Hail to the Chief...

Figured I should finish the prior story... Spud has been neutered (again), BC is slowly getting over his grudge (has now been almost three weeks!). I think they will eventually be friends (assuming Spud doesn't get squished in a horrible accident under my feet!).

We have now traded the snow for fog. But fog is not rain, and most importantly, is not snow! Snow is nice to visit (skiing), but people who do not shovel their sidewalks should be summarily shot - especially multi-unit & commercial building owners FOR WHOM IT IS A BYLAW!

Today, I, as with a substantial chunk of the rest of the world, am delighted that the US finally has a new President. It is inauguration day. Listened to the speech when I arrived at work (gotta love the Internet! - live simulcast).

War... What is it good for...

Absolutely nothing! However, is a pretty accurate description of what is going on at home right now.

For anyone who doesn't know Vancouver, we generally have weather pretty similar to Seattle Washington, USA or Heidelberg Germany (since I know some of the people reading this relate to those places). As a rule, this does NOT include snow! If it snows, usually it sticks around for a day or two. Long enough to look pretty and to grind virtually everything to a halt. We like to look at snow from a distance, we like to be able to visit it - with three ski hills within the GVRD (Cypress, Grouse, Seymour), and Whistler approximately 125km away. Here are a couple links to the weather of late (thankfully, the snow has mostly melted in the recent deluge of rain - Vancouver proper is now doing okay, the outlying areas are still suffering).

http://www.emarketing101.ca/blog/item/vancouver-in-the-snow-december-24-2008/

http://vancouverbcphoto.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=5

Anyway, back to the story... As it turns out, Spud (the 6month old, neutred, male cat from the SPCA) was operated on a vet in need of remedial math skills... My regular vet suspects that, since we were able to determine from his tattoo that was a mobile vet unit who did the work, perhaps there was a student involved. Anyway, long and short of it - Spud still had one testicle. Allison helped me get him to the vet to confirm this (and have a check-up), and we scheduled surgery. And then, it snowed. And snowed. And snowed... Well, actually, it started snowing December 13, 2008, then looked like things were smoothing out, then - not so much. Spud arrived December 7, we went to the vet December 20, surgery was scheduled for December 29 - roads were virtually impassable - RESCHEDULE!

January 1 (welcome to 2009!) I am puttering about when all hell breaks loose. Hissing, growling, screeching... I find two "cats as blowfish" (both with all hair on end). I think the testosterone has kicked in for Spud, and he has taken this opportunity to assert himself in some way (until now, they've been getting along - Spud has been BC's shadow)... Anyway, BC (who is 9.5 years old) apparently wasn't thrilled. In the ensuing scrap, BC has fared far the worse (kitten claws are sharp!). He has a cut on his lip. Clean it with a bit of peroxide, try to keep the cats apart for a while. BC is peeved and holding a grudge - if Spud comes near, growl, hiss. Spud, is a dopey teenager "mreow?" - he just wants to play and be friends.