8/10/07

deer shoes. Hmph.

* * * Let the comment-answering begin! are maxi and newt on the cats/cast page yet? Of course not. They’re not our cats! (Heh) To be honest, the only reason they’re not on the cat page is because I haven’t gotten around to it, like the thousands of other things I haven’t gotten around to because I suck. I’m sure they’ll end up there one of these days. By the way, the link to the cat page is over there in the left sidebar, the picture of Tubby that says “Our Cats” on it. * * * who would play you in the made for tv movie though??? and do you and fred *ever* sleep together? hate to get in your shiznick (not) but if you have separate bedrooms…is it an ode to the roaring ’40’s? except instead of separate beds… Angelina Jolie, of COURSE (hey, it’s MY fantasy world!). I don’t know – who do y’all see as the movie version of me? (BE NICE.) Fred and I will take the occasional nap together in the afternoons – that happens maybe once a month – and we’ve slept in the same bed on a couple of trips to Gatlinburg, but other than that, it’s him in his room and me in mine. It actually used to bother me, sleeping in separate rooms, but I’ve not only gotten accustomed to it, I actually prefer it. We both like our space (though I don’t guess I really use much space, since I can easily sleep with cats taking up half the bed) and sleep better apart than together. We still get plenty of laying-in-bed-talking time (which we do every evening before he toddles off to his room), and we like it. It doesn’t work for everyone, but I’ve had a LOT of people tell me they wish they could sleep in a separate room from their spouse or partner but the other wouldn’t go for it. Actually, someone sent me a link to an article about how more and more couples are sleeping in separate rooms – maybe Fred and I are trendsetters! * * * So do Spot and Spanky sleep with Fred? Does MaryAnn sleep by herself in the foster room or does she snuggle up with someone at night too? Spot and Spanky usually sleep… well, I don’t know where Spot sleeps, actually. Out in the front room somewhere, I think. Spanky will occasionally sleep on the cat bed that lays on the trunk next to my bed, and sometimes out in the hallway. They like their own space at night, I guess! Fred sleeps with his door shut so no kitties get to snuggle with him (he’s a light sleeper and has a hard time getting back to sleep when awakened). Until last night we were putting Maryanne up in the foster room at night, just because we didn’t want any of the racing around in the middle of the night. We decided to give it a try for one night and see how it went, and it went smashingly – no racing around, no fighting or growling or hissing, just sweet, quiet sleep. * * * have you heard of the new craze in the canning community? once your pickles are pickled, pour off the juice and replace it with an equivalent amount of liquid sweetened kool-aid, like cherry or whatever flavor then let them sit in the fridge for a week. the thought kinda makes my stomach turn, but you might want to surprise fred with a batch of purple, grape-flavored sweet-n-sour pickles. I have to admit, I’m a little grossed out by the thought of Kool-aid flavored pickles, but I might try it with a jar just to see if there’s anything to the fuss. I’d probably be the one eating them, though – Fred doesn’t care for sweet pickles because he’s WEIRD. * * * I once heard that daddy long legs [the spider in the picture] are actually quite deadly to humans but their fangs aren’t long enough to puncture our skin. I can’t verify whether this is true, and naturally I’m way too lazy to actually Google it [instead I’m typing it here, hah] but I will always believe that it’s true regardless of whether or not it is, and I will always be completely frightened of them because of it. Anyone know if it’s true? I had heard that very same thing, but apparently it’s a myth. This page will tell you more in detail, but rest assured that it’s a hugely widespread myth, but a myth just the same. * * * So, you’re telling me: if I can separate the two feral kitten rescues for now, they will warm up to me more quickly? Hrrmmm. I might have to try this method. It does seem CRUEL and UNUSUAL since they love each other so much, but if it’ll help them get tame more quickly, I might have to go buy me another kitty crate! This is how I look at it – you separate them for a couple of days to see what happens, and if they continue to be miserable and scared and skittish, you can always put them back together, right? (By the way, that comment came from