CAE – Page 15 – Bitchypoo

10/31/08

Holy crap! Ten years! “Let’s do a picture with serious faces, Bessie.” “Okay. Wait. I don’t think I can stop from smirking. Are you making a face back there?” “Who, me? No.” “Okay, I think I had a straight face.” “Me too.” “Were you making a face back there?” “No, not at all.” (Bastard) (I … Continue reading “10/31/08”

Holy crap! Ten years!

“Let’s do a picture with serious faces, Bessie.”
“Okay. Wait. I don’t think I can stop from smirking. Are you making a face back there?”
“Who, me? No.”

“Okay, I think I had a straight face.”
“Me too.”
“Were you making a face back there?”
“No, not at all.”
(Bastard)

(I need a haircut in a serious way.)

Happy tenth anniversary, you cat-wrangling, coop-building, chicken-herding bastard!

(I give it another ten before you flee screaming from the house of ten thousand cats.)

And happy anniversary to our wedding twins Shelly and R, too!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

A few years ago, I announced that I’d started a savings account at Emigrant Direct to save up for a really nice tenth anniversary vacation. We were talking about going to the Bahamas or Hawaii. We were going to spend an entire week and do it up right.

And then we bought Crooked Acres and used all the vacation money to renovate the inside of the house.

Well worth it, in my opinion.

(Now I’ll start saving for our 15th anniversary. By then we’ll probably have about 3,000 chickens, so I’ll need to factor in the money to pay someone for a week of house sitting, chicken wrangling, and cat herding!)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

By the way, I facetiously said to Fred last week, “What special thing are we going to do for our anniversary?” (facetious because we don’t really ever do anything special on our anniversary because we are special snowflakes and WE don’t need a SPECIAL DAY to show that we love each other, we show each other EACH AND EVERY DAY how much we consider the other to be a great big pain in the ass!), Fred said “We should go out to dinner!”

I snorted. “Yeah, right.”

I’d eat out all the time if I had someone to go with, but Fred doesn’t like to go out to dinner (he claims I’m incorrect when I say this, but he lies.), so I figured he was just attempting to be funny.

So far, he seems to actually be serious about it. I’m not discounting the possibility that he’ll do a last-minute pick-up-dinner-on-the-way-home end run, but it looks like we might really do it.

HE REALLY DOES LOVE ME!!!!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Anyone out there still watching The Shield? With four episodes left, they’re ratcheting up the tension nicely, aren’t they?

I predict that Shane and Vic are both going to end up dead and Ronnie will head up some new Strike Team. Or maybe Ronnie’ll be dead, too. I fell like there’s just no way Vic can come out of this alive, though.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Once you came to live with Fred what surprised you, in a good way, that you hadn’t known about his personality?

How rock-solid and straight-forward he is. He doesn’t play games, he doesn’t use what you’ve said against you, he doesn’t avoid confrontation. He’d rather talk it out and clear the air and get it over with. He doesn’t hold grudges. He sees right through the manipulative bullshit people like to pull, and he doesn’t put up with that shit. He’s supportive and smart and he makes me laugh like nobody’s business. He can do absolutely anything he puts his mind to. Twelve years in, he still manages to surprise me often and did I mention how funny he is? He’s my safe place to fall, my rock (but not an island), and my best and most trusted and trustworthy friend. He’s my lobster, my bridge over troubled water.

Pardon the mush, but it’s my 10th anniversary. If I can’t be mushy now, when can I?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Possibly asked and answered (though I didn’t see it listed in your book list) : Have you read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon?

I own it, but I haven’t read it yet. I believe it’s on the top shelf of my bookcase, which means it’s getting to the front of the queue to be read! I’m simultaneously looking forward to it, since so many of you loved it, and dreading it because HELLO that is one thick motherfucker of a book!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I have a question about the frozen eggs (actually, I have a question for my coworker who just got her first chickens this summer). Can you do all the egg stuff with frozen eggs that you can with fresh eggs or does freezing do something to the texture and they become good for only baking and such?

and

I have never heard of freezing eggs! So what do you do when you are ready to cook them? Just thaw them out? Can you fix them any style and do they taste the same as fresh?

Frozen eggs, once thawed, can be used for all the same things you use fresh eggs for (aside from hard-boiling them, obviously), and to me the texture and taste is exactly the same. I’ve used them to bake with, I’ve made quiches with them, and I’ve scrambled them and had them for breakfast, and honestly can’t tell the difference between the ones that were frozen, and the fresh ones.

To thaw them out, just put them in a small bowl and set them on the counter ’til they’re thawed. If you need one right away, you can put the frozen egg in a sandwich baggie and put it in warm water.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

My uncle yells out in his sleep all the time. It’s gotten to the point that he wife doesn’t even do anything. That man has some really scary dreams. I actually heard him when I was kid and visiting them. I hope Fred was able to get back to sleep.

Oh, Fred was able to get back to sleep NO PROBLEM, the bastard. In fact, I finished reading about ten minutes later and when I put my book on the dresser, it fell off and landed on the floor with a loud bang. The next morning, I said “Did the book falling wake you up?” and he said that he hadn’t heard a thing. Hmph.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I’ll be the first to say it. Maybe it wasn’t Fred who called out in the night. Maybe it was your house ghost? HA! just kidding of course.

One of the closets in my room (I have two!) tends to pop open in the middle of the night. I, personally, know that it’s because the temperature in my room and the temperature in the closet tends to vary widely, and the pressure causes the closet door to pop open.

Fred prefers to believe it’s due to a ghost.

I don’t believe in ghosts, and it’s going to take more than a door popping open occasionally to convince me otherwise.

THAT’S RIGHT, GHOSTS! I’M CALLING YOU OUT!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

What are you, Jainist? Squish the wasps.

Damn you for making me go look up Jainism. (For those who don’t want to go read, Compassion for all life, human and non-human, is central to Jainism.) Given my love for a nice cut of meat –

(pardon me while I snort like a 13 year-old boy)

I am SO not a Jainist. I don’t squish the wasps because I don’t like the crunching sound (or feeling) they make when squished. In fact, just thinking about that crunching sound/ feeling makes my skin crawl. BLEH.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Bobpod is DEAD?!?!? Or was this Bobpod 2? I hope you get a replacement soon – KATG is finally posting shows again!

This was the second iPod, which I named Bawbpod. And I know they’re finally posting KATG shows again – it figures that they’re finally back from England and Israel, and my iPod craps out on me!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I put my cell phone in my bra all the time. Sometimes I sweat and it stops working for a few days, but eventually drys out. Don’t buy a new one until you give it time to dry completely. I also heard you can put it in a jar of rice…who knows??

I’ve put that damn iPod in a bowl of (dry) rice, and am giving it the weekend to straighten itself out. If it doesn’t get its shit together by Monday, I’m going to buy a cheaper mp3 player and stop downloading TV shows on iTunes, since I hardly ever get around to watching them anyway!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I was just reading back to you getting Miz Poo and Mr. Boogers, and I was wondering if the cats ever see you come home with another cat and just think “oh, Jesus CHRIST here they go again…”

I always wonder what on earth our cats must think about the comings and goings of other cats. Because I know at first every time there was a new cat, they’d all have a fit and hiss and growl at the new one and flounce about and have temper tantrums for days. These days, it’s kind of like “Oh, look. New cat. Le hiss. THAT never happens. Wonder if this one is staying or just visiting?”

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Poor Miz Poo! Freaky puffy lip, freaky butt tumor. I swear calico (or tortis or whatever) cats are just weird when it comes to health issues.

If Miz Poo’s anything to go by, tri-color cats are money pits. I always refer to Miz Poo as our “trouble child” when I’m talking to the vet’s assistant. Not only does she (Miz Poo, that is, not the vet’s assistant. That I’m aware of, anyway.) have puffy lip and butt tumor issues, she used to have problems with her eyes. Nothing’s flared up with her eyes in years, though, so I’m sure we’re just about due for something to happen THERE.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Saturday must have been the day for cats bursting open. One of ours had a lovely (horrible) cyst burst and a big ol’ hole. We did take her to the emergency vet and blew $300 as she was obviously feeling miserable. May the rest of the week be better for cats and iPods.

When the vet said that he saw tumor tissue on Monday, I immediately recalled the fact that it seems like there’ve been a LOT of bloggers/ journalers who’ve had to put their cats to sleep lately, and my heart just sank. I mean, I know that 9 years old is getting up there for cats, but I hope like hell that Miz Poo is around for a good long time yet.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I threw in a couple of handfuls of romaine lettuce at the end of the mixing to keep the indoor pigs (Fred and I) the hell out of the cookies. Sometimes I toss dried cherry tomatoes in the cookies, sometimes I toss in a handful of collard greens, whatever’s on hand and makes us think “Ewwww!” will work.

Pure.
Unadulterated.
Genius.

My other genius move is what I did last week. The spud’s birthday was on Sunday, so I sent out her box of birthday presents on Wednesday, and since I was having a hankering for cookies – these cookies are SO FREAKIN’ GOOD – I made a double batch of the cookies, sent a bunch to her with her birthday presents, sent a bunch more to my sister and nephew (I was sending her a box of books), and then had a few for us to eat ourselves.

I wouldn’t put it past myself to put chocolate chip cookies on the giveaway page at some point, just so I can make them, send most of them off to other people, and have a few to myself.

(Yes, I could make the dough, bake a few cookies, and put the rest of the dough in the freezer. What makes you think I wouldn’t eat frozen cookie dough straight from the freezer until I was sick? Do I strike you as having that kind of self control?)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

OMG, my cats also pee and have tried to poo in the drain. Like they aim in the drain and go about their business. And it doesn’t matter if the litter box is clean or not… OMG… I thought it was just me!!!!

Pleasepleaseplease oh please god, don’t let me utter the words “If any of my cats ever pooped in the sink I would strangle him with my bare hands”, please god, please note I AM NOT SAYING THAT because I know you are a cruel and angry god who would immediately make Mister Boogers go poop in the sink and I don’t want to have to kill him. Pleasepleaseplease.

I strongly suspect that it was that bastard Newt who taught Mister Boogers to pee in the kitchen sink, because one day NO ONE was peeing in the sink and the next day Newt did it and Mister Boogers was doing it, too. How did Newt know that peeing in the sink was acceptable (in our house, maybe not in everyone’s, but better in the sink than on the bed and I swear I scrub out that sink every single morning.), is what I want to know? Peeing in the sink he can master, but the cat door? Not so much.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

A nice Autumn/Winter wreath would look good above that table on your porch…

I agree!

I need to go shopping.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Robyn, you MUST get a jack-o-lantern on that front porch ASAP!!!! 😀

I talked about it, actually, but Fred said “That would be like a friendly invitation for people to come knock on the door on Halloween!” He’s such a curmudgeon.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

In terms of beans and their effect on the digestive system: a few drops of beano (or a beano tablet) eaten with the beans works wonders for me. It’s a great product for reducing gas. Of course, if you have high blood pressure,you may want to keep the gas, but that’s another story….

and

Regarding beans and gas – if you soak dried beans and change the water 3 times during the first day, then the morning of the second day, you can cook them and will not get gas. (my father – who is from the country here in Texas) told me this recently – I had no idea.

I have absolutely tried Beano and also the changing of the water, and both of them work nicely, but Fred is so very sad when beans do NOT give him gas that I can’t bring myself to disappoint him.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Kim is SO not 29!

and

No way in hell is that Kim woman 29!!! And what are these emails of which you speak?

I’m starting to think that Kim is one of those “29 and holding” women and might be closer to 40.

The emails I was referring to (which I quoted from the past two weeks regarding RHoATL) are just emails I traded with a friend. I probably oughta just start up a forum somewhere for us to talk about the show, shouldn’t I?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

LOVING the True Blood! Bill, fine; Sam, fine; Rene? HOT. AS. FIRE.

I have to say, I do like me some Rene (though I have to admit that my favorite male on the show is LaFayette. He cracks me up every week.).

This most recent episode, where Sookie and Bill were babysitting Arlene’s kids? That whole scene with them goofing off at the kitchen table was just stupid and goofy and contrived and I hated it. I DO NOT WANT MY VAMPIRES TO ACT LIKE GOOFBALLS AND TRY TO CHARM CHILDREN, PLEASE.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Thanks for asking about hand-held vacuums. I’m looking forward to the answers. Sounds like Dysons are hit or miss, but whatever I end up buying, I’ll use the heck out of for a week and return if it can’t do the job. My friend in Canada likes her Eureka EZ Clean Bagless Hand Vacuum; anybody else have one of those? A local friend likes her hand-held, but doesn’t remember what it is. She’s supposed to bring it to work on Monday and let me try it out for a couple of days.

and

For picking up the food that drops (or is thrown)off the trays of my just turned three year old, active, messy little boys, I use a cordless Black and Decker CHV1560 15.6 volt cyclonic action dustbuster. It works fine picking up both dry and wet things, like oatmeal.

Anyone else got a hand vacuum they love?

My Dyson hand held is currently housing about 10 wasps. I actually tried to free them, since you can just hit the lever to let the bottom drop open, and when I dropped the bottom off the canister, the dumbasses climbed up higher in the canister. I figure, if they’re going to be THAT GODDAMN STUPID when I’m trying to give them their freedom, then THEY DESERVE TO DIE.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Does Kara ever get sad about not having her babies around? I must have missed the entry where you announced her adoption

I wrote about our adopting Kara here. Wow, it’s only been a week? It seems like it’s been much longer – I guess because she was with us for six months before we decided to adopt her!

Kara was sad and quiet and contemplative for a few days after her babies left, but she got over it pretty quickly. I often wonder what she’d do if she came face-to-face with one of her babies, whether she’d remember them or not. I had kind of hoped that when she saw the new foster kittens that her maternal instinct might kick in and she might want to mother them a little, but not so much: she continues to hiss and growl at them.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Do the cats poop outside or save it for indoors?

It depends on the cat. Some of them prefer the outdoors, some of them prefer the indoors. I swear that Tommy, Sugarbutt, Mister Boogers, and Joe Bob will wait until I happen to glance out the window before they get into position right there where I can see them. The girls prefer to come inside and use the litter box, and Spanky can go either way.

Suffice it to say that we don’t walk barefoot through our back yard.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Are you finding the pork from your piggies tastes different than store bought? We recently got a hobby farm side of beef and I found it delicious while hubby found it ‘gamey’. I think we are so used to all the crap in meats we don’t know what it is supposed to taste like.

We’re finding that the pork from Big Pig is very, very flavorful and tender, but it tends toward being fatty. Big Pig was a fat bastard, and we also let them get bigger than we should have before we took them off to be processed, so that probably has something to do with the amount of fat on our roasts and pork chops. The butcher took some of the shoulder and sliced it into very thin steaks, and OH MY GOD, that is the best stuff ever. Taste-wise, when pork shoulder steaks are cooked on the grill, it tastes just like beef. It’s a minor inconvenience to have to cut the fat off from around the edges of the meat.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Foster kittens are doing well. I’m going to start letting them out of their room this weekend and see how that goes. So far, Lem seems most interested in finding out what’s on the other side of the door, but they’re kittens and thus nosy, so I suspect we’ll have them roaming all over the house before too long.

