Many Cats Manor

Long time no post. I read all your posts, but just haven’t had it in me to talk about my life, other than in comments. No idea why. No idea why I can’t seem to do a book review, although I *must* work on that today or at any rate soon. Nothing horribly bad has happened, but nothing extraordinary has happened, either.

Mother Nature seems to hate us; after a fair spell of no snow but nothing really cold, we got dumped on two days in a row. Tim and his brother spent hours snow blowing and shoveling. Then the temperatures plunged down to minus bloody hell; last night’s low was I think -18 F and today’s high is expected to be – 8 F. The furnace quit working because it got too cold for it and the drainage tube froze full of ice- being natural gas, the by product is water. Whoever designed it didn’t think about what would keep the tube warm. Tim got that sort of dealt with, but we couldn’t trust it not to freeze again. Also, it can’t keep the house warm enough on its own. So last night we had to get up every hour and a half and feed the wood stove and run the faucets to make sure our water hadn’t frozen up.

This morning things were okay, the right after Tim got up the hot water froze up. Then the furnace quit working again. Then we discovered that the doors were both frozen shut. It was rapidly turning into some kind of horror story. Tim dealt with the furnace, it started, and the water un-froze. And these temps will be bad for at least a week. Yippee. Welcome to 2024. Oh, and neither car will start.

Christmas was just another day here- for Tim, it was a major football day. We broke down and bought an artificial tree this year. After last year’s event of three cats getting respiratory disease right after bringing the live tree in, we didn’t want to take a chance that there was causation, not just correlation. Plus tromping through the snow to get a Charlie Brown tree was getting old. This one was cheap, but it looks great from any distance and has a far nicer shape than any real one we’ve ever had. It holds a LOT more ornaments than a live one! Couldn’t find half the damn stuff from last year, so I bought *another* fake garland for the bake of the kitchen island and just said screw it to finding the rest of the stuff until warm weather, when I can go out and dig around in the storage van.

Haven’t been into hospice in a month now.  Haven’t really gotten anything done, other than Yule décor. It’s all still up, of course, and will be for some time. Most of our windows are covered in frost and we can’t see out them, so we have to have something sparkly in here! Right now it’s too cold in a lot of the house to do anything in, so here I sit, with an electric throw, a cat, a thermal vest, a heavy sweater, a knit hat, and the usual basic layers. All I want to do is go to sleep, to catch up on last night’s lost z’s. One old chicken wasn’t doing well in the extreme cold, just flopped on the ground looking like it was dying. So Tim brought her in and she was happy as hell in his lap. So she’s spent the last two nights shut in the cat’s bathroom, going back out to the pen in the morning. The other two hens seem fine with it. This one is quite polite, and only shit in the cat boxes during the night, nowhere else.

Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts, by Evan Ross Katz. Hachette Books, 2022

I was so happy when I saw this book on the New Books shelf at our library! A fan book on Buffy! I’m almost 70 but damn I love Buffy. But the book was not what I expected. I’m not sure what I expected, really, perhaps a look at how Buffy changed the TV world, how it changed its audience, something about the themes. That’s…. not what I got. The first part of the book is several chapters describing the seasons. This takes up a lot of space. Then he goes to some interviews, of cast and crew. Sadly, many of the main characters declined to be interviewed, so there is a lot of space given to interviews with secondary characters. Not that I mind knowing about the experience those actors had, I just thought it would have been nice to have a lot more about the leads. There is a chapter about the wardrobe, mainly Buffy’s, and of course a good deal of space is given to what a turd Joss Whedon turned out to be, and the paradox of him creating a cast with strong female leads, empowered to the max, and then being an abusive ass in real life, to the point that he wasn’t allowed to be alone in a room with Michelle Trachtenberg. Parts of the book are his personal memoir, slipped in there here and there. He’s definitely team Angel/Buffy, and down on people who are team Spike/Buffy because he found out that James Marsters used the style of a predatory man in a bar when Spike first started stalking Buffy. He seems to think that is Marsters personal way of living his life. Can you spell “acting”, Mr. Katz?

I was fairly disappointed. Parts of the book had me overwhelmed with details about things that weren’t central to what I thought the book would be about, while I was sad that there wasn’t more about the central cast. Sad that he never touches on how Buffy probably opened the way for other TV shows to give their female leads more empowerment. He writes about how he doesn’t think queer relationships are given enough screen time; for instance, how Willow and Tara don’t share a kiss until very late in the relationship. Meanwhile he sort of ignores how Willow and Tara are pretty much the first queer relationship on American TV (Queer as Folk notwithstanding).

I personally feel that Buffy went a good ways to normalize queer relationships on American TV, while Spike’s character proves that people- even those without a soul- can grow and change, just as Cordelia did earlier in the series. I loved that the primary cast were women who had male colleagues but not male saviors- they all saved each other.  

The book needed a good edit. Not just for grammatical errors, but to reel in the sprawl of a book that went in multiple directions at once. I’ll give it four stars, I suppose, because while it was rough going it did deal with subjects I was passionate about.

