02.20.11
Posted in Pets at 8:00 am by Rebekah
I have a cat named Ginger. He’s a sweetie, but hasn’t been too happy with me for the past couple of days, as I took him in to the vet on Friday to get some dental work done. After getting three teeth pulled, he’s been on antibiotics and pain killers…or at least, he’s supposed to be, provided that I can get the pills down his throat. He won’t eat them even when they’re wrapped in food.
Ginger, playing one of his favorite games: trying to figure out why the bathtub drain sometimes gurgles
This reminded me of something I read in a magazine a while back, called “How To Give A Cat A Pill” (from Loose Threads, March 2000). The following is obviously not meant to be taken seriously, but perhaps those of you who have cats and have tried in vain to give your poor cat a pill can find some humor in this. 🙂
HOW TO GIVE A CAT A PILL
- Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
- Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
- Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
- Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.
- Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl, and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse in from garden.
- Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.
- Retrieve cat from curtain rod; get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.
- Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force cat’s mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
- Check label to make sure pill is not harmful to humans, drink glass of water to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
- Retrieve cat from neighbor’s shed. Get another pill. Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
- Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard back on hinges. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of your last tetanus shot. Throw T-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.
- Ring fire brigade to retrieve cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.
- Tie cat’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to let of dining table; find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down cat’s throat to wash pill down.
- Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room; sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm, and remove pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
- Arrange for SPCA to collect cat, and ring local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.
HOW TO GIVE A DOG A PILL
- Wrap it in cheese.
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02.19.11
Posted in Non-US Weather, Tropical Weather, Weather News at 8:00 am by Rebekah
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Carlos just keeps on dancing down the northwestern coast of Australia!
This is so strange…the tropical low was upgraded to tropical cyclone as soon as it moved OFF the coast (would that be a…waterfall? :)), then it came back onshore, swirled around Darwin and dumped over 2 feet of rain on the area in about 3 days (over half the average February rainfall). Now it’s still being recognized as a tropical low. Carlos is close to making it offshore again, but really has the best chance in a couple of days, when the low could become a Category 1 cyclone again.
Oh, and in the meantime, Category 3, Severe Tropical Cyclone Dianne is off the west coast of Australia, actually acting more in character for a tropical cyclone (well, except for the couple of little loop-de-loops the Bureau of Meteorology had her taking). Dianne isn’t expected to make landfall, but to gradually weaken.
EDIT: The Bureau of Meteorology now has Carlos getting to a Category 2!
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02.18.11
Posted in General News, Photography at 8:00 am by Rebekah
For today’s blog I was thinking about discussing the possibility of severe storms next week, but as it looks like that isn’t going to happen now, I thought I’d take a moment to introduce my sister’s new blog.
Photo by Caitlin LaBar
While I’m out chasing tornadoes, Caitlin chases butterflies. She’s always been interested in studying insects, and she’s one of the smartest people I know when it comes to insects, especially butterflies and moths of the Pacific Northwest.
This is what her new blog will focus on: “observing, rearing, and collecting butterflies and moths in the Pacific Northwest. My goal is to post a new entry at least once a week, on topics involving personal observations, how-to guides, “biographies” of local Lepidoptera species, and photographic journals of my exploits.”
So if any of you have any interest in butterflies or insects in general (or know someone who does), especially for those that live in the Pacific Northwest, I encourage you to check out her site, and bookmark the site as there will be more coming soon.
Also, Caitlin is an excellent photographer; her photos of insects look just like ones you’d see in an identification book. She also takes great photos of birds, and has already started posting some of those.
The blog site is Northwest Butterflies (http://northwestbutterflies.blogspot.com/). Enjoy!
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I now return you to your regularly scheduled weather blog.
PS: The Storm Prediction Center has recently put “predictability too low” in the day 4 to 8 forecast, instead of “potential too low”…that could be a good sign for even garden variety thunderstorms soon…
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02.17.11
Posted in Non-US Weather, Tropical Weather, Weather News at 8:00 am by Rebekah
Check this out! Isn’t the track of this low bizarre?
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Carlos’ path. From the Bureau of Meteorology
Darwin, Australia has received over 2 feet of rain from this system over the past 3 days or so, and the winds have toppled a number of trees!
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02.16.11
Posted in Severe Weather Forecast at 8:00 am by Rebekah
A quick look at last night’s 00Z GFS run for 00Z Monday, or 6 pm Central Time on Sunday (bound to change, but it can be interesting to look at trends as it gets closer):
500 mb shows a nice little shortwave trough centered over New Mexico:
Surface temperatures in the lower 60s in western Kansas and western Oklahoma, with a surface low over western Kansas…surface winds in central Kansas are from the south-southeast:
Surface dewpoints in the lower 50s up through central and eastern Kansas:
Sounding from Hutchinson, Kansas…would be nice if the high clouds would be gone and the surface could warm up a bit more…but hey, it’s February:
Hodograph for Hutchinson also shows decent wind shear:
Does this mean severe storms are returning to the Plains? No. But even thunderstorms of the non-severe variety would be welcome at this point, and the models are certainly showing some hope of that.
If moisture return is any greater, surface temperatures any higher, and the winds are a little more backed (more out of the southeast), I would be happier and might even consider a jaunt to Kansas, but this is still not a bad setup for February storms. We’ll have to wait and see. There may be another few setups coming soon as well…but a lot of this is still in wishcasting land!
Maps from TwisterData.
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