Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

Cat personalities

Like people, each cat has a distinct personality… I say as I step away because Zuko is getting into something he shouldn’t. Kittens are a bundle of fun and defensive actions. However, as the youngest member of the house, he’s the last on my list to talk about. Unless he commandeers the keyboard, of course… he jumped me from round 1 to round 5 of a workout yesterday.

Diane, our oldest, is generally the calmest cat in the house. She hasn’t really warmed up to Arwen over the past couple years, so we were surprised at how well she received Zuko. Diane is the slowest eater, and likely to stare at the other cats as they push into her food bowl rather than stopping them. She’s smart enough to figure out the hunt & feed toys, but doesn’t like competing with the other cats for food, so I end up putting out multiple toys when I feed them dry food. She only climbs on the counter looking for human food when she thinks nobody is watching, and will guiltily slink off when spotted.

June was a young mother when we adopted her and has always been interested in bathing everybody. Note that I didn’t say “every cat” – she’ll bathe anybody who will let her (which does not include me!), and habitually licks furniture and walls too. She’s still a bit unsettled about Zuko’s arrival, but I expect that she’ll eventually bathe him too. She will occasionally paw at my bedroom rug, purring loud enough to be heard across the room. On the rare occasion we find her on the counter, it’s because nobody was in the room and Diane was already up there cleaning a tray or pan. An expert at hiding, she will flee to her nearest hiding spot when caught on the counter.

Arwen, Zuko, and June searching for food

Arwen, with a hunter’s metabolism, has always been food-oriented, to the point where she gets locked into my room before we even start preparing food. She spent the last couple years trying to convince Diane to play with her, and now thinks it’s annoying when Zuko does the same to her. Kitty karma, especially the lurking outside the litter box while it’s in use part. Particularly in the winter, she sleeps on my arm, purring me to sleep. She likes heights, frequently jumping to the top of a bookshelf to loom over the room like a gargoyle. When found on the counter, she will rapidly look for something to eat, or eat whatever she thinks she found before she gets removed. No guilt there at all.

Zuko is unquestionably a kitten. He demands attention, pawing and nipping at ankles, or jumping up on me during work and purring loudly while he settles down for a nap. Once he’s settled, I’m allowed to set him on the sofa. By the time he’s too heavy to climb curtains, I suspect I will need new curtains. Zuko’s counter exploration is mostly just exploring – he tends to jump up outside of meal time, then wander or sit down comfortably until he’s removed. I realize he has Arwen as a bad example, but hopefully I can teach him that the kitchen counters and dining room table are off limits.

Some problems can only been seen up close

From my bedroom window, I could see that some rogue bushes and trees were growing amongst the neighbor’s tree line. Since some were buckthorns, an invasive species I want to remove before it goes to seed (berries, really), I went out with my branch clippers this afternoon to clear some of the overgrowth. I’m not digging out the roots – partially because they tend to be intertwined with the trees we want to keep – just trimming back the branches. As I was trimming, I noticed this tree.

It’s hollow at the base, and going up a couple feet. Rotted, eaten? I’m not really sure what caused it, but the remaining bits seem surprisingly solid. It’s actually pretty neat looking, if I had been wearing gloves, I might have been tempted to reach inside. There are multiple holes in the trunk to peek into. Noting the hollow, I wondered if the tree was still alive, or if the branches around it were from the surrounding trees, spreading out to fill the space, or from the invasive species I’m working to remove.

I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the top of the tree is thriving, despite the hollow trunk. The tree is still alive despite its issues. And it struck me that I couldn’t see that from my window. Some problems can only be seen up close.

That’s what we’re seeing in the United States now. Between viral social media posts and a faltering federal government, we are becoming increasingly aware of the problems at the root of our system. We’re seeing various parts of the government respond to peaceful protest – a Constitutional right – with violence. We’re seeing violent counter-protestors being ignored, while peaceful ones are attacked or arrested. We’re seeing the inequity that’s built into the system. And thanks to the overabundance of information available online, we’re seeing all of it – the official announcements of riots and violent protests, and the unofficial social media posts explaining how protesters are kettled (trapped into contained areas) and prevented from leaving until they’re suddenly violating curfew.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and it’s up to us, the voting populace, to correct the problem at every level. In just over two months, we go to the polls. Research the candidates, not just the highly publicized Presidential election, but every position on the ballot. These people, especially the local elections, represent you, and influence the immediate impact that you see in your community.

