* * *
It’s now possible to get an And3rson Kitty 2008 Calendar, here.
It’s also possible to get an And3rson Foster Kitty 2008 Calendar, here.
I’ll keep linking to them in the body of my entry until I get my lazy ass around to putting a link in the sidebar.
Both calendars are marked up $1 from the base price. As always, any profits will go to the kitty shelter.
* * *
The Friday comment-answering extravaganza!
We lost our kitty Archie last week. He was an old guy but very well loved. Our other cat, Felix (she’s female but we didn’t name her) has started jumping on our bed to pee. She doesn’t pee anywhere else in the house, just rushes into the bedroom if anyone leaves the door open a bit, jumps on the bed and lets loose. It’s driving me insane — we have handmade quilts that can’t take much more washing without falling apart. (Frankly, I’d rather have the quilts than Felix at this point.) Do you think that Felix is reacting to Archie’s death by pissing on his favourite resting-place? (Archie always slept on our bed.) She’s healthy, has a good appetite, is up on all her shots, so we’re pretty certain this is behavioural, not medical.
It seems pretty clear – given the timing of it – that her peeing on your bed is a reaction to Archie’s absence. I’m not sure what to advise – readers? – but I’d for sure check with your vet and see if there’s anything you can do to break her of the behavior. There’s nothing nastier-smelling than cat pee, I know!
* * *
Reading about foster kitty Skittles gave me an (obvious and probably already suggested) idea for future foster kitty names. Candies! How about Peppermint, Chocolate, Twix, Hershey, Runt, Spree, Caramel, or Snickers? Or, you could go a little more upscale and focus on the “exotic” chocolate brand names like Ghirardelli, Dove, Toblerone, and Lindt.
I’m fairly certain that Twix and Spree have been used in the past, but I really like the “exotic” chocolate names. I’m going to file that away in my “kitty names” folder for future use!
* * *
Ok, lets see the shirts.
One looks like
this, and the other one is the same shirt, in a different color. You’re not getting me to put the shirt on and take a picture – the problem is not how I look in it (Fred thinks I look fine), the problem is that it makes me uncomfortable wearing it because it won’t! stop! TOUCHING ME! MOOOOOOOOOM! Make the shirt stop touching me!
* * *
If you show us a picture of you wearing the shirts that touch parts of your body that are not your neck and wrists, and you get tens of comments that tell you that you look marvelous in them, would you consider wearing them – on the off chance that you would actually get USED to that feeling of fabric touching your skin?
No – like I said above, it’s not how I look, it’s how I feel. I know it’s ridiculous, but I don’t know that a lifetime of not wanting my clothes to touch me can be overcome by immersion therapy.
* * *
So Poo doesn’t count as Part Orange?
Sadly, she didn’t even come to mind when I thought of the orange kitties. Maybe because I think of her as being mostly black – or maybe because she’s NOT a happy cat the way Spanky, Sugarbutt, and Newt are. Looking at her, I guess I’d call her about 1/8 orange, so 2 1/2 + 1/8 = 5/2 + 1/8 = 20/8 + 1/8 = 21/8 = 2 5/8. We have 2 5/8 orange kitties.
* * *
Why is Stinkerbelle not on the Kitties Page? Why no love for the Stinky?
Only because I haven’t gotten around to it. It’s on my “to do” list though, rest assured!
* * *
Oh, I just had a thought. Don’t you have a birthday coming up soon? Hmmm.
I shall be forty on January 9th. Woot!
* * *
Yeah! You were a Girl Scout! I’m extremely involved in Scouting in my town. I am the manager for my town plus I run 3 Girl Scout troops plus I also am on the Cub Scout Committee. How long were you a Girl Scout? Do you feel that you’re a better person today because of your experience?
I hate to let you down, but mostly what I remember about my Girl Scout experience is having to sell those damn cookies. Oh, and the time my troop went camping and we were camping somewhere on base where we weren’t supposed to be, so we had to leave…? Maybe? It’s not clear to me anymore. My mother was a Scout leader for a few years when we lived in Guam – so I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout. And then I was a Girl Scout for two years? I think? Through 5th grade, anyway. Then we moved to where my parents live now, and I don’t think I was in Girl Scouts any longer.
