* * *
I may have spoken too soon about the cats not liking the Duck and Green Pea cat food. Yesterday I went in to take a shower, and Sugarbutt was eating some of it, then when I got out of the shower Miz Poo was eating it. And there was another bowl of cat food they definitely like right next to the new food, so it wasn’t a matter of not having anything else to eat. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how things go.
I ordered Advantage for Miz Poo off eBay ($20 for 4 months’ worth!), so that should be here soon. I need to go ahead and order some for the rest of the cats, too, but we need to figure out how much they weigh. I’m sure Tommy and Sugarbutt don’t weigh over 9 pounds (YET), but I don’t know about the other three.
* * *
I spent almost an hour last night going through my iTunes songs and fixing them so that they were in the format I like – that is, the name of the song under the correct heading, and the artist’s name under that heading. Of course, the songs I’ve downloaded with iTunes are already in that format, but the songs I had before I knew about – or gave in to – iTunes aren’t.
Not that I downloaded them illegally, because I would NEVER. Shaddup.
Anyway, I had the list sorted by name (I love you, iTunes. Almost as much as I love Bob Pod.) and I was going through the songs, looking for ones that needed to have their info edited, and I came upon the songs I had that started with “all”, and it made me laugh, because of course there’s All by Myself, All Cried Out, and All I Have. Then, there’s All I Have, All I Know, All I Need, All I want, All Over the World, and All Right. That version of All by Myself is by Jamie O’Neal; I need to download the Eric Carmen version, because I love that song SO MUCH it just ain’t right.
Not only did I have to edit the song titles, I had to go through and edit the songs that were attributed to the wrong artist. For instance, Edwin McCain didn’t actually sing Walk on the Ocean, and I’m not sure what doofus on Kazaa would think he did. Also, I have a version of Flowers on the Wall that’s attributed to Brad Paisley, and it’s not him, but I’ll be damned if I can remember the group’s name. (No, it isn’t the Statler Brothers’ version, but I have no idea who it IS, either.)
Even after working on it for an hour, I still only go through about a quarter of the songs I have. I’m sure I’ll get right on editing the rest of the songs that need it in another month or six.
Currently
reading:
Jump the Shark, by Jon Hein. It’s like having the web page in book format – a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t have to do any of that pesky “clicking”, as you kids call it.
Finished late last night:
Land of the Living, by Nicci French. A pretty intense book, and even though I’d intended to go to bed at 11:00, I ended up staying up ’til 12:30, ’cause I could NOT put it down.
It’s funny – the first time I picked up a Nicci French book, it’s because I confused her (or rather, them – they’re a husband and wife writing team) with another author whose book I’d read. (I don’t remember the author’s name, but the book was about her husband having an affair and leaving her, and possibly the author was an editor at one of the women’s magazines (Glamour, Mademoiselle, Cosmo) I read at the time (I read none of those, these days, for the record, because after about 5 years of reading them, it starts to be the same old recycled shit, month after month). It’s possible her first name was Nikki or Nicki or some variation thereof, and I think she was actually from France. Also, she had a couple of small children. Does this sound familiar to anyone?) I liked the first Nicci French book I read (I think it was Killing Me Softly) and from then on I bought her (their) books when I saw them.
* * *
More bubble-hunting. My god, Tommy cracks me up.
Zombie kitty!
“Dad, let us out! Let us out, Dad, let us OUT! I forgot to sniff the bird poop under the bird feeders!”
Did I mention that the daffodils are a-bloomin’?
All of today’s uploaded pictures are
hither.
* * *
Previously
2005: “This is good!” he said. “Old people always know where the good food is!”
2004: That guy, I thought to myself, looks an AWFUL lot like Larry the Cable Guy.
2003: No entry.
2002: Know what made me laugh so hard I cried, and even now when I think about it, I grin and giggle involuntarily? The idea of a cat using the word “manipulate.”