Styro, who rescues feral cats – check her out!) Also, while I’m thinking of it, the wonderful Miss Pink Ponsonby sent me an email (which, ahem, I have not responded to because I SUCK), and she said: I’ve been meaning for quite a while to write you and give you this never-fail cat taming trick. My mom and I have used it all our lives for taming feral kittens. (she had 18 cats at one time, Ugh! A logistical nightmare since they all had to have their own spot and they didn’t all get along and they had to sometimes cross someone’s territory to get to their spot…you know the rest.) Anyway, when you were talking about the latest batch of kittens being so shy and skittish and hissy, this is what you do when you get some wild-ass kittens: Take a terry cloth washcloth, the thin ones, and get it wet with warm water and then wrap part of it around your finger like when you clean your ears in the shower, and then when you are with the kittens, just PIN one with one hand and start ‘scrubbing’ their face with the cloth-wrapped finger. Gently of course. Believe it or not, this mirrors what their mom would do to wash them and calm them, so instead of making them feel trapped and freaked, they just totally put up with being scrubbed. You don’t pin them down hard, it’s just that you don’t do it by picking them up and holding them, just pin them where they are. They will shake their head and walk away and finish washing their faces and from then on out, they will start to think you are the Mom-Lady who gives them a tongue-bath and not a bad sort of demon, after all. I do this with any cat I get when they are a kitten, and it makes it so you can handle their faces and lips and clean out their ears all their lives because they think it is a mom-love action. You know, think about how the Momma Kitties hold down their kittens with a paw and just start licking. It’s the same principle. Believe it or not, it works! I have not yet given this a try – though I keep intending to – because did I mention I SUCK? And I’m a procrastinator? But I think someone out there should give it a try and shame me into getting off my ass and giving it a try with miss Maryanne. * * * As we were preparing to leave for the weekend & lining up critter care, I wondered, “How will Robyn & Fred EVER be able to leave the farm at the same time with all those critters needing daily tending?” I have wondered that verysame thing myself, but Fred is somewhat certain that if he asks at the corner store, someone will know someone who has a responsible kid who would be willing to stop by and feed the cats, scoop out the litter box, and let the chickens in and out every day for hopefully not too much money. Not that I’ll be able to drag Fred off the farm anytime soon, anyway, so it’s probably a moot point! * * * I was wondering, how many people read your site on a regular basis? And how often do you get new people signing up for notification? According to my Sitemeter, I get about 1500 hits a day Monday through Friday, and about 500 on Saturday and Sunday. I assume the majority of that 1500 hits are people who are regular readers, checking in. I don’t know how often new people join the notify lists – I have it set up so that people can join without being approved by me, and I don’t go look at the lists unless someone asks for help with an email change. I prefer not knowing when people are joining or leaving the list, since I’ve heard that people like to register their displeasure with what you’ve written by leaving the notify list. And if I’m not notified when people join or leave, their displeasure goes right over my head. On a side note, at least three times people have gotten pissed off at something Fred has said on his own site and emailed me, asking me to take them off my notify list. Well, okay… as long as you’re going to be an adult about it, I guess. * * * With all the veggies you grow are you having any problems with woodchucks? Just when I think I have the problem solved he moves back in. They love tomatoes and zukes! I haven’t seen any woodchucks, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there! * * * My solution to non-vet cat attacking vet-cat: Mark is sickly and goes to the vet more often, and Steve is boss of earth, so when I bring Mark back from the vet Steve beats up on Mark more than usual. Sooo, when I get back from the vet with Mark, I put Steve in Mark’s carrier and take him out for a drive. Balance is restored. This is BRILLIANT. Next time I take someone to the vet, I’m going to come home, immediately toss Mister Boogers in the carrier, and