[QUOTE=petrw1;394457]Cool house....is there a guest room for the next time we are in town...
and does it come with breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? All we can drink? Free taxi service? I don't ask much do I? :smile:[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that.

The deed is done; Scots scots is dead, and buried.

Quite possibly the hardest thing I ever did.

I held her in my arms through the entire process....

[QUOTE=chalsall;394435]It is nice to know that I rescued her from a feral life, and probably gave her ten times as much (very quality) time as she otherwise would have had.[/QUOTE]And it seems that you also helped her when the troubles came. This is a great mercy that we often extend to our pets. In the wild this would have been the worse for her. I am sure that you and the Missus will get through this (perhaps with the help of another rescue).:pals:

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;394495]I am sure that you and the Missus will get through this (perhaps with the help of another rescue).:pals:[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the kind words. And yes, the other "rescues" are helping (but are also sad themselves); we have six now....

[QUOTE=chalsall;394483]Thanks for that.

The deed is done; Scots scots is dead, and buried.

Quite possibly the hardest thing I ever did.

I held her in my arms through the entire process....[/QUOTE]

I know the feeling. I had to make the decision for two cats. Now if I could only talk my wife into getting another one (or more). "Honest, getting a cat would help with my anxiety," won't quite cut it with her. :smile:

Thanks for all the support guys. It has helped. :smile:

For anyone else who may face this, I found [URL="http://www.homepeteuthanasia.com/pet-euthanasia/cat-euthanasia"]this site[/URL] particularily helpful. I found it on Google after some searching; most results for "home euthanasia" resulting in sites containing rather sickening dialog.

Short form: don't do this yourself unless you absolutely have to. Retain a professional. And, if you have other pets, ensure they're part of the process.

Our vet who had been caring for Scotty came to our home, and first injected a sedative which put her to sleep within thirty seconds. She then monitored her heartbeat for two additional minutes to ensure she was "under".

Then she said "are you ready for the next step?" Yes...

"Don't look as I apply the next shot; there will be some blood in the syringe." (She knows I have an issue with the sight of blood.)

Scotty's breathing slowed, and then stopped, within 30 seconds, and then she started twitching. I thought she might have been suffering, but the vet explained, calmly and quitely, that her heart had already stopped and that such twitching was normal. She had a name for it used by the profession; I can't remember what the term was.

The vet then politely excused herself, and left (she had already previously determined that we had the burial arrangements sorted).

[QUOTE=rogue;394551]I know the feeling. I had to make the decision for two cats. Now if I could only talk my wife into getting another one (or more). "Honest, getting a cat would help with my anxiety," won't quite cut it with her. :smile:[/QUOTE]Confucious he say: forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission.

[QUOTE=xilman;394559]Confucious he say: forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission.[/QUOTE]

Confucious also say, "an unhappy wife means an unhappy husband".

The problem is two-fold. Her sister has allergies and my sons can't put away dirty dishes. If they can do that then we will work on getting a breed that produces less dander. My boys would like to get a Bengal (or two). I'd be okay with that.

GIMPS keepin' the house warm
 

This isn't quite on the level of other unfortunate news here, but I'm still not exactly happy about.

Our furnace crapped out for the umpteenth time yesterday morning so temperatures have been slowly dropping due to the convenient -30C weather of the last couple of days. Thankfully we're expecting 0 by tomorrow but it's fairly uncomfortable for the time being. It was 14C in the house this morning WITH the gas fireplace running for the last 18 hours AND the 1200W space heater in the basement.

I guess GIMPS is helping take the edge off as well with two CPUs and two GPUs running full tilt (at record low temperatures I might add :w00t:).

[QUOTE=TheMawn;396094]Our furnace crapped out for the umpteenth time yesterday morning[/QUOTE]
Having adequate heating is clearly of huge importance where you live! Wrap up warm, and I hope it gets sorted out quickly and that your expected outdoor temperature rise does indeed take place as a matter of urgency.

[QUOTE=TheMawn;396094]It was 14C in the house this morning WITH the gas fireplace running for the last 18 hours AND the 1200W space heater in the basement.[/QUOTE]

Very sorry to hear that! Having grown up where it can regularily get below -40 degrees (either scale), I know that people can die in such situations!

One thought to put out there -- may I suggest checking if the gas fireplace is actually contributing to the thermal input of the system (your house)? Specifically, is the air used as the oxidizer supplied from outside, or from the house? If the former you're fine; if the latter do some measurements / calculations.

Edit: Just had a funny thought -- a true use of GIMPS as a space heater!!! :lol:

Well the 400W or so of my combined hardware isn't insignificant. I have my X99 system with one GPU in my bedroom and it's a weaker but sustained space heater which I much prefer to the 1200W space heater I occasionally run before bed time during the winter. I prefer having it 2C warmer than cranking the temperature up to 30C just so it can stay pleasant long enough for me to fall asleep.


Anyway, we've made an appointment to have the furnace checked and although we were unlucky in having the furnace die when we depended on it to maintain a 50C temperature differential, we ARE lucky that this cold spell was short; we're expecting ~0C weather tomorrow.

The gas fireplace certainly does warm up the house. It's on the main level in an open-concept room which includes living room, dining room and kitchen and it certainly keeps things toasty in the area (two cats baking their brains in front of it at the moment).