I just put up chapter eighteen. DMaduks, you’ll be pleased to know we are getting precariously close to the “naughty bits” 🙂 Overall I like Keylee and Paul (as characters go). Oddly enough, this was one of the quickest stories I’ve ever written. Somehow the two of them just flowed.

Today’s picture is courtesy of Copernicus. I don’t have as many pictures of him as I do his brother, Newton. I don’t like/love Copernicus any less, it just seems like Newton gets into more funny cat antics than his brother. I actually wanted to post another one of Newton I took last night, but again, for some reason, the photos from my phone aren’t updating onto the computer. Anyway, this is a classic one of Copernicus lounging. He likes being on his back to sleep and usually finds a wall or some other sturdy structure to lean half his body against when he does it.

As usual, this past week at work was batshit crazy. For a change, I had Friday off, which was lovely. It gave me a chance to drive to a tile store and pick out something for the entryway of my home. I’ve lived here for over fifteen years and the carpet and linoleum (in the entryway) were there when I purchased the home. I’ve had much bigger fish to both fry and pay for, so it’s remained. For better or worse, leaving the carpet isn’t so much of an option anymore.

Both Newton and Copernicus still have all their claws and overall I’m happy with that decision. They don’t scratch up the woodwork or the furniture, but they do tear up the carpet. Since their cat tree is carpeted, and they scratch at that, I don’t think I can really expect them to know the difference between that carpet and the other stuff all over the house. Mostly it’s fine – just a few strands pulled up here and there, with one exception. The transition between the living room and the faux wooden floor in the kitchen, they’ve torn up the edge. A couple of weeks ago, Fennik trotted into the living room, laid down, and started chewing on something. When I went to investigate, I found he had a rather impressive chunk of carpet.

They say teamwork makes the dreamwork, but in this case, Fennik teaming up with the kitties to rip up the carpet is only going to lead to gastric foreign body surgery. And so . . . new carpet and also tiling over the “fabulous” yellow linoleum in the entryway. Well, it will be better in the long run, but the process gives me hives. As I said earlier, the carpet in the house was here when I moved in and the bedrooms are colored. I don’t know what I’m going to do without the pink-mauve carpet in my bedroom (if you couldn’t tell, that was said in a sarcastic tone). New carpet is leading to repainting the bedrooms and computer/cat room. It kind of makes my head want to explode, but I’m desperately trying to suck it up and say, “I can do it!”.

I ordered and committed to everything on Friday, but it won’t be done until the end of October. Fingers and toes double crossed as none of my home improvement projects have ever gone smoothly or as planned. And just for reference, that includes re-roofing the house, replacing a foundation wall running the length of the basement, rebuilding all the retaining walls lining the drive and leading up to the house, and a few other, more minor things. I love my home, but somedays I think it might lead me to an early grave.

That’s all for today. I hope those still reading Facilitate Your User are happy with where the story is going. I’m sorry for all the spelling/grammatical mistakes that are bound to be there. I don’t think I’ve edited it as well as I’d like. Time is a commodity that seems to be shrinking as the days pass.

Before I completely leave, I just wanted to say, for those of you living on the fire ravaged west coast, or the hurricane battered gulf shore, please know that many of us in the rest of the country are thinking of you. I lived in Virginia for 3 years and went through hurricane Isabelle and the aftermath it brought. I remember seeing power companies from across the country helping in the days after and can only hope that is occurring now. These are atrocious times and we just keep getting hit again and again. The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is just another punch to the soul.

Until next week, please stay safe and as well as you can.

MJ May

Thank you everyone who wished Fennik a happy birthday. I think he had a good one (at least by doggy standards). I gave him a new hoof, but it was stuffed with something that looked like bacon bits and he promptly vomited up something orange. That didn’t deter him much and later that day he enjoyed eating the white cake from his birthday cupcake. His increased gas didn’t result in diarrhea so I’m counting it as a win!

Today’s picture was taken just his week. These plants are located close to my house at the end of the driveway. I planted a new type of sedum this past spring (sorry, I can’t remember its name) and it is blooming a vibrant plum right now. I thought it was pretty and offset well with the white flowers next to it as well as the purple fountain grass behind it.

