Entertainment: Just For Sandy

Hope the wedding is/was wonderful and you have/had a great time!

From ICHC, purveyors of fine LOLcats to all

And before you ask, it wasn't me wut made tihs LOL.

Also from ICHC

However, I do approve of this post.

You guessed it — ICHC again

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Food: Winter Recipes for Sandy

And anyone else who wants to use them. These recipes are perfect for cold weather. They're also good for people who have diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels, or just people who want to eat healthy, nutritious, tasty food. They're relatively low in meat and high in fiber.

Chicken Vegetable Stew

This stew can be frozen. You can freeze the broth separately from the chicken and veges, or freeze it together.

Ingredients
2 stewing hens, quartered	4 stalks celery
2 parsnips	4 cloves garlic
4 sprigs dill	10 cups water
2 onions	4 carrots
1 lg tomato	4 sprigs parsley
4 whole cloves	salt and pepper to taste

Omit the salt, if you prefer. I don't add any, although I sometimes substitute a dash of fish sauce.

Stewing hens (older hens) have much more flavour. They're usually also cheaper. You can have your butcher cut them into quarters, or, if you're good with poultry, you can do it yourself. Wash the chicken, remove any large pieces of fat, and set aside.

Peel and halve the onions, if you plan to use them in the final stew. If you plan to discard the vegetables used for making broth, do not peel the onions, just cut them in half lengthwise. Cut the celery, parsnips, tomato, and carrots in large chunks. Place the vegetables in a large pot (you might need two pots) with the chicken, cover with water, and bring to a boil. If the water does not cover the chicken, add more. Reduce the heat and simmer partially covered for about an hour, skimming off any foam. Simmer uncovered for another hour. If the water level drops at any time, add more water so that the chicken remains covered.

This soup is good to make when you have chores to do around the house. Once it comes to a boil, you reduce the heat, set a one-hour timer (your microwave oven should have one) and do your chores. When the timer goes off, remove the lid from the soup, give it a stir, set another one-hour timer and go back to your chores.

Turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the soup pot(s). Set it aside to cool on a plate or in a bowl. When cool, remove and discard the chicken skin and shred the meat. Discard any bones or save them to reuse for stock. When the soup has cooled, strain it and discard or set aside the vegetables. Skim off fat. You might want to refrigerate the soup briefly to cool it enough for the fat to separate, or use a fat skimmer if you have one.

I put the cooked vegetables back into the pot. You can discard them if you wish, or add them to another stew or refrigerate them for future use. Now prep and add the following vegetables to the chicken broth. If you prefer, you can freeze half the broth for later use and add only half the quantity of vegetables shown.


Vegetables:

4 carrots	4 parsnips
4 stalks celery	2 lg leeks
1 bunch parsley	Remaining dill
2 cups pasta or rice	2 lemons

Cut carrots and celery into 1-inch pieces. Cut parsnips and leek in thick slices. Chop parsley and dill. Juice and zest the lemons.

Return the broth to the soup pot(s), add the rice (if using brown), raw veges and cook for approximately 45 minutes at medium heat until the veges are tender. If using white rice or pasta, add it now. White rice should cook in about 10-15 minutes. If using pasta, regulate the cooking time according to package directions. Lower the heat and stir in chopped herbs and the chicken. Taste and season as needed, adding a little lemon juice and zest for tang, and serve. Keeps frozen for approximately 2 weeks.

To make this soup deliciously reusable, save in individual-portion containers. When you reheat it, add fresh chopped herbs, or lemon juice, or zest, or a pinch or two of crushed red chilli flakes for a little zing.


Ham and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

1/4 lb salt pork	1 small smoked ham hock
2 Tbsp olive oil	4 cloves garlic
2 lg onion	2 green bell pepper
4 ribs celery	2 red bell peppers
1 cup barley	1 cup green split peas
1 tsp dried thyme	3-4 lb winter vegetables
4 cups chicken broth	2 boiling potatoes (~3/4 lb)
~2 Tbsp red-wine vinegar	1 cup scallion for garnish

Freshen the salt pork by covering it with cold water and simmering gently for about 5 minutes. Remove from stove, drain, and discard rind. Cut the pork in 1/4-inch dice.

