Edited to add (11:35 am): Spot is gone. My entry about him will be up tomorrow.
“You s’pose they’re ever going to take this hideous bandanna off me?”
Dog update: We have a line on a local dog rescue that can, hopefully, take Buddy. I’ll keep you updated – and if anyone within a couple hours’ drive wants him, please let me know. Otherwise, it would be kinder to turn him over to the rescue so he doesn’t have to deal with the stress of traveling a long distance.
We tried contacting a board member of the Beagle Rescue Foundation of America who lives in Alabama at the suggestion of a commenter (thanks, Eliza!), and did get an email back from her but she was… well, Fred said “That’s the least helpful email I’ve ever gotten in my life!” and that’s the truth. Heh.
We let him stay out of the bathroom all day yesterday, and he alternated between wandering around the house, following us (especially if we had food in our hands!), and finding various places to nap (at one point he was napping on the carpet in the foster cat room, with Tommy nearby. We call Tommy The Ambassador for good reason!) When I was walking around dusting, he kept following me, and I said to Fred “He is JUDGING ME!” Seriously, he looked at me like “You’re going to leave that there, then? You think that looks okay right there? Okay, then. If you must. That’s not what I would do, but I don’t guess it’s my house. Up to you!”
He is absolutely house trained – he knew to lead me to the back door when he needed to go out, and he had no problem getting back in through the cat door. He does like to try to eat cat food (a problem I solved by moving the cat food to the dining room table. It’s not like WE ever use it!) and he tried to get in the garbage after I tossed a piece of paper towel that smelled like turkey bacon in it, so I had to move the garbage can to the counter.
Yes, he is a good dog. No, we’re still not keeping him.
What are the specifics of the medicine you’re giving spot? Do you give it to him once a day or twice? And how’s he doing, poor guy? Twice a day he gets Az0dyl (for his kidneys) and Vi0kase (for his pancreas), and once a day he gets medicine for his thyroid. For a while, Spot seemed to rally – he’s been out more, hanging around us, he’s back to sleeping on my desk all day long. But now he’s not eating, not even his favorite foods aside from some tuna juice, and Fred weighed him yesterday morning to find that he’s lost more than a pound in the last two weeks. He didn’t even react to the dog, which is unlike him. We’re going to get him to the vet, hopefully today, but it isn’t looking good. And I should add that Fred did tell me that the vet wasn’t very encouraging when he took Spot there two weeks ago, but I heard “Might recover” and my hopeful brain turned it into “Should make a full recovery”. Read more about Spot in Fred’s entry.
What did you name the dog (c’mon, we know you did!)? At first I said “He looks like a Buster!”, but we’ve been calling him Buddy. I bet there are millions upon millions of male dogs named Buddy in this country.
How many shots did it take to get the perfect pose on those cat photos? I always take 15 or more and then pick out the best ones to keep. The pictures of Miz Poo and Mister Boogers, I think I actually posted all but about three of the ones I took; I’m just lucky my camera was within reach! Most of the time I take about 10 pictures for each picture I post, though it really depends.
Question, awhile back you posted a link to a website that had free ring tones to download…. do you remember what it was called? That would be Myxer Tones. I LOVE that site!
The Real Housewives, where was Vicki’s assistant? They did almost a whole show on her and we haven’t seen her since. How about Tamara’s $40,000 watch? What does her husband do for a living? And, did we have to see her getting her boobs readjusted at the surgeon? I cannot pull myself away from that show!!! I could go on and on and on. Good question! They like to focus on people during one show and then they never show up again! Maybe they needed filler for that show, so focused on Vicki’s assistant. Or maybe they’re setting up for a spinoff – “I Work for a Control Freak!” Tamra’s husband is a car salesman, I believe – salesman or manager of the salesmen? Or maybe owns his own dealership? One of those, anyway! I’m a recent Real Housewives convert. I like to watch it while working out at the gym. Keeps me motivated. I didn’t watch it when Jo was on it. Who is she exactly? I missed the episode last night, but I’ll catch it on a Saturday morning. Their houses/cars/weddings/barbecues are always so over the top. I can’t imagine dressing like they do for an outside barbecue. But, alas, I am addicted. I wonder if the new one about New York Housewives will be as interesting???? Are you going to watch that one? Jo was engaged to a guy named Slade Smil3y and she moved in with him in his big-ass house in Coto de Caza. They fought a lot and broke up a lot (they actually broke up at the end of Season 1, and he went off and dated Lauri for a while, then they were back together at the beginning of Season 2) and she wasn’t the type to stay home and clean house and that’s clearly what he wanted (or said he did, anyway), and eventually they broke up and she moved to LA to live with her friend. She apparently has a burgeoning singing career. She was fun to watch, but she liked to party a little too much, and Slade didn’t care for that. Also, Jo was good friends with Jeana’s son Shane, and the show tried to hint that there was more than friendship going on there, but never backed up those hints with anything real. I am absolutely going to watch Real Housewives of NYC (or whatever they’re calling it) – the DVR’s set up to tape! I hope it’s as entertaining as the OC Housewives are.
