Stella does not have a UTI: lab culture came back negative for anything. Dr Kipp thinks that Stella’s urninating is due to a progression of her kidney failure possibly also some senility. Stella has a follow-up visit tomorrow afternoon at 4:45 to check her blood work (luckily that test is only $25 instead of the $99 for the urine test). The blood work will also help us know if Stella needs to be...
Continue reading...2008
Riding lesson
Isis and I had a riding lesson this afternoon/evening. I hadn’t been able to ride on Monday. I had to make up time from Friday when I left early to take Stella to the vet’s. My instructor asked me what I would like to work on. This was the perfect opportunity to work on problems pointed out by the show: How do you correct a horse who isn’t listening and is more interested...
Continue reading...Horse Show Report
Back from the show and man was I tired! I had been worried the show would be cancelled because of the rain we’ve had (plus the forecast). The show was on, luckily. I felt really good about our preparation for the dressage portion of the test. I was very nervous about the cross country part. We had only ridden on a cross country course once during the practise clinic a few weeks back....
Continue reading...Horse Show!
Well it poured last night. As far as I know, the horse show (Fossils over Fences) has not been cancelled. This is Isis’ and my first combined training show: dressage, stadium jumping, and cross country. We’re showing in the lowest level class, which means the jumps are options, the stadium course can be more like a trail class with obstacles instead of jumps, and the dressage test is done at a walk trot....
Continue reading...Stella’s vet visit
Stella was really good this time for the vet this time. The vet gave Stella subcutaneous fluids (Stella was great (boggle)) and also took a urine sample. The initial results at the vet’s office were inconclusive. She said that often cats with kidney issues have such diluted urine that you don’t get enough white blood cells to know for sure. We have sent off the urine sample to to be tested and cultured....
Continue reading...Riding Lesson: Share the enthusiasm!
Isis was *great*. I mean GREAT. We were relaxed and rode the dressage test twice. She did very well. She’s learned where to stop and could probably ride the pattern by herself (even though we have only ridden it like five times). She stopped square and stood quietly. Only pulled on me once. Big improvement. The second part of the lesson focused on jumping. Isis gets excited and tends to rush when we...
Continue reading...Concern over giant UK database
The BBC web site today reported that the Home Office of the UK is proposing development of an large communications database — greatly reducing privacy in net or mobile communications. The Communications Data Bill, due to be introduced in November in the Queen’s Speech in the UK, will create a database holding “communications information” on people’s phone calls, email, web browsing (pages visited, etc.) and other data. Allegedly, this database will not retain...
Continue reading...Archaeological Dig Uncovers Roman Mystery
Even though this find is later than my own period of interest (100 BCE to 400 CE), there are some interesting elements described. University of British Columbia archaeologists have dug up a mystery worthy of Indiana Jones, one that includes a tomb, skeletons and burial rites with both Christian and pagan elements. read more | digg story Related Images:
Continue reading...Witches of Cornwall (Archaeology Magazine)
Tis the season for this particular season. The finds in the article below are interesting — especially since the finds date to as late as the 1950s. Macabre evidence of age-old spells surfaces in an archaeologist’s front yard. Witchcraft, the rituals of a number of pagan belief systems, was thought to offer control of the world through rites and incantations. Carbon dating places evidence from the 1600s through the 1950s. read more |...
Continue reading...Stella and the bed, part 2
It was late when I went to bed on Sunday night. I’d had a nice evening playing Guild Wars with a friend. Stella had been curled up by my monitor for most of the evening. I crawled into bed, pulled up the covers, and smelled cat urine. Stella had peed on the covers again. (I love waterproof mattress covers!) A friend of mine suggested that Stella be checked for a UTI just to...
Continue reading...Noises in the wall
I’m getting ready for bed and I can hear something crawling in the ceiling. Not loud, but scurrying. Knocking against the light fixture in the bathroom last night. Tonight it’s in my kitchen wall. Scratch, scurry, scratch: some small rodent or critter maybe stuck or exploring. My cats are enthralled: they follow the sound from room to room staring at the ceiling and walls. I pity anything that gets into this apartment. A...
Continue reading...Riding lesson
I had a riding lesson today with Isis that went surprisingly well. We rode her first dressage test today (Introductory Test B, a simple walk-trot test). Last time I had ridden something like that was in college (been a looong time). We rode the test three times. The first time was just trying to get through the different movements. She tripped four times during the first run-through. She also pulled against me a...
Continue reading...White line bruises. Arg.
I met the farrier at the barn this morning. Overall, Isis’ feet look good: reasonable growth and plenty of sole and hoof wall. However, she has some bruising in the white line and the white line appears to be thicker. The white line is actually the growth of the lamina, the part of the hoof that holds the hoof wall to the hoof interior. If the white line is wider (stretching in the...
Continue reading...Stellster and the bed
Stella has developed a bad habit: if any piles of clothes are left on the bed or within her reach (like the laundry basket), she will pee on them. If the litter box is not clean or does not have enough litter in it, she will pee on my bed. (Mattress covers are worth their weight in gold!) Two nights in a row, I forgot to buy new litter. The three litter boxes...
Continue reading...Myachi Geomagic style!
During the company meeting on October 1st, we were taught how to play Myachi (think hacky sack for the back of your hands) by two good natured people. Here is the video of their efforts: Related Images:
Continue reading...