10/20/09 – Tuesday

Until at least the end of the year – and possibly permanently – I won’t be posting entries here at Bitchypoo on Wednesdays. I will still be posting entries at Love & Hisses, complete with far too many cat pictures, so you can always click over there to get your daily dose of cute. No, … Continue reading “10/20/09 – Tuesday”

Until at least the end of the year – and possibly permanently – I won’t be posting entries here at Bitchypoo on Wednesdays. I will still be posting entries at Love & Hisses, complete with far too many cat pictures, so you can always click over there to get your daily dose of cute.

No, this is NOT the beginning of the end. I just feel like I’m spending too much time online and am never caught up, and want to cut down a little.

Don’t be sad.

Also, Friday Comment-Answering-Extravaganzas will be going away. I’ll respond to comments in the comments (what a concept) unless, I suppose, you’re dying for opinions from others. Let’s do it this way – if you want me to put your comment up on Friday so other readers can give an opinion, just let me know in the comment. Otherwise, I’ll respond in the comments. Fridays will revert to regular ol’ entries.

Make sense?

(And I will post this on Tuesdays for the next few weeks because somehow not everyone reads and memorizes every word I post, some people just (GASP!) skim and forget everything as soon as they read it. Hmph.)

 

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I made apple crisp over the weekend, and boy was it GOOD. And then I had leftover apple crisp for lunch yesterday – just apple crisp, nothing else -and OY THE GAS.

One day I’m going to learn that I can’t do that any more, eat nothing but a bowl of apple crisp and a scoop of ice cream for lunch and not have to suffer the consequences. If I’d had something with some protein in it, and THEN had the apple crisp, I would have been fine. You’d think after almost four years, I’d remember. And yet, I do not.

Hmph.

I also made a double batch of Caramel-Apple Jam yesterday, and tomorrow I’m going to make another double batch, and then on Friday I’ll make ANOTHER double batch, and then maybe that freakin’ huge-ass bag of Granny Smiths in the laundry room will be gone. (Might take one more double batch, though.) When the apples are gone, I’m done with the Caramel-Apple Jam making ’til next year. It’s awfully good, that jam, but kind of a pain in the ass to make, with the peeling and chopping.

I got the recycling taken to the recycling center, spent plenty of time with the Wonkas, vacuumed. Did laundry.

It was sunny Sunday AND yesterday, and boy was it nice to see the sun after so many gray, overcast days. The chickens and dogs and cats seemed to appreciate the sunshine, too.

I hear our sunny days are limited, though. SIGH.

 

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I decided on Saturday, after I was about halfway through the latest Greg Iles book, that I am pretty much Iles’d out. I’ve liked his books in the past, but the last couple, I just haven’t been feeling the love. I actually felt guilty for refusing to finish the book.

But fuck that shit – feeling GUILTY for not finishing a book that isn’t holding my interest? How idiotic is THAT? Life is too goddamn short for that shit. If a book can’t hold my interest in the first fifty pages, it doesn’t deserve to be read, how about THAT? It’s not like Greg Iles won’t get the money I spent on the book, I am not TAKING money out of his POCKET, what the fuck is there to feel guilty about, I ask you?

So I didn’t finish the damn book. Instead, I picked up the next book in line, Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can Be Really Distracting by Meredith Norton.

You wouldn’t think a book about a woman who was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer and had to go through chemotherapy and a mastectomy would be laugh-out-loud funny, would you? Seriously, toward the end of the book I was laying on the couch reading, and there was this one section that made me laugh so hard I cried. I laughed out loud at least six or seven times in the course of reading this book, and I made Fred read four different sections that made me laugh.

I never do that.

I highly recommend Meredith Norton’s book.

Greg Iles’s book? Not so much.

 

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The Wonkas are now bottle-free and have been formula-free since I moved them to the kitten room on Saturday.

“I sure am glad they’re off the bottle,” I said to Fred. “I don’t know that I really want to have bottle babies again. They make me worry too much.”

Cue the distant laughter of GOD.

