graculus

Sorry folks (the few who're still reading this), I'm not sure what happened to January at all as I'd been meaning to post an update but it just didn't happen. So, let's talk about life and all that...

First off, I now am significantly poorer but also have central heating that actually works. This, along with a big fleecy jumper, has been a godsend on a few days here but so far the winter has been pretty mild in this part of the UK. A few miles further north, where it gets hilly, there was snow for a while but I've literally had just a sprinkling here and nothing more. Still, I'm completely sold on the concept of heated windscreens for cars, as by the time I've scraped the other windows, the screen is clear and I'm ready to go.

I did some work for the local university but not as much as previously, due to my other commitments. We're reaching the tipping point there between 'this money is useful to pay for my expensive hobby' versus 'I hate getting up at the buttcrack of dawn' - the next big lot of exams isn't quite so bad because at least it would be daylight when I got up, but we'll see how I feel after that.

Work trundles on as usual, except for the fact that I now have two job-sharing bosses instead of one single one. The single one has been talking for years about retirement anyway and the appointment was from inside the team, so someone who knows how we work and doesn't want to fix a system that's not broken. That seems to be the more senior management's job, which is one reason I didn't put myself forward for a minor job enhancement opportunity that came along recently - extra work and the hours to do it but otherwise just what looks like a lot of hassle. I'd rather spend my time and effort getting as good at what I'm doing now as possible than try and take on more, especially potentially-stressful more.

I'm still fencing at two clubs, which is working out well even though I was so cold at one of them last week I had to give up early and throw on multiple layers instead. The epee coach is back, though there's still things she can't do, but I cooled down so much during the group lesson that I just couldn't get going again after and felt really rough. This week (tonight) is looking like being much warmer so I need to get my practice in, as I've got a competition coming up this weekend.

I'm still creeping up the national rankings and am just outside the top 200 in the country, so a good performance at this would hit another target for me if I jump inside that bracket. I'm massively inconsistent, though - had another competition a few weeks back with 2 rounds of poules where I did quite well in round 1 but failed to stick the landing (to mix sports metaphors). However, even the worst competition performances tend to come with silver linings; I finally beat the woman who's been my nemesis for a while and who I often end up fighting in poules - we started fencing around the same time and she's at least 20 years younger than me but this time I absolutely thrashed her.

I also need to get on with planning my holidays for this year. I've got an attending ticket for WorldCon in Dublin but haven't sorted anything else out yet - the hotels are fiendishly expensive, making Helsinki look quite cheap, which was a bit of a revelation. I also want to visit a few other places in the country (neolithic stuff, mostly) and would also love to get over to the west coast, but need to really sit and figure out what's realistic. If it weren't for WorldCon, I definitely wouldn't be there in August, which is crazy tourist time anyway. I'm also thinking about doing another survey at Easter but might run out of time to organise that, we'll see. It's half term soon, so I can do some proper planning then.

The weasels are fat and healthy, with big winter coats and shiny eyes. I need to get some current pics of them and spam everyone as they are so pretty. Hard to believe they'll be two in April!

Yes, I survived Christmas, the space between Christmas and New Year, and have now made it into 2018. Happy New Year to everyone (if there's still anyone out there, anyway?) and here's hoping 2018 treats you kindly.

My plans for the year are pretty simple at the moment - finish the course I'm doing, carry on working, take some épée lessons in the hope of getting through the first round of a competition at some point, get to the gym at least once a week, get out walking at least once a month, finish off the long-standing fic WiP. In the summer, I'm signed up to do a boat-based whale and dolphin survey with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, which I'm looking forward to very much indeed! Then, in August, I'm planning to go to Nine Worlds again, after missing it last year because I was in Finland for WorldCon.

Back in December the weasels were spayed and seem absolutely fine afterwards, even though they still have nice rectangular bald patches on their bellies which meant no frolicking in the snow, just in case. Their winter coats are really good otherwise and one of them also has a lot more dark hair, which means I can tell them apart now (this was a problem when I first got them). They are also much less bitey, good manners cost nothing! ;)

We've had two weeks off fencing over the holiday period and I really missed it, just like last year. I got to play with all the electric weapons last weekend, as we were doing the kit audit and needed to check everything, but it wasn't the same as actually stabbing someone. We start back on Thursday, with my next competition in about a month, so I need to get into the habit of actually asking for one-on-one lessons - they're not a problem, I've just not asked before.

