The Big Green House

Vay-cay-shon

First things first, though: Martin’s tests came back better than any of us expected, I think. His kidney levels, while still higher than one might want, are back to where they were in March. We will take that. He’s obviously feeling much better; he’s been eating like a champ, and has even taken to jumping up on Science Girl’s lap while she’s reading the morning paper again. He still sleeps a lot, but not nearly as much as he had been. And the daily subcutaneous hydration continues to be traumatic for all parties, but as we adjust our strategy to counter Martin’s wriggling, it becomes better than it was. Can’t ask for much more than that, can you?

Of Coyotes and Kidneys

Well, that was a busy weekend. First, the good stuff: Science Girl’s NW Coyote Tracker has really taken off. KOMO never ran their piece about the situation, but there was an article in today’s P-I about urban coyotes; the site gets mentioned at the very end. Also, the local NBC affiliate, KING-5, came out and interviewed SG this afternoon and ran their piece tonight. Still pending is an interview she gave to the Seattle Times. As I write this, around 7:30 PM, NWCT has had about 1600 hits today alone. SG says she’s got about two dozen coyote sightings in queue to be posted. Congratulations to SG for providing an outlet for people to share their information, and for getting out the news that people need to keep their pets inside.

Speaking of pets, we come to the less-good news. Martin, our 19-year-old cat, spent the weekend in the hospital. He’s had kidney disease for some time, but the extreme (for here) heat last week sent him into the beginnings of kidney failure. So he spent Wednesday – Sunday getting IV and subcutaneous fluids. Since there is no such thing as dialysis for kitties (and if there were, it would probably be kinder not to administer it), the idea was to sorta flush out his system and get the kidney values down. The BUN (blood urea nitrogen) got down to acceptable levels, but the creatinine is still elevated. It’s down from where it was, of course, but it’s still high – normal is under 3, and I think he’s around 5 and change, if I recall correctly. We brought him home last night, and have been administering all sorts of new meds plus pushing subcutaneous fluids on him, daily. That involves sticking him with a needle and dripping fluid under his skin. Oddly enough he doesn’t like it, and we’re both a little wigged out about it, too. I think we’ve gotten the hang of it now, though, and can get through it so that it’s minimally painful for all concerned. Thankfully, Martin is a pretty forgiving guy.

We take him back to the vet on Wednesday, to get his creatinine levels checked again. Hopefully they’re continuing to trend downward. They’re never going to be normal, but lower is obviously better. So we do our thing and hope for the best.

Urban Wildlife

There’s been a real uptick in coyote sightings here in Seattle this summer. We’d heard so many reports, from different neighbors, that Science Girl decided to put together a website to keep track of them. Thus was born NW Coyote Tracker. It was almost immediately linked by a couple of neighborhood blogs, which in turn lead to Science Girl being interviewed for local TV news. (Seattle peoples, check out the 11 o’clock report on KOMO tonight. They said that unless there’s a big fire, they’re sure to run her spot.)

Personally, I’ve seen two coyotes myself. The first one was a couple of years ago, but just last night, as I was driving home from work, I saw a juvenile running alongside the road in a large park near where we live. We are just over the hill from downtown, so it’s something of a surprise to see coyotes here. The ones I grew up around were really shy and would flee at the first sight of humans. These guys are much more bold; there was one report of a pair running past a couple walking down the sidewalk on Capitol Hill.

What’s the urban wildlife situation where you live? As the ‘burbs encroach on habitat, are you seeing more wild visitors in your neighborhood?

I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract

Science Girl has a new project! Just because I’m a lazy sod doesn’t mean everyone in our house is, too. There has been an upswing in the number of urban coyote sightings, including a few near where we live. Since coyotes are notorious for snacking on household pets, SG thought it would be a good idea to be able to keep track of where they’ve been sighted. And, since no one else was doing so, she stepped up to the plate and created NW Coyote Tracker. I believe she’s still making a few tweaks in the template and such, but the site is live now. Go check it out.

Bored on the fourth of July

OK. I’ve laid out, repeatedly, how shitty music is right now. (If you missed that, I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version: it’s as shitty as it’s ever been, if not more so.) Things being cyclical, I have to hope that the Big Wheel will be turning soon, or at least before I die. But which way will it turn? That’s the question now, since good new music is so fucking scarce. (Do look into getting that Grinderman CD, though. You’ll thank me later.)

Given the nature of the current music scene – meek and mild, living on its knees, creeping about as quietly as possible so as not to scare anyone – it stands to reason that the backlash will be swift and loud and merciless. I certainly hope so, anyway. Then again, I’m hearing rumblings of prog on the horizon. Honestly, that wouldn’t really be the antidote to boredom one might hope for. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a prog hater. I recently spent about two months listening to very little else, just to sorta refresh the ol’ memory and such. Here’s the thing: prog is exceptionally hard to do well. There really aren’t that many bands that could pull it off back in the day. King Crimson, Genesis (from time to time – even with Peter Gabriel on board they weren’t above the odd snoozer), and after that you have to start hunting pretty hard. Most of it was boring twenty-seven minute wankathons, just like the punks said it was. So a prog revival would have to incorporate something new and vital to make it any less somnolent than the acoustic pap on offer now.

There’s also been some talk of “heavy rock” returning to the fore. Which, again, is easier to say than to actually pull off. There is a bit of a neo-grunge thing going on here in Seattle, but so far what I’ve heard of it doesn’t really bring much that’s new to the table.

ARE YOU SEEING A THEME HERE? THE FLAW IN THE WHOLE REVIVAL GIG IS THAT YOU’RE REHASHING SOMETHING THAT’S ALREADY BEEN HASHED OUT AT LEAST ONCE. IT’S LIKE PRE-CHEWING DINNER FOR SOMEONE – MOST PEOPLE WANT IT FRESH.

Sorry about the shouting there, but it really does seem to be something that people aren’t hearing. (Plus I accidentally hit the capslock key – happy accident or divine intervention? You be the judge.) It’s not enough to go back and dig up something that’s worked in the past. You’ve got to reinvent, at the very least, or combine some elements that heretofore haven’t been served on the same plate. Better still, just make up something yourself. Otherwise, there’s not really much point, is there?