2001: It’s a comfortable pattern for me.
2000: No entry.]]>
You don’t have to rename your files by hand anymore!
Check out http://www.musicbrainz.org. You can download the tagger, and it will identify (most) of your mp3s for you. Some of them you’ll have to find and choose in their database, but it’s rare that I come across something that it can’t find.
Then, when you’re done, you can set it to rename everything in the format you want it.
Eric Heatherly sings Counting Flowers on the Wall, maybe you have his version?
iTunes does rock, thoroughly and completely. You might also want to check out eMusic, which is $9.95 per month for 40 downloads (songs work on any MP3 player, including iPod, and aren’t erased when you cancel service to eMusic, which is what fucking Napster does), and right now they’re offering an additional 25 free downloads to new members.
Speaking of dads and computers, my dad traumatized me when I was a teen by messing with the default audio settings on my computer. He and Mom trained their cat to stop doing unapproved things by saying “ANK” very loudly and sharply (when said correctly, you will sound like a German duck). One day Dad sneakily recorded his loudest, sharpest “ANK” on my computer and set up that sound file as the default sound for user errors. The first time I did something that Windows didn’t like and my dad’s voice yelled “ANK” at me from my speakers, I almost had a coronary. (And the poor cat, who was in another room, immediately ran to his litter box to cower.)
Whitters – that ANK story is too funny!
The photo of kitty trying to through the kitty door to outside brings me to ask this question of you all.
Now that the bird flu has been found in a cat in Switzerland,will you stop feeding birds in your yard or leave it to chance?
The migratory birds will be coming home soon and unfortunately bringing the bird flu with them.
Putting out feed causes birds to congregate and then disease is spread more easily.
I am curious if anyone will be changing their bird feeding habit because of this real threat.
Bueller? Anyone?
Wow, RUNDMC was so subtle in telling you what do do by phrasing it as a question!
could it be Gary Allen’s Flowers on the Wall. I seriously Love that man. Had to share
Robyn,
Just a suggestion you may want to ask your vet about. Since the flea and tick stuff costs so much my vet just tells me to use the same one on the dog and cat instead of buying one of each. Just measure out the portion for the cat and the rest goes on the dog. You could maybe buy one for dogs (since theirs comes in bigger weights) that will accumulate all the cats weights combined and have one smaller price. Supposedly the stuff is about the same for the dog and cat.
LJ
You’d have broken toes from all the kicking you would have to do around here. Our television remote is lovingly called the “klik klik”. lol
Love Tommy’s tippy tail. He’s so pretty.
RunDMC,
No, we treat the cats with colloidal silver, so they’re immune to everything. Including cancer.
Also, Robyn, I get my kitties’ flea/tick stuff from Pet Supplies Net. They’re very reasonably priced and shipping is super-fast.
oh Miz Robyn…I’ve been waiting for a commentary on the latest Amazing Race – are you watching it?
Best wishes to your dad, the poor guy.
Aw, you tell your dad I think klik klik is cute. That’s kind of what they did to his gallbladder: they went klip klip.
hey I live in Israel, near Tel Aviv, and it is not cold here in winter at all! Coldest it got was about 6 degrees at night (43 fahrenheit), so why is it that your daffodils are up before ours? Jealousy! 🙂 do they need cold to bloom earlier or something complicated like that?
Jaime: Thanks for the link! 🙂
Whitters: That “ANK” story made me laugh out loud. Hee! And thanks for the Pet Supplies link – the prices are comparable to what I just bought on eBay, so I’ll be buying from there next, I think.
RunDMC: I don’t intend to stop feeding the birds.
Olivia in SC: Yes, I think it’s Gary Allan!
Kirsten: We do watch it, but we haven’t watched last night’s episode yet – because it comes on at 9 here and that’s our bedtime, we tape it and will be watching it tonight.
