Vote for Suzanne!!!
Good Mood Gig from SAM-e
FOAM pics of the day.
Food: Dehydrated zucchini slices.
Outside: The Hydrangeas in the front flower bed are happy as can be.
Abstract: Orange (Lorna Doone)’s ear (and part of her head).
Myself: Bonding with a Wonka in the foster kitten room. (I assure you that although it looks like that picture on the wall looks super crooked, it’s completely straight. Something weird with the camera angle, I guess.)
New jam flavor available! This is Painapple-Habanero Jam, and was Fred’s idea. It’s a temporary flavor – I don’t expect demand for pineapple-habanero jam to be overwhelming, so once the jars I’ve got are gone, they won’t be available again.
If you missed it before, there are three other new flavors available, too – Cranberry, Apricot, and Apricot Confetti.
Those of you who advised me on making stock – I still haven’t made any, but I’m getting closer. My question for today is, letting the stock boil will make it cloudy, I know that much. But if I don’t care whether my stock is cloudy, does it matter if I let it boil? Will boiling it do anything bad to the flavor?
For those of you who mentioned clipping the turkeys’ wings in yesterday’s comments, I responded by saying that Fred and I had discussed it, but he was opposed for a reason I couldn’t recall. When he got home, I asked him what the reason was, and he reminded me that it was because the turkeys can actually JUMP to the top of the fence and then jump down, they’ve gotten big and strong enough. So we could clip their wings, but it wouldn’t stop the marauding.
The funny thing is that yesterday, after I posted that entry, the turkeys did not leave their yard at ALL until literally two minutes before Fred got home. Then they all came over the fence and marched toward the driveway, then stopped under the bird feeder (hanging off the Poltergeist tree) to partake of some dropped bird seed.
It was like they knew, in some dim corner of their turkey brains (though of course, we all know that turkeys do not HAVE brains) that it was just about time for Fred to come home, and they wanted to be there to greet him.
Apparently they think they’re puppies.
You know, I love Woot beyond all reason. Every morning, I get all excited and surf to Woot to see what they’re selling, and I just KNOW that this will be the day that they’re selling EXACTLY what I needed (but didn’t know I needed, of course). Usually, whatever they’re selling is interesting, but not really something I need. The next morning, though, I’m not any less excited to see what they’re selling. I’ve actually only bought from there three times (phones, lights for the big coop, and a netbook), but one of these days I’m going to surf over there, and it’s going to be something I really, truly need more than anything on earth.
Maybe tomorrow!
I also have a kitty question – my wonderful feline companion of 9 years died suddenly this week of undiscovered tumors. He died while they were taking the x-rays that showed he was full of them. After sobbing for 36 hours I started reading the website of a local pet shelter and I’m thrilled to say I’m adopting a beautiful Maine Coon cat on Saturday. One of the stipulations in the adoption decree is a guarantee that I will not de-claw him. My cats have always been at least front-declawed, otherwise they rip up the furniture. Do you still use those those claw caps? What do you think about de-clawing? Thanks!
Aww, Kathi, I’m so sorry for your loss!
I’m glad you’re adopting a Maine Coon, those cats are so hideous that it’s hard to find people to adopt them.
I’m kidding, of course! Everyone loves Maine Coons, they are so gorgeous!
As far as declawing, I recommend against it. What a lot of people don’t realize is that in the declawing procedure, it’s not just removing the nails, but actually removes the actual toe bone. It’s really an amputation rather than a simple removal of the claws.
We have gotten horribly lazy and lax about putting the Softpaws nail caps on the cats, actually haven’t done it in several months. But if you keep up with it, it’s a great alternative to declawing. At first the nail caps fall off and need to be replaced every few days (and they don’t all fall off at once, but one or two at a time, so you have to keep an eye on their claws), but after a few weeks, they stay on for longer and longer periods of time, and won’t need to be replaced as often.
(Tip: buy your Softpaws/ Softclaws on eBay; it’s a lot cheaper. Also, it’s fun to experiment with different cap colors! I always enjoyed using pink caps on Tommy’s paw because the pink was offset by his black fur quite nicely. It was pretty!)
