Perfect, next!

In my last post, I mentioned I was using my Thursdays at the library makerspace to learn how to draw. The first picture was directly from the tutorial, which is supposed to be a dragon hatching from the egg but somehow looks more like a dragon in a hot tub. (Note: I'm okay with this vibe. My version is cuter than the original, though I couldn't say exactly what mistakes made this possible.)

After that, I followed the tutorial for this dragon. There were early signs that the proportions weren't quite right when the head didn't end up in the right place with respect to the body but... it's a mythical creature. Who am I to say it's wrong? That's like complaining that the casting of a non-white woman in a role for a character who hatched from an egg isn't historically accurate. (The movie is doing well, so suck it, Space Karen!)

All that is to say that clearly I had mastered this whole drawing thing and it was time to ignore the tutorial and draw things on my own without leaning on a tutorial to show limb placement!

It was at this point that I realized I don't actually understand perspective. But I still think it turned out just fine! (Yes, the book is far wonkier than the dragon. That is objectively funny.)

It probably would have turned out better if I'd found my thin black pens to do the outlining, but I was in a hurry to get out the door.

Foster Updates (lacking pictures because I am too lazy to take them)

Francis Noodle and Kitty Tuna are in my office and they get along really well. Francis Noodle still flops around like a fish on land (neurological issues probably due to FIP), but he seems happy enough.

Francis Noodle and Kitty Tuna

They will soon be joined by The Kitten Formerly Known As Prince, who came to the shelter with a string wrapped around his very swollen leg. We weren't sure how much function he would regain in that leg, but it's healing well and he's using it almost normally.

In the spare room we have Nimbus and his four minions (Pickleball Joe, Sammy Slim, Omaha Jake, and Big Bob). The boys seem to be on the mend after some vague vomiting illness was superseded by a little bit of limping and then high temperatures. They've been eating and playing throughout all of this, so it hasn't been too concerning.

And finally, we have a mom and three babies in the bedroom. Mom is not friendly, though I was able to handle her enough to give her oral meds for the first five days. Then she started feeling better or more comfortable or something and now she tries to kill me every time I reach into the large dog crate where she is staying. But she's a good mom and her babies are thriving. They've reached the age where they are playing, so I lure them out to socialize them a couple times every day.

Week-old picture — he is bigger now

So that's the foster situation at the moment. And now it's time to get back to the cozy edits...

2026 Chugs Along

I (generally a non-drinker) have purchased a bottle of champagne. It is chilling in my fridge waiting for an appropriate occasion. Chilled champagne (technically sparkling wine since it's from Korbel, a winery I have personally toured) would be great in July.

In the meantime, life goes on. Thursday afternoons are reserved for time at the library's makerspace. Today I made this image (pencil + watercolor), based on a tutorial in a book I've owned for 30 years.

I was happy with how it turned out.

Foster Updates

Nimbus and Francis Noodle, my FIP boys, are currently living in my office. They both love kittens and they tolerate each other.

(The crate door was open.)

Pickleball Joe has finished his quarantine, so he comes into the office at times to play with the big kids. (He can't move in here permanently because the big kids use clumping litter and weaning kittens can't be around the stuff or they end up looking like a giant block of cement.)

The three (still unnamed) engine kittens are doing okay, but they are stressing me out with their lack of weight gain. For a while they were having occasional bouts of vomiting, but that seems to have stopped. (This is why we quarantine litters for two weeks.) Assuming they are healthy next week, they'll be merged with PJ to create a super litter.

And then tonight I was asked to pick up this girl:

She has an upper respiratory infection and isn't eating, which is why it's best if she is monitored more closely during the long weekend. I'll probably end up syringe-feeding her. Her breathing isn't the greatest, but I'm hoping that will improve quickly with meds.

Off to be Adopted

These guys left earlier in the week to be fixed and adopted. (Three are still available.)

Cloudberry

Mistbow

Skylark

Foghorn

Raindrop

And I don't think I ever posted the previous litter (named after the colors on their velcro collars) that went off last week and have all been adopted:

Colonel Mustard

Black Bart

Green Goblin

Blue Velvet

Red Sonja

And the week before that, these three went off and were immediately adopted:

Moonshine

Stardew

Sunburst

(I ran into Sunburst's adopter at the shelter a couple days ago, and she says Sunburst is doing great at home. It's always nice to hear good updates.)

