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Also cracking me up is this bit I read in Reader’s Digest last night:
Some young Calabasas, California children are complaining that a “weird man” keeps popping up at their school and singing “scary songs” to them. Are their parents concerned? Not really, said the New York Post. The man is Bob Dylan, who likes to visit his grandson at school. “The kids don’t appreciate that they’re in the presence of a musical legend,” said one parent. “They just think of him as the weird guitar guy.”
I do an excellent Bob Dylan imitation. Just ask Nance!
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Comment-Answering Extravaganza!
Ever since Fred educated me about eggs from the grocery store we’ve been buying ours from our local Farmer’s market. Would you believe that the “egg man” also sells Jalapeno/Strawberry jam? Any farmer’s markets in your area where you might consider selling in the future?
That doesn’t surprise me at all, actually. There’s a flea market where we might consider selling in the future, but I don’t know how much we’re into the idea of that – sitting at a table all weekend long when I can be home doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. Yes, I AM a spoiled brat, thank you.
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Have you made an outdoor litter box/sandbox for the kids yet? Just in one corner, dig a bit of a hole or ditch, fill it with sand and some litter and Viola! Outdoor facilities! Some cats go outdoors by preference, and it makes the litter boxes indoors have less traffic.
Every morning when I open the back door, Mister “Douchebag” Boogers and Tommy run over to the big hole that the chickens dug out for their dust baths, and they take turns using it. I should mention here that the big hole is located in such a place that I can see clearly the nastiness going on out there. The chickens have abandoned that hole, by the way, and are in the process of digging holes in various places throughout the back yard. I am doing my best to convince Fred to expand the chicken yard outward, so they’ll have room to roam that doesn’t include our back yard, but I’m not having a lot of luck with that.
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When I was a kid, one Halloween someone adopted all the black cats/kitties from the animal shelter for horrible, sinister purposes that made the paper when the remains were found. Just a warning, but your beautiful kitties out for adoption and several cat head stories from yours/Freds blogs made me think about it. I have the shivers just thinking about it…
Most of the shelters in this area stop adopting out black cats for just such a reason.
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Are [Wickles] sweet pickles? or sour? I can’t eat sweet pickles. EWW.
They taste to me like bread and butter pickles with a spicy kick, so I guess you’d call them sweet. Not gherkin sweet, though, if that helps any. These pickles are AWESOME.
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I kept reading to see if Mister Boogers did get thwarted???? When’s your birthday? I found a perfect card for him to send.
Operation: Thwart Mister “Douchebag” Boogers is still in progress. Once it’s completed and that fucker is thwarted for good, I’m sure Fred will write about it – he had about 5,000 pictures on the memory stick documenting the process, and I’m sure he’ll take another 5,000 before the job is done.
My birthday’s January 9th, and I will be (drumroll) FORTY this year. If that whole “life begins at forty” thing is true, I’m not sure I can take it.
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So how do you legs and arms look these days with all those kitten crawling over you? My legs look like someone slashed me repeatedly with only one such kitten. My foot doctor wasn’t pleased at all. I have to keep the Soft Klaws on him or else it to the doctor we go per the doctor.
I’ve been lucky with the last few litters – the KATG bunch was pretty good about keeping their claws to themselves, and the five sisters before them weren’t scratchers either (also, they were a little older). The current bunch is way more skittish, so I haven’t had to deal with scratches. Last year when I had Maddy, my hands were constantly covered with scratches because she was a scratchy little bitch and I had to resort to wearing gloves when I bottle fed her, at least at first. I try not to put up with much scratching or biting from the kittens – if I can train them not to do either, I figure I’m doing their future parents a favor.
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You haven’t said a word about “Survivor China”. Are you watching it? I am enjoying it even a little better than the last one.
I’m enjoying it, but I think I’m about Survivor’d out. At this point we watch up to the end of the immunity challenge, and then we fast-forward through all the negotiating bullshit that goes on back at camp. I tend to read during most of the show, just glancing up every few minutes to keep track of what’s going on. I don’t hate it, but I don’t look forward to Thursday nights the way I used to, either.
