Robyn – Page 34 – Bitchypoo

3/14/11 – Monday

It was really nice to be able to unwrap my arms and take that damn head garment off, but by the end of the first full day of going without having my arms wrapped, I noticed that they were hurting. I put the bra/ arms compression garment on to sleep in, and that was pretty comfortable. I left my arms unwrapped during the day Friday and Saturday, and then (because I overdid it a bit on Saturday. Hush, now, I couldn’t stand the sight of the kitchen counters and the stove top and the sinks. It was truly horrific, and you would have cleaned them, too.)(Also, I might have gone on a cat pee search-and-destroy mission in the front room Saturday evening.)

I am doing well, but still wishing I could get back to completely normal without having to ask Fred to do all my lifting and such. I had a list a mile long for him yesterday, and he spent the morning doing everything on the list AND vacuuming, too. God bless that man.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My Week in Cats.

Remember how about a week and a half ago, I told you how two new cats showed up within a day of each other, and I hoped they weren’t dumped? Well, as it turns out we’ve only glimpsed Newman once or twice since then, and both times he was heading to a particular house down the road. I’m guessing that he belongs to them (that, or maybe they offer better food than we do!) and was just coming by here to visit.

Rufus, on the other hand, stuck around. We weren’t seeing him all the time, but we were seeing him several times a day, and very often he was either watching or hunting birds in the side yard. He had no interest in making friend with us – any time we set foot outside, he ran to a safe distance and kept an eye on us. But any time he saw one of our cats in the back yard, his tail would pop straight up, and several times we saw him rubbing against the fence with one of our cats on the other side giving him disgusted “I don’t KNOW you, stop that!” looks.

The more I watched him, the more concerned I got. “If that isn’t a pregnant female, that’s a female getting ready to go into heat,” I fretted. And “Doesn’t that LOOK like a pregnant cat? Look at the belly!” Finally, around dinnertime on Sunday, with bad weather on the way, I looked out to see Rufus sitting under one of the bird feeders, eating bird seed that had been knocked to the ground.

“Oh god, he’s so hungry he’s eating bird seed!” I said. “I think maybe you need to get out there and trap him. He’s going to go off and have kittens in the woods, and we’ll never get hold of them!”

“There’s cat food on the side porch!” Fred objected.

“He’s too scared to come up on the side porch because whenever he does, you rush out there and try to touch him!” I said.

We dithered about it for a while longer, and then finally I gave the go-ahead for Fred to trap him. Fred went out to get Newt and bring him inside (so he wouldn’t end up in the trap), and Rufus ran off behind the garage. Fred set up the trap, baited it with mackerel, and then came back inside.

Literally, in less than three minutes, Rufus was inside that trap, freaking out about being trapped.

We got the foster room set up, and then Fred brought Rufus – trap and all – upstairs, opened it, and let him out.

This was Rufus on Sunday.

Fred kept going in and spending time with Rufus Sunday evening – we were still unable to get a look at Rufus’s back end, so didn’t know yet whether we were dealing with a pregnant female or not – and Rufus was pretty freaked out. When we first let him out of the trap, he jumped up onto the window sill in an attempt to get out. He finally ended up under the cat tree for the most part.

At one point, Fred was in there with Rufus, and I was in the bedroom changing my clothes, and he called “I… I need some help in here!” As it turned out, he needed paper towels and cleaning spray, and I brought them in to him, expecting to see that Rufus had had an accident.

Rufus had had an accident, alright. There was poop ON THE WALL five feet up, and several feet away there was more poop on the window sill. Fred mumbled something about how Rufus had jumped up on the window sill and pooped, then jumped up on the cat tree and… actually, I don’t remember exactly how he explained away the wall poop. But he later confessed that he’d tried to pick Rufus up, and Rufus lost his mind, did some ninja moves, and Bob’s yer uncle, there was poop on the wall. Not a small amount either, mind you.

Fred was able to pet Rufus on Sunday and put Advantage on him to kill any fleas, but that was about it.

Monday afternoon, he was able to determine that Rufus was not, in fact, a pregnant female but a male. Rufus wasn’t actually coming out to be petted or anything, but if we pulled him out of his hiding place under the cat tree, he’d sit in our laps and purr.

Rufus Tuesday:

By the time Fred got home from work Wednesday, Rufus was coming over to us (with some coaxing) to be petted. With Fred’s permission, I made the appointment on Friday to have Rufus tested and neutered. Fred and I approach the whole visit to the vet thing completely differently when it comes to the cats who show up in our yard. I prefer to whisk them off to the vet immediately to have them tested and (if they’re old enough) fixed, to get it over with. Fred, on the other hand, doesn’t want to “traumatize” them, and prefers to wait. Since he’s in charge of taming semi-ferals, I usually let him have his way.

Rufus tested negative (thank god) and his fecal showed that he only had some easily-treated worms. This was an amazing bit of news, because almost every cat we have coming through here tests positive for either giardia (HATE giardia) or coccidia (HATE coccidia).

We brought Rufus home and settled him in the guest bedroom. He reverted to his scaredy-cat ways at first, but now he’s pretty much coming out and letting us give him love. Since we know he’s safe for the other cats to be around, we’ve let Jake in to hang out with him. Rufus was very excited to see Jake, but Jake takes a little while to warm up, and so far is only hissing and smacking at Rufus. I’m sure that’ll change in time.

We’ll work with Rufus, and when he’s tamed enough (and there’s room at Petsmart), he’ll go to be adopted.

The vet estimated his birth date as August 1st of last year, which puts him at about 7 months old. Fred prefers to think that Rufus is from the same litter as Alice, who he prefers to think of as from the same litter as Marty.

On Tuesday, I got an email from the Challenger’s House manager. We’d emailed back and forth since we brought Rufus inside, getting her permission to make him a Challenger’s House foster, and she wondered if we wanted a pregnant cat to foster as well.

Did I? Of course I did! BUT Fred is still doing the bulk of the work around here, and so I told him it was up to him. That I wanted a pregnant cat, but if he didn’t want to, I wouldn’t give him a hard time. He hemmed and hawed about it, but ultimately said that he didn’t want to put Rufus in the guest bedroom, thus closing off a second room and perhaps causing our cats to go on a rage-induced peeing extravaganza.

So I told her no, but that in a few weeks I’d take any pregnant mamas or kittens that came along.