I wonder which kitten will be first to befriend one of our cats?

I suspect Lem.

More pics at L&H.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I let Miz Poo out of the guest bedroom yesterday morning. Well, that is to say that I opened the guest bedroom door and she was snoozing on top of the kitty condo in a corner of the room. She stayed there for a couple of hours (I left the door open so she could come out whenever she wanted), and then all of a sudden I was sitting at my computer, and glanced out the window to see her slinking across the yard.

She spent the rest of the day alternating between hanging out in the back yard and snoozing in a cat bed in the front room.

I’d say she’s feeling better (and getting accustomed to the no-cone collar).

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Previously
2007: Holy crap, I’ve been married for 9 years!
2006: We’ve been married for eight years now. And they said it’d never last!
2005: Let the Seven Year Itch commence!
2004: Happy anniversary, you walnut-farting motherfucker.
2003: We’ve been married for five years as of today.
2002: He even sent me flowers.
2001: And they said it’d never last.
2000: And happy anniversary to Fred, who married me two years ago tonight, which was the smartest thing he’s ever done.
1999: “We don’t have to get married. We could just wait ’til next year. Shouldn’t we get married on the anniversary of the day we met? That would be more romantic!”

10-24-08

I FINALLY read The Thirteenth Tale, and let me say – the many of you who recommended the book? You were right. That was a really good book! You know how you really really want to finish a book to see what happened, but then you really really just don’t want it to end? That’s … Continue reading “10-24-08”

This morning I started Winning After Losing, by Stacey Halprin (those of you who watch Oprah probably remember her – she weighed 550 pounds at one point and had weight loss surgery). I read the acknowledgements section in the front, and it caused me great emotional distress to find that she used “lol” in said acknowledgements.

I know there are a lot of things that start out on the internet and make it into real life, and many of those things are good things, but “lol” should not be included. “lol” should be shot on sight when seen outside the internet. I honestly came very close to closing the book and tossing it on the giveaway pile after I saw “lol” (and did I mention it’s in there TWICE in the first three pages?), but I’m going to give it another chance.

I will BURN that book if I spot a 🙂 , though.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

How’s your blood pressure?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

You mentioned this awhile back, but I didn’t get a chance to respond earlier, about washing one’s face with some type of oil concoction. I haven’t tried pure oil, but for a time I did wash my face with Orange Essence Facial Cleanser from Burt’s Bees, which is very much an oil-type cleanser. It was OK, but I wasn’t thrilled enough with it to continue using. However, what I do use is a mild Cetaphil-type cleanser at night, followed by a thin layer of Aquaphor all over my face. Anyway, the Aquaphor totally rocks. My combination, temperamental skin really responds well to the Aquaphor. I think it just calms my skin down. I didn’t expect it to work, my T-zone is super oily, but it is absolutely fabulous. Just thought I’d share!

Thanks for the input! I still have a hard time thinking about using oil to clean my face, but I should probably get over it and give it a try.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Atlanta Housewives– Robyn, I live within 7 miles of where these “ladies” do and I am amazed that type of behavior goes on. I guess that shows you what having lots of money and too much time on your hands can do to people.

This show is just amazing. I’m going to cut and paste from an email I sent out about this week’s Real Housewives of Atlanta (just so I don’t have to come up with original thoughts on the show):

I am SO shocked that Kim is 29, because I thought she was more along the lines of a well-preserved 40. I’m sorry, that girl just does not look good for 29. When you’re 29, you’re still supposed to be all dewy-skinned! All the makeup probably doesn’t help. And to hear her compare herself to Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood? PLEASE. Those songs are HORRIFIC, I can’t believe she’d really be serious about bringing them to a (never done country music before!) honest to god music producer. Who did not look SO interested in producing a record for her, just in getting his face in front of the camera. And of course Kim wants to be a singer. EVERYONE wants to be a singer. Hell, I want to be a singer. Problem: I CAN’T SING WORTH A SHIT. I bet the fact that Kim’s never sung around her friends is a great big hint that she can’t sing. But not to worry, they can accomplish anything with technology in the studios these days. Maybe Kim and Jo from OC can tour together.

I don’t know how old Deshawn is, but she’s VERY naive to think that you can toss together a fundraiser in a few weeks and seriously hope for a million dollars. This is going to be a spectacular crash and burn. And if she’d said “joooory” instead of “jewelry” one more time, I was going to have to take a quick trip to Atlanta and strangle her.

That letter to NeNe from her aunt – did you pause while they showed the sheet of paper online? I did (both times!) and read it, and my god. My eyes were crossed. Auntie WantsSomeMoney is not the best writer. I couldn’t really even understand most of what I read, though I got the part where now that NeNe has money, she needs to share the wealth. Isn’t it interesting that the aunt who apparently did NOT bring her up is the one who has her hand out?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

That kitchen device is a potato masher.

and

Potato ricer or masher, and pastry cutter. Some potato ricers are more like a garlic press and traditionally a ricer has smaller openings, but it’s kind of a catchall phrase.

Get out, you guys, with your fancy terminology!

Speaking of potato ricers, I have one that’s like a big garlic press, and I always use it for mashed potatoes and it works fabulously. I highly recommend the potato ricer!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Hey Robyn, I know you said your hand-held vacuum wasn’t good for much but sucking up wasps, but will you please ask your readers if anyone can recommend a good one? I am having a major flea problem and I would like to hand-vacuum the cat condos and human furniture with something that has enough suction that I could believe it was sucking up any fleas and flea eggs/dirt.

Megan said: Ginni, I also have the Dyson handheld, though I just got it a few weeks ago. I don’t know if they’ve made modifications or if I just got lucky with a “good” one, but mine works really well. I agree with Robyn that it doesn’t work as well as the big Dyson, but for a small handheld, it’s awesome!

And ChristineQ said: I have the Dyson handheld and it is HORRIBLE. Brand new and fully charged it only worked for about 5 minutes. It did an ok job during that 5 minutes but I bought it with the purpose of vacuuming my staircase in mind and 5 minutes gets me through about 4 steps. Now, it won’t even charge up anymore. I’ve since graduated to a Dirt Devil (I think, it’s red anyway) handheld that plugs into the wall. Works like a dream!

So how about it readers, who has a handheld that they love and adore? Tell us about it!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Robyn, you were in my dream last night!!! LOL! I just moved in real life, and in the dream I had moved into this weird house and you were there helping me unpack and put things away… RANDOM! I woke up and started laughing this morning! And Fred was there but he didn’t look like Fred. You looked like you, though.

and

I had a Bitchypoo dream! Except you weren’t in it, only your cats. I dreamt I was at my father’s house, and my friend came over with her cat, and the cat looked very different from the last time I’d seen her. The next day, in the drema, I found out my friend had had to leave because she got a migraine, but the cat had been left behind, and could I find her for her? Only now it’s your house, and I’m going from room to room picking sleepy kitties off of cat beds to see if they are the missing cat. They were all very mellow about it. I remember finding Spanky in a room on the top floor (your house was a multi-story haunted-house victorian) and guessing that it was Fred’s room because Spanky was sleeping there. Then when I finally left the house, I took a wrong turn and ended up at a dog shelter, where a mushy doberman followed me around giving me puppy eyes.

I think my subconscious is telling me it’s time to adopt another pet.

I agree – can I interest you in a wee little kitty? 🙂

I LOVE IT when you guys dream about me (or the cats), it always cracks me up!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Is there a pea under that pile o’ cat beds?

There was! Thus the reason the princess looks so disgruntled.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

The banana peel thingy is good for roses also. Just bury the peel within a handspan of the base of the rosebush. Just deep enough to keep it covered so that it decomposes into the soil. It’s the potassium that makes it great for tomatoes and roses.

So, is it just certain plants that banana peels work well for, or is it all plants? Because I’ll happily make a banana cake a week if it would help our garden grow well. It’s a sacrifice I’ll make, if I have to!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Hey Robyn, just wanted to share a tip about the butternut squash, or any squash for that matter. Unless you like the particular texture of squash that’s oven baked, you can also microwave it. I often make spaghetti squash. I serve it with my homemade spaghetti sauce. Hubby and kids prefer pasta so I make pasta for them, and I don’t want to eat AFTER them, so while the water for the pasta is boiling, I cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, sit the squash half (I only make half at a time since it’s only for me) on a plate or in a shallow bowl, fill the hole where the seeds were, with water, and microwave on high for about 8 minutes (depending on the size of the squash and the strength of your microwave, of course). I haven’t baked a spaghetti squash since someone shared this method.

I always microwave my spaghetti squash, but how is it that it never occurred to me that I could microwave my butternut squash, too? Life will be so much easier now that I don’t have to wait around for my butternut squash to be done!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

you HAVE to see this if you haven’t already

Oh, I’ve seen it. And it gives me many ideas (none of which Fred will implement, damn him!). For one, wouldn’t it be awesome to have a walkway around the top of the foster room, with stairs leading up to it? I bet the foster kittens would LOVE that!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I am so jealous of those who can have beans for lunch (quick, easy, tasty, inexpensive)…. I lurve me some beans, but my tummy/intestines do NOT. I could fill a goodyear blimp with the gas that appears after I eat beans. Le sigh.

Amen to that. Fred LOVES to use the excuse “You fed me black beans, what did you expect?!” if I get mad at him for farting in the evenings. Hmph.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Spanky is my Pepe Le Pew.

and

Um, nevermind the kittehs (who are completely adorable, BTW) how do you not squeeze the crap out of Spanky? He’s just heartbreakingly gorgeous.

I can’t deny that – Spanky is one good-looking boy. He’s so clean and white and sweet and funny. In the evenings, he sits next to Fred on the couch, and you can just SEE him becoming overwhelmed with love for Fred. He’ll politely put his paw out and tap Fred until Fred pets him. If you speak to him, he “talks” back, and expects you to know what he’s saying. He is just the sweetest thing on earth. Pardon me while I go smooch him atop his head.

Also, he has very silky fur that’s just a pure pleasure to touch. He’s not just a pretty face, though. If it’s time to treat the cats with Frontline or Advantage, you HAVE to treat Spanky first and take him by surprise, because if you don’t, he KNOWS what you’re doing, and you’ll never get hold of him. He does not care for the Frontline or Advantage.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Are you watching True Blood (HBO)?

I certainly am, and I’m liking it a lot. I wasn’t sure about Anna Pacquin as Sookie at first, but now I think she’s perfect for the role. Tara annoyed me initially, but now I really like her (is it just me, or has her super-thick accent calmed down a little? It was almost a parody in the first couple of episodes, it seemed like.). Every time Bill says “Sssssssoo-kay”, Fred and I repeat it about a hundred times to each other.

I like Bill, but I LOVE Sam.

Did anyone else notice in the first episode that when Sookie came into the kitchen where Gran was sitting, Gran was reading a book by Charlaine Harris? I was probably a little too amused by that.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I work at home and whenever a client comes into my “office” my computer makes a doorbell ringing sound. I usually have this turned up pretty high so I can do stuff around the house while working and it never fails…when it goes off all 3 cats in the house run in panic as if someone were actually at the door! It’s absolutely hilarious and I enjoy it every single time.

We’ve had the cats freak out when there’s a doorbell sound on TV. Which is funny, because our actual doorbell doesn’t chime like a doorbell; some dork (NOT ME) set it to play “It’s a small world” (we really need to change that).

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I think you need to hold a basics class on using the cat door with Newt and Maxi. Maybe when they whined to come in, you go out the door with the cat door and lead them to the door and push them in – really hard. OK, maybe very gently. Maybe they’ll get it.

Oh, Maxi KNOWS how to use the cat door, and she does frequently. Just sometimes she feels the very strong need to go into the SIDE outdoors or the FRONT outdoors and not the BACK outdoors.

I’ve tried teaching Newt to use the cat door, but he’s just too freaked out by it. He’s actually not as bad about wanting in and out as Maxi – usually he waits until I’m heading in the general direction of the door and then he “leads” me to the door (and he’s not as picky about WHICH outdoors he goes to; if I ignore him “leading” me to the side door, he’ll attempt to “lead” me to the back door if I’m headed in that direction.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Well, you officially passed into “crazy cat people” territory a few cats ago, so, eh. What’s one more? I’m glad to see that she’s *home* now.

I object! The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee lady says that it takes 13 cats to be classified crazy cat people. That gives us a nice three-cat cushion!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I can’t remember if I originally saw this on your site or not, (galloping Alzheimer’s, I swear) but in case not:

Oh my god. That is HILARIOUS! I just choked on my water, watching that!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I’m glad Kara’s staying.. and here I was thinking Delmar was going to be the 10th!! will he be the 11th?

He will not. STOP THAT.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I suggested we foster kittens at one point; Darren said flat out “No” because we’d end up with about 50 cats. We is both softies like that.

We’ve been fostering for three and a half years – and we actually stopped for almost a year after we adopted Sugarbutt and Tommy, at Fred’s insistence that he didn’t want any more strange cats in the house until Tommy and Suggie were old enough to… I don’t remember what the issue was. I think he wanted them to be old enough to not pick up every disease that came into the house via strange cats or something. When we started, we had four cats: Spanky, Miz Poo, Mister Boogers, and Spot. Now we have TEN, though Maxi and Newt don’t count in this discussion, since they weren’t fosters. So we’ve adopted FIVE of our fosters. Five. We’ve more than doubled our cat population.

We’re so screwed.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Now, be honest… is Fred building a Chicken Mansion-Coop or do you guys just need a barn for your herd of cats? You guys are gonna be cat herding very soon…

Sometimes, when I walk through the house and the cats all scatter in front of me (especially on days like today when it’s raining out, so everyone’s inside) I feel like I’m herding them already.

I tried to convince Fred that he should build an outbuilding so we can foster even MORE cats, but he doesn’t seem to be going for it. I can’t imagine why. 🙂

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Am I the only one who really didn’t see this coming? I was (am) fully expecting one of the current group to be staying though. Which one will it be? Cornbread??? where did that come from? So Robyn, how many goats are y’all going to get? *snicker*

I’m not worried about the current group, because they’re little and cute and I know they’ll be adopted fairly quickly (kittens always get adopted faster) and it won’t be by US.

We are getting NO goats. Now that Fred’s fencing in the back forty for the chickens, we have no room for goats. Ha!

By the way, reader Liz suggested the name Captain Cornbread (CC for short) and I kind of like it. I suggested Sargeant Beans to Fred, and he didn’t think it was nearly as funny as I did.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Well, get her moved out of the fosters section in the side bar into the permanent residents!!! I’m verrrry sorrrrrrry, but you are officially a crazy cat lady. Altho, from all I can tell (unless you lie about your daily life), your house smells fine!