Yesterday afternoon, the driveway alarm went off. Fred looked out the window and told me that it was our neighbor from two doors down and her oldest daughter. She rang the doorbell, and Fred went off to see what was what.

A minute later, he came back in the front door and called me.

“What?” I said, walking toward the front door.

“I need you out here,” he said.

“Why?” I said.

“Just! Come! Here!” he hissed.

So I did. And standing on the front porch was our neighbor and her oldest daughter.

Her daughter was holding a box. Of kittens. Tiny kittens.

I considered bellowing “OH HELL NO!” and going back inside the house, but I am far too polite for that.

It turns out that a mother cat had just been hit by a car and killed, leaving behind five – YES I SAID FIVE – babies. They were alert and had their eyes open, but were obviously still small enough to need to be bottle fed. Our neighbor couldn’t keep them because she has a job and can’t feed them every few hours, and she knows we’re crazy cat people so she threw herself on our mercy.

“Well,” I said. “The guest bedroom is free!”

We brought them inside, and I made bottles while Fred weighed them. The smallest weighed 9 ounces and the largest 11, which I decided means that they’re about three weeks old.

I stimulated them to pee (and they all peed well, which meant, I suppose, that they’d eaten well the last time they ate), and then we fed them. They weren’t terribly interested in eating, but we got some formula into all of them before we put them in the cage with a heating pad and stuffed animal.

They are adorable.

So, four kittens gone to the adoption center, and five added to the household. Apparently it’s very important to God that we have bottle babies in the house. SIGH.

(We haven’t even thought of names for them yet – but I’m sure we will in the next few days!)

There are four tabby-points (I think that’s what they are) (three girls, one boy) and one black and white (a boy).

 

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The Wonkas are doing just fine. They like their new home, and they like that sun shines through the windows of their home, and they especially like that I come and visit with them lots (which they also liked in their OLD home, the guest bedroom downstairs).


::CHOMP::


“I KNEW there was something fishy about that “Balloon Boy” kid and his family.”


“Hey! GUYS! She’s handing out pettins. You better hurry, you don’t wanna miss out!”


Gus is totally the Cosmo Kramer of the kitten world.

 

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And of course Sookie and Terry have made themselves RIGHT at home.


Terry gives Elwood a bath. Hey, SOMEONE’s gotta.


Sookie, playing in the guest bedroom.

Speaking of the True Bloods, the Saturday morning volunteer, who cleans cages at the adoption center at PetSmart told me this funny story about Hoyt and Bill:

I was cleaning their cage, and Sander (Mr. Alpha Male) was also out. Sander always attacks all the other kittens, (just playing I am sure to him). Well Hoyt and Bill were having none of that – they both ran after Sander and he went to hide in the litterbox that I had taken out of their cage while I was cleaning it. One sat on top, one sat in front of the box and Sander was so glad when I put him back in his cage!

I guess my boys are doing just fine.

 

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The dryer is the happenin’ place to be, these days. I don’t know if it’s because it’s near a window overlooking the back yard or because it’s near the back door (it’s not because it’s warm, because when I actually start the dryer, whoever’s laying there usually leaves).

 

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Previously
2008: King Suggie snoozes in his pile o’ cat beds.
2007: No entry.
2006: Biscuits for everyone!
2005: Your fascinating tidbit for the day.
2004: More Myrtle Beach.
2003: It’s got to be early-onset Alzheimer’s, y’all.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: I think back on the shit I pulled as a senior in high school, and I’m flat-out amazed that I managed to graduate.
1999: Just an all-around relaxing day.

65 thoughts on “10/20/09 – Tuesday”

  1. Oh more babies!!!! Yea, more cute. I never heard of Tabby-Points, guess they are a siamese or hymalayan mix of some sort, really cute though!

  2. Squeeeee! After I saw your Twitter (Tweet?) I was excited and couldn’t wait for pictures. My husband was all, “you’re excited because someone you’ve never met has kittens you will never see?” to which I eloquently replied, “Shut up, You.”

    I’m sure Oreo has been used for a black and white kitten in the past, but I always thought Lorna Doone was a cute name.