Well, it’s been a little more than two weeks, and, while the rib is better, it’s still bothering me. I did finally get into the car and go to hospice a couple of days ago. There was SO much to do. I only got half way done with it before my rib (and back) said to quit. I’ll have to hope that next week there won’t be so many newly bereaved, so I can get to the older cases. You never know; there is no steady flow, it really varies. It amazed me how sore the rib was yesterday; getting up and down out of a chair moves the torso muscle, which I’d never thought about before.

Today was bring all the houseplants back into the house- it was 39 F last night. I propagated some of them this summer, and Tim brought some home to me, so there are more plants in here than last winter. They have completely taken over the top of the giant bookcase. The cats will not be pleased about that! The dwarf papyrus fit right into the Chinese cachepot; I hope it gets enough light to keep it happy. I had to repot a few- something I should have done at the beginning of summer.

The rib has kept me fairly stationary for the last two weeks, but I got the massive clothes washing done that the cat caused. They are still in piles, waiting to be ironed and put away. Of course, I cannot put them back into the closet yet, so they are perfectly happy laying in piles. I haven’t felt good enough to go back to finishing the cleaning job in the closet. Not much left to do, but I can’t’ bend over sharp enough to do it.

Tim is occupied with picking all the hundreds of green tomatoes and peppers. He’s been over in the garden for at least four hours without coming back to the house. I’m wondering where in the hell we’ll put all the boxes and boxes of tomatoes. We have officially run out of space, at least until I finish with the closet. And we have to get to our paying job one of these days. I’m hoping I can kneel and bend over and pull weeds…

The CGM is working good. The one I replaced the bad one with lasted the two weeks it’s supposed to, and the adhesive took a crap right no schedule. Put a new one on day before and it’s working okay. I have discovered that even a CGM can keep up when my blood sugar crashes! I’ve had to raise the level it alarms at a couple of times now. I’ve also discovered that I really eat way too much- my BG levels stay  too high most of the time. When I take enough insulin to cover it, I end up in a crash. And I know the higher the insulin level, the more weight I’ll gain. So, I need to cut back. Which is hard, because I really, really not only love to eat, but I stress eat. And boredom eat. And eat because it gives me an excuse to sit down. I need to get through to my brain that no one cares if I’m sitting on my ass, playing around on the computer or reading. Too many years of the ex stressing that I should be doing something instead of reading. After 32 years, you’d think I’d have gotten over that.

In Search of Perfumes: A Lifetime Journey to the Source of Nature’s Scents, by Dominique Roques. Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, 2021

Roques’s job was (is?) sourcing natural fragrance materials for high end perfume houses. He does this not just by sitting at a desk, but by going to the sites where the materials are gathered- to Provence for the very best lavender, Italy for bergamot, Andalusia for cistus tears, etc. Each chapter chronicles his visits to the producers- sometimes farmers of their own land, sometimes migrant workers, sometimes gatherers in the forests and jungles and deserts- one fragrant material per chapter. Most of the time, he writes not just about one trip, but several trips through the years, to see where the material comes from and how it’s harvested, to find out what the producers and gatherers need to survive and have good lives, because he doesn’t want to take advantage of the people, some of whom have lives that we’d consider very primitive. He doesn’t just make money for his clients and himself, but makes deals so the workers can have medical care and schools.

While the book wasn’t what I thought it would be- I thought it would be more about the fragrance materials- it was pretty interesting. I had never thought about how the people lived who gathered rose petals, or bergamot oranges, or the gums like cistus or frankincense. It’s good to know where the materials in those oh so expensive perfumes come from and what progress is doing to the areas they grow in!

Tavern of Terror: Volume 8; David Longhorn, Sara Clancy, Ian Fortey, Chris Clarke, Ron Ripley, and Simon Cluett. Edited by Street. ScareStreet.com, 2023

I loved pretty much all of this story collection- which is unusual for me. An epic prank, a sleep disorder, bats, a serial killer, horrifying body horror, and, my favorite, a ghost tour. And many more, 12 tales in all. One thing I liked was that the titular tavern, Hannigan’s is used a lot more in this volume. The bartender/manager, Harry, is seen interacting with people (and sometimes things that aren’t exactly people anymore) and becoming somewhat fleshed out. This series keeps on getting better!

Made-Up: A True Story of Beauty Culture Under Late Capitalism, by Daphne B.; translated by Alex Manley. Coach House Books, 2022

This book turned out to be not quite what I expected; a collection of essays, it’s not just about beauty culture but a condemnation of capitalism in general. Now, this is not an angry screed that ‘others’ the people who follow beauty culture; the author spends hours watching Youtube beauty videos and lots of money buying makeup. She even obsessively watches vlogs by people she actively dislikes because of racist statements they’d made in the past. She watches the vloggers who have had scandals- scandals which increased the vlogger’s view, and, thus, their paychecks. She watches them not just for the makeup hints and buying suggestions, but because she finds them soothing. And, I have to admit, I get that. If I had the time, I might find myself doing the same, because despite my old hippie anti-capitalism views, I love makeup and beauty culture. B. has found a way to take that big contraction and make it… okay. (I don’t spend tons of money on beauty stuff, though)

The writing itself is lovely, which is surprising because it’s a translation. But I guess that shouldn’t really surprise me; B. is a poet and a translator herself. (I have no idea why someone else translated this book, originally written in French). I give it four stars.