She understood, of course, but she is a wily, wily one. Because she sent out an email on Thursday to a bunch of Challenger’s House foster moms saying that in recent days she’d had calls from various places and needed foster homes for two pregnant cats and a cat with some 4 month-old kittens and two additional (almost year-old) kittens. I forwarded the email to Fred.

He said that if I wanted to take a pregnant cat it was okay with him, but he was NOT ready to let go of Rufus yet (Susan had said in the email on Tuesday that if we wanted to take the pregnant cat, Rufus could go to the shelter, but Fred is determined to keep Rufus here ’til he’s ready for Petsmart). I said we could put Rufus in the guest bedroom and just deal with the fallout from our cats. He said that as long as getting the cat into our house didn’t make extra work for him (in other words, he didn’t want to have to make a special trip to get her or anything), then okay.

So when we picked Rufus up from the vet on Friday, we also picked up one of the pregnant cats (who had been delivered that morning to be tested) and brought her home, too.

Her story, quickly, is that her owners moved and left her. (Grrr.) A guy who lived in the neighborhood fed her for a few weeks and another local organization referred him to Challenger’s House.

She’s a sweet, friendly girl, to my relief. We brought her home and set her free in the foster room, and she explored, hissed a few times, and then decided we were okay.

She’s carrying low! Must be boys!

I love how it looks like she’s wearing a caramel-colored bikini bottom.

She loves a good belly rub.

Honestly, I kind of thought that by the time I got this entry written and posted, I’d be reporting not that we have a pregnant cat, but that we have a momma cat and kittens! She is huge, and as they said at the vet’s, she’s ready to pop.

She’s eating a LOT. Saturday I gave her a small can of food, and she’d eaten it all in less than two minutes. She’s constantly visiting her bowl of kibble.

Given that Thursday is St. Patrick’s day, I’m going with an Irish naming theme. Momma kitty has been named Mary Margaret McMao, and we’ll be calling her Maggie.

I have a list of Irish names suggested last year that I’m planning to pull from. I’m going to list them below, but y’all feel free to add more! The names that are crossed out can’t be used because they’ve been used in the past by previous Challenger’s House cats.

Girls
Maeve
Aoife
Aileen
Ciara
Aislinn
Tara
Siobhan
Fiona
Shannon
Kelly
Meg
Chloe

Boys
Murphy
Fergus
Liam
Finnegan
Cillian
Ryan
Clancy
Seamus
Brady
Patrick

As a note, the first name that came to mind when I knew we were getting a pregnant cat was Siobhan. I emailed Fred and asked his opinion, and he said:

Absolutely not. a) that name annoys me. If it’s gonna sound like it has a ‘V’ in it, it better have a ‘V’ in it. b) Hell’s Kitchen

(He loathed Siobhan, who was on Hell’s Kitchen last season or the season before or whenever the last season was that we watched it. I don’t remember that season and I don’t remember who won, but I certainly remember Fred’s hatred for Siobhan.)

So those are the names under consideration (obviously, I have no clue how many or of what sex kittens we’ll end up with); if you have a favorite, feel free to suggest it!

And now we’re officially on BABYWATCH 2011.

Signs that she’s ready to go into labor NOW: She’s restless and when we visit with her, she doesn’t spend much time sitting or laying down, she’s always on the move. She’s got prominent nipples (I feel like a perv saying that, but it’s TRUE.)

Sign that she’s planning to wait a while: She’s eating like a horse, and I’ve heard/read that her appetite will drop off in the day or so before she goes into labor. Her nipples are pale pink (I feel like someone told me they’d get dark before she went into labor) and her milk sacs, though defined if you really pay attention and feel around, are not full.

Hopefully it happens soon. I can’t wait to get some babies in this house! (Assuming all goes well, she’ll be taking care of them for the first few weeks, and I get to just swoop in and be Fun Auntie Robyn, with the petting and kissing and none of the bottle feeding or bottom wiping!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maggie has a very distinctive “voice.” When we walk into the room, she comes over and talks to us. I had to get it on video, of course, so y’all could hear her too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Loony Jake, enjoying the sun and warm weather. His little face just cracks me UP.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: True Blood updates.
2009: No entry.
2008: I sound, if I might be frank, like a blithering idiot, especially when I ask Newt if he’s alive. “Are yew ‘laaaaaaahv?”
2007: No entry.
2006: They are SO pretty to look at, but my GOD do they stink.
2005: Questions answered.
2004: No entry.
2003: Yeah, don’t look at me. I have no idea what goes on his head, either.
2002: I think I could kick her ass, personally, and I’d be happy to do it. Bitch.
2001: “That’s okay,” I said cheerfully. “Those things are a pain in the big butt, aren’t they?”
2000: Fred sings again.

3/14/11

Working on it! (That’s a lie. I’m actually sleeping in because I’m a slacking slacker. But check back later, I have news you won’t want to miss!)

Working on it!

(That’s a lie. I’m actually sleeping in because I’m a slacking slacker. But check back later, I have news you won’t want to miss!)

3/11/11 – Friday

At first I thought that was some new fashion thingy the young’uns are wearing. I will donate $50 cash American to Challenger house if you will wear that to Wally World. Picture proof required of course. I do not believe there’s enough money in the world to encourage me to wear that getup to Walmart! … Continue reading “3/11/11 – Friday”

I do not believe there’s enough money in the world to encourage me to wear that getup to Walmart!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thought you might enjoy this. What it means to be a Mainer

I love that!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After you woke up from surgery did you feel like your throat was swollen? I’m scared to death I will feel like I can’t breathe.

I’ve never felt like I can’t breathe, but there is some tightness on the sides of my throat, under my ears. It’s never been particularly painful, but I’ll tell you that I’m surprised that it’s still there after four weeks! I only occasionally notice it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All the cats that show up remind me of when I lived in Istanbul. There were two stray cats that lived outside the apartment building I lived in one year. They sort of attached themselves to me and my roommates, and were very friendly. Once those cats decided we were okay people sorts, it was like they spread the word across the city. Suddenly, every time I went walking to work or out shopping, random cats would come over to say hello. I dubbed myself “Cat Lady of Istanbul”. Soon the dogs started, too. There was one black dog who would sleep on his porch, curled up into a perfect ball (of course, he became known as Dogball), but would come running over to me whenever I walked past. He never did that to anyone else, even if there were other people walking.

