Cones and Kittens

When you have a very small kitten with an eye issue, a cone (or e-collar – to use the proper term) can be a bit of a challenge to deal with.  There are quite a few options out there for full grown cats, but when you’re dealing with a kitten like Night Rider, who weighed in at only just a pound when I first brought him in, the number of choices you have very quickly dwindles.  That’s why I wanted to make a quick post for anyone going through a similar situation.  Hopefully some of the tips I’ve stumbled on can save you a small amount of stress.

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Meet Night Rider

I know your gut instinct is probably going to be to panic a bit when you see the picture above, but I want to make a couple things very clear before that reaction takes its full effect.  First, the kitten you’re looking at is, despite appearances, very happy and playful.  He’s eating and drinking and playing just like a kitten should.  That may be hard to believe, given the state of his eye, but I swear that it’s true.  Second, and I’m saying this one in large part to try to deflect a few emails before you start writing them, he has already seen a vet.

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A Question on the Future of Writing

I’ve had a question that’s been rolling around in my head for the last few weeks now, and I’ve been trying to find a good way to post about it. The problem is that every time I start to write about it, I start getting lost in trying to figure out how I really feel about the issue. So, instead of trying to take on the topic single-handed, I’m going to pass along my question to all of you.

How will the information age affect the future of writing?

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Symbolism

Near the end of the time she had with us, my grandmother’s declining health led to times where it was difficult for her to remember things, like where she was and who was with her. It also made it hard for her to communicate some of the things that she wanted to say.

As I sat with her one night, she woke up and began to ask me “Can I have a glass of…” and then she trailed off and began rambling into a number of words that just didn’t make sense. After a moment, she stopped herself and said “I’m not making sense, am I?” In here eyes was a look of defeat for not being able to form the words of what should be a simple sentence.

It was hard to watch, but at the same time, you could tell that she was there with us, she just wasn’t able to connect the dots in her head the way she normally could when it came to saying what she wanted to.

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