The Mozart Report

[rolanni]

Paid a visit to Mozart's fan club at the vet's today. He'd stopped drinking (to my observation), didn't want anything to do with any of the yummy homemade cat food-and-tuna-juice soup Mom made, has been resisting even basic combing, swacked Trooper a good one in the head for doing something Trooper does at least fourteen times a day and has always been OK. . .just a general Creeping Grumpiness and Hangcatness.

The vet tells us he's lost a considerable amount of weight -- a couple pounds since February -- despite the custom feedings -- she dispensed saline, and pain meds, and an anti-nausea shot (in with the drip, because apparently the shot burns and she didn't want to distress him any more than he was already distressed). There is some irritation in his mouth, not necessarily the ulcers that form in a cat in severe kidney failure. . .but, granting room for local custom and individual, not necessarily not ulceration.

So, the plan is to see if the saline and the various meds produce a happier cat who will eat some dern food. If it seems as if we haven't managed to get him relief and a little more stability, then we're going to have to Take Stock. At the moment, he's in the basement. Sprite's also in the basement, so I'm hoping he's let her clean his ears and settled down for a nap.

In other news, the guy next door, with whom we share a property line, saw -- as we did -- a lot of downed branches and broken trees over the winter. He and one of his crew spent the earlier part of the week chainsawing all the trees. Since the trees he has taken down are on the summer afternoon sun path, I have a feeling it may be a Hot Old Summer here at the Cat Farm.

Steve and I had been planning on going down to Portland tomorrow and taking the free tour of the new ferry, then walking around Old Port to window shop, but. . .the "light sprinkles" specified for Saturday at the beginning of the week have been upgraded to "rain", and window shopping's just no fun in the rain. *sigh*. Well. Maybe the weatherbeans will change their minds again on the overnight.

The rest of the day, after supper, will be spent by Your Humble Narrator on the couch, with manuscript, pens and yellow pad to hand, plotting. This process may or may not include a Coon Cat.

Oh! Someone very kindly sent me a $35 Amazon gift card, which is of course burning a hole in my metaphorical pocket. So -- what have you read lately that really blew you away?

Comments

[starrcat.livejournal.com]

Sending healing thoughts Mozart's way!

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

Best wishes for Mozart's progress! One of mine looks like she may be in a similar situation that will require some outside attention.

Because of your recent mention of it as one of your favorites, I started rereading Mouse & Dragon, but was only a few pages into it when I realized there was backstory I remembered, but not it detail and not from where. So rummage through the library and I restarted with Scout's Progress, then back to M&D, then on with the Theo books, following that whole thread and was, of course, as always, left with wanting MORE MORE MORE ;p

[catherine kelleher (from livejournal.com)]

I've been listening to the "The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag" while doing a bunch of spring yard cleanup chores. It's the second in the Flavia Deluce murder mystery series. The narrator is terrific and the setting and characters are interesting. I like this one a bit better than the first in the series, and I don't think it would be to hard to just jump in. Although in it's favor, the first one starts out with a wonderful bang with the 11 year old Flavia tie up and locked into a closet by her two older sisters. Flavia is intense enough and bright enough she has a lot in common with the Dragons.

[the wol (from livejournal.com)]

Elizabeth Bear's "Bone and Jewel Creatures" and/or "Book of Iron" -- the first one is an oldie but a multiple reread; second takes place in same universe. (Actually, anything by Elizabeth Bear, for my money). Pretty much any of Margery Allingham's "Albert Campion" books, Jedediah Berry's "Manual of Detection." Patricia Wrede's "Enchanted Forest Chronicles" a four-book set which is another oldie but if you somehow missed it, it is hilarious and eminently rereadable.

[catherine kelleher (from livejournal.com)]

Oh I read the Enchanted Forest Chronicles to my girls and we all loved them. There is one short story where a wizard preparing a once-in-a-lifetime spell to enchant a sword accidentally slips and casts the spell on a frying pan. So the frying pan becomes an invincible weapon.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Yes! The Frying Pan Of Doom!!!!!

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Have been doing the fluids and anti-acid and anti-nausea and appetite-stimulant routine with Chino for 15 months now and he's fat(ish) -- maintaining his new lower weight at least -- and happy and bossy as ever. His people dared to spend the day out and about today and we are being severely chastised as I type.

[reedrover]

Best thoughts from a member of the remote Mozart fan club!

The most recent good book I read was The Martian by Andy Weir.

