Monthly Archives: March 2008

feeling: concerned

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I took the midterm in my symphony class two weeks ago, but when the professor sent out an e-mail saying the grades were posted online, my grade wasn’t there. Then a couple days later he sends out another e-mail saying that if you’re getting this e-mail, you didn’t take the midterm and need to make it up. Uh…come again? I sent back a polite e-mail explaining the situation, because I was the very first person to turn that test in and I did a darn good job on it and you’re telling me that you somehow MISPLACED it?! Not cool, man. So very, very NOT cool.

Then Rex had an appointment with the vet yesterday. He’s balding again, which means the mites are likely back, and the vet put him on a much stronger topical medication to knock the little buggers out. Exactly why the mites returned is the more pressing concern, so Rex also had some blood drawn for a full panel. He’s lost weight (1/4 in six months) and he has cataracts, the latter likely due to his being very old (9 yrs) but the former is a bit more worrisome. And now I’m waiting to hear back from the vet today with the results.

In other news…it’s snowing.

*eta*

It stopped snowing. We have about four inches on the ground. Very wet. Very slushy. Very heavy. I’m hoping it will all melt away soon.

The professor e-mailed me back. Your exam had been put in with the left over exams and wasn’t with the class’ papers. My mistake all the way. Sorry for the worry. You got a 97% on the exam and that grade has now been posted. Whew.

Still no news from the vet. I’m hoping that everything will come back OK, but you know, the waiting really stinks.

The Bald Bunny: Part Deux

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Nose and Toes

After growing it all back last month, Rex has once again been losing fur, and had a visit today with Dr. Fulton. A good bunny vet is hard to find, and we’ve been lucky to have two at the same clinic. Dr. Fulton is new, but she is an extremely knowledgeable rabbit vet, is up to date on her information, and I really do trust her judgment.

She put Rex on Revolution for the mites, which she believes – based on the condition of his skin, and the fact that the Ivermectin seemed to work – are still the cause of his fur loss. Rex also had blood drawn for a full panel, and the results should be back tomorrow or Saturday. While the mites are the direct cause, it’s possible that an underlying condition could be behind their recurrence.

In addition, Rex has cataracts and he is down to 4.75 pounds. The weight loss is a bit more concerning than his eyes, because he’s been at 5 pounds for years, and now has lost 1/4 pound in under six months. It could be that he has a harder time keeping weight on in his old age, but it means reevaluating his diet for Operation: Fattening Rex Up.

the bones from turtle island

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In my Human Osteology we’re studying bones that were preserved in a cave on the Haitian island of Ile de la Tortue. That’s Tortuga, for those familiar with Cap’n Jack Sparrow’s favorite haunt; the name means “Turtle Island”. Our final grade in the class will be, in part, based on written profile of the population and what we have learned from their bones.

Needless to say, I’ve discovered a lot about the human skeleton this semester.

For instance, did you know that when muscles are strengthened, the bones that they are anchored to, in turn, become thicker? From this Haiti population there are many arm and leg bone specimens that are at least a quarter of an inch thick. That’s huge! Osteoporosis? I think not.

Other things are a bit less pleasant. It’s pretty shocking to see lumbar vertebrae with jagged lipping or completely fused together from repetitive stress on the lower back. Or to see the horrifying way that syphilis eats through bone.

Unfortunately, because of the delicate nature of dried bones, most of the remains have been (as my friend Laura puts it) “kibble-ized”. So that fascination begins to wear off when you’re sifting through, say, over one thousand itty, bitty bone fragments.

Notes on Haiti rib specimens:

They had a lot of them.

The end.

Catcam Fritz

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A cool site about a handsome cat named Fritz who lives in Germany. Fritz likes to take strolls around the neighborhood while wearing the Catcam, a camera that takes a photo every few minutes. Fritz’s human then uploads the photos onto his website, a daily travelogue of sorts. The text on the site is translate (thanks to Google), so the grammar is a bit imperfect, but the pictures are definitely worth a look around and there’s a neat video that shows Fritz on the prowl.

Catcam Fritz
Catcam Fritz