Cat Care Saturday

Thursday I took Arthur to the vet because he has been inappropriately peeing and it's starting to grossly affect the humans. I've been tolerating it but I really should have acted sooner, and now that Kiara is in school it's really important to minimize distractions.
The last time he was in for an eye drain they suggested checking for a UTI but I said he hadn't been doing it much lately and I'd stepped up his mood meds so we put it off. However this week he flat out peed the bed under no stress at all. I'll admit I was angry at this but when upon reflection realized it was more likely the result of an involuntary condition than him being angry at having the bed all to himself when I left.
Thursday: no pee at the vet. He must have gone before we left.
Friday: back at the vet. Still no pee. They gave me a small pee tray, a pippet, a collection tube with stopper, and a small bag of hydrophobic litter. I locked him in the bathroom and awaited the result. At first he was puzzled and howled to be let out. I went in with him, and set him in the tray, and left again. About 10 minutes later he is howling and battering the door. I just have to go in and reassure him that this is only temporary. Instead, I see pools of pees atop the litter.
I have never been so happy to see cat pee in my life!
(Actually: I have never been happy to see cat pee, but there is always a 1st time haha)
I pippeted the pee into the tube. I think I overfilled it in my enthusiasm because the stopper was hard to emplace. Probably one has to leave plenty of ullage since air is compressible and liquids are not. Anyway, I got it to work, dropped it off to the vet and success! Nessa soon texted me that she'd be by with antibiotics because Arthur had the maximum amount of bacteria. I was a little surprised because she lives far north and this is out of her way, but that was a nice gesture. Heather showed me the medication which I promptly started Arthur on. I have hopes that this will clear up the problem, and this has been a lesson indeed.
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I am moving the cats' monthly flea medication to the 1st weekend of the month so I can schedule it on the calendar. Today is the last weekend of this month so the next treatment would be the 1st weekend of November. This is stretching things out a bit (the treatments are supposed to be monthly) but we seem to be in a low-flea season.  #cat flea treatment gives me a handy way to keep track when I last did it. That's #ModernLife !
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After caring for the cats I went to Julie and Hannah's to hang for their TimeBank Mending Meeting. I didn't have anything to mend but it was nice just to chat.
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At home I worked on the upcoming WPTL/MELAW presentation and TM for Tuesday. There is so much to do to avoid housework!

Yes, I Love Humor

For adults angry at Greta Thunberg: help is available!!

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A few Dahlia still bloom at the neighbor's

Whistleblower Hearsay Nonissue

Trump's defenders are disparaging the whistleblower report as "hearsay" but that's just silly. MOST of what we make our decisions on in life is hearsay. Think about December 7, 1941:
FDR: "The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor"
TRUMP SUPPORTER: "Eh, that's just hearsay."

JUST STOP, OK?

At the most: if this gets to a court of law, the Whistleblower Memo would have to be introduced with some foundation laid for it - which will be easy - ideally the persons who made the statements referred to in the memo could be deposed, or one could simply prove the truth of claims by playing recordings of the call. Until then, for figuring out on a common-sense basis whether Trump was extorting Ukraine by withholding aid (the "quid") in order to extract a "favor" (the "quo") we don't use the Federal Rules of Evidence; we use common sense.

• Is there corroboration for the claims in the memo? 
• Was the aid actually withheld? 
• Has Trump ever said he would accept aid from a foreign government to help his campaign?
• Was there actually a Crowdstrike server anywhere near Ukraine or is Trump just making stuff up? 

Sometimes legal stuff is hard. This isn't.

A neighbor shared her harvest

Driving home from the Y on Thursday, I saw a couple of boxes of grapes in the parking strip with a sign "Free". I had to park on the cross street because traffic on 35th really zips!
I took one box and left the other for the next person. At home, I tried a few grapes, and they were good, but it was waaaaaaaay more than I could eat within a reasonable time, and I didn't want to make wine or grapes. I posted this on Buy Nothing West Seattle and they soon went to a good home. Neighbors yay!