The word about your kindness to cats has spread throughout the cat kingdom of Alabama. They know where you live and come to seek your help or just catch a glimpse to someday have a story to tell to their grandkitties! 🙂

You must put off some cat-lovin’ energy. 🙂

Fred says he’s pretty sure the cats must have scratched a symbol in the dirt somewhere so that all the cats in the area know it’s safe and that we’re cat lovers. I think he must be right!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Knowing that I’m being ridiculous somehow doesn’t make me feel any less that way, for the record.”

It never does! Isn’t that funny? I mean, not in a ha ha way, but in an “aren’t humans weird” way. I do the same thing, knowing that something is not worth freaking out about while I am freaking out about it, but not stopping either.

Oh, it just drives me crazy. Back when I used to have a period (13 months without a uterus as of yesterday, MOTHAFUCKASAYWOOHOO!) I’d have the damn premenstrual bitchies, and I’d stop and look at a calendar and think “Oh, this is PMS.” Which one would HOPE would calm me down, but it just never worked that way somehow, damnit.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And weren’t you smart to have your surgery in the winter? I can’t imagine wearing all that binding in the summer months. One good hot flash and I’d be ripping that shit off and flinging it hither and yon.

When I had my lower body lift, it was in May. And one of the things I remember clearly from that recovery is how freakin’ HOT I got wearing that binder. PLUS, gardening season is coming, and I wanted to be healed up by the time I need to start working in the garden. If given a choice, I would have had surgery in January, but I waited to long for the consultation – but I’ll be more than healed up enough by the time gardening starts, so it’s all good.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I keep meaning to ask you…have you watched/started watching the Tudors yet? I highly recommend it – very good show. And Jonathan Rhys Meyers is quite yummy in it, in spite of his cokey eyes.

I haven’t started watching it yet, but it’s in my Netflix queue. I’m looking forward to watching it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I’ve been meaning to email you for ages about Skeletor, the starving pitbull. You were kind enough to post about him on your blog. If you’re up to reading some ” warm fuzzy” here is the link. It’s been one year since he wandered up to my sons door, a walking skeleton, riddled with heart worms.Thank you for sharing his story .

Aww, sweet Skelly! I peek in on him from time to time to see how he’s doing, it’s good to see him looking so healthy and doing so well!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have loved you for many years, but posting that picture of your hair just swelled me heart for you a wee bit more. Also, I love that you totally have glassy stoner eyes in the front shot. I wonder how horrible it’s going to be to scrub that marker off when it’s time.

That marker on my neck actually never did need to be scrubbed off – and thank god, because the skin under my chin is still partially numb, which makes me not want to touch it because it’s such a weird feeling. What with showering – and gently washing – every day, the marker came off completely.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I swear I’m not a skimmer, but things I’ve read don’t necessarily stick in my head. That said, what is a calming collar?

A while ago someone asked how to make a glutonous cat eat more slowly. Shadow is a young feral cat who can inhale a dish of munchies without taking a breath. Toby is an older stray who knows he will always be fed and likes to take his time eating. If I have time I make Shadow sit on my lap and eat out of my hand, one munchie at a time with several pets in between each bite. He will also do this for a friend who comes over regularly. (I’m trying hard not to have a timid cat only I can touch.) If I don’t have time, I spread his munchies on all the shelves of the cat tree. He eats faster than if I feed him by hand, but still has to go from munchie to munchie and shelf to shelf.

A calming collar looks like this, and is one of the potential weapons in stopping a damn cat from spraying inappropriately. It mimics the pheromone that mother cats produce to calm and assure her kittens, according to the box. I don’t know if it helped or not – I’m thinking not – but the spraying has lessened to almost nothing in the past few weeks, thank god.

I love your trick to get Shadow to eat more slowly!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Okay, with all of this banana-huffing how long with it be until Corbie winds up talking about his mercury surfboard, tiger blood, the fact he is a warlock, etc?

Just wondering…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How come your cats didn’t start yowling and screeching and carrying on to make these intruders run away? Sheriff Kara sure must run a tight ship.

Oddly enough, none of the cats get too disturbed by other cats that they can see on the other side of the fence. It might be a different answer – in fact, probably would be – if they actually came into the back yard with my cats, but for the most part they’ll watch any strange cats that come around, but they don’t have too much of a fit.

Also, it’s entirely possible that Rufus had been coming around for a while before we set eyes on him; it’s hard to know for sure!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

BTW, did Corbie go AWOL anytime this week (for a few days, carrying his passport and a plane ticket)? No? Well, it looked just like him; my boy cat had come inside and was in the kitchen and our female cat was in there too. He has his food on the window sill because she has a special diet and she can’t get up there to eat his. I rushed in when I heard a horrible yowling noise, thinking she was throwing up a furball; sometimes she yodells a welcome to it! Either that or one of them was in terrible pain. There was the boy, on the window sill, looking out and down, his back arched and tail like a loo brush. I looked out and on the bench under the window, sat a tabby, looking all about, wondering where the “I’m gonna rip your head off” noise was coming from. I knocked on the glass, he looked up and saw me and the head-ripper looking back. I thought “Corbett Bookworm!” And he was gone!

You know, he DOES occasionally seem to disappear for a good part of the day, and then kind of reappear from out of nowhere. I wonder if he’s been working on that teleportation device at night while we’re sleeping!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Crack me UP!

I’ve seen this several times, but just realized I haven’t shared it!

And lastly, does your cat start acting strangely around Valentine’s Day?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That cat tree is leaning rather dangerously under the weight of Elwood (aka “Ellie Belly”), but he doesn’t care.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joe Bob has really taken to that box for some reason. I think it kind of looks like the box is a muffin tin, and a freshly baked Joe Bob is rising up out of it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: YOU don’t have a trash can laying in your back yard for the cats to hang out in?
2009: (Nance calls it “Fredding.” HA.)
2008: “The chickens are here!” he said.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: OR MAYBE I JUST NEED A NEW COMPUTER.
2003: So, there. That’s my day so far.
2002: I’m a total calendar-having fool.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

3/10/11 – Thursday

We had a lot of rain here the last couple of days, and yesterday morning when I woke up, the back forty was half under water. I’m not complaining, though, because you know what? Could be SNOW! (Click on any of those pictures to see a bigger version at Flickr, along with notes about what … Continue reading “3/10/11 – Thursday”

We had a lot of rain here the last couple of days, and yesterday morning when I woke up, the back forty was half under water.