I don’t know that Girl Scouts had much of an impact on who I am today, but I could be wrong. Who knows?
* * *
I was recently determined to have an underactive thyroid, and have been prescribed Synthroid. I remember you switching up your pill taking routine – but can’t remember why! It says to take it first thing in the a.m., but I’m more keen to take it at bedtime. Couldn’t remember the reasons (if you did) change your time of dose.
I think for a few years I was taking my Synthroid at bedtime instead of in the morning. I’m not sure why the prescription always says to take it first thing in the morning, but my doctor seemed to think it was okay to take it at night, as long as it was on an empty stomach. I was taking it at bedtime because that was most convenient for me, to brush my teeth, take my birth control, and take my Synthroid all at once. These days I take it in the morning, but only because I keep the pill container near the hair dryer, so it’s convenient for me to take it then. I’d check with your doctor, of course, but I don’t think it matters so much when you take it, as much as it being on an empty stomach.
* * *
Robyn, have you heard the KATG remix for the PHENOMENUOOAAGGHH!!! song? They have it on their myspace player now.
I have, and I’ve downloaded it, and I listen to it at least once a day. I only wish it opened with Keith screaming “PHENOMENUOOAAGGHH!,” instead of with the music, because I would totally use that as my ring tone!
* * *
Even though we know that every day is a holiday for the And3rson kitties, 😉 do you hang stockings for them and/or buy gifts?
I don’t hang stockings for them – we have two mantels, but we’d run out of room pretty damn quick, with nine stockings, and besides, the cats are such pains in the ass, they’d surely yank them down as soon as they were hung – but I always buy them a toy or two. This year I bought them
this one, and I’ll be buying them a few
Fat Cat toys, too. They love those toys. Also, I’ll probably make them a bed that fits the top of the stair unit Fred made for the front room. They won’t appreciate it, though. Spoiled little brats!
* * *
Can you hold off your week vacation to the 2nd week of January? I’ll be on vacation from the 8th to the 16th. Going over 2 weeks without Robyn ‘n gang – I’ll die. Someone quick – come up with a January themed daily posting challange. I know – New Year’s Resolutions – Post Daily! Hee!
Don’t even JOKE about an every-day-in-January challenge! I haven’t decided exactly which week in January I’ll take off – but I’ll be sure to let y’all know!
* * *
Our sweet tabby, Candy, is about 17 years old. He’s in pretty good condition, at least I think he is – hard to be totally sure, since he sleeps about 22 hours a day, but I think that’s normal for an old guy. We have a pet door and safe enclosed yard, so he comes and goes as he pleases, which I think has been a factor in his good health. He can still leap up onto the furniture, and he eats and drinks as always. The only thing is that he seems to be having grooming issues. We are trimming his nails more now, and that seems to help with the “Help, I’m stuck on the side of the chair and I can’t get up” syndrome. But now we’re noticing he’s sprouting dreadlocks on his back! Do you think it’s an age-related thing? Should we cut them off? They’re pretty funky.
I bet it’s a flexibility issue – he’s gotten older and can’t reach back there the way he used to be able. If Candy’s okay with being brushed, I highly recommend the FURminator brush. We use it on Spot when he’s starting to look ratty, and it removes an amazing amount of hair with minimal effort. If Candy doesn’t like to be brushed, then yeah – go ahead and trim the knots off his back. It’ll certainly help him look a little better!
* * *
Re: Grocery clerk with attitude. Is it the same clerk that got pissed off (waaaaay back) when she realized that you were Fred’s wife? Maybe she’s just a jealous snag.
I honestly don’t remember a grocery clerk getting pissed off when she realized I’m Fred’s wife. I remember one being surprised, but not one giving us attitude. Which isn’t to say that it didn’t happen – just that I don’t remember it! In any case, this clerk was one that didn’t look at all familiar to me, so it probably wasn’t her.