  4. After you are done bottlefeeding the new batch, do you give them back to the neighbor or you taking them to Challenger house? And how the heck does everyone know you foster kittens? Someone put up a sign?

    1. They’re now officially Challenger’s House kittens (I had to check with the shelter manager to be sure it was okay), so we’ll foster them ’til they’re ready to be adopted.

      I don’t know how everyone knows we foster, but I think that maybe Fred told this neighbor way back when we took Maxi’s kittens and fostered them for Challenger’s House, and she remembered. Or maybe she just knows that we’re crazy cat people and that I don’t work, and hoped we could help out!

  6. I totally can go for you naming the kittens after varieties of cookies! Lorna Doone — love it!! And somehow the name “keebler” and “nabisco” also sound oh-so-cute, but for male kittens I think.

    1. I really like this idea – I’ve put in an email to the shelter manager for the names list (we can’t use names that have been used in the past) and we’ll see what we can use!

  7. Holy crap. Meezer mixes and a tuxie. I could just plotz.

    Like the cookie theme! Samoa, Oreo, Milano, and TIM TAM!

  8. “I KNEW there was something fishy about that “Balloon Boy” kid and his family.”

    “Gus is totally the Cosmo Kramer of the kitten world.”

    Haaaaaa! You made me spit out my coffee this morning, thanks! 🙂

  9. Well, it seems to me you are gonna have to get a goat or two…. goat’s milk is excellent for raising bottle kittens!

  10. OMG, I will be done there immediately to take these babies off your hands. I love Tuxies and Meezer mixes. I can’t wait to see if their eyes stay blue on the Meezer mixes. I was thinking of names and thought, hmm, 4 girls and 1 boy. How about Sex and the City. You could have Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte and of course Big.

    2. Yeah, but it’s 3 girls, 2 boys – I don’t mind leaving Carrie out and picking up Aidan, though! 🙂 (I’m pretty sure those names have been used in the past, though.)

  12. More bottle babies! Wonderful for us-a lot of work for you. I totally understand your need for more time for all your responsibilities and less here. It’s only a day-maybe I can discipline myself to be offline on Wednesdays-I need more offline time too! Like the cookie names too-PF Bordeaux(SP?=Just ate a bag over the weekend-think I’d remember) are my faves but don’t work for a kitten name.

  13. OMG My BFF has a Tabby Point – He has the bluest eyes, longest tail and talks all the time. We are boyfriend/girlfriend. He normally hides until it’s quiet it at night and no one is around except when I come into the house and he hears my voice. Then he starts calling and running for me. I’m not sure why he loves me so, but I will soak up all the love from him I can get.

  14. “Cue the distant laughter of GOD.”
    Yeah, so much for the plans of man, right? Don’t say that shit aloud.
    They are awfully cute.

  15. I used to feel weird about not being able to finish a book. In my case, it wasn’t lack of interest, it was that I HATED the people in the book! I wouldn’t want to know them in real life, why waste time knowing them through the book? Example: super-self-absorbed Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat, Pray, Love. Yeesh!

  16. Ahahaha! Yay more kittens! I am sad to hear that younwill not be updating on Wednesday anymore. and I Did like the Friday comments. Guess ill have to start reading the comments.

  17. On the subject of kitten names… what about wine names like Merlot, Chablis, Pinot? I’m reading this mystery called “The Cat, The Quilt and the Corpse” by Leann Sweeney and the main character has three cats named Merlot, Chablis and Shiraz. I think that’s super cute. Maybe add liquor names if you have a couple of brown kitties that are bourbon or amaretto colored.

    2. That’s cute – but I know the wine names have been done before for cat names. I’ll have to keep liquor names in mind for the future, though!

  18. Like Ann, I also used to feel strange if I started a book and didn’t finish it. Finally I thought “the author isn’t going to show up at my door, with a sad look and and asking ‘why?’, so I think I’ll just bring this back to the library.” I tend to only buy books by authors I love, so I rarely get burned with that. I give a book 20 pages to get me involved, that’s it. Like you said, life is too short, and there are too many books out there.