Update on hopefully publishing the first book in the Reaping Covetous series: I’ve kind of given up on finding an agent and moved into the world of self publishing. I think I’ve found an editor (Yeah!) and hopefully can get started on that process toward the end of November. At this rate, maybe by late winter 2021 or spring I can have it out. So far I’ve really liked me correspondence with this editor and she did a couple of pages as a sample for me. Amazing how much you can learn with only 2 pages edited. Imagine what it will be when more of the book is done. All I can say is that she’s given me a lot to think about simply in those 2 pages and I will most likely be embarrassed about all the other stories I’ve written and put out there without professional editing. There is so much truth to the old saying, “live and learn”. I have a feeling I’m going to get a lot of “learning” when the editing process starts and I’m truly looking forward to it. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it makes me anxious too, but mostly excited to finally move forward.

I think that’s it for this week. I really need to go out and water the gardens. It has been pretty dry here. I love my plants and flowers until the rain runs out and I have to be a surrogate Mother Nature. It will take 2+ hours to get things done today. It’s not difficult work, just a little tedious and boring after awhile. But with no rain in the ten day forecast . . . the poor little kiddos are parched.

Until next week, stay well – both physically and mentally.

MJ May

Good afternoon everyone. I posted the twelfth chapter in Facilitate Your User (or at least I hope I posted it). I’m not sure why but the website was being difficult. When I transferred the block of text, it took all the spaces out this time for reasons I don’t understand and hope never happen again. It took a long time to go back through and put them in and then I had to do it again when the page went blank and I lost it all. Therefore, I hope chapter twelve came out okay and that all the spaces are where they need to be. If not, I apologize.

Today’s picture is an older one I found while scrolling through my phone. I don’t know why, but I felt like posting it today. These are actually little doggy kimono’s. I found them a few years ago when my family visited Disney World and more specifically, Epcot. I can’t remember if they were in the Chinese or Japanese Pavilion. I want to say it was the Chinese Pavilion but I’m not certain. I do remember the Japanese Pavilion was loaded with anime and manga products and I thought I’d maybe died and gone to Epcot heaven. Anyway, I thought they were super cute and took a photo. They also seemed quite elaborate and beautiful. I’ve never actually seen a dog come into the clinic (or anywhere else for that matter) sporting such finery, but thought I’d share.

I was wondering if anyone else is having issues with their cats going after their masks? I’ve found they really like the loops that go around the ears and if I lay it on the counter or hang one from a doorknob to dry after laundering it, they are going after them like crazy. I have to put mine up on the mantle to dry as it’s the only place they can’t reach. Living with cats certainly keeps you on your toes. I’ve said before I think placing sheets on a bed with cats involved should be an Olympic event. Scoring would be based on accuracy, time, creative cursing and how many times you have to throw the cats off the bed.

Off the beaten path from above . . . I’ve been thinking about adding another page to my website with names of mm books/authors that I’ve enjoyed. I’ve found that many of them are self published and sometimes aren’t as readily apparent (especially some of the older ones) when doing a search on Kindle. I’m not sure any of you would care what I like to read or not, but thought it might be a bit of a resource. It depends on the amount of time I have coming up. I looked at the time today and wondered where all of it had gone. I have so much on my mental to do list and yet I also need some mental down time so I’m not sure I’ll get much more done today. Ugh . . . I feel like I have all these plans that seem great at the time and then turn into, meh.

That’s about all for now. As always, I hope you are all doing well – staying healthy and somewhat sane. The continued cancelations of activities we look forward to yearly continues and weighs further on our collective souls. There’s a surety and mental calming associated with routine and for a lot of us, that has been blasted out of the water. All the little things are starting to add up, creating heavy mountains.

MJ May

I just put up Chapter 10 of Facilitate Your User. We’re going to start getting into more of Paul and Keylee’s relationship, or at least their attempt at one. They’ve both had such different upbringings that it’s going to be a bit tough on our young men.

The picture today is of Fennik peaking out at me while I’m watering the flower boxes. He generally runs from the window to the door so he can look out and see where I’m at and I suppose what I’m doing. He’s stopped chewing on the window pane crank which is a bonus. It’s a bit littered with teeth marks but still functional and mostly has its plastic coating in place. Mostly – sigh . . .

As an FYI to those reading this from the fan fiction world – I just signed up for AO3 but haven’t posted anything yet. My name will be under MJ_May instead of lunamist.

On the veterinary front, I will be seeing a kitten tomorrow for a recheck and I’m hopeful she is doing better. If you’re squeamish, then you should stop reading now – especially if you don’t want to hear anything about maggots. For those of you bravely trekking on, I’ll tell you her story.

As I’ve alluded to before, veterinary medicine isn’t as “glamorous” as some think. Some days the patients are great and a lot of fun. Other days make you question the world around you. This little kitten is a good example of how it really does matter what circumstances you are born into and how they shape your life.

