Reader Heather told me that in California, the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society had a fire yesterday:
In the early morning of May 20, a major fire destroyed a large section of our shelter. We lost our entire cat sheltering area as well as laundry facilities and offices. We are currently without water, electricity and phone service.
We lost 15 of our beautiful cats that were ready for adoption but all the dogs survived and are being cared for in our kennels and at a veterinary emergency service.
They desperately need donations, foster homes, and volunteers to help with the cleanup. If you’re in the area, you can contact them via email or phone – the information is on their web site.
Wow – that Oca looks really cool! Which kind did you guys get? I wish I actually had more than just container gardens when I come across neat stuff like this!
We got our Oca tubers from Seeds of Change, here. It does say, on that page, that Oca also shows promise as a container plant for indoor cultivation. I’m hoping we end up with a decent harvest and that Oca is as good as it sounds!
Someone may have asked this before….before you had many more chickens probably. But can you really tell them apart? Or are you able to tell just a couple of them apart? You mentioned the buffs being from the original eggs from 3 years ago so that’s why I wondered.
I would hope that if I had 20 black cats I’d be able to tell the difference between them – but I’m not sure I could do it.
Myself, I’m only able to tell a few of them apart. It’s Fred who told me that the Buff Orpingtons were from our original batch of 12. Buffs are good mothers, good layers, and pretty gentle, so we opted not to process any of them. When we have a large number of a certain kind of chicken (like the group of Light Brahmas we have), I can’t tell any of them apart.
When Maura was here and we had three black cats, it wrecked my nerves. I was forever letting Maxi out the side door and then worrying that I’d let Maura out, so I’d have to go find Maura to make sure I hadn’t. I can’t imagine having 20 black cats!
From Maura’s mom, Kathy in Birmingham:
So to update everybody on Maura, since I suck at updating my own sites, Maura is doing AWESOME! She and Beau are good buddies. He’s so different with a little friend to play with. They are both getting excellent exercise, chasing each other up and down the stairs (between 2-6am only, of course!). Her litterbox issues seem resolved, her appetite is good, and she seems to be having lots of fun. The guest room which was her “acclimation chamber” is still her favorite hang-out spot, but she comes downstairs with Beau to greet us when we come in the front door, too cute! She seems to be a perfect fit. I’m sure it helps that she came from a busy house fulla kittens & cats! I’ll post a link with pics here once I get some more. Thanks again!
I told Kathy that I am tickled pink to hear that it’s working out so well with Maura. Not that I had any real doubts, but you never know ’til you know. You know?
How does Fred feel about the sales of his kindle book, “No Limit” on Amazon.com? I left a review on his book and he is getting some other very good reviews and comments. I want to encourage everyone to check it out. Thanks for telling us about the free PC Kindle software to download for us without a Kindle. I didn’t realize that there are many free books on Amazon to download, too.
He’s happy that people are getting to read it now – and very much appreciates the reviews on Amazon. Thanks, reviewers!
I love that there are so many free Kindle downloads on Amazon, isn’t that awesome? If I didn’t have my Kindle, I might be tempted to download the PC Kindle software onto my laptop and use that as a reader.
Survivor spoilers; skip this section if you haven’t seen the season finale yet. (What are you waiting for?!)
No one else has commented about Survivor yet. Russell is a douche bag! The previous season he pouted like a child because he did not win the game. We half expected it this time too but he was a little more grown up about it. He got the Sprint $100,000 award both times. I personally think it is absolutely delicious that he took Sandra to the end thinking it would give him a huge advantage and she wound up winning! He even told her several times through the season that she “won’t get a vote”. Well -he- didn’t get a vote! ha ha.
Russell is, indeed, a douche bag. I think that he did play an excellent game, but he fails to understand that it’s impossible to win the game if you don’t at least make an attempt at playing the social aspect of it. If the jury hates you, for the most part they’re NOT going to vote for you.
I think Parvati played the game better than Sandra did, but I like Sandra a lot and think it’s telling that she posed no physical threat to the other players, and still won the game twice. Which points up that if you’re not willing to play a social game, you’re screwing yourself.
My question is where does one get a “ham-mick”? Since its so popular with your kitties I would love to give it a try with ours!
Get yer Ham-micks here! We have two of them, and they are super-popular (check out Sugarbutt at the end of the entry, enjoying the computer room Ham-mick).
Strawberry Lemon Marmalade!!! Recipe please!!!!
As a side note, when I mentioned making strawberry lemon marmalade earlier this week, I said it wasn’t very lemony. I was wrong – it’s definitely lemony and it is SO good. Also, rather than crushing the strawberries, I throw them in the blender and, well, blend. I love strawberries, but don’t care for big chunks of them in my jam-type foods.
I got this on Facebook, from Cait.
From the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserves.
Makes seven 8-oz jars
1/4 cup thinly sliced lemon peel
water
4 cups crushed strawberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 package 1.75oz regular powdered pectin (I use yellow Sure-Jell)
6 cups granulated sugar
1. Prepare canner, jars & lids
2. In a small non-reactive saucepan, boil lemon peel in just enough water to cover it until softened, about 5 mins. Drain and discard liquid.
3. Add strawberries, peel and lemon juice to a large non-reactive saucepan and mix well. Whisk in pectin until dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, still stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim foam.
4. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, 1/4″ headspace, wipe rims, tighten lids down with bands.
5. Place jars in canner, covered 1″ with boiling water, process for 10 minutes, turn off heat and take off canner lid and let sit in water for 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.
Did I miss the part where you explained why Fred couldn’t take the tick off of his own arm? I don’t think he’s an amputee (that I know of; boy, am I gonna feel dumb if he is), and if he was pointing it out to you, he could obviously see it, so…???
