I feel awful

This is not how I wanted to ring in the new year--not at all. My chest cold has moved into my head, which is a little odd, as it usually goes the other way. I got up and took my medicine after a bad night of being up and down, so I'll probably just head back to bed after I drink something. On top of everything else, I was in bed last night when the kitten, who usually goes for succulents, decided to nibble on my bamboo. So he got summarily removed from the room and the door is closed right now. He loves the succulents, the juicy, thicker, probably sweeter leaves. He pulled a Hawthornia up like a bonbon out of its little pot, and I found it yesterday by accident and put it back down in the soil to see if it will root again, even though it's been a little nibbled on the outer leaves. I don't hold much hope for it, but still. The only plant in the house that is questionable as far as being toxic to cats is his favourite, the aloe, which doesn't appear to hurt him but can cause mild vomiting in cats. All the others are safe, and the toxic plants went to our pharmacy. He's denuded most of my red velvet Echevarria. I'm hoping it comes back. But it is frustrating. He was no doubt weaned a little early because he's a very orally fixated cat, and he loves to put fingers and just about everything else in his mouth. But for the most part, fortunately, he's leaving other plants alone, including the orchids. I have two of those blooming right now and then three others have put up flower spikes, so soon I'll have almost half (I have twelve, between what was at work and what was at home), one Oncidium and eleven Phalaenopsis species. The Hawthornia plants are each in two tiny pots in the same pot with a Phalaenopsis, and I'd been having trouble watering it in a corner, so I moved it out and that's when the kitten pounced upon. But he didn't hurt the orchid.

Here's what's blooming at the moment:



By the way, here are some links you might find interesting related to this post. The first is an article on types of orchids used as houseplants:

20 Types of Orchids to Use as Houseplants

The others I keep as a bookmark on my Chrome browser (both on the computer and the phone, in case I'm plant shopping and need to know if a plant is safe. It is the ASPCA's guide to Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants List -- Cats. There is another one for Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants List -- Dogs I also have. But they also have one for horses. It's very good, explaining the effect of each and including those that are good and bad for pets. For example, I loved my shamrocks, which are not true shamrocks and are actually Oxalis, and I had them in the library for years, and then at home at the apartment. But they can cause kidney damage in cats. So they can't be here, as there are two cats, an older one that doesn't really bother plants and the kitten, who is about 9 months old and is into everything. So off to the pharmacy they went. They're looking a little sad there, but they've had a good run. I need to tell them the window's too bright for them.

Alright, I'm going back to bed for a while. Here's hoping that medicine kicks in.

I remember reading about this in 'National Geographic'

But this New York Times slideshow is very, very good at showing what happens to First World's castoff computers when they reach Africa...

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/04/magazine/20100815-dump.html

PS to the New York Times: Putting an ad in the middle of of slideshow is just tacky and annoying.

(Thanks to @JoelJohnson for re-tweeting the link from @dylan20)

For more, here's that National Geographic piece on hi-tech trash:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text

Oh, one more thing I learnt this week

Came across this in an e-mail and verified it through Snopes' Urban Legends Reference Pages that it's true.

Popular sweetner is toxic for dogs

Within 30 minutes of consuming a small amount of a xylitol-sweetened product, the ASPCA says, dogs can experience a dramatic drop in blood sugar, and they usually begin vomiting, become lethargic and can have difficulty standing or walking. Some have seizures, develop internal hemorrhaging and lesions and suffer liver failure. As few as two or three sticks of xylitol gum could be toxic to a 20-pound dog, the ASPCA says.

Keep in mind liver failure can easily equal death, and there have been several deaths reported. The amount that could be deadly varies according to the amount of product (often undetermined in terms of how much xylitol is in a portion) and the weight of the dog. A package of gum could easily be fatal to a 65 lb dog, from what I've read. A couple of sticks might be fatal to a small one. There are supportive things a vet can do to help prevent death, but it may not be readily apparent that the dog has consumed xylitol and the delay in treatment could be costly.

So please--do not keep xylitol-sweetned products around your dog, do not feed him muffins baked with xylitol, etc.