So, yes, I currently have four groups of fosters in three rooms, but really, it feels almost empty!

Got You!

The major news in my life is that after months of attempting to trap this little scamp, I finally succeeded!

Probably already pregnant again...

I'm glad I got her when I did because it's no fun sitting around for hours in this heat. (It was over 100 F today.)

She has a spay appointment on Wednesday. Until then, she is staying in a huge dog crate in my bedroom.

I've kept other feral cats using this arrangement. Normally, I can clean the litter box and swap in fresh food and water while the cat stays as far away from me as possible. This girl ran toward me and almost made it out the cage door this evening. I might have to work on adding a mid-cage barrier so I can safely block her in the back while I clean.

Six more days. I can handle six more days.

Other Foster Stuff

Rooster, the black kitten I trapped in the alley a couple weeks ago (and the feral girl's son), has gone back to the shelter to get neutered and adopted. He's a good boy.

Rooster, the alarm clock with no snooze button

Eight of the remaining 13 kittens should be going back next week. Theoretically, that should mean the bathroom will be free, but the shelter is overflowing with kittens who need fostered at the moment, so I'll probably end up coming home with a new bunch. The other five kittens have a date two weeks after that. But plans often shift

Nimbus is technically done with his FIP treatment, but he's going to be a difficult adoption and — as mentioned previously — there's no space at the shelter. So he'll stay here and babysit kittens for a while.

Francis Noodle has figured out how to get into the recording booth, which I'm not super happy about since he poops involuntarily and that closet has a yoga mat to keep the floor from echoing. But if I lock him in the big dog crate when he's not being watched, he has a tantrum and spills his food and water. It's a good thing he's so cute. (As I write this, he's trying to catch a fly in the office and I'm probably going to hell for laughing at the cat who can't walk very well throwing himself around the room.)

Writing Stuff

I have finished the initial draft of the starfish-shifter murder mystery short story ("Sleeping with the Fishes") that will be going out to my Patreon supporters in the next day or two. I have written the plan for revisions for the next Penelope Standing book, and I'll set up the pre-order this week so I can put a link in the next newsletter. And then I'll get back to writing the next Floodmouth book.

BUT ALSO! The 2026 Mysterious Murders Contest is open for submissions! This year, they are looking for locked room murder mysteries. Stories need to be in English, under 3k words, and not produced by AI. There's no entry fee and the prize amounts are huge. Seriously. I won first prize last year. It's an amazing event.

Writing to Market... or Not

Okay, so one of my critique partners is writing a wolf-shifter romance series (under a pen name) and all that marketing advice just... works... when you're writing in a popular genre. I am happy for her and I can't wait for her income to skyrocket.

I'll probably never see that kind of monetary success. I like the books I write and there are more than a few people who buy every book the second I release it, but I'm unlikely to ever make it onto the bestseller lists. That's because the Venn diagram of books the majority of people want to read and books that I want to write are two separate circles. Even when I try, things go completely off the rails.

For example: Instead of a wolf-shifter romance, I'm writing a murder mystery involving a starfish-shifter. Because the idea of chopping up a starfish shifter and throwing the pieces overboard only to have multiple clones of the shifter come out of the ocean later is hilarious! But it's not really what the wolf-shifter romance crowd is looking for.

It's okay. I may have to find a day job at some point, but at least I keep myself amused.

In other writing/marketing news, Jeanne over on the Necromancy Never Pays blog (great name!) wrote a lovely review of The Portal Storms series.

Foster Updates

I finally trapped the black kitten in the alley over the weekend. Yay! His mom remains at large, but I have plans... Anyhow, I have named the little boy Rooster because he is an alarm clock with no snooze button. He starts crying about being alone the minute the sky lightens. He has another week of quarantine, so apparently I'm getting up at 5:30 AM every day now.

The eight elemental kittens moved into the room with Nimbus (who loves the kittens), and they are all on the kitten cam. So now I have a new office cat, Francis Noodle. He, like Nimbus and Lulu, has presumptive FIP and has difficulty walking. Hopefully he will improve during his stay here.

Isn't he a gorgeous boy?

Another Battalion in the Kitten Army

Before I forget!

I uploaded the final segment of season one of the Witches Advice Column that Maria Schneider and I did. Enjoy!

(I'll update the graphics when I start working on season two.)

Bursting at the Seams

There's one more reason the shelter calls me directly to take kittens — I only live a few miles away. There are foster homes all over the county, but for some that means a 45 minute drive.

