One of my cats just died.
Eskarina, Eskle, or Esk for short.
Her illness was a pretty rapid decline. The local vet who I've used for years was zero help. Too many failures to bother listing. I will never use them again.

Ozoneocean wrote:
One of my cats just died.
Eskarina, Eskle, or Esk for short.
Her illness was a pretty rapid decline. The local vet who I've used for years was zero help. Too many failures to bother listing. I will never use them again.

I'm really sorry, man. This thing's never easy, Feel free to write it out.

Ozoneocean wrote:

Eskarina, Eskle, or Esk for short.

Sorry to hear that Ozone, losing treasured pets is no easier the losing people. Lovely name you gave her.

Very sorry to hear about the loss of Esk, Oz. Very sad; I know you care greatly for your feline companions.

Hope you’re doing alright.

Ozone, that seriously sucks. Sorry man.
I have 2 cats. One just peed on my keyboard and ruined it but I love those little furballs. RIP Esk.

Thanks guys.
She's survived by her brother Mouse. Same age. They were litter-mates.

When they were babies it was thought they were both girls because their genitals were pretty hidden. “Esk” was the name of a character from “Equal Rites” by Terry Pratchet. Esk was a brave, bold and fearless young girl in the story.
The ginger kitten was fearless and so was named “Esk”. The little grey tabby girl was named “mouse” because she was timid and quiet.

The vet determined that the ginger was a male… The name “Esk” would be wrong for a boy so I switched the names. The big, horsey, muscular ginger rat-hunter tomcat has been “Mouse” ever since, and his delicate little grey tabby sister has been “Esk”.

She was always timid but would boss her bigger brother around like he was a young kitten. She'd regularly slap him in the face for looking at her food. She'd attack him for sitting in a place she wanted to sit. Esk was always the boss and Mouse would always demure to her even though he was twice her size.

She was very smart and could work out how to open complex doors and could problem solve.
I'll miss her a lot.

Ozoneocean wrote:
One of my cats just died.
Eskarina, Eskle, or Esk for short.

Rest in Peace, Eskarina.

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:

Ozoneocean wrote:
One of my cats just died.
Eskarina, Eskle, or Esk for short.

Rest in Peace, Eskarina.

Thankyou Kawaii

Losing a fur baby is never easy. It's been since 2009 that I had to let go of my bunny Tommie, and even though she hated my guts, I still miss her to this day.

Yeah, she hated my guts: she was already about a year old when I adopted her from a neglectful owner who was downsizing their menagerie of household pets, so she really did not trust or care for people much - especially me, lol.

J_Scarbrough wrote:
Losing a fur baby is never easy. It's been since 2009 that I had to let go of my bunny Tommie, and even though she hated my guts, I still miss her to this day.

Yeah, she hated my guts: she was already about a year old when I adopted her from a neglectful owner who was downsizing their menagerie of household pets, so she really did not trust or care for people much - especially me, lol.

Ha! Bunnies are like that. Strange creatures. They think they're smarter than every other thing. XD

———-

I've had a measure of “closure” with Esk, since her burial. I've never really appreciated how much the act of burial can give you some separation and salve from that grief, especially if there's a measure of ritual in there- rather than just thinking of it as something you “should” do or being “respectful” to the dead, which is how I've always seen it before, the act in itself really just helps you complete that story. That was the most valuable part of the burial for me.

There's still a knot of grief hidden away in a corner of my mind, but it's not as powerful anymore. It can wait and abide for a while.

Ozoneocean wrote:
Ha! Bunnies are like that. Strange creatures. They think they're smarter than every other thing. XD

They really are! Whenever I took Tommie to the vet for any reason, whether it was routine or she was in need medical attention, she suddenly turned on the charm, and acted all sweet and cuddly and playful in front of the personnel, but as soon as we got her home, she was back to being a little stinker who wanted nothing to do with anybody.

But just to give you an idea of how really smart she was, check out this old school video I did with her back in 2008, and notice her reaction when Steve D'Monster asks her, “Are you aggressive?” I swear her reaction is genuine, she was not trained or prompted or anything, that was her real reaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsSxFl1kjdQ

How would you feel if every predator and its sibling was out to eat you?

