Neglected Kitteh

Not that he'd mind.

In all of my many posts about Loiosh (and the few mentions poor Chocolate has gotten), I don't know that I've ever mentioned Samson at all.



This is Samson. He hates you. He hates everyone in the world*. The Demon Eyes effect is from the flash, but the expression on his face? That's there naturally.

I don't talk about him much, because when I think about him I'm sad and frustrated. Much like Taltos, I never managed to do anything to improve his attitude on life. Unlike Taltos, he's not afraid of much; he just hates everyone in the world*.



* This is not actually true. He quite likes Chocolate, who is his brother. And despite the ongoing and rather loud battles he has with Loiosh, he dearly loves the kitten. But he hates all the other cats in the world, and he hates dogs, and he especially hates humans. This totally includes me. I still think of myself as his Momma, though.

Evidence of Samson liking Loiosh:



If Samson understood the web, had an idea what pictures were, and had any clue that I was admitting to others that he likes the kitten, he would kill me in my sleep. Possibly he wouldn't even wait until I was asleep.

Pets are supposed to teach you about unconditional love. Samson has, in a way -- he hates me, and yet I love him. I worry when I haven't seen him. I greet him every morning (he glares at me). If I can sneak up on him, I'll pet him. It's brief when it happens, though.

I've pretty much given up trying to wean him of his hating. Despite it he's generally a pretty happy and serene cat. Healthy as a horse which is good given how exciting it is getting him to a vet. And really, what more can you ask for?

I could ask for Samson-snuggles, but I'm never gonna get them. And that's okay.

A Guest Post

After several requests I've decided to let Loiosh give his own view of weekend before last. Read on...

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Hi! I've commented in a couple of people's journals but I never had the nerve to make my own post. It's a lot of work but my Momma said she'd type for me and put in the pictures. I don't really understand pictures but she said they look different to humans. And most of them are of me so that's okay.

Momma calls it the Weekend of Orange, Occasionally Polydactyl Kittens. I'm not polydactyl but the kitten I met was! He lived at the site but came over to play with me for a while.



Momma fed him some, too, but he and I had different food in different bowls. Momma says that's a good idea because we don't know him very well.



That's us playing under Momma's chair. That picture was taken by Tamsin, who's Momma's friend and knows how to give good scritches. She took a lot of pictures of me that weekend.

Momma met some tiny tiny kittens (I didn't). They're only three weeks old but they all already have homes they're going to go to.



I was never that little.

Momma says one of them is polydactyl, too. He peed on her and she was grumpy, but of course he did, she was rubbing his belly!

It was really windy and Momma was pretty stressed, but I've got used to wind and I was okay. I slept a lot.



That's Momma's knee on the left.

I wore my wings almost all weekend, and people made cooing noises a lot. I guess they think it's cute.



That's Auntie Dharma's feet in that picture.

I slept in a lot of weird positions. Momma and Aunt Tamsin call this one Ikea Cat, Assembled without Instructions. I call it pretty comfortable.



I did get up and eat, too. Those are Momma's bright bright blue shoes.



Momma calls this one Praying Angel. She totally put my paws that way. I wouldn't have done that on my own.

But I was asleep, so oh well.



And here are some pictures my Momma thinks are great. I don't know, I'm just sleeping and that's my tongue. So what?







I met a lot of dogs, including a border collie kitten who wanted to play a lot, and a mastiff who was really really big and wanted to play too. I arched up and hissed but he didn't get it and his momma and daddy and my Momma had to sort of sit on him.

There was a bird on someone's shoulder but Momma said I couldn't get too close. I just wanted to play! Momma says it was a cockatiel and that compared to the bird's momma she's a wuss, but I don't get that.

Lots of people petted me and I went for walks and ate lots of bugs and almost caught a baby rabbit. Momma wouldn't let me, though. I just wanted to play with him! He was really really fast.

Auntie Dharma gave me milk with tuna oil in it. It was SO SO GOOD.

Momma wanted to leave early so we did. I wanted to stay but she's the one who drives so I was kinda stuck with it. Oh well -- I had a good time anyway!

Hi to all my furiends who wanted me to write something!

A wonderful weekend

I've been all week recovering from it, alas, but I really did have a great weekend.

It involved an SCA event up in Nebraska. Yes, I hear you say, Nebraska is at the end of the world and is filled with naught but corn and corn farmers, but at the same time I tell you, it is awesome.

I almost didn't go. I had a long and stressful week, was tired and feeling a little ill as I packed up the car. I knew this was going to be a small event and I could only hope that I made enough money to cover my expenses -- not inconsiderable with the price of gas as high as it is. I also knew that I'd get there well after dark, despite all of my efforts to the contrary, and I find setting up after dark to be extremely stressful.

But I went anyway. And after a half hour or so on the road, I found myself in a pretty good mood. Kitten asleep on my lap, good music on the radio, driving fast through beautiful country. And northern Colorado is beautiful.

Western Nebraska, I thought, not so much. I mean, Nebraska is flat, right?



Actually, no, it's not.

