If you check out my blog you will see some photos of deer in our neighborhood that have been horribly treated. Not only are these living animals these activities are illegal. Can you help me spread the word that these gentle creatures are not to be kept as pets or treated as targets for practice? I was hoping you might be able to help me spread the word. Thanks, Wendy
Tuesday it rained all day, and that night when Fred went off to bed, he called me into his room to look out the window. The entire back forty was covered in water, the garden was covered, the back yard was covered. As far as I could see, there was nothing but water.
Half worried that we were all going to float away (or at least that the chicken coops might), I went to bed.
Yesterday morning it was clear and bright and sunny, and the water had receded quite a bit.
Last night, the temperatures dropped into the 20s, and it’s supposed to be COLD AS SHIT for the foreseeable future. I’m actually not complaining, believe it or not, because I’d rather the ground get cold and hard so every time I go out to the back forty, I don’t sink into six inches of mud.
I finally got around to watching Hoarders. I know y’all mentioned it to me when it first came on, and I swear I thought we didn’t get A&E, so I made a mental note to watch an episode or two online. I never got around to it – mostly because I hate sitting and watching anything longer than a few minutes on the computer – and then last week I checked again, and lo and behold, we DO get A&E. I set up to tape, and have recorded a few episodes.
Tuesday, I decided I was going to have a lazy-ass day, so I snuggled up on the couch with a varying number of kittens, and watched TV.
SKIP THIS PART IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOST RECENT EPISODES OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
1. That whole shit with Nora and Simon and her ending up giving him money is so OBVIOUS AND HAM-HANDED that I’m embarrassed to watch that shit. I tell you what, if I ever end up a rich widow and start dating some guy who runs a “charitable organization” and needs “funding”, I will boot him out on his ass so fast he won’t know what hit him. DON’T BE A VICTIM, NORA. (That said, I’m sure it’ll end up being TOTALLY legit. Or whatever. I don’t care for this particular storyline, though Kitty stumbling across Nora and Simon in the shower cracked me UP.
2. Why the fuck do people who have serious illnesses feel the need to hide shit from the people around them? I hate that shit.
3. Oh, and of COURSE Kitty’s got to collapse at Justin and Rebecca’s wedding. Did I mention “ham-handed” and “obvious”? Also, that blond wig has got to GO. I cannot believe Rebecca would ever want to marry into that crazy-ass
OKAY IT’S SAFE, BROTHERS AND SISTERS WATCHERS.
So then I watched three episodes of Hoarders. And why did two of them have to feature people who had DEAD CATS in their houses? I was watching the one with the elderly couple who had cats all through their house (they thought they had 20 or 25, but as it turned out, there were 70-something cats in the house, about half of them dead) and I was watching them walk around putting cat food on plates for cats in various parts of the house, and I had a mental image of myself EVERY FUCKING NIGHT standing in the kitchen with ten million cats dancing around me and squawking and whining about how starving they are, and how I’ve started putting Stinkerbelle’s nightly snack on the top of the canning cabinet because she’s all “I am hungry, but THEY’S TOO GODDAMN MANY CATS IN THERE” and then how I follow Spanky to another room because he’s all “I would enjoy a snack but THEY’S TOO GODDAMN MANY CATS IN THERE” and I leave the snack wherever he settles, and I was all “HELLO I AM SEEING MY FUTURE.”
When your cats are telling you that you’ve got too many cats? You might have too many cats.
(But does the fact that nine of them are transitory make a difference? And also, I don’t use paper plates? I use REAL plates. And then I wash them. Oh god help me, I’m a fucking lunatic, aren’t I? I’m going to go look under my bed and make sure there are no dead cats.)
The last one I watched, that I finished watching and then COINCIDENTALLY got up and started cleaning house, no correlation between the two, of course not, was the woman in Louisiana whose house was so bad that they devoted the entire show to her. Who had had no plumbing for six years, and the cleaning crew started cleaning her house, hit the bathroom and were all like “Um, FUCK NO THANK YOU, WE’LL WAIT OUT HERE.” They hauled something like 8,000 pounds of garbage out of her house.