I almost peed my pants when Quinn showed up as Roxie!!!!! Is Roxie the new Christian Hooker? Hilarious! I thought the finale was a bit ho-hum disappointing really. I can’t believe Jo is going on “tour”. Yeah, right How on EARTH did I forget the horror show of Quinn dressing up as “Roxie”?! I had a really hard time watching that, because good GOD was it embarrassing to watch! And she and Billy are just so freakin’ AWKWARD together, I don’t get why she dated him for as long as she did.
You know, you should train those cats to come when called, and then when you get cold, you could summon them all to lay down all over you while you watch TV… Yeah, and I could see it now – someone would get too close to Miz Poo, she’d growl and hiss and then smack them, and then there’d be a fight on me, and I’d have to throw them all off me! It would certainly be entertaining, though!
Since you mentioned Stephen King …. Dumas Key is quite good so far! I have another 100 pages to make sure the ending doesn’t suck, but so far I’m having trouble putting it down long enough to do chores. I haven’t gotten it yet – it’s on the way – but I’m definitely looking forward to it!
Robyn – you can still surprise me. I thought you LOVED Dr. Phil! BTW, I totally agree w/you that Dr. Shill made a complete horse’s ass of himself in the Britney situation. Oprah needs to smack him, big time. Back when Dr. Phil was on Oprah and then first got his own show, I like him a lot, because he was a refreshing change of pace. But after a while, his shtick gets old. I haven’t watched an episode of Dr. Phil in at least a year, maybe longer. I’m just not feeling the Dr. Phil love anymore.
Thought you might get a kick out of this video. Love it!
OK, kind of random suggestion but the comment about torturing the cats with the Fur Real toy made me think about it: Take scotch tape (or a similar, light adhesive tape) and place a long strip from the base of your cat’s neck to the base of their tail and let the fun begin. They think they’re under something and slink around low and freaked out and it is sooo entertaining. I think Fred will love it! I have got to give this one a try. I can just imagine them slinking around, all low. And I’ll make sure I have the video camera all set to go!
If you have a New England BitchyCon, can we do a Southern one too? I’ll toss a snowball your way tomorrow (so says the weather person on TV, but I’ll believe it when I see it!) Hell, why not? I could do an area of the country each season. It would be the Great Bitchypoo Tour of ’08! 🙂
By the way, the hairless cat you mentioned reminded me of the “Friends” episode when Rachel gets one. Was it Joey who asked if the cat was inside-out? Bwah! Mrs. Whiskerson! I always, always think of that episode when I think of hairless cats.
We really enjoyed Harold and Kumar, especially the NPH parts. And can’t wait for the sequel to come out, mainly for the NPH parts. Hubby is wondering if since he’s playing himself and he’s come out in public if they’ll have something that relates to that. Either way, I can’t wait. I wondered that exact same thing – will the character of Neil Patrick Harris remain the same as in the original movie, or will “real life” come into it? Maybe he’ll disappoint Harold & Kumar by being in a happy, monogamous relationship. Or maybe he’ll be a man whore, still, only batting for the other team this time around. You KNOW I’ll be renting that movie as soon as it comes out on DVD! I adore Neil Patrick Harris, and anyone who’s a NPH fan should check out How I Met Your Mother; he’s hilarious!
Were you just cold because you’re a cold person or was it related to being sick? I was (am) cold just because of the weather and our old house doesn’t keep out of the cold all that well. But as long as I have the heater next to me in the computer room and the electric blanket on me in the living room, I’m fine. As long as the outside temperature is above 50, I’m usually okay; once it gets lower, I start to complain.
Have you looked at the litter box cleaning info on http://www.catinfo.org/litterbox.htm ? It seems like it would take forever, but it keeps my boxes fresher than before and is really not a pain at all. I don’t know why on earth it never occurred to me to clean the places where the litter balls stuck to the side of the litter box each time I clean the litter box. It seems obvious, and that it would help keep the litter and litterbox cleaner for longer, but as usual the obvious things go right over my head and I never think of them. Thanks for that link – I found that page very interesting.
A quickie fix for a heated water source is a fish tank heater. Plug it in and drop it into any water bowl and voila! Cheap and easy. The woman working at the pet store we visited on Sunday actually suggested that very thing, but when we read the back of the package, it said that it shouldn’t be stuck to the bottom of a bowl and it wasn’t meant to be used outside, so we didn’t dare to try it.
I hope you get your pellet stove — but THIS is why you should have goats! Sugarbutt certainly deserves one of his own….forget Fred. Oh man, that is TOO cute!