Falling in love with a kitten is easy.

To paraphrase Prince Edward from Enchanted, “What’s not to love?”

Four cats, from left to right: Diane, Zuko, June, Arwen

At some point in their life, every cat was a kitten. But Zuko, our newest addition, is the youngest cat I’ve adopted in quite some time.

Diane and June were both around a year old when we adopted them, and they were adopted a year apart. We adopted Diana shortly after becoming a one cat household; Mungojerrie (aka Mungo) had never been an only cat and was adamant about needing attention… in the middle of the night. We went to the local pet store to meet the available cats (from a shelter they partner with) and Diane called to us. Literally, she meowed at us for attention.

A year later, we adopted June, who was a young mother looking for a home. Two of her kittens were with her that day, but their personalities weren’t a good fit with Diane and Mungo’s. She fit in perfectly, and between her and Diane, they got Mungo moving again until he passed away at nineteen.

A couple years ago, we adopted Arwen, our “kitten”; her adoption story has already been told here. She settled in nicely with June, and eventually reached a peaceful point with Diane, with the occasional mutual bath. She was already six months old by the time she moved in, and remained our smallest cat, but only by weight; her metabolism is that of a huntress.

Near the end of May, some friends were adopted by a cat with her litter of kittens. Despite cat allergies in the house, they took them in and looked after them until the kittens were old enough to find new homes. Two weeks ago, the potential adopter for Zuko fell through. I had been good up to that point, but really, he needed a home, and who could resist that face? Even the older cats are coming around, though if he really annoys them, they could just sit on him for a while, given the size difference. And like Arwen, he purrs like a motorboat.

Thoughts on The Space Between Worlds

Back in May, I wrote about interdimensional travel in The Long Earth, which was triggered by reading another book about parallel worlds – The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson. The basic premise to interdimensional travel in that book is that you can only travel to worlds where the parallel version of you is no longer alive, which results in the recruitment of people living on the edge of society, as they’re less likely to have stayed alive across the various worlds. This review was originally published in the August 1, 2020 issue of Booklist.

Micaiah Johnson makes her debut in science fiction with The Space Between Worlds, exploring parallel universes through Cara’s eyes. Cara is a traverser, a member of an exclusive team that can travel across the multiverse, but only to worlds where she has already died. Cara’s former life was in the wastelands outside Wiley City, where each day was a struggle to survive the runners and the environment; she still visits her family there periodically. In her new life, she travels to similar worlds to retrieve information for her employer, the Eldridge Institute, which they use to mine resources across the multiverse, allowing the environment of the local wastelands some recovery time. When a new world opens up to Cara, her life comes crashing down as the striking similarities between her multiple lives converge. Cara must draw from her experience across the multiverse, and navigate the mess her relationships have become in meeting multiple variations of friends and enemies. As her current and former lives become hopelessly entangled, Cara makes life-altering decisions that affect her and those around her.

Thoughts on Way Station

“An ageless hermit runs a secret way station for alien visitors in the Wisconsin woods”

That’s the opening line of the description on the back of Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak. I’m not sure if I read it before I started the book, I may have just skimmed the back: “never seem to age” and “last surviving veteran of the American Civil War” jump out at me.

I was perhaps a third of the way through the book when I thought to check the publication date. The alien technology used at the way station conflicts with the modern technology of the era, so the protagonist, Enoch Wallace, receives updates about the world through the mail, in the form of newspapers and magazines. That convenient conflict makes the book ageless to a point – it clearly pre-dates mobile phones and portable technology becoming mainstream (because of what other characters have access to), but could easily be any time in the latter half of last century because Enoch isn’t interacting with human technology.

1963, as it turns out. And I find that striking, that Simak wrote the story in such a fluid way that it could have been set anytime within a forty year span. I suppose that partially explains why it won a Hugo award. (According to the Wikipedia page, it is alternately known as Here Gather the Stars.)

It is a delightful book, enjoyable for all ages. Check your local library or bookstore, or borrow my copy, if you want a good read.

