Survivor spoilers; skip to the next section if you haven’t seen last night’s episode yet!
This is the fucking BEST SEASON EVER. Those women have played the FUCK out of those men, and I cannot believe that boy was SO DUMB as to give up that idol. OH MY GOD. I can’t remember the last time every episode has had me on the edge of my seat like this. Those men are SO GODDAMN DUMB, it’s totally the season of dumbass men.
There have – if I recall correctly – been seasons where the final four were all women. Right? Definitely there’s been at least an all-female final three, it’s all kind of a blur. This is the first time I feel like every one of those women absolutely deserves to be there. None of them slid into it or rode coattails, they all schemed and manipulated and played the game to DEATH. Even Natalie, with convincing him to give her the idol.
I hope like hell that Amanda can get her ass into the final three, because if she can then I don’t think anyone has any chance against her. I think they all know that Amanda’s going to end up winning if she gets to the final three, too.
This has been the best season in a long, long time. I can’t wait ’til Sunday!!!
What’s up with the pigs nose? It looks totally clogged with goo. I don’t know anything about pigs, but it looks like it can’t breathe!
Nope, it’s not clogged. There’s some mud around the edge of his nostrils, but other than that it’s just… nostril. He can breathe just fine! (See here for the larger version)
Aren’t those pretty yellow flower weeds a field of canola?
and
I do believe that those flowers are feverfew. It supposedly cures just about everything – try it on your favorite ailment and see if it works! 🙂 Even if it doesn’t cure world hunger, the flowers are lovely, aren’t they?
I haven’t got a clue what the yellow flowers are, but they certainly are pretty!
I’m back just to say – it’s been hanging out in the back of my brain all day . . . Moldy strawberries? Man – Could you imagine all the food that would not go to waste if we human or even cats and dogs could really “Eat like a pig”? Or – the amount of food poisoning we would not have to endure? Once again, another saying that is a lie…
I should add here that the pigs weren’t terribly crazy about the strawberries, moldy or not. Which surprised the hell out of me – they like sweet stuff, I thought for sure they’d like strawberries (mold or not)! They did eventually eat the strawberries but it was in a grudging way, kind of like “Well since there’s nothing ELSE…” Spoiled brats.
I tell you what, ever since we got those pigs, NOTHING has gone to waste. I used to have to empty the compost bucket every couple of days, but now I only have to do it once a week, and that’s only because it starts to smell if I don’t. We’re pretty much only composting coffee grounds and onion peels (our pigs don’t like onions); the pigs and chickens eat everything else!
Vinegar for fabric softener? Tell me more…….. Do you put it in at rinse? Can you put it in the dispenser. Are your clothes really soft? How is it better than Downey (besides being cheaper)? How much do you use?
I use a cup of vinegar, and I put it in the dispenser when I start the wash. A cup just fills up the dispenser, so I don’t have to even measure it. It makes my clothes just as soft as fabric softener does (though keep in mind that I hang my clothes out to dry, so they’re not as soft as they’d be in the dryer), it doesn’t leave the fabric softener smell behind, it’s cheaper, and it’s better for the environment!
Hi Robyn – Your mention of Paula’s Gooey Butter Cake reminded me of this.
Does Steve Carell look like the NICEST guy on earth, or what? I watched that entire video and just grinned like a goon the entire time.
Did you happen to notice that in the pic of the apron, you kind of look like you are balancing the pot on your head? It looked that way when I just glanced quickly at the screen and I had to laugh.
I actually did NOT notice that until you guys started commenting about it. Rest assured, I am NOT balancing that pot on my head and I don’t think I could if I wanted to. That sucker is HEAVY. It’s the best pot on earth, though – I use it all the time.
I may have mentioned this before, but Fred seriously needs to get a t-post driver so we don’t have to read about “The sledgehammer incident of aught eight”. You should be able to find one at any farm supply type place.
I think you did mention it before, because I remember saying something to Fred and him making noises about getting a t-post driver and then we both immediately forgot about it completely.