The anime Killing Bites plays with the concept with its bunny character.

J_Scarbrough wrote:
notice her reaction when Steve D'Monster asks her, “Are you aggressive?” I swear her reaction is genuine, she was not trained or prompted or anything, that was her real reaction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsSxFl1kjdQ

Looks like she wanted a fight.

One of my rabbits was like that. He used to attack me when I was in the back garden, used to attack the cats as well

bravo1102 wrote:
How would you feel if every predator and its sibling was out to eat you?

I dunno… Rabbits in the wild can be predators themselves and go after smaller creatures.
I haven;t seen Killing Bites but there another Battle Royall type anime and a punch or weird characters who battle to the death, the greatest badguy of all the characters turns out to be a bunny-man.

Could be an environmental issue that affects behavior. Could also be different species react differently to certain stimulus or some bunnies just got attitude.
All I know is that rabbits around me do nothing but run. Only time ever saw them not just run was because they were mating. They were really into it and didn't notice me at all even when I got close enough to touch them.

This whole conversation makes me think of geese and how quite dangerous those feathery, little guys can be. Not only have they been used as a form of security guards for centuries due to their keen eyesight, their inquisitive, territorial nature and their loud honking sound serving as a perfect alarm signal, more effective even then dogs in many cases.

But they've also been known to attack people to the point of hospitalization knocking them down and breaking their bones. They've been specifically referred to as “spitting, hissing, biting attack missiles.”:P

Geese have a weakness. They are instinctively afraid of a human walking with a long object in the crook of their arm. (Think shotgun, but also works with weedwackers and broom handles)

Geese will also defend the nests of other waterfowl like ducks.

I always stop to chat with the Canada Geese on my daily walks around the moat, but we've recently had some new visitors. Egyptian geese, smaller and a little bit fancy, but they seem just as friendly as their larger cousins. I've never seen any aggressive behaviour, but birds who aren't used to dog walkers throwing sticks around probably wouldn't move in anyway. They are probably coming to us from Regent's Park or similar.

I came close to losing the family jewels to one of those big temperamental white geese once upon a time, but luckily I ran off before it could chomp.

Canadian geese used to be so docile around these parts, but now they've gotten as hostile and aggressive as the big white ones, not to mention they really are becoming a pest and a nuisance - in my neighborhood alone, we have a whole flock of them, and they sometimes will stop traffic just by wandering out into the roads like they own the place.

On an unrelated note, apparently just since the holidays, I've lost about 20something pounds! I'm finally starting to notice differences too: my face isn't as round as it had gotten, the skin around my legs has gotten looser, I feel less cushion on my butt whenever I sit down, and . . . something else I can't mention. Of course, part of it too has been COVID has given me the absolutely worse sore throat I have ever experienced in my entire life: I hadn't really been able to eat anything solid in days, because just swallowing was a new adventure in pain.

Covid throat is bad :(
Congrats on the weight loss man, keep it up!

I've noticed Geese are a bit more obstreperous than other birds, but ducks here can be pretty savage at times.
Worst are the black swans though. They're large and quite aggressive if you get too close. -mainly on a problem for children or dogs because those are the only two types of creatures dumb enough to get too close.

My Covid throat was bad but nowhere near the one I had in 1989 with a horrible flu.
That was a nearly six weeks cycling through a whole series of infections. Doctor told me to aggressively gargle alternating between salt water and Listerine. Now there's also Guaifenisen to loosen the mucus.
With the aggressive gargling you clear your throat at least long enough to eat a little without discomfort. And lots of tea. Don't know if it actually works but green tea with tumeric supposedly helps.

At the very least you feel like you're doing something and you don't suffer as much. Get well soon.

bravo1102 wrote:
Don't know if it actually works but green tea with tumeric supposedly helps.