Survivor spoilers in the rest of this section.
I’m sorry, but those two idiots who threw the challenge and then voted off Aaron tonight are about the dumbest cunts Survivor’s had on in recent memory. They THREW the goddamn challenge because they knew that no matter what, the other team would have the numbers at the merge? Are you fucking KIDDING me? IDIOTS. And it never occurred to them, after they chose two members from the other team to come to their tribe that the other tribe would be getting two of THEIR members? Um, what? JESUS GOD IN HEAVEN, PLEASE SMITE THEM NOW TO REMOVE THAT KIND OF FLUFF-BUNNY AIR-HEADED IDIOCY FROM THIS EARTH.
Fred pointed out, when they were going to the immunity challenge, that it would be a good twist to have the two members switched back. It would have, but alas. That Mark Burnett is not as good at show planning as we are, clearly. HA.
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I read something awhile back (I think it was in the archives, but I really can’t remember) about cat beds, and you mentioned that one had a removable pad that could be warmed. Is that warmed from the cat’s body as they sleep, or pop-in-the-microwave warmed? I have an old and creaky cat that in previous winters has come upstairs and snuggled under the covers, however he no longer seems to want to do stairs. I’m thinking I might to have to carry him upstairs every night once it gets cold, but if I could get a bed that I could preheat then he might be just as comfortable. And he wouldn’t have to deal with my tossing and turning that always seems to annoy him so very much.
The ones that I bought are small ones meant for kittens (they’re actually even too small for the 3 month-old kittens I have right now), and they can be popped in the microwave, according to the package they came in. I’ve never actually microwaved them, though, so I don’t know how warm they get.
I did a little looking around and found
this microwavable pet bed warmer you might want to try. What you might try before that, if you have even the slightest bit of sewing skills, is
making your own microwavable heating bag. Also, if the bed is near a plug, you could try one of those beds you can plug in (I think I’ve seen them at PetSmart). Readers? Suggestions?
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My Friday question is what’s your take on the Ellen Degeneres dog situation?
For those of you who haven’t heard about it or seen the video, watch it
here. I think it’s pretty sad, actually. I would have thought that the agency would warn her not to let it happen again (or fine her, even) and make the new family fill out paperwork, but going and seizing the dog from a family it’s bonded to seems overzealous.
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You know who I hate on Kid Nation? The one from Boston with the scabby lips. I can’t even look at the screen when they interview her. It’s too much.
Laurel! Oh, I like Laurel, but yeah – the scabby lips are pretty bad. And every now and then her accent seems really, really strong, and I don’t know why it is, but it’s odd to hear a kid with a strong Boston accent, I don’t know why.
Sophia’s another one I like – she’s like 14 going on 40, she sounds like such an adult. Some of these kids kill me with how intelligent and adult they sound.
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Now that you are so thin, what kind of differences has it made in your day to day life? I know just getting dressed in the morning and having clothes fit is a huge relief, even after losing 10 or 20 pounds. So I wonder if the change is more dramatic, the greater the weight lost.
The number one difference it’s made in my daily life is that it doesn’t hold me back. Before I lost weight, if I needed to go upstairs for something, I’d put it off as long as I had to. Now, I run up those stairs without thinking twice about it. I mean, I’m not running up and down the stairs all day long – I’m still essentially a lazy person – but if I need to take something up or get the vacuum cleaner or whatever, it’s not a big deal. I can also stand for hours and hours without having feet that ache at the end of the day.
Also, if I need to get down on the floor to play with the kittens or look under the bed or whatever, it’s not a drawn-out process to get back to my feet. Before, it was painful and awkward and slow to get to my feet. Now, I put my hands on the floor, push myself to my feet, and I’m up. No big deal!
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Gentlemen, you may be excused from this section.
I’ve got a question about the Diva cup: I’m eager to try it, but concerned about one, teensy little issue. Y’see, I tried the Instead thingies, and found that, when I sneezed… well… there was spillage (I suppose all those Kegels I’ve been doing haven’t been quite as effective as I would’ve hoped). So, here’s my question: does the Diva cup stay where you put it, or am I likely to sneeze and launch a projectile of silicone and goo from my cha-cha (props to Cartman’s mom)?