This weekend, I’ll be updating the sidebar. Maybe later today. It’s not that it’s such a complicated thing to do, I just have to get motivated to DO it.

As far as I know – and unless people are lying to me – my house smells okay. That’s what I worry about the most, that my house will stink. I’m doing my best to ensure that my house doesn’t smell like boiled ass.

If you ever come to my house and it stinks like a great big litterbox PLEASE TELL ME.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I’m a little confused as to why there is so much ceremony over the official name….we all know you guys will call her something totally different anyway. 😛

Hey now, we DO call Sugarbutt, Tommy, Joe Bob, Spanky, Newt, and Stinkerbelle by their names! I am leaning toward just calling her Kara until her nickname presents itself, though.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

When you decide to get a kitty – go get him or her. Why make her wait in a sad, tiny space. I agree with Fred. Good to see he did not wait.

Because I wanted to give her the chance to be adopted Tuesday night, is why!

(I’m glad Fred didn’t wait, though. I sure am liking having her around!)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I read that line about the monkeys, and for a split second thought, “Fred and Robyn have monkeys now? Man, these people are crazy!”

Oh, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time!

(I kid. I hope.)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I’ve got a question for you about kittens/cats. I have a 4 month old kitten that seems to have allergies or a cold or something. He sneezes and one of his eyes has a clear discharge sometimes. It’s always the same eye that is leaky and it’s never gunky or anything. But he doesn’t seem affected by it at all. He’s been looked at by three vets and they all said he’s fine, but that just seems weird to me. Have you ever had a sneezy, snotty cat that was just naturally sneezy and snotty? (Seriously, when he sneezes and gets a little snot smeared under his nose, it’s just about the cutest thing ever. I know…I’m weird). He’s been this way since he was first brought in to the shelter, according to his previous foster mom. Any ideas?

Mister Boogers has an issue with one of his eyes, especially in the spring and fall. One eye has discharge, and he tends toward sneeziness. We give him chlorpheniramine, which the vet originally prescribed, and then which we started buying at WalMart. It helps to stop him being so sneezy, and clears his eye up. (Obviously, you’ll want to check with your vet before you start giving your kitten anything!)

Also, Val said:

Kim, It could be allergies, or I have a kitty who has the worst sneezing and runny eyes. Nothing I can do for him. When I got him, he had a URI for several months that went untreated (I’m still mad about that). The doctor said the sometimes if a URI goes untreated, they get scars in their sinus cavity and they are stuck with permanent sinus problems. As long as the goop isn’t yellow or green, you are OK. Gus could care less – he’s still the boss of my 3 cats. I’m always cleaning the goop from his eyes and the sneeze remnants from the walls. He also has the dirtiest ears I’ve seen in a cat. Poor baby.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Two in the lap, one in the waiting area.

More kitten pics over at L&H.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

“My stump. MINE.”

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Previously
2007: Then I’m sure they hung up and said “We just bought ourselves six weeks of NO CALLS from Mr. And3rson. Boo-yah!”
2006: Okay. I have a LOT of favorite things about the house, I cannot lie.
2005: “That makes me want to get pregnant and have a baby, just so I can name it Lavernicus,” I admitted. “That WOULD be an excellent name.”
2004: No entry.
2003: It took two days from the first time I called Stanley “Beanie-bean” in front of Fred before Fred started doing it too. He’s such a copycat.
2002: “She was giving me a handjob under the water, and I didn’t stop her, even though I’m not attracted to her, BECAUSE I AM ONLY HUMAN.”
2001: Fred is a freak.
2000: “Uhhhh….” I said, casting around for something smart-ass or impressive to say.
1999: My desk is a total shitheap, because I’m Robyn and I’m a slob

10-17-08

Gas, WELL under three bucks a gallon! Woohoo! & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & So, I finally got around to uploading some chicken movies, if you’re interested. The first one is a movie of Michelle in action. In the … Continue reading “10-17-08”

Gas, WELL under three bucks a gallon! Woohoo!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

So, I finally got around to uploading some chicken movies, if you’re interested. The first one is a movie of Michelle in action. In the morning after I let him out, he is IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, and he’s not picky. If one hen outwits him, that’s fine, he just goes on to the next!

The second one is a movie of the little chickens, who were recently moved from the brooder in the garage to the little coop in the chicken yard, with their own little fenced-in yard. They get really happy when I let them out in the morning, as you’ll see.

And the last one would be of me teasing Michelle the rooster. I clearly have NO life.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Am I the only one wondering if a maxi pad commercial come on the tv after the Newt Gingrich interview?

I’m actually not sure where Maxi’s name came from. It just kind of popped into my head and I went with it. I have to confess that I never ever call her Maxi except here in this journal. We always call her “Momma” or “Miss Momma” and while Kara was here, we’d call her “Outside Momma” (Kara was “Upstairs Momma”, which made Fred suggest that we call Kara “Uma” and Maxi “Oma.”)

Speaking of, it’s been two years since she introduced her kittens to us!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I think I found you through Jolene about 7 years ago. is she still journaling?

Jolene updates sporadically, here.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I really appreciate that you’ll have a foster site. Your site is so great visually that my kids scamper over the second it is on and I have to make sure no “mild adult content” is visible. In fact, they are now clamoring for “the shows” (videos).

Yeah, I know lots of you like to show the kitten pics to your kids (and there will eventually be kitten movies as well, of course), so you can rest assured that Love & Hisses will always be as clean as I can keep it – occasionally an “ass” might slip through, but if you spot something like that, feel free to point it out. I’m committed to keeping it clean!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

My weblationship with you & Fred started with a quaint story about a farted walnut, and it’s only gotten better from there!

I had to go look for the entry about the farted walnut, and laughed and laughed. My husband sure is a funny motherfucker, isn’t he?

Also, someone was looking for the entry about, ahem, someone passing gas in Lowe’s and Fred getting blamed for it. That’s over at Fred’s site, he wrote about it, not me. He is also a great big lying liar. In case you were wondering.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Totally random question: you once posted that Fred was driving you crazy, because he was reading a book about hour there were only 5, or seven, or whatever, fictional plots, and he kept referencing the book. What was the name of the book?

That book was The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, and I wrote about it in this entry. My GOD he was a pain in the ass while that stage lasted.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I don’t know if you watch MadTV…but here’s a link to a video that I thought was HILARIOUS. I’ve been spreading the word of Bon Qui Qui…

Is it weird that I kind of like the little rap she does toward the end?

I actually had no idea that MadTV was still on these days!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I did not realize Tommy had so many white hairs. Guess I never saw a close up that showed them before.

Yeah, he’s got quite a sprinkle of them on his back that you don’t really see unless you see him up close. It’s one of my favorite things about him, that sprinkle of white hair.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

What did you have for breakfast? I can’t believe you didn’t at least make him pick something up for you.

I don’t remember, it was probably scrambled eggs and half a bagel when we got home. I thought about making him swing through the McDonald’s drive-thru for an Egg McMuffin, but I really wanted, like, a greasy omelet and home fries. I’m sure I was better off in the end, eating my usual breakfast, but it was NO FUN.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

That’s what happens when you run [Spanky] through the washer with a pair of red socks.

You know how Bruce Banner turns green when he gets angry (along with growing huge and muscley, of course)? Spanky turns pink when he gets all filled with love. No, really!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I cook my bacon on a broiling rack with the bottom pan covered in foil for cleanup. I’m not sure if you’d lose too much brown sugar that way, but otherwise it’s by far my preferred method.

I need that broiling rack not only to make bacon, but also for when I make Un-Fried Chicken! I bet a rack like that is mighty handy to have around for any number of things. I’m adding it to the top of my mental “I need this” list!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Did Fred try your bacon and want to switch?

Fred did try my bacon, but still preferred his with just salt and pepper on it. Hmph. UNADVENTUROUS.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

About the eggs…I was waiting to see if that would work. My method is mildly successful; I boiled 8 eggs last week and only two had tough shells. I was hoping yours would be foolproof, sorry that wasn’t the case. I use store-bought eggs, and I put them in a pot with cold water. (this is the trick, I believe). I put them on the stove on high, and then once they boil I set the timer for 12 minutes. When they’re done, I take them out with a slotted spoon and put them in an ice-water bath to cool them off. Then I peel them under running water, cracking the narrow tops first and working my way down. I used to start at the bottom but I found I was making more of a mess that way. The two that came out “bad” were ones I started at the bottoms. But hopefully people will have more suggestions because I hate the way an unperfectly peeled egg looks.

and

Peeling eggs :the easiest way is to add a splash of oil( maybe 1or2 tbs at most) to the water while it is boiling. The oil permeates the shell ( Remember in science class soaking the egg in oil til the shell was see through), the egg will not have any oil residue, but the shell will literally slide off.

and

Pop those eggs in your vegetable steamer (if you have one) for 20 minutes; eggs cooked to perfection, minimal boiling egg stank and when they cool, pretty easy to peel!

I’m totally going to have to try all these different methods – I’m going to make a batch of egg salad this weekend, and I think I’ll try adding oil to the water first, because that sounds pretty neat. I’ll report back on how it worked for me next week!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Robyn, if you and Fred like butternut squash, you will *love* buttercup squash. It is absolutely the best for baking and then mashing with just a little butter. It’s hard to find in stores, but as easy to grow as any other squash. Highly recommended!

I’m adding buttercup squash to my “Fall squash to grow next year” list!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Atlanta Housewives–if you think the first episode was way over the top, wait until you see the second!! Why do I watch this shit!?

I’ll be watching it later today! You watch this shit, if you’re like me, ’cause it’s total junk food for the brain. It’s not anything you have to pay close, close attention to, you can follow it even if you’re half asleep, and the LIFESTYLE these women lead and the self-inflicted drama is just completely alien to your life. Also, you can be all judgmental about them (“Bitch, PLEASE. Estate manager MY ASS!”) and not feel bad about it ’cause that’s what junk food for the brain is FOR.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Egg salad recipe – please.

I don’t actually have a hard and fast recipe – this is how I make it (and if I think of it this weekend I’ll even take pictures a la Pioneer Woman!). Hard-boil 1 dozen eggs (12 minutes at a slow boil gets them done enough for me). Cool and peel them (I obviously don’t have the perfect method for this yet, but that might change after this weekend!). Mash them with whatever implement you prefer. I use this thing, for which I do not know the name.

Or this thing, which I believe is called a pastry doohickey.

You can use a fork if you prefer or, really, whatever works for you. I bet you could even run everything through a food processor. Anyway, mash it up good (some people like the whites left in little chunks; I don’t, so I mash the hell out of the eggs), add enough mayo to moisten (it’s a matter of personal preference – I don’t like too much mayo in the egg salad, especially if there are going to be leftovers, because it can get a little too liquidy if you over-mayo it) and then add two big spoonsful of sweet pickle relish. Salt and pepper to taste, and voila! Egg salad!

(It probably goes without saying, but not everyone likes pickle relish in their egg salad. We do – I use the sweet pickle relish I made and canned last year – and I have yet to get to the point where I’ve put too much pickle relish in the egg salad. Some people like chopped celery in their egg salad – I don’t, so I don’t add it. It’s all a matter of personal preference, right?)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Please share your recipe for the Mashed Butternut squash. Or do you make it like mashed potatoes? (except no boiling – but roasting?) Do you suggest anything for acorn squash? Sorry to be annoying, but I have both sitting in the vegetable basket and I’m kind of bored with the traditional roast and eat methods. I need variety!

My mashed butternut recipe is pretty simple – cut the squash in half, remove the seeds, salt and pepper each half, put it in a baking dish (I use a 9 x 11 pyrex dish), put about 1/4 inch of water on the bottom of the baking dish, cover tightly with foil, bake for about 45 minutes at 400 farenheit (a bigger squash might have to cook longer), let cool for 10 minutes, scoop the squash out of the skin, mash it up, add salt, pepper, and butter (or Brummel and Brown, or whatever buttery-tasting addition you prefer) and eat. NOM.

I don’t have any acorn squash recipes, but readers? Anyone got any acorn squash suggestions? For that matter, anything fun to do with butternut squash? I love it when you share your recipes with me!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

So is that why this link shows up on Fred’s site? Anyhow, I’ll bet your tomato sauce tastes better!

That was such a good book! It very well might be the last book Fred finished – the man hardly ever gets a chance to just sit down and read anymore.

My tomato sauce might taste better (though I can’t guarantee it), but it took so much time and effort to make that I’m willing to sacrifice a little taste and just buy the cheap stuff at Sam’s!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

How do you make the beds in your house with all those cats? I only have one cat around when I’m making my bed and OH MY GOD, he makes it impossible. Under the fitted sheet. On the fitted sheet. Under the top sheet. On the top sheet. Under the comforter. On the comforter. Skulking where the pillows go. Hiding underneath the bed and attacking my feet. Racing around like his back end is afire … HOW do you do it with MANY CATS?

It’s interesting, actually – during her reign, Kara made it clear to all our cats that the upstairs was HER territory and not to be intruded upon. Kara’s gone, and occasionally Tommy or Mister Boogers will come upstairs and look around, but they rarely come upstairs during the night, none of them ever sleeps with me, and it’s unusual that anyone’s tromping around on the bed while I’m trying to make it. On the rare occasion that someone’s on the bed while I’m trying to make it (usually Tommy) and refuses to stay off the bed even though I’ve put them on the floor a couple of times, all I have to do is pick up the can of compressed air and wave it at them. They’re so well-trained now (and hate having air blown at them) that all they need is to see the can, and off they go.

(Fred makes his bed when he gets up in the morning, but the cats haven’t been allowed in his room for quite some time due to a peeing spree on Mister Boogers’ part, so he has no annoying cats to deal with.)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Hi Robyn, I got my first cat in almost 15 years this weekend. She is a long hair – Himalayan and (we think) and Siamese. She is the first ever long haired cat I’ve ever owned. I know you had one long-hair, Fancypants (?) before, is there a reason you don’t have one now? Just curious… and thanks

Yeah, Fancypants was the only long-haired cat we’ve ever had. That we don’t have a long-haired cat now is just the way it happened to work out. We’d happily have another long-hair, especially if it had the personality Fancypants had!

ChristineQ had some advice regarding long-haired cats (in case you didn’t see her response in the comments):

I have 2 longhaired cats (1 Himalayan and 1 Ragdoll). The Himalayan is the worst shedding cat I’ve ever owned in my life! Be prepared to wear few black clothes in the Spring!! A couple of things we do–get a Furminator. Himalayans have a tendency to get mattes in their fur and the Furminator works wonders for that. Also, we get both cats shaved into Lions in May/June. Their fur gets very thick over Winter and they feel soooo much better after they get shaved, as evidenced by the kitten play when they get home. As an aside, they look hilarious which is just a bonus (even our parrot laughed her ass of when she saw the cats). You can cut down on the shedding by brushing her a lot but unless you have time to brush her every day (and who does?) you will see a lot of fur spreading around. Himalayans are very sweet kitties and you will LOVE her! Good luck!

