Another Trip to Serendip

(As noted on this blog before, and sung to “Mohammed Ali (floats like a butterfly, etc.)”)

“Katrina, Katrina the cat,
Floats like a butterball, ‘cos she is fat. . . ”

She also had a couple of other issues that have improved in recent months, but not completely disappeared: many, many skin bumps (no detected insect infestation, though frequent flea/lice comb uses) and pretty common vomiting. Still ate like a horse–her food and the other cats’–and kept the pounds packed on, though. Tried lots of things, including diet variations and topical skin treatments (which resulted in angry red rashes abating, but not in eliminating the irritations or the skin blemishes entirely). In fact, thanks to the abatement of the angry rashes, which had seemed to quite literally drive her insane–seriously!–she seemed quite happy, apart from the skin bumps and the irritation they caused her, along with the vomiting.

Other problem: finding a food our 18-year-old male cat would eat more than one bowl of. Sure, new bag of food or new can (of new kind), and he’d eat some while it was “new” to him, but then turn his nose up on further offerings. And we had tried all kinds of the expensive stuff.

So, my Wonder Woman saw a bag of dry food that proclaimed it was for sensitive skin and stomachs. Not even expensive. “Why not?” we thought.

He has liked it for three weeks now. And Katrina’s skin and stomach issues? No vomiting from the first serving on, and within a week of starting on the new food, the skin blemishes almost completely disappeared. Now? Gone.

Hadn’t even hoped that the food would appeal to the old guy, and had little hope it would impact katrina’s issues, but there you are: both positively affected.

Oh, and Pixel (lil rescue kitty)? Makes no difference to her. She already ate anything we put down for her (although she more eagerly eats dry food. *shrugs* go figure) and had no apparent stomach or skin problems. She likes the new food anyway.

Happy trip to Serendip.

Touching Serendip

In a happy accident, a couple of bottles of my most recent sparking hard apple cider turned out as apple cider vinegar. Just those two. *shrugs* I’m fine with it, but I kinda wonder why just those two, while all the rest have been as expected.

Still, tonight’s dinner:

Sweet and sour pork chops and veggies cooked in a rice cooker used as an “instapot.”

Chops seasoned with my fav seasoned salt, minced garlic and pepper.
Mixed veggies (red and yellow bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, green beans) in a mild soy-based sauce.
Sauce added: unmeasured amounts to taste: my apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, sucralose, corn starch.

Was, according to my Wonder Woman, juuuuust sweet enough to offset the vinegar and soy.

*whew!* Experimental cooking that turns out delish is da bomb. (When it doesn’t turn out so well, it just bombs. *heh*)

Gun Control

Properly, gun control is a combination of Jeff Cooper’s four rules and many hours of correct practice in implementing those rules and in practice using firearms correctly–many thousands of rounds spent at the range, for example, so that the norm in practice means

“Gun control” in the typical political sense of limiting and even denying individuals a means of exercising their inherent right of self-defense, is just evil. Period. No exception, no excuses.