Tag: cats

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Weekly Wrap 415: Invisible tasks, and some cold weather

Waratah in the SnowMy week of Monday 7 Sunday 13 May 2018 was one of those odd weeks when almost nothing productive emerged into the public gaze. I was in fact reasonably productive, but it was all behind the scenes.

This Weekly Wrap is therefore rather brief.

To pad it out, I’ll mention that Thursday was unreasonably cold, with snow at Orange in the west of NSW, and a few flakes were even seen at Wentworth Falls. This gives me an excuse — albeit a poor one — to run my photo of a waratah (the flower) in snow at Bunjaree Cottages on 12 October 2012.

REMINDER: The 9pm Brisbane Forum Pozible campaign is still running. There’s just five days left, and it’s only 19% of the way to its target. Please consider.

Articles, Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

This week continues to see me based in Ashfield, Sydney, working through the Crikey project, and writing for ZDNet much as usual.

On Thursday, the next episode of The 9pm Edict, will be recorded and streamed live at 2100 AEST.

Further Ahead

Things I’ve pencilled in:

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Weekly Wrap 414: Spooks, a cat, and planning for Brisbane

The Eye of GathgywnMy week of Monday 30 April to Sunday 6 May 2018 contained these things, in addition to fighting off a cold.

Articles

Podcasts

  • “Announcing ‘The 9pm Brisbane Forum’”, being an audio promo for the Pozible campaign of the same name. You can also listen to it on Speaker or SoundCloud. Do please consider pledging your support if you want the podcasts listed below to happen.

Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

The next few weeks continue to see me based in Ashfield, Sydney, working through the Crikey project, and writing for ZDNet much as usual. I hope to get some walking in, however, and I might post some stuff about the places I visit, including photos.

The next episode of The 9pm Edict, will be recorded and streamed live this Thursday 10 next Tuesday 15 May at 2100 AEST.

Further Ahead

Other things I’ve pencilled in:

Update 8 May 2018: Edited to reflect change in podcast recording date.

[Photo: The Eye of Gathgwyn, the cat I’m currently cat-sitting in Ashfield, Sydney, photographed on 5 May 2018.]

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Goodbye, Apollo

I’ve avoided saying this, because there was enough to cope with last month and I was indulging in wishful thinking. But the time has come to say it. Apollo has disappeared. I don’t think he’ll be seen again. Good luck, my feline friend.

When I bumped out of the Enmore house and just before I left for a trip to the US, I took Apollo to stay with Googler Anthony Baxter. Alas, on his first night there, Apollo found a way to escape — no doubt spooked by the strange environment including three other cats. He hasn’t been seen since. The Baxter residence was far enough from the Enmore house to be well outside his territory, so I don’t think he’ll have found his way to familiar ground. If he had done, we’d have heard by now.

Given that Artemis’ life ended only a month beforehand, I was suppressing the emotions of this second loss. No longer. It seems appropriate to be writing this at Tea Tree Cottage while a night-time thunderstorm rages outside, the rain sweeping through the scrub.

[Photo: Apollo, photographed on 16 November 2008.]

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Accommodation: Blue Mountains then San Francisco

My accommodation for the next couple of weeks at least is sorted. Finally. The Blue Mountains then San Francisco. However a temporary home for Apollo (pictured) has yet to be finalised.

The plan I outlined a week ago seems to be coming together even better than expected.

I bump out of the house in Enmore, Sydney, on Thursday 3 February 2011. I’ll then spend a couple of days in a hotel so I can tidy up loose ends in Sydney before spending a week at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains — because it turns out that an industry colleague and his wife bought the Bunjaree Cottages there and need someone to do a spot of caretaking and webby work.

And after that I’m off to San Francisco for the RSA Conference.

I don’t know exactly what I’m doing after that, but at least I’ll have time to think about it.

Apollo, meanwhile, needs to be stashed somewhere. I’ve got a couple of local options already, but if you feel the urge to have an attention-demanding cat for a few weeks do let me know.

[Photo: Apollo, photographed in 2004.]

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Full accounting published

I have just published a full accounting of the Artemis Medical Fund. Thank you so much for your generosity. In summary, your donations covered all costs, and the remainder was almost the same as the total from people who told me to keep the remaining funds myself. There was a small difference, a little over $50, so I’ve made a $100 donation to the Cat Protection Society of NSW through their online donation page at Everyday Hero.

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Goodbye, Artemis

Artemis breathed her last breath at 12.37pm AEDT today. It was a peaceful moment. I held her while she moved from this world into the next. I cried. I am crying now.

Artemis led a gloriously adventurous life, if perhaps short at a little over seven years. She hunted everything from moths and grasshoppers to rats and noisy miner birds, eating most of them. She even brought us the striped marsh frog from the garden pond — three times before she learned, the hard way, that it’s poisonous. She never did catch a currawong, and I’m glad of that.

Artemis used up one of her nine lives when her tail was crushed and eventually amputated.

Today I chose to take her ninth.

Continue reading “Goodbye, Artemis”