I second the Furminator love. We don’t have any long-haired kittens, but the Furminator worked wonders on Miz Poo the Incredible Shedding Machine, as well as Tommy, who I would have guessed never sheds at all – but I got a ton and a half of fur off him. Two thumbs up to the Furminator!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Hey Robyn, at least Delmar didn’t say “Them sirens loved ‘im up and turned ‘im into a horny toad!” when he was lying on the floor with you. hee hee I couldn’t resist.

Reading that makes me want to watch O Brother Where Art Thou for the tenth time! I love the hell out of that movie.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Delmar has SUCH pretty eyes! Have you bitten the end of your tongue off yet from Teh Cuteness?

I haven’t bitten my tongue off yet, but MAN my tongue hurts from all the biting I’ve been doing lately. I’m sure I’m going to end up with tongue cancer after all this tongue abuse.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Here is a website I think is interesting and she finds and/or comes up with some pretty good stuff (and some not so appetizing, but we won’t dwell on that). She has made it her resolution to use the crockpot every day.

It never occurred to me to recommend crockpot recipes – what a great idea! Interesting site, too. I got a roasted garbanzo bean recipe off her site – I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope to soon!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

The kittens, as mentioned above, are about killing me with the cute. At this point I only have to go into the room and sit down, and Delmar’s off that cat tree like a flash, strolls over to me and demands love. He rolls around on his back, he climbs in my lap, he rubs his head against my cheek, he is just a little lovebug. Lem’s usually the second one off the tree, comes over and says “Hey. You have two hands, don’t you? Two hands, two cats, THE MATH ADDS UP. Get to petting!”

Marion is easily lured off the cat tree with toys, though it takes some time for her to warm up and allow me to pet her just the teensiest bit. Claudette actually came down off the cat tree yesterday afternoon. She didn’t want me to pet her – the food bowl was her goal – but she also didn’t shy away and run for the tree when I approached her, so she’s making definite progress.

I don’t know what the deal was, but once she got to the food and water bowls, she drank some water, and then she straddled the water bowl to get to the food bowl. I know she didn’t want to sit in front of the food bowl because that would have been too close to me, and she wanted to keep an eye on me, but why she didn’t go behind the food bowl, I don’t know. Silly girl.

This weekend, I plan to move them out of the foster kitten room for a little while (probably in carriers) so I can vacuum in there and change out their litter box, and possibly move the litter box into the closet. They aren’t hiding from us, so I’m not so worried about them going into the closet and hiding. If they do, I can always shoo them out of the closet and shut the door so they can’t do that anymore!

Last night we gave them deworming medicine. I was worried that they’d be freaked out by our shoving medicine down their throats, but they forgave us immediately. They’re such sweet monkeys.

More pictures over at Love & Hisses.

Kara didn’t get adopted this week – there’s an entry about her over at Love & Hisses.

Pet store kitties are also over at Love & Hisses.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Miss Momma in the sun. That cat adores rolling around in the dirt and getting dusty.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Previously
2007: At one point, Fred and I were on our computers and Nance and Rick were on their laptops in the dining room, and it was like a total dork convention.
2006: And since I’ll be dead long before then from (1) PSC, (2) Weight Loss Surgery (3) Heart Murmur or (4) Throat Chewed Open By Crazy Wild Cats, I’m not going to worry too much about it.
2005: And I like Nicole Kidman and I loathe Sean Penn and didn’t want to see him rubbing his liver lips all over her.
2004: No entry.
2003: Poor Stanley. All he wants to do it play, and none of the big cats will play with him.
2002: That’s a lot of poop to scoop.
2001: “I don’t like it,” he said haughtily. “It’s not even REAL lemon juice. It’s citric acid!”
2000: Now I just have to decide what to spend it on.
1999: When I got to the top of the stairs I found Tubby huddled there soaking wet, and Mr. Fancypants circling him in a hostile manner.

10-10-08

For the last couple of days, I’ve felt that there was something about today’s date. “Is there something happening, or something happened on this date?” I asked Fred. He shrugged and said he didn’t think so. Did someone die? Was I supposed to do something? Go somewhere? And this morning I realized what it was, … Continue reading “10-10-08”

And this morning I realized what it was, why this date is stuck in my head: it’s been nine years since I started this journal!

Nine years!

Nine years of writing five days a week, most weeks. Nine years of writing about my life. Who the hell knew it was going to last so long?

NINE YEARS.

That’s a long fucking time, ain’t it? What kind of freak writes a daily journal for nine years?

Some of you have been reading me every day since way back then, and some of you showed up at various points along the way, and some of you read for a while then disappeared but then COULD NOT RESIST THE LURE OF THE KITTEHS and came back, and some of you check in occasionally, and some of you read every single day, and some of you are brand-spanking-new to the Bitchypoo experience.

To all of you, I say: Thank you. I might still be writing even if none of you were reading, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun!

Here’s to another nine!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

This is pretty neat:

I’d do something like that with our webcam, except I have NO desire to see what I do or look like while I’m sleeping!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Is Newt as soft as he looks?

Actually, he’s not! He looks like he’d be cottony soft, but he’s got coarse, wiry hair.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I just have to say, I love hearing about Newt. He’s such a cutie. Serial-killer instincts and all.

He really is an awfully good boy. And considering how skittish he was when we first met him (almost exactly two years ago!), he’s come a long way, baby. For those of you who weren’t reading back then, when Maxi showed up with Newt in tow, we thought he was her friend. Then, a few days later when they showed up with a bunch of kittens in tow, we thought he was the father of the kittens, so we called him “Daddy” for a long time. When he and Maxi went to be spayed and neutered, I had to come up with a name to give the vet, and I glanced at the TV and saw Newt Gingrich, and a name was born.

Yes, he’s named after Newt Gingrich.

After he was neutered, I talked to the vet and she asked if we thought he could be Maxi’s kitten from a previous litter (he was obviously not fully grown, and when I look at pictures of him from back then, I’m amazed at how little he was. Not that he’s a big cat now, but he was clearly not grown up when he first showed up.), so we’re assuming now that they’re mother and son.

But anyway, Newt is perfectly happy to come inside these days, and he often spends the night inside. The other night I came downstairs after Fred went to bed, and Newt was laying on top of the kitchen cabinets, sound asleep. He’s really made himself at home here!

He still hasn’t figured out the cat door, though.

Other interesting fact about Newt: he has the highest-pitched meow I’ve ever heard from any cat, as evidenced by this video:

I never ever have to wonder who’s meowing when it’s him, it’s such a distinctive meow. It’s almost ghostly sounding, especially if I’m sitting at my desk and he starts meowing to be let out – he always sounds alarmed, and it raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

Last interesting fact about Newt: even though he’s no longer skittish and seems to trust us, he always has this look on his face when we approach him that indicates that he suspects we’re about to torture and then murder him. Seriously, he always looks PETRIFIED. He doesn’t shy away from us or act scared of us, but it’s like that last remnant of wild cat in the back of his brain just KNOWS we’re out to kill him.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

For anyone wanting to watch current tv shows on premium channels- check out www.surfthechannel.com. They have uploads of just about every show you can imagine premium and non-premium channels. Thats where I watch Dexter, Weeds, True Blood….

I went back and added this into my entry last week after Lisa posted it in my comments, but I wanted to post it again in case anyone missed it. I think this is AWESOME!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

“they may have belonged to the people who sold us this house. I’d love to get my hands on them to at least have them neutered, but the few times they’ve caught sight of me, they’ve run off immediately and ignored my calls.” The DOGS, right? although I’m guessin’ that the previous owners could use it hehehehe

Yeah, the dogs. Although if neutering stopped people from abandoning animals…

(Would you believe I actually proofread that entry? I rarely do, which is probably obvious!)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I had to watch it a couple of times to be sure, but I am almost positive that that is not a spider at the end of the video. I think it may be a camel cricket/spider cricket/cave cricket. They get into my garage every fall and hide behind things on the wall. I HATE THEM WITH EVERY BONE IN MY BODY! You can probably hear me for miles screaming like a ninja and slamming my broom down on the floor to kill them. SHUUDDER….

Yeah, that’s a cave cricket. I hate cave crickets because they look like a cricket/ spider hybrid to me, and they are CREEPY. You don’t want to come down here and visit us in the summer, that’s for sure – when Fred would go outside at bedtime to go to the garage, there’d be hundreds of them popping around near the stairs to the side door. There’s a bird feeder hanging there, and the cave crickets were eating the fallen bird seed.

On the up side, chickens really like eating cave crickets, so Fred would catch one and toss it in the brooder then watch one of the chicks snatch it up and run around with it.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

The next time you are buying a ton of cat stuff and someone asks you how many cats you have, tell them none and then just stare at them…..

and

My husband’s answer: “How many do you need?”

and

Next time someone asks, just say, “Well, I foster cats and kittens while they’re waiting for adoptive homes, so right now I have [number].” They don’t need to know that none, or very few, of that [number] are fosters… and the “so” could mean “if I had fosters right now there’d be more” just as easily as it could mean “if I didn’t have fosters right now there’d be less.” (Fewer?)

and

you could finish up the answer of “None,” with “haven’t you tried the turkey and giblets dinner? It’s delicious on a Ritz.” 🙂

All very good answers, especially if you follow up the “None” with a puzzled look like they’re weird for asking. Also, I know that last comment was a joke, but I have to say, if I were starving to death there’d be worse things to eat than Fancy Feast Medleys. Some of that stuff looks really good! (No, I’ve never eaten canned cat food and I don’t plan to start. I’m just saying!)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

We just got a kitten a few weeks ago, and this is my first cat. He is adorable and teeny and I blame my weakness entirely on you, but he’s cute so it’s okay! Anyway, he is scratching the hell out of my chenille couches, and I want to get him some softpaws. I just had a few questions, and I hope you don’t mind answering them. First of all, from what google has shown me, declawing is pretty inhumane, correct? Is that complete declawing, or is it okay to remove their front claws? Second of all, if I put softpaws on him, will he still be able to climb up the furniture like he loves to do? It’s part of the way he plays, when he’s “attacking” things, so I am a little nervous about taking that away from him. Finally, do you put the caps on all four feet, just the front, just the back, what? I trust your experience more than the softpaws website so that’s why I figured I’d ask. Also, we have two dogs; one of them just loves him but the other one isn’t very friendly, so that’s another reason I was a little nervous about putting the caps on. He can swat and run away, but is that enough?

Declawing is widely considered to be pretty inhumane, yes – they say it would be like having your fingers removed at the first knuckle.

I think you can put SoftPaws on all four claws, but we only do the front claws, because that’s where most of the damage (furniture-clawing) comes from. The cats can absolutely still climb furniture with Softpaws on – in fact, Tommy and Sugarbutt almost always have SoftPaws on their claws, and if there wasn’t something around the tree in the back yard to prevent it, they’d easily be able to climb the tree; as it is, they climb up the tree to the barrier and just hang there for a surprisingly long time before they drop to the ground and run off. Cats use their back paws for climbing much more than their front. Also, cats can still swat with the SoftPaws on, even if there’s no claw behind it, and I would bet that a swat on the nose with an angry paw would still deter your cat-hatin’ dog.

If you’re planning to use SoftPaws, it’s best to start earlier (so he’s used to having his paws dealt with) rather than later. Oh, and you might not find this information on the SoftPaws site, but I’ve found that when you first start using the SoftPaws, they tend to fall off often (every few days), but if you keep on using them, they stay on longer and longer. I honestly don’t know why that is, whether the cats shed their claws more slowly if they’re not using them, or what, but I know that Tommy had a cap that lasted for close to three months before it came off and had to be replaced.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Don’t know if you’ve seen this or not, but it cracked me UP!!!

I think it’s the voice that really makes that video!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Dangit, I am no good at searching the website. I know you’ve mentioned it two dozen times, but what do you use to get the cat pee stink out? Fortunately (knock on wood) my cats haven’t peed inside, but my sister has a suede couch that her cat has peed on and she is thinking of getting rid of it. I thought the stuff you use might help her save the couch. This stupid couch she loves so much that when I came to visit her she wouldn’t even let me SIT ON IT.

It’s called “Stink Free“, and I got it at P3tSmart. I used to use this stuff called Axi-Dent (which you can only find online), but Stink Free works just as well – it’s been months since I first used it on our couch, and there’s been no reappearance of the smell. The Stink Free itself has a light, pleasant smell (it kind of smells like laundry detergent) that eventually goes away. I highly recommend it!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

When I read that Fred had started “fencing in the back forty,” I pictured him all in white with a face mask, En Garde-ing all over the place. I’m a dope, I know.

Oh, I’m sure that’s the next thing! Heh.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I can’t say enough how great y’all are doing with Crooked Acres. The layout, everything , and you did it yourselves! I love hawks but it’s one of those love/hate relationships. They’re beautiful but they can be lethal.

Thank you! Although, we’re working on moving our chickens for the third time in less than two years, so maybe we should have thought about the layout a little more!

I think hawks are gorgeous and I love watching them soar, I just don’t want the bastards to get hold of our chickens!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Is a Roomba pointless if I have wall-to-wall carpet?

I think – and the rest of you Roomba owners can feel free to jump in here – that it depends on the kind of carpet. If it’s Berber or relatively low-pile, the Roomba works well on it. I have a low-pile rug in my bedroom. I run the Roomba in there every so often and it does a great job. If you have the really thick, luxurious stuff, I don’t think the Roomba would work very well, though.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Roomba can talk? Seriously? Our little Roomba seems broken. It is on an scheduler and when it turns itself on, it undocks…goes 3 feet, turns red and returns to the base. I am guessing the battery pack has essentially died. But I have never, ever heard it talking! And there have been many times where it gets stuck, lost, or just plain fails to dock. Must be a newer version. And yes, it would scare the crap out of me to hear a voice in another room if I were home “alone” with a bazillion cats.

Mine is the Roomba 560. Usually it doesn’t talk to (bellow at) me, though if it’s in the middle of vacuuming it might stop, making a sad sound, and when I hit the button to try to get it to go again, it’ll tell me what the problem is (“Please remove and clean Roomba’s brushes!” or “Please clean Roomba’s cliff sensors!”)

By the way, my favorite sound the Roomba makes is when I put it on the dock and it makes that happy “I’m recharging!” sound.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Didn’t you have an actual name for your Roomba – like Maria? I remember it cracked me up when you’d call her by her name. Please remind me.

Lupe! I named her after the housekeeper on Arrested Development.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Does anyone else find it highly amusing that Robyn is feeding the chickens scrambled eggs? ANYONE?

