CritterKeeper

I'm betting that it would be easier to make watches that shrink the appropriate tissues (or wands in areas without the elevated magic levels), so you'd have to keep an annoying little magic thingamabob handy and use it every night before you fell asleep. I'm betting that would still be a vast improvement over the CPAP, which is itself a vast improvement over sleep apnea!

Hmm, maybe this would be just what Edward needs to help him understand his son better....

I see it as still in motion -- the POV person has just gotten knocked back by the beam, perhaps not hard enough to fall over, just enough to bend back at the waist and maybe take a step back to catch their balance. This image is a snapshot of the peak of that backwards tilt.

So maybe it's not so much that Ellen is an alternate of Elliot; rather, Elliot is an alternate of Ellen!

And Europe as whole is similar in size to the United States, about ten million square kilometers. So when some European complains about how few other countries most Americans have been to, tell them how many states you've been to and ask them how many countries outside Europe they've been to. (Still not really a fair comparison, given how many countries are adjacent to or just across the Sea from Europe, versus how few countries America shares a border with, but still....)

Eek! Hope there wasn't too much damage, and no one, human or feline, got hurt! So, did it work? ;-)

Exactly. Her being the daughter of a Queen Emeritus is a big secret, so either her adopted mother was the current Queen when the Death Star took out Alderaan, and Princess is a position akin to First Lady assigned to the family of the elected Queen; or, the various titles of nobility are all elected or appointed positions, just like Queen is there, and Leia earned it herself. Perhaps Princess is the equivalent of Vice President? And she never assumed the title of Queen because she didn't feel like there was enough of Alderaan left to rule, or to vote her out properly later? I'm pretty sure C3PO was wiped, likely more than once, but I've long suspected that R2-D2 somehow escaped that, and was told not to share what he knew with 3PO. Perhaps knowing he was built by Darth Vader would have been too much for his delicate sensibilities.

Venus fly traps, pitcher plants, there's all sorts of fun predatory plants out there. As long as you avoid the Triffids, I think humans aren't in any danger. ;-)

Is separating the cats for a longer time really so impossible? It does seem like his incidents could be associated with being around Baker, meaning he's stressed out by it and that's showing up in his behavior. Separating them more, and going more slowly at reintroducing them, might work. One thing that's often a bit counter-intuitive....if he's doing this because he's stressed, then scolding him or punishing him for doing it can end up making him more stressed and make the problem worse. Better to do things to make the bed less attractive, like the plastic runners I mentioned, or covering with tin foil, or somesuch. It also might help to get some anti-anxiety medications going. Checking notes from a lecture by Dr. Ciribassi, who is Board certified in Behavior, he mentions Lorazepam, Clomipramine, and Fluoxetine. He also emphasized cleaning any pee spots thoroughly with an enzyme cleaner so threre's no residual odor, and using Feliway to make an anxious cat feel more at home. One of the case examples he gave was of a cat "Romeo," who had a similar problem when the owners got a new puppy, and again when they did remodeling or moved the furniture around. He lists isolating "Romeo" while the spots are all cleaned, denying access to the problem area (at first one room, then gradually more) and providing extra litter boxes, putting plastic runners over the areas he'd urinated, and giving lorazepam 0.125mg twice a day. They took 8 weeks getting him access to the whole house except his main problem area (a basement in that case), waited another month before taking away one of the extra boxes, and were going to keep him on meds for 3 more months minimum before weaning down his dose. You started this thread on July 4, so it's barely been three and a half weeks. Maybe slowing down and letting them both get used to things a bit more is what's needed. Meanwhile, call your vet and ask if they'd be willing to try an anxiolytic. I can fax them a copy of the notes from the lecture if it helps.

Working doesn't necessarily mean making you impervious to all pain, even self-inflicted. Maybe next time try starting with a very gentle push, and work your way up until you can tell, then stop. Dang, my BCBS wellness thing only gives me points, not cold hard cash for medical stuff. I got points for a few things online, and I get points every time I go to the gyms in their network. Including when I go for a walk at lunchtime, and then use my card to get into the gym across the street to get a drink of water on my way back. Seems fair to me, an hour's walk is a reasonable workout. I earned enough points to get myself a nice GPSr a year ago, but still.... Hmm, I should take a closer look at the site, see if there's stuff my doc could be helping me get credit for, too.

