* * *
Questions and comments:
If you don’t mind my putting in a plea for another organization- Solar Hot Pots has been trying to get the UN interested in their products for Darfur for years. Women would not need to have to collect wood at all for these stoves.
Of course I don’t mind at all – thanks for sharing the link.
* * *
So how do you find homes for your little foster cats? Do you usually take them to the pet store? Also how do you get little foster kitties? I think it would be cool to have little foster kitties, but I also wonder how hard it would be to give them up when the time comes.
Well, occasionally someone will see a picture on here and fall in love and adopt the cat (only to get her home and find out she’s a hellbeast, mwahaha!), but that’s actually only happened once (because
Nance is a suckerrrrrrrrrr). At this point, I take the cats to the pet store when they’re ready to be adopted out, and the shelter I volunteer for has adoption counselors who are careful to make sure that the cats will be properly loved and cared for. I get the foster kitties from the shelter I volunteer for –
Chall3nger’s House – and they pay for the spaying/ neutering and shots and any medication the cats need. There’s (unfortunately) an endless supply of cats and kittens who need good homes, and I’m only one of many foster homes that volunteer for this shelter.
It is very VERY hard to give up the kittens, I won’t lie. The first time I had to take a batch of kittens to the pet store, I got all teary-eyed and had to leave the store before I started full-out boohoo-ing. It’s always hard, but it helps to know that they’re going to very good homes and will be loved by good people.
(Yeah, there are a lot I’ve seriously wanted to keep but couldn’t. I joke that Fred’s a bastard for not letting me have all the kittens I want, but thank god for him because if it were left up to me, I’d probably have 300 cats by now.)
My concern right now is these four kittens I’m fostering now. Tina Louise will now let me pet her and even pick her up for a minute or two, and Spanky will grudgingly allow you to pet him for a few seconds, but the other two are just wild as hell and run if you try to touch them. ::sigh::
* * *
So – what will happen if Joe Bob is still at the store? Come on – you live in the country and what’s one more kitty? You loved Joe Bob. I loved Joe Bob. We all loved Joe Bob. Poor kitty – who’d return such a sweetie?
If Joe Bob is back at the store, I’ll pick him up, kiss him, love on him, clean out his cage, and leave. I do love Joe Bob – how can you not? – but I can’t keep every cat I’ve ever fostered or I’d end up on the news as one of those hoarders.
* * *
i was just wondering — are you doing the kitten fostering in the attic-type room or do you have them in another room in the house?
The kittens are in the room that was the guest bedroom. We moved the bed into the closet (and it ROCKS that the closet is big enough for us to put the bed in there (laying on the floor, not set up) and there’s nothing in the room itself now except a big dresser (where I keep kitten supplies), a few cat beds, and a thousand cat toys (plus the litter box and food, of course). When we’re watching TV at night, we can hear the kittens racing around like little wild things.
* * *
I’ve ordered supplies for canning, because I am far too lazy to haul my ass to the store and actually buy the stuff I need in person. Fred got some advice from a woman on the forum where he hangs out as far as what we need, so once everything gets here, I’ll be ready to do some canning.
And I hope the stuff gets here quickly, ’cause the beans are coming in fast. I’ve frozen at least four meals’ worth (yes, mother, I blanched them first) and we’ve eaten them for two meals in the last week. Rumor has it that canned beans stay fresh-tasting longer (according to the aforementioned gardening guru) and I need to get some canning practice in before the tomatoes start getting ripe. If we can stop plucking and eating the green tomatoes
like this long enough to let some get ripe, that is. I intend to do lots of marinara sauces and canning of fresh tomatoes and stuff like that.
When we die of botulism, you’ll know who to blame.
The squash is ripening quickly, and we’ve had tons of oven-fried summer squash, stir-fried (in olive oil with onion and garlic) summer squash, and I’m going to make and freeze a batch of
this stuff.
This gardening stuff is a pain in the ass sometimes, but so far I’m liking the results.
* * *
As you can see, Spanky is a deeply suspicious fellow.
Maryanne and her pretty blue eyes. The kittens love them some camera strap, mmhmm.
* * *
Tommy, dead to the world. If you look closely, you can see his tongue poking out of his mouth.
Sugarbutt’s favorite place to sleep, on top of the refrigerator in the laundry room.
* * *
Previously
2006: Do I know how to live large, or what?
2005: It took me a minute to get it. Duh.
2004: Have I mentioned that I have a big ol’ crush on Roland? Yeah. There’s me, being geeky again…
2003: Still no Fancypants.
2002: Well, did you feel the earth crack open?
2001: I guess not everyone is as much a wimp as I.
2000: I feel like I spent all day running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off and got nothing accomplished. ]]>
Am I first?
Oh man I used to can all the time! It’s much better with a canning buddy though because you get much more done. What seems to take the most time is the getting the stuff ready to can…..the shelling, the cutting up etc. I used to love to can pickles and have a fabo recipe that is easy peasy if you like kinda hot, garlicy, dills. Once you get the hang of your pressure cooker you won’t have any trouble. Tomatoes are a breeze. You’ll be a good farmer’s wife before you know it!