Laura: Actually, I think my father has no idea how much that annoyed me! 🙂
Katherine: Yeah, I think daffodils need to be cold before they’ll bloom – the suggestion is to plant them in the Fall, so maybe they have to go through that cold time before they’re willing to bloom?
Robyn,
This may be paranoid, but I did hear something about Advantage and there being a difference in what you can get at a vet’s office and on-line or in a store. For some reason, it’s a different “formula” (not sure about this though) and the cheaper stuff can be a bit more dangerous for pets… if you have a minute, you might want to see if there is anything online to verify this, as it was told to me by a vet who would clearly have a motive to try to get me to buy the prescription stuff from their office.
I’d rather say something than not, and at least let you decide if you think it’s worth looking into if there’s a difference.
~Tanya
Robyn –
Just wanted to write in to comment on “LJ”‘s suggestion of buying dog flea medication and using smaller doses of that on your cats. It would not be a good idea as cats are usually much more sensitive to chemicals than dogs and even a small amount of something “dog safe” might kill a cat.
http://www.healthypet.com/faq_view.aspx?ID=7&sid=2
http://www.pgaa.com/feline/health/fleapowder.html
“Never use a product labeled “for use on dogs only” on your cats. Cats react very differently than dogs to some insecticides. Some dog products can be deadly to cats, even in tiny amounts.
Use caution when using products that contain organophosphates in your house or on your cat. Cats seem to be sensitive to certain organophosphate insecticides. Currently, there are few flea products in the United States labeled for use on cats that contain organophosphates as an active ingredient. The few that can be used on cats contain a small concentration of organophosphate. However, many household sprays and products that are specifically labeled “for use on dogs only” are widely available. Again, never use “dog only” products on your cats!
Never use flea control products that contain permethrin on your cats, unless they are specifically labeled for use on cats. There are some products that are labeled for use on cats that contain small concentrations of permethrin, usually less than 0.1%. When used according to the label instructions, these can be used safely in cats.”
I thought LJ’s suggestion was a good one (provided you are sharing between cats and not dogs) I bought a 3 month supply for a medium sized dog and used one tube on both my small dogs. Worked like a charm and cheaper.
Still sending my healing vibes your dad’s way. I hope he mends quickly.
The birds that come to your garden to get fed are oscine birds, I think, and those present a very low risk for passing on bird flu. Same for doves.
The dead birds found so far are geese and swans. And I can’t imagine you feeding flocks of geese in your garden…
The cat that died of bird flu (germany, not switzerland, by the way) ate parts of a goose that died of bird flu.
So as long as sick swans don’t get in via the cat flap…
Amy, if you go back and re-read LJ’s post, you’ll see she wasn’t suggesting buying cat flea meds for a larger sized cat and then splitting that medication up among multiple cats. Instead, she suggested buying dog flea meds and giving them to cats. That’s why I posted about how concentrations of chemicals in dog flea meds are different than those found in cat flea meds. It would be a shame for something to happen to a cat just to save a couple of bucks and I wanted to alert Robyn to the risks of using dog flea meds on her cats.
– Tricia
Tricia,
Thanks for the comment and I am aware of the concerns for using this product. We use Frontline Plus, which is supposed to be very mild. My Vet is the one that has had me to do this and very successfully for many years with no side affects to the cats. As I suggested earlier, please before you try this, check with your Vet (unless you are one) – I will assure you, I love my animals, they are healthy and get regular yearly checkups.
LJ
I think the author you are thinking about is Catherine Texier but I could be wrong. She’s french, her husband left her, she wrote a book about it.
Kate,it was a question.
Giving info along with the question was just that,info.
Fish and game wardens get frustrated when folks feed waterfowl. They congregate and diseases spread easier. Simple fact.
Fred,since colloidal silver helps the immune system,I’m not sure it would be the correct cure for the bird virus as people with good immune systems will be hardest hit.
The bird flu causes your immune system to go into overdrive and THAT is what kills you.