May 262020
 

Buttons was taken to my regular vet this AM after a night of misery. I do not exaggerate when I call Buttons one of the most friendly and joyous cats I’ve ever known, so hearing him howling in misery and pain and terror was especially unnerving. So about an hour before they opened I was there in the parking lot. The situation was explained, Buttons was taken in for a quick exam, and someone came out with a printout of the expected charges and they asked if I wanted to go ahead. Ha.

Anyway, Buttons was given intravenous fluids and later in the evening the vet called with an update: he’s doing well. An Xray showed nothing worrisome and he has spent the day *not* barfing. He will stay at the vet through Wednesday, hopefully coming home Thursday. According to the vet, everything backs up the “pancreatitis” explanation.

 Posted by at 11:24 pm
May 252020
 

Today gained “one of those days” status quite early. At O’Dark Thirty, Buttons started upchucking. This is not especially unusual or concerning cat behavior, but before long he was making the most anguishing wail. I don’t know whether it meant “Ow, I hurt,” or “please help me,” but it was heartbreaking. So at the crack of the opening hour I took him to the nearest vet. Huzzah! It’s a holiday and they’re closed. They directed me to the emergency clinic some distance away. Long story short, they diagnosed Buttons with pancreatitis. This is not the first time he’s had it, but it’s the first time he’s been in this much misery over it. After getting his meds and returning home, he has steadfastly refused to either eat or drink, but every few hours he begins to wail in misery again, followed by throwing up food from who knows how long ago. This whole day has been heartbreaking, watching this normally chipper-beyond-reason cat cry out that he thinks he’s dying. Coupled with Fingers’ recent passing… yeah, it’s been a day.

Given that the progression of the illness remains “sleep followed by horrific wails,” I expect I’ll be taking him to the regular vet first thing tomorrow. The fantastic thing is that the emergency vet knows well the concept of “supply and demand,” and as a consequence my bank account is substantially lightened. There was some aerospace literature I was thinking of buying off ebay, but that’s kaput for now. So if you’ve been hankering to buy some of my stuff, or subscribe for the monthly aerospace goodies… now would be a *fantastic* time.

Gah. Just as I’m finishing up this post, Buttons is starting to cry again.

EDIT: This phase of unhappiness lasted at least half an hour. Finally threw up what he needed to, and now he can rest again… for a bit.


Feline Tip Jar


TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE: Buttons has been hospitalized. For at least a day or probably two, he will be given fluids intravenously and his digestive system will be let sit to hopefully calm down. As expensive as yesterday was, this is worse. The night was a nightmare for the both of us… every hour or so he’d get up and loudly cry in pain, then hurl. I gave him water a few CC’s at a time with a syringe, but it wasn’t doing the job and of course he chucked it back up.

Sigh.

 Posted by at 7:36 pm
May 242020
 

There have been a lot of “personal air vehicles” designed over the last decade, most designed for VTOL operations and many with purely electric propulsion systems. One such design – which I can’t vouch for on either technical or financial fronts – is the Delorean DR-7 from Delorean Aerospace, founded by the nephew of *that* Delorean.

Their website, lean on details:

http://www.deloreanaerospace.com/

An article from 2017:

A Flying Car From DeLorean Really Won’t Need Roads

And a patent (US9862486B2):

Vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

 Posted by at 9:09 pm
May 222020
 

Cool? Undeniably.

Certainly one of the more interesting ways to get from one boat to another. What you’d do once you got to that second boat isn’t entirely clear, as you’d be weighed down with a hundred pounds of stuff of no immediately apparent practical value on board a vessel.

Another ten years of development and these systems will likely have some sort of carbon fiber powered exoskeleton that takes all the load, so the pilot doesn’t have to have Schwarzenegger-arms. Make ’em so the propulsion systems pop right off when you land, and you’re left with a Navy SEAL with power armor. That would seem to have a few applications…

 Posted by at 11:00 pm
May 222020
 

Last year I moved from the Utah desert to somewhere rather damper. As a consequence, my cats have an all-new environment to look out upon… including all-new critters. Squirrels confuse the frak out of my cats, since they’ve never seen them before.

 Posted by at 11:59 am