It's been a hectic ten days since I last posted. Assignments keep piling up, and, much as I love school, it does seem to be taking over my life right now. Every time I finish one project there's another deadline waiting around the corner. Some of these assignments are time-consuming (last Monday I handed in one that was 65 pages long!), while others challenge my own long-held beliefs about my abilties (I actually constructed a database that worked!). I can tell my brain is stretching in new directions, and it feels good.

I would also like to note how much I love the chairs in my classrooms at school. They're all on wheels (Michelle, you might be dangerous in these rooms), most have adjustable arm rests, and they're all padded for fabulous lumbar support. This might not seem like a big deal, but when you sit in these chairs for three hours at a stretch, it's nice if your behind isn't numb or your back doesn't crack when you stand up again.

Ahhhh, fall in PEI: my favourite time of the year in my favourite place in the world.

After some unexpected adventures on Friday afternoon, the carload of four Islanders plus one Manitoban hit the highway for a Thanksgiving weekend at home. Unfortunately, we didn't get into Charlottetown until almost 11:30pm, so there was no nacho outing; however, my mom had made brownies and Socks (who was still in pretty rough shape) purred for me and let me scratch him under his chin.

Saturday was turkey day at my house. It didn't start out well. Just before my mother started to bake the pumpkin pies my dad decided to fix the leaky faucet in the kitchen. In the tradition of repairs in the Gauthier household, the five-minute job turned into a trip to two hardware stores and Mr. Plumber, while my mother, who now had no water to cook with at all, became more and more frazzled. I took Dee (my "Friendly Manitoban" visitor, who by now was probably wondering what she had gotten herself into when she agreed to spend Thanksgiving with my family) to Mike's fantabulous apartment so we could use the shower, and then we spent the afternoon wandering around downtown until we were thought it would be safe to return to the house. The sink eventually got fixed (although my poor dad will never live this one down) and Pam and Liam came over to help eat the huge, delicious turkey dinner. Then Lynda joined us and we all went into town to walk the boardwalk and introduce Dee to the cannons in Victoria Park.

Everyone else had Thanksgiving dinner Sunday. so it was PEI sightseeing day for Dee. We hit up New Glasgow, Green Gables, the National Park, and Rustico. By far my favourite part of the day was when Dee, who had never seen the ocean before, blurted out, "It's the ocean! With waves and everything!" Despite a stranger warning her that "this isn't Hawaii you know," she waded into the water to have an Atlantic ocean frolic while I recorded the moment for her family.


Liam drove us back to Halifax yesterday, and today I returned myself to the land of assignments and deadlines. On the bright side, it looks like my brother might come visit in November, and it's only two months until Christmas break begins.

Socks came home this afternoon. He's doing much better than yesterday; he even ate a little once he was back in familiar territory.

As for me, after class tomorrow morning and some packing, I'm headed home for Thanksgiving and a weekend of pampering my cat. I'm even bringing a classmate with me. Dee is from Manitoba, so she's excited about coming to PEI and seeing the ocean for the first time!

So, anyone up for nachos at Gahan tomorrow night around 9:30?

Socks' operation went as well as could be expected this morning. His heart held up under the anasthetic, so the vet was able to remove both eyes with a minimal loss of blood. He spent most of today sleeping, but last I heard he was sitting up in his cage and making friends with the hospital staff. Tomorrow he gets his first meal and my mother is going in to sit with him for a while so he won't be lonely. Hopefully Socks will be home on Thursday and then on Friday I'll be able to see my super pirate kitty for myself!

A few days ago my beloved cat, Socks, developed glaucoma in one eye. According to the Glossary of Feline Terms, glaucoma is a disease of the eye "caused by pressure within the eye as a result of an inbalance between production and drainage of aqueous humour, a fluid produced by the eye" and is the major cause of feline blindness.

Now, my kitty is fifteen years old and has been already been blind for the better part of a year, so aside from potential complications and some discomfort on his part, it looked like he was going to be just fine. My family took him to the animal hospital in Southport, where, after a bunch of blood work, the vet said the glaucoma wasn't the result of any other disorders (like kidney failure or thyroid problems) and that, aside from his eye, Socks was a very healthy cat for his age. She gave my mom some pills and salve to take home, and at first it seemed like his eye was getting better.

Unfortunately, last night in the short span of time between when Steve went to bed at 1am and Dad woke up around 7am, the eye got much worse. When Socks went to the vet this morning she said the eye is unsaveable now. There is no other solution: tomorrow morning my cuddly cat will have one or both of his eyes removed.

The prognosis is relatively good, although there are no guarentees. Socks will have to stay in the animal hospital for a few days, but hopefully he'll be back at home with his plastic collar by the time I get there on Friday night. In the meantime, I wish I could be there, but at least it's only four days now...

On the brighter side of things, today is my dad's birthday. Happy 55th Daddy!