Chop the onions, bell peppers, and celery finely. Dice the potatoes. Mince the garlic and scallions.

Assemble 3-4 lb of any combination of these vegetables:

Carrots, cabbage, parsnips, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi. Chop them into bite-size pieces, saving the broccoli florets separately.

Place the salt pork in a skillet and render over medium heat until the cracklings are golden, then drain and place on paper towels. Pour off and discard most of the fat, add the oil, heat till nearly smoking, and saute the onion till fragrant, add garlic, stir for a minute, add the bell pepper and celery and stir over medium heat until the veges are soft. Add thyme and ground black pepper to taste and stir for approximately 15 seconds.

Transfer to a large soup pot. Add barley and split peas, stir to mix, add broth and the ham hock and water or broth to cover if needed, reduce heat to low and cook for about 3 hours until the barley and peas are done. Remove the ham hock from the mixture and turn off the heat. Skim off any fat. When the ham hock is cool, remove the meat and discard the skin, fat and bones. Shred the meat and set aside.

Place the soup pot on the heat at medium, add the potatoes, and stir for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped vegetables and water or broth, depending on how rich and how liquid you want the soup to be, and simmer for approximately 20 minutes at low heat or until the vegetables are tender. Add vinegar (or lemon juice) and bring to a simmer, and serve, garnished with cracklings and scallions.

This soup has a higher fat content and you might prefer to substitute pork stew meat or beef stew and leave out the salt pork altogether. For a richer soup, substitute broth for water. If using stew meat, cut bite-size, removing as much fat as possible, and add it after the barley and peas have cooked. Let cook for about ten to 20 minutes at a simmer before adding the vegetables. Reduce the amount of liquid for a very thick stew.

This soup usually gets devoured too quickly to experiment with freezing. It's great for cold weather. If you want to freeze it, reserve the cabbage, broccoli florets, and scallions in separate containers in the refrigerator and add them when heating individual portions of soup.

Split Pea Soup

This soup freezes well.

Ingredients

3 cups green split peas	3 onions
5 garlic cloves	6 lg carrots
6 celery stalks	2 Tbsp olive oil
15 cups water or chicken broth	2 meaty ham hocks
2 bay leaves	1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste	2 tsp crushed red chilli pepper

Dice the onions. Crush the garlic. Peel and dice the carrots. Slice the celery, including the leaves. Rinse and drain the split peas.

In a flat skillet, heat the oil at medium and saute the bay leaves for a few seconds, add the onions till fragrant, add the garlic and stir till it is brown in spots and the onions are dark golden, add celery, stir, add carrots and saute until lightly browned.

Transfer to one or more soup pots, scraping up any browned bits. Add peas and water and ham hocks, and bring to a boil. Skim off any scum on top. Reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately 3 hrs.

Remove ham hocks, let cool, strip off meat and discard fat and bone. Shred meat and return to soup. Add thyme and pepper to taste, and simmer for approximately one hour, stirring to keep from sticking.

Remove bay leaves and serve.


Steak Soup

This soup can also be frozen in individual serving containers.

Ingredients

1 lb beef steak or stew meat	2 large onions
4 large carrots	5 celery stalks
2 lbs fresh or canned tomatoes	3 qts beef stock
2 small winter or kabocha squash	2 sweet potatoes
2 cups dried red kidney beans	2 green bell peppers
2-6 jalapenos	2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste	2-4 large cloves garlic
4 black peppercorns	2 bay leaves
4 cloves

Soak beans overnight, or at least 5 hours, in plenty of cold water. Chop all the vegetables (except peppers and celery) bite-sized. Wash the beans, cover with 8 cups of cold water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for at least 2 hours or until tender, adding warm water if needed. Mince the garlic, celery, and bell peppers. If using jalapenos, wash and slit lengthwise up to the stalk. Do not slice all the way through. Place cloves, slightly crushed peppercorns, and bay leaves in a cheesecloth or muslin bag and tie tightly. Slice meat into small bite-sized pieces.