Tea will re-hydrate you but turmeric does absolutely zero for you. That was part of a silly health fad from a few years ago based on a spurious poor quality study about curicumin (the active compound) “fighting” cancer. Since then better studies have come out that blew the whole thing out of the water, but in its heyday people were making all sorts of drinks from that spice XD

I remember visiting my mum in hospital, we wet up to the cafe and I happened to spy some gormless woman handing the barista a vile of the stuff so they could make a drink with it for her poor sick child… all I could do was roll my eyes. It was so sad and silly. :(


Apparently what happens is that people like Joseph Mercola and other peddlers of fake health products have people that hover up bad studies - and if it's for something they can easily market like turmeric and cumin then the wheels start in motion!
The other way it happens is when people just pay directly for a dodgy study, normally that's done with some low priced but unusual good that they buy massive quantities off first, like Acci berries, or whatever the current fake health fad is now.

The tea that I have with tumeric and cumin is actually a touch spicy so it helps clear my sinuses. That was one reason I liked it when I had Covid and then again when the flu hit me. Spicy can also soothe a sore throat. During my horrible weeks long flu in 1989 had some Medieval recipe mustard seed Provencal food that kept me going for the day. I was miserable but after having it was almost able to breathe and swallow.

Have to say the flu was worse this year than my Covid as far as sinuses and it latched on to my lingering Covid cough and I pulled a muscle in my side. Couldn't raise my left arm or laugh.

The flu is horrible. It really irritates me when people conflate t with colds XD
The flu really IS quite bad.

I was interested to find out if sharp stuff like mustard, menthol etc actually does clear the sinuses and apparently it doesn't. It makes it feel as if it has an effect because of the irritation it causes but psychically it doesn't actually do anything. Turmeric et al would probably be the same.

That said, being comfortable sometimes really helps, especially when you need to sleep!
Unless you really like the flavour though I'd avoid turmeric- it's much, much better in a curry. ^_^

I know that menthol, spices do not actually decrease the amount of mucus produced. However, they do provide a little temporary relief so one can breathe and swallow. It's the same with gargling. It's not a cure, it's a treatment to better endure the illness. Like antihistamines just lesson your sensitivity. Decongestants are the things that actually dry out the sinuses but again they don't actually cure the infection. They all make the ride to recovery a little less bumpy.
Coping mechanisms for cold and flu.

Of course being versed in Cognitive behavioral therapy I can intellectually analyze all this while laying in bed wishing I could swallow and breathe so I reach into the bag of tricks to make it tolerable so I can sit back and watch a video or read some new webcomics.

I have a problem, let's see what's available to solve it, or if not solve it make survival that much less painful. Because boy do I feel awful already before I get sick. Just how much awful can I be expected to tolerate?

Haha, that's what I said in less words Bravo XD
Though Tumeric isn't great for that because it's so strong a flavour and a bit expensive for the purpose.

I'm very sad about Esk today for a number of reasons. I even saw her sleeping on the couch in my usual spot… She used to sneak and lay there so she could have it instead.
It was just my eyes playing tricks, resolving an indistinct blob of shadowy cushion testure into a familiar and expected shape, but it brought home to me that she'll never be there again.

So after several months, I am nearly done with this monster of a song. I'm still missing the final part (which requires a female singer for it), but this is what I have:

Mr. Petersik - Nearly Finished

I lost my dog Pan a few months ago. We were walking and he turned right when I turned left and then he was just gone. I searched for him all night, and for months afterward and there has been no sign of him. He was 15 years old and already a few years beyond his life expectancy, he was mostly deaf and blind. I believe he was holding on for my sake. It is very likely a Coyote killed him, they are everywhere where I live. Or that he was in his favorite place to walk and decided to lay down somewhere and die.


On a more positive note, I started a good job and bought a new jazz guitar to celebrate/compensate. One of my favorite musicians, Shakey Graves, plays a Gibson ES-175. This is the same body style but it is an Ibanez.

Yeah, unfortunately, it looks like I may be on the verge of having to find myself a second job (and I mean a "real job") because . . . sigh . . . Sleepy Joe isn't doing a damn thing about Drumpf's inflation, and in fact, has let it gotten even worse (seriously, prices for goods are literally twice as much as they used to be now), but wages and such aren't also being risen to compensate for such; I'm not drowning in debt yet, but I'm practically always broke now because there's still bills and rent and such to stay on top of, and those kind of take priority over double-priced food or fuel.

So, looks like I may soon have to completely retire from cartooning, puppeteering, and content creating in general. America sucks.

I'm right there with you J. Looks like my retirement lasted only a year.