take him for a ride. That should fix his little red wagon. * * * Regarding Maryanne . . . I was wondering, what are the chances since Fred is her favorite, that he relents and wants to keep her??? I’d say the chances are nil that Maryanne will be staying. She’s cute and playful (though still skittish) and we like having her around, but six cats (permanently living in the house) are our limit. She enjoys snack time, too. (What this picture doesn’t show is that Mister Boogers just did the classic growl-while-eating because Maryanne was too close to him. He’s such an ass.) * * * With all the canning (and prep work involved in canning), have you had any back problems standing for such long periods of time? If so, have you found anything that helps? I find I can’t wash a load of dishes at the sink without having to take a muscle relaxant and lie down after. I haven’t actually had any back problems, even on the days that I spend hours standing in the kitchen. I do have an issue with achy legs on those days, but a good night’s sleep generally takes care of that problem. It helps, probably, that I take a ten minute or so break every hour to sit down, drink something, and check my email or read something. Also – if you’re standing on a hard floor while you’re working, I highly recommend a little area rug to stand on. It helps more than you’d expect! * * * Here’s a question for you, but I bet it is one that you have answered many times over the years (hell, I may have asked it myself–excuse my senility if that is the case) : Why is it that your permanent feline residents are so calm about the cats that come and go? Are they just used to it? Do they ever start spraying or peeing in corners to express their angst? I don’t know that I’d ever refer to our cats as reacting calmly to interlopers. They’re always hissy and bitchy and growly at first, sometimes for weeks (they’re also a bit hissy and bitchy and growly with each other, so that’s nothing new, I guess), then they kind of give up. They don’t embrace the newcomers, but they seem to realize (a little more quickly with each new bunch of fosters, I think) that there’s no point in the hissing and the growling. At this point with Maryanne, as long as she’s not in their way or all up in their shit, they don’t care what she does. I even found Mister Boogers – gasp! – PLAYING with her yesterday. We haven’t had an issue with the cats spraying or peeing in corners as a reaction to the fosters BUT I will say that my parents’ visit with their dog seems to have triggered some issue with Spot. Since their visit – every couple of weeks, usually – we find something that he’s peed on. He’s fond of going in Fred’s closet, knocking something (a t-shirt, pillowcases) onto the floor and peeing on it. There doesn’t seem to be anything specific that causes it, and it annoys me, but I’m just grateful that the bastard isn’t peeing on furniture or directly on the floor. It’s always something that can be tossed into the washer, THANK GOD. * * * Question for tomorrow – is there any particular cat food you recommend to keep cats from randomly throwing up? I seem to remember you mentioning this issue from time to time, but can’t for the life of me recall any brand names that you said worked. With our cats, it’s pretty much a given that if it’s the cheap stuff – Meow Mix, or something along those lines – someone’s going to barf it up. I don’t know if it’s because the cheap stuff has more fillers in it, or what, but I’ve learned my damn lesson. For a while I was feeding them TimberWolf Organics Serengeti Herbal Feline Formula Cat Food (especially after the whole cat food scare) and Blue Spa Select as their second choice (we wouldn’t want them to get BORED), but since Sugarbutt started up with the farkin’ skin issues, we went back to what we were feeding them before: Natural Balance for Adults, and Nutro Natural Choice Senior. * * * Another blogger I read refers to her husband as her husband, and her five-year-old son as her “boyfriend”. Every time I read it, it feels….icky. Do you think this is strange at all (calling one’s son her boyfriend, I mean)? I value your opinion! I don’t know who the blogger is, and let me hasten to say that I’m sure she means it in a completely innocuously funny way, but yeah, if she’s using it often and not every once in a while in a joking “my little boyfriend” way – that’s a little bit icky. Maybe more than a little bit. Way to encourage that Oedipus complex! * * * Lord knows I NEVER interfere, but, the eggs should be stored with the blunt side up I’ve been informed that