Anyway, onwards into 2018! Alas, I have an assignment to finish for next Monday, as well as schemes of work to review, so must stop binge-watching TV shows and actually get on with something...

Jesus, critters, you've only been in my house a little over 24 hours!

Yes, we've just had the first weasel-related drama for these particular goobers, currently still unnamed. I'd put them in the carrier I've been using for about 10 years while I sorted out their hutch only to come back after a few minutes and discover that one of them had stuck its head right through the solid mesh that made up the carrier's door and was now, naturally, completely stuck. The holes in the door are 2.5cm x 3.5cm, in case you're wondering.

Fortunately, I had a pair of wire-cutters in the house and was able to cut through and then bend the wire in question to get the little fathead out no worse for wear. If not, I'd probably be at the local fire station right about now.

Guess I'm in the market for a new pet carrier...

Since poor Milo passed away late last year, this is the longest time I've been pet-less since I've owned a place of my own and now I'm starting to think about getting some more ferrets. He was on his own for over two years, getting older and scrawnier, so I didn't get any more as I'd been through the 'won't play well with others' with the terrible Buzz and ended up running two hutches as a result. Older generally also equals crankier, as who wants a young'un bouncing all over you when you're trying to nap?

Anyway, I have all the kit, including a big (expensive at the time) outdoor set-up standing vacant, and there's no issue financially around vet bills and the like. I've got someone local who can look after them if I want to go away and a vet that I trust to do his best and not gouge me for cash. So, you might ask, what's the problem?

It's the thought of going through all that shenanigans with illness and death again. Part and parcel of being a pet owner, I know, but that doesn't make me look forward to it at all. That's the main thing that's been making me hesitate, even when I know my hypothetical weasels would be spoiled rotten - how I feel about this aspect of pet ownership isn't going to change any time soon.

Anyone else felt like this? I know xochiquetzl has been through the mill in terms of emotions round her cats, so how do I get past this? Should I try and get past this? I'll have to if I ever want another pet in my life...

Okay, what's been going on since my last post way back in September? Well, the weasel is still alive, though I swear he gets scrawnier every time I look at him - still, as long as his quality of life is okay, I'm not going to complain.

In work news, we got a bizarre email last week going 'oh, btw, you should have got a pay rise 18 months ago but we forgot, so you're getting it and your resultant back pay in the next pay packet' which led to a few raised eyebrows. I'm still teaching 3 courses, though the second of my 6-month courses (which is due to start in February) may well end up being whatever level is needed for demand. I'm also hoping to negotiate a slight time change so that I get more than a 30 minute turnaround to get one lot of learners out, shove some lunch down my neck and be ready for the next lot to come in the door. Fortunately that only happens one day a week but it's a real pain.

I also got my first plagiarism of the academic year this past week. I'd asked for my folks to write something about an interesting place they'd been, only for one of them to give me something that was very obviously culled from Wikipedia. So I made a few choice comments to the group as a whole and also gave her some written feedback and hopefully that won't recur. Full marks for trying, though!

I've also just started at a new gym, which is based in my local high school. It's not open all day but the location and not having to pay parking charges makes up for that. I've had a year's free membership with the council gym but wasn't going to any classes other than Pilates once a week, which I want to continue, so I've saved money from not paying parking and just the sheer aggravation of driving into town. I'm a little annoyed that the people who're supposed to be supporting me from the council scheme apparently forgot I exist a few months back and I'd had nothing to say what should happen next, so I think a terse email will be heading their way next week. I didn't really need it, but I hope other people who need more support than me get a better service!

In college news, it's all a bit tedious at the moment, interspersed with the people who know the least about teaching apparently being the ones with the most opinions on the subject. Naturally, when faced with the prospect of a 2,500 word assignment, my response as a fic writer was only 2,500? - I've started work on it and it's already past that but I figured cutting it back would be easier.