* * *
Ok, I can understand changing the ingredients of a recipe around a bit, but what made her think it was a good idea to bake the pie twice as long as the recipe said?! That seems silly to me!
and
Okay, so did the double-baked pie snap with a little poof of pumpkin dust when you bit into it?
I should have mentioned this when I told the story – the pumpkin pie was just perfect, not overcooked or anything. I suspect that either she set the oven temperature wrong or there’s something going on with their oven. She cooked it that long because she kept testing the pie and it wasn’t done, so she’d cook it for another ten minutes and test it, and so on. But no – it was a perfect pumpkin pie, not overcooked in the slightest.
Another story about Fred’s mother – she said they have a quick start button on their microwave that, when you press it, it cooks whatever you have in there for 38 seconds. We have a quick start button, too, only it cooks for 30 seconds. So Fred and his sister were teasing her, telling her that it must be for 30 seconds rather than 38, but she insisted it was 38. Fred stopped by there on Monday to return the container they’d brought the pie in, but he didn’t think to look at their microwave to settle the issue.
* * *
Hhmmmm. I see a new permanent addition to the household, aka Miss Stinkerbelle — anyone else taking bets?? Or, did I miss an entry already announcing her residency, ha??
Yeah, you must have missed that one – it was
back in September. And keeping her was ALL Fred’s decision, not mine. The first time ever that he wanted to keep a cat and I didn’t!
* * *
Hi Robyn… you HAVE to visit this link; it’s instant happiness!
That is AWESOME. I keep going back and listening to it!
* * *
I haven’t been reading long enough to have participated in getting a card from you. But I have a question: how do you defray the postage? It seems pretty expensive (and extremely nice) of you to do that.
It is expensive, but it’s the big thing I like to do every year – that along with the post cards I send out from Maine every summer – and so Fred doesn’t complain too much about it. He just smiles and makes me send a few cards out to his message board friends. Basically, we eat the cost, and consider it worth it. It’s the one thing that really gets me into the holiday mood every year.
* * *
I was sitting at work today and someone passed along a Pottery Barn catalogue and I saw the cutest REINDEER DINNERWARE and that got me thinking, have you ever thought of naming foster kitties REINDEER names? You know Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen?
I thought of that last year when we had Kringle and Jack Frost, but the reindeer names have all been used. The shelter prefers that we use names that haven’t been used before, so those are off the table.
* * *
Just wanted to share another cat window seat with you all. We have a 16-18 pound 14 year old BIG kitty and very high windows. We found a sturdy, and large, window seat for him that is absolutely awesome. BIG kitty is pretty picky, so we had to shop around quite a bit. We ended up with this and he adores it. The frame is all wood and well put together. It would be great for 2 smaller cats or one great big kitty! It fits very well with our smaller windows and was super easy to put together. However, it is quite a bit more pricey than the one you posted, but seems much more durable (and bigger for those portly kitties!).
I just went and looked at that, and said to Fred, “I bet you could build something like that!”, and he said “Is it your goal to keep me so busy with building things that I forget that I want goats?” Drats! Foiled again!
* * *
You guys mention the hawks checkin’ out the girlz pretty frequently….is there any chance of them picking one of them up and flying away with her?
There’s always a chance – hawks do that sort of thing frequently, I believe – but our girls have plenty of hiding places, so I don’t think they’re seriously at risk for being snatched up. I could be wrong, though!
* * *
Many years ago, my mother checked a book out from the library; I read part of it, but never got to finish it. It was about a young woman who lived in a very old-fashioned and rigidly-moraled community of fishermen. I suppose the book could be classified as fantasy, but in sort of an “alternate reality” sense. (No swords or dragons or faerie, not that there’s anything wrong with them.)