Heat oil at medium heat, add onion, stir till golden and fragrant, add garlic, stir for a minute, add celery, and peppers and stir till softened and slightly browned, add remaining veges (except tomatoes), stir till partly cooked, add meat, stir to mix, then add stock, dry spices, and tomatoes and cook covered, for about 30 minutes at a simmer. Add beans and their liquid, stir, and simmer for a further 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Discard the bag of dried spices and serve hot plain or over rice and garnished with fresh herbs.

Dried beans are preferable to canned, which lose much of their nutrients in the canning process. However, red kidney beans contain a toxin and must be thoroughly leached before consumption. To leach the toxin, soak them for at least 5 hours in plenty of cold water, wash them in running water and cook in fresh cold water to cover for at least two hours.

To increase the digestibility of any pea, bean, or legume, add a pinch or two of epazote, a Mexican herb, to the soup.

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2008 Elections: Entertainment

Just a little something I filched from Fixer & Gordon's because I liked it so much.



Good Solstice, all. Tomorrow, the days start growing longer!

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Science - Snippets From Science News

From Volume 169:

HIV and West Nile virus A genetic mutation that protects against the HIV virus has been shown to increase susceptibility to West Nile virus. Philip M. Murphy, an imunologist at NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) suggests that the protein (chemokine receptor-5, or CCR5) that is eliminated by the mutation might be essential in preventing West Nile virus from attacking the body. The virus causes encephalitis or meningitis in approximately 20 per cent of those infected. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), of 2,819 people who became ill as a result of infection with the mosquito-borne virus in 2005, 105 died.

CCR5 is the primary cell-surface receptor that the HIV virus commandeers in order to enter white blood cells. Several companies have designed drugs to block CCR5 in the hope that this will stop HIV from invading white blood cells. The new findings about CCR5 would indicate that individuals using those drugs must take extra precaustions to avoid infection by West Nile virus.


kakapo parrots - sex ratios Female kakapo parrots (Strigops habroptilus) that are too well-fed produce too many male chicks, endangering their already threatened numbers, according to Bruce Robertson of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. With only 86 of the birds remaining, it is essential that more females be available to produce the coming generations. After putting the heaviest females on short rations, Robertson and his colleagues report that the new diet has ended the excess of male chicks. Kakapos can live for about 60 years.


bisphenol-A and insulin resistance Angel Nadal of Miguel Hernandez University of Elche in Spain reports that bisphenol-A, a synthetic chemical used to make dental sealants, microwavable plastics, linings for metal food and beverage containers, baby bottles, and other consumer products, can mimic estrogen's effects, can leach into food and water, and can contribute to insulin resistance. Nadal believes that this might explain the current global epidemic of diabetes. According to Ana M. Soto of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, animal studies have suggested that exposure to bisphenol-A in early life causes obesity. The chemical is also thought to contribute to gestational diabetes in women.


bone replacement and new ceramics Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California have discovered a way to replicate the toughness and strength of nacre (mother-of-pearl) in metal-ceramic composites that might be usable as a scaffold for new bone growth. Simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly, the method used by Sylvain Deville and his colleagues involves combining finely ground ceramic powder and polymer binders with water, which is then subjected to carefully controlled subfreezing temperatures. To create bonelike composites, the researches used epoxy mortared between plates of hydroxyapatite, which is the primary ceramic in bones and teeth.


prions and brain disease Glenn Telling, a microbiologist at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, and his colleagues have found that the muscles of deer infected with CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease, which results from malformed prions, like Creutzfeld-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy) can carry the misfolded prions, thus increasing the likelihood that hunters who eat these animals risk infection. Previously, it was assumed that only consumption of the brain or spinal tissue, or contamination by such infected tissue, would carry the disease.

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Entertainment: Heartwarming Story Of The Day

Awwww! Isn't that just too sweet?

Thpthtt! Wassamatter, you think my kids look funny?

This sweet doggie is nursing two abandoned tiger cubs at the Hefei zoo in Anhuan province. The cubs' mother was not producing enough milk for them, so the dog (very cute dog, by the bye) stepped up to the task.

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Consumer Rights

Photo by Richard A. Lipski, Washington Post

I larfed. No, really. I mean, who among you has not occasionally felt like this?