Anyhow, that explains why I picked up kittens #9-13 on Saturday. They came in right before the shelter closed for a holiday weekend, and I was nearby. Luckily, these guys are easy. They're weaned, and their upper respiratory gunk is mild. The biggest issue is going to be socialization — three of the five run and hide when I appear — but my secret weapon (Elisabeth) is making extra trips to my house to help.

The other problem is that I need to come up with five more names. I really need to start making lists when it's not kitten season. Sleep deprivation makes it hard to be creative.

Also present in the house:

Little blind kitten Sunburst, who is almost finished with quarantine. She is now eating solid food with the aid of the emotional support spoon, so maybe she'll be completely weaned in the next week.

The seven elementals who are eating some food but also going through eight bottles of formula every day. They might also be weaned within a week.

Raindrop and Foghorn

Skylark, Cloudberry, Stardew, Moonshine, and Mistbow

And finally, Nimbus. He's sad because Lulu went back to the shelter for adoption last week. I may let him hang out with the elementals because he shouldn't be infectious and he loves being around other cats.

And now? 

With a house full of foster kittens, what am I doing at this very moment in time?

Yes, that's right, I'm trying to get MORE kittens. Or rather, one kitten and its mom.

After not seeing any kittens for five weeks, I'd come to the conclusion that none of the babies had survived. But then last night I saw a little black kitten when I was returning from a walk. And this morning mom and that black kitten walked by while I was sitting here. So it's back to hanging out in the alley watching the trap. At least the weather is nice enough.

"Sleep is for the Weak"

(The title is a direct quote from fellow foster mom Jennifer. Yes, it was sarcasm.)

Life stuff

What's better than two tiny kittens? Seven tiny kittens!

(Note: this does not actually scale.)

Here are the other five. They all still need names.

Yes, after a sleep-deprived weekend with the previously mentioned duo (code names: Stardew and Moonshine), I picked up another five who are just a couple days younger. Everyone is now about two weeks old, so feedings have moved from every two hours to every three hours, which is a huge improvement.

Would I still kill someone to get an uninterrupted night's sleep? On the advice of my lawyer, I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it might incriminate me.

Writing stuff

I have a new book coming out on the 16th! Woohoo!

The Dragon's Librarian and Other Stories is a collection of short stories that I've written for my Patreon supporters over the last few years. What kind of stories, you ask?

• A Treasure of Stars (retired space pirates save the day!)
• Watching Blue Skies with the Parcheesi Gang (be careful of the Fae)
• Gestures (a Cupid murder mystery)
• The Dragon's Librarian (it's not wise to steal anything from a dragon)
• Butterflies (sometimes bad luck is just a clue there's a problem)
• Ten Clues Your Rice Cooker is Haunted by Your Great-Grandmother's Ghost
• Mayday (paranormal plants!)
• Guerrilla Gardening with the Ancient Oak Protection Society (fighting back against the HOA)
• Seeking Pemberley (Perhaps Pride & Prejudice might save your life)
• Game of Crones: an Advice Column for Spellcasters
• Preparing for Winter with Special Guest Baba Yaga
• Aunt Hazel’s Notes to the Bride on the Occasion of the First Hydran-Human Wedding
• Working the Night Shift at Lucky Eddie's 24-Hour Laundromat (Knitting and aliens!)
• and a whole bunch more!

It's in Kobo Plus and should also be available from libraries. Or, you can order it here: https://books.tmbaumgartner.com/DragonsLibrarian

More Fun Writing Stuff

Maria Schneider and I did an audio collaboration of the Witches Advice Column recently, and I've chopped things up and made them into YouTube shorts. I'll add more to the playlist as I have time, but here is the first one:

These columns are a lot of fun — give it a listen!

Yeah, It's My Life Now

What have I been up to lately? Not sleeping, that's for sure!

The disaster kittens went off to the SPCA, and then I picked up this baby:

His front legs were messed up — I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but I suspect trauma, maybe caused by the placenta getting tangled up. So I had him for a couple of days until he went off to a rescue group that has cats with wonky legs. (Yes, there's a rescue niche for everything.)

He was almost immediately replaced by these two:

They were about two days old when I got them, which means I've been feeding them every two hours (give or take) around the clock. After latching onto the bottle beautifully for the first day, the tabby girl has since decided she doesn't like the bottle anymore, so now she's getting tube-fed. Because not eating isn't an option when you're a few days old.

