Funny Thing Happened

Had a lovely evening last night with newlyweds britzkrieg and rigel_kent. We went to the Shakespeare Tavern to see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Much laughter, good food, and excellent company. I definitely needed that.

Hobkin was in a clingy mood when we got home and spent much of the night curled up with me. There’s skunk fur everywhere as he’s still shedding up a storm. This morning he was in a playful mood, and I have the welts on my arms to prove it. Pointy beastie.

Had some very vivid and disconcerting dreams last night. Nothing that I can remember clearly, except I was furious with my parents about something. Woke up with free-floating, unfocused irritation. Going to try to caffinate it out of my system.

Actually, overall I’m having some weird mood issues. I’m feeling disassociated and unmotivated in general. It’s not enough to call “depressed” but I don’t feel balanced or energized. I’ve been seriously procrastinating on everything and sleeping either too much or not enough. This might be one of those times where I just need to force myself to engage in activities I know I either ought to do, or that will help to jar me out of my funk.

And I haven’t been writing anything, which royally pisses me off at myself. This nice long weekend and so far I haven’t written a single word. Crap.

I did, however, fritter away an hour or so making a new icon from these folks.

Bookmark the permalink.

16 Responses to Funny Thing Happened

  1. fenrah says:

    abbie sidles over to say hi

    Hi, Eugie. Cherie has been telling me that we should meet, so I’ve been reading your journal for a while, but haven’t introduced myself. *frantic, nervous wave*

    After that post, though, I just had to ask: is Hobkin a skunk??? Or is he a b/w cat? I was a vet student; you just made me very curious.

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Re: abbie sidles over to say hi

      Hi, Abbie. Pleased to meetcha! Hobkin is indeed a skunk. He’s a brown and white skunk (officially a “chocolate chip”). I keep a website about him, if you’re curious to see more pictures (aside from the one in my icon there). He’s two years old, and very sweet, except when he’s feeling bratty, in which case he’s a fuzzy chaos fiend, hellbent upon destruction. I love talking about him, so if you have questions, please feel free to ask.

      • fenrah says:

        Re: abbie sidles over to say hi

        Well, I must say, that is about the cutest skunk I have ever been privelaged to see. 😉 He’s pretty, too! I knew they made good pets, but I didn’t realize that in some states they’re not a class III animal (in FL, they are). I worked at a zoo for a while…around lots of interesting people who owned interesting animals and came to realize that you can legally own just about anything that’s not an endangered local species. Class I animals are a lot of work to own legally, but class III aren’t difficult at all, and II’s are only marginally difficult. If I were to own a class III, it would be a fennec fox. I cared for a couple of them, and they are like…canine faires. Yeah. And if I ever get into a possition to do so, I WILL own a caracal. But they are class II animals. Erg. And you must proove you have a cage for them, even if you never intend to keep them in it.

        A question about Hobkin: I know in FL to own a raccoon, you have to have it’s pedigree, prooving that it’s been in captivity for X number of generations. This is because there is no highly effective rabbies vaccine for raccoons, and you are not allowed to pluck them from the wild b/c they are frequent carriers. In some states, skunks are major rabbies vectors, though I don’t know about GA. My question is (a) is there an effective vaccine for skunks and (b) are you required to own a pedigree for Hobkin, prooving he was bred in captivity (and therefore–in theory–never exposed)?

        (I say all these things about “have to,” but of course many people keep exotics illegally and never get in trouble. But it’s so easy in most cases to do it legally, I don’t know why someone would run the risk of having their pet taken away.)

        • Eugie Foster says:

          Re: abbie sidles over to say hi

          Well, I must say, that is about the cutest skunk I have ever been privelaged to see. 😉 He’s pretty, too!

          Thank you! He’s also a prize-winner! Yes, we took him to a skunk show. Yes, there are skunk shows. I’m so very proud of him, canya tell?

          My question is (a) is there an effective vaccine for skunks and (b) are you required to own a pedigree for Hobkin, prooving he was bred in captivity (and therefore–in theory–never exposed)?

          There is a vaccine for skunks, although it hasn’t been approved. They’re still doing studies. Pretty much we get Hobkin vaccinated as protection for him, in case he bites someone and they get all anxious. But he’s never exposed to the out-of-doors or outside animals so he has absolutely zero opportunity to contract the virus.

          In Georgia it is not required to have proof of domestic pedigree. They do it in a much more broad fashion, they simply outlaw all black and whites as pets. The reasoning appears to be that if it isn’t black and white, it has to be domestic bred (hence Hobkin being a chocolate chip). Hobkin is actually from a specialty breeder in Iowa, so if we needed to provide a pedigree, we could as well.

          We believe in doing everything by the book when it comes to Hobkin’s welfare. I want my fuzzhead safe and sound.

          Incidentally, the breeder we got Hobkin from also breeds fennec foxes if you’re interested in a referral. We can vouch for him as we drove to Iowa to fetch Hobkin when he was a baby (I don’t believe in subjecting any animal, much less a baby one, to the stress of an airplane cargo hold) and had a chance to see all of his animals and his facilities.

          Just curious, but what are the other distinctions between Class II and Class III animals? I’m not sure what skunks qualify as in GA. Although I do know they’re just plain illegal to own in many places.

