September 24, 2007

Rambling Man

Spent most of today babying my hands because they've started tingling and feeling swollen again. This happens every time I haul boxes and is seriously starting to freak me out. Toward the end of the day I was able to do some drawing, and I finished off the 15 page sketchbook I bought at the Source last month. I think I'm going to raffle it off; maybe some Avatar fans will want the little pics of Aang & Co at the very least.

Moving goes slowly. I packed four boxes today, mostly emptying out my rock collection and books. It's weird to think that when I came here I only had like three boxes of belongings, and now I've got enough that I can't pack it all in one go.

The Captain sleeps quiet and peaceful in his crate. I don't think I mentioned it before, but he has one now. It's a little too big for his size, but he doesn't need it for potty training and the extra space makes a nice little den for him. I introduced him to it by throwing kibble in and telling him 'go to your room' each time, so that he associates it with delicious snacks and happiness. He gets his food and water and toys in there too.

Best of all, he doesn't tear shit up when I have to leave him home alone for several hours. He's been almost an angel since I set up the crate. Calmer and more obedient to say the least.

I don't even bother latching the gate most of the time; he'll go right in and sleep in his little kitty-bed, which is really getting too small for him as he fills out.

He has taken to nosing around Stokes' butt now that they're comfortable enough to be in the same room without fireworks. The cat responds by smacking the Captain across the face with a yowl of outrage, but since he's declawed it doesn't do anything but startle the dog, who doesn't quite get it.

There was one incident where, after two or three whacks with the tiny powerful fists, the Captain was like "oh! It's a SMACKING GAME! My turn!" and brought his own significantly more dangerous paw down on the cat, who freaked out and bolted.

Two steps forward, one step back...

Today I ate the first tomato from the back yard. It was almost a sacred experience to taste this wonderful tart little fruit and be aware that I planted the seeds and watered the sprout and made food exist.

It sucks to be disconnected from the act of producing food; I can't help but wonder if I might not be so wasteful if I were the one who had to account for the life cycle of each squandered vegetable. And I was actually really surprised to discover that the tomato I grew tasted good--deep down, I always assumed it would be bitter or nasty because growing it was so easy and there had to be a catch. But no, all was well.

It brought back fond memories of Mom's garden when I was a kid. Except for the one year where our potatoes all liquefied into foul-smelling mayonnaise. That was just fucked up.

In our Northfield yard, there'll be room to put in a proper vegetable garden next spring. I've also got roofspace outside my room for the seedlings, if I need it. Man, I'm already looking forward to trying to make pumpkins happen. But enough rambling.

For now, I sleep.

PS - Yes, boys and girls, the previous smoking post was indeed satirical.

2 comments:

  1. About the tingling hands:

    You have allergy-induced asthma from dust, yes? I have crazy as allergies to everything in the world, and I get the tingly swollen hands from moving boxes, as well (though the tingling quickly becomes intense burning, for me). Since my airborne dust allergies also go crazy when moving cardboard boxes, I assume the two are related and that my hand swelling/burning is another variety of reaction to the vast amount of dust that tends to cling to the outside of cardboard boxes. Just a thought.

    -Random lurker

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  2. Catherine has it. I get swollen, itchy hands when I'm exposed to certain allergens. The best treatment is lotion and claritin.

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