Various and Sundry

I've been a little out of it most of the week and not really checking blogs, let alone posting in this one. So let me toss a few things in here:

We spent Saturday driving up north (3 hours' worth) to pick up Mawr, our new used cat.

Mawr belonged to our friend Gabriel who died 2 1/2 years ago, and I had sort of hoped we would take in His Furry Majesty at that point. But Gabriel wanted him to go where he could be an indoor/outdoor cat, and that isn't here, so he went to live with another friend who has land in the middle of BFE. She's got three big dogs and assorted other cats and is meticulous about taking care of all of them, so okay ... but I still wanted Mawr. A couple of weeks ago she contacted David and said that Mawr had attacked one of the dogs (no self-esteem problem in this cat!) and she had gotten bitten in the fracas and Mawr had been slightly injured and would we still be willing to take him? We said yes.

Usually when we drive that far, we take my car and share the driving. But the road back to Hazel's land is really rough and my Camry hangs pretty low whereas David's Mazda rides higher off the ground. We notice that even with certain driveways around here -- my car scrapes, his glides right over. But the Mazda is a 5 speed stick and it's been four years since I went to the automatic, and that fifth speed just confuses me anyway. I could drive the Mazda in an emergency, I think, but this wasn't that. And my back had been seriously painful (vicodin painful) all week and we thought it was going to be better if I didn't do any long drives. So David drove and I knit and played music and sang along and passed out the road snacks and we had a nice visit with Hazel and rounded up Mawr and drove home. Three more hours.

When we got home David said he was exhausted and no surprise there. We thought it was the driving and the heat. Sunday he was still exhausted and also Monday, but he went with me to the dentist to have the posts inserted into the implants (now the teeth have to be built and set on the posts). By Monday night he was coughing something awful and running a fever. He's been sick ever since, mostly sleeping, a lot of coughing. The fever broke after a day or so and the coughing isn't as bad but he's still pretty much under the weather. It *may* be Swine Flu, don't know, but whatever it is, so far I haven't got it. Yesterday I thought it was coming after me. I felt clammy and weak, but I had just had a nice long phone visit with my friend Kim, who is an herbalist among other things, and she had suggested something called Sambucus, made from Black Elderberries, to stave off or shorten viral infections so I decided to find some of that.

It felt like the mad rushes to the store that you make when a blizzard is coming: I had to get as much taken care of as I could before I dropped into bed and stayed there for a week because who knows when David is going to be able to go out? So I went to Walgreen's and picked up various prescriptions and assorted needfuls and then went to Rainbow (which was insanely crowded -- and on a Thursday?) to look for the Sambucus (found it!) and get eggs and a couple of other things. I had intended to go by Safeway, if only to hit the bank, but by then I was feeling really sort of awful so I just went home and started sucking Sambucuses. As of now I feel okay. David got up for awhile this morning but went back to bed and back to sleep.

This is why the box of stockings has not been mailed yet, incidentally. It's a 2-person job: one to carry the boxes into the post office or shipping center and one to circle the block repeatedly because there are no parking places. I'm sorry about the delay, but I promise it's gonna get there, Hannah!

Mawr has been living out in the back room, hiding at first under the treadmill and then sleeping on top of the jigsaw puzzle-in-progress on the card table
(Note puzzle full of fur on card table and carpet that needs vacuuming.)

and receiving visitors as often as we care to come see him. He clearly likes David and me, he nearly purrs himself inside-out and he throws himself against me like a good-sized dog, but he hasn't been enthusiastic about the other four cats and the feeling has seemed pretty mutual, with the exception of Marigold who just flat doesn't care. But that back room is getting funky and I can't go run the vacuum and scare him out of three or four lives, so today we're leaving the adjoining door open and hoping he will work himself into the living room.

Here is the Close Kitchen Encounter with Neo. Neither one was growling this time because I had lured them both with Greenies (those little things on the floor) and they were pretty interested in snacking.

*Mawr,* btw, is Welsh for 'mighty' and so he is also called, redundantly, The Mighty Mawr. He has six toes on at least one paw (haven't held him down to count but that one is obvious), like Jonah's cat, and like the cats of Ernest Hemingway.
Apologies for the fuzzy picture but the idea was to show the 6th toe,


So it's noon and I've finally taken my morning meds and maybe it's time to get up and clean something. Oh, yeah: Monday I also went back to the doctor and he confirmed that I *am* a rock star because my A1C is now down to 6.3 (goal is under 7.0) and hugged me and said my energy feels amazing. Yes, this is my kind of doctor. :o) He sent me out for a blood test for thyroid and a few minutes ago he called to say he had those results and while I do not have any underlying thyroid condition, my thyroidal hormones do look low and for my general well-being I should take the new little med he started me on and we'll see how things are in October. But otherwise, so far, so good.

Sundry memory, as promised up there in the Title: Jenna used to think the movie was called "Creature From the Black Magoo." She was a lot shorter back then.