Last night and today were not my finest hours. I miscalculated how much insulin for my dinner, and before I got out of the living room I was falling on the floor and losing control of my limbs (I know, nothing new there, but this was an extreme case). I checked my sugar and it was 45 or something. I grabbed a bag of Reeses Minis and attacked the bag forthwith. I couldn’t seem to get my sugar up so I continued to jam candy in my mouth. Finally it came up some, and I headed for bed. My stomach really hurt- of course it did, I was jamming fatty sugar into it! – and I started in with the reflux that I’ve been having such trouble with lately. I had to sit up against the pillows to not have acid come up. Then the worse thing started- I’d cough and retch and bring up some acid and a little “stuff”. That involved many trips to the bathroom last night- the night Tim needs uninterrupted sleep. Finally, about 1 a.m., I was able to sleep for about 40 minutes- right before Tim had to get up.

I checked my sugar, and the meter just said “High”. This means (on this machine) it’s over 599. So I took four units of fast acting, and went to bed and read- too upset to sleep, plus I needed to see what my sugars were doing. Despite taking multiple shots, it was hours before it came down enough to read numbers; I was never so glad to see a reading in the high 500s before. And then the real horrors started- my lower guts got in on the act and pretty soon I had violent diarrhea. Take two Immodiums. I didn’t get back to sleep until around 9, out in the living room. Tim called home about every hour or two to check on me. I’ve never had a high event like that before. The results are sore bowels, stomach that doesn’t want much at a time, a raging migraine  from the low part of the event, and I generally feel like shit, after spending the night and part of the day without full control of my limbs. I had to deal with the chickens and watering things, but I took it slow and didn’t do it until almost noon. And sat down a lot. One of these days I’ll learn not to over do it when I go low.

So that was my fun day. Not.

Another fine collection of horror stories, and this is my favorite volume so far. For one thing, some of the stories actually involve the tavern- Hannigan’s- of the title. Hannigan’s is slowly being established as not just a place where spooky stories are told, but as a place with spookiness of its own. But that’s not the only reason I loved this book more than the others; usually. with a short story collection, things are hit or miss, but I loved all the stories in this collection. There is some serious weirdness going on in this tales, from banshees to horrible old gods to antiques that possess people. Five stars.

Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit, by Covert Bailey. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1994

My doctor recommended this book to me, because I’m having problems with too much visceral fat. Written 30 years ago, I suspect it was cutting edge back then, but today much is fairly common knowledge. Still, for someone who has not paid attention to health information, it is a pretty solid book. He gives you everything about how your metabolism works, from the Kreb’s cycle to what types of exercise burns carbs vs. fats. The chapters are short and to the point; if you find yourself wondering about something you’ve read, it’s dead easy to go back and find where it is and refresh yourself. And it’s got a lot of detail to it; when I first started reading it I thought “oh, this is so boring; I read all this stuff years ago” but found myself learning new things- things that, at this age and physical shape, I needed to know. I have to say I was rather horrified to find that running is the best exercise for losing weight and getting fit, because of the muscles used. Yes, different muscle groups burn things differently.

The book is fast and easy to read, even for something with zero knowledge about metabolism and exercise. You’re guaranteed to learn something about how your body works when faced with exercise, and how to make it more efficient.

All the Living and the Dead: From Embalmers to Executioners, an Exploration of the People Who Have Made Death Their Life’s Work, by Hayley Campbell. St. Martin’s Press, 2022.

The author admits right in the introduction that she has been fascinated with death since she was a small child; her father was the artist who illustrated Alan Moore’s graphic novel about Jack the Ripper, so she was used to seeing pretty gruesome images. So it’s not a big surprise that she eventually decided to interview people who’s careers are dealing with the dead.

A journalist by trade, Campbell has experience doing interviews, so she visits a number of death workers at their places of work. Several let her have a ‘hands on’ experience; she holds a brain; watches a body being embalmed and then made up for viewing; visits a crime scene when it’s going to be cleaned up; visits a hospital unit where still born babies are warmed up and prettied up so they look like they are sleeping, so that their parents can hold them before they are taken away; visits a cemetery while the gravediggers prepare a grave for burial; sees a cryonic storage site; and more. She enquires why and how the people ended up in their jobs. She asks about how the public sees their services. She includes how these visits made her, personally, feel. She asks how their jobs make the workers feel; how does it feel to be a state executioner who has ended 62 lives? What about crime scene cleanup- how does the obvious violence that had occurred make them feel?

I found the book very interesting; some chapters more so than others, for instance I found the chapter about funeral direction less interesting than that about bodies donated to science (a surprisingly large number get rejected). If you’ve any interest in the subject of death and how it’s handled today (at least in the UK), read this book. Don’t worry; there are no illustrations.