My tweets

• Thu, 17:19: Netroots Nation: The Money Game http://t.co/0QGlRt7x via @EsquireMag
• Thu, 20:14: Daily Kos: An open letter to the Supreme Court about health insurance http://t.co/DBcDu2m9 via @dailykos
• Thu, 20:39: Hey, guess what? In 2 weeks, the days start getting shorter. #pleasedonthitme
• Thu, 21:24: RT @NYTimeskrugman: Reagan Was a Keynesian http://t.co/QldFhiSo

Friday night scatter post

Doggy details below. Be warned.

The results of the culture from King’s bladder infection came back today. It’s a stubborn nasty, so he’s been upgraded to the high octane antibiotics. First week in July, we repeat the culture, as well as do a blood test to check the thyroid levels. Depending on the results, we go from there. Best case–the infection was just One Of Those Things, and the thyroid med takes care of the wonky blood test results. Not so best case–we go on to test for Cushings.

I checked the Cushings article over at the Washington State University Vet School page. Damn, but there are too many similarities for comfort. I am hoping for the best, but preparing. At least the damned thing is treatable.

3 1/2 days of antibiotics + levothyroxine do seem to have helped, though. King is livelier in the mornings, and is playing with Gaby again in the evenings. He has become a finicky eater, however. He has gone off his old food completely, including the skin/coat oil and chewable joint meds. That meant I had to switch him to a new food without the usual gradual shift. So far, he seems fine, but it isn’t the preferred way of doing things. At least the new food contains probiotics to help his gut deal with the antibiotics.

In other news. MY ITALIAN TOMATO PLANTS HAVE BUDS!! One of the St Pierre and both Franz-I-Forget-The-Rest are sporting one bud cluster each. The Arkansas Traveler and Black Cherry, not yet, although I do see a promising something or other on the Traveler. The San Marzano is a maybe, but it’s the runt of the litter and still has a ways to go.

As you can see, we have a bit of weirdness going on in the raised bed this year.

A few carryovers from last year’s mesclun mix decided to go nuts. The Swiss chard (left) and the reddish leaf lettuce (center) are over three feet high and ready to flower. The red onion (right) has a couple of seed clusters…

…and the curly lettuce is sporting a few purple blossoms. Assuming none of these things are hybrids, I will have plenty of seeds for next year.

In other other news, I don’t understand Time Machine. It worked like proverbial clockwork for a few days in a row. Then I shut down the MacBook and restarted it, which you are supposed to do every so often to let various clean-up programs work. Reconnected to the backup drive like I was supposed to, and damn but TM didn’t work. Couldn’t find the backup drive. Couldn’t find the sparse bundle. I rebooted twice. Reconnected to the external HD repeatedly. No go. By the next day, I had finally decided to bag it and install the backup software that came with the external HD. Checked on a whim, and found that TM has decided to start working again. It’s been fine ever since.

I know my MacBook is old. It’s a late 2007 model, and it’s a coin toss whether I will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion. Right now, it’s Not–this MacBook is just on the wrong side of the cut-off. I will have to buy a new laptop eventually, but between King, car maintenance, and some needed house repairs…I was hoping to put it off for a while.

As an aside, the external HD is a Western Digital with SmartWare backup software. Anyone out there use it? I ask because while I am glad Time Machine is up and running, I have heard it isn’t the end all and be all of backup systems. Any recs for better ones appreciated.

In baking news, much chocolate arrived today from King Arthur Flour. Bittersweet. Semisweet. Guittard’s unsweetened, which may find its way into some brownies this weekend. A chance to compare to Ghirardelli.

Hot today, close to 90F. Mosquitoes are back–I had to dig out the OFF! battery-driven repellant thingie. Stayed outside until the bats and the stars came out.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.