Wooot!!! God, I am now, as of this moment… the biggest dork on the planet!! Tell Fred to hand over the dork crown, cause it is all mine!
I was really trying to not picture the scene that took place with the baby birds and the cats… thanks for the visual image Robyn! Thanks!! You did what you had to do though.. and we will all pray for your mortal soul. Just kidding.. couldn’t resist throwing that in. ;0)
Canning is not as bad as it seems… freezing corn is horrid work, but the results are AWSOME and you can do ittttt!!!
Hi Robyn,
Great blog. Thanks for my daily laugh. Love the color in the laundry room. What is the color?
It would’ve been easier for you to dump Fred’s body in the pond, then have it filled in. But alas, you waited too long.
Do your cats (not the fosters) let you pick them up and hold them? I have three cats and they love for us to pet them and they will sometimes grant us the honor of sitting on or next to us, but if we try to pick them up and hold them, they cry like we are killing them and wiggle and squirm and try to get away!(I still do it ’cause they are cute little squishy balls of fur who must be kissed and snuggled, but they don’t much care for it!)
Which of your cats is the eldest? How old? Our two boys are now 17 and 15 … Candy, the 17-yr-old, is just beginning to show his age. It’s hard, like watching a beloved family member start to slow down – I’m not looking forward to the inevitable eventual decline. Have been googling “old age cats” and it sounds a bit grim.
That isn’t spanky.
About the Roomba – we have one and I have to say, make sure you get one you can schedule so you don’t have to be around when it is running. Those suckers are LOUD and they get stuck on the carpet runners.
It is completly harmless to the pets and furniture so far, but for some reason it never returns itself home to recharge (maybe ours has a small robot IQ or something.)
It does a decent job with bird feathers and pet hair (but you’ll still have to deal with the dead critters yourself!) Not near as much suction as the Dyson or my Hoover, but if it makes you feel better – add one to your wishlist! I am sure there is an acceptable return policy.
Just thought I would share my experience. Thanks for the laughs and the visuals, as always!
Sharon: Yeah it is, it’s baby Spanky the foster kitten.
Gina: Thanks for sharing your Roomba experience. I kind of go back and forth over whether I want one or not. That’s a lot of money to spend on something that won’t do as good a job as I would with the Dyson, and it’s not like I don’t have time to vacuum every (other) day, but it gets to be a pain in the butt sometimes.
I ♥ Maryanne
I’m getting hungry reading about your green tomatoes (yum) and summer squash. If I didn’t have a farming supply store nearby, I’d have ordered canning supplies online, too. If you have any questions when you get ready to start canning tomatoes, just holler. I know more about jams and jellies (I just found a recipe using Splenda, and it turned out great!), but tomato sauce, salsa, and catsup are easy.
I seem to remember that you have quite a few zucchini plants. If the inevitable happens and you’re overrun by them, know that you can make really awesome zucchini pickles. Don’t remember where I found the recipe, but I’m sure you can google it. Happy canning!
I have a Roomba and I love it, although I have carpet – no hard wood floors. I don’t have one with a schedule module, I bought it off of woot.com for about $140 or so. They have a different item every day – at a discount – and the Roomba’s pop up every once in a while. It is quite a bit cheaper than anywhere else I have seen it.
Also, it seems that from the number of tomato plants you have you will still have plenty of ripe tomatoes to can when the time comes!
I think Mr. Boogers has been secretly teaching baby Spanky how to “het” things.
Ooh, I’ve been thinking of a Roomba for the exact same reasons. Damn 6 cats (and dog) and all their fucking hair. At least the cats’ hair is light enough to form tumbleweeds, but the dog’s hair is so heavy that it just lays there, accumulating. Ever had a hair splinter into your heel? Not pleasant.
Ball complete book of home preserving
This is by far one of my favorite canning books, it talks about acidity, and how long to heat-bath everything, and etc. I also have some AWESOME tomatillo / tomato salsa recipes that we made last year by just throwing everything in the garden into a jar and then boiling it in the canner. Email me if you want any salsa recipes, although I’ll admit I got most of them off the internet and then varied them quite a bit. We came up with “Kitchen Sink” salsa and omg it was SO GOOD.
Worth its weight in gold is a good steam canner, so you might as well shell out the fifty bucks or whatever and get one now. Here’s one that looks pretty good. I figure I always end up using Ball jars, I reckon their recipe book and steam canner are pretty sweet, too.
PS: I noticed that your rescue group has two kittens named Eva and Zsa-Zsa. Funny, *I* have two kittens named the same thing! 🙂
I just bought my husband a Roomba for his birthday. (Yes he requested it!! LOL) We have hardwood floors and carpet. I had to vacuum on a daily basis because the dog and cat hair was unbeleivable. Our pets should be bald. Well since we have been using the Roomba, I only do a major vacuum twice a week. It works great, I have had no issues with it. Just my two cents.
Robyn, what’s the paint color in the Sugarbutt on Fridge picture? I am obsessed with finding a nice terracotta-ish paint color for my hall.