1. Aguirre: Wanderlust
2. Atwood: The Year of the Flood
3. Baker: The Bird of the River
4. Bell: The Goblin Gate
5. Berg: Breath and Bone
6. Berg: Flesh and Spirit
7. Berg: Guardians of the Keep
8. Berg: The Soul Mirror
9. Berg: The Soul Weaver
10. Berg: The Spirit Lens
11. Biggers: The Agony Column
12. Bishop: Airs of Night and Sea
13. Bradley: Stormqueen!
14. Bradley: The Door Through Space
15. Bradley: The Heritage of Hastur
16. Bradley: To Save a World (The Planet Savers; The World Wreckers)
17. Bradley: Traitor’s Sun
18. Brennan: The Demon’s Lexicon
19. Britain: The High King’s Tomb
20. Brooks: The Elfstones of Shannara
21. Canavan: The Ambassador’s Mission
22. Carr: Warlord of Kor
23. Carter: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
24. Christie: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
25. Christie: The Secret Adversary
26. Collins: The Haunted Hotel
27. Collins: The Hunger Games
28. Collins: The Moonstone
29. Collins: The Woman in White
30. Crane: The Red Badge of Courage
31. Czerneda: Survival
32. Doctorow: For the Win
33. Eliot: The Mill on the Floss
34. Elliott: Cold Magic
35. Finn: Belladonna
36. Green: A Strange Disappearance
37. Green: The Leavenworth Case
38. Hobb: Dragon Haven
39. Huff: A Confederation of Valor (Valor’s Choice and The Better Part of Valor)
40. Huff: The Heart of Valor
41. Huff: Valor’s Trial
42. Hurley: God’s War
43. Jemison: The Broken Kingdoms
44. Jemison: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
45. Jones & Bennett: Havemercy
46. Jones & Bennett: Shadow Magic
47. Jones: The Dalemark Quartet (Cart and Cwidder; Drowned Ammet; The Spellcoats; The Crown of Dalemark)
48. Kent: Twelve
49. Kerr: The Gold Falcon
50. Kerr: The Shadow Isle
51. Kerr: The Silver Mage
52. Kerr: The Spirit Stone
53. Lister: Double Exposure
54. Mah: Chinese Cinderella
55. Marr: Wicked Lovely
56. Meldrum: Madapple
57. Meyer: Curse of the Blue Tattoo
58. Meyer: Under the Jolly Roger
59. Mieville: Kraken
60. Mieville: The City and the City
61. Norton & Lackey: The Elvenbane
62. Norton: Atlantis Endgame
63. Norton: Crosstime (The Crossroads of Time, Quest Crosstime)
64. Norton: Darkness and Dawn (Daybreak–2250 A.D.; No Night Without Stars)
65. Norton: Janus (Judgment on Janus; Victory on Janus)
66. Norton: Star Soldiers (Star Guard, Star Rangers)
67. Norton: Starflight (The Stars Are Ours, Star Born)
68. Norton: Three Hands for Scorpio
69. Norton: Time Traders (The Time Traders; Galactic Derelict)
70. Parker: The Folding Knife
71. Pierce: Bloodhound
72. Reeve: Fever Crumb
73. Rinehart: The Case of Jenny Brice
74. Rinehart: The Confession
75. Rinehart: The Window at the White Cat
76. Rohmer: The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu
77. Ryan: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
78. Scarborough: The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas
79. Scott & Barnett: The Armor of Light
80. Silverberg: Starman’s Quest
81. Smith: Coronets and Steel
82. Sperring: Living with Ghosts
83. Stark: The Score
84. Stephenson: Interface
85. Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
86. Stevenson: Treasure Island
87. Stross: Glasshouse
88. Tey: Brat Farrar
89. Tey: Miss Pym Disposes
90. Tey: The Franchise Affair
91. van Gulik: The Chinese Maze Murders
92. Wallace: The Clue of the Twisted Candle
93. Weber: On Basilisk Station
94. Williams: Shadowheart
95. Williams: Shadowrise

They call her Tutone, Tutone,
’Cause she’s a good cat,
And she’s a bad cat,
They call her Tutone!

