Motherload

Saturday I woke with a stiff neck.  It was worse than that (boohoo), but more than anything it was hugely incapacitating.  If you glanced at the timestamps of the entries for Saturday you will have noticed the incremental progress was over hours and hours, instead of small bits here and there.

In plain speak, Saturday was a lost day.

Then, Sunday, while my neck issue was much improved (thank you, God), I managed to get myself bitten by the same neighborhood tabby tom that bit Karl at the beginning of the month!  No, it's the truth - as unbelievable as it seems.  We had seen him two times since Karl's bite/attack, and Karl has healed wonderfully in the interim.  Our biggest concern was a possibility of rabies, but the sightings - and ultimate condition of the tom - have allayed our fears.  Another thank you to God.

I was outside spreading birdseed when, out of nowhere, the ginger tabby appeared.  He sidled up to me in his usual fashion, friendly, sweet and rubbing my legs.  I reached down carefully and petted his head, and then stood to go back into the house.  I wanted to get him a bit of food to see if he would eat (wanting to see if he had any issues in the swallowing department - a huge rabies 'tell').  When I went back outside, there he was.  He circled my legs and watched my actions.  When he noticed the food, he lunged at it and began to eat.  [sigh of relief]

At that point I moved back a bit and then picked up the small canister that held the birdseed.  He took notice of my actions, but kept eating.  I hadn't given him much, so I wanted to go inside before he finished.  He was facing away from me and I was at least a good two feet from him.  When I moved for the door, he turned and lunged at my feet, grabbing the top of my right foot in his teeth and hanging on while I tried to break free.

Let me simply say it wasn't a 'love bite'.  I should also add I was barefoot.

I had to scruff and peel him from my leg, toss him away, and then run for the door.

Of course, I washed the wounds (two punctures - one far more severe), and treated them with triple antibiotic ointment.  Kept it clean, uncovered, and dry throughout the day.  Soaked it in warm salt water a couple of times, then went to work on it on Monday.  Sore, ugly red, and the foot was slightly puffy over the top, but I was OK with how it didn't look.  By evening, I was grateful that Tuesday would be a day off, and I planned a visit to the doctor - it was definitely infected.

One very strong antibiotic shot in my rear, and a couple of doses of oral AB later, my Goodyear-sized-blimp-of-a-foot is less painful to the touch and the color is less dusky and blue, too.  But it's still a mess to look at.  Karl continues to scold me (growing weary of hearing "I told you so" outta that kid), but he's glad to see improvement in the appendage, too.

As for VG, well, I have a couple of interesting images I would like to share with you, but they will have to wait for this evening.  I would love to stand at the design wall for a while and try to find the last remaining ten inches of H5 while the light is good and I am feeling up to it.  Happy to have some progress to report for the moment, and to be so close to finishing H5 after too many stops and starts.