Upon reading through your comments on Monday’s entry (about how you found this site and how long you’ve been reading), it occurs to me that I ought to whip up a timeline of all the “big” things that have happened since I started this site, complete with links to each event. It sure would make my life a whole lot easier if I knew for sure when Fancypants went missing (2003), so I wouldn’t have to go back and search through my archives.
I don’t know, though. That seems like an awful lot of work.
Robyn, do you find that there is a differance in the way your male vs. female cats treat the foster kittens?
I have gotten new kittens before and my male cats have totally loved them, groomed them and become just like a mother to them. I have rarely had a female cat do this unless she was there when the kittens were born. In that scenario, I have had a couple “share ” the kittens with the mama.
Do you find that female cats are just bitchier and less tolerant of others?
I think that while it depends on the cat herself, if my girls are anything to go by, then yes. They’re bitchy and less tolerant than most of the boys. With the exception of Sugarbutt, the boys are pretty tolerant of the kittens. Even Spanky, who usually has no use for other cats, will put up with the kittens getting close to him. As long as they don’t get TOO close, you understand.
Do cats have anal glands? Typically, when a dog “scoots” he/she is expressing those glands. My groomer showed me how to do it manually with a paper towel, but I can’t say I’ve been froggy enough to try it myself. Nothing says “pervert” like squeezing either side of your dog’s anus and pressing upward…I feel odd enough shaving around their private bits!
Cats do have anal glands – we’ve been pretty lucky, though, that except for Tubby, none of our cats have needed their anal glands expressed. I wasn’t there when Tubby’s were expressed, and after what I heard of the experience from Fred, I am SUPER glad I wasn’t there!
Random NY Housewives question – Why are they all orange? Esp Kelly? God, their skin must be like leather. Blech.
Oh, Shelly. Shelly, Shelly, Shelly. Obviously you don’t know that to be TRULY fashionable, you have to glow orange like George Hamilton. And THEN, when you die, they take your deep-orange leathery skin and make a lamp out of you! (I was going to say couch, but let’s be serious – none of those women have enough skin to cover a couch. Maybe a chair?) It’s the latest in high fashion!
I started reading back in 1999(98?). I used to read a lame ficitional diary on Redbook site. And in the forum someone said, if you want to read a real online diary, try these… and it was your url and secraterri (who I miss terribly!) and someone else I forget now. Shortly after, I started writing on diaryland and moved a couple times since then.
Oh god, I read that horrible Diary of V on Redbook!!! It started out pretty good, but devolved into a total unbelievable soap opera, didn’t it?
I miss Secraterri, too!
I really am happy, by the way, that you have kept with the email notifications and the one-entry-a-day, one-entry-per-page format and you haven’t migrated to Livejournal or devolved into just posting videos and links or deleted all your archives. I like the continuity here!
Generally, what you see here on this site is what I prefer to see at other sites – one entry per page, navigation links at the bottom of each entry, and fairly easy to figure out archives. It’s not always been easy to make the site look like I want it to, but it pretty much does these days. Which means, of course, that they’ll make some huge change to WordPress any second now and I won’t be able to figure anything out, and my page will be impossible to navigate. That’s what USUALLY happens, anyway.
You know, back in THE DAY, when journals were the norm and then blogs showed up, the idea was that people would use their journals for the long, personal entries, and then use their blogs to post links and videos and short blurbs. But then things progressed (AS THEY ALWAYS DO DESPITE MY PROTESTS) and journals and blogs morphed into one thing, and now you just never know what you’re going to get when you go to someone’s site.
Yours was one of the first blogs I read, probably beginning sometime in 2001 when I was in college, although I don’t know how I found you. Funny (somewhat related) story. In my first job out of college (2002), I didn’t have a ton of work to do, and so I would read blogs for part of each day, yours among them. Christmas rolled around and a Christmas card from you showed up at the office, addressed to my boss (this was back in the days when you sent cards to readers). My boss had checked my browser history, stumbled across your site himself, and added his name to the Christmas card list. I freaked out, but didn’t mention it to him. Several years later he admitted that he thought we all spent too much time surfing the web, and he used your Christmas card to let me know that he knew what I was doing online. Needless to say, I no longer work for that sneaky man– I mean, just talk to me about it, dude. /super-long comment.
What a totally hilarious, passive-aggressive thing to do. I love it!!!
Has anyone heard from Bonnie??
For those of you who don’t know who Bonnie is, she was originally at bontasia.com, and then she moved to another site, and ultimately ended up at This Will Fall Away. She last posted there in October 2008, and as far as I know she hasn’t been heard from since. I keep hoping that she’ll pop back up and let us know how she’s doing (and I hope she’s doing well), but so far, nothing.
