Holiday ups and downs (but mostly ups)
First the down: I didn't get the City of IF writing gig. Sadness. Kind of sucked getting the news on Christmas Eve, but oh well. *shrug*
Now, ups. Many of them are courtesy of my boyfriend B. He liked the digital photo frame I got him for Christmas. Then he surprised me by giving me a NatureMill automatic indoor composter. Yes, I'm enough of a tree-hugging hippie to be delighted by a composter. We'd seen it on a show on the Discovery channel. I got all excited about it because I know I won't keep up with a regular composting pile. Is that a thoughtful gift or what? :)
On Christmas Eve Eve B gave me another present: installing a ceiling fan in my living room. My house has high ceilings so installing it required lots of standing on ladders. Since I'm not great with mechanical stuff and don't relish the thought of being 10 feet over the floor holding a 35 lb. ceiling fan, B's assistance was much appreciated. The fan works great, too. All of the warm air that was heating the ceiling is now being pushed down to keep us and the critters toasty. :)
My ferret Ouzo had quite the Christmas adventure. About two weeks ago B asked if I could come with him to visit some of his family on the Virginia coast. I said yes on two conditions: 1) I needed to find a kennel to board my dog Ty, and 2) I could find someone to look in on Ouzo. Both of these could be difficult considering the last minute notice.
As luck would have it I found a kennel for Ty, and we figured out a way to take Ouzo with us. The latter required more work on B's part which he thoroughly enjoyed: building an acoustic ferret carrier. Yeah, you read that right. Let me explain. :)
B's a private pilot, so we were going to fly a single engine plane to the coast. The problem for Ouzo is noise. The propeller is *loud*. Ferrets have good hearing and Ooze is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, so I was worried that he'd have a heart attack from being in the plane.
I'm happy to report that Ouzo successfully completed two 170 mi. flights up to altitudes of 6500 ft. :) The keys to his success were his acoustic carrier and Benadryl. The carrier is actually a small plastic pet carrier inside an acoustic ceiling tile-lined plastic storage bin. The air holes let some noise in, but we figured that breathing trumps noise. It ain't pretty, but it works.
Ouzo didn't particularly like being in the small, dark box. A half cc of Benadryl kept him nice and drowsy for the flights. I coordinated out time and access to food and water so he only had to go once. The small hammock in the carrier kept Ouzo away from the mess. It worked out beautifully! Once I figure out how to get pictures off of my phone I'll post some here.
Lastly, I'm adding to my non-human family. A friend who's a vet student was looking for a home for a male eight week old white kitten. Said kitten was found by his lonesome with a nasty respiratory infection from feline herpesvirus, conjunctivitis, and tapeworms. Now that he's been nursed back to health I'm going to take him in at least temporarily. If Ty and Ouzo get along with the kitten -- who I'm thinking of calling Wasabi -- then I'll keep him. I'm picking Wasabi up tonight. I'll keep you posted!
Now, ups. Many of them are courtesy of my boyfriend B. He liked the digital photo frame I got him for Christmas. Then he surprised me by giving me a NatureMill automatic indoor composter. Yes, I'm enough of a tree-hugging hippie to be delighted by a composter. We'd seen it on a show on the Discovery channel. I got all excited about it because I know I won't keep up with a regular composting pile. Is that a thoughtful gift or what? :)
On Christmas Eve Eve B gave me another present: installing a ceiling fan in my living room. My house has high ceilings so installing it required lots of standing on ladders. Since I'm not great with mechanical stuff and don't relish the thought of being 10 feet over the floor holding a 35 lb. ceiling fan, B's assistance was much appreciated. The fan works great, too. All of the warm air that was heating the ceiling is now being pushed down to keep us and the critters toasty. :)
My ferret Ouzo had quite the Christmas adventure. About two weeks ago B asked if I could come with him to visit some of his family on the Virginia coast. I said yes on two conditions: 1) I needed to find a kennel to board my dog Ty, and 2) I could find someone to look in on Ouzo. Both of these could be difficult considering the last minute notice.
As luck would have it I found a kennel for Ty, and we figured out a way to take Ouzo with us. The latter required more work on B's part which he thoroughly enjoyed: building an acoustic ferret carrier. Yeah, you read that right. Let me explain. :)
B's a private pilot, so we were going to fly a single engine plane to the coast. The problem for Ouzo is noise. The propeller is *loud*. Ferrets have good hearing and Ooze is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, so I was worried that he'd have a heart attack from being in the plane.
I'm happy to report that Ouzo successfully completed two 170 mi. flights up to altitudes of 6500 ft. :) The keys to his success were his acoustic carrier and Benadryl. The carrier is actually a small plastic pet carrier inside an acoustic ceiling tile-lined plastic storage bin. The air holes let some noise in, but we figured that breathing trumps noise. It ain't pretty, but it works.
Ouzo didn't particularly like being in the small, dark box. A half cc of Benadryl kept him nice and drowsy for the flights. I coordinated out time and access to food and water so he only had to go once. The small hammock in the carrier kept Ouzo away from the mess. It worked out beautifully! Once I figure out how to get pictures off of my phone I'll post some here.
Lastly, I'm adding to my non-human family. A friend who's a vet student was looking for a home for a male eight week old white kitten. Said kitten was found by his lonesome with a nasty respiratory infection from feline herpesvirus, conjunctivitis, and tapeworms. Now that he's been nursed back to health I'm going to take him in at least temporarily. If Ty and Ouzo get along with the kitten -- who I'm thinking of calling Wasabi -- then I'll keep him. I'm picking Wasabi up tonight. I'll keep you posted!