The young woman was in love with a young man, who was unfortunately away for a while (lost at sea?). Another man in the community had taken an interest in her, and had asked her to marry him. The community had some sort of a law where, upon the third request of the man, the woman was obligated to marry him – regardless of her preference. The man took advantage of her beloved’s absence to ask her to marry him three times (she tried to avoid him, but he accosted her while she was gathering seaweed or shells or something, hence my thinking that “The Shell Seekers” might be the book), and she was trying to delay the marriage to allow for her beloved’s return. In the eyes of the community, this made her something akin to a witch or possessed woman, and there was a lot of outrage that she was trying to “buck the system” by not marrying this guy. She may have in fact been a healer or spell-crafter of some sort; I think she lived alone at the edge of the village, but I’m not sure.
In addition, there was some kind of genetic flaw (because of the small size of the community) such that very few of the community’s babies survived, to the extent that babies were not even recognized until they had lived for a week, or maybe a month (that is to say, the mothers were not allowed out of the house and no one was allowed in, not even the husband/father). The young woman’s friend had a baby who, predictably, died, and the young woman was baffled and a bit annoyed by her friend’s grief – after all, she should have expected it. Some time later, the young woman has her own baby (by the beloved? the unwanted suitor? I don’t know!!!!) and when it dies, she regrets her earlier impatience with her friend.
That is all I remember, and those details may not even be correct – but they’re close. Does ANYONE recognize this book?? Or anything like it? I need a good new source for alternate-reality fiction.
That doesn’t sound familiar to me at ALL. Readers? Ringing a bell for anyone?
* * *
You neglected to mention how many freezers you’d have to have for milk, if you had your own cow. 😉
Heh. I bet we could freeze enough milk to get us through the rest of our lives before we slaughtered the cow, couldn’t we? We have two big freezers right now. I’d bet we’d need one more just for the milk!
* * *
I’m glad I didn’t have the opportunity to purchase anything from that woman. [The hoarder on Oprah] Didn’t they mention throwing out all of the upholstered furniture due to black mold?
Yeah, I think they said that something like 90 percent of her furniture was destroyed by black mold. Which makes you wonder what kind of shape those thousands and thousands of purses were in. Maybe that’s why everything was so cheap!
* * *
I have a kitty behavior problem, too (well, it’s not my problem, but I’m curious about it. Maybe someone can give me more info than Googling provided.
My parents got a kitten several months ago, to help distract my dad from worrying about an upcoming cancer surgery. The cat bonded to my dad instantly, curled up in his lap and fell asleep whereas he’d been skittish about any of us holding him. He was a sweet, affectionate, wonderful kitty. After a few months, he started scratching and biting. No particular reason – not during petting sessions or anything like that; he’ll just run up to where you are and smack you, claws out and digging. If you move, he bites – and I don’t mean a nip. He draws blood.
My dad’s on blood thinners because of complications after the surgery, so they decided to have the cat declawed. My dad’s skin is very thin or something, and even a tiny little bump will make him bleed; the cat’s scratches were keeping him covered in Band-Aids and blood. So, naturally (and I told them this would happen) after he got declawed, he resorted to biting.
He bites everybody, and again, it’s not a “too much petting” thing. Here’s an example: My dad left the front door open and Doc went out to look around. My dad was ready to go back in, but Doc wouldn’t come in, so my dad picked him up and brought him in. (Gently and without yelling, he was sweet-talking the cat the whole time.) Doc stood in the foyer for a minute, bathed himself quickly, then jumped up on a ledge by the door and bit the hell out of my dad when he walked by.
He doesn’t hiss or puff up his fur or flatten his ears, whip his tail around or in any other way show that he feels threatened or aggressive. He’s very calm and laid back sometimes (I gave him some turkey on Thanksgiving, held it in my fingers and let him nibble at it; I’d thought he was gonna snarf it all and take my finger with him, but he was very polite) but then will just, for no apparent reason, walk up and try to take a chunk out of someone.
We had stuff sitting on the ledge between the foyer and the kitchen; my son turned around to look at one of the things, and Doc ran around to the other side of the ledge, jumped up on it, and started “Bop!Bop!Bop!Bop!”ing TJ’s hand, slapping at it and making lunging movements like he was gonna bite.