This fine, upstanding lady, Mona Shaw, decided to let Comcast know her feelings about their customer service - or lack thereof - with a claw hammer. To quote her:

... "they thought just because we're old enough to get Social Security that we lack both brains and backbone."

[...]

Her take on Comcast: "What a bunch of sub-moronic imbeciles."

[...]

"I scared the tar out of some people, at least," she says. "It had never occurred to me to take a hammer to a phone company before, but I was just so upset. . . . After I hit the keyboard, I turned to this blonde who had been there the previous Friday, the one who told me to wait for the manager, and I said, ' Now do I have your attention?' "

A vice-president of Comcast, Beth Bacha, had this to say in response:

Bacha noted that Comcast has more than 25 million customers, the overwhelming majority of which are very satistified with their service.

I'm sure she meant "of whom," but why quibble?

Incidentally, what the nice lady did was a crime, and she was arrested and fined. So don't get any ideas, and put those hammers down.

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Entertainment - And Politics!

Jon Stewart and Aasif Mandvi, Senior Armeniologist, hold forth on the Armenian Genocide resolution:

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Science - Print Your Own Organs

It's only a matter of time before scientists can print you a healthy new liver - or maybe just a handful of liver tissue - to boost the functioning of your revolting old worn-out one, I tell you.

Don't believe me? From the professional journal Science, by way of Raw Story comes this exciting news:

Scientists have already used inkjet printers to "print" bacteria, yeast and even human stem cells and they are exploring how to use the office workhorse to create 3D cell structures in a tissue matrix.

If they can figure out how to create more complex tissues, they will be one step closer to creating implantable organs, a scientist said in a paper published in the journal Science Friday.

[...]

Calvert and his team have already printed "human stem cells."

Of course, one worries about typos and printing errors. But news like this just makes me want to thumb my nose at neophilic scoffers like Bri (you know who you are!) who don't believe that the coming era will change the nature of manufacturing entirely. Instead of a centralized manufacturing location where workers toil to produce goods, we will have printer-sized (or smaller) machines that can assemble atoms into anything we want/need. Yes? I hear a Yes?

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Entertainment - Very Silly Kitten

Okay, I know I shouldn't have, but I laughed out loud:


KITTEN - SUICIDE - Celebrity bloopers here

For what it's worth, I don't believe the kitten was hurt at all. Little ones - whether animal or human - are remarkably resilient, and most of the noise came from the little twit hurling itself at high speed against the glass. Note how it casually strolled out when it finally found the door. What a silly.

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Science - Snippets From Science News

I cannot recommend Science News enough - it offers a roundup of everything that's happening in various scientific fields, top-notch writing, plenty of friendly links, stuff to get kids interested in science, and lists of books written on various scientific topics. And, have I mentioned it's well-written? A boon to those who dread ploughing through endless jargon and dry-as-dust opining. Thanks to them, I've expanded my science library hugely, over the past decade, and have reverted to thoroughly enjoying subjects as diverse as astronomy, nanotechnology, medicine, and paleontology that once thrilled my young mind, but eventually fell off the horizon as time grew short and work grew oppressive.

Note: Not all articles are available at their Web site, without a subscription. But the subscription is well worth the cost - especially if you want to interest your sprogs in science.

Here's my roundup of snippets from Vol. 168:

Possible cure for Parkinsons? Scientists are looking at the possibility of using stem cells as pumps for delivering drugs. Parkinson's disease results from the malfunction of brain cells responsible for producing dopamine. As these cells die, brain function that relies on dopamine is increasingly affected. A protein called glial-cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) can protect dopamine-producing cells. However, the protein cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, so injections of the protein do not affect the brain. Neuroscientist Allison Ebert of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is working with neuroscientist Clive Svendsen and others to find a new way of transporting GDNF to dopamine-producing cells. They have added extra copies of the gene that makes GDNF to neural-progenitor stem cells that make small quantities of GDNF. When these cells are injected into the brains of rats, they integrate into brain tissue and appear to protect the dopamine-producing cells. Caveat: Neurobiologist Don M. Gash of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, points out that these cells cannot be regulated, unlike artificial pumps that are used to supply GDNF. Overproduction or underproduction of dopamine can both lead to adverse effects.