    Once again, the captions on the kitty pictures are comedy gold!

  19. Which Greg Iles book did you bail on? I read one of his that was somewhere between “meh” and “not TOO bad,” but I had seen three others that looked AWESOME. I am a book buyer – it’ll take me a day and a half, max, to read a new book but do you think I can get it back to the library before the three weeks are up? oh hell no – so I’d bought two of those three, but I’m sort of afraid to start reading them.

    By the way, have you (or any of your readers) read The Gargoyle? I’d like to get someone else’s feedback on that one. I had a serious love/hate thing with both the author and the main character, and I still can’t decide how I felt about it overall.

    1. Oh, and I have an OCD sort of thing – I *cannot* leave a book unfinished. (Which is why I’m reluctant to start the other Iles books, because they might suck but I’ll still have to finish them because my brain just goes that way.)

      I’ve known some people who have a 50-page or 20-page or two-chapter rule, and that’s cool for them, but some of the absolute best, best, BEST books I’ve EVER read have taken maybe 75 pages to get me drawn in – at which point all the rest of the world grinds to a complete halt. In fact, off the top of my head, at least five or six of my Top Ten books left me cold for the first few chapters. There’s one book that actually *changed my life* that I re-read the first 40 or so pages about five times, trying to get into it. I finally skipped ahead ten pages to see if there was anything going on, and I don’t think I moved from my spot for the next two days (it was a very thick book).

      On the other hand, I don’t watch television at all, so I have plenty of time for books, and almost always find something in any book – even if it’s only a phrase or an unorthodox use of a word – that makes it worth the time spent. I’d estimate I’ve read probably 3000-4000 books since grade school, and I can think of four – no wait, three – that I wish I could have given up on because they were that bad. (One of them was that bad, absolutely horrible, but it was hilariously horrible so it became a running joke with some friends. Rabbit Heart. It’s like the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes of the book world.

      1. I have an 80-page rule for books I read. Sometimes I’ll give it 100 pages if I *want* to read the book for some reason. I think 80 pages is a good fair amount to give. I’m a writer, so I know you’re supposed to interest people on the first page. But some of my favorite books are slow starters, too.

    2. It was The Devil’s Punchbowl – part of the problem might have been that it was a Penn Cage novel. I’m not a big Penn Cage fan. I haven’t read The Gargoyle, but I went and looked at it on Amazon. It looks interesting, I might have to add it to my list.

  20. I’ve lost track…how many cats are in the house now? When I die I want to be reincarnated as an Anderson kitty…

      1. ::Sigh:: You are correct. Our previous high of 21 has now been bested. I’d really like it if we didn’t get any higher than that in the future, BUT I AM NOT SAYING NEVER (because that’ll just come back to bite me in the ass!)

  22. I want to adopt that Wonka baby in the second picture. I don’t remember if she’s Veruca or Violet? She’s so pretty though!!!

  23. HeeHee, kitteh whisperer. Very cute new babies. Since you are the kitteh whisperer I have some questions about transitioning an outdoor kitten (7 months) into an indoor kitten. My parents are about to attempt this. Litter training is the big question at hand. Do Newt and Maxi use the box, or do they go outside? Did you have to “teach” them about the litterbox, or did you put them in it and they just got it? I told my mom to go w/scoopable litter cuz I thought it would feel more like outside. Ugh, I’ve been out of vet med for 11 yrs. and my brain is empty! I’m afraid they’ll never be able to convince him that he’s inside only. Looking for any and all recommendations. Feel free to email all your knowledge!
    thanks.

    1. Mia, Maxi and Newt pretty much got the litterbox immediately – we put them in it, and they knew exactly what it was and what to do. I think it’s instinctual for most cats who are old enough (and at 7 months old, their cat is certainly old enough). I’d say put him in the litter box, and if he looks confused, take his front paws and show him how to scratch around in the litter. I bet he gets it pretty quickly, though.

  24. Ha ha – Do you think that people immediately say – take it to the cat lady? Or, cat people? Or those (insert adjective about sanity) people with all the animals? At least they have the sense to TRY to help and not just let them suffer, which I guess is a good start. And I’m sad b/c Friday posts usually took up a good chunk of my reading time. CRUEL WORLD!