He’s never been abused, my dad treats him like a demigod, the water bottle causes him to look at you and go, “What? Bitch.” Yelling and telling him “NO!” doesn’t even get a response, to the point that I wondered if he was deaf. Walking away doesn’t work, because he’ll follow you – just to get a chance to bite you.
My mom said something jokingly the other day about, “Well, we got his claws out, I guess we’ll have to have the vet pull his teeth now,” and although she was joking, it alarmed me that she had even *thought* of it.
All the “cat behavior” stuff focuses on “Your cat’s had too much petting and is trying to let you know to stop” but this cat bites and “Bop!”s whether you’re petting him or not. He goes out of his way to FIND you in order to bite you. The usual “spray bottle” and “shout NO!” techniques don’t work on this cat, and my dad’s damn near anemic from all the bleeding. (You should see his arms. Seriously, it’s bad.)
Any thoughts or suggestions on (1) WHY he’s doing that when he’s always been treated so well (he’s been neutered, btw), (2) how to get him to STOP doing it when he’s impervious to the usual attention-getting techniques?
I’m going to throw this one out to the readers – my only advice would be to talk to the vet and see what s/he recommends. Tommy has the habit of biting if we pet him for too long, but none of the cats jump from out of nowhere to bite, so I’m at a loss, myself. Readers?
* * *
You’ve mentioned a few times that you and Fred drove up to Amish country in Tennessee. Where is that, exactly? Amish country, I mean. I’m familiar with where Tennessee is located 🙂 Thanks!
I call them Amish, but actually they’re Mennonites. Just outside of Lawrenceburg, TN, in
Ethridge. If you go up Highway 43 through Lawrenceburg into Ethridge, there are Amish galleries. If you either take a wagon tour or just take a left off Highway 43 around where the wagon tours are located, you’ll come to Mennonite houses. At the end of their driveways, there are signs advertising what they sell, and if you see something that interests you, you drive up to the house, and someone will come out to help you. (Alternately, you can stop at the
Amish Country Mall and get a map of the Amish community.)
* * *
didn’t you mention recently being slightly jealous when someone mentions Trader Joe’s because you are not near one. I feel the same about Steve and Barry’s -there are none in Northern CA, no Bitten for us.
I just went to see if Trader Joe’s has opened any new stores lately. They’re opening in locations in Georgia, so maybe before I die, they’ll open one around here!
So, yeah – I feel your pain!
* * *
Could you comment again about the HORRID women on “The Real Housewives of O.C.” That show is so deliciously bad.
God, I love that show. I love that
Jeana and
Vicki are going to boot camp, and Vicki’s having a cow because Jeana’s lost more weight than she has. Does it occur to her that Jeana’s GOT more weight to lose? Not that I think Jeana’s fat, but she’s larger than Vicki is, so it makes sense that she’d be losing weight faster. DUH, Vicki. I like Vicki, because she’s such a spaz, but if I hung out with her, I imagine that the hitting would get old FAST.
I think Megan’s a little too overprotective of whatsherface. Her sister. The adorable blonde. Lindsey. Who is adorable, but could someone explain to her that leasing a car is not the same as buying one?
Tamra got Botox this week, which answers the question, how is it that this woman is my age, but looks so much younger? I never noticed that her face doesn’t move whens she talks, ’til I saw the Botox injections (which made me cringe), and then the light dawned. I think she’s the prettiest Housewife, and I always thought that
Lauri was very pretty, but when you Tamra and Lauri side by side, Laurie looks like she’s been plastic surgeried to within an inch of her life, and it’s not a good look.
Like I said, Tamra’s pretty, but I imagine that hanging out with her would get annoying pretty quickly. Get in a room with her and Vicki, and they’d suck the oxygen right out of your lungs.
That whole competitive shit with Tamra’s husband and her son is kind of creepy. Although when they were at the club and Tamra said “Simon (her husband) doesn’t get jealous, and I never get jealous, either” and then ten seconds later, she’s all “Why are you dancing with ANOTHER WOMAN?!”, I laughed and laughed.