I’m not complaining, though, because you know what? Could be SNOW!

(Click on any of those pictures to see a bigger version at Flickr, along with notes about what exactly you’re lookin’ at.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember how the other day I was all peeved about the fact that I wanted the LG Optimus V from Virgin Mobile and every 45 times a day I went to the site to check, they had the damn thing “temporarily out of stock”? Well, someone mentioned that they had them (for cheaper than the Virgin Mobile site) at Best Buy. So I went to check it out, and for some reason Best Buy had them listed as available, but they wouldn’t ship them.

Then I thought to myself, “Well DUH, dumbass, howzabout you look around online and see if you can’t find it somewhere ELSE?” Because honestly, that just had not occurred to me, how sad is that?

So I searched, and I found them available at ecrater.com for $50 less than on the Virgin Mobile site. I was all excited, and I placed the order, and then less than an hour later, the seller canceled the order.

I was all “What the fuck?” and I told myself to calm the hell down and just BE PATIENT, because SOME DAY Virgin Mobile will have them back in stock. Then in bed Tuesday night, I was laying there all propped up with my netbook (LOVE MY NETBOOK) on my stomach, catching up on my blog-reading, and I got sidetracked into searching for the LG Optimus V on eBay, and good lord. What a RACKET. I was all excited to find a phone for $50 until I looked closer and saw that they were charging $135 for shipping. I wonder how many people aren’t paying attention and get caught by surprise by the exorbitant shipping and handling fees?

Yesterday, after Susan C. commented that she’d found the phone at ecrater.com and that it said they’d just gotten a shipment on the 8th and she placed the order, I went back and tried placing the order again, and this time it was accepted and started processing.

Which is my way of saying y’all rock for pointing out the obvious to me (since the obvious sadly very often escapes me), and EEEEEEEEEEEE! New phone on the way!

I can’t wait to start downloading ringtones!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I sure am wanting one of those new iPads coming out this Friday, too. Not that I NEED one, but there are often times when I’m laying in bed surfing the internet on my iPod Touch because I’m too lazy to get my ass out of bed and go alllllll the way across the room to get my netbook, and I think “Gee, I wish this iPod Touch had a bigger screen!”

I mean, basically, isn’t that all an iPad is, a bigger iPod Touch?

I could get an iPad and it would replace my iPod Touch and my Kindle, after all. The only thing it wouldn’t replace would be my phone, but give it another year or two. I’m sure by the time the iPad 4 comes out, you’ll be able to make phone calls on it.

I’m not going to run right out and buy the iPad or anything – even though I’m sure Fred would fully agree that what I need is more SHINY STUFF in my life (NOT) – but maybe in a year or so I’ll get me one o’ them.

We’ll see.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last night, because wearing that goddamn head garment 23.75 hours a day was starting to really get to me, I called my plastic surgeon’s office and talked to his nurse to see when I could stop wearing it and also when I could stop wrapping my arms. She said that I could stop wrapping my arms now (but that I could still occasionally wrap them if I felt the need to, for comfort) and could also stop wearing the head garment, too.

So I took the head garment off last night and I wore Ace bandages on my arms when I slept last night, then took them off when I showered this morning.

Honestly, it feels weird not to be wearing any of that stuff. My arms do feel a little bit swollen, and if it bugs me I’ll wrap them back up later, but for now I’m kind of enjoying the freedom.

I still don’t know about my neck. I really think there’s more sagging skin under there than there oughta be, but Fred keeps repeating “WAIT AND SEE HOW IT DOES OMG STOP OBSESSING” and I’m trying to do that. I SWEAR. But it’s hard not to obsess, y’know?

I am completely off the narcotics, I think I mentioned that earlier this week, and what’s funny is that I’m actually sleeping better now than I did when I was taking them at night to help me sleep. I’m able to sleep for short stretches of time on my sides (but most of the night is still spent on my back), and while it’s happening ever so slowly (still not lifting very much), life is getting back to normal.

THANK GOD.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here are some links I’ve been meaning to share with y’all for just about forever now.

Human ventriloquist without a dummy. Hilarious, and VERY well done:

Tricks of the Body. Very neat.

You remember Surprised Kitty, of course:

Here’s a send-up of it in the form of Surprised Dog:

The Amazing World Clock is very neat.

Design Your Own Chocolate.

Now THAT’s a proposal!

I would like a Pirate Ship Bedroom, please.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::tromptromptromp:: “Oh, hey, look. A leaf!”

“Wait, what the -?”

“I’m – I don’t – what – I SWEAR, my paws almost feel WET. What on earth?”

“What is going ON?”

Poor Elwood. He’s not the brightest bulb, he was SERIOUSLY confused as to why he’d be feeling all WET, there standing in that puddle, and he stood there and pondered for the longest time before he finally trudged OUT of the big puddle and shook his legs and paws dry.

Bless his heart. (That’s Southern Speak for “What an idiot.”)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sweet snoozing Sugarbutt.

Have I ever told you guys that the vet’s staff adamantly refuses to list him as “Sugarbutt”? True story. They call him “Sugar.” Cracks me up every time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: “Please tell this strange man to stop SMELLING ME, if you please.”
2009: I felt SO OLD then, but 28 sounds impossibly young to me now.
2008: We had a little weirdness on Friday in the form of a super-mega-mutant egg.
2007: No entry.
2006: Today’s the 10th anniversary of the day Fred and I met.
2005: I met Fred nine years ago today.
2004: Eight years ago today, I entered the IRC Undernet channel #!Fredsplace and met the geek who owned and ran the channel, who would eventually become the love of my life. (Complete with mush!)
2003: Sick Poo.
2002: No entry.
2001: Five years ago today, I was on IRC and I wandered into the Undernet channel #!Fredsplace, and I met the love of my life. (More mush!)
2000: Four years ago today, I wandered into the IRC Undernet channel #!Fredsplace, thus setting into motion a chain of events which would echo down through the years.