What the hell is a pellet stove, though? Should I be bargaining with Pookie for one? Inquiring minds want to know. Basically, a pellet stove is a stove that burns processed pellets made of corn. It’s kinder to the environment and more controllable than a regular wood stove (at least, that’s the impression I get). I’ve been lobbying for a pellet stove for the front room and a regular wood stove for the dining room, but I don’t know how successful I’m going to be.
They’re talking about Pellet Stoves today on TreeHugger. Must have read your post. Thanks for the link!
I have a question about pellet stoves though. They go on the outside of your house, which I like, but do you have the smokey smell in the house still? My only experience with a pellet stove is the one that my father has, so keep in mind that I’m not a big expert or anything. I didn’t notice any kind of smoky smell in my parents’ house at all, and I’m pretty sure I would have noticed.
If you are looking for a good movie, based on a true story, check out Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. Keep a box of Puffs nearby!!! We watched it last year, I think, and liked it a lot – and recommend it!
Ha– I’m surprised nobody else asked this, but why were you eating while wearing a winter coat? Ahem. I might have been transporting ice cream from the ice cream place to home, and some of it got away from me and dribbling down the front of my coat. Maybe. And also, do you have a recipe for the Shepard’s Pie? I’ll put it up in the recipe section when I get around to it (here it is! Also, here’s our favorite beef stroganoff recipe while I’m at it) but for now, here it is: 1 lb lean ground beef 1 onion, chopped 1 can creamed corn 1 can green beans (I like French cut) Three large potatoes Peel and quarter the potatoes; put ’em in a pot, fill with water, boil until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, put the ground beef and the onion in a large pan and brown. When the ground beef is browned through and the onions are translucent, remove from heat and drain. Put the ground beef and onion in a glass dish – I use a 2.5 liter Corningware covered casserole dish, but have used other bowls; it really all depends on what’s handy. Open and drain the green beans; dump on top of the ground beef mixture. Open the can of creamed corn and dump on top of that. Salt and pepper the top of the creamed corn. (Note: it’s important to make the creamed corn the top layer, so the “cream” part of the corn can sink down through everything and make it yummy.) When the potatoes are ready, mash them. I usually mash mine with a little milk and butter substitute (just enough to give it a slight buttery taste) and salt and pepper; if you have a particular favorite way to mash them, go for it. When the potatoes are mashed, spread them across the top of the beef/onion/green beans/creamed corn mixture. (I like to make extra mashed potatoes to feed to the chickens, because they really like their carbs.) Bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until the top of the potatoes are slightly browned. I think Shepherd’s Pie would be good with peas added in, but Fred’s not the fan of peas like I am so I leave them out.
just passing along this website a friend sent to me and I thought you would enjoy! www.lolcats.com Now, that one I hadn’t seen! Is there anything funnier than LOLcats? I think NOT. For those of you who haven’t already seen it, there’s also I Can Has Cheezburger and Cute Overload (which isn’t a LOLcats site, but still always worth looking at!). Sadly, LOLSecretz is shutting down.
I love the rug in the kitty pics…..Where did you find it? Oddly enough, we got all our rugs at the local flea market!
Pet adoption idea. Since you foster some of these cats, and take such wonderful photos of them, why don’t you print out the best of, for instance, Skittles, laminate and tape these over her cage when she goes to the pet store. That way people can see how much fun Skittles is and was when she was being fostered. And if she’s adopted, the photos go with her. Maybe. I’ll have to check with the shelter manager on that – the pet store that houses the cats up for adoption has some guidelines about what’s okay and what isn’t, and I’m not sure they’d be okay with pictures on the cat cages, so I’ll have to see what she says.
I dreamed that you died last night Robyn. It was horrible! Fred had setup a condolences page on your site but he wouldn’t explain how you died which was extremely irritating. I actually woke up crying! NOT a fun dream. It was pretty intense though for someone that has never met you. Oh, I HATE those dreams! For what it’s worth, I’ve told Fred that if I suddenly keel over, he’s to post on my site and tell everyone what’s what. And if he doesn’t, probably Nance would say SOMETHING, even if it’s “The leprechauns got her! Too much joy!” or Jane might say “The stress of trying to figure out figure out whether to use its or it’s finally did her in!” If nothing else, someone would find something out and post in the comments. So yes, if I suddenly stop updating and Fred has nothing to say, keep checking the comments. Sooner or later someone’s going to find out how I kicked off and post the information there!