And lastly, the whole Jeana being separated from Matt? They just kind of glossed that over, didn’t they? Will the rest of the season be Jeana trolling for a new man? I bet it WILL. Maybe Kara can bring a new guy home from college, and Jeana can compete for attention from him!
* * *
“Suuuuuuuuure I’m “not your cat,” lady. SURE.”
When I get up in the morning, Maxi is always sleeping in this bed in the living room. All day long, she sleeps there. She asks to go out for a little while in the afternoon, then she comes back inside for snackin’ time, wanders around the house a bit, and then ends up back in this bed when we go off to bed. I think she spends 22 hours a day sleeping, 1 hour hunting, and 1 hour harassing the other cats.
* * *
Previously
2006: That’s really a bitch of a way to start the day.
2005: “Au contraire,” said the ringleader. “We found a SESAME SEED!”
2004: I give it two weeks before someone barfs on the new comforter.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: “What will I do now that I don’t have to clean dust off my ball?”
2000: I’ll just not think about that.
1999: When she came to a stop, she sat up and swayed back and forth, blinking sleepily up at me.]]>
I’ve probably commented on it before, but I have a bitchy, twitchy, unfriendly orange tabby cat. He only likes to be scratched on the head, but don’t dare touch him anywhere else. If you don’t get bit or scratched, he runs off, meowing bitchily. His tail is constantly twitching. He will sit in my lap once in a blue moon, and it usually makes me suspicious. He’s very entertaining, though, in a crazy way. I think he’s broken.
Hi Robyn I just finished reading “Kite Runner” yesterday and I thought it was one of the best books I have ever read. I noticed you only gave it 3 happy faces. I would have given it 5 happy faces!! I was just wondering what about it you didn’t like?
I couldn’t get into the kite runner either. Maybe I should have read a few more chapters before giving up on it.
I think Maxi is enjoying the easy life with the andersons 🙂
About the Real Housewives – How about Jeana and the interior decorator (I forget his name). I forget who was talking but they said Jeana and this guy are together constantly. He was at the lake with her and that is the first time I’ve seen them together! How about Vicki changing her mind on the smaller house. And, $250,000 for a swimming pool?!?! I cannot stop watching this show! Those ladies are so over the top with everything they do. The total opposite of me. I cannot wait for Lauri’s wedding!!!
Re: the biting cat – this exact same thing happened with my grandma and her kitty. The cat never did stop biting, despite the fact that she tried EVERYTHING. My mom ended up taking it and she gave my grandma one of her cats in trade. Which makes it sound like my parents have a whole bunch of cats, but they really don’t. Three isn’t a bunch? Is it? I have three, so it can’t be a bunch.
Anyhoodle. My grandma loves her new used cat, and my mom tolerates her new used cat. I heard the biting has gone down a little, and my mom thinks it’s because he has more access to outside at her house (they live out in the country and my grandma lives in town) and other animals to play with (and bite).
Robyn, your reaction to material touching you is cracking me up (but I hate too-tight clothing, too, so I understand what you mean). When I looked at the shirt, what made me laugh EVEN harder was the link on that site for “SJP’s Manifesto.” A manifesto? Wow. A little high-falutin’ for a fashion line, don’t you think? 🙂
We have 4 cats and the one we’ve had the longest, Maisey, has always been a bed pee-er. For a while we thought it was because I wasn’t keeping her litter box pristine enough. But I’ve been keeping on top of all the litter boxes and she’s still peeing. So now we just keep the door to our bedroom shut. All the time to all the cats. It’s inconvienent but she doesn’t pee anywhere else so keeping the door shut works for us.
In regards to the RHofOC…I can’t stop watching that show and I hate Vicki so much. She is such a control freak and admits to paying for stuff for her kids just so she can yank it from them if they aren’t complying. Also, did you hear Laurie say that her son moved in with her new fiance’s ex wife? WOW! I think they also said that Jeana’s male decorator friend is gay so there’s no hanky panky going on there. Does anyone know what happened to Jo?
