* * *
I totally need to take some more pictures of the chicks. They’re growing a lot – every day I go in to check on them, I swear they’ve gotten visibly bigger than the day before. The suspected rooster, Fricasee, cracks me up with his big puffy cheeks and the way he comes running over to see just what the hell I think I’m doing.
Fred’s been working on the chicken coop and it’s coming along nicely. It amazes me that he can build things like a woodshed and a chicken coop because if things were left up to me, we’d probably have a piece of wood propped on two (shaky) sticks for the chickens to live in.
Speaking of the chicken coop, last night Fred was in Smallville and we went for a short walk around the property to figure out where we want the new burn pile to go (since the old burn pile is really too close to where the chicken coop is going to be) and Fred pointed to the concrete slab (where one day there will be a deck) and told me to go see what Maxi was playing with.
Turns out Maxi had found herself a desiccated frog and was chewing on it.
Guh.
I won’t even bring up the fact that over the weekend Newt caught himself a little mole and was bringing it to the front porch, and when Fred went over to see what Newt had, Newt dropped it and rolled around in the dirt, and Fred found that the mole was still alive a little bit. NATURALLY he called me over to see, and I whined and begged, but he wouldn’t put the damn thing out of its misery, just let Newt keep it. I don’t know where the mole ended up, but I never did see it on the front porch.
* * *
Last week I went out and bought a
Litter Locker Plus at the pet store. In Smallville, the trash is only collected once a week (as opposed to twice a week in Madison), and it’s a couple of guys, one driving the truck, the other opening the trash cans, grabbing the bags and tossing them in the back of the truck (as opposed to Madison, where the truck drives up, two arms come out of the side of the truck, grab the trash can, lift and empty it, and set it back down). So the Madison routine I’d gotten into, of cleaning out the litter box twice a day, dumping the clumps of litter into a small bag, and tossing it into the garbage can, is something that just won’t work in Smallville. The trash guys won’t take trash that isn’t in a trash bag.
So I went out and bought a Litter Locker, and I took it home and took it out of the box and set it up, and I read on the directions that it could store up to two months’ worth of cat waste. Now, I knew there was no way on earth that the waste for two months from our six cats would fit inside that container, there was no way on earth. I did, however, think that maybe a week’s worth would fit, and I could empty it every Wednesday evening in preparation for the trash guys’ Thursday morning visit.
Know how many days I was able to use it before I had to empty it? Three days.
Our cats are some pooping and peeing motherfuckers, that’s for sure.
* * *
I think I need
this kid around to take care of Crackhead Bob, should he break into the house.
(Thank you to
my bebbe, who sent me the link.)
* * *
Comments:
You have a nice radio voice, Robyn. I hate hearing the sound of my voice. What do you think when you hear the sound of your voice?
I usually hate the sound of my own voice, actually, but I listened to the podcast and didn’t think I sounded all that bad. Actually what I thought was “Wow, my voice sounds pretty clear!”, which amazed me, because I for some reason I always think it’s hard for other people to understand what I’m saying. Maybe because it always sounds like “Dub a duh? Dub a duh!” in my own ears.
You know, I bet you and/or Fred could build some of that cat furniture. Structurally, it doesn’t look all that different from the stuff you’d get at Petco. Whether you’d want to is another matter, of course.
I actually do intend to build some sort of simple cat platform thingy, at some point. Every time Fred cuts a piece of wood, I grab the scrap and say “I’ll save this for the cat furniture!” Whether it actually happens – or, I should say, whether it actually ends up as a half-decent piece of furniture that will hold the weight of the cats – who knows?
Have you tried to hypnotize the chicks yet? It really does work – it’s just, well..bizarre
I have not. I think we all know that if anyone around here is going to hypnotize the chicks, it won’t be me. I’m surprised Fred hasn’t given it a try yet, though. Maybe he just doesn’t want to traumatize the chicks.
I wonder if your cats are thinking that you and Fred are divorcing. The trauma they must be going through, the scarring of their little kitty minds! Oh, the horror! (Just kidding)
It’s funny, yesterday I knew Fred was coming to Smallville, so I said to Sugarbutt “Daddy’s coming for visitation! Daddy’s coming to visit his boys, aren’t you excited? If you’re good, maybe he’ll take you out for ice cream and to the playground!” I don’t know what they think is going on, but they’re usually happy to see him, except for Spanky who runs and hides from him. I think Spanky’s
forgotten the face of his father.
GREY’S ANATOMY SPOILER; SKIP TO THE NEXT SECTION IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN LAST WEEK’S EPISODE
I can’t stand Izzy anymore. My prediction is that Izzy turns up pregnant by George in the season finale.
Oh yes, HOW could I have forgotten that obvious possibility? Let’s all watch Izzy as she screams at George that she can’t possibly give up another child. Let’s all watch George as he struggles with the idea of being a father and having to tell Callie. Let’s all watch Izzy have a miscarriage.
If I were a Grey’s Anatomy writer, I’d totally have Izzy feel under the weather for an episode or two just to fuck with the viewers.