Watching that shit makes me itchy, because OF COURSE I have hoarding tendencies. If one cat bed is good, sixteen is sixteen times better, right?
ARGH.
Seriously – if you’re not watching Hoarders, you’ve gotta give it an episode or two. Trust me.
My Kindle arrived on Tuesday. I gave it to Fred to play with, and downloaded Uncle Tom’s Cabin for him (because it’s free), and after about fifteen minutes of him using the Kindle, he came in and gave it back to me and declared that he doesn’t like it.
MORE KINDLE FOR ME, THEN.
(Still can’t believe I have to wait ’til Christmas Eve to get Under the Dome on my Kindle. FUCKERS.)
I haven’t downloaded any books yet, mostly because I’m kind of stocked up on real books, and I ain’t gonna go pay for the same book again. I’m sure I’ll find something I want immediately, it’ll just take me time to figure out what.
Oh, and for the record? I REALLY like the Kindle.
Anyone know what this bug might be?
Miss Pink.
I know not why, but every kitten in the house adores playing in the can where I toss all my junk mail and magazines to recycle.
Keebler, pondering.
I don’t know why Elwood’s got that grumpy look on his face – he LOVES to snuggle with the little ones, and it’s not like they’re crowding him.
Five Cookies in one bed (you’ll note that Miss Orange almost always has her eyes on me. She’s a lovah, that one.)
The many faces of Mike Teevee.
MY GOD I JUST LOVE HIS SWEET LITTLE FACE.
Newt, in the back yard. Not lookin’ for trouble – but somehow, trouble always finds him.
Previously
2008: I AM BESIDE MYSELF WITH EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2007: It’s a pisser that the things that are the least fun – cleaning, laundry – are a neverending cycle.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: I want to marry you, Consumer Reports.
2003: The Bean’s nickname for today is “Stanley Rotten.”
2002: Xmas meme.
2001: And then Miz Poo SMACKS him again.
2000: No entry.
1999: I’m just saying.
If it makes you feel any better, Kit-Kat has his own set of china. I got him 6 of these: http://www.hartstonepottery.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=1825&ccode=54300958 but let me say that I am not a total lunatic – I used to live in the area where they’re made and I found, um, thirds? (they’re a little too messed up to even be seconds but totally usable and cute for cat food) for 50 cents apiece.
Daisy, those are ADORABLE.
And most of the snack plates I have for the cats came from Old Time Pottery for about 50 cents each. They’re just plain white plates, nothing fancy, but at least we don’t have to share our own plates with the cats… YET. 🙂
If you like “Hoarders”, you would probably also enjoy “Intervention” on the same channel.
I got kind of Intervention’d out a few years ago, but I think I’m about ready to go back and check it out again!
Dead cats? OMG. I watched Hoarders maybe once or twice and I just can’t bear it. Besides the godawful mess these people have created, at least in the ones I saw, they had trouble accepting help to clean it up. Had to look at every single thing. Interrupted whatever progress there was to make sure nothing “important” had been thrown out. It scares me.
I used to watch Clean House sometimes too (muted) and that scared me, too.
But dead cats? Wouldn’t they smell? OMG, the houses already smell don’t they? Ok, officially creeped the eff out now.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS STUFF…. SCROLL ON BY!
Brothers & Sisters this week had me YELLING AT MY TV. All last season (IMO) they were doing way too much dramatic crap per episode, and now this year it’s almost worse at times. I was yelling, “THERE’S SUCH A THING AS SUBTLETY, HAVE YOU HEARD OF IT???” The Nora storyline has me fucking PISSED, because it’s just THAT stupid… and of course that was going to happen to Kitty because Robert left for Washington and yet another thing had to get in the way of that dumb marriage. I can’t even talk about the stupid pregnancy b/c omfg. OMFG! grrr. I keep watching it but it’s on a thin line with me b/c even though I have a high tolerance for crap on TV, even *I* have my limits.
