The Nth Degree

I have been invited to a Bridal Shower for nephew Jim’s fiancée, Laura.  Everyone has been asked to bring a recipe and a spice or kitchen tool.

As I began filling out the recipe card the came with the invitation I began to think of the recipe disc I gave for Christmas in 2006.  Ah, that’s the ticket. 

I’m not sure if I did get one to Jim as I can’t remember if he was there for Christmas as he was in the military.  But he has moved a few times since so I can’t be sure if he still has the disc anyway.

I had everything saved on my computer so it was just a matter of rechecking what I had done. I rewrote the “read me first” file, edited the disc label and made a jewel case insert.

The jewel case cover was the new aspect of the project.  I used my Scrapbook Deluxe software to make the cover.  I included wedding photos of my parents, grandparents on Mom’s side and grandmother on Dad’s side, a 1965 photo of three of us kids and the entire family at our house on Christmas 1990. 

Also is a dedication to Mom, a description of the project and table of contents.  The disc contains  110 of my Mom’s recipes, 93 of mine, 110 recipes I saved to try later, 62 household hints files and some recipes for wildlife (suet cakes, etc.).  All the files are scanned and saved to pdf so they can be opened on any system.

Quark on the Mend

During our stay in Moab, UT, Quark began having episodes of reverse sneezing.  We figured that he inhaled something and we thought it would soon pass.  It did not.  He continued to have episodes and after several days it became apparent that he had lost some weight. 

As we made our way east, Quark felt a little warm and the lower lid on his right eye became puffy and the inside of the lid was bright red.  I made up my mind to get him to a veterinarian in Dodge City, KS, our next stop.  The doctor couldn’t pinpoint the problem and gave him a “two-week” antibiotic.  I felt better even if Quark didn’t. 

On the final leg of our trip two days later, I still was not happy with his progress.  I called our veterinarian from the road to be sure I would get him early Monday, morning (it was Saturday). 

By Sunday evening Quark had a walnut-sized swelling under his right ear and his eye was looking worse.  Was I glad I made the appointment.

Monday morning we saw the doctor. Quark was running a temp of 103 and had lost almost 2 lbs. The doctor said it was an enflamed salivary gland and it was probably related to the reverse sneezing and the eye problem.  He put Quark on oral antibiotic and eye ointment.  Quark took the antibiotic for two weeks without significant results for the swelling but his eye did respond to treatment.  Back to the doctor and a change of medication and finally the swelling slowly began to diminish.

It has been 1.5 months and he will be finishing up his medication soon. He looks normal—no swelling or bad eye.

This picture was taken on October 16, 23 days after he first became ill.