          • fenrah says:

            keeping exotics legally

            I’m sorry it took so long for me to get back to you on this one. Tests happened.

            > Just curious, but what are the other distinctions between Class II
            > and Class III animals? I’m not sure what skunks qualify as in GA.
            > Although I do know they’re just plain illegal to own in many places.

            Skunks are local wildlife in most places, so they are more likely to be illegal than, say, caracals. Local wildlife can get tricky.

            As far as the classes go, in FL, you’re looking for a “permit” for “personal use of wildlife” from the “Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.” There are three classes, and the state pretty much issues a list of what animals belong in which classes, as well as requirements for getting each permit. Lists are provided online. For FL: http://myfwc.com/permits/

            Class status is not decided by weight alone (although it may look that way at first); it’s by danger-potential. For instance, cougars (AKA pumas, mountain lions, catamounts, American lions–same animal) are a class II animal in FL–one of your largest class II’s (80-220 pounds, males on the high end, females on the low). Of your big cats, they’re one of the least dangerous (if anything can be called “least dangerous” that could accidentally take your head off).

            African leopards are a little smaller (60-200 pounds), but they are solidly in class III. Why? Because they are the most difficult to tame of all your big cats, dangerous even as cubs. Most cat trainers would rather work with a 600 pound Siberian tiger than with a hundred pound African leopard. (Snow Leopards are a different story.)

            As for local animals, different areas have different animals that become the main rabies vectors. I don’t know why. It’s skunks in some places, foxes in others. In FL, it’s raccoons. In TN, it’s bats. Not that any mammal can’t carry rabies, but for whatever reason, the ones most likely to have it vary from place to place. That may be part of the reason for the ban on skunks in some places (not because domestic skunks have a chance of carrying the disease, but because wild skunks taken as pets do, and the authorities don’t want the risk).

            Then again, it could just be ignorant stupidity. Ferrets are illegal some places. Ferrets! Demistic ferrets are nearly as far from their wild cousins as cats. Studies show them incapable of surviving in the wild. *shrug* (but you probably already know that)

            From what I understand, FL has one of your highest concentrations of exotics breeders in the US. TX and CA are other big exotics places–probably b/c the climate is closer to the tropics, and large tracts of out-of-the-way land can be optained. You can get nearly any big cat in FL as a legal pet if you wish to take the time, expense, and trouble. Also a great plethera of other species.

            I haven’t done an exentisve search for GA, but I found this: http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/content/displaycontent.asp?txtDocument=6&txtPage=3

            It doesn’t look like they’ve got as organized a system as FL (probably less demand for one). Looks kind of like: “These are the legal ones; call us for the details.” Maybe there’s more info elsewhere, though.

            I hope that helps.

          • fenrah says:

            correction of an error

            Oops! I mis-spoke: leopards/tiger/etc. are in class I, not class three (I’m always forgettin which order the classes go in: danger-to-least dangerous or vise versa.) :-z

            Skunks of any color, by the way, are class III animals in FL. A Class three license costs no $. You just have to fill out an application, be over 16, and meet certain criteria for certain of the animals.

  2. britzkrieg says:

    Actually, overall I’m having some weird mood issues. I’m feeling disassociated and unmotivated in general. It’s not enough to call “depressed” but I don’t feel balanced or energized. I’ve been seriously procrastinating on everything and sleeping either too much or not enough.

    Again, I know how you feel — I’m feeling the same way right now. I’m very sorry that you yoo have to endure this wretched, draining ennui. Let’s both try to keep busy this weekend. I’m going to try to get some more exercise myself; that can hardly hurt!

  3. t_rex says:

    I *love* your new icon!

    And about the mood thing. I just moved up from depressed to unmotivated, which is actually an improvement. If you figure out how to jar yourself out of inertia, please let me know!

    • Eugie Foster says:

      I *love* your new icon!

      Thank you! It was fun to make.

      If you figure out how to jar yourself out of inertia, please let me know!

      It’s rough, ain’t it? The best ways I’ve found just aren’t healthy so I try to stop myself from indulging in them before I spiral into something just plain ugly. I tend to over-caffinate and over-sugar myself into a temporary feeling of euphoria, then get obsessed about something as a distraction. But when the stimulants dump me, I tend to feel worse than before. I keep telling myself that I need to exercise and just do healthy, interesting things, but then if I could just “do” that (aside from being a Nike ad), I wouldn’t have this stupid mood problem in the first place. Argh.

  4. Ah, forget the writing! You need to relax sometime. You’ve been working too hard. BTW, I love that new icon. 😀

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Well, in theory, writing is soothing, or at least I always feel better after I’ve done it (sort of like exercise). I guess it’s better to say that writing makes me feel good although it’s damn hard work while I’m doing it. And I start beginning to feel pretty crappy when I haven’t written anything for a while, which is where I’m getting to right about now.

  5. Hey that icon site was fun! Look how I turned out.

    ~Maggie

  6. Anonymous says:

    Icon Creator

    Eugie – I tried out the icon maker.. neat app. Wasn’t happy with the final though so I took it into photoshop and adjusted a bit. you can see it in my blog profile at scrybepress.com/blog/blog.html
    -Nathan

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *