* * * From my comments (some of these are from several months ago): You know something weird. I am trying to figure our what to call you!! I will be talking and something will come up in conversation and I will want to tell something you said or did and I will say “my friend Rob…..” and then I stop myself realizing you are not technically my friend seeing how we have never met or even spoken…but it feels like it. Weird. So, I have to back up and say “the lady whose online journal I read” and it just doesn’t feel right. It feels like I am slighting this friendship I have with your writings. Anyone else have this problem? (Just feel like I know you so well!!) I find that amusing. I suggest you refer to me as “Queen of the Universe Robyn And3rson”. If enough people refer to me that way, it’ll surely come true someday, right? Seriously though, I have that same situation. I’ll want to tell my mother about something I read in someone’s journal, and so I just say “Someone I know online…” and tell her about what I read. She always kind of makes this skeptical “You can’t know someone from online, because it’s all voodoo!” face, but I don’t care, it’s just a way to get the information across. If I’ve actually emailed with someone more than once, I’d probably say “My friend So-and-So”, though I guess “My internet friend So-and-So” would be more accurate. I’d be interested to hear how the rest of y’all deal with that sort of situation. The hard wood floor guy who installed at my house said to use water and vinegar to clean the floor. He said that ammonia would dull the finish. Well, crap. That’s right, and that’s what I’m supposed to be using – vinegar, not ammonia. Which would explain why my floors look so dull lately! I have no idea why I always mix up ammonia and vinegar in my mind. Maybe because they’re both clearish liquids with strong odors? Since you have a few cats (not including the foster kitties), I was wondering if any of them have had fleas. If yes, did you or Fred or the Spud get bitten? I think my apartment might have fleas (because of my landlord’s cats), and they’re having a big ol’ feast on me. I have spray for the furniture and carpet, but is there anything I should get for myself? We’ve actually never had a flea problem, and the foster kittens are always treated with Advantage before we even get them (and treated every 30 days thereafter), so they’re (thank god!) not bringing fleas into the house. If anyone’s ever had to deal with fleas, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments. Just read your posts from last week. I must say …sounds like way too much cat box cleaning! Have you ever heard of the litter robot? We have one and it is truly the greatest invention ever made!! I bought my oldest son one for Christmas last year. (for his cat, not him) Literally…..with 2 cats , I only have to empty mine once a week! I hadn’t heard of the Litter Robot, but our cats are so weird about their litter box that I’d hesitate to bring a new setup into the house. And it doesn’t really take all that much time. Even when there were two litter boxes for the foster kittens (now just one for Bear) and the one litter box for our cats, it takes only about five minutes – if that – to clean them all. Our litter box setup is pretty easy – just dump from one litter box into the other, through the strainer, dump the clumps into a small trash bag – so I don’t really have any complaints about it. We just got those pop up red cubes for our (6 yr old) cats and they love them more than I thought they would. Are they a hit with the kittens, too? The kittens ADORE the pop up cubes! Well, I guess I should say “cube”, since we only have one now. I had to toss the second one, ’cause it got too much dried poop on it, and I wasn’t up for scrubbing it down. The kittens loved to get in it and “walk” it from one side of the room to the other, and once we started opening the kitten room door all day long, we’d occasionally find the cube down the hallway. The first time Mister Boogers went into the kitten room and saw the cube, he jumped into it and just sat there with a grumpy look like he was thinking “How come those little brats get ALL the cool toys?” Okay, I know this is probably going to be a stupid question but — is there a potential medical problem with Callie trying to nurse off of Smitty’s weiner? I.e. could it cause one of them some sort of injury or disease? There’s the potential of damage to the penis (heh – it bugs Fred when I say “penis”, so I try to say it as often as possible. Penis! Penis! Penis!), according to the shelter manager. She had a certain name for the damage, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it was. Robyn-I have to tell you I did a websearch the other day to make sure I was treating my little orphan kitties correctly. The page I came across was very informative and I found that I was doing the right things. THEN…..I got to the part where the woman said that she liked simulate actions like the mother cat. I TOTALLY draw the line at licking them on the top of their heads and carrying them in my mouth. I swear she said she did that!!!!!! Talk about being grossed out! I would rather be seen on tv talking about the image of Elvis being on my freezer, (which by the way isn’t). I love my kitties, but I think that goes a little too far into the kitty lovin realm. What do you think? Yeah, I think that’s going a little too far, bless her heart. Though I’ll admit, I’ve always wondered what Mister Boogers would do if I went over and licked him on top of the head. I’d never do it because BLEH, can you imagine the amount of cat hair I’d end up with in my mouth?, but still I’d just like to see the look on his face. I imagine he’d be bewildered. I can’t imagine carrying a kitten around in my mouth, either. I’d be afraid I’d hurt them! On a semi-related note (cat-related) I thought you might enjoy this quote. It’s from The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, the book I’m currently reading that I LOVE. “The sidewalk is crowded with lunchtime shoppers; they avoid bumping into one another without seeming to look, as if they’re covered with cat whiskers.” I like that.
Callie thinks America’s Funniest Home Videos is funNY.
“You SAID he was going bye-bye. You made me KISS HIM on the head. WHAT is he still doing here?”
He waits for her to go to sleep, then he sneaks onto the bed with her. And then he snuggles with her, and she wakes up warm and happy and momentarily forgets that he needs to be smacked on the head.
Remember how I mentioned that he follows me around like a little puppy? I left to do some errands, and he followed me to the door. When I got back half an hour later, he was sitting on the desk by the door waiting for me. It probably didn’t hurt that there was a comfy pile of fleece sitting there for him to lay on.
“Fear my SCARY CLAWS!”