rolanni | It's Still Tuesday?

Yargh.

But, hey. At least I have a chance of improving my word-count on the week.

Up early, dealt with the not-able-to-breathe thing until I could, mostly. Drank coffee, ate breakfast, said Good Morning to

kinzel, who arose, tousled and coldish, about half-past oatmeal, and nuked on out to Augusta to drop off the Crisis Printing. Carla swears it'll be ready on Thursday. This Thursday.

Swung out to Unity and mailed the last of what could be mailed, zapped back through town, stopping first at the credit union and then at the Town Office to register my car, it being the last day of the month, and I'm finally in funds sufficient unto the excise tax. While I was there, I asked (one!more!time) why the Town doesn't accept credit card payments for excise tax and property tax. The counter clerk explained that the Town Manager believes that allowing people to pay by credit card is "unfair" to those who pay by cash; and besides, if people wanted to pay by credit card, they'd have to pay more, in order to cover the "extra fees" the Town would incur. She offered to let me talk to the man himself. I allowed as how, in the twelve-plus years I've lived in town, I've walked out on the Town Manager twice and hung up on him three times. To which she replied, straight-faced, composed, and Utterly Maine, "Well, theah."

Scored gas at a buck-eighty-eight a gallon on the way home.

After lunch,

kinzel and I executed a perfect sweep and got all four cats boxed almost without breaking a sweat. Mozart did put up a creditable resistance, making it necessary for me to fall on him, but the others were taken Completely By Surprise.

kinzel not feeling quite the thing, I did the honors and I'm pleased to say that the cats took their shots like troupers.

Except for Max!.

Max! has a tumor on his thyroid.

The vet drew blood and withheld the annual boosters until the results of the tests come back -- that's Thursday. His best guess today is that a benign tumor is exerting pressure and thereby convincing the thyroid to release more T4 than it ought -- the opposite of what's going on with my thyroid. If the thyroid-tumor is all that's going on, then our choices are pills/medicinal paste 2xday; an operation to remove the tumor (which will very likely grow back); or a two-week stint as an in-patient at the Big Veterinary Hospital in Portland, while radioactive chips are used to burn the tumor out (low-to-nil chance of growing back, poor Max! loses clumps of his beautiful fur).

I'm thinking we'll try the least intrusive first. Max! being twelve, I'm not in love with the notion of putting him under the knife. Won't be able to decide authoritatively until we have the results of all the tests. In the meantime, he's bopping about, being Max! and, except for having lost about five pounds, apparently in neither pain nor discomfort.

All of which is surely enough excitement for a week -- and it's still Tuesday.