We used to feed them chicken, too, when we were still eating chicken from the store. Now that we’re eating our own chicken (and let me point out here that we don’t eat nearly as much chicken as we used to!), I refuse to feed leftover chicken scraps to the chickens, just because the idea weirds me out. The pigs get THOSE leftovers.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I keep hoping that you and Fred will decide to keep Kara. I think that it’s different when fostering kittens, but an adult cat might think she’s found her forever home, so I’m going to keep hoping that you’ll keep Kara. She’s entertainment, too, as she’ll lay the smack down on any cat who gets out of line. She’d be the Regulator! You NEED a Regulator!!

I know, I felt horrible leaving her at P3tSmart yesterday. And I did hint around about it a few times when talking to Fred, but the truth is that we’ve really hit our limit with nine cats. Our nine permanent cats work fairly well together (with occasional moments of assholery), and adding Kara to the mix even for a few months put them off-balance. Last night, Stinkerbelle was almost giddy that Kara wasn’t around – she raced around, she played, she sharpened her claws on the cat tree. I know that Kara will find a good home with someone who loves her whole-heartedly.

We did miss her last night and this morning, though. Along with being the Regulator, her job was apparently that of the Upstairs Greeter – it was strange to go upstairs and not have her at the top of the stairs to greet me.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Robyn, everybody knows you shoot at hawks with a SHOTGUN! 😉 You need a spray pattern, not a single bullet! Ha ha ha.

Uh huh. ‘Cause I’m a gun and rifle expert, you know. Heh.

Here’s a gun story for y’all: earlier this week a hawk kept coming back and swooping through the chicken yard and freaking the chickens (and me!) out. I was bitching about it (via email) to Fred, and he said I should go out with a gun and fire it into the ground, that hawks will understand the noise and it will chase them away. And though I’ve handled and fired guns before, I have a healthy respect for them, and I refused to do it, because I just knew that I’d attempt to fire the gun into the ground and end up shooting my foot, a chicken, or a passerby because that’s just how my life goes!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I have never heard of an assassin bug. Wonder if they are a southern thing. I live in Indiana and I have never seen one here that I can remember. Saturday I was out in the yard and felt something crawling up my leg and it was a praying mantis. I looked at it and said “Hey, I am not a tree or a bush” I got it off my leg and put it in the bush beside the porch. It had a huge stomach so I am thinking it was getting ready to lay eggs. Do you know if this is the time of year for them to do that and the eggs lay dormant until Spring?

I had never heard of them before this year, either. The juvenile ones look a lot like praying mantii (?) to me and the bigger ones kind of resemble shield bugs to me.

According to Wikipedia, the mating season for praying mantii in temperate climates is in the Fall, but it doesn’t say whether the eggs lay dormant ’til Spring. It seems like they would, but I don’t know for sure! Anyone out there know?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I was wondering, has Maxi been chasing the chicks anymore? Since Newt is the mighty mighty hunter, it is surprising that he has left them alone. *knocks on wood* Good boy Newtles! Be a good boy and leave the chickies alone.

We actually moved them to the little coop in the chicken yard so they’re not as accessible to her, but they’re also bigger now, too. So she hasn’t been showing too much interest in them, thank god, and hopefully they’re big enough that she’s not really interested any more.

When I got home from running errands the other day, she came running across the driveway with something small in her mouth. It was squeaking, and at first glance I thought it was a hummingbird.

“Miss Momma!” I gasped. “Bad!”

So she dropped it, and that’s when I realized it was a little mouse. It tried running away from her, but was clearly badly injured – I think probably its back was broken – so I said “Carry on”, and she snatched it up and ran off with it.

Circle of life, don’tchaknow.

Newt has shown little interest in the chicks, but he’s such a mighty, mighty hunter that I think he prefers something with a little challenge to it.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

You can set up your site the way you want, but don’t most people who visit Bitchypoo do so in order to hear about your life with your cats? I know I do. The more cats the better! I don’t get tired of the photos either. If I did, I wouldn’t bookmark your site. Anyway …

Would you believe that I have readers who don’t care for cats at all? In any case, the main reason for my starting up Love & Hisses is that I wanted to have all my foster entries in one place so that if I wanted to remember at what point, for instance, Maddy started eating solid food, I wouldn’t have to wade through all the non-cat entries to find that out (of course, before that happens, I also have to get all those foster kitten entries copied & pasted, too!). I also wanted to have a G-rated place (okay, PG? Maybe PG-13?!) for people to see pictures of our foster cats and information about them without having to wade through the “Fuckity fuckity FUCK FUCK FUCK!” stuff.

By the way, while I was working on setting up Love & Hisses, the tagline in the title bar was “Love & Hisses: Your source for the sweetest pussy on the internet.” (I changed it, though. See above about trying to keep it PG-rated.)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Are there any restrictions there on pet ownership? Here we are not supposed to have more than 5 cats and/or dogs total. Not sure why but when it is discovered that you have more it is enforced.

Luckily, there are no restrictions at all! I worry that our little town will be annexed by Closeville and restrictions will be imposed, but even if that happened (I don’t think Closeville is really interested in annexation of Smallville), I’m hoping our animals would be grandfathered in.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I make quiche all the time sans crust. At this point my preferred method is to make it in nonstick mini pie pans, for portability and portion control, but in general I advise using a nonstick cake or loaf pan – it pops right out, and it makes the outside of the quiche tough enough to hold together but not inedibly hard. Glass or porcelain don’t work as well, no matter how much you grease it. I like cheddar, bacon, and salad shrimp quiche the best.

Cheddar, bacon, and shrimp quiche sounds like HEAVEN to me. I really like the idea of using mini pie pans for single-serving quiches, I’m going to have to give that a try!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Do the pigs ever get sick from food that you give them? Sounds like they’ll eat just about anything!

So far, they’ve never gotten sick from anything we’ve given them – I hear that pigs have cast-iron stomachs and you can really give them just about anything and they’ll eat it. At this point, the only things we’ve given them that they absolutely refuse to eat are raw carrots (they sat there for days before Fred scooped them up and tossed them on the compost heap) and raw okra. Everything else, they eat. They have their favorites, of course, and sometimes stuff will sit there for a while before they eat it, but usually everything gets eaten eventually.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

OMG keep the Newtles pictures coming. so cute. Do you think he’d like a california vacation?

I think Newt needs to visit California and go surfing!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Does the ‘troll under the stairs’ ever reach out to swat at unsuspecting feet? And is there video of that?!

No, there’s never any swatting from the troll. She’s a benevolent troll – unless one of the other cats gets all up in her space (which Joe Bob and Mister Boogers like to do), in which case there’s a lot of hissing and growling. The troll under the stairs needs her space!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I’ve heard that cats, who have had multiple UTIs, can actually develop thick walls in their urinary tract. This can cause multiple infections. One of my co-workers started her cat on glucosamine supplements along with antibiotics per her vet’s instructions to help with this. She says her cat is doing really well. This is only something I’ve heard secondhand, but it does sound interesting.

I’ll have to check with our vet about that – it certainly does sound interesting! If glucosamine supplements meant that Joe wouldn’t have to deal with UTIs, I’m all for it!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Do you think Fred might like the girl pigs better if you put lipstick on them?

You betcha!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Spanky has a box. But not just ANY box, a PRIORITY box.

This pleases him.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Previously
2007: “Because you’re a spineless, self-indulgent, self-absorbed narcissist, DUH.”
2006: As of today, I’ve been journaling for seven years.
2005: What I’m not going to miss is the rotten-egg gas Sugarbutt’s been suffering from lately.
2004: Off to Myrtle Beach.
2003: Instead, we should probably go for “Shizzle M. Andersizzle.”
2002: Why I journal.
2001: No entry.
2000: Okay, enough of that mushy crap.
1999: So. Welcome to my journal.

10-3-08

I’m telling you now, though, if you don’t read The Thirteenth Tale soon, I’m going to show up on your porch, barge my way in, set you down in a recliner, hand you the book and force you to read it. I’m just sayin’. It’s in the queue! I swear it! In fact, I’ll look … Continue reading “10-3-08”

It’s in the queue! I swear it! In fact, I’ll look when I go upstairs tonight, and if it’s not in the next five books, I’ll move it up! How’s that?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

We have those type of stairs and call them “pain in the ass to move anything big up them” stairs.

Dude. TELL me about it. When we had to move my furniture upstairs (when I moved from the downstairs bedroom to the upstairs), it was a HUGE pain in the ass to get my mattress up the stairs, let alone anything else. I guess I’m just lucky I don’t sleep in a King size bed!

[It’s called a]return staircase. sorry, i know the strangest things!

I knew someone would know the answer!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

We have hardwood floors in our house. They need to be refinished. How did you decide between doing it yourself or having them done by somebody else?

I actually had to call Fred and ask him for the answer to this one, ’cause I couldn’t remember. At first Fred was planning to do them himself (with some help from me, I’m sure), but he always researches everything thoroughly before he does it, and the more research he did, the more concerned he was that he’d mess it up and we’d end up paying a professional to do it anyway. After much deliberation, waffling, dithering and A LOT OF ANNOYING OF HIS WIFE, he decided to get quotes from local area businesses. The first guy who came and looked the house over gave us a quote that fit into our budget (I’m not being coy here, I honestly don’t remember how much it cost at ALL), was very professional, and gave us a lot of references. I really wanted to have a professional do it, and after a little more time spent thinking about it, Fred ended up agreeing with me.

Fred did end up redoing the stairs himself (with a lot of help and direction from his father), which gave him a definite appreciation for the work involved, and a year and a half later, he says that if he had it to do over again, he’d still hire a professional for the floors.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I thought of you: This is challenging to read because of how the dog writes (worse than LOLspeak) but funny nonetheless.

Oh my lord, my head aches. I found that if you read it quickly rather than try to figure out every word, it goes a lot easier.

And it is pretty funny!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I’m cracking up at the last sentence of your bringing Miz Poo home story….Sorry for all the kitten talk. HAHAHAHA. If you knew then what you know now.

I totally had no idea, 9 years ago, that I was going to turn into a batshit crazy cat lady!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Hey! Didn’t you have a camera set up to see who was peeing on the bed???? Whatever happened to that? Did you find out who it was????

After a stint as an egg-hatching cam, a brooder cam and a front-porch cam, the webcam is… You know, I’m not even sure where I stashed it. I think it’s on the bookcase in the front room. I need to set it back up in the guest bedroom because it’s been long enough since the bed was peed upon that we’re just about due for an incident!

(I’m trying to convince Fred that we should set the webcam up in the chicken yard for at least a few days so y’all can watch the chickens strut about!)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

OK – am I the only one who wonders why you don’t take your shower BEFORE you go get your hair done? Or are you one of those fussies (like my daughter) who hates the way the hairdresser styles their hair?

Oh, I do take a shower before I go have my hair done – and then I take another afterward. She tends to use a lot of product in my hair, and I touch my hair a LOT (also, I touch my face a lot. Apparently I’m a self-touching fool.) and the feel of product-laden hair bugs me. Also, she’s good about getting most of the teeny little hairs off me when she’s done, but there are still plenty on me, so I take a shower and change clothes to get rid of those.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

What’s a girl who lives in the boonies with rabbit ears to do? I only get 3 networks, and I still struggle with watching/taping everything! I actually look forward to re-runs!!!

I recommend Hulu.com and iTunes! Edited to add – you can go here and search to find your favorite shows. Thank you, Lisa the awesome!!!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Didn’t you have a recipe for homemade liquid hand soap? If not do know anyone who has made some successfully?

I haven’t made the hand soap yet myself, but Nance did, and her recipe is: 1 bar Castille soap, grated; 3 c. water. Heat ’til the soap melts. I have the soap and am ready to make it, but my liquid soap dispensers aren’t anywhere close to empty, so I’m waiting ’til they are. I have it on good authority that it works pretty well!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Mister Boogers LOVES someone?? How is that even possible?

In his own way, Mister Boogers loves people. For a little while. Until the het takes over and he has to cast them aside. His love is fleeting; his het is not.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

(From Kinzie, whose daughter coined “Honkshu”, which I immediately stole for my own usage) Got another one for ya. They told me they can’t talk about the “b-word”, which is Pickle’s balls, so they say “He’s showing me his beehive.” HAHAHA. Where do they GET this stuff??

HEE.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I think you would like this site too: http://iamneurotic.com/ It’s kind of like post secret but you list your neuroses. Very fun to browse through–makes me feel normal!

I do like that site – and you’re right, it totally makes me feel normal!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I just finished Manhunt, which is about the 12 day chase for John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln’s death. There was an incredible amount of research done and it ended up reading more like a suspense/thriller than a history book. I hear that that book is supposedly being made into a made for tv movie. Hope it does! Reading it made me want to go do all of the tours of Mudd’s house and the Surratt house and Ford’s Theatre again. Good thing I live nearby them!

Is it a gap in my education, or was I just not paying attention, that I didn’t realize it took 12 days for them to catch him? I had no idea – I thought it was a matter of HOURS! (I’m definitely adding that book to my wish list. It sounds good – also, educational. Clearly I need me some education.)

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Um, can i come vacation at your house? I think I could really be happy eating and watching TV.

Wouldn’t I be an excellent slacker vacation host? I’m always excited to have people come visit ’cause it means I have someone to go out to eat with and drag to whatever store I want to visit!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

What happened with little Zoe? Did she get adopted? I noticed you didn’t mention that you brought her home again.

No, she hasn’t been adopted yet. As of yesterday, she was still there. She’s in a cage by herself, but – I think as a result of being in a cage alone – she’s a lot friendlier than she was when I took her to the pet store. Of course I spoil her when I go in there – she’s the first one out of her cage and the last one back in, and I give her plenty of cuddles in between. If too much more time goes by and she remains unadopted, I’ll likely bring her home to give her a break from the cage and give another kitten a chance to be exposed to the people who go by the cat room.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

There’s a book out about the Ice Man… hit man serial killer…something like that. I have it wrote down somewhere but anyway… I saw a piece on him on A&E (I think) and that man was a cold human being/monster. But his story fascinates me and I want to know more.

Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, maybe? It certainly looks interesting!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Completely off topic and SO not related to your entry, but have you ever heard that you can wash your hair with Baking soda (http://babyslime.livejournal.com/174054.html) and your face with oils (http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=20244)?

I had never heard that! Well, I may have heard of washing your hair with baking soda, but washing your face with oils? That sounds so odd!

Anyone tried either of those?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

What color did she use on your hair?? I must have it too!!!

I haven’t got a clue – it’s something she mixes up in the back. Maybe it’s magic!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I was about to tell you the surefire method of having easy peeling eggs… which is to not boil them fresh, boil ones that have been in your fridge for a week or so and they peel with ease. Then I remembered that there are ONLY fresh eggs at Crooked Acres. How long does it take for an egg to go from chicken’s ass to the grocery store anyway?

When we have deviled eggs, I always immediately set another dozen eggs aside to let them “age”, because I’ve always heard that they’re easier to peel when they’re a bit older. I want to try the 12-minute low boil followed by baking soda and ice bath, and see if it works as well on fresher eggs. Probably we’ll be having egg salad this weekend!