And, of course, I have already splattered formula everywhere when the tube came off the syringe while I was feeding her.

Anyhow... Have I released the fun audio that Maria Schneider and I did recently? No. Have I uploaded my short story collection to all the retailers yet? No. Have I even finished writing the second digital bonus for my Patreon supporters? Also no.

But someday soon I'm going to get a full night of sleep, and then — watch out world!

Disaster Kittens

Usually, fostering for the county shelter means that during kitten season (roughly March - November), the foster coordinator will send out an email to the group possibly multiple times during the day with a list of kittens that need foster homes. If you have space and energy, you respond to the email and that's how you end up with kittens.

In addition to those messages, I also get emails sent just to me when:

1. They have a kitten that is very sick and they want to give it a chance but there's a high likelihood it will not make it, or
2. They have a kitten with injuries/illness that people viscerally react to.

It's usually the former, but every once in a while it's the latter.

Saying my current fosters have eye issues is an understatement of epic proportions. The girls are about four weeks old and they have one good eye between the two of them. The other three eyes are kind of horrifying. Obviously they need surgery to remove them, but that will have to wait until they are big enough to withstand it.

They will be transferred to the SPCA (which is set up to handle such cases) on Thursday, but in the meantime I have given them temporary names. The little one is Titanic (it's aspirational!) and her big sister is Hindenburg.

(This is probably the only picture I'll ever have of them, and even this required some editing with the clone tool to hide Hindenburg's right eye which really shouldn't be visible from this angle but absolutely was.) 

It's Two Traps!

As mentioned before, I borrowed a drop trap to catch the pregnant feral in order to get her spayed and stop the kitten factory in the alley. (The cat my neighbors had trapped Thursday night — born late last year — was spayed on Wednesday, and she had an early pregnancy with five fetuses, so one disaster averted!)

So for a week, I sat out in the alley a few hours around dawn and dusk, waiting for her to show up. Her Wednesday appointment came and went without me seeing her at all. The shelter said I could bring her in Friday if I could catch her.

And I sat and waited. And sat and waited.

(I did get an inexpensive Adirondack-style chair which has a cup/phone/glasses holders and is pretty comfortable, so at least there's that. I've been getting a lot of writing done while sitting there.)

Thursday morning, I was on the phone with a friend, not even paying attention to the trap when I happened to glance over and there was something inside. (I wasn't wearing my glasses. Everything was fuzzy.)

Lo and behold...

Except... she wasn't pregnant. I thought I'd caught a different cat, but then I realized she was lactating. So right cat, wrong time to catch her. Since I had no idea where her kittens were, I had to let her go again.

Sigh.

Later that morning, I was kicking myself for not knocking on a few doors to see if I could find her kittens while I had her in the trap. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Anyhow, I'll wait a month and then work on trapping the entire family. The kittens will get socialized and adopted out and mom will get spayed.

Foster Updates

No changes in the house. Gnocchi is regrowing hair, Lulu is doing great, and Nimbus still can't decide whether to hiss or purr. 

It's a Trap!

 Foster Updates

Gnocchi is still here, but I haven't noticed any new bald spots in a week and she's regrowing hair on the old ones. We've started the long process of running weekly cultures until she's had two negative results in a row, at which point she will be declared cured.

Lulu is doing great! She is just here to finish the full 84 days of FIP medication. Look how high she can jump now:

I also have a second FIP cat, Nimbus, in my bedroom. He is both afraid of people and loves to be brushed and stroked, so there is often a 30-second transition from hissing to purring. We'll be working on socialization while waiting for his meds to work.

Those are the cats currently in the house.

But outside...

It's a Trap!

On Wednesday, I noticed a suspiciously rotund cat squeeze through the fence into my neighbor's yard, so I texted her the "fat or pregnant?" question and she responded "pregnant".

(All the cats that hang out in my yard are fixed. I don't feed any outside cats. The neighbor behind me feeds, but she's been working on getting everyone fixed for the last four years. I thought we had gotten everyone spayed last fall, but apparently there are still two — the one I saw and her daughter.)

I asked the foster coordinator if I could get the soon-to-arrive kittens into the foster program, and she offered me a spot on the spay schedule Friday (if I could catch her by then) or Wednesday (if I had better luck over the weekend).

