Eugie · Foster's · Self-Indulgent · Musings

My day off: writing/working downstairs on the couch because after lunch, Hobkin insisted I be his pillow. I'm pinned by an 8lb fuzzy animal. Oh well. He's a decent mousepad.

Got awakened at 2:30AM by Hobkin grousing "lil help already!" while trying to climb up beside me. Seems the hubby moved the doggie steps...

Hobkin is officially blowing his coat. The Furminator helps tons (thank you aimeempayne!), but there are still tufts of undercoat fuzz drifting throughout the house. Wonder if the vacuum cleaner will survive.

Am feeling pampered. Hubby is baking brownies for dessert while Hobkin curls up in my lap.

Taking advantage of a minor lull in bill editing at the capitol to post this.

It's now been two weeks since Hobkin's emergency vet visit, and he's got one more day of amoxicillin to go. He seems to have fully recovered from his UTI (thank all the deities who watch over fuzzy beasties) and is in downright frisky spirits.

Skunks, or at least Hobkin, display a pretty radical personality shift between spring and winter. In winter he's fat, lazy, and generally laid back. In spring, he becomes frolicsome and downright attitudinous. And apparently, it's now spring.

On Sunday, I'm reaching down to pet the deceptively mild-mannered plush critter curled up beside me, and he decided it was an invitation to wrestle. He latched all four paws around my forearm, grabbed my index finger with his teeth, and rolled (think crocodile ambushing a deer).

Now, Hobkin knows better than to bite me, but he considers it fair play to grab my forefinger right between his two top canines (which, 'cause my hands are small, is a perfect fit) where there's a little ridge of front teeth. Not sharp enough to cause damage or break the skin even if he presses down, but enough to make me go "Ow, no bite! Leggo, no bite!" while he drags me about by one finger and gleefully assures me that he's not biting.

And, once again, 8 lb fuzzy animal wins over stupid human. Yes, I think it's safe to say that Hobkin's all better.

   

Writing Stuff

During the times when I wasn't losing at wrestling matches against the fuzzwit, the weekend was spent editing and burning the limited edition audio MP3 CD of Returning My Sister's Face and getting the first shipment of autographed books mail-ready (which book Amazon is offering at a juicy discounted price of $21.55 right now). I'll be sending out email notices shortly to let folks know to expect them. I anticipate the second batch will be going out later this week. Thanks to everyone who ordered during the launch party!

fosteronfilm got a urine sample from Hobkin to the vet's for testing the other day, and the results just came in. Elevated white blood cells and some blood. Also some cells that could be bad if there were more of them, but are normal to see in cases of inflammation.

The vet is now sure Hobkin has an infection. We just need to keep him on the amoxicillin, and all should be well.

Vasty gobs of relief and happiness.

Thanks to everyone for all the support and get well soon thoughts for Hobkin!

Hobkin slept with me for most of the night and is doing reasonably well, probably better than fosteronfilm, actually. Since I'm in session, Matthew stayed up to watch over the lil guy for the second night/day in a row (my husband's circadian rhythms are whack) and has been doing all the other caretaker duties so that I can get what sleep I can. Hence, Matthew's low on sleep and a bit ragged around the edges from these last couple days.

It's such a blessing that he can be there 24x7 at times like these, but it's also less than optimal because Hobkin is really a mommy's boy, and I can do things with him that no one else can—like force feed him meds. Did I mention that after the first dose of amoxicillin, the silly beastie decided he no longer considers it a nummy treat? Sigh. Not sure how my boys are going to fare come Hobkin's afternoon med. time. I anticipate a pink, sticky mess...pinker and sticker than the one he and I made this AM.

Another reason to nominate this morning as Least Fun Evah: the East/West MARTA rail lines weren't working when I arrived at Five Points station. They were busing people to their East/West destinations, but from Five Points, once I get off the Northbound, I just transfer to the Eastbound for one stop to get to the capitol. So it's walking distance. Rather than deal with the bus, I set out to hoof it...in the breezy, blustery cold. And I started off in the wrong direction (of course). Fortunately, the capitol sits at the top of a hill and is crowned by a shiny, gold dome. Hard to miss. Even for someone as directionally challenged as me.

Walked in the door at work to a rush bill. Off and editing while I still couldn't feel face or fingers and not only hadn't I even tasted my coffee, I hadn't even poured it yet. But things are slowing down a bit now. Thankfully. But I'm really not going to be at my best today.