Found in a library book. What kind of things has this person been taught that they have to self-reassure with a written note?

Sydney, 1995 -- March 5, 2011

We got Sydney when she was a kitten. A friend who had an apartment downtown had another friend whose cat had kittens. They’d found homes for all the kittens but one they planned to keep. That kitten was Sydney.

It turned out that Sydney and her mom didn’t get along (Sydney difficult to get along with?!), so we took her in.

She was supposed to be my son’s cat, but she attached herself to me. She’d come come greet me in the back yard with a Siamese pride call. She stopped calling after Blackie came because she didn’t want him in her pride; it was supposed to be just her and her people. I missed her calling even before she died.

The good old days, when she and Hobbes were the only cats in the family.

Oddly, she was depressed after Hobbles’ death left her the only kitty in the family. Having Stumpy and Tutone to hate perked her up. Oh, did she hate Tutone. (And Tutone reciprocated.) But they managed to tolerate each other at the end.

While I knew Sydney was getting old, I thought she was so cranky she’d live past the normal cat life expectancy. I thought wrong.

It was one of the few warm days this spring that she went outside to bask on the patio. Her internal organs failed suddenly; she couldn’t make it back to the house on her own. Our regular vet was just getting ready to close and they referred us to Northern California Veterinary Specialists.

Even before we got to the vet, I knew Sydney wasn’t coming home with it. I’d seen Thevenin and Blackie and Hobbes approaching death, and Sydney had that same look. The vet saw Sydney right away, and then she met with us in the comfort room. It was a good place for Sydney to be put to sleep. We got to sit on a couch in a quiet room, Sydney on my lap. I petted her, and she relaxed, and some time later the vet came in and gave her the injection. Sydney died without alarm, peacefully.

A month later, the house still feels empty.

Sydney's gone to the big recycling can.

1. Atwood: Oryx and Crake
2. Bentley: Enigma
3. Bradley: Darkover Landfall
4. Bradley: Sharra’s Exile
5. Brennan: Faerie Wars
6. Browne: Warriors of Alavna
7. Buckell: Sly Mongoose
8. Bujold: Horizon
9. Bujold: Passage
10. Butler: Queen Ferris
11. Calhoun: Aria of the Sea
12. Calhoun: The Phoenix Dance
13. Calhoun: White Midnight
14. Campbell: The Lost Fleet: Dauntless
15. Campbell: The Lost Fleet: Fearless
16. Carriger: Soulless
17. Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
18. Curtis Klause: Freaks: Alive, on the Inside
19. Del Franco: Unfallen Dead
20. Duane: Omnitopia Dawn
21. Duey: Sacred Scars
22. Forbes: Johnny Tremain
23. Gamboe: The Piaras Legacy
24. Gardner: The Red Necklace
25. Gee: Salt
26. Gentle: Grunts
27. Gilman: Gears of the City
28. Griffin: A Madness of Angels
29. Hambly: Star Wars: Planet of Twilight
30. Hambly: The Ladies of Mandrigyn
31. Hobb: Dragon Keeper
32. Hoffman: Green Angel
33. Hoffman: The Foretelling
34. Huff: Smoke and Shadows
35. Huff: The Enchantment Emporium
36. Hughart: Eight Skilled Gentlemen
37. Hunt: The Dark Path
38. Jones: The Faerie Path
39. Jordan, S.: The Hunting of the Last Dragon
40. Karr: The Idylls of the Queen
41. Knox: Dreamhunter
42. Kress: Crossfire
43. Kress: Crucible
44. Kress: Steal Across the Sky
45. Le Guin: Gifts
46. Le Guin: Powers
47. Le Guin: Voices
48. Lee & Miller: Saltation
49. Lindskold: The Buried Pyramid
50. Lindskold: Thirteen Orphans
51. Lisle: Curse of the Black Heron
52. Lovelace: King Kong
53. McKillip: In the Forests of Serre
54. McKillip: Ombria in Shadow
55. McKillip: The Bell at Sealey Head
56. McKillip: The Book of Atrix Wolfe
57. McKillip: The Tower at Stony Wood
58. McKillip: Winter Rose
59. Meyer: Bloody Jack
60. Micklem: Wildfire
61. Mills: The Accidental Sorcerer (Rogue Agent, Book 1)
62. Montgomery: Anne of Avonlea
63. Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables
64. Moore: Heros Adrift
65. Morris: Ruined
66. Napoli: Daughter of Venice
67. Norton: Gods and Androids (Android at Arms, Wraiths of Time)
68. Norton: The Solar Queen (Sargasso of Space, Plague Ship)
69. Norton: Warlock (Storm Over Warlock, Ordeal in Otherwhere, Forerunner Foray)
70. Novik: Throne of Jade
71. Novik: Tongues of Serpents
72. Novik: Victory of Eagles
73. Plum-Ucci: Streams of Babel
74. Plum-Ucci: The Body of Christopher Creed
75. Pon: Silver Phoenix
76. Priest: Boneshaker
77. Priest: Clementine
78. Renault: The Mask of Apollo
79. Roberson: Paragaea
80. Robinson: Sixty Days and Counting
81. Romano Young: Cobwebs
82. Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind
83. Russon: Breathe
84. Sabin: A Perilous Power
85. Skelton: Endymion Spring
86. Sleator: Blackbriar
87. Smith: Betwixt
88. Smith: Treason’s Shore
89. Stewart: The Wicked Day
90. Swann: Dragons & Dwarves (Dragons of the Cuyahoga, The Dwarves of Whiskey Island)
91. Tan: The Joy Luck Club
92. Viehl: Afterburn
93. Weber: In Fury Born
94. Weber: The Apocalypse Troll
95. Williams: The War of the Roses
96. Yee: The Bone Collector’s Son