Just got a pm "Is that you in this video?"

But when I click on the link it asks me to reauthenticate my FB login.
What are the odds my friend has been hacked?
(A) 100%
(B) 1/0
(C) Infinity Plus One
(D) ?

I Changed "Chicken" To "Modern Dinosaur" And Lunch Became Amazing

Experimenting with science humor, mostly because I didn't get a good photo but this thought makes me laugh

I'm Not Saying This Is The #TrumpTranscript

I'm not saying it's the #TrumpTranscript, and I'm not saying it's not ...

Evening of the First Day of Classes

ME:
Hey, dear college student, how was the first day of classes?
Hello?
Hi?
Are you all right?
STUDENT:
Ihavefivehoursofassignmentsandits9pmandthousandsofpeoplearesendingmecongratulationsandaskinghowIamandIloveyouallpleasegoaway.
TAO:
It is so.

The Welcoming Tree

On the walk home from the 131 bus

Spooky Onion Starts

Every fall I plant a raised bed of green onions. They don't need much care, tolerate Seattle winters quite well, and give me a little bit of fresh greens during the grey months. In this predawn flash photo they look a little spooky.

Refi and CLE

Saturday I did barre, went to DAV 23 (met a friend of Ellen's who, as it turns out, was already a DAV member; gave him links to legal resources for his issue), talked over business with Cyril, shopped, and rested. Oh yeah: did the refi yay!
This adds the 6.99% loan for the heating system into the mortgage. The mortgage goes up from 4% to 4.1% but the numbers work out so that after maybe 18 months of paying the fees with my interest savings, the rest is pure profit. This is another step toward the new business since it get my monthly set of payments down a little.
Dinner was pizza and beer with Jenn. We're friends.
Sunday I wasn't going to drive anywhere; I plan was to do a lot of around the house projects. I did. Late in the day, however, I ran out to Zippys to get last minute food for Kiara, who starts school tomorrow. It is a joyous occasion but I suppose somewhat fraught.
Now I am going to put myself to bed and feel happy I got so much done this weekend. Enjoy the mundane!

Neither Gender Nor Anatomy Are Binary

Gender Isn't Binary, And Neither Is Anatomy by Archie Bongiovanni and Sarah Mirk   explores the science behind the misunderstanding of gender and anatomy that underlies so much of our contemporary culture and politics.
"About 1 in 1,000 people have a different configuration of internal and external parts. They're intersex."
Frequently they are surgically altered while babies (and unable to give consent) to conform their anatomy more closely to our binary notions, not for medically necessary reasons. Typically, they are lied to thereafter.
 This is stuff I didn't know but makes sense when you think about the science and politics. It will be interesting to see if our next generation does better.
This is another great graphic explainer by The Nib.

Last Apple Crop Of The Year

These are from the tree of an absent neighbor who asked me to take them so they don't just fall and rot. All natural, no spraying, so the bugs got some of them.
I posted these on Buy Nothing Highland Park, Seattle, WA for people to take for applesauce or pig feed or whatever.
It's a very neighborly arrangement!

Bombas "Buy One Give One" is for real

Bombas is a sock company founded to get clothing to people in homeless shelters. I had never heard of them until my pal Don Rupp posted this photo:

with the caption

"This is what 25,000 pairs of socks looks like. They were stacked behind me, too! Bombas isn't telling stories. When you buy a pair they give a pair. I had to talk them down; they wanted to give me 50,000. Alas, no more space. Still..."

It's wonderful to see the promise "Buy One Give One" is for real and here's proof. These donated socks are going directly to those most in need.
It's genuine; I've known the guy who took this photo for years. https://bombas.com/pages/giving-back

More Me

Was this in college or shortly thereafter?

With Artyom Gulin, son of my 2nd ex Mila.

With Erik and Ericka back when they were a thing, and Ex #3

Thrift Store Fun!

Gardening recently

Donating blood

At the Y: Light Weights, Many Reps