Finally, I'm still making progress with the fencing lessons. Passed Grade 1 Foil a few weeks back and I understand the coach is keen to get those of us who're currently having lessons through Grade 2 before Christmas so he can then take on a new lot of learners in January and use us as examples as and when required. Or something like that. I have a continuous set of bruises on my leading thigh but am about to order proper fencing breeches (thanks, unexpected back pay!) which I hope may reduce that a little. My only regret is that, because of their location, I can't show off my bruises to the folks at work! :P

Not particularly a surprise when I got a call about an hour ago to say that Monty had passed away at the vet's - they'd been trying to feed him by hand all day and he'd just not responded at all.

To be honest, when I left him there this morning I didn't really expect anything different as a result, but I guess there's always that slim chance things might not be quite as bad as you think they are. Ferrets are buggers for going downhill very quickly, because of how fast their metabolism runs, and I've learned to factor that in a while back. He hadn't been the solid little oik you see in the photo above for quite a while...

He was about 6 years old, which always seems to be when they start to get old rather than middle-aged, though the one he leaves behind is still as mad as a kit a fraction of his age. I got him and his compatriots in November 2011 and he didn't have a name till he had his first trip to the vet last summer. I didn't think 'fat lump', which was what he got called more often than not, was a name they'd think was appropriate so had to think of something for him (afterwards realising that there were shades of Withnail to it all: "Monty, you terrible [expletive]" being one of that movie's classic lines).

In work news, I am counting down to leaving my current employers, as it's looking more and more like they're about to go down with all hands. Got some of my pay the day I was supposed to, though it was looking touch and go at one point as to whether anyone would get anything, the rest arriving in my bank account 2 days later. And then the director is sending snippy emails telling people to 'stop the chit chat' about the fact they haven't been paid/have little confidence they will and get on with their work. Looks like only a matter of time before they go under, if that performance is anything to go by...

In ferret news, poor Monty (had I mentioned I had to name at least one of the Lads, as he was off to the vet a while back and I didn't want to try and explain they didn't have names?) has suspected adrenal disorder and will be back at the vets on Wednesday for blood to be taken and a skin sample too. He's got a little monk tonsure now, with the bit of his head between the ears all wrinkled and bald - I'd noticed his head was warm, but hadn't put it down to anything other than the weather and then suddenly, no hair!

After going through the surgical side of things with Lily a few years back, which only really gave her another 6 months, I'm much more inclined to go non-surgical this time around. Research has moved on since then, with a hormonal implant usually used for chemical neutering being used to treat the symptoms of adrenal as well. It's not a cure, but at 5+ and with an already enlarged spleen, he's not the best candidate for surgery anyway - not sure if my vet would even want to operate, given it's still not particularly common and last time round I had to scour the Midlands for anyone who'd done the operation previously.

All of this will have to wait till after WorldCon, as I'm off down to London next Thursday for that. I've picked out a few panels etc. that I really want to attend but am still trying to not over-commit (which would be incredibly easy to do).

In non-fannish TV, Great British Bake Off is back! Is it wrong of me to want something to go horribly wrong? I was delighted last season (or was it the one before?) when someone used salt instead of sugar in something and next week is free-standing biscuit tableaux. Something is bound to fall over/collapse, though the likelihood of tears has dramatically reduced after the first exit of the series. I'm making a long-range prediction that Nancy is going to win, so we'll see if I'm right...

Just got a call from folks about 12 houses up the road from me, so now I have one back and one still missing - the missing one is the more timid of the two but hopefully easier to spot, being one of the albinos.

Thanks for the good wishes so far, please keep them coming!

Yes, alas it is the sad truth - Buzz the psychotic loner is no more. Looking back at LJ, I can't believe it's been almost 3 years since he lost his BFF Woody.

Buzz was due to go the vets this morning for what I hoped would be a routine appointment about suspected insulinoma (a cancer of the pancreas which is pretty much the equivalent of ferret diabetes - not curable but manageable in the main with medication) after getting very wobbly yesterday but he had a massive seizure at some point overnight and so it was the kindest thing to have him put to sleep.

So, that just leaves me with the (still unnamed) Lads...

Ferrets are not the easiest creatures in the world to photograph. They have a tendency to run towards you when you get the camera out, for starters...

Anyway, at last here are The Lads. No, they still don't have individual names.

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