exceedingly dumb....

....way to spend a Saturday. Call it over-reaction.

Last night, as I was about to stuff my face with supper and go to bed, Andy the squatter-camp kitty's gran phoned in a panic - Nicky, Andy's brother had eaten poison, she thought. Lots of poison used in the camp to kill insects and rats, and being environmentally friendly isn't even on the priority list. He hadn't come home on Thurs and had just crawled in and collapsed, please could I help. I know that he is a beautiful, healthy, well cared-for boy of 18 months, so crammed chicken down my throat and went to see. I thought he was dead. Cold, wet from the rain, only felt a thready heartbeat when I pressed my fingers along his sternum. So, off to the emergency vet, stopping only to pick up semisane cat-buddy (one block off the direct route) so that she could hold Nicky, and I could drive faster. Called ahead, and we got him straight onto the table. Fluids up, atropine and cortisone, treating the shock primarily because we didn't know what he'd eaten. Going to be another huge vet bill for all of this. Nicky is still there, still on a drip, still critical. They reckon he is slightly more responsive - 'slightly' is not a good sign after 24 hours. And cat-buddy suggested that I ask for liver and kidney function tests, to see whether it's worth keeping on. Would be a bit crap to give him all the ICU-type treatment only for him to die in a couple of weeks from systemic damage.

So...after early-morning feeds and the obligatory bath-nap with a nightmare surpassed only by yesterday's version, I have spent the afternoon and evening drinking way too much vodka while I try put together a miniature tortoise shell that I want to turn into a paperweight for pdoc. As in, must be done by thurs - after I've farted around not doing it for three months. Shell is about 2 inches long, from a baby Leopard tortie that died shortly after it was brought to me. I left the body in my mealworm culture so that the worms could clean out the shell, which sort of worked, but the membrane holding the shell together got a bit smelly, so I had to remove it, and the shell has been lying in about twenty bits in the bathroom ever since. This afternoon, I put the base together, used plaster of paris to keep it in place and to hold two lead fishing sinkers for weight, and then super-glued the plates to the plaster. At the same time, I superglued three fingers together, and attached another one to the desk. Since then, I have covered most of myself and the room with plaster and glue. It's like doing a 3-D jigsaw without a picture, no idea of the actual sizes, and only a guarantee that every single angle is different. Suspect he might not get it for this Christmas. Have a new method involving plasticine planned for tomorrow, after I have bought the plasticine and lots more superglue.....

The first of my exciting things bought on the net in the last month arrived yesterday...the pin-up girls with coffins calendar from
Cofani Funebri. This is a classic, and they are produced as a fun thing. Which is good, seeing as I don't see pin-up calendars going too well in most undertakers offices. Or maybe I just have a warped sense of humour....scratch the maybe.

For now though, think it's time to drag my drunken carcass off to bed. Hope my innate ability to not get hang-overs is still in evidence in the morning....