The cobbler's cat goes barefoot...

Somerset is the first cat I ever owned. When I got her, I knew nothing about cats - I remember that when I got her to my apartment, I was that she would poop in my plants. She was wandering around exploring the place, and about every 15 minutes I'd pick her up and put her beside the litterbox, just in case she had forgotten where it was. It was a huge relief when she finally used it I can't believe she thought I didn't know how to use a litterbox - do I look like a dog? Every so often one of the cats will have some weirdness going on, and I dutifully take them to the vet. This spring, I took her in because she kept sneezing, and when they weighed her, she was about 8.5 pounds. I was a bit surprised, because I thought she was closer to 10 pounds. I didn't think much of it until I came across their vaccination pamplet from March 2007, which was just before they made the move to Ontario. According to the pamphlet, she weighed 12.2 pounds. In a year, she went from this: To this: She's definitely less torpedo shaped now. I hadn't really noticed. Although in retrospect, she was easier to pick up, and didn't make the same impact if she jumped onto my lap. Otherwise she seemed to be fine - she didn't seem to sleep more than her usual 12 hours per day, she was eating, and she still liked to cuddle and play. If anything, she seemed a bit more active than before, and more chatty. So I deluded myself into believing that at the age of 11 years, she spontaneously changed her exercise and eating habits enough to lose about 30% of her body weight. Finally, I got around to taking the cats to the vet for this year's vaccinations, and the vet mentioned that she seemed to be a good weight for her size. I told him that she had actually lost a few pounds over the year. He did some bloodwork looking for diabetes, kidney failure, liver disease, and thyroid function. The initial thyroid hormone level came back right at the upper range of normal, so he asked them to do a second test on the blood that measured the amount of "free" thyroid hormone, meaning the level of hormones that were floating around freely in her bloodstream, as opposed to those that were bound to proteins and thus not doing much. It took a few days to get it back - they had to send it to a reference lab in Cleveland or some other hotbed of veterinary endocrine activity. Yesterday the vet called and went over the results with The Gambler - normal range is 15-55, and her level was 128.7. She's flagrantly hyperthyroid. So much for my clinical acumen. "La la la, my cat has shrunk to 2/3 of her former size but I don't really notice it." Now I just have to figure out how to get the medicine into her...

No, really, I'm still here...

I wish I could say I've been too busy having fun to blog, but that would be a bit of a lie (although we did have a good time at a wedding in Ottawa that happened to fall on WWKIP day - and no, I didn't knit at the wedding, but I did have a project in my purse in case of mindnumbingly long and boring speeches an emergency). Work has been crazy as usual - have you ever given any thought to what happens in an ICU if the power goes out and the red power outlets that are supposed to draw power from the emergency generator don't actually work? Neither did I before Sunday. But it hasn't been all work and weddings; last night I finally scrolled through some of my Sea Socks photos**: And knitting has happened: These sockettes are being knit specifically for use with these puma skimmers: I'm hoping that I can get them finished by the end of the month - how is it that some people can crank out a pair of socks per week? **What - you want captions? How about I get back to you on that in , oh, let's say 2 weeks as soon as I can?

Who Knew?

It's amazing the stuff you come across on The Internets nowadays.

Call off the search party...

...I'm still here, and still knitting. My week on call ended last Saturday, and on Sunday my parents arrived for a week long visit. I'm back on call on Saturday, and I can't wait. Time spent with my mother is very tiring. Speaking of searching, a knitblogger (whose name/blog I am blanking on - she's a medical student) tagged me for the "7 random things about you" meme a while back. I thought I'd adjust it a bit to: "7 places that you can find yarn in my house" (this doesn't count the yarn I keep in my office at work) The bins, of course. The bookcase. The basket (on top as well as inside) The cheese box The stainless steel picnic basket (at least that's what the thing looks like. For all I know, it could be a lobster trap - we picked it up at a garage sale) And 2 somewhat less traditional storage spots (because everyone has cheeseboxes and picnic basket/lobster trap hybrids sitting around their living room, right?): Check out these handsome souvenir mugs I picked up on the cruise: Surprise! Finally - meet our chest freezer. We don't really need it for food right now. So... I like to think that this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Cool Wool". Is it any wonder that I couldn't find the rest of the yarn to knit the Sideways Cardigan? I'm not going to tag anyone for this meme. Instead, I'll run a contest; I'm calling it the "You put yarn WHERE?!? Contest". What's the weirdest place that you've stored yarn in? Post about it on your blog, and leave a link to the post in the comments. On July 1st, I'll select 2 winners - one at random, and one that the cats deem most creative/weird. If you link to this post, your name will be entered twice in the random draw. Posting a photo of the yarn in the hiding place also gets you a bonus entry. If you are blogless, leave an email address in your comment - or take this opportunity to enter the wonderful world of blogging! I can be bribed...