Julian needs more medicine

Dr. Luckow called this morning, with the results of the Bartinella test. On a scale of zero (no infection) to four, Julian tested at 4+.

We'll have to get him medicine, and give it to him once a day for three weeks. And we're advised not to let him scratch us, because Bartinella is the thing that causes cat-scratch fever. Given this tiger-cub kitten, that's probably impossible unless I wear long pants and long sleeves at all times. Right. In a New York summer.

I am more and more annoyed at KittyKind: not just because he's got this and the worms, but because they assured us he was healthy and wouldn't need to see a vet for a year.

And I am very glad we got our pretty Julian away from them, before they could give him to someone who would have listened to their advice and let him be sick for a year.

Julian needs more medicine

Dr. Luckow called this morning, with the results of the Bartinella test. On a scale of zero (no infection) to four, Julian tested at 4+.

We'll have to get him medicine, and give it to him once a day for three weeks. And we're advised not to let him scratch us, because Bartinella is the thing that causes cat-scratch fever. Given this tiger-cub kitten, that's probably impossible unless I wear long pants and long sleeves at all times. Right. In a New York summer.

I am more and more annoyed at KittyKind: not just because he's got this and the worms, but because they assured us he was healthy and wouldn't need to see a vet for a year.

And I am very glad we got our pretty Julian away from them, before they could give him to someone who would have listened to their advice and let him be sick for a year.

Noreascon 4: exit Redbird, pursued by a ballot

I've sent in my Hugo ballot, electronically. Having put everything off to the last minute, I voted for novelette and short story, but not for the longer forms (because I didn't have the time to do the reading), and followed cattitude's advice on movies (since he doesn't have a membership, it seemed fair). I also voted for best fanzine, semiprozine, and fan artist, but skipped professional editor, professional artist, and related book.

The retro-Hugos took about two minutes, most of that on filling in the identifying information at the top of the form: a straight "No Award", because I don't think they're a useful/meaningful concept (not least because I felt, and I'm sure others feel, an impulse to vote for Clarke and Bradbury over Sturgeon or Asimov not because I think Childhood's End or Fahrenheit 451 is a better book than More than Human or The Caves of Steel but because Clarke and Bradbury will know if they won, and Sturgeon and Asimov won't. And that's at least as dubious an argument as voting for a friend purely because I like the person, without having read the work in question.

There was a definite old-fashioned feeling to the short fiction: explicit homages in the case of the Haldeman and Gaiman, David Levine's extremely Cordwainer Smithesque story, and Swanwick playing with time travel paradoxes.

Tomorrow, I'll send them my membership transfer; I already have trinker's payment, but she said I should keep the voting rights.

Noreascon 4: exit Redbird, pursued by a ballot

I've sent in my Hugo ballot, electronically. Having put everything off to the last minute, I voted for novelette and short story, but not for the longer forms (because I didn't have the time to do the reading), and followed cattitude's advice on movies (since he doesn't have a membership, it seemed fair). I also voted for best fanzine, semiprozine, and fan artist, but skipped professional editor, professional artist, and related book.

The retro-Hugos took about two minutes, most of that on filling in the identifying information at the top of the form: a straight "No Award", because I don't think they're a useful/meaningful concept (not least because I felt, and I'm sure others feel, an impulse to vote for Clarke and Bradbury over Sturgeon or Asimov not because I think Childhood's End or Fahrenheit 451 is a better book than More than Human or The Caves of Steel but because Clarke and Bradbury will know if they won, and Sturgeon and Asimov won't. And that's at least as dubious an argument as voting for a friend purely because I like the person, without having read the work in question.

There was a definite old-fashioned feeling to the short fiction: explicit homages in the case of the Haldeman and Gaiman, David Levine's extremely Cordwainer Smithesque story, and Swanwick playing with time travel paradoxes.

Tomorrow, I'll send them my membership transfer; I already have trinker's payment, but she said I should keep the voting rights.

Anachronism

On our way to the Greenmarket (blueberries, garlic, onions, and a dangerous brownie) this morning, cattitude pointed out lilacs to me.

Just a few, but actual lilac blossoms. On lilac bushes growing in the ground. Yes, this variety blooms late--but they'd stopped back in May.

Had they been closer to the walk, I'd have tried to sniff them, because I adore lilac.

Anachronism

On our way to the Greenmarket (blueberries, garlic, onions, and a dangerous brownie) this morning, cattitude pointed out lilacs to me.

Just a few, but actual lilac blossoms. On lilac bushes growing in the ground. Yes, this variety blooms late--but they'd stopped back in May.

Had they been closer to the walk, I'd have tried to sniff them, because I adore lilac.