There are too many goddamn ones in today’s date, and it’s FREAKIN’ ME OUT, MAN.
So yes, we had ourselves a bit of snow Sunday night into Monday. We got about 7 inches here, and I understand other parts of the state got more snow than we did, bless their hearts.
I find this snow business utterly ridiculous, as if I wanted to deal with 7 inches of cold white snow, I’d still be living in the Northeast. You will please note that I am NOT. Of course, it apparently only does this about once every 17 years or so, so I don’t suppose I should complain too much, should I?
I had an appointment yesterday morning at 8 am, but of course I didn’t go, not least because the entire city of Huntsville shut down for the day (and for today, too, I suppose). I tried calling and leaving a message so they could call and reschedule me, but their mailbox was full, and y’know, it’s not like it was an emergency or anything.
I took the camera out to the back forty to snap some dogs-frolicking-in-snow pictures (which you’ll see on Thursday), and made Fred go with me. We were just out the door when I said “You should take some pictures of me in the snow!”, handed him the camera, and ran to the middle of the yard.
Unbeknownst to me, he was snapping pictures before I got to the middle of the yard and turned around, because he’s a fucker like that.
::runrunrunrun::
::runrunrunrun::
“What the fuck? You gonna take the picture?”
“Oh. You fucker.”
None of the cats were at all interested in going outside except for Joe Bob, who was just all kinds of unsure of what the holy hell was going on.
Even he eventually gave up and came inside and settled on the heated cat bed on the couch for the rest of the day.
So, remember how I was growing out my hair to its natural gray and dark brown color? That lasted just about six months – and it was about half grown out – before I decided to go back to coloring it.
Fred – who applies my hair color because I’m no damn good at it – put the color on last Sunday, and did a pretty good job of it. It was more red than I wanted, though, so I hemmed and hawed and asked him if it was too red (he didn’t think so – but honestly, he couldn’t give less of a shit about the color of my hair. Which is why I SHOULD come home with neon green hair one of these days.) and I finally snapped a picture of my hair to show y’all and ask your opinion.
Then I looked at the picture and I thought, first of all, “If I were holding that damn camera any higher, it’d be in fucking outer space”, then I thought “Jesus, don’t I look like a smug bitch who needs a good hard smack across the face”, THEN I thought “Huh. I kinda like the way it looks.”
I haz a smug.
I went to Sam’s last Thursday to stock up on stuff, and while I was there, I was DELIGHTED to find that they’re carrying edamame again in their frozen food section. I love the hell out of edamame, and when they stopped carrying it, I was sad and bereft and unsure whether I wanted to go on.
When I spotted the edamame on Thursday, I wanted to give all of Sam’s Club a great big hug. And I bought TWO bags, because I’m sure that once word gets back to the head honcho in charge of Purchasing, they’ll stop carrying edamame immediately.
At least I have my two bags!
After Sam’s, I stopped at Petsmart to look at their selection of litter. I’ve used Fresh Step for years and I like the way it clumps and I like the way it (mostly) prevents my house from smelling like cat poo all the time, but the dust is absolutely kicking my ass. Every time I scoop the litter boxes (and there are currently 8 of them in this house) a great wave of dust goes through the house, and Fred reels around and gags and coughs and acts like a great big drama queen. In the interest of not having to listen to the coughing and gagging, and also in interest of not dying from a condition so rare that it’ll likely be named after us (Anderson Litter Lung), I decided it was time to see if I couldn’t find something that clumps halfway decently without the overwhelming dust.
I bought a bag of Precious Cat Litter, a bucket of Fresh Aire Litter, and a bucket of ExquisiCat Scoopable. I wanted to try the Cat’s Pride litter, but they didn’t have it at Petsmart or at Target either.
Three days after I changed out the litter boxes and refilled them with the new litter, I can tell you that Fresh Aire is a nightmare – I didn’t think it was possible for litter to be dustier than Fresh Step – and doesn’t clump worth a shit. The ExquisiCat is less dusty than the Fresh Step, but still too dusty. The Precious Cat appears to be the winner – clumps well, and hardly any dust at all.
(I had considered crystals, but don’t feel it’s safe to use with kittens. I don’t like the smell of World’s Best Cat Litter, and I did try Swheat Scoop, but the kittens immediately started eating it, so that went right out the door. I don’t care if it’s safe for them to consume – every group of kittens that comes through here has coccidia, giardia, or both, and I don’t want them eating potentially infectious litter.)
I don’t like that the Precious Cat costs more than the Fresh Step, but when weighing the cost against the dust, I’m willing to make that sacrifice.
(But I’m sure Anderson Litter Lung will still get me in the end. I’ve been inhaling that shit for years now.)
The other thing I like about the Precious Cat litter – it’s unscented.
That said, if you have a litter you absolutely love, I’m all ears!
The Bradys seem to spend a lot of time with their little mouths wide open.
“I KEEL YOU!”
“I BITE YOU RIGHT ON YOUR NOSE!”
“YOU BITE ME ON MY NOSE, I POP YOU WITH MY SHARP LITTLE CLAWS!”
“I KEEL YOU!”
“NO, I KEEL YOU!”
“They’re skeery.”
“You come here, Lady, I bite you on your face.”
Two videos today. The first, the Bradys hanging out in the foster room (with a visit from Corbie), shot sometime in December.
The second, Alice caught in the act of, well – just go see yourself (try not to fall asleep during the fascinating conversation Fred and I have.)
One thing the snow did was bring out the birds, who emptied our bird feeders in no time flat. Fred resorted to tossing a scoop of bird seed onto the ground every couple of hours to appease the birds.
The cats spent all day long in front of the side doors, watching the birds. Those birds drove them CRAZY.
Elwood and Corbie.
L to R: Tommy, Sugarbutt, Jake, Elwood, Corbie, Rhyme.
Jake, Elwood, Corbie, Rhyme.
Previously
2010: Since then, I’ll occasionally asked him if he washed a dish with soap and water, or just his “magic hands.”
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: If you could solidify body odor into a spice, it would taste exactly like cumin.
2006: Oh, how I love my books.
2005: I need a nap.
2004: Stuff I bought in Maine.
2003: No entry.
2002: Firsts.
2001: You rock, maaaaaaaan!
2000: I’m blue.