If anyone hears or has heard from Bonnie, would you let us know?
Did you ever think you would have folks reading your blog every day for 10 years?
I never thought I’d HAVE a journal for 10 years! When I first started, I thought I’d last maybe a week before giving up, because I didn’t figure I’d have THAT much to say. Then I thought maybe a few months… and then I hit a year, and kept on goin’!
Who knows how long this thing will last? Shall we aim for another 10 years? 🙂
I don’t know why, but it continually amazes me just how much sleep these kittens require. They get up, run around like their butts are on fire for an hour when they’re first out of the room, and then the just CRASH. I try to never disturb a sleeping kitten, but boy – they are SO cute and fuzzy, it’s hard not to grab them up and snuggle them!
Maura, in the Maura Cave, while Miz Poo runs by as quickly as possible.
Maura’s been really enjoying having the run of the house. She spends some time in the Maura Cave, but she also has other favorite spots, too – on the mat by the back door, in the computer room smacking kittens (she has no use for kittens, apparently), on the chair by my bed. Really, she’s pretty sure she’s the queen of the castle, and none of the other cats are messing with her (except for Jake, who will go over and rub on her. She’s pretty tolerant of him, too.)
I know that cats “see” more by smell than eyesight, but our cats REALLY seem to think, when they glance her way, that she’s either Tommy or Maxi, and they don’t think anything of seeing her sitting there. There have been no smackdowns at all, and if anyone gets too close to Maura, she lets them know with a growl that if they’re looking for a fight she will BRING IT ON, but it’s probably been the most peaceful transition from foster room to general population that we’ve ever had!
Tommy in the back yard. Check out that frayed collar. Tommy needs a new collar (or new band for his collar, anyway).
Previously
2009: No entry.
2008: Being woken up by the phone in the middle of the night = FUN.
2007: Things I should have done this weekend but did not:
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: Fred and I came up with the perfect name for a rapper: Skid Markee.
2003: Damn that Rob Rummel-Hudson. Damn him straight to hell. He gave me The Pink Eye!
2002: Note to self: Get life.
2001: how the hell did I ever get everything done when I was working full-time? (I still wonder this)
2000: I had hoped to see Tom Cruise’s penis, so I could pause the movie and look closely at it.
Ok so I must have been reading way longer than I said! I remember when fancypants went missing and I was not a new reader then. And was rather sad for you too.
Good thing Maura wasn’t pregnant, if she has no use for kittens!
Tommy’s collar almost looks like a too-snug neckstap on a camera. And I could not stop myself from interrupting a sleeping kitten, I just couldn’t help it. Lucky for them they live with you instead of me!
Well to be fair, Kara has no use for kittens, either. She was okay with her own, but other than that, NO WAY. (And I suspect that if she came face to face with her own babies these days, she’d have NO use for them, either!)
I can’t remember when I started reading or how i found you – so I’m looking forward to the timeline; maybe that will help. I know it’s been forever. And I also used to read the Diary of V. I had forgotten all about that!
One of my cats wants to go outside. Which I wouldn’t mind if he would stay in the backyard, but he insists on trying to jump the fence – maybe to escape the excessive/obsessive love of my dog. Can you give me some information on your system? I am trying to decide if that is a feasible solution when I just have the one cat who wants to venture out (the other fears everything including the outside).
Suzy, we have the Deluxe In-Ground Fence from PetSafe – this one, and have bought extra collars both directly from PetSafe and off of eBay. What we found is that we needed to run the wire along the bottom of the fence and also across the top of the fence. With it just at the bottom, the cats were able to leap from the ground to the top (or near) of the fence without entering the “force field.” It works really well for us, but I’ll admit that it’s kind of expensive.
I’ve also heard good things about fencing made specifically for cats (this is one example) where there’s flexible fencing that goes around the top of the fence and the cat can’t get over the fence. Had we not been able to keep the cats contained with the in-ground, we would have gone with that.
It seems like more than 10 years that I’ve been guffawing at your hijinks, you crack me up! I remember when Miz Poo was little and you were working outside the home. Tubby was a character and a half, and Mr. Fancypants crapped anywhere he damned well pleased but it sure sucked when he vanished.
I have 2 male kittens (OK, they’re 12 yrs old but always my bebehs) who adore each other. My 2 females? Ebil, but still my bebehs. Gotta love ’em.
Keep on writing forever, we lurve you!
Sleeping kittehs reminded me of my beloved Terry. When he was a kitten, he ran, ran, ran, ran and then collapsed whereever he was. In the middle of the hallway, on step, or half way climbing up the couch (that was too funny to watch). He would not leave my older cat alone so the cat would just lay on his head. A kitteh trying to ge this head out from under a big cat – hilarious! The kittehs are both long gone, thanks for invoking a good memory.
