinkhole. In all sincerity, I hope no pieces are missing. We shall see come Friday.

US consumer retail price:
$500!

Do you think this bargain will pay off or be a bust? How often have you been disappointed by a supposed like new purchase?

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Sleep Thread

Still concerned about diarrhea suffered by our kitties, my thoughts often wander. This evening I dozed off and woke thinking of the word Strongyloides.

Kitties in Repose

With no conscious knowledge, I attributed this to "House MD" and some mental glitch. We watched through the entire series more than once. And linguistic terms, medical or other, often stick in my head.

To my surprise, this is a real threat to mammals. I will address it with our vets, who wish to see the kittens again.

~fingers crossed~

Do you believe solutions can be revealed in our dreams? How did I suddenly conjure this nematode's name?

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Replies, Thanks, & a Palaye Royale Bonus

I'll start with a belated response to Pam's excellent question as to whether our home has wall hangings and who put them up. Well, on a good day I can drive a nail in straight. As for my kitchen shelf debacle, drilling a hole would have been ideal but my drill was all the way downstairs.
~rolls eyes~ I just kept hammering away into what must have been a wall stud instead of being smart. And we own a wall stud finder! Oh, well. I would never attempt projects at Pam's skilled level.

Strayer, bless her and all the thousands of stray cats she's helped, mentioned Giardia causing feline diarrhea. I did a quick search, sent an email to my vet clinic, and drove over for doses of metronidozole. That was a week ago (!) and they finished their courses. Fingers crossed, this will solve Terra and Polly's ongoing issue.

Darling Cleo mentioned never hurting her mom during a nail trimming. I'm not surprised. ~grin~ My fear leans more toward cutting too short and harming a kitty. I paid a reasonable fee to have Polly's nails trimmed by a vet tech in hopes she stops limping. We shall see.

Now many bloggers kind enough to read and reply to my humble posts may know one another but I want to give a shout out (in no particular order) to warmhearted Sandee, generous Ellen Pilch (thanks for the kitty toys), the precious Eastside Cats Crew, kind Pradeep Nair, talented crafter/teacher Liz A., beloved Brian and Friends, and Marv's sweet family. Our blogger community is such a treasure.

And here is a recent Palaye Royale video for your enjoyment.

Can you believe darling, floofy Polly struggles against being held for medicine more than sleek, intrepid Terra? My clawed cheek is healing well, though. She was just flailing to get free. :) Meanwhile, if the condition persists, should I try another animal clinic or grant these folks more time?

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A Problematic Pollywog

Upon the kittens’ first visit to our local veterinary clinic, a doctor noted Polly’s right front paw has a toe that didn’t fully form beside the other extra. Of late I started calling it a pollywog. ~snort~ Sad to say, our Polly Esther started favoring that foot.

Don't you just want to tickle those toes?

The veterinarian stated it might become a problem. So I reached out in an email today. My hope is that perhaps discomfort stems not from the malformed toe so much as its claw. Stories abound about beloved pets dying due to miscalculated anesthesia. But I understand surgery will probably be required.

Besides, I never felt comfortable trimming claws, having tried exactly once with Luna back in her youth. Of course she’d been living on the streets until she chose me as her human in 1999, so her sensitivity makes sense. Valuable claws enabled her to defend and feed herself as well as the three kittens she birthed before we met.

Fast forward to 2021, and both these kittens are incredibly gentle with us. But I still can’t see myself trimming toenails, especially when Polly doesn’t like that foot handled. ~sigh~ We shall see. Adorable as I find all her toes, we want what’s best for her. Regular trips to a groomer for nail trimming doesn’t seem like fun for anyone.

Can you believe even unseen indoor cats sent my teenaged asthmatic self to the ER about once a year? Isn’t it a shame I re-homed Luna’s kittens before her presence led me to proper allergy meds? Or should I just be glad we had space to adopt Tilly and Jezebel in the intervening years?

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Reign of Terra – & – Luna Pong Resurrected

From her first day in our home, our new kitten Luna (now Terra Dactyl) led the charge. She is her sister Polly’s clear leader and bane to geriatric Jezebel. On a blessed side note, we must laud Jezebel’s tolerant patience and hope she’ll lean toward fondness.

~fingers crossed~

Meanwhile, the one and only original Luna, rest her precious soul, acted the regal queen – most of the time. On silly occasions my husband and I took turns calling her across the kitchen floor. She head-butted our fingers for each score of the game we called ‘Luna Pong’. The number of consecutive boomps grew quite impressive.

We even determined rules of a sort. While we worked together as a team, the game ended when the ball went out of play, such as Luna wandering off to the water bowl. Anytime our sweet goofball Tilly intervened we aptly termed it interference, likewise halting our antics.

As it happens, friendly Terra is a serious competitor. The playing field is now our mattress rather than the traditional kitchen floor, but she gamely trots between my husband standing beside the bed and wherever I’m seated.

Oh, and I overturned a kitchen chair to make the center island less tempting. When she turned it into her personal playground and never jumped up on any counter, I let it be.

Are you aware I had no clue baby Luna and Beauty were even sisters, let alone who the shelter folks hoped we’d adopt? Do you believe a higher power directed me to see Luna on the Gen City Catfé website late that fateful December night?

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Step Away from the Toolbox

Sometimes I get this misguided idea I can use tools. Wrong. I can’t even pound a nail in straight. ~sigh~ You should see the mess under my latest whimsical shelf display. Our drywall may never forgive me. I plan to spare my poor husband the details. Yikes.

Farmer Bunny's Broken Radish Cart

At least this lesson sunk in because I purchased some cool tempered glass shelves that hang from wire like a construction crane. Installation seemed simple enough. My husband, bless his heart, suggested hiring a professional. After breaking two ceramic pieces in an attempt to display them, I concede. Thank heaven they aren’t treasured heirlooms. But still…

Frog and Snail offer Emotional Support
Tiny Turtle (lower left), Looks On

Those pieces (not shown) will never be the same despite a Super Glue repair job. Hurray for not attaching them to my hands. I remember going to high school classes with a bit of felt glued to my fingertip. ~rolls eyes~ Why I didn’t just use Elmer’s to reattach its eye is beyond me but I do still have that little stuffed pumpkin character.

Would you hire a contractor to hang a shelf? Have you ever glued yourself to a project?

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Take This Worth a Grain…

How certain food stuffs advanced human civilization never ceases to amaze me, especially salt, a biological necessity often taken for granted these days. To be honest I never give it much thought unless monitoring my dietary intake or perusing the grocer’s ever increasing variety. Just last weekend I spent quite some time locating a plain, relatively inexpensive sea salt.

My Find

Today’s quick online search taught me that an existing Bronze Age road reaches an ancient sodium chloride deposit. Historically difficult to procure and refine, its well-known preservative qualities resulted in wars over ready resources like salt lakes. Hilighting the impact, ancient adages remain such as ‘salt of the earth’ (Gospel of Mathew 5:13) and, sad to note, a male slave being ‘worth his salt’.

Enough on the abundant facts, though. A humorous incident brought the mineral’s importance to mind after my husband and I, working as a team, made a loaf of bread. I mixed our preferment the night before and he continued with the various steps throughout the following day.

Saying nothing at first, thinking my tastes buds were off, I couldn’t detect any flavor. When he tried a slice without Kerry brand salted butter my husband all but gagged, saying I must have omitted salt.

He was half right. My guy dropped the ball on this one. The preferment doesn’t call for salt.

Deserved apology accepted. ~smug grin~ But I won’t rub salt in the poor fellow’s wound.

Heh…

Do you bake bread? Would you use a machine or prefer Alton Brown’s hands-on technique?

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