I swear, if there is ANYTHING on earth more precious than kittens (and puppies) I don’t know what it could be. LOVE the kitten photos, brings back so many happy memories of the kittens I’ve raised. They definitely DO recognize you, early on. I bottle-fed one kitten, which as at times a chore, but she was adorable and it was a fun experience. The only trouble I had was getting her to learn to eat FOOD; she just wouldn’t do it, even when I’d dip her little face in liquid, soft cat food. She wouldn’t even drink cream. Finally I put her with my other cats (she was the only suviving kitten of several) and after observing them eat, lo and behold, she started eating! Ha!
This reminds of when I had Maddy and she would NOT eat canned food, no matter how much I tried to get her to try it. She was NOT interested, I would put it front of her face and she would sniff it and walk away, I’d pile it up on the plate and show it to her, NOT interested, I would smear a little in her mouth, she’d swallow it and still? NOT INTERESTED. And then one evening I was trying it for the millionth time, and suddenly it was all she wanted on earth. She just didn’t want to start eating food until SHE wanted to and once she decided she was ready, there was no problem. Brat.
You mentioned putting the cat food outside … do you have any problems with raccoons or possums or (gulp) skunks? We have had them actually coming inside our house through the pet door – which, by the way is nowhere near the cat food. They have to come all the way down an “L” shaped hallway and through the dining room to get to the cat food in the kitchen. It is definitely creepy to know they’re in the house at night … I get up pretty early, and more than once I have seen a raccoon (or maybe a possum, but I am in denial on that one) at the catfood dispenser. Ugh, they’re so unconcerned by humans, they just kind of saunter out of the room, almost giving me a dirty look over their shoulders.
I haven’t seen any raccoons or seen or smelled any skunks, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there! We lock up the house at dark, make all the cats (except Maxi and Newt) stay inside, and don’t leave the cat door open, so if they’re out there they can’t get in. At the other house we never had any issues with raccoons or skunks, but we did leave the cat door open at night, so once a strange cat came inside (and got his ass kicked by Tubby), and we had a couple of baby possums brought into the house by our cats, too. I believe that’s why we started shutting the cat door at night!
I was also wondering about whether you have had any problems with raccoons (or other predators) around the chickens?
This is another case where I’ve never seen raccoons or any other predators around the chickens, but we lock them up at night, and I don’t believe there’s an animal out there who could get into the chicken coops. Those things are like Fort Knox!
No more open pet door at night at our house, so now we are in the market for a self-cleaning litter box. Any suggestions on that front are welcome, as well.
I liked the Litter Robot at first, but after we’d had it about 6 months, it started not working all the time, then at 9 months the globe cracked and I decided I’d go back to scooping them by hand (which I’d been doing anyway, because not all the cats would use the Litter Robot) and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since!
Readers, self-cleaning litterbox suggestions?
Ok, maybe this is a totally stupid and ridiculous question but I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no kittehs. Do the kittehs always use the same nipple to nurse? Do they line up in the same order? Or do they line up by who gets there first? Is there a nipple pecking order? Or … just random? HEY. I’m a CITY KID.
Oddly enough, I thought it was just a random thing, that they grabbed whatever nipple was closest and free, but once I started paying attention, I realized that they do seem to each have their own nipple. Inara and Zoe are on either end, River’s in the middle, and Kaylee’s is located right underneath River’s, which makes it interesting. If you notice the pictures where all four of them are nursing, you’ll never see Kaylee’s head, just her feet sticking out from underneath River. I don’t think they always use the same nipples every single time, but they do seem to gravitate toward “their” nipple.
(pic)
Just out of curiosity, does Kara carry the kittens around by the scruff of their necks at all?
No, I haven’t seen her do that at all. When they were very little, they didn’t leave the box at all – or hardly at all – and now that they’re big enough to explore the room, she keeps an eye on them, but they always come back to the box and to Momma, especially when she calls them.
It will be interesting to see who is pissed off with Fred. Someone not getting enough attention because Fred spends all his time outside playing instead of sitting and cuddling. I hope you figure out the culprit and stop him or her. I had a cat that did it and no matter what I did, I could not stop him from peeing on my bed.