The answer to why they suggest you take Synthroid in the morning is because if someone has an underactive thyroid then their metabolism is slowed down. Taking the Synthroid will jump start the metabolism and so a lot of people would have a hard time getting to sleep. But if it does not bother you then night time is just fine.
Re: Cat going on the Bed – Makes me wonder if she smells the old urine and that’s why she keeps going back there. Could be the first time she went there it had something to do with stress over Archie being missing, but now she can still smell some trace urine (probably undetecable to humans), so she keeps going back to the same spot. I know vinegar is great for getting urine odors out. Our 8 mo. kitten has used our bed as a litterbox a few times, and after the last time, I threw all the linens in the washer with half a bottle of vinegar (a bit overkill), and she hasn’t done it since. Knock on wood.
As I was silently swearing at having to lug the cat litter to my 3rd floor apt, I thought, at least I don’t have to buy as much litter as Robyn does. How much kittie litter do you go thru in a week/month?
Sorry my questions are so long. I try to pare things down, but I also try to give as much background info as I can so we don’t waste time with the “yes, they’ve tried the squirt bottle, no, he’s been neutered, you’re right, it would be something they’ll just have to live with … except they really can’t because of the excessive bleeding issue” back and forth.
When I was about 11, I started to tell about something that’d happened and my dad cut in and said, “We don’t have all day, so you’ll have to give us the Readers’ Digest version.” They still use ‘the Reader’s Digest Version’ to this day, if I get started on a particularly complicated tale.
My cat is an asshole who bites. Though he bites when he’s hungry, which is most of the time, since he is a fatty on a restricted diet (he’s gone from over 14 to 11.5 pounds, though!). Playing with him more has helped quite a bit- gives him an outlet for his aggression. Maybe you can get your folks a laser pointer, feather-thingey-on-a-stick, or my kitty’s favorite, a hard candy tied to a really long piece of dental floss. I can toss the candy as far as the floss will allow it to go, and then reel it back in, over and over. He loves it.
Though I have to say, dearly though I love my asshole kitty, if he was compromising my health, he’d be out the door. It’s a kitten your folks have only had for a few months. I know it initially bonded with your pops and helped him, but clearly things have changed.
Ha Ha, I realized today (after reading you for about 5 years) that your cats’ names have the words “boogers, butt, poo,” and “stink” in them. That’s funny to me. And why, yes, I AM juvenile.
I went and signed up for Holidailies too, which I will totally be blaming on you when people ask me what the hell I was thinking.
My birthday is also in January (I’ll be 39. Like, really 39, not Jack Benny 39) and I was thinking of starting another posting deal for that month. Something like ‘post whenever you want, but use really bad words’, but I remembered that’s just how I did it before NaBloPoMo. So, cool. No need to make it official!
1. Robyn, in gratitude for your fantabulously daily entry-slinging lo this past month, I am going to sign up for Holidailies in your honor! Going from a once a week or once a month poster to daily will be quite the challenge, but you have inspired me. Oh, the insanity! I predict lots of kitty pictures and cooking pictures.
2. Cat peeing on the bed – we had that problem when we re-purposed most of the bedrooms in this house, totally upsetting the kitty resting places. I thought we’d NEVER see the end of it. But when we bought a new bed to replace the peed-on one (we got a new bed cuz we just got married & moved house, not due to cat pea) I was determined to NOT have any cat pee on the new bed. Only solution for us was to vigilantly lock the kitties out of the bedroom (just keep the door shut). That has worked, and on the rare occasions when my big cat (the pe-er) does get into the bedroom, even if he gets up on the bed, he no longer takes a pee. I think breaking the habit by shutting him out helped. I had the same old (formerly peed-upon) comforter & linens, and washed those twice – once with vinegar and once with Simple Solution & animal odor Febreze. So between eliminating the cat pee smell on the linens & shutting kitties out of the bedroom, we seem to have gotten a handle on this (WHEW).