As long as you have the Diva cup inserted properly – VERY important – I haven’t noticed any leakage at all. The only issue I’ve had thus far with the cup is getting it inserted so that it “seals” right. When you’re inserting it, you have to hold it folded shut. Once you get it in there, you let it go so that it can “pop” (figuratively, not literally on that one) into place, and sometimes I have an issue getting it to pop all the way out. The things I’ve found that help are to have it warm before you insert it – I run it under very warm water – and if I’m having an issue after that, pulling the cup out a little, then pushing it back up while kind of bearing down will help it pop into place.
I’m the one who wouldn’t answer the sex question last week, aren’t I?
There might be a little residual blood that comes out during the removal-washing-reinsertion process, but you can generally handle that with some wiping, and if it’s a heavy flow day, a panty liner wouldn’t hurt.
Those of you who use the Diva cup, feel free to leave suggestions or anything about your experience with the Diva Cup in the comments.
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My little darlings knocked over their litterbox and decided that the best thing to do would be to use it regardless. This has left me with a patch of carpet that is stiff as a board of cat pee mixed with litter. I can’t even begin to budge it. I’ve tried our normal pet stain stuff, but this is proving far beyond my limited expertise. What do you suggest?
Have you tried a steam cleaner? That’s really the only thing that comes to mind. If you don’t own one, I think you can rent one from WalMart or a lot of grocery stores rent them out, too. Other than that, the only suggestion I have is to replace the carpet. Someone else might have a better suggestion, though. Readers?
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So, we have new fosters. This bunch came – I think – from the same woman who had the last bunch, and the bunch before, even. She lives in the country and there’s been a real problem with people dropping cats off in her area.
Unlike the last bunch, this litter – there are six of them, four boys and two girls – aren’t terribly friendly. It’s only been a few days, though, so hopefully they’ll warm up. None of them are snugglers, and two of them are scaredy-cat hiders, so we may have to get drastic (ie, separating them from the others) if they don’t chill out in the next few days.
I tried the thing Miss Pink told me about, rubbing their little faces with a piece of flannel around my finger like I’m their momma, and they put up with it, so we’ll see how they act when I go up there again.
Anyway, they’re cute, there are six of them, and since two of them looked so much like Keith and Brolo from the last litter, I stuck with the
Keith and the Girl naming theme, even grabbing a couple of names of regular posters in their forum.
Malley.
Spooky.
Deuce.
Rhian.
Jesikat.
Peyton.
The first night we got them, these scaredy cats hid behind the door. That’s Jesikat, Deuce, and Malley.
Peyton puts his paws in the air like he just don’t care.
Rhian in the cat tree.
Peyton’s all “Hellew.”
Fred and I had a confused conversation where I kept referring to Deuce as “he” (which he is), but Fred thought I’d named the cat “
Dooce” (which I hadn’t) and wanted to know why I’d name a boy cat “Dooce.” Which I hadn’t. It took a distressingly long amount of time to get the point across that the cat’s name was not “Dooce” but rather “Deuce.”
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Whenever I step one foot outside the house – especially if I leave by the side door – Spanky sits at the door and watches every move I make. If I’m doing something like filling bird feeders, he sits and watches until I turn and look at him, and then he meows at me, like “Enough of the outside stuff! You’re making me nervous! Get back in here!” Between this and his job as Bathroom Ambassador, I don’t know how on earth he squeezes all 23 1/2 of those vital naptime hours into his day. He manages, though – our Spanky is King of time management.
Previously
2006: I know. I’m going to hell. At least I know I’ll have good company!
2005: I WILL BE THE VICTOR, DAMNIT!
2004: More Myrtle Beach.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: I’ve turned into a crazy cat lady for real, haven’t I?
2000: The spud turns 12 next week, can you believe it?
1999: I’ve been out of sorts all day.]]>