If you’re not willing to go the Softpaws route, simply clipping their nails on a regular basis can keep them from tearing up your furniture. Clipping their nails is fairly simple, just use clippers (which you can find at any pet store or even Walmart or Target, I believe) to clip off the end of their claws. You’ll want to watch out for their cuticle (which you can generally see), but if you don’t try to cut them too short, you shouldn’t have a problem.
PS: Send pictures!
Robyn, I just recently purchased the Rota-Dent, but I haven’t used it yet. Can you tell much of a difference when you brush with the Rota-Dent? Do you like it? (I am trying to feel better about spending a chunk of money on a toothbrush.)
Andrea, honestly I don’t notice that much difference, but my dental hygienist swears by it and I am an obedient dental patient (though I still haven’t bought the water pik she insisted I need. YET.). So I use the Rota-Dent in the morning, the Braun in the evening, and the regular toothbrush when I’m feeling too lazy and just want to get ’em brushed and done! 🙂
The lady who had the kittens I babysat last weekend suddenly had to leave town (her father in Texas went into the hospital), and so she turned the kittens over to Challenger’s House.
Well, more specifically, to ME. When the shelter manager told me that the woman had to leave town, I said that I could take them for a few days, if need be, but didn’t have room for them long-term. Yesterday morning, I took possession of them, and I’ll have them until Sunday, when I’ll turn them over to their new (permanent) foster mom.
They’re awfully sweet. The woman who had them told me she’d tried to stretch their feeding time to every 4 hours, but they were losing their little minds at the 3-hour mark, so she’d been feeding them every 3 hours (last week when I babysat them, she had been feeding them every TWO hours). At nearly 3 weeks, I believed they should be able to wait four hours between feeding, and so I determined after their 10 am feeding that I’d wait until 2 to feed them again.
Yeah, right. At 12:30 – 2 1/2 hours after I’d last fed them – they started screaming. And they were not KIDDING, they wanted food RIGHT FREAKIN’ NOW, MAN.
So I fed them at 1. And then at 3:30 I was sitting at my computer (they were in a big carrier in the computer room), and I heard smacking noises, and so I went over to see what was going on.
When they’re this tiny, it’s instinctual for them to search for their mother’s nipple when they’re hungry or just want comfort. In the absence of a mother? They find other things, usually on each other. And that can be a problem, because these tiny kittens suck really hard, and they can cause some serious physical damage to each other. Not to mention that drinking each others’ urine is not a good thing.
After feeding them at 4:00, I separated them, put them in separate carriers, each with their own heating pads (that they could get away from if they got too warm) and warm fuzzy blankets, and each with their own stuffed momma kitty with a beating heart (only, in orange instead of gray. And thank god that I have two of them!). They griped a little bit, but each settled down pretty quickly and didn’t peep again.
I actually had to wake them up at 8:00 to feed them. I stretched their next feeding to 4 1/2 hours later, and they were fine.
I’m guessing that being in the same cage, one would wake up and be hungry, so root around and get the other one riled up, and they’d both start screaming to be fed. With them in separate carriers, they seem to sleep better.
I’ll only keep them separate for a total of a couple of days. Saturday afternoon I’ll put them back together and see how it goes. Usually (so I’ve heard), a couple of days is enough to break the pattern.
The little girl. They’re not named – I’m going to leave naming them up to their foster mother.
The little boy.
Little boy, with milk face.
Boy on the left, girl on the right.
We have located the complainer!
Blue (TimTam). Kind of looks like she has long monkey arms, doesn’t it?
::thlurrrrrrp!::
I’m imagining a Barry White voice, here. “Well, helloooooooo, laydeez!”
Veruca, concerned.
Violet, slurping.
Mike, considering.
I’m starting to think that the ear floof is taking on a life of its own.
Tommy, trotting across the yard for a snuggle.
Previously
2008: “Mom” jeans are okay with me, I’m no fashion plate, believe me.
2007: Are you SHITTING ME?
2006: Meme-licious.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: “I JUST SAID THAT!”
2002: At least it knocked Johnny Poopoopants out of the loop.
2001: How the hell can you cheat on Survivor, for the love o’ god?
2000: Oh, you’re giving us the COT free of charge? Well, let me do a friggin’ happy dance for that!”
1999: No, I’m the same old awful, lazy, horrid person I always was