3. Robyn, not to be a contrarian – there are lots of Mennonites up around Ethridge & Lawrenceburg, TN to be sure. BUT – there is also a small Old Order Amish community, and that’s what draws me up there again and again. I find the commitment to that kind of lifestyle fascinating! Old Order Amish presence is why you see the buggies & other things particular to the Old Order Amish lifestyle (Mennonites can drive cars, use electricity, etc.). There’s some info about the history of the Lawrenceburg Old Order Amish community here.
4. Biting kitty – does he give ANY signs that he’s about to bite? Is there anything in his behavior that you can spot beforehand? If there’s any way to tell when he’s ABOUT to bite, you could maybe use the opportunity of his advance warning to employ some kind of deterrent (water pistol, air can, noisy can-o-coins?).
As far as cutting knots off kitties, be very, very careful. Cats have very thin skin and it doesn’t take too much to cut them. Happened to me once and I didn’t even think I was anywhere near the skin.
Where the hell did the search field go so I can find the jealous/pissed off grocery clerk entry. Damnit! Make MY life easier.
kthxbye!
Celestial: Over to the right at the top, helpfully titled “Search this site.” 🙂
That Other Kathy: I had no idea – I honestly thought there were only Mennonites up there – and in fact, I didn’t know the real difference between the two. Ya learn something new every day! 🙂
Hey, if an air can won’t work, try an air HORN. Yeah. That’d be awesome.
So far no help on the book, eh? Bummer. Not that I’d know it. Or that I read at all, really.
Except your site, of course. =*
I have a cat that was acting similar to “Biting Kitty”. He was a fairly new addition to the household, and after he got used to the other cat bossing him the hell around, and starting hanging out more, he started biting the hell out of me! Following me around to bite, running up to me and taking a chunk out of my leg. My boyfriend was ready to take him out back and shoot him, but I’ve always believed that when you adopt an animal it’s the same as adopting a kid – you can’t send them back if you get a stinker. So I decided that instead of running from him when he bit me, I’d see if he needed something from me. Love, a little play time, a kitty treat, and it turned out that that’s what it was! He wanted my attention; once I started spending looooots of time cuddling him, the biting stopped. That took a little while, and I had to wear long pants and sleeves there for a while, but eventually, we got to the point, where if he would start to bite, I would tell him “no” and withdraw a bit, and he would be CRUSHED. Noo! Where was the loooove!? We’re going on 4 months with no biting now, and even the bossy cat has started to cuddle him, he’s been so sweet. So maybe giving Biting Kitty a LOT more attention might go toward solving the problem.
To the NorCal person commenting on Steve & Barry’s: there’s now a S & B’s on Leavenworth in San Francisco! Woo hoo!
I don’t know what that book is, but I’ll definitively state that it is NOT “The Shellseekers”.
I’d be kind of interested in finding out what it is, though.
I think maybe “biting kitty” is bored and needs a playmate.
I’m hooked on the storyline of the book description already! Off to madly google…
Thank you Robyn for getting me hooked on the Real housewives of the O.C..
When I first saw you post about the show about two weeks or so ago I said to myself,”Well,I have always passed that show by,but if ROBYN watches it,I’ll give it a try!”
First I felt repulsion,then the,”Oh I cannot look away.” trainwreck effect. Now I actually feel affection for some of the peeps-though NOT for Tamra,Shane and most of the kids. Tamra ain’t all that anyway and that girl is MEAN!
I hope all of you living outside of California don’t think CA is like that. That sort of money and moneylust is actually just a small part of this very large state.
Did anyone besides me get irritated when the peeps on Vicki’s vacation boat made fun of the heavy woman in a passing boat?
Oh one last thing-Jo cannot sing her way out of a paperbag.
I totally agree with Amber about the biting kitty needing a playmate. Mine used to do the same thing. She would throw herself around my legs till my ankles bled. We got another little kitty in Aug. and she has not done it a single time since then!
If someone finds the title of the mentioned book please let us know! I am very interested! Thanks