Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I have an extremely crackly cat.

As in: petting her is actually painful, not just noisy.

I guess I'd better start using a humidifier.

I've got this thermometer-combo dohickey (indoor humidity, indoor and outdoor temperatures) that my brother said to keep after I diagnosed its severely and bizarrely broken-seeming behaviour as one of the less obvious symptoms of a low battery. The device claims a relative humidity of 27% in here (at 287K/14C/57F). I've got no idea whether to trust it or not, nor whether it's normal for a mediumhair[*] cat to be so amazingly crackly in air with these stats; those details seem less important than, "gee, this hurts my fingers." Fortunately Perrine doesn't seem to notice unless I spark her nose or an ear-tip; and also-fortunately having her rub up against my wrist or arm doesn't hurt, just when I touch her with my fingertips or when she drags her tail across my nose (which I wish she wouldn't do the rest of the year, either).

The fingertips of my left hand are quite sore anyhow, from a whole lotta guitar playing at the Pirate Feast earlier (I should write up how that went, after I've slept, as it's sometimes interesting to note how many things can go wrong without ruining my day -- some wince-worthy bits requiring cyanoacrylate, but no blood), but both hands are feeling the shocking "Ow!" here. (If I never take my hand off her, I can stroke or skritch without trouble -- distracting crackling sounds and amusing fur-standing-up patches, but no additional pain. But breaking contact however briefly means a fresh, full-strength shock the next time I touch her coat. Interestingly, her fur feels as soft and silky as ever, not dried-out.)

Making this all the more annoying is the fact that I'm used to being one of those people who is more amused than pained by normal winter static discharges. (When I was young I used to deliberately shuffle my feet along carpets in wintertime, to build up larger static charges for fun. A common game, I'm certain.) I don't know whether my sensitivity has changed, or Perrine is secretly a Mutant Super Cat fighting crime with her Amazing Electrical Abilities (and ultra high-speed shedding skills) when I'm asleep or away, and the zaps from touching her coat are really, really huge. I have noticed that some days my car door will shock me repeatedly, usually on my palm as I grab the top of the door (even through Thinsulite (sp?) gloves, but that's not making me flinch or say "ow".

And I think Perrine's sneezing may be because of dry air as well. She stopped sneezing for a bunch of weeks, but started again last night after the current seasonal weather[**] had settled in. I just need to figure out where to put the humidifier. Somehow I don't think trying to balance it on top of the iMac would be a very good idea at all.

[*] The vet and the animal shelter (where I took her to be wanded when I found her, in case she'd been chipped) called her a medium-hair, which was a term I'd not heard before then. Parts of her are shorthair, parts are longhair (her belly and tail, mostly), and parts are, well, medium. Which parts are shorthair and which are medium seems to change with the seasons -- some months she's much fluffier than at other times.

[**] For the sale of anyone stumbling across this entry years from now when recollection of details of this year's weather has grown fuzzy, or anyone from someplace far away who has somehow missed all the chatter about odd weather this winter in many places: in Baltimore and several other places, most of this winter has felt like early autumn or late spring (not just temperature-wise), with only occasional dips into feeling like late autumn or very early spring, and even less feels-like-winter ... until a few days ago when it suddenly started being like late-January, which feels so much colder when it's so sudden as opposed to having gotten used to it gradually.

And by now it's probably become obvious that I fell into the "start to write a short, quick entry when I'm much too tired to be permitted to post at all" trap again. Time to go sleepy-bye. [Pfffffsssssssssssssssssssssssssssst!]

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-12-17:

"I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.

"If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us --- the dignity of man."

-- Harold Pinter, in "Art, Truth & Politics", Nobel Lecture, 7 December 2005.

(submitted to the mailing list by Jeffrey L. Copeland)

I wore myself out yesterday, so I've not been very active today. I finally got around to looking outside: OMG, it's a French toast emergency!

(Okay, not very much of one: I'm not sure whether to use a shovel or a broom to clear the sidewalk when I finally drag myself outside. But I probably shouldn't wear the open-toe pumps when I do so, and I haven't had an excuse to use that phrase yet this winter, so I'm counting this regardless of whether my fellow Marylanders rushed to panic-buy white things at the grocery stores today or not.)