3/9/11 – Corbie Wednesday

Andrea asked: I’m a long-time reader of your blog, and I’m hoping maybe you (and the other readers) can help me. We have two female cats, 3.5 years old and 1 year old, and three weeks ago, we adopted another 6 month old female. My older cats seem to be used to the kitten, but … Continue reading “3/9/11 – Corbie Wednesday”

Andrea asked:

I’m a long-time reader of your blog, and I’m hoping maybe you (and the other readers) can help me. We have two female cats, 3.5 years old and 1 year old, and three weeks ago, we adopted another 6 month old female. My older cats seem to be used to the kitten, but the kitten still seems deathly afraid of my older cats. Feliway Spray has calmed her down some, but she’s still scared. I’m not sure how to help her, and I’m very against returning her to the shelter. Should I try secluding her again, and reintroducing after another period of time? Or do you have any other experiences/tips to share?

and I said:

Andrea, I think I’d recommend separating them for a while. Spend as much time as you can both with her and with your other cats, and after a few days bring a blanket or bed that has the scent of your other cats into where you’re keeping her. Let her get used to the scent of your other cats, and then if you can, put a hook on the door so that it only opens a few inches. So your other cats can see and smell the kitten and vice versa, but she still has her safe place. If she handles that well, then start allowing her a little supervised time out with the other cats, and then let that stretch to more and more time. I think that a slower introduction to your cats might freak her out less.

and Lita said:

Andrea, can you not wait it out a while longer? Have the older cats ever attacked the kitten that she should be so scared? I think supervised “get-to-know-each-other” times and just patience might be all you can do. If the house cats aren’t threatening the kitten all you can do is wait for her to get used to them. Maybe wipe them down with a towel and put it in the kitten’s bedding or actually put one of their blankies on the kitten’s bed?

and Doodle Bean said:

Hi Andrea, it’s very important to take a lot of time to introduce a new cat to an existing cat household. This guide is helpful and recommends starting the process over again if things go awry, as they have for you. Hope it helps!

and THEN I stumbled across this:

5 Tips for Getting Your New Cat Used to Your Family

Which means we’ve given poor Andrea lots of advice, but if anyone else out there has anything to add, please feel free to do so!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Truly, it’s almost embarrassing, just how much time I spent telling this boy (and all of you) how beautiful he is.

And he is. He really, really is.

He’s become accustomed to waking up and seeing me standing over him with a camera. It doesn’t even startle him anymore.

“How YOU doin’?”

If he were human, he’d have taken out a restraining order against me. He’d haul my butt into court for stalking him. But I can’t help it. I lurve him. He’s so purrrrrrrrrty. I just wanna touch him with the fangers.

He puts up with my weird stalkery ways because he knows he’s got me wrapped around his little finger. Um. Little claw?

So I haven’t told you exactly what’s going on with Corbie – don’t worry, it’s not bad! It’s just that he’s a thin cat, and in the past couple of months, we’ve noticed that from the waist up (not that cats have waists, but you know what I mean) he looks perfectly fine. But from the waist back, he looks like he’s starving to death. Which he’s NOT, let me tell you, boyfriend can eat when he wants to.

He also has this kind of knock-kneed thing going on that’s hard to explain – he walks fine, but his back two legs kind of go one in front of the other (I’ll attempt to get it on video so you can see what I mean). I originally mistakenly told Fred that Corbie was bowlegged, which triggered a memory, and I thought “What if he has cerebellar hypoplasia?”, but I went and read about it, and watched some videos, but that’s not it. He also can’t really jump – he can get up on the couch if he wants to, but that’s by pulling himself up by his claws rather than jumping. Though he can jump from one surface to another – he jumps from the table next to my recliner, to the back of my recliner – if they’re roughly the same height, but he just can’t jump UP.

This is not something that was going on when he was little – we would have noticed it. It’s something that has come on gradually as he’s grown. Several days before I had surgery, I took him to the vet. She looked him over, took some blood, and then took an x-ray.

Structurally, he’s okay. He’s got a perfect skeleton (and have you seen x-rays of cats? Aren’t they just the neatest things?). The night before I had surgery, the vet called and told me that his blood looked okay, but he had an elevated level of… something (my notes on the topic are hiding in my desk somewhere and I don’t want to go looking for them) and long story short, we should try giving him Taurine and L-Carnitine to build up the muscles in his back end.

Then, of course, I went off and had surgery. About a week and a half later, I remembered about the Taurine and L-Carnitine and I went online and looked around to see what I could find for supplements. There are these treats that have the right amounts of Taurine and L-Carnitine in them, but we’d have to give four treats, twice a day, to Corbie and that seemed like an awful lot to get him to eat, especially considering that we didn’t know if he was going to like the taste. So we ordered L-Carnitine in powder form and Taurine in capsules, with the intention of sprinkling them atop a scoop of Gerber chicken baby food and letting Corbie eat it.

Well, the problem was that to make sure Corbie was the only one ingesting it, Fred had to take him into the guest bedroom. Being locked in the guest bedroom freaked Corbie out, and he wouldn’t touch the stuff. We dithered about what to do for a few days, and then finally Fred just tried mixing the powder with water and shooting it in the back of Corbie’s mouth.

Corbie’s not crazy about it, but he handles it just fine. So he’s been on Taurine and L-Carnitine for about a week, morning and evening. Fred doesn’t think there’s any difference in Corbie, and he’s probably right, but to ME (you know, the woman who stalks Corbie relentlessly), he looks a bit bigger. A bit more muscular.

We’ll keep going with the supplements and see how it goes. It’d be nice if this took care of the issue – though I need to check with the vet and see if this will be a lifelong thing or if we can discontinue the supplements after a while. Whatever the issue is, I can tell you that it hasn’t slowed Corbie down at all. He runs from one end of the house to the other just fine, he plays, he snuggles, he’s a happy boy.

He might have a skinny back end, but he’s perfect to me!

(For the record, Corbie is still officially available for adoption.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wouldn’t you think Newt wants in? Doesn’t he LOOK like he wants in? Like he’s thinking “Brrr, lady, it’s cold out here! Let me in!”?

Not so much. He and Maxi both drive me nuts. They hunker out there and stare at me and they look completely miserable so I go running over and open the door and try to coax them in, and they look at me like “Are you NUTS? I’m not coming in THERE!” and then ignore me. Brats.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: Hoyt goes home.
2009: (Nance is laughing at me right now, I guarantee it.)
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: So when I reached down to pet his head, IT WASN’T HIS HEAD I GOT. ::shudder::
2005: Killing the messenger.
2004: Howling and hissing and growling and yowling ensued.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: Gather ’round, younguns, and hear the heartbreaking tale of farts and betrayal…
2000: You still love me, though, right? Um, right?