I’ve watched hoarders this season and a couple from last season. It is hard to comprehend. They all say they don’t know where to start to clean up. I say, how about the piece of paper laying on the front step? I know logically that this is a mental illness but I cannot help but get pi&&ed off at these people. The ones that blame their condition on everyone else but themselves are the ones that really get me going. I admire the people who come in and shovel out everything. This show definitely scares me into being tidier I missed the one with the cat hoarders. I think I might be afraid to watch. I don’t think you have anything to worry about because maybe you do collect or buy in bulk some items, but you use them and then toss or give them away. You can walk through you house, touching the floor. I think not being able to do that is a requirement to be like the people on the show. And honestly, not too many cats. That would be like saying a person with a large family could not run a bed and breakfast!
I’ve tried to institute a new rule when I’m shopping, lately – if it can’t be consumed or used up (ie, litter, paper towels, trash bags), I DON’T NEED IT. I’m not completely successful, but it’s cut down on the amount of useless crap I buy SOME, at least. 🙂
Thank you Robyn. I knew you would help me. And yes, I have dreamed about you! I just keep it to myself because I don’t want to seem like a crazy cyber-stalker….even if I might be one. Huge hugs to you!!! Wendy
I don’t watch Brothers and Sisters but I can answer #2 for you.
It is really hard to tell people you have a serious illness (yes, even family.) I just got diagnosed in October 2009 with Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma and people freak the fuck out when you tell them about it. “Soooo, when you gonna die from that disease?” is a tough question to answer.
For the record, it is a rare cancer and since my mother freaked the fuck out about it, I asked the doctor what I can tell my mom to ease her mind. The doctor said you will “die with this disease, not because of it” which made my mom calm down.
PSA: get some insurance if you don’t have it. I didn’t think I needed it, my boss doesn’t offer it, my boyfriend can’t carry me without marrying me, and my 1st hospital bill alone is $47,000.00.
Pam, I’m sorry to hear of your diagnosis, and the idea of owing the hospital $47k after a single hospitalization, UGH. What you said makes sense, though, thanks for clarifying. 🙂
Hi, I think you’ve got a crane fly in that pic. They resemble mosquitoes, fly around in a daze and whap into lights and are harmless if somewhat pathetic as an insect. Something that size you’d think would have control over it’s ability to annoy. If the kittens eat it, it’s a small jolt of protein. Given how far south you are you should have some GIGANTIC insects! And if you need to feel good about your weather, yesterday in north central Mass. we had 7 inches of snow. The Boston stations were all, “it will turn into rain.” Not so much…
The cats have lately been chasing down and eating cave crickets, who are somehow coming into the house in the laundry room/ kitchen area. When I see the cats chasing something down, I have to make sure it’s a wasp, but if it’s a cave cricket, they’re welcome to it. I think the protein boost is keeping ’em healthy (but I sure wish they’d eat the legs, too. I’m not fond of finding cave cricket legs on the floor!)
I don’t think it’s a crane fly, since flies only have one pair of wings and your pictures show 2 pairs. It must be some kind of wasp – probably a harmless (to humans) kind that parasitizes other insects. I can’t get a sense of how big it is, but could it be a kind of ichneumon wasp? (Some kinds don’t have those enormously long ovipositors.)
Elizabeth, you might be right. The shape of the ichneumon wasp looks more like the bug I took the picture of than the crane fly does.
1) That deer made me sad 🙁 I have no idea how the sale of arrows is regulated, but they should all have serial numbers that are registered upon purchase so they can be tracked if a hunter acts like an ass and leaves an animal to die a slow, painful death or uses them in inappropriate areas.
2) Brothers and Sisters is MADDENING. Between Calista Flockhart’s trout lips, and the dumbass wedding from hell, I’m about to stop watching it. I never really watch it on a regular basis, but lately I’ve been leaving ABC on after DH.
