And in other news …
You’ve heard the one about the cobbler’s kids not having any shoes? There’s a variation on it – the vet’s cats are always sick.
This time it’s a little number called ringworm. This is somewhat embarrassing, since the most likely way it came into the house is from the cat shelter, which means I brought it in on my shoes or clothing or (Gods forefend) my hands.
So far it’s confined itself to The Little Grey Shit and (yet another parenthesis -unfortunately- end yet another parenthesis) the Prof. LGS is getting both a salve and an oral medication for it, but so far things only seem to have slowed down, not stopped or reversed. Ringworm can take months to heal, is highly infectious, and a zoonotic to boot, so I can look forward to months of extra (expensive) medications, gooey salve-covered kittens, and regular pelt checks on everybody in the house (including myself). (Yeah, I know, another set of parentheses. I’ll work on that. Someday.)
Amazingly, even though I’m on the immunosuppressants I show no sign of ringworm anywhere on me. Since adult cats are resistant to ringworm, the fact the LGS has it is an indication that her Triad Syndrome is not as well controlled as we thought OR that there’s yet another thing wrong with her that we haven’t caught yet. The Prof has never been around ringworm before, so it’s no surprise that he has a teeny little patch that is clearing up nicely. But I’m a bit amazed that I’ve escaped so far. I have been exposed to ringworm many times before, and never actually caught it to my knowledge. The worst time was during vet school, when we went in to check a barn full of calves and found them all covered with ringworm lesions. It would seem that I’m one of those rare people who actually have a natural resistance to the fungus, though I’m afraid of saying that too loudly lest I end up jinxing myself. Still, I’ve given up trying to glove to handle LGS while applying the salve, and even with direct contact (albeit there’s a LOT of post-handling wash up) I haven’t gotten it. We’ll see if my luck continues.
My Poor Little Grey Cat
When I’m not running after cats, pinning down cats, smearing salve over cats, and then washing up after cats, I’m downstairs playing beads. I’ve gotten much better, but have hit a bit of a plateau where I can’t seem to get the hang of a few new techniques. I’m self-teaching at the moment while looking for classes that will take an advanced beginner.
Dots are easy at this point, although placement can still be a little tricky. Raised dots are a bit more difficult than ones that I melt in just because it can be hard to make all of the dots the same size. When you melt them in you can always add a little more glass to increase the ones that are too small. If you leave them raised, though, you can only get away with doing that on a limited basis.
I posted the cat beads in an earlier entry, but I’ve since added a collar. I may make interchangeable collars, so the cat can color-coordinate with my clothes.
Fish are tricky – I’ve broken as many as I’ve made. Since the tails are so much thinner than the body, they cool much faster. This creates stress, and the tail tends to fracture during the cooling process. Once I get my kiln to anneal the beads in this should be less of a problem (Thanks once again, Prof, for my birthday present!)
The one thing I am getting good at is implosions, where you get colored streaks radiating out from the bottom of the bead embedded inside the bead. Those and stripes will be my next big area of concentration, along with learning more about stringing the finished creations.
I use MAPP gas and what’s called a “hot head” torch to make the beads. The MAPP tanks I use have about 6 hours or so of gas in them, which is enough for innumerable uncomplicated beads or 12 or so moderately complicated beads. There are some beads that can take up to an hour to finish making; if I ever progress that far I’ll have to advance to a better torch system than the simple one I’m using now. The last half-hour or so of tank life the flame gets noticeably cooler, and it becomes harder to work with the glass rods and control the bead. I’ve gotten enough experience now to recognize when the flame is going cold (in the beginning I thought it was me screwing up rather than any problem with the equipment). I use this last gasp of tank time to make what are called “stringers”. You melt a bleb of glass at the end of a glass rod, grasp a bit of molten glass with a set of tweezers or needle-nosed pliers, and pull just as the bleb begins to cool. Depending on how hot the bleb is, how fast you pull, and how well you handle the pull, you can end up with thicker, thinner, or just plain weird stringers. Stringers are used to create detail on the face of a solid bead. Small dots, eyes, lines, cat whiskers, small flowers and leaves are all made using stringers. I took a picture of some of my stringers on my work desk just because I thought they were neat looking.
Wow! Those beads are pretty neat! I am impressed you can make those on your own 🙂
The first persian I ever adopted came bearing this lovely gift and passed it along to me. I’ve never had anything itch quite like that. Good luck getting it cleared up. It’s a b!tch.
Poor little Grey. I’m glad you’re ringworm-free, though.
The beads are lovely! And what an excellent pressie.
I hope I don’t double-post: Something just went wrong when I tried to post this the first time.
Golly, those beads are impressive.
The only time I’ve ever heard of someone getting ringworm was when one of my eighth grade teachers told us about a childhood friend who got it. They suspect he got it when they went to a movie theater in a bad part of town and he lay his head against the seat back. Ever since then I’ve always brought a sweater or something with me to movie theaters because it’s often too cold in there for me, but also because I’ve never forgotten that story. I usually throw the sweater over the back of the seat. You know me: I’m easily skeeved out.
Amazing! I just noticed your little seashell bead has a little pale pink creature inside sticking part of itself out to test the water! You are good!
#1 hasn’t decided if he wants to do the caber, the hammer, or both. He was just introduced to the Highland Games last year, so right now he wants to do EVERYTHING (to include buying and learning to play the bagpipes). I’m encouraging him in trying everything to see what he likes the best.
Now to convince the family that we need a Cairn Terrier and maybe someday if we have property some Highland Cattle…
Alli
which entry did you initially post the cat bead???? i missed it! i absolutely love it! the fish are pretty darned cool too.
ringworm…wow. what next? i won’t say anything else because, i too, know the jinx protocol.
the Prof really rocks.
When I was in the last half of high school I was, believe it or not, our town’s expert on ring worm. I don’t remember who got it first, but before we knew what was happening we had about six animals (not including me!) just covered with it. It must have been a really bad couple of years for it around here because it seems like two to three times per week the vet was sending someone home with a box of ointment with my phone number scrawled on the outside. I learned to buy Dial soap (likely the only anti-bacterial soap at the time) by the dozen. I learned where to buy cheap washcloths by the dozen, but eventually settled on those disposable kitchen towel-like things. Handi-wipes, may be what they are called. I don’t remember since I haven’t used them since the great ringworm outbreak of ’79. I learned how to stop spreading it back and forth by dispensing the ointment onto tongue depressors so as not to contaminate the ointment. And I learned to tell people who got it to throw out the crap their MD gave them and just use the cat’s ointment because the crap the MD gave out wouldn’t dry it up for six months.
Your art is really developing beautifully! I <3 the cat bead!
the way i take care of cats is shove them in a room and act like i never new them
which in turn has the total opposite affect of what i want
animals should never ever be treated like i treat them, which is another reason that they get sick
That kitty bead!
Oy! Adorable!
I shall endeavor to get some pictures of the artichoke plants for you. Right now they are trying to hold their own against the wildflower jungle. I don’t THINK we are going to get an actual artichoke this year. It’s just a feeling I have. I don’t know a thing about growing them either. Hub Man bought the plants on a whim!