3/8/11 – Tuesday

You guys are so sweet, thank you for all your flattering words yesterday. I swear I didn’t put up those pictures to get the flattery (but of course, a little flattery never hurts!). For those of you who were curious, the pants I’ve been wearing almost exclusively since I came home from surgery (calm down, … Continue reading “3/8/11 – Tuesday”

You guys are so sweet, thank you for all your flattering words yesterday. I swear I didn’t put up those pictures to get the flattery (but of course, a little flattery never hurts!).

For those of you who were curious, the pants I’ve been wearing almost exclusively since I came home from surgery (calm down, I wash ’em every second or third day. I don’t work up much of a sweat sitting on my butt watching House.) have blue reindeer with pink noses on them. Here’s a closeup of them:

I got those sleep pants from my sister several years ago when I met my family in Gatlinburg for Christmas (2006, I think?). I’d brought a pair of sleep pants with me, but they weren’t comfortable. My sister gave me these and told me to keep them. (I think. Maybe she didn’t tell me to keep them and she’s been waiting to get them back? Shhh, don’t tell her I still have them!)

At the time, they fit pretty well, but I lost more weight and now they are absolutely the best pants when I’m feeling bloated or just want to get into something in the evening that doesn’t touch me too much. Y’all know how much I hate clothes that touch me too much. They’re basically so big on me that they touch me at the waist and pretty much nowhere else at all. I’ve bought other sleep pants since then, hoping to find a pair for when these go to the big trash heap in the sky, but nothing else I’ve bought has even come close. I think these might be made of magic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Things Which Have Recently Vexed Me.

1. Message from me to Virgin Mobile customer service:

Can you give me some idea of when the LG Optimus V will be back in stock? I’m DYING to get it, but coming back to the site several times a day and seeing that it’s out of stock is making me very, very sad.

Response from Virgin Mobile customer service:

Hello Robyn,

Thanks for contacting Virgin Mobile Customer Care.

We don’t have any confirmation the Optimus V phone is in stock, but once we have it I assure you that you won’t miss it. Stay tuned on our web site!

Well. Isn’t THAT super helpful. Fuckers. They flog the shit out of their new phone and the fact that YOU CAN GET UNLIMITED DATA, EMAIL, MESSAGING, WEB AND 300 MINUTES OF TALK TIME FOR $25 A MONTH WITH NO CONTRACT and then of-fucking-course the goddamn phone isn’t available. YES, there are other phones, but the LG Optimus V is the one I WANT. I hit that goddamn site at least 15 times a day to see if the phone is back in stock yet.

2. Saturday afternoon I sat down with my catalog from Burpee’s Seeds, and I painstakingly went through the fucking catalog and entered the number for each and every damn thing I wanted to order from them. And then I entered all my credit card and shipping info and hit “submit”, and THE GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING SITE WENT DOWN.

I was beside myself. I cursed up a storm, I rebooted to see if the problem was with my computer, but when I logged back onto Burpee’s Seeds, my “cart” was empty.

MOTHERFUCKERS.

I threw a fit and stomped around, and then possibly threatened bodily violence against Fred if he laughed at me one more time (I’m lucky that he mostly finds my fit-throwing amusing, but when I am in the middle of throwing a fit, it makes me want to smother him). Then he promised that next weekend we can go to a seed and feed store in Huntsville, which calmed me down.

(But I think I’m still going to end up having to place an order at Burpee’s seeds, because there are a couple of particular kinds of tomatoes I want to buy, DAMNIT.)

3. Last week I decided that if I’m going to be wearing this compression garment on my head for the foreseeable future, I needed to get a second one, so I can wash the other one. So I placed an order for a new one, and paid extra for the 2-day shipping. And to my delight, it arrived the next day! Hoorah! Except when I opened it, it wasn’t the head compression garment I ordered. It was, instead, a damn BRA. And not even one that I could wear! I logged onto the web site where I’d placed the order and sent a snippy email to customer service telling them what had happened and even told them that I was “highly ticked off and I’d like to know what you’re going to do to make this right.” I got an email back within a couple of hours apologizing profusely and telling me that they’d send the correct item right out and would include a return envelope for the bra. This appeased me, and I thanked them. Then two days later I got the garment I ordered, and guess. fucking. what. It didn’t fit! This part wasn’t the company’s fault, it was mine for assuming that just because my neck measurement fit within the “small” guidelines, that my head would, too. Apparently I have a thin neck (which I never would have guessed in ten million years; it looks football player thick to me) and a great big round head.

(Great big round heads run in my family.)

So I ended up having to send the damn thing back. That poor company – they probably lost money on me.

4. Why the fuck is House considered such a wonderful diagnostician? He comes thisclose to killing every damn person he’s trying to diagnose. Also, I’ve watched about 30 episodes of the show in the past couple of weeks (it’s a good show for snoozing through, because you can fall asleep about 10 minutes in and then wake back up half an hour later and still figure out what’s going on), and Saturday afternoon I was sitting through another episode. I had JUST told Fred that I’d heard House suggest Amyloidosis at least three times in the recent 10 or so episodes I’d watched, and just after I said that, he suggested it again.

Alright, Universe, I get it! I’ve got Amyloidosis! Geez. Hit me over the head with a brick, whydontcha.

Also, I know that House said “It’s never lupus” in one of the first seasons, but in one episode I watched last week, he suggested lupus as a possibility, and he wasn’t joking around about it.

Also also, I am no fan of Foreman (BOR-RING), and I think Olivia Wilde (Thirteen), who is absolutely gorgeous, could do better.

5. After watching (ie, snoozing through) a million cooking shows during my first week of recovery, I’ve gotta say that it is FAR beyond time for cooking show hosts to stop referring to every single dish they make as “gorgeous” and “beautiful.” Tasty? Yes. Yummy? Okay. Refreshing? Perhaps. But I’ve seen the food you’re cooking, ladies, and it’s not that pretty. Also, I could do without the shot at the end where the cooking host takes a bite of whatever they cooked and starts moaning like Meg Ryan in the deli in When Harry Met Sally. It makes me want to jump through the TV screen and start throttling.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’ll do for now.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Please note the piece of paper with the date (March 4th) on it behind Princess Monkeybutt’s head. I took that intending to snap a shot of her every time she sleeps like that, and she hasn’t done it since. She loves to thwart me, that brat.

