Sam Visits TED

Sam's TED visit went quite well. He didn't much like being in the
carrier or the car, but he didn't actually try to tear the vet into
tiny little pieces. After all these years of dragging Mandy to the vet
periodically, where she invariably tries to do exactly that, this was a
relief. Sam is really an easy-going cat.

He appears to be healthy and about 1-2 years old, which is what I'd
guessed. As I'd also guessed, he has worms and fleas. Somewhat to my
surprise, he didn't have ear mites. He is very definately an intact
tom, and has an appointment for the big snip Thursday. One of the staff
gave him the deworming tablets - I was astonished at how fast and easy
it looked when she did it! - and I have Advantage to treat him for the
fleas. How flea treatment has changed since the last time I treated a
cat for fleas! I had the vet look at the scratch on his nose and
eyelid, and she said it was healing well on its own. She also thinks
his tail was broken in the past, but it doesn't need anything done with
it. All in all, I think it went OK.

Marina...

So glad it went so well with Sam. Good luck with getting rid of all his
little pets, and we will be purring for his snip on Thursday.

Monique Y. Mudama...

Purrs for Sam. Sounds like everything's going well.

I also now have a very large number of additional 'pets' - and I don't
mean Sam's fleas! I'm going to try worm composting, and the kit arrived
today - bin, some starting material, and lots of worms. The guy who
sells them reminded me that cats tend to think of a worm composter as
a litter box if the cover is left off. I'll have to keep that in mind.

Marina...

LOL! I've been thinking of worm composting, too, but since we have a
municipal composting service, it's easier to take all biodegradables out
to the compost bin instead. It might make good soil for the garden, though.

Monique Y. Mudama...

That's cool. I noticed the Boulder recycling dropoff area has a bin
for compost, but I know I wouldn't go there often enough. I'm
composting more to reduce my contribution to the land fill problem
than to improve our plants, but it's a nice side effect, anyway.

Marina...

Too bad that the compost bin is so far away for you. I live in a
high-rise, and we have a recycling room with compost bins, bins for
non-recyclable waste, and for recycling paper and cardboard. I live
beside a shopping centre, where there are recycling bins for glassware

Monique Y. Mudama...

It's not *too* bad, since I went ahead and bought a composter. I
don't know if I would do a great job of separating out compost for
pickup.

and tins and such.

The landfill problem is a good reason to compost, and another good
reason is that rotting food creates methane gas which in turn affects
the ozone layer. If food is composted, it doesn't rot. I'm sure you all
know this, don't know why I feel the need to start a lecture here. ;o)

Monique Y. Mudama...

I hadn't actually thought about that aspect. Good to know!

jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt...

Actually I didn't know that. I mean, I don't know what the difference
is between "rotting" and "composting". If you don't mind getting into
lecture mode a bit, I'd be interested in hearing more about that.

Tish...

Its the difference between aerobic (with oxygen) and anaerobic
(without oxygen) decomposition. Aerobic decomposition, as is dominant
in composting, does not produce methane. Anaerobic decomposition
occurs in garbage tips and produces lots of methane (and a distinctive
smell). There are parts of the world where tips are being encased in
thick plastic and the methane harvested for energy production, but is
it very unusual.

Marina...

Thank you, Tish. I don't think I could have managed such a clear and
succinct explanation.

I didn't know about harvesting methane. Here, they are working towards
burning all waste that can't be recycled and producing energy by burning.

Cheryl Perkins...

It's supposed to. Not only do we not have a municipal composting
service (except for Christmas trees), we don't have any municipal
recycling. There *is* recycling, but you have to take the stuff in
yourself, or hire a private or non-profit person to pick it up. For the
very small amount of recyclables I have, it's far easier to drop the
bottles in one of the bins near the shopping area or at work than to go
to the depots myself. The organization operating the bin gets to keep
the few cents from selling the material to the business running the
depots.

I have sporadically tried traditional recycling outside, but it's hit
and miss - it doesn't seem to work well, or I have bins of stuff that
doesn't rot right. I think I need to get the balance of types of
material right, and also do a lot more hard labour turning the stuff.
And of course, I can't do it all all in the winter.

Hence, the worms.

Monique Y. Mudama...

Good point. I got a rolling composter -- it's like a barrel lying on
its side. You roll it in place to mix it up. The guy who sold it to
me asked if I wanted to buy some worms as well, but I told him I had
so little to compost, I'd feel sorry for the worms! I do seem to be
building up some bulk, though. It's corn season, cheap and tasty, and
that produces a lot more compost fodder than most of our meals.

Do the worms hibernate over the winter, I wonder?

Monique Y. Mudama...

Ah. I thought typically compost doesn't do much over the winter.

Kreisleriana...

Congratulations to Sam on his first TED visit-- good that it was so

polonca12000...

I'm glad to hear TED visit went well. We'll be purring for Sam on
Thursday.
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek

uneventful. Purrs that his snip goes well, too. He sounds a lovely
cat-- great that he has a home.

Theresa

Make Levees, Not War

Suz...

I'm glad things went so well. Purrs for Thursday's snip to also go
well.