Cactuses, Q-fever, and Painting Cats

In answer to one of yesterday’s comments, nope, I am not vaccinated against Q-fever. Coxiella burneti is on the chart, but isn’t too great a concern with the animals I work with, all of whom have a known history and little chance to be exposed to the bacteria responsible. I don’t know about this particular vaccine, but I do need to be concerned now anytime I receive a vaccine. Since I am immunologically feeble now, I’ve got a higher chance of having an adverse reaction with some vaccines. I do have to use common sense, and now mask and double glove *anytime* I’m around live or dead animals, or when I’m working around where animals have been kept. It’s a pain – the mask leaves dents on my face that seem to last for hours, and the gloves are so freaking hot that there are days when I take them off I can pour sweat out of them. I take particular care to wash up with a very good antibiotic soap that is also quite efficient at stripping all the natural oil out of my skin. It’s the price I pay to stay at my job though, and I do it gladly.

Because I’ve got little to say for myself today, and because I’ve been meaning to for a while, I’m going to gush a bit about my 2004 wall calendar. I want to note first off that when it comes to calendars, I’ve gone from feast to famine. There was a time, not so very long ago, when I could count on getting at least three wall calendars for Christmas. Since I could always use one at work and one at home, and one at some other unspecified place, this was seldom a hardship, though it was sometimes a disappointment when I got two or three copies of the same calendar.

For some reason I abruptly ceased receiving calendars as gifts about five years ago. While this was somewhat more costly to me, it meant that I could scavenge about at the after Christmas bargain sales, often coming up with great calendars at 50% off. That’s definitely my kind of savings.

This year I stumbled across a calendar so completely weird that I elected not to purchase my usual Edward Gorey calendar in favor of it. Why Paint Cats calendar has now fascinated me for four months with pictures of the most amazingly decorated cats you’d ever wish to see. That link, by the way, will take you to Amazon.com’s listing for the book the calendar takes its pictures from, also titled “Why Paint Cats”. There’s a great review of the book at SF Site Reviews.

The danged thing is, I have stared at these remarkable photographs for months now, and I still can’t figure out if somebody really painted the cats (risking life, limb, and the wrath of PETA) or if these are the best computer enhanced images I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t find a website that will tell me, and Why Paint Cats website doesn’t give out a single clue.

On slow days, I look at these pictures, and it drives me slowly nuts.