So fosteronfilm is right now with Hobkin at the vet's for an emergency visit.

Trying not to freak out. I can't be there 'cause I'm still at work, and even if I got off now, it's terribly unlikely unto impossible that I'd be able to make it to the vet's in time for the appointment. (My car's at the North Springs MARTA station, I'm at the capitol, and the vet's office is in Lawrenceville.)

We think Hobkin simply managed to scratch or cut himself in a, er, delicate area, but the alternative—internal bleeding—is something that we're not willing to gamble on. Ergo vet visit. And that scary-panic alternative is giving me serious cold sweats and shakes. Glancing compulsively at the cell phone awaiting updates...

[Edit - Update 1: Thanks for everyone's support and good wishes. Very much appreciated. Hubby just called. They think Hobkin's got kidney/bladder stones or possibly an infection. They're trying to x-ray him now to confirm whether he's got kidney stones. (I REALLY wish I was there to assist with that.) More updates as they come in...

Update 2: X-rays were clean but the vet says that doesn't preclude the possibility of stones. They decided that rather than sedate Hobkin to do a blood test, it would be safer to observe him for a couple days and administer antibiotics. So husband and skunk are heading home now with some amoxicillin and various directives and things-to-watch-for. Not a minor scratch but not as dire as other possibilities. Fretting and anxiety to continue but turned down a notch or two.

Update 3: Everyone's home now, and I'm curled up on the couch with Hobkin—not sure who's reassuring whom. On the medication front, had a flash of inspiration. In my experience, most critters really like the taste of amoxicillin, but Hobkin grouses and fights being force-fed with a feeding syringe (understandably), so I thought to try to offer it to him in a saucer. The lil guy lapped it right up, making what might have been a stressful and unpleasant 3x/day experience for all a nice treat instead! Hurray for small blessings.]

Hope all who celebrate it had a fabu Thanksgiving!

Not much accomplished over the four-day holiday at Chez Foster. fosteronfilm had a cold/sinus malaise and Hobkin had an upset tummy, which resulted in me not doing much in general aside from comforting and playing nurse to both.

Whenever Hobkin's sick or scared, he demands to be cuddled against my chest, with his head wedged beneath my chin, rather than just curling up at my side or in my lap. I think he finds the sound of my heartbeat soothing, and skunks in general (or perhaps it's only Hobkin), seem to find being pressed between/against something comforting. Maybe since they live in borrows underground in the wild, pressed in hole=safe.

So I spent a good portion of the last four days propped on the couch with eight pounds of snoring fuzziness flopped on my chest, trying to balance my laptop on my stomach so I could get some work done. And those were the times when Hobkin was snoozing flat instead of lolling to one side, requiring me to use an arm to balance him in place—else he'd roll right off in his sleep and blame me for it (yes, that's happened before)—and thereby forcing me to type one-handed. It's hard enough typing using both hands with a skunk lying on me; I can't see over him, so if I lose the home keys, if I can't find them again by touch, I'm pretty much plum out of luck.

A couple of times, Hobkin flopped on Matthew instead of me, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of my two ailing boys (with my grainy, less-than-one-pixel-lame cell phone camera, alas):

I feel sort of remiss that I didn't post a "Things I am Thankful For" Thanksgiving day post, as has been my tradition, but the day itself sort of slipped by me. Like last year, health issues conspired to make the holiday low key—although this year they weren't mine but Matthew and Hobkin's. But I think it's good to remind myself that I have much to be thankful for. So herein my belated "Things I am Thankful For" list; it's essentially a reprise of my 2006 list, but I am no less thankful two years later:

1. For my husband, Matthew, my best friend, love of my life, and soul mate. He cherishes me as I am, even with all my flaws and foibles. I am stronger because of his support and better because of his example.
2. For Hobkin, for making our house a home and reminding me that dignity is overrated, especially compared to laughter.
3. For family and friends: near, far, offline, and on.
4. For my health. Even as crappy as it is, it could be and has been much worse. And despite all the rips and worn spots in my human suit, it works well enough to keep me going—which is more than many people are able to say.
5. That I have the freedom and ability to chase my bliss and tell the stories that fill my days with magic.
6. For my beautiful home—my whimsy-filled sanctuary where unseen fey folk mysteriously turn on and off the lights and occasionally swipe and hide inexplicable items.
7. That I am not hungry or cold.
8. That I believe in and love myself.
9. For my day job, because it is an incredible blessing that I love what I do and not only don't begrudge the hours I spend at the office but am glad of them.