It’s a rough life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There’s always a cat sleeping on that scratcher. It’s almost always either Joe Bob (as seen above) or Spanky. I guess it must be super comfy! It usually sits next to my desk, but they often knock it across the room. Maybe they like the fragrance of Fred’s dirty sneakers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The cats have really enjoyed having access to the foster room. I’ve probably mentioned that it’s the warmest room in the house when the sun is shining. In the middle of the day, when I think “Where’d all the cats go?!”, that’s usually where several of them are hanging out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maxi, keeping an eye on things.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: Fred smiled. “Obviously he thought you were a GILF.”
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: Not that I downloaded them illegally, because I would NEVER.
2005: “This is good!” he said. “Old people always know where the good food is!”
2004: That guy, I thought to myself, looks an AWFUL lot like Larry the Cable Guy.
2003: No entry.
2002: Know what made me laugh so hard I cried, and even now when I think about it, I grin and giggle involuntarily? The idea of a cat using the word “manipulate.”
2001: It’s a comfortable pattern for me.
2000: No entry.

3/7/11 – Monday

Gooooooooood morning! That’s right. I’m bringin’ sexy back. That’s what I’m wearing these days, most days, though I usually wear a button-up shirt over the top of the whole getup. My range of movement is pretty good, though I can’t raise my arms much higher than my shoulders with them out straight; but bent, I … Continue reading “3/7/11 – Monday”

Gooooooooood morning!

That’s right. I’m bringin’ sexy back.

That’s what I’m wearing these days, most days, though I usually wear a button-up shirt over the top of the whole getup. My range of movement is pretty good, though I can’t raise my arms much higher than my shoulders with them out straight; but bent, I can get ’em pretty high.

I’ve had several good nights of sleep – I can even sleep on my side for short stretches of time – and I’m off the narcotics. I’ve barely even needed any Tylenol and Advil for the past few days.

A good thing is that there’s been a noticeable improvement under my chin, sagging skin-wise. The lump is still there, but while I can’t say for sure that it’s gotten smaller, I can say that it hasn’t gotten bigger, so that’s good, right?

I’m at about 75% of normal, I’d say, and getting better every day. That lovely bra/ arm compression garment up there? I bought that before surgery. Right after surgery, there’s no way I could have bent my arms back enough to put it on, but now not only can I put it on, but I can put it on without any help from Fred. It’s a pretty handy garment, and I like it better than wearing Ace bandages around my arms (I was always concerned that they were loosening and slipping down my arms – which they often did) and the sports bra from Walmart.

My weight has dipped down to 2 pounds less than I weighed the day before surgery, but I expect it to bounce back and forth for a while. I’m still swollen, but not as much as I was, and I think I’m doing pretty well for 3 weeks after surgery.

Later this week I’ll even leave the house and drive myself to the store, because my grand-nephew’s birthday is next week, and I am, of course, unprepared.

(I won’t be wearing that particular outfit from the pictures, though. I do NOT want to end up on People of Wal-mart, or whatever the hell it’s called.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The number one favorite cat toy in the house these days seems to be the catnip banana. It lives in or near the downstairs hallway most of the time, and you can often look down the hall to see one cat or another laying there, licking it and getting hiiiiiiiigh.

Spanky and the nanner.

Corbie’s turn. He closed his eyes, but if they were open, you’d see how glazed they are after a session with the nanner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember how happy I was to replace the rug that was in the foster room with foam squares? It held up admirably for about a week. Then the Brady’s started sharpening their claws on it, but it still held up pretty well. And THEN they started pulling the borders off so that every time I went in there, I’d have to put one or two borders back on.

Then when the Bradys were given the run of the house, someone (not necessarily a Brady, it could have been anyone, but I suspect Corbie or Reacher) started bring the borders downstairs and leaving them by the back door.

All of which was annoying but something I could put up with.

HOWEVER.

Then came the day I found a small chunk missing out of one of the borders and then found a puddle of barf with the chunk in it. And before you could say “What, the 300 bowls of cat food laying around the house isn’t enough for you pigs?” I grabbed up all the foam squares and dragged them out to the garage. Then I went to Walmart and bought a cheap area rug ($20) and put it in the foster room.

And all of that to say that, look? Doesn’t that cheap Walmart rug look nice in the foster room, and could Corbie be any prettier?

I think not.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Give someone else a turn at the catnip banana, wouldya?!”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Meet the new pigs.
2007: Going on hiatus!
2006: Hell of a way to start out your retirement, ain’t it?
2005: Book recommendations and a meme.
2004: No entry.
2003: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
2002: Food for her youngs.
2001: Not much going on here.
2000: Mean mommy, huh?

3/4/11 – Crooked Acres Friday

Thanks, y’all, for your good wishes. The crankiness appears to be subsiding, slowwwwwwly, helped by a good night’s sleep. Part of the issue is and what has me so cranky – a little panicked, really – is that although my neck looks much better than it did before surgery, there’s still some sagging under my … Continue reading “3/4/11 – Crooked Acres Friday”

Thanks, y’all, for your good wishes. The crankiness appears to be subsiding, slowwwwwwly, helped by a good night’s sleep.

Part of the issue is and what has me so cranky – a little panicked, really – is that although my neck looks much better than it did before surgery, there’s still some sagging under my chin, and I think that it’s really sagging skin rather than swelling. While I know that final results from a neck lift aren’t generally seen for 3 – 6 months after surgery, I don’t think I should be seeing sagging skin.

Yes, I’ll be addressing that with the surgeon when I see him, but I’m not scheduled to see him again ’til the end of April.

I know that, worst case scenario, I’ll need a “touch up” (or whatever they call it. Revision?), but UGH. You know? I wanted this to be done and over with!

When I took my head compression garment off to take a shower Tuesday, I found what feels very much like a swollen lymph node under my left jawline. After discussion with Fred, I left the garment off all day Wednesday, which made no difference in the swollen spot. I finally called my surgeon’s office and talked to a nurse, who told me it could be a swollen lymph node or a pocket of swelling, and in either case it should go away. I’m to continuing wearing the head garment, and keep an eye on the lump, and she’ll call on Monday and check on me – at which point I’m going to ask about the loose skin under my chin and see what she has to say.

(I very well may be a looking-for-trouble drama queen, but I don’t think so.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sights from around Crooked Acres.

While I was recovering from surgery, Spring done sprung.

Jake and Elwood, through the window.

Due to the longer days, the hens are laying eggs like crazy. We’re getting close to 2 dozen eggs a day!