  26. They say the mark of a mature reader is when a person feels free to put down a book when they know it is not right for them. So welcome to mature readerhood! On an unrelated note, do you have any idea what happened to that young woman Bonnie — formerly of Bontasia, then she had a blog that I think was called This Will Fall Away or something like that? There hasn’t been an entry there for a year or so and the last entry there was rather a disturbing one. I sincerely hope she’s okay.

  27. Poor kittehs lost their mama at only 3 weeks old : ( – they are so lucky to have Robyn the Kitten Whisperer as a neighbor! What a cute batch they are too, good thing I have a human baby to take care of so I am not tempted to drive to ‘Bama and get me a kitten!

    1. I actually have one of those! I can guarantee you that if I had to peel all those apples by hand, I would have made exactly one batch of Caramel-Apple Jam and then never made any more! The peeler makes it go faster, but it’s still kind of a pain in the butt. 🙂

  29. Ah, more sweet kittehs to love! How exactly do you have to “stimulate” them to pee? Rub their lower abdomen?

    Thanks Robyn!

  30. Oh my goodness, the new kittens are adorable! Don’t get me wrong, all your kittens are precious, but I would have to quell the urge to squeeze the stuffing out of the tiny ones.

  31. I no longer force myself to finish books I hate either and for the same exact reason. Still reading the 5th Dark Tower Book because I’m slow and distracted by other things. I read 3-4 books a week when I was younger. I think I need some lighter chick lit next.

    1. I had to do that, ’cause I originally had the search box (I think?) up there, and not everyone was able to see it. So I moved the search box and left the top blank. Or not so much blank. 🙂

  33. I will very much miss your Wednesday entries. And I will really miss your Friday comment-answering-extravaganzas. Guess I need to start frequenting the comments portion.
    Very sad about the mama cat’s untimely demise, but those kittens sure were lucky to have found their way to your home. You and Fred are good people.

  34. Robyn
    First time commenter and I have a question. We had a darling cat hanging around my house and the more time she came back the fatter she looked. I let her in one day and sure enough she was pregnant Thank goodness she was okay with staying inside and she and my calico got along perfectly. She has now had the babies in my closet but now I don’t know what to do with them. She had three beautiful babies and I can’t keep them. I know they are not ready to go to homes until they are 10-12 weeks? just guessing on that but then what? My husband love cats but not four more and of course the momma isn’t spade and I don’t know what to do or who to call. If you have any readers in St. louis that would like to adapt an adorable kitten in time for a Christmas present would you send them to me? I am in awe of you and all you do for the kitties but my babies are only three days old and I’m already attached. Anyways, any suggestions for me would be great and helpful Thanks and sorry for the rambling!

    1. Robin, if you want to send me some pictures, I can put your whole story at the top of one of my posts so everyone will see it – and even if no readers in your area want to adopt, they may have suggestions for you! (And yes, 10 – 12 weeks sounds about right.)

  35. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, when I die, I want to be adopted by you and Fred. 🙂

    Your karma points must be off the charts by now, Robyn. You guys have hearts of gold to do what you do for the little homeless (and mama-less) kittehs… You both rock!

  37. I would like to cast my vote against taking Wednesdays off. Maybe you won’t be able to stand the break in your routine and will have to post again. At least a girl can dream. *sigh*

    I must say that I used to look at your reading list and pick new authors (to me at least) and I have liked almost all of the books you had liked. I have been having a really hard time getting into anything lately, even the authors I know and love.

  38. When you take a break from journaling on Wednesdays, do you stay away from the computer altogether? Just wondered because I’ve been thinking of a “no computer or tech,tv,cell phone, texting” day.

    1. No, I still check my email and do some reading online, I just don’t spend as much time on the computer, so I can get other stuff done.

      I imagine that if I did have a no computer/tv/cell phone day I’d get a LOT of stuff done! Not that the cell phone takes up that much of my time, but the computer certainly does, and sometimes the TV, too.

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