Thevenin sitting in a basket

1. Abbey: Rifkind’s Challenge
2. Abraham: A Shadow in Summer
3. Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale
4. Baker: The House of the Stag
5. Ball: Disappearing Act
6. Barnes: The Domino Men
7. Bentley: Harmony
8. Bray: The Far Sweet Thing
9. Briggs: Moon Called
10. Bryan: The Serpent and the Rose
11. Butler: Nightshade
12. Butler: Survivor
13. Cabell: Jurgen
14. Carroll: Sleeping in Flame
15. Caselberg: Wyrmhole
16. Child: Tripwire
17. Clarke: Childhood’s End
18. Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans
19. Cunningham: Shadows in the Starlight
20. D’Almeida: The Musketeer’s Apprentice
21. Delany: Neveryona
22. Dines: The Queen’s Soprano
23. Duncan: Impossible Odds
24. Durgin: Heritage (Earth: Final Conflict)
25. Eddison: The Worm Ouroboros
26. Eliot: Middlemarch
27. Elliott: Shadow Gate
28. Elliott: Traitors’ Gate
29. Engdahl: This Star Shall Abide
30. Fisher: Sorcery Rising
31. Fisher: The Rose of the World
32. Fisher: Wild Magic
33. Flewelling: The Oracle’s Queen
34. Garrett: Lord Darcy Investigates
35. Gentle: Ash
36. Gerritsen: Vanish
37. Gilman: Thunderer
38. Haden Elgin: Star-Anchored, Star-Angered
39. Harris: Dead Until Dark
40. Hill: Blade of Fire
41. Hinton: Hawkes Harbor
42. Hobb: Renegade’s Magic
43. Hoffman: A Fistful of Sky
44. Hughart: Bridge of Birds
45. Huxley: Brave New World
46. Jones: A Sword from Red Ice
47. Jones: Life
48. King: The Wild Road
49. Lake: Mainspring
50. Landon: The Hidden Worlds
51. Larke: The Last Stormlord
52. Latner: Hurricane Moon
53. Learner: Soul
54. Lindskold: Child of a Rainless Year
55. Lisle: Hawkspar
56. Ly: Roots and Wings
57. MacAvoy: A Trio for Lute (Damiano, Damiano’s Lute, Raphael)
58. Mallet: The Princes of the Golden Cage
59. Masters: The Mushroom Years
60. McDonald: The Outback Stars
61. McDonald: The Stars Down Under
62. Meluch: Wolf Star
63. Novik: Black Powder War
64. Novik: Empire of Ivory
65. Pettersson: The Scent of Shadows
66. Priest: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
67. Roberson: Deepwood
68. Roberts: Salt
69. Robson: Selling Out
70. Rosenblum: Horizons
71. Rusch: Duplicate Effort
72. Russon: Undine
73. Sagara: Cast in Courtlight
74. Scott: The Bride of Lammermoor
75. Sinisalo: Troll
76. Smith: Inda
77. Smith: King’s Shield
78. Smith: The Fox
79. Snyder: Poison Study
80. Stewart: The Crystal Cave
81. Stewart: The Hollow Hills
82. Stewart: The Last Enchantment
83. Tepper: Sideshow
84. Tepper: The Gate to Women’s Country
85. Thomson: Storyteller
86. Thurman: Moonshine
87. Thurman: Nightlife
88. Traviss: Ally
89. Traviss: Star Wars Legacy of the Force: Revelation
90. Viehl: Plague of Memory
91. Walpole: The Castle of Otranto
92. Walton: The Sword Is Forged
93. Wilkins: The Veil of Gold
94. Williams: Shadowmarch
95. Williams: Shadowplay
96. Wooding: Poison
97. Woolley: Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn
98. Zelazny: The Chronicles of Amber (Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos)
99. Zettel: Kingdom of Cages