So last night I was sitting in my car, avoiding the mosquitos, while I watched the baited trap in the alley. No luck, though I started documenting the other cats so I know who is around. But my neighbors trapped the younger female cat, who is almost certainly pregnant even if she's not as big yet.

I had to bring the trapped cat to the shelter at 8am this morning, so I decided to try one more time to catch the super-pregnant cat. The trap was baited, the sun was rising, and I was sitting in my car watching.

Super-pregnant mom walked over the the trap, sat down next to it, and proceeded to stare at me for 30 minutes. Then she stood up and waddled away.

I am borrowing a drop trap.

That's a Wrap

We have survived Thingadailies 2026!

This episode brought to you by Hot Zotz

On my way home from the writing/reading/knitting group at the local coffee shop, I stopped by Ye Old Time Pharmacy to see if they had hypertonic saline. They did not, but they did have some fascinating candy that I'd never had before.

Hot Zotz Fiery Cinnamon Fizz. They aren't all that hot (maybe they are for Italians?), but they do fizz. They're pretty tasty and interesting.

Foster kitten update

Gnocchi just made her bald spot bigger. Ugh!

Lulu seems to be weaker in the hind end this evening. She's playing and running around, but she looks like a low rider with her back legs bent. I stopped the B-vitamins two days ago because I can think of no reason she would still be deficient, but I swear I'm going to restart them tomorrow if she's not better. At this point, it may just be magic.

The Maggot Muffins (Lucy & Nova) are doing great. They got to be the star of the show tonight. I fear there is not much going on in Nova's head, but she's very sweet.

AITA for my response after my parents destroyed my handmade Christmas presents to my siblings?

What did I learn during Thingadailies?

Mostly I learned how to use iMovie, which is useful. I also learned a bit about the vector side of Affinity. And I learned my foster cats are trying to make me tear my hair out.

My goals for February March (ha, good catch, Maria!) are to increase my writing output to 700+ words per day and maybe join a gym. We shall see...

Technically Not Spring

It's the penultimate day of Thingadailies! Woohoo!

Everything is growing

I spent a chunk of the day weeding, and I cleared space along the fence line of the neighbors who will complain if I don't. I still have a bunch of that horrible sticky weed in the back, and some of it is flowering, so I need to get rid of the rest of it in the next couple days or it's going to reseed. (On the other hand, it does seem to crowd out the bindweed, so I have to decide which one I hate more.)

I also helped my other neighbor upload a new copy of his novel, with an important typo fixed. I suspect I will be doing that every so often, but I don't think he has the computer skills to do this without help.

Between that and trying to finish this short story (which is almost done), I forgot to go to the shelter to pick up the special food the Maggot Muffins are eating. Tomorrow is another day.

Foster updates

Gnocchi remains herself. She kneaded my thigh so hard she left a bruise.

Lulu is about the same. I think she may have some pain in her hind end when she does certain moves, because she jumped down from my lap this morning and then hid behind the door. Later, she played with all her toys, so the pain seems to have been temporary.

Lucy & Nova continue to get into things they shouldn't. Nova's butt seems better maybe? I haven't needed to change the towels in the last 24 hours, which is a win. With any luck, she'll heal all the way and the girls can go off to be adopted before the wave of small kittens blows into town.

AITA for refusing to wear the engagement ring my fiancé made?

I cropped myself out entirely. Lulu deserves to be the star of the show.

Against the Rules

It's day 26 of Thingadailies!

That's against the rules

Lucy & Nova (aka, the Maggot Muffins) realized they could jump on the counter in the bathroom where they are staying, so nothing is safe anymore. I came back from the library makerspace this afternoon and they had knocked the scissors on the floor. No playing with scissors! Bad kittens!

AITA for taking advantage of confusion in cafe names to attract business?

Today's AITA question was a long one and I had to speed up the video a bit. Meh. If I had to do it again, I'd cut some text out of the question. It doesn't sound terrible, but it's obviously sped up. Live and learn.

Daal, Daal as Far as the Eye Can See

It's day 25 of Thingadailies! (That's great, but that also means I only have three days to finish writing, edit, and post a short story for my Patreon supporters. I guess I should figure out how it ends...)

So Much Daal

As you can guess, I made daal this evening. A lot of daal. I'll be eating this for a week, which would be fine if it tasted better, but it's just sort of okay. My only hope is that it will improve after spending a day in the refrigerator. It might. Some food is better the next day.

