perspicacious.org

It's only been a week and this picture is already out of date. We had our first real snow last night. Just a couple of inches, but enough to cover the ground and our cars, and enough to make me wary of driving without my snow tires. I need to make an appointment to have them installed.

The picture is of the Tanana (TAN-uh-naw) River. I took it last weekend when R and I drove out to the east to check out a cabin (and also just to drive). We're renting the cabin for our one year anniversary, which is in October. The cabin is little and cute and I will have to figure out how to light the woodstove, since I already promised I knew how. I do, but I'm not at all sure how to stoke it. In my experience woodstove heat is pretty hard to regulate. So if we end up playing Monopoly all weekend in t-shirts, well, so be it.

Speaking of our anniversary, I have a favor to ask. R used to have this crocheted cloche-style (?) hat that she loved. She lost it last winter and we haven't been able to find another one, or even anything similar. It was brownish-orange with crocheted flowers all over it. Will you please email me if you've seen anything like that? It would make her happy. The next step is for me to learn to crochet well enough to make one, but I'm years away from that.

I'm subbing for a half day at the #2 worst elementary in town, which should be exciting. My experiences have been mixed so far. Some have been excellent and some have been awful. But, the money is pretty good and I can be done with it at the end of the day and not go back, if I want. Most teachers leave good enough plans that I can at least fake it. It's not the worst job I've ever had, not by a long shot.

I've been making some toys for the kitten, who needs lots of stuff to keep him occupied. If I can sew without him getting in the way then I know I've found a good toy. So far a strip of elastic with buttons on the end, tied over the doorknob is the most popular.

Second subbing experience was decidedly better than the first not least of all because this teacher gave me plans and instructions I could actually follow. He is out hunting, apparently, wish didn't surprise me because this is a classroom full of dead animals and animal parts. Stuffed wolverine, fox pelt, various antlers… Antlers as the hall pass, even. There are also snapshots of the teacher with various large animals in various states of disembowelment. Ah, Alaska. Land of dead animals and those who support the right to kill animals dead. (Most also support the right to eat dead animal meat, so good for them.) Anyway, subbing, pretty good today. Most idle threats hit the target and those that didn't, well, it doesn't really matter. I'm here till the end of the week.

Working sunup to sundown today, with a 30 minute coffee break in between. It had better be some good coffee. Alas, I'm too poor right now to not work 60 hour weeks. I'll tone it down soon, or die trying. They trained me to work the register at the fabric store and I did not, to my knowledge, give anyone the wrong change or inadvertently break any of their mechandise. I also counted money and came up with the wrong total, but I swear it wasn't my fault. Really. I am doing the 14 hour thing today and tomorrow, then falling into a coma come Friday afternoon.

So the kitten (Finnegan), it would seem, is the center of our lives right now. We've already spent more on medical bills for him than I have on myself in the last 3 years. Yes, Finnegan already has his first cold. Apparently kennel cough and respiratory infections run rampant through the shelter and all of the vets in town know it. I wish we'd known ahead of time.

Finn started sneezing on Tuesday, and R took him to the vet Wednesday afternoon. The vet gave a prescription for amoxicillin and instructions to keep him hydrated and clean out his nose with a bulb syringe. Right. What the vet told us didn't jive with what other people said and with what we read online, and he wasn't getting better, so we took him to a different vet on Saturday. They gave him a prescription for an eye ointment and roughly the same advice as before. So now we get to wrap him in a towel twice a day and cram medicine down his throat and ointment in his eyes. Which is actually more fun than it sounds because he just looks so damn funny in the towel.

Aside from that he seems to oscillate between sweet, purry asleep-in-your-lap cuteness and freakish insane crawling-up-your-pant-leg. Which is annoying, but proves he's getting better.

This is our new kitten. We just brought him home today. He doesn't have a name yet, but here are some we like: Pineapple, Fernando, Cheddar, Basil (not the spice), Finnegan, Mulligan, Monkey, Yam, Sushi, Nutter, Macaroni, and no I don't know why there are so many food names. I have always held a secret sort of loathing for people who post insipid cat stories, but is he cute enough for me to tell them without irony? Maybe. I will try not to bombard you, OK?

I am resurrecting the 100 words challenge for 2004, because nothing is worth doing that is not worth doing 3 times. Basically, it entails writing entries/poems/stories/whatever of exactly 100 words, one for each day of the month. I did it first in September 2002, and now it's become a sort of halfhearted tradition. There isn't any real reason for doing it during the month of September other than, hey, I don't really have much else going on right now. So check it out.

I told the people at the fabric store that I would be available anytime during the first two weeks of the school year, thinking that there was no way I would get sub jobs right away. I couldn't have been more wrong. I've already had to turn down 4 jobs, and I got called for an interview for a gifted and talented position. I would love to do that, but it's half time and the schedule is erratic (i.e. be available whenever the teachers can send their kids). There's no way I could work that financially. Too bad, it would have been fun. Instead, I look forward to subbing for some real hellions who'll swear and throw things at me. Hoorah.