No rest for the wicked...

I should be sleeping instead of updating my blog. I have an early morning ahead of me... At the same time, I took yesterday off so I feel like I should post something.

The plan was simple... Sleep in until Sprout woke us up. She and her daddy would go to visit her paternal grandparents while I spent the day in the studio working. The plan went out the window some time after we got up when I answered the telephone and a dear friend informed me that she was at the emergency animal clinic with a cat who seemed to have lost the use of the back half of his body.

I have mom's car for the next week and a half while she's out of town. We picked it up yesterday before driving south to Middletown to see friends and go to Summer Fair. I justified the day away from the studio by telling myself that I would get a chance to see a bunch of different display ideas which I could adapt for the bead show next weekend.

So, after dropping husband and baby off at our car, I drove to the emergency vet to retrieve my friend. It is hard to explain to someone who doesn't share our specific form of attachment to pets why it is that we would, without question, place ourselves in a difficult financial position for the sake of a pet. For those who also believe that sharing life with an animal companion is as much a responsibility (and an honor) as any other relationship which you have with someone who is completely dependent upon you... no explanation is really needed.

The vet kept the cat overnight for observation. Because of the nature of the emergency clinic, the cat must be picked up by 7am and taken to his normal vet. The vet who saw him offered a rather grim prognosis (about 6-months) and recommended treatment by a veterinary internist. We'll start by taking him to his normal vet tomorrow morning.

Needless to say, the plan was abandoned and no plan has been made for tomorrow. I came home this evening (after spending the day with my friend) and cleaned the openings in the shell vessels. I then loaded them into the kiln along with the keychain fobs that I made for CUADP last week. With the bisque firing started, I pierced the stringing holes in the half-moon vessels that I started on Friday.

One advantage to feeling like I was behind schedule in the studio was that I decided to try to come up with a "shortcut" to making the necks for the half-moon vessels. The way that I had been making them was somewhat frustrating. The clay had to be at just the right consistency and it took several failed attempts to get into a rhythm which would allow me to make the necks in a way that I liked. The new method gives me a much more consistent result. In the end, maybe I should be glad that I didn't get to spend all day in the studio. I got more or less the same amount accomplished in the 3 hours that I was out there and have simplified a process which I used to dread.