By the time eggs get to the grocery store, they’re 7 to 10 days old; in comparison, we had scrambled eggs for dinner last night that were maybe three hours out of the chickens.

I can’t recommend getting your own chickens enough, if you live in an area where that’s a possibility.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Umm…HOW do you get pics of your cats with such awesome expressions? And what the devil was he doing? The doesn’t look like a yawn?

With the invention of digital cameras, people like me can take picture after picture after picture and end up with some pretty good ones. It doesn’t cost anything to take 10 billion pictures and delete all but one of them.

Of course, it also helps to have cats who are real characters and make such goofy faces, too.

Mister Boogers was actually at the tail end of a yawn in that picture – though it’s also the face he makes when he sneezes, so I’ve gotten plenty of pictures of him making that face!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

How surprised were you to see those dogs on your porch? The raccoon wasn’t that surprising (but cute), but those were two big dogs! Speaking of big, the spider that crawls across the porch was pretty large, too. Blech.

and

Do you know who those dogs belong to? I would love to save dogs/raccoons/stray cats come up and feed on my porch, but since I live in a suburb with NO land around us whatsoever, I do not think our neighbors would appreciate that.

I wasn’t terribly surprised – we’ve seen both those dogs around here from time to time, ever since we moved in. I think, though I don’t know for sure, that they may have belonged to the people who sold us this house. I’d love to get my hands on them to at least have them neutered, but the few times they’ve caught sight of me, they’ve run off immediately and ignored my calls.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

How much cat food do you go through out on the porch? If that was just a sampling of the free loaders, I can’t imagine that how much food you’re going through.

Less than you’d think, actually – I buy maybe two big bags of (cheap) cat food a month, whatever’s on sale. Some mornings I go out and the food dish is completely empty, but most mornings it’s only 1/3 to 1/2 empty. I’m guessing that the dogs are getting food elsewhere as well as on our front porch. I don’t know if someone else is feeding them, or if they’re catching small animals to eat or what, but they seem to be at a good size, not too skinny, so they’re eating SOMETHING.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Enjoyed the porch cam. A wild game cam with night vision out at the back forty might truly capture a lot of roaming deer, raccoons and who knows what all. About 100 miles south of where you live, a woman has a wild game cam and catches lots of deer, raccoons, possums — as well as lots of coyotes! (They are not hunters, just like to see what is wandering around their fields and woods.)

I would LOVE to have a wild game cam with night vision! I think it would be really neat to see what moves through the back forty at night. I’m still working on Fred, trying to convince him that we need one!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

LOVE the porch cam! Wouldn’t you have DIED if you were going through the images and saw like, a PERSON sneaking up on your porch? Looking right into the camera? And giving you this evil grin? Shudder.

I told Fred that I half-expected to find a movie of The Walkin’ Dude (who we also refer to as Crackhead Bob) snoozing on the porch swing!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Your journal was full of yummy goodness today. Love the front porch cam. Hard to believe how entertaining that was! Something along that line: http://errabundusbus.blogspot.com/2008/05/pimp-my-ride-investigator.html

Too cool!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Pigs and birds enjoy popped popcorn….. so does little fat squirrels that you won’t bake cookies for ; )

Oh, the pigs and birds and squirrels get PLENTY of food, believe me. In fact, I have a tree that’s pretty much devoted to squirrels – they get peanut butter suet nuggets, a square of corn and sunflower seeds, and if they get bored with those, I put peanuts (in the shell) on fence posts for them.

Any animal who wanders across our property sure does get spoiled rotten, don’t they?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

What kind of webcam do you have? I just bought one on ebay. Do you capture it to a tape or dvd, or to a browser?

Fred can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it’s a TRENDnet Internet Camera. It comes with software you install on your computer, then you connect (wirelessly) to the camera, and you can set it to record manually, at set times, or when motion sets it off; it records right to your hard drive.

You can mess with the motion sensitivity; when I had it on the front porch, I had to fiddle with the camera “zones” so that the bushes blowing in the breeze didn’t set it off.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Just wanted to say that I used to feel the same way about slow walkers. With all due respect, I changed my mind one day when good friend’s mother, who was elderly and had to use a walker, was “nudged” and knocked down by an impatient truck driver. The truck driver, who saw what he had done, drove off, leaving her lying in the street with a broken hip. She later died. I guess the truck driver had more important things to do in his oh so very busy and important life than help a fellow human being, whose distress he had caused. My attitude now towards people who get impatient with slow-walkers is…take a valium and chill out. You’ll be a lot happier and, unless those 15 extra seconds spent at some intersection mean that now you won’t have time to discover the cure for cancer, I’d say they really aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Oh, I agree – I figure I’ll get there sooner or later, but CERTAIN PEOPLE take the fact that sometimes people are in their way as personal insults.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

You’ve probably addressed it before, but … WHY does the cat have to pee in the litter box the second it is cleaned and put back on the floor? Said cat, Simon, practically dances on his two back legs clutching his, um, self, waiting for me to finish!

Good question! All I can guess is that some cats are pickier than others when it comes to litter box cleanliness. I know that some of our cats will wait until I’ve scooped all the litter boxes, and then they use them immediately. What drives me crazy is that they’re picky about the cleanliness of their litter boxes, but they ALL use the damn same hole in the back yard as an outside litter box and you can bet I do NOT scoop that damn thing!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Oh God! No! Don’t waste your time reading those books, read the recaps that Cleolinda Jones wrote. Go here, they’re funny:

http://cleoland.pbwiki.com/Twilight#Bookdiscussionentries

Now, in Stephanie Meyer’s defense, she wrote a book called The Host for an adult audience which was much, much better. She’s definitely writing Twilight for a fourteen-year-old reader, and she KNOWS her audience. That’s why Twilight is such a repetitive soap-opera. Don’t be afraid to put the book down.

Oddly enough, I picked up The Host in Target yesterday, then put it down because I decided I had enough damn books to read!

I’m going to check out Cleolinda’s recaps, but I think these are definitely worth checking out as well – they cracked me UP (though I only read the first few chapters so as not to ruin the surprise of the rest of the book for myself!).

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

My dad always talks about honkshuing. Of course, he also talks about things being cattywhampus, calls unidentified objects ’sphagnum’, and refers to sick people as having ‘collywabbles in the bingbang’. I’m never sure which words he’s made up, which ones he’s using completely (on purpose) incorrectly, and which ones are legitimate. We are an odd odd family.

I would have guessed, if pressed, that “collywabbles in the bingbang” would be like “bats in the belfry”, guess not! I’m going to try to remember to use “collywabbles” in the future and see if I get A Look. Heh.

So my question is – does he use the phrase just in passing, or does he do it to get A Look from someone?

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

I don’t have HBO but really want to see the True Blood series. Does anyone out there have a DVR and is keeping the episodes? Could I beg someone to copy the episodes to a DVD for me (or VHS is fine too)? I’d be happy to wait until the season’s over even if I could get all of them. I’d pay for the DVDs and shipping. If someone’s willing, let me know and we can exchange e-mails or something to work out the details.

Anyone willing to help out, let me know and I’ll pass you along to Lo! Edited to add – you can go here and search to find your favorite shows. Thank you, Lisa the awesome!!!

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

So I missed the unveiling of the House Tour, which I had whined for, because of the week-long power outage up here (”Ike Hits Ohio”), and then you up and go away.

I have been in serious BP withdrawal.

Anyone who might have missed it, the House Tour is here (and you can always follow the link in the sidebar to the right in the future).

And there, there. I’m back now, and I don’t intend to take any more time off from journaling in the near future, I promise! 🙂

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Previously
2007: I was a little shaky as I looked around the first floor of the garage, then I said “I have a gun and I’m coming up there!” and I went upstairs.
2006: He’s always a party pooper.
2005: If I hadn’ta covered my head with my hands, I might be DEAD right now!
2004: No entry.
2003: “No,” Fred said. “You’re the muffinhead. DID SHE STAND OVER YOU AND MAKE YOU INSTALL IT??”
2002: Spanky is the Lance Bass of our family.
2001: I guess if tomorrow’s Day Zero and Friday is Day One, that makes today Day Negative One.
2000: No entry.

9/19/08

I always know I can count on you guys! Thanks for the banana bread recipes and the advice (I had no idea that you could substitute applesauce, grated apple, or zucchini for the third banana, but of course it makes sense!), but I ended up just tossing them in ziplock bag and putting them in … Continue reading “9/19/08”

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Katherine sent me the link to this site the other day:

http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html

If you don’t want to go watch it right now, it’s a video of pictures illustrating the lyrics in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire.

Confession: It wasn’t ’til I watched the video that I realized he was saying “Children of Thalidomide” (I thought it was “Children of the Little Mai”, figured it was a Vietnam reference), and I thought “Bay of Pigs Invasion” was “Bay of Pigs and Beijing.” Duh.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

We have nine kittens and we desperately need to find homes for them. All nine are white/light tan striped with blue eyes. We live near Athens Ga. If any of your readers are nearby please send me an email. We have loved on these kittens from day one but we can not keep them as we already have five cats and four dogs. Thank you Robyn for passing this along to your readers!

If anyone’s interested, email me and I’ll pass your email along to Lisa!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I don’t understand the logic of shredding information that is just name/address. I admit that I’m the opposite of paranoid. I probably don’t take enough care with privacy because I figure the bad guys will get the info if they want. But if someone could get the same information from a phone book (or driving by your house if you had your name “The Coopers” on the house), what does it prevent to tear off magazine labels, etc.?

To be a stickler, here, our phone number is unlisted, and we don’t have our name on the mailbox. But I get what you’re asking – I don’t think that anyone could use our name and address to do any real damage, but since I recycle magazines, catalogs and the occasional mailing box, and I have seen people going through the “magazines/ junk mail” and “cardboard boxes” dumpsters and pulling stuff out (which is actually rather thrifty – why pay for People Magazine when you can pull it out of a dumpster and read it for nothing?), shredding that stuff is in the “better safe than sorry” vein for me.

I do know that you can turn yourself inside out trying to protect yourself from thievery and all it takes is brushing against (figuratively speaking) the wrong person at the wrong time. You can’t live your life trying to stop people from taking shit from you, but you also don’t need to go out of your way to make it available to them, you know? I honestly don’t spend much time worrying about this stuff, I might have overstated my paranoia a wee.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I don’t get the T-shirt, “Every time you can has” ?? I guess I’m a dork and not a geek – will someone explain?

It comes from LOLspeak – seen in a big way over at ICanHasCheezburger – and Wikipedia says: A lolcat is an image combining a photograph, most frequently a cat, with a humorous and idiosyncratic caption in (often) broken English—a dialect which is known as “lolspeak”, or “Kitteh!”. Basically it’s saying “Every time you use that damn LOLspeak, god kills a LOLcat (the cat “speaking” the LOLspeak in the pictures featured at ICHC).

If that doesn’t make sense, let me know and I’ll try to explain it again! 🙂

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Where did you get the rooster? Maybe he was castrated. (I was reading about capons on wikipedia.) For the record, I just thought you had a rooster with a low sex drive.

He’s actually one of the chicks who was hatched by one of our adult chickens back in April, maybe? I don’t remember when exactly (and I’m too lazy to go back and look), but he’s definitely not been castrated. I said to Fred yesterday, “Are we SURE he’s a he and not a she?” and he said that the only reason he thinks it’s a rooster is because of the big, pretty tail. Female chickens don’t tend to have the big tails. On the other hand, Michele and No-tail don’t have the big, pretty tails and we’re sure that they’re roosters, so who the hell knows? We’ll have to wait and see if he develops a spur. It’d be too bad if he had a low sex drive, though – I think he’d make pretty babies.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Did you skip a caption on the picture of Sugarbutt “yelling,” or am I just lame and don’t get it?

If you watch the YouTube clip of that scene:

You’ll see the few seconds after Don Corleone is mocking Johnny, the camera goes to Robert Duvall, who smiles.

Sugarbutt is doing his interpretation of Robert Duvall.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I have had a shirt thing going on for a while, $10+free shipping on the daily shirt at http://shirt.woot.com/ and sometimes the shirts are good and sometimes awful but I look every morning, it’s the first thing I usually look at, I have bought 2 shirts for myself and 2 for friends…check it out.

I’ve been checking it out every day. I haven’t bought anything yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Did you and Fred watch that football show from a few years back, on ESPN? It was called Playmakers, I think, and we enjoyed it so much. But then I think there was some uproar over it being TOO realistic about the players’ off-field lives or something, and it only survived that one season. Anyway, it was good.

No, we never watched it – but it’s in my Netflix queue now!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Also, what’s your favorite dusting product/method? I hate doing it, too, and don’t very often, but when I DO, it seems like I just end up moving the piles of dust around…

Most of the time when I dust (which is not very often because I HATE dusting and it’s usually not until I’m embarrassed by how damn dusty the house has gotten that I give in) I use microfiber cloths that I bought at Target (in the section where they have mops and stuff). I just go around, move everything off the surface of the table (or whatever I’m dusting), swipe that across a few times, and the dust is gone. I’ve also been known to use Swiffer dusting cloths from time to time, but I really and truly am trying to reduce the amount of disposable stuff I use.

Once a month or so, I go around with some cleaning rags and a can of some furniture spray (I don’t know which kind it is, just something I picked up at the grocery store, I’m not particular when it comes to furniture polish) and polish the furniture so it’s clean and shiny. And then I remember quickly why it’s pointless to polish the furniture – there are few flat surfaces in this house that don’t gather cats at one point or another, and the formerly shiny surfaces end up marked with paw prints.

Damn cats.

Readers? What do you dust your furniture with?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I am in need of some cat advice from the expert (and the other kitty expert commenters). We have an outdoor kitty that we “adopted” at our current house. (She was an abandoned cat that hangs out in our backyard.) I managed to gain her trust and now feed her, give her love, and she truly lives here now, but she doesn’t ever come in the house. Not for lack of trying, she just freaks out and cries to leave after 5 minutes. Now we are about to move to a new city. I’m not sure how our cat is going to react. Clearly she won’t acclimate to being an indoor cat, but I’m afraid to let her roam outside in a new city that’s completely unfamiliar to her. I don’t know what to do! Do you have any advice for me?
Thank you!

I’m leaving this one open, because I have no idea at all – there’s no way we could keep Maxi and Newt inside all the time, but if we really had to, we could probably keep them contained in the back yard. Will you have a back yard at your new house where you could keep your cat contained?

Other than that, I have no suggestions.

Readers? Your advice?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Oh My Gosh Robyn! You have the most gorgeous voice!!!

I can honestly say that that’s the first time in all of history that those words have been said (written) to me! Heh.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Perhaps I’m anthropomorphizing too much (too lazy to check the spelling) but if I were left in a cage at a strange place I doubt I’d like the specter of two gigantic Bengal tigers. Zoe looks like she’s thinking, “WTF? Those two big cats want to eat me. Can you DO something, please?” Maybe they can post something more kitten-friendly. Little mousies eating cheese, perhaps?