   

Writing Stuff

New Words:
• 300 on The Stupid Novel.

It's that time of the year again for flu shots, so yesterday on my day off, fosteronfilm and I bopped down to the K-P clinic. While there, I also had my bimonthly test tubes of blood extracted*. The phlebotomist was competent, but I still ended up bruising, and I'm also achy from the flu shot. Meh. I don't have a problem with needles, but it was a bit of a pincushiony sort of day.

But, for the first time ever, we accidentally left the gate to Hobkin's area open when we went out. When one of us is home to supervise—which is most of the time—he gets free run, but when we're out, we lock him in his rover gated area.

We came home to discover that not only had we forgotten to lock the gate, we'd also left the doors to the master bathroom+walk-in closet open—two places where he's not allowed to go 'cause of the various high potential skunk-induced mischief/danger items therein.

After confirming Hobkin's whereabouts (napping peacefully in his usual place) and that he wasn't in any distress, I began a mad-thorough search, checking to see if he'd gotten into anything scary: the sundry meds or first-aid supplies in the cabinet under the sink, the "do not injest" packets of desiccant in shoe boxes, the dental floss in the trash can, etc. And it seems that while he did indeed tip the trash can over, which fortunately had nothing more hazardous in it than a couple tissues, he didn't riffle through anything else. He didn't open any of the cabinets or de-box any shoes or anything. Huh. What a good boy! I mean he knows he's not allowed in those rooms, and it's obvious he did check them out, but he didn't get into any of the Eugie-heart-attack-causing mayhem that he could have.

Relief-amazement-relief-amusement-relief.

---

*I take the immunosuppressant Imuran to keep my lupus/MCTD at bay, and it can cause a drop in white blood count as well as liver toxicity, so I have regular blood tests done to monitor those.

   

Writing Stuff

New Words:
• around 1.7K on The Stupid Novel. Momentum? What momentum?

Received:
• Payment from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Mangazine for "The Better To..."

Seems that the world's economy is catching up to the badness of the U.S.'s. When I first made the sale, the same payment amount (in AUD) would've netted me about $10 USD more than it did yesterday. But that was when the U.S. dollar was tanking and other currencies were still holding steady. It seems the currency exchange rates between AUD and USD have now equalized out to close to their usual rates. Drat.

I suspect that will also be the case for whenever I get payment from Interzone (paid in GBP) for "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast." Double drat. Although I'm gun-jumping there, as the story hasn't even come out yet.
• Shiny contrib. copies of the Nov-Dec '08 issue of Cricket:

There was much squeeage when I discovered that "Cuhiya's Husband" is the lead story! As always, the Cricket folks put together a gorgeous product. Absolutely lovely.

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern and well-wishes about Hobkin. He's still limping, but both fosteronfilm and I think he's better today than he was on Tuesday. We didn't end up taking him to the vet, as what they'd probably want to do is take an x-ray, and I'm pretty sure it's a soft tissue injury, and the x-ray procedure (the whole vet experience, actually) would undoubtedly agitate him which would risk aggrevating his injury. But we did call his godmother—the person he stays with when we're out of town or at Dragon*Con—and got some suggestions for treatment.

It seems that a lot of domesticated skunks suffer from hip dysplasia, which is not surprising considering that most of them are from a single place which is undoubtedly causing some inbreeding issues. Although Hobkin is notably not from there, so I'm hoping that this isn't hip dysplasia manifesting.

I do think it's likely that this might be a sign of arthritis—although I don't believe it's the sole culprit, here. Hobkin is six years old, officially classified as a "senior" skunk, and I've noticed particularly with this season's coat blowing* that there's a lot more white around his muzzle and paws than a couple years ago. It sort of freaks me out thinking of our little guy as being "old." I'm clinging to the hope that he'll be one of the pet skunks who live a couple decades, but I know that's unlikely. I also know that it's inevitable that one day he will break my heart—the unavoidable consequence of loving someone who has a significantly shorter life expectancy than we do. It's something I try not to dwell upon much, but this (baffling) injury has sort of brought that to the forefront of my mind.

Going to continue trying not to dwell upon that now . . .

---

*My GAWD there's skunk fur everywhere! My car is coated in skunk fur, and that was only from one back and forth to his godmother's last week. I'm worried that our vacuum cleaner is going to belly up from choking on skunk fur!