Air pollution combined with a high fat intake raises the risk of clogged arteries and resulting heart disease and strokes. Chen Lung Chi of New York University School of Medicine in Tuxedo collaborated with other scientists to show that mice genetically engineered to be susceptible to developing cholestrol plaques on their arteries, if exposed to polluted air combined with a high fat diet were nearly twice as likely to develop such plaque than mice on a high-fat diet but breathing clean air. A normal diet combined with clean air reduced plaque even further. The study hints that air pollution might accelerate plaque formation even without high-fat diet, says Michael T. Kleinman of the University of California at Irvine. The implications for people are grave, as those most likely to live in polluted neighbourhoods are also more likely to consume a diet of processed or fast food, which tends to be very high in fat.

Katarina LeBlanc of the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm has shown that mesenchymal stem cells, which normally turn into cells that produce bone, cartilage, or fat, can turn off the immune system, dampening inflammation which might result in GvHD (graft-versus-host disease, which can occur when blood-making stem cells are transferred from a healthy person's bone marrow to a person with an aggressive blood cancer). As a result of their inflammation-fighting properties, mesenchymal stem cells might be effective against autoimmune disorders, according to LeBlanc.


Scientists in England and Germany have found a way to create a new type of fuel cell - by stripping electrons from hydrogen molecules and adding them to oxygen atoms and hydrogen ions. The result? Water plus electric current. According to Fraser A. Armstrong of the University of Oxford in England, the transfer occurs in an atypical manner. Typically, microbes in oxygen-depleted mud use hydrogenases (enzymes) to split hydrogen molecules and use their electrons for energy. This is known as hydrogen oxidation. In fuel cells, this splitting and commandeering is carried out by platinum or other rare and expensive metals. However, the hydrogenases contained in microbes do not contain exotic metals, relying on iron and nickel, for example, to carry out their task. Caveat: oxygen disables the molecules - and most fuel cells have to work in ordinary air, which is largely oxygen and nitrogen. However, Ralstonia eutropha, a soil bacterium, has a hydrogenase that is more tolerant of oxygen. Armstrong's team genetically engineered R. eutropha to mass-produce the hydrogenase, then harvested the molecules, coated a graphic electrode with them, and used the electrode to build a fuel cell. Although Armstrong does not believe that R. eutropha's enzyme will be the ultimate choice of fuel cell makers, Marcetta Y. Darensbourg of Texas A&M University in College Station thinks his research could help other researchers develop fuel cells and hydrogen-generation devices based on cheap and abundant metals.

Neurologist Maurizio Corbetta of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, working with several colleagues, has found that structures on both sides of the brain are responsible for maintaining visual attention. Thus, stroke patients who have suffered damage to the attention areas of the right brain often show hyperactivity in intact left-brain attention structures. Such patients focus their visual attention primarily to the right and display various fors of left-side neglect, such as failing to notice or eat food on the left half of a plate and behaving as if they did not have a left arm. Symptoms of this disorder, dubbed spatial neglect, affects up to 5 million worldwide. Though most severe in the weeks following a stroke, they can last for more than a year. Shades of Oliver Sacks' "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat"!

Beatrice de Gelder and her colleagues report that a study they performed to determine how people read emotions in others indicates that subtle body language cues that conflict with facial expressions can confuse subjects. Although participants were told to study only the faces and ignore the body language, their accuracy in determining emotion was 64 per cent when the facial expression and body posture were incongruent, and 81 per cent when facial expression was shown without body posture.

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Interspecies Comity For Sandy

This is just one of those Awww! moments, for me. I'm always touched by the love of animals - for themselves, for each other, for the world around them.


Here, for example, a Golden Retriever adopts an orphaned kitten and begins lactating to feed the kitten.

The family initially tried to keep Precious and Honey apart, fearing the dog would play too rough with the little gray-striped kitten. But Honey was elated at Precious' presence, wagging her tail and prancing all over the house trying to sneak a peak at her. Eventually, the family let Honey approach Precious, and the dog immediately took to her.

They're nice people, to take the kitten in, and she's a lucky little kitty to find such nice people and such a nice dog-mother. She had refused to drink from a bottle, and the people didn't think she was going to survive.