George (right) and Gracie.

Silly pup.

Pretty boy.

“Hallo, you has snack for me?”

Tufted Titmouse.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was sitting at my computer Wednesday afternoon, and something out under the big pecan tree caught my eye.

“JOE BOB,” I grumbled to myself. “What are you doing out of the back yard?” I got up to go out to yell at him to get his butt back inside the back yard (he’s a pro at slipping out of his collar from time to time, and goes wandering. Luckily, he’s never gone too far.)

Only, on my way to the door, Joe Bob said “Were you talkin’ to me?” I looked down, and there he was, curled up on the cardboard scratcher by my desk. I looked back out under the big pecan tree, and realized that I wasn’t looking at a gray and white cat, I was looking at a BLACK and white cat I’d never seen before.

I stepped on the side porch and called “Kitty kitty kitty!” to him, and he ran right over to me.

There’s something going on with his right eye, but other than that he was in really good shape. I showed him the food bowl (on the porch), and he ate a little to be polite. He let me pet him, and talked to me a little. He hung out on the side porch for a few hours, then wandered off and I haven’t seen him since.

I’m hoping that he (and yes, I checked – he’s a he, but I honestly am unsure whether he’s been neutered or not.) belongs to someone around here, but I’m sure if he doesn’t, he’ll be back around. I’ve temporarily dubbed him Newman.

For comparison purposes, here’s Joe Bob – I think you can see why, when I first saw Newman at a distance, I thought he was Joe Bob.

And THEN, yesterday morning when he woke me up for his morning kiss before he headed off to work, Fred announced “There were two new cats out on the side stoop this morning.” He told me that he’d only gotten a good look at one of them, that it then ran around to the front porch, and when he followed it, it was sitting there with a black cat, not one of ours. The black cat ran off, but Fred emailed me from work to tell me that when he’d left the house, the other cat was sitting on the side stoop.

When I got downstairs a couple of hours later, there was no strange cat to be seen, but a little while later I glanced out and saw a cat running after a bird in the side yard, and there he was, the new guy. Or girl.

S/he has a rounder face and smaller ears, but good LORD is that cat a dead ringer for Reacher!

Reacher, for comparison purposes:

The one thing I can tell you about this cat (who Fred has dubbed “Rufus”, despite the fact that we don’t know whether it’s male or female just yet) is that s/he really likes our cats. Elwood and Corbie were in the back yard watching the birds, and Rufus was rubbing up against the fence trying to make friends.

Rufus did NOT act like a cat in heat, but that’s my concern, that Rufus is a she, and either pregnant or about to go into heat. So Fred’s shifted into high gear to try to charm Rufus into believing that we’re A-OK. If s/he keeps coming around, we’ll assume s/he has no home, and if we can get our hands on him or her, off to the vet we’ll go.

(Obviously, if Newman keeps coming around, he’ll also get a visit to the vet, but given how friendly he was, I very much suspect he’s got a home.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sheriff Kara says “Obviously they didn’t come into the back yard, because then I would have kicked some SERIOUS tail. Sheriff Mama keeps the back yard SAFE.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: Meet his brother, Mr. “THE FUCK YOU SAY!”
2009: Hail Stinky/ Full of Hate/ The Tom is with thee.
2008: The pigs reported that he tasted “Too humany.”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Dumbass things I did yesterday.
2004: I think I need to go back to high school.
2003: “Well, good luck to Daddy on that,” I said.
2002: (You just shut up)
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

3/3/11 – Cranky Thursday

Am too cranky to sit in front of the computer today. I’ll be back tomorrow with some Crooked Acres pics. For today, I sit on my ass in front of the TV and sulk. Good times. In the meantime, here’s some Corbs for you to admire. Like I say to Fred, every single day, how … Continue reading “3/3/11 – Cranky Thursday”

Am too cranky to sit in front of the computer today.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some Crooked Acres pics. For today, I sit on my ass in front of the TV and sulk. Good times.

In the meantime, here’s some Corbs for you to admire.

Like I say to Fred, every single day, how could you possibly see that face and not think he’s the MOST gorgeous boy in all the land?

3/2/11 – Alice Wednesday

We have hit the part of my recovery where I am cranky as fuck and ready to get this shit over with. I hate the way EVERY damn part of my body that was operated on looks, I think I look horrible and I am positive I will look and feel like this FOREVER. (Knowing … Continue reading “3/2/11 – Alice Wednesday”

(Knowing that I’m being ridiculous somehow doesn’t make me feel any less that way, for the record.)

So I’m making today Alice Wednesday, and am forcing you to look at a million pictures of her little monkey face. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be less cranky.

(Don’t count on it, though!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alice (who is most often called “The Princess” these days) was just hanging out on my desk with her tongue sticking out. Juuuust sitting there with it sticking out. We laughed and we snapped pictures, and she just sat there, all “Yes, my tongue is sticking out. What of it?” for the longest time.

Then, the very next day I was checking my email and looked over at her to find that she was sleeping with her tongue sticking out.

I particularly like the fangs.

Such a funny little monkey, this one.

Note how little room she’s taking up in that bed. Plenty of room for another cat, don’t you think?

I love the tiny beauty mark near her mouth.

I still can’t believe she can get on top of the dryer. Reacher, twice her size, had a hard time getting up there! She’s got springs on the bottoms of her feet, I think.

She was watching Fred fill the bird feeders. She spends a lot of time watching the birds, too. See that black spot in the middle of her orange tabby patch on her head? I tell her that’s where an angel kissed her.

Yeah, that Alice. I SUPPOSE we like her just a little bit. Good thing Fred twisted my arm and forced me to adopt her, isn’t it?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looky looky what I found on the memory stick of my point-and-shoot camera – a short video of Miz Poo and (most of) the Brady Bunch.

(Really, I discover new things on the memory sticks in my computers pretty regularly. I need to get a little more organized. One of these days.)

I like how, aside from Jan Brady, none of the cats are excited enough to actually get up and JUMP for the teaser toy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously
2010: Have you ever seen such miserable cats in your entire life?
2009: (reCOOPerating, HA HA!)
2008: Shea Butters would be an excellent stripper name.
2007: No entry.
2006: It was so friggin’ cute I made Fred listen to it, too.
2005: I have my finger on the pulse of pop culture, apparently.
2004: A day in the life.
2003: What makes me crazy.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: Okay, enough of the wallowing.