   

Writing Stuff

New Words:
• around 200 on Taijiya. Did some clean-up, a bit of bridging, and some culling of words, so was a bit more productive than that count shows. Total words: 27.1K.

Club 100 for Writers: 4

Received:
• Contrib. copies of Triangulation: Taking Flight with my (reprint) story, "The Life and Times of Penguin."
Shiny cover:

So Hobkin started limping last night. He was curled up next to me on the couch napping after dinner, he hopped down to use the litter pan--and by "hopped" I mean he casually crawled down the "doggie" steps--and fosteronfilm called me over 'cause he saw that Hobkin was wobbling and unsteady. After some anxious observation, we determined that he's favoring his left hind leg. We think. It's hard to gauge with 100% certainty exactly which side is the culprit on a critter with such stumpy legs. But I also tried to do a check of his "resistance" strength on both hind legs by picking him up and getting him to push at my hand with each paw, and his left was much weaker than his right. I also checked to see if anything seemed broken or dislocated, and I think we're okay on that front, too.

We're not sure what happened. Someone's with him just about 24x7, so it's unlikely that he injured himself earlier yesterday without us seeing. And he was fine when he climbed up beside me. I wasn't watching him when he left to use the bathroom, but he didn't make any noise or give any sign of hurting himself as he was leaving; I would have noticed that. The only thing we can figure is that he injured his hind leg while he was asleep . . . which is rather baffling.

Unsurprisingly, I was totally and utterly freaking out last night. When we had ferrets, one of the first overt signs of the onset of neurological or other major medical problems was weak hind legs. But Hobkin's appetite is fine. He's using the litter pan fine; actually, I'm pretty amazed at how good he's being on that front, considering he's limping. And he doesn't appear to be in pain. Although it's hard to evaluate pain in a skunk. Hobkin's almost completely silent, except for a couple notable occasions when he's been either frightened or angry. I don't know if skunks vocalize when they're in distress like a dog or keep quiet like a cat. I'm inclined to bet the latter.

Going to see how he does today, and if he doesn't show improvement or looks to be getting worse, then it's off to the vet's. He was still limping this morning when he got up for breakfast, and I had to stifle an impulse to rush him to the vet today. But the vet is always a traumatic experience for the little guy, and if he's strained or pulled a muscle, it's possible he'll hurt himself worse from vet-related agitation.

Poor Hobkin! Wah!

   

Writing Stuff

Was up north visiting the mom-in-law last week. Didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned to (I never do; I don't know why I keep expecting to be productive when I'm there). And got zero words down on the novel. @%&^*! Well, I did edit a load of Dragon*Con guest bios for the program book. And, with the much appreciated editorial assistance of elemess, full_fathom5, and terracinque, we finished all 400+ of them. So I did get some stuff done.

New Words:
• 2.5K on The Stupid Novel since we got back from Illinois. Working title: Taijiya. Total words: 26.9K.

It is now officially the most words I've managed to get down on a single work of fiction. It's unlikely that I'll be able to make zero draft as I'm rapidly hitting the point where I'm going to have to drop everything that isn't Dragon*Con-related. But I'd like to make 30K. 40K, of course, would be better. . .

Club 100 for Writers: 3 (sigh)

Received:
• Notice from the fine folks at Aeon that my story, "Black Swan, White Swan," will be in the upcoming issue, #15. Also, they listed me on the cover (*squee!*):

Hobkin doesn't like the heat. It makes him grumpy and stompy and prone to tearing about the house huffing at things. We were hoping to be able to hold off on turning on the air conditioning for a little while longer, but ended up switching it on this weekend. I feel sorry for the little guy, after all he's got a fur coat on, and I don’t think he can tolerate as much heat as we can—especially since he doesn't drink water.

We've now switched ISPs, and not only is our connection speed noticeably faster, but part of the package deal was switching from our Dish TV to AT&T's cable—with a DVR thrown in. Really loving the DVR! I can record cartoons (from my computer, even!) and save them up to watch on weekend mornings. Rah!

   

Writing Stuff

Published:
• Part 2 of “Writing Multicultural Fiction for Children” (nonfiction reprint) is now up at Absolute Write.
• "A Thread of Silk" is now up in the June, 2008, issue of Baen's Universe with illustrations by Anthony Hochrein.

I've waited a looong time for this one to see print. I subbed this right before Baen's was taking an extended slush holiday, resulting in unusually long RTs. But the wait was worth it.

I want to give a huge "thank you!" to everyone who answered the eleventh hour plea for volunteers and came out to help rescue fifteen pallets of Meisha Merlin books last week! Y'all rawk.