He claims that he tried, but couldn’t do it, and didn’t know that I was in the middle of my peeing-and-progesteroning routine. LIKELY STORY.
What’s up with the mirror site? Is that so someone can read your journal while at work?
Yep – some people have been unable to get to my site because of the domain name, so I thought I’d provide an alternative. It’s literally the exact same entry you see on Bitchypoo, just cut and pasted and published.
I have been taking my dog hiking alot lately. I have put Frontline on her, but most people don’t realize that it doesn’t keep ticks from getting on your animal, or even from biting, it will only kill if they do bite.
Anyway, I hadn’t even considered her getting ticks because we had just started this new activity. One night we were laying in bed (yes, she sleeps with us) when I look over and see a tick in the bed! I jumped up, screamed hysterically, and then had a nervous breakdown because I found THREE MORE TICKS in the bed! Now we check for ticks after every walk.
Funny story: I was telling a friend about it and she said her husband got one on his “taint.” (If you don’t know what that is, it “taint” the pee-er and it “taint” the pooper, it’s the space in between!) Tell Fred he better be checking! haha!
UGH ticks. I loathe those things!!!
Question for Friday-have any of the older cats gone looking and gotten upset when the fosters leave?
Not that I can tell, actually. They seem to realize that there’s something different, but don’t seem to know exactly what it is. I was afraid that Jake would be upset when the Wonkas and the Cookies went off to be adopted, but he really took it in stride. I think that if we only had two or three cats, they’d be more apt to notice the absence of kittens, but as it is they don’t seem to be terribly bothered.
I am a skimmer when it comes to links (I seldom click on links after an unfortunate goatse related incident some years back), so forgive me if this is old news to you, but have you seen the Kittens in AutoTune video?
The guy is annoyingly douchey but I’ll forgive him.
I had not seen that – and that is HILARIOUS!
We have one tortie and one orange cat… the orange cat clears the house each time he takes a poop. Also, he snores like a chainsaw. It’s a good thing he’s cute.
Sugarbutt snores like a chainsaw, too. It’s pretty funny when Fred and I are laying in bed at night talking, and Sugarbutt’s snoring up a storm over in his cat bed in the recliner.
So tell me, did you like the Petpride cat litter, or did I steer ya wrong?
The Petpride litter isn’t bad, actually. I think it works better than Arm & Hammer, and not as good as Fresh Step. I knew going into it that it doesn’t clump as quickly as Fresh Step and didn’t think that would be an issue for me, but apparently it is. I’m thinking about mixing the Petpride and the Fresh Step together to get a decent litter hybrid that won’t break the bank.
I keep meaning to leave you this tip (totally off subject, sorry!) about comparison shopping in the grocery store. The trick is to look at the price per unit for similar items and then make a decision. Obviously, this is only helpful if the items are being measured using the same unit (price per pound, for example). I don’t always buy the cheapest price per unit item, but it’s a good (& quick) place to start.
Most of the good grocery stores do that, but do you suppose I EVER think to look at that information? Of course NOT. I need to start doing it, damnit!
I’m owned by 2 orange tabbies and oh Lawd! The Stank! I’m always amazed that such cute, cuddly fluffy beings can make the most heinous smells! And the breath! Stunning.
We can always tell when one of them takes a dump because we hear them digging for China (usually happens 15 mins. after we go to bed at night) and then they start up with a very mournful dirge. We think they’re grieving for the poo. Seriously nasty shit, but I love my boychiks.
The mournful dirge is cracking me UP. HEE.
Since you mentioned George and Gracie, I’ve been wondering whether you’ve lost anymore chickens?
They look like the sweetest dogs!
Nope – since we got George and Gracie, we haven’t lost a single chicken. And they ARE the sweetest dogs. Now if I could just get George to stop touching his cold, wet nose to the back of my bare leg when I go out to visit them, the whole “dog” experience would be perfect!
“I can’t help it, it makes her jump and scream and that makes me laugh and laugh.”
Also, look who’s on the front page of PetsAdviser.com for today and through the weekend! (It’s this picture, in case you’re reading this at a later date.)
Remember how I said the other day that Franco’s a talker? Apparently Franco passed on the talking torch to Gavin. I was awakened this morning by a VERY loud Gavin, who was howling sadly at the door to the foster room. Judging by the way Gavin was sticking his paws under the door last night, I’m guessing that he’d REALLY like out of the room. He’s going to have to wait, though. There’s another 10 days in solitary confinement for the Rescuees before we let them out into the house. I’m pretty sure that mayhem will ensue, once there are EIGHT kittens racing around the house, hissing and growling and smacking at each other.
I can’t wait!
“I couldn’t help it! I just wanted a snuggle and some canned food! I AM NOT a big baby! Okay, maybe I am. But I had to register my complaint, didn’t I?!”
I cannot seem to get a picture of Sheila that conveys exactly how adorable she is. I’ll keep trying, of course.
Reacher.
Rhyme in the front and Corbett in the back.
Yes, Bolitar, that is an EXCELLENT idea. Let’s see if we can break that feed tray right off the printer, shall we?
“Hey! He’s fallin’! Someone HALP!”
“That’s okay, bro, see? I saved you! Well, I yelled for someone to save you. Same diff!”
Suggie on the Ham-mick!
Previously
2009: Is there anything less scary than a hissing kitten? I think not!
2008: These pigs, I’ve gotta say, are coming in handy as garbage disposals on legs.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: We’re off to Memphis.
2003: Possum #2.
2002: Mean mommy.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.