by Fred, and immediately went and flipped the eggs over! * * * Ok, I’m so NOT a skimmer but I don’t remember you saying anything about the litter robot thing. I need something new since my Littermaid died (lasted over 3 years, not bad) and I was wondering what ya thought. $300 is a bit steep but your thumbs up would go a long way. I did actually mention the Litter Robot back in June (Bonnie, you damn SKIMMER), but I’ll cut and paste and then add a little at the end. I said: Someone recently asked about the Litter Robot and how it’s working for us. It’s working out okay, I guess. I did what the literature (and some of y’all) suggested and let the regular litterbox get all kinds of nasty so the cats would be kind of forced to use the Litter Robot. The reaction there is that someone – I suspect either Spanky or Spot – registered their displeasure by peeing on the rug in the dining room. Since I don’t want the house to smell like cat pee, I started cleaning out the regular litter box again, because I learn quickly. At this point, the three youngest cats – Sugarbutt, Tommy, Mister Boogers – will use the Litter Robot, but the three older aren’t interested. I clean out the regular litter box every morning, and empty out the Litter Robot “drawer” at the same time, and since I’m only having to do it once a day rather than twice, I’m happy. In a perfect world they’d all use the Litter Robot, but they won’t, and I’m just happy that we have enough room in the laundry room for the Litter Robot and the regular litter box. Since I wrote that, I’ve actually gone to cleaning out the litter box and Litter Robot every other day (especially since the cats can go outside now and use the backyard as their giant litter box. Between the cat pee and the chicken shit, the back yard is SWEET, believe me), and then one day last week I actually found Spot using the Litter Robot. Now I don’t know who’s using the litter box and who’s using the Litter Robot, but it appears to be right around 50/50. I don’t dare to go to Litter Robot-only at this point (I’d have to buy a second one anyway, because one litter box really isn’t enough for 6 cats), but I can foresee that possibly happening in the future. That said, I would say that if you’re willing to give it a try, you ought to – Litter Robot’s got a 60-day money back guarantee, and if it doesn’t work out, you can send that sucker back! * * * Do you have a hard time avoiding stepping in chicken poop? I would imagine you would with all those chickens. It’s actually not that bad – I wear boots when I’m tromping around the back yard (I am SUCH the fashion statement), and generally watch where I’m going to avoid the chicken poop. Sometimes I’m sure I walk through it, but the boots come off at the door in the laundry room (I’m hoping that in the future, we’ll have a covered back porch to leave our shoes and boots on), so none of it gets in the house. * * * Fred’s mother gave us this big cast iron pot a few months ago. We had it sitting on a stump by the driveway, but the Fed Ex guy told us that those pots are expensive, and we might get it stolen if we left it there in plain view. So Fred carried it around and put it on the stump in the back yard. We filled it with soil and planted Irises we got from his father and stepmother. And then the chickens started getting up in the pot. Chickens like to take dust baths – Fred tells me it’s how they keep clean and keep things like mites off of them – and it’s funny to watch. They dig down in the dirt, roll around (just like cats), and then they get up, walk away, and shake their feathers, and a HUGE amount of dirt comes flying out of their feathers. Apparently they really like big pots of dirt. They’ve dug up all the irises except two, and they take turns taking dust baths in the big pot (Fred says “It’s like their bath tub!”) Damn chickens. * * * Speaking of chickens, they really REALLY like seeds. When I made tomato sauce last weekend, I saved all the seeds for them. “If you’re feeling eggy, son, just go ahead and LAY!” “HawhawBUGAWK! Did you hear that? I said “If you’re feeling eggy, son, just go ahead and LAY!” “HawhawBUGAWK! You are a funny motherplucker, Buffy!” * * * Tommy, camouflaged. * * * Previously 2006: And you know when I’m saying it’s hot, it must be like burning in the flames of Hell. 2005: I’m going to kill my husband. 2004: “THIS IS NOT THE FRONT OF THE SCHOOL,” I said. “THIS IS THE SIDE.” 2003: No entry. 2002: Stop making those gagging noises. 2001: Is it just me, or does Mother Nature not like it when the spud or I fly? 2000: No entry.]]>