Nah, the cats don’t even notice those pictures, I promise.

By the way, as of yesterday morning, Zoe and Kaylee remain unadopted. I’d be more unhappy about that, except that they’ve become noticeably friendlier than they were before (they might remember me, but I kind of doubt it. Hard to tell, though!) and they ran around and played the entire time they were out of their cage (and you KNOW I let them stay out of their cage from the minute I walked into the cat room to the minute I left!).

Here’s hoping they get adopted before next Thursday, though. I hate seeing them caged up!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Not my little Zoe! Remember, she’s MINE, all MINE, and one wild and stormy night, after 4 or 5 pints of Guinness, you agreed to foster her until I can come out there and pick her up. Can we convince Fred otherwise?

I doubt Fred would go for that – though one day after I win the lottery, I will build a big, big, BIG house and I will never have to take another cat to the pet store again!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Leslie’s response about the anti -“Okey Dokey Pokey” lady:

“Okey Dokey Pokey!” was just an inane phrase I blurted out and made some poor woman completely rageful. I put that comment in the comment thread about phrases/words that make folks crazy in response to Robyn’s list. It just seemed to fit the the discussion in the comments.

There isn’t much more to the story. We were in the Air and Space Museum in DC and I said that (quite perkily!) to my husband and a woman near us spun on me. She said that she couldn’t believe I would say such a ridiculous thing, AND TO A GROWN MAN! My husband and I gave each other the patented Mr. Booger’s Look-o-Shock and laughed heartily. She obviously felt she hadn’t made herself clear and said that she wouldn’t even say that to a CHILD! We of course immediately roared with laughter and delight. Our new friend then very purposefully Ignored Us (that sure showed us.)

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

If you like vampires, I have to ask, have you read the “Twilight” series yet? It’s geared towards teens, but I LOVED it!!! (I’m 30) It’s by Stephanie Meyer. Go get them!

I have Twilight on the bookcase, it’s about five books down the queue, so I should get to it soon. It was more like 30 books down the queue ’til I read that Jane LURVED IT, so I moved it up quite a bit.

I’ll admit that I’m a tiny bit scared that I won’t like it, because you Twilight-loving lunatics might come after me and beat me up.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

How did I miss that they are making a tv series out of the Sookie Stackhouse books??? I love that series and just re-read it this summer. I had cast it differently, but what can you do? LOL. Argh – just realized it is on HBO – must call to subscribe ASAP!!! (I obviously need to get out more…)

I only knew about it because I read it in TV Guide (I LOVE THAT MAGAZINE). I don’t think they did all that much advertising for it, though maybe they did and I just didn’t notice (since we fast-forward through all the commercials these days).

Having watched episode #2, I’m continuing to really like the show. Fred could take it or leave it, but I’m definitely going to keep watching!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Your house is lovely – were the rest of the cats outside when you took the photos? I was looking out for Spanky.

Thank you! And… I’m not sure where the cats were, actually. It’s kind of odd that more of them didn’t pop up in the pictures. I know that Tommy and Joe Bob were outside, but I’m not sure where the other ones were. It’s entirely possible they moved around the house just right so that they didn’t end up in any pictures.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Why did you get rid of the first house?

I appreciate the opportunity this opportunity to mock my husband, so thank you for asking!

We sold the first house in Madison because we agreed that we wanted to buy a smaller house on a lot more land. Sound familiar?? So the house sold in a matter of days and we had a limited amount of time to find a new house. We went through a bazillion houses, several of which I really liked. But Fred has spent the majority of his life in newish houses, so the houses we were touring were not really to his taste, and I think that the idea of living way out in the country made him more than a little twitchy.

We finally decided that we had to get our asses in gear and started looking at a subdivision in Madison located about a mile from the subdivision where we’d sold the house. We made an offer on one house, but were outbid. We were about to make an offer on a second house, were a little disturbed by the $5,000 “decorating allowance”, and then before we finalized the offer, Fred discovered that the wooden frame around every window in the house was rotting and would need to be replaced and $5,000 wouldn’t even begin to touch that. THEN we made an offer on a third place, and it was accepted. We were pleased at first, then were starting to have second thoughts (it was smaller than we wanted, really), and the realtor inadvertently gave us an out by screwing up. We finally went and looked at a fourth house – the one we finally bought – and liked it. And we were so freaked about the fact that closing on the house we were living in was only three weeks away, that we made an offer immediately, and were relieved when it was accepted.

So, to sum up, our intention was to get a smaller house on a lot more land and to have a much smaller mortgage. What we ended up with was a smaller house on marginally more land (we went from 1/3 acre to 1/2 acre) with a BIGGER mortgage.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

In the porch picture with Maxi, what is that black giant paw looking thing she is partly obscured by?

It’s supposed to be a bird house, but I just use it as a decoration on the front porch.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Why do you call it the poltergeist tree? And is Fred’s bedroom up a further flight of stairs from the rest of the hallway? I went back and forth on those pictures but couldn’t figure it out. And will Fred make me a table to go over my linen chest next to my bed, because I can’t find one online or in stores that’s the right size ANYWHERE, and will you both come out here and build and paint and tractor with me? And can I have a cookie?

Fred named it the poltergeist tree because he says it looks like the tree in Poltergeist. This is what it looks like currently, but in the Winter when all the leaves have dropped off, it looks more like the tree in the movie.

Fred’s bedroom is on the same level as the rest of the upstairs. This is from the other end of the hallway, pointed toward his room (we keep the door shut so the cats don’t go in there) :

(That string hanging down in the middle goes to the pull-down door to the attic)

Fred will make a table to go over your linen chest as soon as he’s done working his way down my list of demands, which means he should be ready to start right around his 93rd birthday.

I would TOTALLY come paint and tractor with you, but Fred has a day job and cannot get away. Also, who would feed the chickens and pigs?!

The only cookies available at the moment are the gingersnaps in the Pig Cookies container on the counter. They came from the Dollar Store, but I’m sure they’re just fine – and the pigs are willing to share. Or at least what they don’t know won’t hurt ’em!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

My husband and I are having a debate about getting a new front door. I love the one you have, but my husband is a little reluctant because you can still see through some areas of the glass. I see you have blinds put up on yours. Did you put them up? How is the door in general regarding privacy?

Yeah, we put the blinds on the door ourselves. We shut them at night and keep them open in the daytime to let light come in (though I don’t know why I bother to open the blinds in the front room during the day – we hardly ever spend time in there during the day). We got the blinds for the door specifically because Fred realized that there were areas of the glass you could see through, and in the evening, when we have lights on the front room, it was easy to see right into the house. When the blinds are closed, you can’t see a thing through the door – if you have a door with clear areas of glass, it’s definitely worth it to put blinds or sheer curtains up to block the view inside, I think.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

You’ve probably said before, but I forget – how big is your property?

It’s about 4 1/2 acres. The piece of land was originally about 5, but they carved out half an acre and put the house next door on it. I sincerely wish that half acre was ours!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Oh, whoa. I thought the computer room was on the other side of the house and for some reason seeing pointing at the garage just messed me up. I’m weird, yes.

Here’s a layout of the house that Fred made before we actually moved in:

The room labeled “Spud b’room” is now my room; the room labeled “guest b’room” is now the foster kitten room, and the room labeled “master b’room” is now the guest bedroom. He also didn’t draw the outside doors on the plan, but there’s one in the front room, one in the computer room (to the left) and one in the laundry room (to the top).

Floor plan is not to scale, by the way.

And he also did a quick property layout for me yesterday.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

How old is the house again? Are you the second owners?

The house is about 75 years old. We’re the third owners – the first owner lived here with her mother and brother, then when she went into a nursing home, her niece lived here for a while. After that, the house was sold to a family with a large number of kids, and they’re the ones who sold it to us. Hopefully, we’ll be here ’til we’re old and gray! (Or until we win the lottery and move to 300 acres in Tennessee!)

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Ok, I took the house tour and I don’t “see” the Dollar store, not literally but figuratively, it seems like like you live so far out in the country that you would see nothing but trees and chickens! Oh, and I’m with Fred on the big tv, I LOVE me some big screen action.

Here ’tis!

(See the little bit of yellow, mostly hidden by that tree branch?)

It’s more obvious at night when it’s dark and the sign is lit up, but it’s certainly within very easy walking distance. We do live in the country, but we’re not terribly far out in the country – there’s a fairly large town about 7 minutes up the road with lots of stores (Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, grocery stores) and restaurants, so we kind of have the best of both worlds.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

So where do you and Fred eat dinner?

In front of our computers, usually. I KNOW we’re not supposed to, but damn. You want us to sit and eat dinner TOGETHER and COMMUNICATE? Who wants THAT?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Question which you may have answered already – what things do you keep in your laundry room fridge vs. your kitchen fridge? I see you have two fridges (as well as the freezer) and I would think that all the current, soon to be eaten food is in kitchen and Drinks? Soda? extra milk? is in the laundry room.

Most of the day-to-day stuff – condiments, whatever I’ll need for dinner preparations, leftovers – is kept in the kitchen fridge.

In the laundry room fridge we keep the milk (it won’t fit in the kitchen fridge easily), the food Fred takes to work with him (leftovers from dinner and cottage cheese), a big pitcher of tea, eggs (it’s easier to come in from gathering them and put them in the refrigerator rather than have to go into the kitchen, especially since we’re getting around a dozen a day lately), hummingbird food, and all the vegetables Fred brings in from the garden that I want to deal with “later”.

I honestly don’t know what on earth we’d do if we had to cram all our stuff into the tiny refrigerator in the kitchen. There’s no way it’d all fit!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Do you shower upstairs or downstairs?

I shower upstairs, Fred showers downstairs.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Do you have a basement or an attic?

We have an attic (no basement, but I wish we did, so we’d have a good place to store canned goods), but it’s not really big enough to walk around in or store stuff in (though that didn’t stop the original owners, apparently – there are big glass jars in the attic underneath all the insulation, I’m told).

Do you still have exercise equipment in the garage–do you or Fred ever use it?? I think you get enough exercise now just taking care of Crooked Acres?

Yep, all the exercise equipment is in the garage keeping the chicks company, and it gets used on a regular basis.

Does the Spud still have any stuff there? Is she going to visit you at all? I guess she would stay in the guest room then?

The spud has a bunch of stuff in boxes upstairs in the garage, but she took the majority of her stuff with her. I imagine she’ll visit eventually – we talked about her coming to visit this summer, but she couldn’t afford to take the time off work, and now she’s busy with work and school. Yes, she’d stay in the guest room, unless she’d prefer to stay in the coop with the chickens.

So how many bedrooms, bathrooms?

4 bedrooms (three upstairs, 1 down) and two and a half bathrooms (one upstairs, one and a half down).

Why don’t you use the dining room–where do you eat? Just one den and one computer room, right??

We don’t use the dining room ’cause we don’t wanna, and there’s usually something online that’s got our attention while we’re eating. Yes, just one den and one computer room.

Also, I was confused by the stairs. Are there 2 sets of stairs??

No, there’s just the one set of stairs. They go up half a flight from the ground floor, there’s a landing, you turn, and there’s another half a flight to the top. I’m sure there’s a specific name for the kind of stairs they are, but I have no idea what that name is. Anyone know?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I was very, very surprised when I walked into the guest bedroom the other day and saw Spanky sleeping in a cat bed on the bed and Stinky sleeping in the pile of cat beds right next to him (note: that pile of cat beds was there because I washed them and then forgot to take them upstairs to put them back in the foster kitten room, from whence they’d come). Spanky is very much a cat who doesn’t care for other cats. He doesn’t want them snuggling with him, he doesn’t want them touching them, he doesn’t want them NEAR him. And Stinky has her favorite men – Tommy and occasionally Mister Boogers – and has no use for any other cat.

But note that they’re practically TOUCHING.

“Don’t judge me.”

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Previously
2007: I have not yet attained the level of dorkitude that would allow me to answer “yes.”
2006: “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “That’s the monkey (ex-boyfriend) gave me. She can crap all over it if she wants.”
2005: We meet Sugarbutt, Tommy, and their siblings!
2004: No entry.
2003: Since he’s a year older than me, that’ll give me two years to theatrically take to my bed and waste away. Sounds about right.
2002: Obviously whoever lives at 308 belongs to the Bitchypoo “If I don’t know you, I ain’t answerin’ the door” school of thought.
2001: I hate you, Mr. Mailman.
2000: Only US Magazine would consider it newsworthy that Michael Douglas is changing diapers he hasn’t been wearing.

9/12/08

Edited to add: This made me cackle when Fred emailed me the link earlier. If you watch it, make sure your sound is on! + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Fred’s got a webcam pointed at the eggs, … Continue reading “9/12/08”

Edited to add: This made me cackle when Fred emailed me the link earlier. If you watch it, make sure your sound is on!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Fred’s got a webcam pointed at the eggs, which have begun to hatch. At the moment, one has hatched and wanders into camera view every now and again. Hopefully the others will start hatching soon!

Watch it here.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Announcement: The Crooked Acres house tour some of you have been asking about will be up (on its own page) Monday. I’ve taken the pictures and resized them, now I have to put them in order and write captions. I think there are close to 100 pictures, and I think there are more outside pictures than inside!

Anyway, I promise. Unless there’s some sort of catastrophe this weekend, I’ll be linking that on Monday and if I don’t, then I forgot and someone remind me, eh?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

When I go out to collect eggs, usually around midmorning (and toss some cracked corn to the chickens), there’s occasionally a chicken sitting in a nesting box. Sometimes they’ve already laid an egg and are just resting from the effort (or so I assume) and sometimes they haven’t yet laid their egg. Most of them just look at me when I reach under them to grab their egg, but there’s this one Rhode Island Red who takes serious offense to my attempts to retrieve her egg. She scares me a little, with the noises that she makes, because I don’t like to be pecked by the damn chickens.

The other day, I happened to have the camera with me, so I made a movie. Enjoy the obnoxiousness. (The movie probably would have been a little less herky-jerky if one hand hadn’t been holding the bottom of my shirt out to hold the eggs I’d collected. I forgot to take the egg basket out with me, of course.)

Note to Fred: I NEED a Flip Video!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

The second shirt makes you look like one of the sentry guards on Gomer Pyle USMC. And as for that picture; it seems to me that it was seen on an older one of your sites some time ago.

I’ll have to Google around to find a sentry guard picture to see what that looks like – or maybe I don’t want to know!

I’ve never used that picture before and it’s not really “older” since it was taken on August 24th, but it’s entirely possible there was a similar picture (with a too-tight button-up shirt) in the past. I took a quick look through the pictures on my hard drive and didn’t see anything similar, which doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, just that I didn’t save it on my hard drive.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Snort! Am I the only one who thinks you (in the last pic) and Zoe have exactly the same expressions on your faces? LOVE IT!

Well, now that you mention it….

(I have no idea why that picture came out in black and white!)