This past weekend was a three-dayer for me, since we Georgia government employees get Confederate Memorial Day off. Yep, Confederate Memorial Day. And how exactly does one celebrate Confederate Memorial Day? By bathing a skunk, of course!

It actually went better than usual. I did not get smacked in the face by a sudsy tail—the first time that hasn't happened, I might add. And, while Hobkin was obviously displeased at being plunked into a bathtub full of lukewarm water and lathered up with baby shampoo, he put up less of a fuss about it than we know from experience he's capable of. Also, he did not (this time) go running amok through the house afterwards, collecting dust mice and lint in his still-damp, newly washed fur.

Of course, I was compelled to snap a couple pictures to compound the indignity of his ordeal:

Doesn't he look piteous?

"Umf. Must escape bathtub!"

   

Writing Stuff

New Words/Editing:
• Back to work on WiP, "Morozko." A major editing pass to hack out around 500 superfluous words and then hammer out 600 new ones gives me a net gain of 100 words. Making progress.
• 1400 on "Cthulhu Editing."
• 550 on a new story that I started just to get some words going. It worked, but I'm not sure if I've enough enthusiasm to see this one through. Had a bunch of imagery that needed an outlet, but the story's pretty nebulous.

Published:
• "Daughter of Bòtú" in the August, 2008 issue of Realms of Fantasy. Yay! Actually, I don't think the issue's out yet (haven't received my contrib. copies). But I got to see an e-ARC. Happy shiny.

Hobkin's tummy has been iffy this week. He sicked up his dinner on Wednesday and exhibited troubled tummy symptoms on Thursday. Last night, he sort of coughed-gagged before dinner, so we dosed him with his anti-nausea med, Metoclopramide, before feeding him.

Dinner gobbled, Hobkin crawled up beside me and was out, skunkie snores and all-four-paws-in-the-air out, and fosteronfilm and I put on a DVD to watch. Hobkin woke up in the middle of it to hop down to use the litter box. I kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn't going to sick up--I continue to be VERY thankful that our little one is obliging enough to sick up in his area and not on me, the carpet, or the furniture--and noticed that he was staggering as he exited his bathroom. He couldn't seem to walk a straight line, wobbling and stumbling drunkenly. He headed back to me and the couch, but he couldn't seem to make it, flopping instead on the floor in "flat skunk" mode. So I went and picked him up and set him on the couch beside me, whereupon he rolled onto his back and began snoring again.

Now, I freely admit that I'm an overprotective skunk mommy, and the staggering, wobbling, and stumbling were worrisome. Skunks are prone to seizures, a concern perpetually at the back of my mind, so I checked him over:

- Rigid limbs? Nope, limp as a rag skunk.
- Irregular breathing patterns? No, he's snoring regularly.
- Body or muscle twisting, spasming, shaking, or thrashing? Nope, see above re: rag skunk.
- Pupil dilation? Hard to tell since his eyes are burgundy-black. But probably not.
- Any prior odd activity like drooling, uncontrollable bodily fluids, trembling? Nope, nope, and nope. Plus he got up to use the bathroom on his own.
- Any post seizure activity like temporary blindness, disorientation, pacing, restlessness? Nope again. After his bathroom break, he knew he was coming back to the couch and where the couch was, but he just sort of ran out of pep halfway.

Okay, probably not a seizure. But as I was looking him over, I also noticed how extremely out of it he was. I could pull back his lips and rub his gums (no excess salivation or tongue twitches, check) without waking him. Normally the fastest way to get him up and scampering away in a huff is to try to mess with his teeth or gums. Very unusual.

It was like he was . . . drugged!

Scrambling to get his anti-nausea medicine bottle revealed there, on the side, the warning sticker: "MEDICATION MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS OR DIZZINESS."

Ah hah!

Yep, our skunk was drugged. We've never observed this degree of side effect before, but it's also possible that he wasn't actually sicking up before dinner, that he just had fur in his throat (since it is shedding season), and without symptoms to mitigate, the side effects were more pronounced.

So, after reassuring myself as to the cause of Hobkin's extreme sleepies, I took advantage of it and used a q-tip to brush his teeth and gums. La!

   

Writing Stuff

New Words:
- 355 on the Fox Princess novel. Didn't get as much writing done yesterday as I wanted. Still, progress is progress.

5,350 / 40,000 (13.4%)

Club 100 for Writers: 9