Editing Milestone and Google Takes a Power Trip

The original picture of Zenzo, the coughing cat

All was quiet on my blog for several days. Not by choice, and not that I post so regularly that anyone could tell. For once, the reason was not procrastination or laziness. Nope: Google was having a power trip.

It all started when I tried to email a video of my cat coughing to my vet. The video wouldn't go through. Not to the vet, not to my husband. So plan B. Upload the video to YouTube. Only, in order to upload, I had to make an account. Fine. I made one under my cat's name, with my cat's birthday, hit enter, and realized before the error screen had time to pop up that my cat was under 13 years old. Which meant she couldn't have her own channel.


Easy fix. Change her birthday, gain access to her account, upload video, send vet the link. Done. (Yes, my poor cat has asthma. No, she does not like an inhaler.)

Paranormal Zenzo's ghostly impression (see, it's magic)

The next day, I clicked on my blog. I received an error page. My blog was temporarily taken down. I was not old enough to have it. This was suspicious. Checked my Gmail. Same message: send a copy of my driver's license or birth certificate, or pay $.30 with my credit card.

What? Scam! Call my husband. No, it's not a scam. It's Google flexing their might. Unbeknownst to me (okay, intentionally glossed-over by me), my Gmail account was linked to my YouTube account. So when I entered my birthday for my YouTube account, it linked that birthday to my Gmail and my blog, despite the fact that I've had this blog active for almost five years. Also, despite the fact that I was able to change my birthday in YouTube to make me older than 13, I wasn't able to reinstate my old birth date on my Gmail account.

After much fist waving and grumbling, I paid the $.30. Yeah, take that Google. I showed you. I totally bowed to your wishes and proved you have all the power in this relationship.

Cat bronzed and still alive! Miracle at aspiring author's house!

Of course, while my blog was untouchable I thought of a half dozen interesting posts. Now? Hum...

I reached page 100 in my second-round, intensive edits of Eva. I'm pleased by that, though I still feel it's going too slowly.

I have taught my cat how to retrieve a treat from an opened, otherwise empty Gerber baby food container. Or I should say, my cat has learned how to stick his paw into the container and tip it, and I have spent a lot of time laughing at him pat around the outside of the container, puzzled by how he could see the treat but not touch it.

I have dabbled in Photoshop, during which I learned two things.

1. Photoshop is modern magic. 
2. Photoshop is not for the faint of heart. (Have you seen how many options are listed under each button? Photoshop is no Word, that's for sure!)

Best touch-up of original after an hour

The pictures seen here are the result of over an hour of messing around in Photoshop. As you can see, I am not a Photoshop savant.