3) I love love love my Kindle and I kiss it and hug it every day. It is so easy to hold (unlike a regular book), and read (no tennis neck), that I stay up for hours in bed reading. Normally, I’d be annoyed after a while of being uncomfortable holding the book and go to sleep. I loooove my Kindle. I’ve had mine since June and I’ve read like 15-16 books, which is not a ton (for me), but I’m in grad school and I work 40+ a week so my time is limited. I like that I can get new releases for $9.99 which is a hell of a lot less than a hardcover new release for $25-30. Unless it’s a revolutionary life changing book, I really don’t mind if I don’t have it in physical book form.
I always clean after I watch Hoarders. I’ve calmed down a little, getting desensitized I guess, but after the first couple of episodes I watched, I did major projects I’d been putting off, like the hall closet which was a disaster. I love the idea of a Kindle, but I rarely buy books as it is, and when I do they’re usually either knitting books or something for homeschooling. I get all other books from the library these days.
That bug is only found in homes that have too many cats. It is called a Catamanyfly
You had me going for a moment, there, DAMNIT.
NOT FUNNY.
Maybe someone farted under the kittybed covers and Elwood was overcome! Maybe the stench scorched his eyebrows *snort*
It’s been “COLD AS SHIT” here too. Yesterday morning it was NINE degrees overnight. This doesn’t happen here but less often than a blue moon. Don’t ‘they’ know that this is the Pacific Northwest and our weather is supposed to be pleasantly chilly this time of year? Last year was all snowy, and now this year we’ve had a week of VERY FUCKING COLD WEATHER. And I have to go out in it today. Hope it warms up to at least 35 by 11:30.
At least you didn’t have to walk out in the yard when it was covered in water! Hip Boots anyone?
Webster, I’m with you – I’m in the South, it’s not supposed to get THIS cold! But like I said, at least the ground will get hard and I won’t sink in the mud.
I think, if you get itchy to clean after an episode of Hoarders, then you’re probably OK and not doomed to show up on the show yourself as a cat bed hoarder 😉
If anyone ever wants to try to label me as a cat hoarder, all I’m going to do is tell them to watch an episode or two of Hoarders involving cats. BIG difference.
If I get in a rut where I feel lazy and don’t want to clean house, I’ll either watch an episode of Hoarders or that show on BBC called How Clean is Your House? Works every time. I’d just suggest not eating during either of those shows if you don’t have a strong stomach.
Hoarders is a total train wreck show, but I think it helps show that the people that do this kind of thing have serious mental problems. I think it’s hard to realize that it’s not the stuff/cats/whatever, but the person’s selfishness & attachment to the stuff/cats/etc. that’s the core problem. Instead of asking why they aren’t throwing things away, I think people should ask why are they attached to that piece of trash? There could be tons of reasons. Inability to process emotions or feelings if it belonged to someone they loved, feelings of unworthiness (no one loves me, so why should I care to throw this away? I deserve to live in filth), inability to communicate with people…there are all kinds of reasons. True, these people are living in denial that there is a problem and they should have found a therapist or some kind of help a lot sooner, but in a world where there’s still a stigma on needing therapy, it’s hard to admit that to yourself.
Of course, the stigma of having your house featured on a hoarding television show isn’t much better, is it?
I don’t think you have anything to worry about regarding cats, Robyn – even if you had 100, you’d still have them all organized in their own rooms, spayed and vaccinated, and you’d have NAMES for each and every one of them!…
Merry Christmas if I don’t comment again before then!…
Oh yeah, forgot to say that your bug looks like a crane fly to me. But I’m no expert.
I don’t watch Hoarders because I LIVE it. Although it’s gotten better since we had a friend come in to help us clean and organize.
Fortunately, we only have one cat. [I’d love another cat, but feel that our house would have to be cleaner first.]
This year they (Hoarders) seem to be focused on the worst of the worst. So far, I think the first season was better–you should check it out online or in reruns. Far fewer dead animals under the piles–there was only one episode with that level of squalor. The folks doing the hoarding were more lucid and way more annoying! One centered on a couple who’d bought a second house to get away from the piles of stuff in the first…and then, of course, filled the new house with stuff. They’d planned to sell the first house, but the wife couldn’t bear to get rid of the stuff, so both of the houses were in danger of foreclosure.
