Friday Flibadejibbit

Howdy, all. Spent the last two days primarily tending to our ill kitty Tuco and sweating my way through a major house chore I had to complete before the school year began. Having to stick close to home, I ended up cleaning up/setting up the garage, which I could do easily in one hour shifts while checking in on Tuco between the workload.

Tuco's been fighting a respiratory illness all week, which had Marge pretty worried. Having had cats for 26 years, I had a trick or two up my sleeve. At the point there was desperate talk about "hydrating" Tuco via a trip to the vet and intravenous feed (yow!), I was able to coax a reluctant Tuco into taking water via a plate of shredded cooked chicken, just hot enough to tease the smell of the meat past his mucous-clogged nostrils (cats open their mouths a bit when they can't breathe easily through their nose, so I tipped a bit of broth onto his upper lip: that did the trick), soaked in warm water. He was at least hydrating then while eating a wee bit, so I didn't worry much. By yesterday noontime, he was willing to lick up Beechnut (low sodium) babyfood -- turkey and broth -- again, with mucho water mixed about it, which he did lick up -- and by later this afternoon he was out of the funk and acting a bit of his old self. Once he stole a jaunt down the basement when I was lugging boxes down there, I knew he was on the mend.

Anyhoot, the garage workload including finally setting up two sets of standing 8'+ shelving units I had cut and removed from our Marlboro home (sigh -- my basement studio). It was an arduous but overdue task, but I had all the necessary tools in place and two sunny enough days to see to it.

Laying ten concrete bricks down to mount the shelving units (which will eventually rack backstock) was easy, once the measurements were down to ensure our cars a comfy fit. It was a bit of a trick jimmy-jamming the two shelving units into place by my lonesome (especially adjusting the blocks afterward, just a hair, to ensure a neat fit), but I got it done. Those are now in place, and the rest was time-consuming but easy-pie, really. Sweep up, some washing up of old wooden palettes etc., giving 'em time to bake and dry in the sun afterwards, then lots of lugging about of boxes and sorting through 15+ years of odd bags, boxes and whatnot of tools, wires, nails, etc. to dispose of what's crap and keep and organize what's worth keeping -- anyhoot, it's done. So there ya go.

In between bouts, I've been emailing back-and-forth with Center for Cartoon Studies folks to organize classes, schedules, trips etc. for the coming fall semester, which is right 'round the corner. We're getting there.

Afterwords, I showered and relaxed a bit, wrapping up two great vintage reads I'll be posting about down the road. We're having guests (Mike and Mary Dobbs) tomorrow, so I'm not going to do much of anything this weekend, save CCS prep work.

I also did a bunch of other shyte, including syllabus writing, working on a gig for Rick Veitch, writing a bunch for the website (the gallery section is a bit more up and operational, BTW), wrapping up a deadline job, fucking about with Marvel Comics, and happily taking in no less than five movies this week, but who cares about that. Tuco, the garage -- that's what matters, right?

Have a great weekend!