Friday, August 15, 2008

Alfie Again

Alfie is an old boy, and that means he comes with a few health problems. The biggest for him is that he's both long-sighted and has cataracts. His vision's pretty good at a distance, but anything close by and he can't focus on it. He'll ignore a treat if you show it to him, but take it (very carefully - he's a gent!) if you hold it so he can smell it. His back legs don't always work, and there's some evidence that he might be half-deaf. Personally, I suspect he's just ignoring us...

This week we've discovered a rather bigger problem for us to deal with. We've been a bit concerned about how much he drinks and pees, and one blood sample and four urine samples later, our vets have reached the conclusion that his kidneys don't work very well. This isn't a major concern quite yet - he's only just reached the point where the problems are noticeable - but we need to manage his diet carefully so that he doesn't get worse any time soon. At the moment, Alfie isn't even aware of the problem, just that he needs to drink regularly. With a bit of care and luck, he may not get any worse. Unfortunately, he won't get any better either - kidneys aren't self-repairing.

Other Alfie news is rather happier. He likes going for walks, and is still young enough to chase a stick or ball (providing you only throw it a few feet), and is much better at bringing them back than the youngsters. Cisco has got used to having Alfie around, and is no longer sulking.

Finally, here's a couple of photos Claire took of Alfie & Tara exploring a flooded ornamental feature in Callendar Park last weekend.

Posted by graham @ 08:44 pm

Friday, August 8, 2008

Alfie

This is Alfie.

He's a small, elderly dog, of unknown parentage. We were told he was a "lurcher-cross", but I suspect that may be because the charity only handles lurchers and greyhounds. Whatever he is, he's now living with us. We collected him from his foster home, just outside Leicester, on Monday morning, and he's settling in well. If you want to come round and met him, let me know.

Zak and Alfie sorted out their relative places in the pack in about five minutes. Zak asked "are you going to challenge my position?" and Alfie said "can't be bothered". Tara took a little longer - she woofed at him a few times, until he woofed back. Tara now knows she can't bully him, and the three dogs are getting along fine.

Cisco is sulking somewhat. Alfie's a little bit curious, but rather more scared. He seems to know that cats have sharp edges. Cisco's okay with a dog that mainly ignores him, but doesn't want Claire and I getting the idea that we can just keep bringing new dogs into the house.

Tuesday, we took all the dogs over to Fife for the Pittenweem art festival. The dogs were a bit unsure why Mum kept vanishing into galleries, but they did enjoy the beach.

Posted by graham @ 09:47 pm

Friday, July 25, 2008

Quick Update

Quite a lot has happened this week, so I thought a quick update might be in order.

Claire's car is still at the garage, and we're not sure when we'll get it back. The verdict was that the water pump had seized, which trashed the timing belt. We seem to have been lucky, and the cylinders haven't been damaged, so is just about worth getting fixed.

I won the argument with Dell, and a replacement charger turned up on Tuesday, with a phonecall that afternoon to make sure it had arrived and was working. Dunno if I'll get away with that again, though.

Tara was back at the vets this evening. She's been limping again - same leg that caused all the problems before. This time she's showing pain when the hip joint is flexed, rather than the knee. She'll get an xray on Tuesday before we find out exactly what's wrong. Current thinking is probably arthritis.

The final changes to "Murder at the Greydog Inn" are nearly finished. Some of the characters are ending up quite different from the first run. I should be sending character sheets and "What My Father Told Me" to the players this weekend. Next week's job - write the pub quiz...

Finally, Claire and I have been asked to be god-parents. I'm slightly in shock that anyone would ask themselves "who's the most responsible, sensible couple we know?" and include me in the answer. After quickly checking that there was no actual "god" part involved, we agreed.

Posted by graham @ 09:36 pm

Monday, July 21, 2008

Eurmal's Revenge

Well, that was a bloody awful weekend. On Saturday afternoon I ran "Murder at the Greydog Inn" for the first time, and it was scrappy. Most of the characters had enough to do for the two and a half to three hour game I thought I'd written. Shame it ran for nearly five hours... Hopefully it'll be a bit better at Continuum, as most people will have something to do afterwards, so the game should move faster. But I need to add some hard deadlines - I'm thinking rituals that must happen at certain times, with the last one being the out for the murderer if not caught by that point. There's a couple of characters that need more to do, and a couple more have little to do if their players aren't proactive enough. There's also needs to be a chink in the Orlanthi conservatism, a cost to the status quo, otherwise a couple of the Lunar goals are pretty much impossible. Finally, there's a couple of bits of information that need to be clearer. A bit more writing needed.

Still, the game was the highpoint of the weekend. I'd borrowed Claire's car, as it was parked behind mine. After the game, I was about four miles from home when the car lost all power. I coasted on to the hard shoulder, called Claire, and she towed me off the motorway. This morning we dragged it up to the garage. Their first thought was the timing belt had snapped, but when I pointed out they'd replaced that at the service two months ago that changed to the alternator having failed. I'm currently waiting for the final verdict, and how much it's going to cost.