I think the issue with the cat peeing on the bed could be as simple as the fact that the mattress on Fred’s bed was the one that Tubby peed on years ago toward the end of his life. I think there would be no peeing on the bed if we replaced the mattress, but Fred doesn’t want to – the cat pee smell isn’t noticeable to the human nose, just the feline nose, apparently!
I’ll tell you what – if anyone ever pees on MY bed, they’re all going to become outdoor cats IMMEDIATELY. Fuckers.
I just found out that you guys missed a major holiday! Apparently May 4th was “International Respect For Chickens Day” (http://www.upc-online.org/) I realize it’s a crunchy granola vegan holiday, but there’s no one I’ve ever known that respected their chickens more!
We definitely respect our chickens. Speaking of chickens, we have one chicken that’s gone broody. She’s currently sitting on a nest of five (I think) eggs. More days than not, she leaves her nest of eggs to get something to eat and drink, comes back to find another chicken in her nest (that’s a favorite nest for laying, apparently) and gets in another nest. The chicken in the nest with the eggs lays her egg (we’ve marked the eggs that have been there for a while so we know which ones are fresh) and wanders off, leaving behind a nest of eggs. And the broody chicken just stays where she is.
We tried separating her off – Fred made her a nest in a clean litter box, put the whole thing in the little coop with the little chickens, and that goddamn chicken would have nothing to do with those eggs ’til Fred put them back in the big coop. I don’t have high hopes for these eggs ever hatching.
Chickens are not known for their intelligence, I suppose.
De-lurking to say I did the cat/bird in the house thing only it was with a dog and live rabbit which escaped at one point. I’ve learned to #1 – if dog is carrying a rabbit do not go out and try to get him to drop it, and #2 – if you do go out, do not leave the door open. Good lessons to learn.
I could have smacked myself for leaving that door open when I went out to try to get Joe Bob to drop that damn bird!
Speaking of small animals in the house (that don’t belong), my sister’s cats once brought a chipmunk in her apartment. A CHIPMUNK. I need me a pet chipmunk, those things are freakin’ adorable.
what did the vet suggest for suggies toes?
An antibiotic ointment applied 3 – 4 times a day. Since we can’t keep a bandage on it, we also lightly spray Bitter Apple spray so that he won’t lick at it. It seems to be improving; it’s definitely better today than it was the day I took him to the vet!
My spayed and neutered cats NEVER pee on anything….until my grown kids come to visit. They smell a male hormone…..that’s all she wrote.They’re peeing all over their dirty laundry, duffle bags, sheets, you name it. I also once had a female cat that peed (constantly) on my room mates bed, after she had S.e.x. (the room mate, not the cat) I am now convinced the peeing has something to do with the smell of sex. 🙂 Anyone agree?
I don’t know about that, but I can tell you that one night, Fred was sleeping and Mister Boogers was in the room with him (I think Fred had gotten up to pee and Mister Boogers followed him back into his room and Fred decided to let him stay). Mister Boogers was laying between Fred’s legs and Fred farted. And Mister Boogers peed on him. Fred doesn’t think the peeing had anything to do with the farting, but come on. It MUST.
Wanted to update you on the lady that spent 30 days in shelter for the Humane society. Here is her last day blog.
God bless that woman!
when do the kittehs go to the shelter for some adoption lovin? Is it when they are spaying age? 3-4 months is it?
Well, the kittens can be spayed and neutered when they reach 2 pounds. I went and looked back through my journal when we had Maddy, and Maddy just barely hit two pounds at about 10 weeks old (I remember being glad that we could have her spayed before Nance and Rick took her home). So I’d guess that 10 – 12 weeks, these guys will be big enough to be spayed and neutered, and once that’s done, they’ll be going to the pet store, hopefully to be adopted immediately!
We have some litterbox issues with the elder gentleman and I have taken to using the puppy training pads you can get at Target. They absorb, are pretty good sized and have an attractant that might help overcome the dislike of the different litter. Just a suggestion.
I have honestly considered putting down a couple of pee pads (we have some left over from when we had that old beagle back in January) in a few places in the house. Whoever occasionally pees seems to do it on anything we leave on the floor, so if they have a pee pad upon which they can express their displeasure, maybe they won’t pee on things like beds and blankets. It’s worth a try, I think!
