In Pursuit of Mysteries

The Measure of My Worth

My blog:

Of course, if I measure a well known blog that I run for my employer, I get:

Nova-nine-fingers

My younger tomcat got himself in a bit of trouble the other day. He was running around fine this last weekend but sometime on Sunday evening or Monday, he seems to have lost a claw…more specifically, he removed the claw from his right forepaw’s thumb. Of course, in doing so, he seems to have removed the tip of the thumb as well (which sounds more gruesome than it appeared).

Late Monday, I noticed a dirty but small scab on the thumb. It was caked with old kitty litter. I noticed the lack of a claw but he was acting normal, not limping or otherwise showing pain. The next day, I examined it again and noticed in the evening that it smelled, mildly, like shit. I couldn’t decide if it was the cat litter, lack of cleaning or an infection. I tried to clean it a little but that’s the only time he showed any annoyance. I decided that I’d see about taking him to the vet the next day (Wednesday). Wednesday evening, I got home from work and checked him out. The odor was stronger though it looked about the same and he was still walking around fine, no limping, etc. He seemed a bit subdued. I had arranged to take him to the vet and they had told me on the phone that cats rip out their claws sometimes. It was probably no big deal but they need to clean the wounds to make sure that they don’t grow back ingrown.

I took him in and decided to wait for the vet. She checked him out and said, “Well, you know how when they declaw a cat, they remove the last joint of the toe? That’s one of the reasons it is cruel and we don’t do it anymore since the claw is attached to the bone…well, Nova has halfway done the job already.” Apparantly, he had somehow managed to not only rip the claw out but to shatter the end of the bone in the thumb as well. The smell was a nasty bacterial infection (an abcess) in the wound. The vet knocked him out, cleaned the wound out and finished the declaw (which was the cleanest thing to do given the damage). She had no idea how he did it as it isn’t easy to hurt yourself like that. I actually got to take him home because the infection hadn’t gone too far into the bone. They wrapped this bandage half the size of his leg on him, gave me drugs to give him and waved.

So, every twelve hours, I get to squirt a syringe of pain killer and then one of antibiotic down into his mouth (which he loves and he’s a 15 pound, three year old tom). I took the bandage off the next morning and the wound actually didn’t look too bad. They didn’t give him any sutures and left it open to drain and heal. He hasn’t acted in pain too much and has cleaned it a bit himself. Over the last day or so, he’s perked up a bit and is now chasing the ferret and jumping into laps. I continue with his drugs…

Dumbass.

His new nicknames are, in order:

• Frodo
• Freddy-four-fingers
• Nova-nine-fingers (sense a theme?)
• Lefty
• Stubby
• Nubs

Me and Time

People may (or may not!) have noticed that I’m not posting much. Since getting back from Thailand, I’ve been pretty behind and have been setting priorities accordingly. I haven’t paid close attention to the ol’ blogosphere much. People who are close and longterm friends get their blogs scanned every few days but that’s about it. I’m hoping this will change soon.

I turned in a paper for each class seven to nine days late (which isn’t too bad) but the two weeks that I spent working on those papers are two weeks where I wasn’t doing my assigned class reading. This means that I’m still at least a week behind in my classes. I have received one of the papers back (I got a low ‘A’ on it for no discernable reason) and I haven’t heard back on the other. My next paper for that class is due in two weeks and will probably be a few days late. The other class is easier because it only has two more papers total, which can be short, and they are due by the end of the term. I don’t want to put them both off though because the end of the term is the last paper for the first class as well. (If that reads muddled, just read "turned in papers, lots more to do" there).

I also need to turn in an outline for my Independent Study next term on the current work on Western Esotericism in academia.

Last weekend, the Electoral College of the Ordo Templi Orientis was in town and Paul Hume stayed with us from Thursday through Sunday morning. That was fun since I’ve known Paul since the old PODSNET BBS days around 1991 or so. We had a banquet for the EC on Saturday night and I got to cart Paul around a bit (in a good way). It’s reminded me that I should probably take the next degree in that order, which I have put off for a couple of years.

I haven’t been following any dramas so if you have tried to kill anyone (including yourself) or had something else dramatic happen, let me know.

This doesn’t even deal with keeping current with my paid job and the shennanigans there. I did get a new laptop (personal) so I’m hoping to be able to work on some things on the fly more easily, like schoolwork.

I’m off to home now. My daughter is spending the night tonight.