* * *
The carpet guys finally showed up and now they’re upstairs making a lot of noise. I guess they’re ripping up the old carpet. There are two of them. TWO. When we had the living room and stairs done, there were four guys here. Two guys are going to do the entire house? This will be interesting to see.
One of the guys strongly resembles
Jason Ritter.
They’re doing a lot of coughing up there. I can only imagine how much cat hair must be flying around as they pull up the carpet. I hope they get hazard pay.
* * *
Tommy in a box!
* * *
Previously
2006: Whereupon Nick Stokes, Ace Detective and CSI Genius jumps in and says, a dark scowl upon his face, “What is that, some kind of nickname?”
2005: Because there’s nothing worse than having your eyes scooped out with a spork when you’re not quite dead yet, believe you me.
2004: No entry.
2003: Your “shit” discussion is now over. You may move on.
2002: “Momma!” he cried “Momma, I’ll be good! Let me in Momma, let me in!”
2001: “Owowowowowow,” I whined, hand over my eye, and then stomped my foot in frustration.
2000: When I saw it in the theater, the ending so disturbed me that I sobbed all the way home from the movie theater.]]>
Two months worth of cat waste?? In THAT? Are they CRAZY? I keep mine in a container almost as big and need to empty it at least every 5 days, and I only have two cats. That pee in HUGE amounts, obviously… them some mighty big clumps.
I do plan to hypnotize the chickens, for the record, but not until they’re bigger and outside.
Just in case you ever need extra poop room, here’s what I do with the litter scoopage. I buy one of the big plastic containers of litter that comes with a lid (not the brand of litter I generally use, but I make do for just this purpose). When I’ve used all the litter of the container, I keep it in our garage, just outside the door (which is by the litter pan). Then every time I scoop into a plastic grocery bag, I throw it into the container and shut the lid so it’s not sitting around stinking up the place. When I’m getting trash ready for our weekly pickup, I just dump the container full of little bags into one of our big trash bags and I’m done. I usually spray the container with Lysol, then set it outside for some fresh air for a few hours, then it’s good to go. Every couple months I buy a new container of litter and toss the old one. So I use litter I would need anyway and sort of recycle the plastic containers.
Litter Locker Plus is like a Diaper Genie for cats! Cute!
Garbage pick up twice a week? I can’t imagine such a thing. How much did you pay for trash pick up? Were your bins very small? Do people really produce that much trash in residential areas that makes two pick ups a week make sense? WHAT IS GOING ON IN ALAMBAMA?
I was SO angry that Izzy and George had sex. I really like Callie and I just hope that she and George stay together. NO PREGNANCY!!!
I enjoyed the podcast and I was a little surprised that you don’t have a southern accent. I’ve heard that people tend to pick them up after living around them for a few years. My ex-brother-in-law moved to North Carolina and it didn’t take long for him to sound like a hick. No offense to North Carolina people.
Ok, is it just me…. why on earth would anyone hypnotize a chicken?
I think there’s a hint of southern accent hiding, robyn. you lenghten words that end in vowels.
Second, what’s up with the spud moving to rhode island? I thought she was going to community college and living with you and fred?
sharon
just when I was sure you’re were going to say you joined Fred in the shower, you pulled the rug right out of under us all. (or was that the carpet guys?)
By the way – I thoroughly enjoyed the pod cast – and just so you know how dedicated to you and Nance I truly am, it took me over 7 hours just to download the dang thing. Thanks for making it worthwhile! (and yes it’s true – I have no life)
Oh my gosh! It’s a diaper genie for cats! COOL!
A very belated suggestion on boxing up the stupid ugly lamps.
A UPS/Mailbox ETC. stores have fabulous boxes and a FedEx might also. Seriously? Check you yellow pages for boxes or packaging or something. I have boxed some crazy sized shit.
Oh, Barb. I am so sorry that you lost 7 hours just to listen to that drivel!
Don’t forget to save enough carpet for the cat tree you’re planning to build. Perhaps the kitties would appreciate the reminder of their old home.
Your voice is lovely – musical – and it sounds just like your northern roots, tinged with your years in the South
I am so happy that someone else is using a litter locker. I’m always afraid they’re going to stop producing the refills. Also? I was paying at least double the cost at Petco for the refills (compared to the price on Amazon). I am so happy to know I can get them cheaper. I also use the plastic containers the litter comes in because I don’t scoop as often as I should, and sometimes scooping one box will fill the litter locker and since the refills are a million dollars, I just put bags directly into the container and fill it up. BUT! I have recently been shaking my finger at myself as I try to be a greenie. There has to be a more ecofriendly way to dispose of cat waste, especially for one with so much land. Another thing to put on your list…Lots of words, little cohesion (in my comment), love ur blog, keep it up!
Why don’t you use flushable litter? I have three cats and we’ve been using 8in1’s Natural Fresh Results for years. It controls the smell really well, it’s made of natural ingredients, clumps really well and we’ve never had a problem with clogging the toilet. And that’s saying something considering that we don’t scoop like we should (every other day or so), yet the smell is still really well controlled. We’ve used Arm & Hammer’s flushable too, but we like this better.