Will you and/or Fred be lining up at a local comic book store to purchase The Long Road Home #1, which goes on sale at 12:01am, March 5th, 2008? I know you are a huge Dark Tower fan (as am I,) and the thought that this comic book series is going to give fans more insight into Roland is just very appealing. I haven’t bought a comic book (if they’re even called that anymore – maybe “graphic novel”?) in over 20 years. I kind of go back and forth on the subject. I’m no comic book fan, but I do adore the hell out of the Dark Tower series. I don’t believe there’s anything on earth that would compel me to line up anywhere at midnight, but probably I’ll be buying the comic book/ graphic novel at some point in the future. Maybe I’ll wait and see if other Dark Tower fans say whether it’s worth buying!
Try this one too! www.miniclip.com/hangaroo.htm Oh, you evil people and your fun games! I have discovered that I am not so good at hangman… YET!
Do you feel differently towards the “owner” of buddy now? I know that it cant be proven but wow.. I have to say that anyone that could look at any animal (certainly one that was such bad shape that buddy was) and not feel involuntary reaction of wanting to help it.. Is vile. What I feel, honestly, is confusion. It’s not like we really KNOW the guy who owned him, other than to stop at his vegetable stand a few times – Fred even bought a couple of watermelons from him to feed the girlz. But he seemed like a decent guy, and I don’t understand how he could let Buddy get into this kind of shape. Someone suggested that maybe the dog is ill and that’s why he’s so thin and I might be inclined to agree with that, but the fact that he fell on the first can of food we gave him like he was starving to death kind of negates the idea that he’s uninterested in eating. I would really like to be a fly on the wall in that guy’s house and understand what was going through his mind.
Do you walk around making zombie noises? RAAR. I do not make zombie noises, but Fred has suggested that I’m trying to suck out his soul with my crazy zombie eye. Which I’m totally not. What would I do with an extra soul, except sell it to the devil? Hmmm….
Do you suppose there are other animals still with that (and I use the term loosely here) man? I have a really sick feeling that Buddy was not the only one. We drive by his house a lot – we have to, to get out of Smallville – and you can bet that we’ll be keeping a very close eye on it from here on out! I do know he’s got a rooster, who looks quite proud and healthy. But then, roosters are pretty good at finding their own food, so maybe that explains that.
I dreamed last night that I went into the combination convenience store/animal rescue society that you run from your back yard (stop in, top off your tank, get a nice refreshing beverage, and take home a kitten!) to pick up Mr. Droopy there, and you told me you’d already found him a home, but you had a really cute pygmy elephant that needed a place. Turned out not to be an elephant at all, we decided upon closer inspection, just a grey cat; you’d gotten the tail confused for a trunk. By the way, don’t ever dye your hair blonde. Trust me. This dream cracks me UP. Does a convenience store/ animal rescue sound like a business we’d TOTALLY start up, or what? Also, it’s easy to confuse pygmy elephants and cats. Don’t judge me! (And I have no desire to go blond. If my hair gets any lighter than medium brown, it really washes me out, and I am NOT going to start wearing makeup!)
I went and looked up old marks made by hobos during the Depression and I think y’all need to check your fences for marks. I’m guessing y’all may have the animal equivalent of Can Sleep In Barn or Good People Live Here or Care Here if You Are Sick. I think Tell Pitiful Story might be out there too!
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/01/im-never-gonna.html Just to lighten the mood! What on earth is it about orange kitties and black kitties bonding? We’ve got two sets of orange-and-black (Sugarbutt and Tommy, and Miss Momma and Newt), and it seems like I’ve seen a lot of orange kitties hanging out with black ones. Is it a Halloween thing, or what?
You guys are the Animal Spa. Strays and fosters from across the world will start showing up to dry out, kick their catnip addiction and rehab. I love it. I’ve tried to convince Fred to build a nice big building so that we could foster more! kitties!, but he won’t go for it. Hmph.
Why do you have a little nook in your bathroom? Whatzit for? (other than stray dogs) Isn’t that nook the neatest thing? The previous owners were using it for storage – they had a storage shelf unit in it – and I tried to convince Fred that we (he) should wall it off and make a storage closet out of it, but I ended up putting a litter box there and it fits nicely (though I still wouldn’t mind having it walled in, with a door so that people who come to visit don’t have to look at the litter box).
what do you think about the news that the chick who found the [Heath Ledger’s] body called the olsen twins three times before she called 911? WTF were they going to do? I hadn’t heard that, so I went looking and found this article that confirms it. I don’t know what on earth the masseuse thought Mary-Kate Olsen could do – very strange. All I can guess is that maybe the masseuse is one of those people (like me!) who isn’t very good in an emergency, and that was what popped into her brain to do. I know that if I were to find Fred dead in his bed, my immediate response would be to call Mister Boogers. (Kidding. Really!)
Spot, sleeping in his favorite bed on my desk. (flickr)
Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Yesterday marked one year since Tubby died.
2004: Tubby is dead.
2003: No entry.
2002: Signs of spring.
2001: No entry.
2000: Some work day, huh?]]>