Another great one was the husband in MA who was driving away his wife and daughter with his crap–including giant piles of magazines on the stairs that caused his wife to break her leg. He was an engineer (I think) and at one point, he was going through his daughter’s bedside wastebasket to save a nearly empty bottle of hand lotion.
Can you tell I love the Hoarders?
Hmm, the Brothers & Sisters show: I’ve watched it since the beginning which coincidently was when my husband died. I sort of identified with Nora — but then it came out her husband was a cheater, the whole Holly/daughter stuff, etc. Still, I like Nora’s storyline most of the time. Not sure what’s up with the latest plotline: but it does keep you wondering. There is a lot of “drama”…possibly too much. It reminds of soap operas though, especially the “Knots Landing” crowd (another guilty pleasure I always called, “Nuts Landing.”LOL)
On the other hand, being a widow with a couple nickles to rub together, I would NEVER give a man (or anybody) money without KNOWING exactly who/what I was getting into (a good lawyer is a necessity). And it’s kinda perplexing at times: I actually think that having a bit more money than I’d ever had has in some ways limited me. At times I DO want to just give most of it to a charitable cause (saving critters). I mean, DH and I were not poor – more middle-class but still, that dream of not having to worry about money? Not all it’s cracked up to be. To top it all off, I’m still living a very frugal lifestyle.
The hoarder show, haven’t seen it. But I got an eye-opener when DH died: we had 2 barns, a huge garage and houseful of “stuff,” not to mention several horses. Admittedly DH’s ‘stuff’ was valuable yet I didn’t know what half of it was for, etc. Took me and family MONTHS to clear that out, then tackle the house. I’ve been trying to travel lighter since then, yet just going through a move where I’d lived only 3 years, I was shocked at how much stuff I’d kept. Had to sort/toss out/giveaway again. I think the rule is: if it hasn’t been in used 3 months, lose it.
I had 9 cats at one time, and all were premanent residents. Would still have them all if they hadn’t died of failing health issues. A lot depends on how well the cats are taken care of, and the time one has to do that. I think you do a great job, and could never end up as a hoarder.
Okay, I’ll end this book here. LOL
Saw both of those episodes of hoarders and a new one where a older woman who was, and I am quoting her “a technical writer in the IT arena” lived it absolute squalor and had been going to the bathroom in adult diapers for I think 6 years! She had no running water either. Her house was beyond disgusting loaded to the rafters with trash. I just couldn’t believe that she actually held a job without any running water and going in adult diapers. Did she go to an office like that? Can you IMAGINE!???
The one with the dead cats under the 8,000 lbs of trash was unbelievable and she was so ungrateful to everyone and blamed everyone including her daughter who had to raise her son because he was taken away. Under the stuff piled in her bedroom, a package of diapers from her son who is now like 28 yrs old.
Great show but I am always yelling “YOU $)(#W$* PIG!!!” at the TV! 🙂
I watched that one today – good god, SO GROSS!
I watched that same Louisiana episode of Hoarders, got up and cleaned out and rearranged my closets, donating a huge garbage bag of clothing and tossing out about 1/2 a garbage bag of stuff that I’d been holding on to for who knows what reason. Good lord, but that house was unbelieveable. *shudders*
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who cleans up a bit after watching Hoarders. The show with the dead cats left me speechless (and in tears).
I love, love, love my Kindle! I received mine in the mail last week and have read two books and am on the third and have a fourth waiting to read.
I may be book rich and cash poor before long.
We always clean after Hoarders. My grandma was definitely a hoarder, just not on a huge scale, so my mom & I tend to throw everything away that we’re not in love with or just bored with.
My husband, a biologist, says that the bug looks to have 4 wings and Crane flies have two wings, also the legs don’t look long enough to be a Crane fly. He thinks it is some sort of parasitic wasp.
Brutally cold here in Idaho right now… minus 11 yesterday morning with a high of about 10..we are hoping for snow so it warms up! Half the goats are wearing blankets, the chickens are not coming down from the rafters of the barn and the cats are surrounding the wood stove.