sigh

Mage is not any peppier. He does eat and use the catbox, but he spends the rest of the time curled up under Steve's computer chair--he doesn't even want to come for snuggles in the Big Comfy Chair, which historically sitting down in that meant you'd have him in your lap in 1.2 seconds. Or faster. Sometimes he would show up in between your butt and the seat cushion before you'd finished lowering yourself.

His blood and urine are normal; the ultrasound shows nothing. He just...isn't well. Tests from here start getting increasingly expensive and invasive, and if it's something that esoteric they probably can't fix it anyways, particularly for a 14-year-old cat.

I do not think I am prepared to deal with this possibility at this particular point in time.

and, simultaneously...

I suddenly realized I leave for this conference in seven short days. WHAT

On the bright side, I can get all my planning and organization for it done at work, and it's not slacking, because it's for work. Yes. Fear my rationalization powers.

And, the Sheep & Wool Report

nedlnthred, briony530, caelfinn, nancaurelia, and I went to the Sheep and Wool Festival this weekend. Since I have an enormous sack of yarn that I haven't done anything with yet, I restrained myself from the shiny pretty things, and made but two purchases: 1) A large skein of undyed soft Falklands wool to make a baby blanket for some friends who have one in the oven, and 2) some seriously loud softness to make fingerless gloves to wear at work, for which I have a direful need. Happily, those shouldn't take long, even at my glacial pace of construction.

I intend to do the blanket in a set of mixed cables reminiscent of the Irish fisherman sweater, the happy couple being very much of that persuasion, though caelfinn tells me that those sweaters actually originate in the '50s. Not so much with the cultural heritage. Oh well, I think it'll still look nifty; briony530 has a full-size blanket in that idea and it's quite handsome.

We met ilaine_dcmrn and her two girls at lunchtime, and trysted for dinner & good conversation with hlinspjalda andalistrina, fiber luminaries of the faraway north. All in all, a good weekend, if ass-freezing cold. (Because why? I DIDN'T WEAR WOOL. I win the moron hat.)