Last week, we had someone call in to see if we had time to see a little kitten they’d pulled out from under a dumpster. The woman who called said she wanted to try and keep the kitten if we could get her fixed up, and oh, by the way . . . I think she’s got maggots.

Now, unfortunately, this isn’t all that uncommon. Flies are attracted to the smell of decaying tissue and feces (probably other things too, but that’s the important part in my world). Therefore, when it’s summer and an animal has poo stuck on fur around their rump or if they’ve been wounded and it’s infected, maggots can happen. They can be really challenging to clear up and many cases depend upon the extent of the infestation and where they are located.

Long story short, we got this little kitty in and yes, she did indeed have a rather unhealthy crop of well fed, several days old, juicy maggots squirming around several wounds along her left ear. Thankfully none of the wounds penetrated her mouth or into her ear canal. After several minutes of gagging (on my part as I really hate worms that congregate en mass), grabbing them with thumb forceps and flushing the wounds to get as many out as we could, we had a nice little squirming pile of the little buggers.

The wounds were bad, but if there’s one thing cats and kittens seem to excel at, it’s healing. I sent this little gal home with both oral and topical antibiotics and in no way promised the owner I’d gotten every single maggot out and to keep a close eye on the area. Later in the week I got a call from the new owner telling me this little kitty was doing well and she would be coming in on Monday for a recheck.

So, fingers crossed this kitty is doing well tomorrow. This isn’t the worst one I’ve seen – unfortunately many of those we euthanize. But every once in a while, they surprise you and turn out to have great lives. Here’s hoping this little gal is one of those.

Hope that story wasn’t too gross for you. It is, unfortunately, part and parcel of my job. Hug your furry loved ones as long as they’re amenable. Try and tay well and as sane as possible.

MJ May

Happy Sunday everyone! I just posted chapter nine of Facilitate Your User. Keylee and Paul are finally bonded. It’s a good start for them but that’s exactly what it is – a start.

Today’s picture is the view outside the window of what I affectionally call the “cat/computer room”. This is the room I do all my writing in and also has the kitty window seat, their cat tree, litter box and food. Newton’s head is in the fore, the garden beyond and maybe a little difficult to see considering the screen is in the way. The coneflowers in the garden are blooming beautifully right now. I have to say – I love a coneflower, and now you can find them in all different colors.

Not sure what the weather is like where you all are, but here in the Midwest it is hot, hot, hot and very humid. I mowed the lawn early this morning and was still dripping sweat. I would much rather this weather than the cold, but even this is getting too hot for me. It’s tough to do things outside in this and I feel bad for anyone laboring in this type of heat.

Speaking of laboring . . . whew, work has been busy. And it’s not just us. Veterinary clinics across the country are slammed right now and have been for the last few months. It is a condition I don’t expect to let up anytime soon. So, with that said, for all of you pet owners out there, try and have a little patience with your veterinarian. We are really trying but the truth of the matter is that we can not see every pet that needs it. We are all backed up from the early months of COVID when we had to put off routine procedures. That backlog has simply compounded the following months – months that are typically our busiest anyways. There comes a limit when you simply can’t work smarter or faster than you already are. There is a limit to how far you can push staff members and yourself and still expect everyone to show up healthy and sane to work the following day. It is a struggle right now and we feel terrible when we have to turn people away, funneling more of you to an emergency clinic you may have to travel an hour or two to get to. It weighs on us, but like I said, there comes a breaking point where you just have to say the word, “No”.

Patience is a gift the Fates seemed to have passed me by on. I suppose I have other gifts – some good and some not so good, but patience definitely isn’t one of them. That makes this kind of one of those, “Do as I say, not as I do” moments. Sigh . . . try as I might, sometimes I’m a hypocrite.

With all that said, I plan to do some reading later today and I hope you all can do the same. Reading and writing are the biggest de-stressors in my life and I’m planning on using them to try and recharge my batteries so I can get up early tomorrow and start the race all over again. I hope my stories give people the kind of mental break I’m always searching for. That is probably my biggest wish for my writing.

As an aside to those coming to my website from fanifiction, I’ve got the first few chapters of Bakusen’O re-read and will hopefully start loading them to this website this week. I’m guessing you’ve all read it before and it won’t change much. I just thought I’d bring my Inuyasha stories to a new home. I have no plans on willingly taking them down from fanfiction at this time so you’ll still be able to read them there.

As always, stay well, happy and good luck remaining sane.

MJ May