I started reading waaaaaay back a long time ago. I read you, Aries Moon, Earthmovers and Sandcastles, Xeney, Randomly Ever After, etc.. My other favorite journal back in the dayl (besides yours) was Shelleyness, particularly her entry about “Chaps Man.”
Do you know what happened to Shelley of Shelleyness?
Could you and Fred do a photo re-enactment of the famous Chaps Man entry?
OMG, I remember Shelleyness AND the Chaps Man! Ah, fond memories.
Hi. I’ve been a reader for about a year, and I have been fascinated by your cat-fostering adventures. So fascinated, in fact, that we decided to start fostering cats last winter. We’ve fostered five different cats, and ended up adopting two of them (after my 17-year old diabetic cat died in January). We have now made the plunge — we are picking up a pregnant momma tomorrow. According to the vet, she is due in about 1 week. So, reading your blog over the past year has given me lots of good tips. (If you have any others, let me know!) I may be coming back to you with questions throughout this process. Our family (my husband, 8-year old and 9-year old sons and I) are looking forward to the next couple months! (Well, maybe not so much for my husband, but he is committed).
SecraTerri is on Facebook (Terri Vert Rafter), and after googling, she’s on My Space too (but I’m not, so I don’t know what she posts there). Enjoy!
http://www.bitchypoo.com/574/2003-06-11 — fancypants missing. =( thought i would save you the trouble and have a look myself. a timeline would definitely be interesting.
I only started reading you last year – Valentine’s Day – the post with the picture of gorgeous George at the top. I started reading Fred’s blog about a year beforehand, just before Big Pig and Little Pig arrived. I got there after following a link from a Scottish site about small holdings… can’t remember why I was looking though!
We have 2 female cats and a fat old tom. The girls are mum and daughter. There is NO maternal love there, mum hates daughter and daughter is a wind-up merchant and pesters her. Girls definitely more bitchy.
Talking of anal glands – lovely. Our male cat Fred is 12 and weighs 7.5kg (16.5lbs) – he’s just getting over having an abcess in one gland. It burst. It wasn’t pleasant. 2 weeks of antibiotics and pain relief and the ignominy of having his butt washed daily did not make a happy kitty. ot to mention the hole the size of a dime in his rear. I was wondering, are these prominent in ‘chunkier’ cats?
Good luck with the fosters Liz G/
Why not follow Kaye’s idea and get us readers to do a chunk of your archives each – or post with link to favourite days/events?
v.long post – sorry 🙂
I used to read Diary of V too!!!! It really turned into a piece of crap, that.
I’ve been reading forEVER (since before the weight loss blogs) and am just in love with your lives–cats, chickens, oh my.
WRT Fred — (none of my business except that I’m a geek, experienced at waves of unemployment:
If the company provides some kind of outplacement counseling, do it. Especially if it’s free.
Make sure to update Linked-In profile. (www.linkedin.com) Especially with networking connections.
Network network network — cold resumes hardly ever get results. I got my current job through a guy I worked with 20 years ago.
Keeping this short — it will happen — oddly, the market is getting better–though when you need one, that doesn’t help much. Fred is a catch (employmentwise too) and it won’t be long.
c
just found this and HAD to share, lol.
see more Celeb Look-A-Likes
okay here we go, wrong link pasted, lol!
http://totallylookslike.com/2010/02/11/this-barking-dog-totally-looks-like-donald-sutherland-in-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers/
I hae been reading your blog for a very long time, I can’t even remember the exact number of years. I think I got to you through Nance but I don’t remember how I got to Nance. I even read you when you and Nance and Jane had your advice blog and back when you lived in the house before this one and when Fred wrote his book. I recently contacted you via e mail with a couple of questions about starting my own blog and I finally took the plunge. The only thing I am not sure abouot now is how you get people to read your blog. I have included the URL, I know you are busy and have lots of people you read, but if you get a chanced I would appreciate any advice.
Hi Robyn,
Ik found your site years ago wheh Fred was still One Fat Man (has he changed!) Than I saw this crazy picture of you and him on his blog and I started wondering who you are. Since then I abandonned Fred and started reading your blog.
Jacqueline (The Netherlands)
I am trying to figure out how long I’ve been reading you, and it has to have been 2000 – wow. I remember Miz Poo as a kitten, and Tubby and Mr. Fancypants, and both of your weight loss journeys and various journal sites, and I have Fred’s book…coming here is like having a visit with an old friend!
Beth’s comment reminded me, I used to read Earthmovers and Sandcastles and Shelleyness way back when too.
I read Diary of V too, God what a trainwreck that turned into!