Basement Cat (aka Stumpy) takes a break — “Evil-doin’ is hard work! I’m HOHNgry!”

Sydney enjoys a calm 4th of July

One night back in August, my little friend Sydney didn’t come when I called her. Hunting mice on a warm summer night, I thought, and I went to bed. But she wasn’t on the patio in the morning, and she wasn’t anywhere in the backyard. I tried again in midmorning, and she came limping in from the neighbor’s yard.

I scooped her up and took her into the house. She didn’t act like anything was broken, even though she could barely walk; she let me poke and prod her all over without a single wince or growl. A sprain or sore muscle? I took her to the vet.

Nothing was broken, according the x-rays, and the vet didn’t have any suggestions but pain medicine.

I took her home and kept her inside, and a couple of days later she still walked like her hip was broken. She must have put her back out somehow.

Finding an animal chiropractor on the Internet is not as easy as it should be. The first page of my Google search brought up vets in Canada and Colorado, even with “Sacramento” as one of the search terms!

(Part of the blame goes to the lousy Web sites that vets and chiropractors have. That’s a subject for another time, but it really makes me mad that people sell over-priced half-ass Web site services. If people can’t find your Web site, you might as well not have one.)

Finally I found a couple of places. One was a 40-minute drive away. Sydney doesn’t like car rides. Forty minutes of listening to her yowl that she doesn’t want to go to rehab is too long for me. Another place focused on dogs and horses. Horses! My little Sydney is not a horse. I worried her little bones would break.

The American Veterinary Chiropractic Association has an animal chiropractic referral service that is updated three or four times a YEAR. (Can you believe that? What kind of service do they think they are offering to their members? Bah. Spit. Hint: Web sites need to be kept up-to-date at all times.)

I kept searching, going from link to link and adjusting my search terms, till I came across the Integrative Veterinary Center, which is just a 10-minute drive away. I’d driven past them before, even, but thought they were a lab or something.

So I found my kitty chiropractor. Turns out he is the horse chiropractor I found earlier, but he comes in one day a week to the Center near me. He does a wonderful job with cats. Sydney says she doesn’t mind getting a massage from him at all.

After four treatments Sydney is almost as good as new. She can jump up on the picnic table and garbage cans, just like she did before her injury. But her nighttime roaming is over. (The rats are celebrating.) She still has arthritis in one of her back legs; she’s 14 years old.

Oh! I’d forgotten what a pain Sydney is when she feels good. She is such a quiet, pleasant kitty when she’s sick or hurt. Now that she’s back to normal . . .

Stumpy lurks behind a planter. Any resemblance to Basement Cat is purely coincidental.

Stumpy, the cleanest cat in the world (not!) rests on the carpet he has freshly strewn with seeds and stickers while he ponders his next step in achieving world dominion.