* His Mark spell * TFG * Watches * Ask Ellen * Wand Is she a Princess because she was the daughter of a Queen, or was she elected to the office in her own right? Do they perhaps apply the title to all they send to the Galactic Senate?

Yes, but anything that goes into the cracks never existed....

In honor of the first day of Pennsic War this Friday, I loked up the scene in Murder at the War where they explain how the War got started. No, I've never been to Pennsic myself, but it would be really cool to go someday!

Well, the earlier books at least are relatively short and fast reads, so if you have a chance to read something like that, I do recommend trying Bloodlist by P. N. Elrod. :-)

Sorry, couldn't pass up a pretext, however thin, to bring up Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico!

I'm not so certain. The people who created Grace and Vladia didn't use a TFG on them to stabilize their transformations. Either they didn't know about the effect it would have, or they didn't have access to a CMD to use on them. The group that made General Shade Tail may have had similar limitations; whoever had a CMD available may have chosen to take it off-planet or destroy it rather than allow it to fall into his hands.

But if he uses a wand to cast it on someone else, presumably the someone else would be the one burned out afterwards (and, as I said, likely the wand would be burnt up, too, otherwise it would get way too OP). Ah, but Ellen and Nanase proved that the Guardian can choose to use ambient magic. Plus, Tedd may be able to choose how much power the wand gives to the Guardian it creates. I tried to use the word "imbues" in that last line, but the resulting phrasing was awkward. Things That You Find Annoying.

But how many years ago was it way premature? Could we be getting close to when it is no longer premature?

I think Pat Elrod broke or changed as many vampire rules in The Vampire Files as Meyer did in Twilight, but it's an infinitely better series. Established the rules right off the bat, and stuck to them, sometimes discovering new aspects but never just saying "not anymore, I changed the rules!" It helps to have characters who are interesting, intelligent, and have a sense of humor. First book is Bloodlist, you should check it out. It's sort of a cross with hardboiled detective novels; Jack starts out by solving his own murder.

I got a check in the mail, completely out of the blue, for over a hundred dollars. Apparently there was a class action lawsuit against someone violating the rules about sending spam faxes, and I was on the list of people they'd sent them to. The fax machine in question, however, doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the practice. So, I showed it to my boss, and then signed it over to the practice. I'm amused that among all the various veterinary conventions, organizations, CE events, etc. that my name has been on, some including both land line and fax number, someone's mailing list was either sold or stolen with that identified as being mine instead of the practice's, given that such lists usually include listing who you work for as well as your contact information. It was also kinda fun to have money drop out of the sky like that, even if I didn't feel right about keeping it. I did do a quick search online to try to make sure it wasn't a scam, but I don't really see how it could be.

Definitely do take him in to rule out a medical cause. Sometimes even if there's a behavioral reason, it's harder to fix if there's a medical component too. It's possible that Loudmouth's peeing issues are why he ended up an outdoor cat in the first place. Someone had a very nice, sweet, loving cat who they just could not get to stop peeing in inconvenient places, so they decided making him outdoor-only was better than euthanizing him. Especially families with small children tend to have a (perfectly reasonable) lower tolerance for pee and poo in places their kids are exposed to them. One option is to not let him on beds. You could get those plastic floor-protecting runners with the spikey nubs on the bottom, and put them on the bed, nubs side up, so it's not comfy to lie on any more. Shut the door to other bedrooms so the cats can't get to the beds there. Trouble is, that would put unfair restrictions on Baker, too, and it would considerably shrink their territory, possibly increasing the conflict between them. He might also start peeing on places like that pile of blankets. It does seem to be related to Baker's having been nearby, or in this case, on the bed itself. Urinating on the spot may be Loudmouth's attempt to assert the bed is his territory, not that strange cat's. Is the bed the highest comfortable perch? Perhaps a couple of cat trees, with perches up high, might let Loudmouth feel like he's got the prime spot. I'll keep thinking about this. Keep me updated!

As long as you remain turbed. I'm told that can be a big help with migraines.

I suspect that the Flair For The Dramatic would come into play with the Guardian spell, and/or divine permission, of course. If Tedd has seen the spell, and gets into a situation where using it would help protect innocents etc, I suspect he'd be able to, say, make himself a wand to cast it on himself or on one other person, but it would be the *wand* that would be literally burnt out afterwards. (If he's smart, he'll cast it on the person who is the least useful without it in that particular situation...)

As opposed to Emperor Norton I....

But is he a madman with a box?