[charlie russel (from livejournal.com)]

I'm definitely a member of the Mozart Fan Club, so my best thoughts to him and to you.

On that Amazon gift card -- you could always grab the 2nd, 3rd and 4th volumes in the Steerswoman saga. Rosemary has them up now. And they're just as good as I remembered.

[otterb.livejournal.com]

Best wishes to Mozart.

Best recent reads:
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison aka Sarah Monette. Court intrigue, but neither all happy-bouncy nor all grimdark. The main character, and the friends (and enemies) he acquires are fabulous. This one will have a long-term place on my comfort read shelf near Janet Kagan's books and some of yours.

Emilie and the Sky World, by Martha Wells, a YA-ish, steampunkish adventure.

My Real Children by Jo Walton; not yet out (end of this month, I think) but I won an ARC. Not as dark as the Farthing series, a sort of alternate history story that makes you think about choices and lives and how they work out or don't.

[drammar.livejournal.com]

I do hope that Mozart shows improvement and comes to a more comfortable place.

Seventh Sigma by Steven Gould. Not terribly recent, but I don't recall seeing it on your "Books read" list. Discovered it because a chapter was included in a compilation that included one of yours (but I don't remember which of yours that was!).

Edited to correct Stephen to Steven.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

I hope Mozart gets his appetite back. I've yet to see a cat resist chicken baby food.

Books? It's old news, but one of the best I'd read in years was Feed by Mira Grant. Also, Wrede's Thirteenth Child was good.

[emgrasso.livejournal.com]

2 great recent books: one is "The Goblin Emperor" by Katherine Addison. It's been out about a month and I have read it 3 times -- It is a Fantasy of manners to some extent and reminded me of the Liaden cultural bits, and I seem to find it a ogood book for de-stressing. and "Ancillary Justice" by Anne Leckie which I have read twice since it came out -- it is space opera that does some interesting things with gender and identity and cultral differences.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Best wishes to Mozart!!!!

Books? By Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons and its just-out sequel, The Tropic of Serpents! Both most excellent novels, of the study of dragons in sortakindanotreallyeigthteenthcenturyish world ....

[elbales]

Best wishes to the clan entire. Kidney failure sucks. Mozart is lucky to have such great keepers.

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

The Witch Doctor's Wife by Tamar Myers. It's on a 99 cent sale right now on Kindle and is the best African novel (a mystery) I've read since the first Alexander McCall Smith.

[catlinye-maker.livejournal.com]

Sending good thoughts for Mozart and his continued comfort, and thirding or fourthing the recommendation for Goblin Emperor. I loved the play with languages and the protagonist on first read, reread it immediately and have been reccing it everywhere.

In very new releases, Seanan McGuire's Sparrow Hill Road was excellent and is on my reread list. it's another one where the language caught me immediately; I felt like throughout her voice had something of the cadence of American ghost stories. I enjoyed Valour and Vanity, Mary Kowall's new Glamorist book which is the latest of a series, especially for the routine hardship that the protagonist endures and learns through. And not a current release, but Patricia Wrede's Frontier Magic series is also excellent, and complete in three volumes.

Mozart

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

All good wishes to Mozart. Hoping for good results with the treatments.

Just finished "Peacemaker" by CJ Cherryh. As you know there's usually a battle, usually at the end. This time it was in the middle - ish. At the end was the birth of a baby. I wasn't blown away by it, but enjoyed it a lot.

Now for something very I found very funny. When investigating some free on Kindle books I found one called Alien Dog 1 and a short story on Alien Dog's puppyhood also. Of course I have to read them. And I'm still laughing. There's going to be an Alien Dog 2. I doubt it will be free. But I'll have to buy it anyway!

How do we know that some of our cats aren't aliens? Something to think about?

Books to recommend

[k-10b.livejournal.com]

If you are not familiar with the Tiffany Aching books by Sir Pratchett, you might want to take a gander. Tiffany is a Witch to be reckoned with, but one with some learning about how to be such a fearsome personage. Plus, small blue Wee Free Men, who may the size and shade of smurfs but behave like Highland rogues. The final installment, I Shall Wear Midnight, was the best book I read last year. Great for reading aloud.

I have recently begun The Jinni and The Golem by Helene Wecker, and I suspect that it will eat my upcoming weekend.

Am currently re-reading P.C. Hodgell ... but you already know about those because you rec'd them. :)

KB