I love the raccoon kitteh! My heart goes pitter patter and I’m not a cat person! At all! Are all cats born with blue eyes like human babies – and then they change color as they get older? If so, What color do you think the raccoon kitten’s eyes will be?
As far as I know, all cats are born with those absolutely gorgeous dark blue eyes and they almost always change color when they get older. If I had to guess, I’d say that Kaylee’s eyes might turn out the same pretty green color as her mother’s eyes, but there’s no way to be sure. We’ll just have to wait and see!
For the record, Maddy’s eyes were that pretty blue at the beginning, like this, and now they’re a really cool green color, as seen here.
There was a bit of excitement last night in the foster kitty room. Or rather, the excitement was OUTSIDE the foster kitty room. I was going into the room and didn’t realized that Sugarbutt was in the hallway behind me. Usually I’m very careful to make sure there are no cats visible to Kara when I’m going into the room, because she’s still got that protective Momma thing going on. But Sugarbutt was behind me, and she caught sight of him, and she FLEW out of the room and it was all a blur. They ended up in the bathroom and I managed to push Kara into the bathroom while letting Sugarbutt out so he could go racing down the hall and down the stairs and I shut her in the bathroom.
She kicked Sugarbutt’s ASS. He’s fine, she didn’t hurt him, but she scared the everloving shit out of me, for sure.
Fred brought her back into the foster kitty room and she was fine and the babies weren’t even scared by the noise (I yelled “No! No! NO!” during the entire altercation, which did no good at ALL), but we petted her and reassured her that she was a good mommy.
I guess I’ll be a little more careful from here on out! I thought she was going to kill poor Sugarbutt.
The kittens are three weeks old now, and exploring the room more and more. This morning when I went into the room to scoop the litter box, three of the kittens were in the padded pyramid, sound asleep. I think they like the padding in the pyramid and how closed-in it is. When they saw me, they came right out. River’s started climbing me, and Inara will climb into my lap for a minute. I tell you, my tongue is just in SHREDS, I spend so much time biting it so I won’t squoosh them to death.
Kaylee is the deep thinker of the litter. She spends a lot of time watching everything that’s going on, and I’ve seen her looking contemplatively at the top of the box they’ve been living in. I suspect she’s going to be the first one to jump up there – though they’re still little, I’d give it a few weeks!
I weighed the kittens last night, and their weights range from 1 pound 3/4 oz (Zoe) to 1 pound 3 3/4 oz (Inara). They’ve pretty much doubled their weight since their one-week weigh in, which I believe is just perfect, that’s what they’re supposed to be doing. They won’t gain as quickly from here on out, but I’m still going to do weekly weigh ins to see what their progress is.
And speaking of progress, here are their three-week pictures! (Next week I’ll do progressive pictures from 3 days old to 4 weeks old for each of them so you can see the difference!)
(pic) Zoe.
(pic) Inara.
(pic) Kaylee.
(pic) River. (He looks scared, but he’s not. I think he was meowing at Fred.)
Lots of kitten pics over at Flickr.
(pic) “I weren’t skeered of that Momma kitty. She don’t skeer me. At all. Ever. I did NOT cry like a little baby after she kicked my ass – she didn’t kick my ass! I just let her think she did! – at ALL. She don’t wanna come near me. I’ll show her who the boss is. It’s me! I’m the boss! And I’ll show her! That’s right.”
Previously
2007: Cleaning is my favorite thing ever, you know, so it was a happy, happy day for me.
2006: 18. Have you ever been in a fight? Nothing stronger than a slap-fight. Are you kidding? I’d shit myself and pass out before anyone got a chance to hit me.
2005: NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT COREY CLARK.
2004: No entry.
2003: You know you’re hormonal when the video for Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” (hee! I almost typed “Fancypants”) makes you all teary-eyed.
2002: It rocked. I loved it. I see a strong love for sushi in my future.
2001: I’ve managed to stay strong.
2000: Poor, poor pitiful me.