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Health - The Things You Learn Each Day

Did you know that blue corn tortillas and tacos are much better for you than the regular yellow, or white, tortillas? Science Daily tells us that

scientists in Mexico, home of the taco, found that tortillas made from blue corn had less starch and a lower glycæmic index than their white counter parts. They also found that the blue tortillas had 20% more protein than white. The blue colouring is due to the presence of anthocyanins in the corn.

Anthocyanins are powerful anti-oxidants, and tend to be found in dark-colored foods, like berries of all types, and plums, and red wine. So pour yourself a nice glass of Two-Buck Chuck and enjoy your blue corn chips with a little salsa, or make yourself a nice taco with a healthy helping of shredded romaine lettuce, low-fat cheese, grilled chicken breast, sliced tomato, and fresh salsa cruda.

Don't go overboard, though. Blue corn tortillas are a little higher in fat than the regular variety. Alternatively, get yourself some parched blue corn to snack on.

In other "Damn, I didn't know that!" news, basmati rice has a lower glycemic index than most other types of rice! Yay! I actually mostly use brown basmati these days, just because I like the sweet, nutty flavour of brown rice better, but it's great to know that I needn't fear white basmati either.

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Science - Artificial Life Created

The Guardian informs us today that Craig Venter, working with a team of scientists, will soon announce the successful creation of a synthetic chromosome from chemicals in his laboratory.

The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.

Mr Venter told the Guardian he thought this landmark would be "a very important philosophical step in the history of our species. We are going from reading our genetic code to the ability to write it. That gives us the hypothetical ability to do things never contemplated before".

The Guardian can reveal that a team of 20 top scientists assembled by Mr Venter, led by the Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith, has already constructed a synthetic chromosome, a feat of virtuoso bio-engineering never previously achieved. Using lab-made chemicals, they have painstakingly stitched together a chromosome that is 381 genes long and contains 580,000 base pairs of genetic code.

This is so exciting. The scientists have watermarked the chromosome with inks to make it easily identifiable. (I wonder what that means? I wish they'd show us what it looks like, but that will probably done at some conference or other of their peers. Rats!)

It's based on Mycoplasma genitalium, and they've dubbed it Mycoplasma laboratorium, for now, anyway. The ramifications are enormous. Go read the article. It's fascinating.

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Entertainment - A Family Any Bird Could Love

From Ananova, my source for silly, funny, and just plain "Awwww!"ful tales comes the story of a lucky wren who built her nest in a wheel well.

Doesn't sound so lucky to you? The owner of the car is arranging alternative transport to get to work until the eggs hatch and the fledglings are safely out of the nest.

She said: "It has been a bit of a pain having them there - I've managed to arrange lifts to and from work so far this week, but apparently it'll be another 15 to 20 days before the fledglings leave the nest."

But she added that the young family had proved popular with her two daughters Bethany, 8, and Rebekah, 5.

Most important, the children are learning to respect life, no matter what its form. They'll get to see the baby birds learn to fly, and respect their mother more for putting their happiness and the birds' well-being ahead of her own convenience.

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Sandy's Corner - A Horse With WHAT?

Yes, it's true. Sad, but true. Random beautiful non-Teddy horse

Teddy the horse has hay fever. Ananova tells us:

If Teddy is exposed to hay or straw, he starts coughing and wheezing as if he were having an asthma attack.

Owner Samantha Ashby, 19, also has to damp down his feed to get rid of any dust spores, reports the Mirror.

She said: "Straw and hay are banned from his stable. If he is exposed to the dust spores, he looks really pitiful and very chesty."

The poor lad sleeps on shredded newspaper.

Why, you may ask, am I even posting about Teddy? Well, I promised Sandy I would make special posts for her, as she's about to undergo some discomfiting stuff soon. Besides, just like Teddy the horse, Zingiber the overweight snoring feline lump also suffers from allergies. Unfortunately, we think he's allergic to cat dander. Since he produces large quantities of the vile stuff himself, you could say he was allergic to himself, I guess. It gives him sleep apnea, too. He snores something terrible. It wakes me up at night.

So I feel for Teddy. Deeply.

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