Voting by mail

I’ve never voted by mail before, largely because Illinois offers early voting about a month before each election, which has allowed me to vote without interfering with my work schedule in several elections. But this election is different. There’s a pandemic, with numbers still rising both in Illinois and across the country. And while I’m not high risk – having none of the pre-existing conditions thought to increase the chances of catching it, and already working from home before this outbreak – I recognize that most of the poll workers tend to be older, and likely to be in those high risk categories. I have no interest in putting myself, my family, or anybody else at unnecessary risk.

I realize several politicians, many of whom vote by mail themselves, are claiming that voting by mail increases incidents of fraud. There is, frankly, no evidence of this. It is, as far as I can tell, something they’re making up to scare people, much like the unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud in the 2016 election. That said, given the opportunity to vote by mail, I wanted to break it down to look at the realism of the possibility.

First, there’s the envelope the ballot application arrives in. It’s addressed to me, at the name and address I registered to vote with. (I moved mid-2016; I immediately updated my voter registration since there was an election coming up.) The important thing I noted on the envelope was “Return Service Requested” above my information. I double-checked with a local letter carrier (that’s the official title for your mailman/mailwoman), and that means that if that name is not valid for that address, the letter gets returned to the sender. This is different from Address Service Requested, which would return the envelope and provide the forwarding address to the sender. So flat out, if you’re not at that address anymore, the letter gets returned.

Application for ballot - General Election, November 3, 2020

And what if it accidentally gets delivered anyways? Well, let’s look at the application. Name, street, city and zip… those are all available on the envelope I received. My birth date – which is part of my voter registration – is not. Nor is my signature, and a mismatched signature is one of the common mistakes on absentee ballots – not generally because of fraud, but because of older voters whose motor skills are changing, or signatures recorded on that stupidly oversensitive electronic pad when you renewed your driver’s license. (I’m left-handed, and most of those pads are meant for right-handed people… the last time I had to sign for my driver’s license, it took me three tries to not bump it with anything other than the special pen.)

So even if you accidentally receive somebody else’s ballot application, you’re not likely to know enough information to request their ballot. Some states, like Oregon, had already switched to only vote by mail before the pandemic. Illinois allows all registered voters the option, and is now actively encouraging it because of the pandemic. I’ll post more on this topic once I’ve received my ballot, with a look at what checks are in place to prevent fraud on the actual ballot.

An ever-evolving garden plan

After I planted in the broken bed frame, I looked across my backyard and realized I wanted that entire strip of grass to be filled with raised beds, from the bed frame over to the windmill bed. I thought it would be a gradual process, starting next spring when I prepare whatever new bed I add for the year.

My plants have a different plan.

It’s not just the squash family plants, with their tendency to run out of beds, that are looking to expand their space this year. The three tomato plants I added to the keyhole bed have experienced explosive growth with this surprisingly warm summer, stretching over the squash and dangling out the side of the bed. And I keep redirecting the squash vines back into the bed frame, to keep them out of lawnmower range.

Sprawling tomatoes and squash vines extending past the garden beds

Most of the sprawling growth is headed south, so after mulching between the keyhole bed and the bed frame, I added a line of mulch to one side of the beds. Then, since the plants were already coming out of the keyhole bed, snaking towards the grass (now mulch), I grabbed a couple support cages from the shed and moved branches and vines around to intertwine with the cages.

But it’s only July, and weather-permitting, the squash varieties and tomato plants will continue into October… I need more space! And I need it now, before a ride-on mower devours a melon or acorn squash. (I’m less concerned about the tomatoes, they’re all bite-sized.) So it’s time to order a mulch delivery, rather than hauling small bags in my Corolla, and start next spring’s preparations early.

Thoughts on The Obsidian Tower

There’s a thrill when I receive a packet of books to review, and an added bonus when I recognize the author on one or more of the books. So when I received The Obsidian Tower, the first of another trilogy by Melissa Caruso, I was practically bouncing off the walls. This review was originally published in the May 1, 2020 issue of Booklist. Part of the thrill was seeing how the world has progressed since the previous trilogy; there are clear impacts from those adventures.