This is where we camped. It was gorgeous. I indeed got there after dark, but got offers of help with setting up and with holding Loiosh. Camp took about ten minutes and I left the booth for Saturday. My helpers went back to bed and I took Mr Wiggly Pants for a walk.

I have not seen so many stars in years. And years. The sky was bright and crowded with them.

We walked about on the plain, Loiosh hunting bugs and God knows what else, me watching the stars, until the moon rose, and then we went to bed.

Up far too early the next morning -- these folks get up with the sun! Farming community, I suppose, though I don't think any of them actually farm. I got the booth up in good order and settled in for the day.

I spent some time watching the fencing -- on a wooden bridge so narrow it bounced as you walked on it -- and quite a bit of time hanging out with folks. The merchants next to me had a bored teenager who channeled her boredom into artwork (of which, alas, I got no pictures) and allowed me a piece of foam stuff to make a bit of wearable art of my own.



He wore them pretty much the rest of the day.



Sleeping angel.



His first set of garb -- I'm so proud *wipes tear*.

Of course, then he became horrible.



Yes, that's taken from inside my tent. No, he didn't actually rip the mesh.



But it was a close thing. Amazing thing is he made it up there with his wings still on!



He wasn't entirely sure about the whole thing, so I rescued him.

I wound up having an amazing time -- the folks there were so welcoming! Even though I hadn't paid for feast (I love feasting, but money is tight) they invited me to eat with them anyway. I was also invited to the autocrat's camp for both Saturday morning breakfast and Saturday night dice. By the end of the event we were teasing each other as if we'd all known each other forever.

And I made more than enough money to cover expenses.

I highly recommend events in the Shire of Hinterland to anyone who might be close enough to attend. I had a wonderful, wonderful time.

Health insurance

I don't talk about politics here a lot, because, well, it's simpler that way; I leave it to others. But this one, I couldn't resist.

In reference to a report that Texas leads the nation in percentage of residents without health insurance:

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

I am appalled at the level of ignorance and privilege this man displays. Clearly he's never depended in an emergency room for care when he hasn't got that magic insurance card -- because then he'd know that, law aside, as often as not they will turn you away if you're not insured. And how are you to get the money to hire a lawyer to call them to account?

Clearly he's never lacked for routine checkups and preventative care, none of which are available from his much-vaunted emergency room, none of which are affordable without health insurance; all of which are far more effective at maintaining your health than waiting until the last moment when you have to go to the emergency room.

Clearly he's never had to choose between paying for vital medication -- required to be able to breathe, to take an example from my own life -- and paying the rent, or buying food. An emergency room isn't going to help that dilemma at all.

I can only pray that McCain doesn't get elected -- lives hang in the balance, and that's no exaggeration.

Original article here. Might post a more reasoned response later, but right now I am so angry I'm about managing coherent.

What's do be done about it? I don't know. Vote, I suppose, in the hopes that this time they'll actually count. Move to Canada, possibly, which I've been considering anyway. I don't know.

But something's got to be done.

A little something to contemplate...

...for those of you out there with actual, y'know, congregations.

Consider a triangle, with the corners representing God, the congregation (tzibbur), and the prayer leader (shaliach tzibbur). Which line in that triangle do we usually talk about? Bringing the congregation closer to God. And which is the one line in that triangle that we aren't connected to? Yeah, that. We think that's our job, but we can't do anything about it, really. Instead, she said, consider the indirect effects of working on our own relationships with God on the one hand and the congregation on the other. If we get that right, maybe that helps with the third line indirectly.

From a Jewish perspective, obviously, but I think it applies to anywhere you have 'person leading service' and 'everyone else'.

Schwinked from my friend Monica who got it from her friend Julia.

I'd love to see some discussion on this from those of y'all who've led services.

A little unnerving...

...but TOTALLY AWESOME.



A couple months ago my apartment building caught on fire. I'm fine, cats are fine, everyone in the building including pets is fine, but there was a fair bit of damage on the other side of the building.

Today it came time to replace the roof. It's been loud and distracting and since I don't have a curtain in my bathroom and the main thoroughfare up and down runs right outside it, I'm still lacking a shower. But I happened to glance outside this morning and see this.



Apparently part of the burned-out roof was just too fragile to take apart in place, so they lifted it off wholesale. I grabbed a camera and flew outside barefoot (hi, construction site, but my feet are fine) and got a bunch of pictures.



And, just to be completist, a video.

Unnerving...

...but AWESOME.

Two Days Later

It's odd. He spent most of his time hiding in a closet or under a table -- there were whole days I didn't even see him -- but it still feels too empty and quiet around here.

In the meantime, things I have learned from my cats:

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When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, sleep. Play all the rest of the time.

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The best way to get someone to walk along with you is to ask.



Goes for tree-climbing, too.



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Snuggles make everything better.

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Kisses too.

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It's amazing the places you can find to take a good nap.



...really.



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Anything can be a toy. Anything.







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You can find friends anywhere.









...but okay, not always.



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They're helping, each in his own way. And today I'm feeling a little better.