New Things

These are the colors I've chosen for my next warp. The pattern is a block weave, so the A block, or odd harnesses, are on the right with the B block (even harnesses) yarns on the left. I think I should have used some stronger values for the B block in retrospect.
I started winding the warp this afternoon. I'm under-
whelmed by the values of these colors, but hey, that's what this exercise is all about for me. I'm trying to learn on my own since I can't go to a weaving boot camp like the John C. Campbell School. The next set will have stronger values to satisfy my curiosity.
My High County Gardens order arrived today. This nursery is in Santa Fe and our own cooperative extension turned me onto them. If they say their cultivar is browse resistant to rabbits, then it is. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow, planting these. I always try to buy local but in this instance it's not practical. That's over $100 worth of future yard and when it's green and growing, it's so worth it.
Charlie and I have been to our vets twice in the past two days. I took him in yesterday for a wellness check because his coat doesn't look good and he seems to be losing weight. So now he's on such a large dose of antibiotics, and after his twice-a-day dosing, he sleeps. Laura just messaged me that sleeping is good for healing and I'm glad to think of it that way.

Our vets are a married couple who have cared for our pets for over 20 years, though now due to physical limitations, they no longer see pets over 30 pounds. Only Charlie qualifies and that was a sad day for us when we had to move our dogs. I saw Dr. Tom yesterday who was worried about weight loss, so they kept him for a couple hours to do some tests. Rather than shop and spend money, I decided to spend money on parking meters and go the campus. I had my Kindle in my purse - thought I'd read at the library. Amy had a half hour before a meeting so I got to sneak in a visit. She warned me to be prepared to some kidney problems.

Forward to today, Dr. Tom called me at 6:30 this morning with the lab results. I lied and told him he didn't wake me and scrambled for a pencil and paper. The lab results: Normal BUN is 15-34, Charlie's is 138: Normal creatinine is 0.8-2.3, Charlie's is 8.0: Normal phosphorus is 3-7, Charlie's is 9.3: Normal WBC neutrophils should be below 12,500, Charlie's are 20,375. Diagnosis: Stage 4 kidney disease which means he should be showing signs of kidney failure.

But the interesting thing is that he's still a thriving cat. The recommended treatment is over a thousand dollars so we're going at a second tier treatment which is about half that. Today Dr. Tom drew more urine which is being cultured for the specific antibiotic to use. He's currently on amoxycillin - same pink stuff as my kids used to take. He's on a feline treatment that transfers urea from the urine, away from the kidneys and to the intestines where it's passed. We're transitioning him to special kidney food and Dr. Tom is optimistic that we can be successful with this regime to enjoy Charlie for several more years. He recommended we buy feline pill pockets since he's on pills for life. After that phone call this morning, it was a long sad drive to town for me today. According to Dr Tom, the fat lady hasn't sung yet for Charlie. It's the dark side of owning and loving pets. Sigh.

The good news is that our friend Petey is coming tomorrow to spend some time with us - the guest room bed is made. We're all going to Joe Winter's open kiln party Saturday where a blue grass/folk band will play. I hope Petey will sit in with his Old Timey banjo - TBA.