Melissa Caruso’s newest book, The Obsidian Tower, is an action-packed adventure set well after her Swords and Fire Trilogy. The world has changed in some ways: Raverra and Vaskandar cooperate in times of magical crises through a group called the Rookery. Yet Raverra’s political schemes and Vaskandar’s confrontations between Witch Lords make the world seem unchanged. Ryxander (Ryx) should have been a vivomancer like the rest of her family, but her magic was warped by a childhood illness, causing anything she touches to die; even powerful vivomancers can only touch her briefly. She has instead become the Warden of Gloamingard Castle, forging alliances through diplomacy. A diplomatic mission turned into a disaster when the envoy opened the Door to the Black Tower, unleashing an unknown threat into the land. Ryx and her new allies from the Rookery must race escalating threats while averting a diplomatic crisis. Ryx explores her abilities and limitations as she learns the extent of the problems she unleashed in this first book of a new series.

Wizards Unite combat

I mentioned in my previous post on Wizards Unite that I have fun with the Augmented Reality, or AR, placement of my opponents. I don’t always place them near my cats. Here are a few screenshots I took – some at the risk of taking a direct strike – because the placement amused me.

This is an itty bitty werewolf standing on the dash of my parked car. Perspective matters – if I aim the phone at an open room, my opponent can be quite large. But if all my camera can see is a small space, such as my desktop or the dash of my car, I ended up with a tiny opponent. This werewolf was fairly low level, so there wasn’t much risk in taking the screenshot.

Combat uses both offensive and defensive spells. Offensive spells use spell energy – the lightning bolt counter in the bottom left corner. Defensive spells are free, with the amount of damage improving as you progress along your career path. Both offensive and defensive can improve with the career progression. One of my proficiency charms causes my opponent to lose health when they attack me.

The giant spider doesn't look so large when it's in the cat tree.

You may remember Aragog, the Acromantula befriended by Hagrid in the Harry Potter books. Aragog was huge. In theory, so are the spiders in Wizards Unite… when given a large space for placement. This particular spider was placed inside my cat tree, forcing it to a size where my cats could have sat upon it. To be fair, that would be cruel to the spider, Arwen would probably try to eat it. Again, a low level combat, I was just goofing around with different placement.

This Death Eater, on the other hand, had me outclassed; he had almost four times my hit points. He’s actually placed against a wall, which is how I noticed the awesome shadow animation. When he moved to cast a spell at me, his shadow moved as well. I certainly never imagined when I started playing computer games – many with ASCII graphics, like Moria or The Pit – that technology would come this far and be so portable. The icons under our health bars indicate charms in play – I probably had a proficiency charm on myself, improving my abilities, and the defensive charm on him, causing him to take damage every time he attacked me.

This cute fellow is an erkling. I honestly don’t know why he’s one of the bad guys, but since they insist on attacking me, I insist on defending. Well, OK, to be honest, I go into the wizarding challenges and choose to fight them… but he’s on the wrong side for some reason. Anyways, he’s standing on a small sofa that I’m almost done assembling; I thought the color contrast would be nice for some battles.

Set a goal, find a buddy.

I’ve discussed some of the goals I’ve set in multiple posts. Some goals are quick and clearly individual, like creating a garden plan for the year and writing a blog post every week. But some of the ongoing goals, like staying fit and learning a new language, are long term goals, and those can be aided by finding a buddy with similar goals.

For fitness buddies, I keep in touch with my karate friends, and Centr.com has a Facebook community where we all encourage each other, particularly when participating in the same challenges, like the 6-week bodyweight challenge that many of us just finished. (It started on May 18th.)

My Duolingo goals, while accomplished (in that I did a lesson every day), were stagnating. With a big project at work, I was frequently logging on just long enough to repeat an earlier lesson, and catching just enough extra lessons at the weekend to stay in whatever my current league was – the top 10 in a league advance; anybody below 45th drops a level. I’ve never dropped a level, but I sat in the same league for an awfully long time.

And then Cassandra started pushing forward through the leagues with her Hawaiian lessons. She caught up to me, and passed me by a couple leagues. Suddenly, I have an accountability buddy for my language lessons. Coincidentally, I’m now in the top 10 for my league a second week in a row, and have added about 10 more vocabulary or grammar sections in the last two weeks. There’s still a ton to go, but having a buddy gave me the right motivation to surge forward in my lessons.