Sunday was no more fun. The laptop suddenly stopped charging. There's a broken connection in the charger, so I need a new one. This'll be the third I've had for this laptop in fifteen months. Seems a bit of a design flaw to me. I'm just off the phone to Dell tech support. They've been playing the "out of warranty" card, I've been playing the "not fit for purpose" and the "your fix under warranty didn't work" cards. I think I've won, and should get a new charger tomorrow. Hopefully it'll last more than seven bloody months.

Now for fuzz therapy...

Posted by graham @ 12:01 pm

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tara's Birthday, Freeforms

The big news is that today is Tara's third birthday. She's been happily ripping open her presents, and the floor is a complete state. Of course, you can't give to one dog and not the other, so Zak's been getting presents too. Claire's been taking photos of it all, so those should appear on her blog soon...

***

Freeforms are otherwise dominating my thoughts. The guy who was supposed to be organising Continuum's signups has vanished off the face of the Earth. So, I was asked to step in at the eleventh hour. If anyone's missed the many official announcements, they're up at http://grahamrobinson.com/freeforms/. Some of the games are already close to over-subscribed, so if you want to play, get in now! The games I'm casting (my own "Murder at the Greydog Inn" and Sandy Petersen's "Evil High Priest") shouldn't be too difficult to get a space in - they're the biggest games at the con - but I'm open to offers of bribery from anyone wanting to make sure of a spot. *grin*

Sign ups for the Edinburgh run of "Murder at the Greydog Inn" are less stunning. To be worth running, I need a few more players. If you're free on Saturday, 19th July, how about coming along? I'm getting the impression that some people are being put off by the Gloranthan setting for this one. Don't worry! The game will take advantage of Glorantha's quirky humour and deep mythology, whilst requiring you to know nothing beyond what's written on your character sheet. Definitely aiming for "introduction to the setting" level here.

***

Tara's just finished her latest present, and now has wrapping paper stuck to her fur. I'd better go rescue her...

Posted by graham @ 08:00 pm

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Reynard Comes Visiting

This afternoon, Tara suddenly launched herself off the couch and ran, feet sliding on the laminate, to the back door. I went to find out what had her so excited and saw this :

Foxes aren't an unusual sight round here, but a cub at half four in the afternoon is a first for me. He seemed to be on his own, and was just sniffing around. Until he spotted Tara, at which point he made a dash through the hedge.

An hour later, Claire got home, and was a bit jealous that she'd missed the fox. Then crows started squawking in the garden, and there was the fox cub, sat eating sunflower seeds I'd scattered for the birds. Claire's photos were rather better...

Posted by graham @ 09:12 pm

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Return to the Battle of Tara's Knee

Tara started limping again at the end of last week. She didn't show any improvement over the weekend, and massages and loosening exercises weren't helping. So, today we went to the vets. I asked to see the same woman who was handling Tara's physiotherapy earlier in the year. She knows Tara's history, Tara likes her, and she's a damn good vet.

The result is rather mixed news. The old injury has healed well, and whatever Tara's done, it hasn't done any lasting damage. The vet suspects a knock or fall which has caused a little swelling in the joint. So Tara's back on anti-inflammatories for a few days. All good news so far. The bad news is she is now showing signs of arthritis. We're trying a pill for that. If it works, she'll be taking them pretty much forever. If it doesn't work, we'll need to find one that does. Tara likes the new pills (they smell and look meaty), which, given she needs to take four a day, is a good thing. They're going to cost about £400 a year, so insurance is also a good thing...

Zak and Cisco are both healthy and happy, although Zak's a bit annoyed that I'm paying attention to the computer not him. He keeps dunting my hands while I'm typing this. So I'll stop here.

Posted by graham @ 07:22 pm

Murder at the Greydog Inn

In case anyone hasn't already seen the ad...

Murder at the Greydog Inn

Saturday 19th July 2008, 2-5pm, Edinburgh.

The Greydog Inn is heaving. Couples flirt, warriors boast, merchants barter, Lunars and Orlanthi glower at each other over their mead. Just another typical night. But death walks the darkness, and foul murder is uncovered. The clan honour has been tarnished, and the guilty must be found before the killer strikes again...

"Murder at the Greydog Inn" is a 16 player, 3 hour freeform. Written by Graham Robinson, based on characters and setting from "Tales of the Reaching Moon #18 & #20".

Although there's a murder mystery at the heart of the game, there'll be plenty of other plot lines to keep you busy. Most characters will be as involved with solving the mystery as the player wants to be. In addition, a couple of the roles are "character" parts - there to provide pathos/drama/comedy/chaos, rather than being heavily involved in plotting/scheming/investigating.

Costuming hints : the Greydogs/Goodswords and the Lunar bodyguard are barbarian types - think Celts, Saxons, Vikings, etc. with warrior types favouring war paint/tattoos, especially in blue. The Lunars are a civilised empire - Rome/Persia, with moon symbols. Finally the Sun Domers are a highly militaristic, strictly controlled society, for which Sparta is the obvious historical analogy, and with a sun/gold fixation.

The game is set in Glorantha, but I'm assuming that players know nothing about the setting, other than what I tell them on their character sheet.

Fancy playing? There's a casting questionnaire at http://grahamrobinson.com/greydog_edin.html

Any questions? Drop me an e-mail or leave a comment!

Posted by graham @ 12:19 pm

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