Foster Updates

We're in a holding pattern. I'm waiting on the results for Gnocchi, Lulu is about the same, and the Maggot Muffins are adorable and slightly less poopy. I need to run a load of laundry for them.

AITA for refusing to pay for an exterminator when a spooky spell attracted spiders to my friend's house?

It's weird that creating a YouTube short is the easiest of all options...

When in Doubt, Add a Cat

It's day 24 of Thingadailies, and I'm feeling a little tapped out. So tonight's thing is just a minor modification of what I had before. And that's okay.

But first, the foster updates

Gnocchi went in today to have the shelter vet look at her bald spot. The good news is that everyone agrees that it does not look like ringworm. But just in case, they sent of samples to the lab. With any luck, this won't scare the adopters away. Oh, and the funniest thing was she was perfectly behaved during her exam after I warned them she would probably require sedation.

Lulu seems a little better today. I need to find the second camera and put it in that room because every time I open the door I see her sitting on the heating pad, but when I'm in my office next door, I keep hearing her bang on the closet door. The ping pong ball has mysteriously moved behind the couch a couple times today. Fingers crossed she keeps improving.

The Maggot Muffins remain ridiculously cute while generating piles of laundry.

When in doubt, add a cat

I wanted to see what adding an animal to the cover would do, so I used the cat brush. (Yes, it's an actual brush type in Affinity that adds a cat and a ball of yarn.)

It not the right thing, but it adds a needed touch of chaos to the picture. I'll keep looking at ways to add animals to the vector covers...

Puppy

It's day 23 of Thingadailies!

Foster Updates

Not much change from yesterday for anyone. I did convince Lulu to eat a little tonight, but there's still something not right about her. If she's not doing well in the morning, I'll see if I can bring her in with Gnocchi for an expert opinion (or at least drugs to make her comfortable while we figure out what's going on...)

Puppy Vectors

Today I wanted to see how hard it would be to convert a real life image into vectors. That way I wouldn't have to either create or purchase vector images, especially for things I already have pictures of. I don't mind purchasing vector assets, but it becomes a problem when they aren't all in the same style. If I create the vector assets, I can control that.

This was the picture I was playing with, a puppy named Taylor that I drove over to Sacramento last year:

So, how hard is it to vectorize an image? Not hard at all, but... It defaults to breaking it down to so many tiny vectors that it looks like a raster image, so if you put it in a book cover with a bunch of vector objects, it looks like a bad photoshop job. The image below is technically a vector, but it might as well be a raster image.

What I really wanted was a more simplified version of the puppy. I feel like there's probably an easy way to do this, but I haven't quite figured it out.

I ended up going over to GIMP and choosing Image->Mode->Indexed..., which will create a palette with however many colors you specify. Then I pulled that image with fewer colors into Affinity and vectorized it using Vector->Image Trace...

There are two settings in Image Trace which control how exact a copy it will try to make. I tweaked the dials until I could get something recognizable while also being simplified. I also didn't try to clean anything up afterward, so they could probably be improved.

Results

10-color palette:

12-color palette:

16-color palette:

32-color palette:

I think 10 lost definition of the nose, and 32 looked too close to a photo. I could probably live with either 12 (after some cleanup) or 16.

Anyhow, it was an interesting exercise, and probably the real message is that you should pay artists. But this is fun, too, and I can probably get reasonably results if I spend some time on it.

More Vector Fun

It's day 22 of Thingadailies!

More Vector Fun

I didn't feel like recording another video, so I went back to playing with covers.

I copied book one to use as the template and then started changing things for book two. There are still things I want to tweak, and I need more objects of the table, but the branding is strong.

This is where I'm at right now:

It's a work in progress...

Foster Updates

Gnocchi met with the people interested in adopting her — it went about as well as it could, given that we had five people crammed in my office. She hung out on the edges and allowed herself to be brushed, and then after thirty minutes deliberately walked over and climbed into her cave bed. I think they're going to adopt her as long as the vet appoint on Tuesday (because of her weird bald spot) doesn't turn up anything strange.

Lucy and Nova, the Maggot Muffins, are doing well. Nova is still kind of leaking poop, which isn't great, but hopefully things will go back to normal at some point soon. In the meantime, they're eating and playing and just generally being cute.

Lulu has seemed a bit off for the last day, and I'm trying not to panic. She got vaccinated Thursday afternoon, so maybe that's part of it? I don't think she ate anything today. This cat! I need her to be healthy, dangit!