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

My cat Bubba has to get a steroid shot too. He licks the base of his tail until it’s a HUGE raw spot. Then he gets all moody and starts trying to have sex with his sissy, Missy Mamas. I tell you…being a cat parent is hard!

I am imagining a cat with a raw spot at the base of his tail, twitching his tail and deciding that the ONLY thing that will make him feel better is if he gets it on with his sister, and the mental image is making me laaaaaaaugh.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I thought you were going to say you bought that fugly painting! I was glad to hear you thought it was ugly too.

Oh, no way on earth I’d buy that thing. I just kept going back and looking at it because I was so amazed that someone painted it, and that the antique store thinks they’ll sell it (and they probably will!), and that someone might buy it. If it was ugly in an interesting way or a funny way, I might consider it, but no. That thing is just ugly in an ugly way.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

The Silkie will grow up to be seriously beautiful if it looks like the one on your link. It also says it has black flesh! Do you think that combination will result in a long and happy life at Crooked Acres? When I’m eating chicken breasts I wouldn’t be too enthused with black meat.

Actually, the Silkie wasn’t really bought to be a meat chicken. Silkies tend to be small, and we figured that the Silkie, along with the Rock Star and the Featherheads, will most likely have a long and happy life. They’re so small that they’re not really worth eating (also, the black flesh of the Silkie would be off-putting, to say the least) and we didn’t think they’d be much on the providing-eggs front (though the Featherheads are laying pretty regularly, tiny white eggs about half the size any of the other girls lay), so we consider them entertainment.

They’re very entertaining, especially when the Featherheads’ feathers grow to cover their eyes (we try to trim them back regularly) and they can’t see anything. When that happens, and then we go out with treats for them (and you KNOW the damn chickens get a treat at least once a day!) and the rest of the chickens are squawking excitedly, the Featherheads have this particular “WHAT TREAT? I DON’T SEE ANY TREAT IS THERE TREATS PLEASE GOD HELP ME I DON’T SEE ANY TREAT” shriek that goes through your brain like a spike.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Do you still use your Roomba? You haven’t mentioned it for a while and I was just wondering since you talk about vacuuming – just not specifically with the Roomba. I bought one at the beginning of summer and love it, now I need a robot to do my laundry and cooking.

I use my Roomba regularly, at least three times a week. I tend to use it mostly in the kitchen, laundry room, and dining room, though I run it occasionally in the bedrooms because it’s particularly good at cleaning under the beds so I don’t have to. The batteries in the virtual walls died in the past few days, and I started the Roomba in the kitchen and went to run errands. When I got home, I found that it had run rogue – since there were no virtual walls to stop it – went into the laundry room for a few minutes, did a spin around the dining room and then went down the hallway and perhaps into the front room for a while before coming to a stop in the guest bedroom.

I do love the hell out of my Roomba. It doesn’t do a spotless job, but it certainly keeps the mess in the kitchen to a manageable level so I don’t have to vacuum every day of the week!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

While I can and do wholeheartedly agree with “never enough small glass bowls,” I AM curious as to whether or not there’s ever “enough chickens.” IS there such a thing on Crooked Acres?

Honestly, I don’t know. I feel like we might be getting to that point, especially with the 20 eggs that are due to hatch in the next few days. Fred has told me twice in the past week that in his mind the perfect amount of chickens to get us through a year would be 100, but I’ll be damned if I can remember his reasoning. He counted chickens last week and came up with 47, so… I guess we’re halfway to our goal?

Seriously, if we get too many more chickens I’m thinking we might want to just give up and fence in the back forty for them so they’ll have enough room!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

**Once I was at a museum and my husband asked if we could do something (I can’t even remember what) and I responded, “Okey Dokey Pokey!” A woman spun around and strongly expressed her disgust that I said that, and to a grown man! It still makes me smile to think that I could make someone soooo affronted!**

What happened next?! What did you do?!!

Yeah, Leslie. What did you do?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Hey Robyn. Just wondering if you were planning on watching True Blood on HBO? I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse series b/c of you and I loved it! I’m so excited for the show! And Anna Paquin looks just like the Sookie I had pictured in my head…weird.

Not only did I watch the first episode, Fred was even willing to watch it with me! He loves vampires. I liked it a lot, and though I didn’t think Anna Paquin looked like Sookie to me before I watched the show, I’ve since changed my mind and I think she looks just like Sookie. Funny how that happens, isn’t it? I also didn’t think – from seeing the commercials for the show – that the guy playing Bill was all that hot.

I’ve changed my mind about that, too.

Fred didn’t like the show nearly as much as I did – he would like some violent deaths, please – but since the first episode ended on a good cliffhanger, he’s willing to keep watching it.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

On the whole bitey cat issue (most of them seem to do it) I heard a theory once that our petting them can cause static electricity, like when you brush your hair in the winter and it stands on end and that even though we can’t feel the electricity cats can because they are more sensitive and they are biting us because they’re getting little shocks and want it to stop. I have pet my cat during the poor excuse for winter we have here in Florida, in bed at night and sparks fly off her fur which freaks her out. It could be that or it could be that cats are just bossy and like everything on their own terms.

I think that “Cats are bossy and like everything on their own terms” pretty much covers, well, EVERYTHING when it comes to cats!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Your new pigs are so much cleaner and pinker than the last two. Is it because they’re new, or because they’re girly-pigs, or some other reason I can’t think of? I guess maybe this is a question for Fred.

I’ve noticed that they aren’t getting as dirty as the boy pigs did. I thought that maybe it was because it wasn’t as hot, but it’s been pretty hot over the last few days, and the girls do go into the wallow to cool off (though they don’t hang out in the wallow; they just get in, get wet, get out), but they don’t roll around in the mud. The boys used to get absolutely caked with mud, and the girls really don’t. Maybe they’re girly-girls and just don’t like to get super messy!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Did you know that spiders have six to eight eyes? That’s four to six more than are showing up on your scary spider! I KNOW! Creeps me out just thinking about it.

The day comes that I come face-to-face with a spider and see six to eight glowing eyes glaring at me is probably the day Fred finds me face-down on the lawn, dead of a heart attack. I don’t like to think of spiders having that many eyes. WHY do they need so many eyes? NO ONE needs six to eight eyes, that’s just a crime against nature!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Season 3 [of The L Word] was a rough one for me, and the fourth season is really, really boring so far. (I hate Jenny so much. I want to beat her.) I just downloaded the fifth season, but am taking a break from the show mid-season 4 because…ugh. (I had to take a break after the third season too.) So I’m watching “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” which…whoa. Why are 16-year-olds having sex? Am I baffled by this because I’m not an American?

I think, unfortunately, that a lot of American 16 year-olds are having sex these days. I don’t know that they’re having as much sex in real life as they’re having on TV (or perhaps I’m just an optimist), but they’re definitely having sex.

I’m sure that if they increased the amount of abstinence-only sex education available to teens, premarital sex would stop, like, immediately. Ahem.

(If I might quote the brilliant Donna Martin regarding teaching your children about safe sex, “If you build a pool, and you know your kids are going to swim, you can build all the fences you want. But if you know they’re going to jump in the pool, don’t you think you should teach your kids how to swim?” Donna Martin? Totally graduated!)

Okay, I got a bit off the subject, I guess. This “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” show: should I be watching it?

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I’m going to pimp out your comments and request people click and go to my site. Partly for the two tributes I’ve done but even more so to click on the link at the end of my 2nd post to go to the page that will have the link to Project 2,996. And check out the other tributes.

Maybe some of you will be willing to do your own tribute. There’s still so many names out there that need doing.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

My monkeys are going to the pet store today. ::Sob::

“You mean someone’s going to adopt me and take me home and spoil me rotten? SUCKERS!”

Kara will be staying here until the huge number of kittens have (hopefully) moved on through and been adopted. I’ll be curious to see if not having the kittens around will make her spend more time downstairs, because most of the time she and the babies have been hanging out upstairs with the occasional foray downstairs to look around.

Local readers, if you’re in the market for a cat or dog, PetSm@rt on Univ3rsity Drive is having an Adoptathon all weekend. Zoe and Kaylee will be there for that (and then staying on if they’re not adopted, since they’ll be in a permanent cage) (but hopefully they’ll be adopted this weekend!!!), and other local shelters will, I believe, have animals available as well.

Here’s a short movie starring Kaylee and Zoe (with Kara in the background). They think the brush is made for biting, not brushing.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Previously
2007: Human eggs, scrambled, taste just a bit too humany, if you ask me.
2006: I sense I’m being royally fucking screwed over by the goddamn advantage-taking photographer. Who’s probably lighting his cigars with $100 bills as he drives around in his limo.
2005: Ants ain’t fuckin’ welcome here, if you hadn’t guessed.
2004: No entry.
2003: What above the Bumsen is up with that?
2002: It’s the front yard or bust, baby.
2001: That’s pretty much how we all felt.
2000: That’s the price of getting old, my friends.

9-5-08

Guess who I got to see yesterday? The kittens formerly known as River and Inara (they’re Nate and Dora now). I was afraid that they’d run from me, since they’ve been in their new home for two weeks now. They were a little cautious at first, but then they let me pet and hold them, … Continue reading “9-5-08”

Guess who I got to see yesterday? The kittens formerly known as River and Inara (they’re Nate and Dora now).

I was afraid that they’d run from me, since they’ve been in their new home for two weeks now. They were a little cautious at first, but then they let me pet and hold them, and they ran around and played and just generally put on a show. They kill me with how cute they are – they’d run off and play, but if we walked into another room, they’d be “Wait! Where my Momma and that lady go?!” and come find us. Luckily, I didn’t squeeze them to death, but it was hard not to.

They are definitely very happy in their new home and with their new Momma and big sister (who pretends she cannot STAND them, but is clearly very entertained by them), it was so good to visit with them and their Momma!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I’ve been told the bitey during petting thing is a dominance issue. Not sure how to cure it though. The strays that have tried that with me usually end up just not getting petted, or else immediately put down and left alone, which did seem to cure one of them of it. Another reason I think it’s a dominance issue is that the same cats that will bite at me don’t bite at my husband. Any cat behavior experts out there?

When a cat gets overwhelmed by petting, I stop them by blowing in their face. The majority of them HATE that and will stop immediately. Sometimes they’ll try biting again, but if blow a puff of air in their face, they’ll usually give up and either calm down or (most often) run off. But in any case, here’s an explanation for it:

OooOOooo! I have the answer to the bitey cat question. I was reading a book by Dr. Bruce Fogle called “The Cat’s Mind” and he talks about bitey cat. He says that cats like to be petted because over the years they’ve been bred so that their development has been sort of stunted in a permanent kittenhood state. Petting is a lot like what momma cat does when she licks her kittens so they really dig that. Except cats as a breed aren’t really social contact creatures (like dogs are) so it kinda freaks them out to have prolonged contact like a marathon petting session. So while the pettins feel really good, they also wig the cat out because lots o’ touching triggers their fight or flight response. Thus, the cat will hang around until he/she MUST LEAVE ARRRGH! bite and take off.

I’m adding that book to my wish list, it sounds like an interesting one!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

BTW… squirrels really like the suet cakes for birds… You need to get the butcher to save some of the hog fat so you could render into lard to make homemade suet cakes…

I wish I’d thought of that – though to be honest, that sounds like more work than I’m willing to do for some suet cakes. I have a feeder hanging on one of our trees, and I fill it with peanut butter suet balls, and those damn squirrels are always out there picking at the suet through the screen of the feeder. I’m pretty sure that the birds never actually get any of the suet balls! I do have a suet feeder on another tree (it’s bird-feeding central in our side yard!) that the squirrels don’t seem to care for, and there’s usually a woodpecker hanging upside-down eating the suet. I sure do hate the smell of suet, though – when I need to fill the suet holder, I put on gloves to handle the suet because if I don’t, my hands smell like old grease for the rest of the day and NOTHING gets that stink off!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

When do we get the house tour promised so, so long ago? Huh??

It’s on my mental “to-do” list, I swear it! I need to just stop worrying about whether the house is clean and picked up and just take the damn pictures already!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

My mom describes Asians as “Or-ree-EH-ul.”
My mom-in-law call vitamins “The Minrels.”
Instead of the word “themselves” my husband says, “theirselves.”
My daughter calls the killer whale, Shamu, “SHUH-moo”, and Spiderman, “SPIDER-mun.”

Once I was at a museum and my husband asked if we could do something (I can’t even remember what) and I responded, “Okey Dokey Pokey!” A woman spun around and strongly expressed her disgust that I said that, and to a grown man! It still makes me smile to think that I could make someone soooo affronted!

I am weirdly fascinated by “Or-ree-EH-ul.” I feel like I have a stuffed-up nose when I say it out loud. Heh.

And for god’s sake, of all the things to snarl at someone about! You’ve gotta assume that that woman was either having a bad day, or is one of those people who goes around waiting to be offended.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I have a friend that says “basketti” for spaghetti and “vodika” for vodka. Too funny.

Danielle (the spud) and Brian always said “pasketti” when they were little and I do believe Debbie and I picked it up from them, at least for a little while.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I’ve watched “America Unchained”, it was on tv here in the UK a few months ago and it’s pretty interesting. I enjoyed it a lot but then I’m a sucker for documentaries anyway. The guy who did it is a British comedian and he’s got a pretty dry sense of humour imop. Worth watching anyway.

I went to add it to my Netflix queue, and it’s not on Netflix! What’s that about? I thought EVERYTHING was on Netflix!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Will the new pigs use the old wallow, since it’s full of the other pigs, uhh, stuff?

Yeah, as gross as it is, the new pigs are using the wallow. Fred scooped as much of the nasty green stuff off the top of the water as he could (I told him I think we need a pool skimmer to remove the green nastiness effectively!), but the new pigs don’t seem bothered by it at ALL. They don’t actually, uh, wallow in the wallow, they seem to just kind of get in long enough to get wet, then get back out again.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I never heard that phrase (“said my piece and counted to three”) until I saw O Brother Where Art Thou? a few years back. My husband and I say it now.

and

“I’ve said my piece and counted to three.” Too funny. O’Brother is one of my all-time favorite movies. That line, and when Holly Hunter responds to George Clooney’s question, “Why are you telling our gals I was hit by a train?” and she says, “Lots of respectable people have been hit by trains.” Cracks me up.

O Brother is probably one of our favorite movies. There are so many lines in that movie that just crack me up. I was never a George Clooney fan – I mean, I didn’t hate him or anything, I was just mostly “Eh. George Clooney. Whatever.” – but he was just so perfect in the movie that I started to really like him. Every line in the movie is just a masterpiece.

I always half-hope when I say “I’ve said my piece and counted to three” (which I apparently messed up – it’s “I’ve spoken my piece and counted to three in the movie, according to IMDB) that Fred will counter with “She counted to three. Goddamnit! She counted to three. Sonofabitch!”, but he hasn’t. YET.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Did we change from “who’s ready for the snackin’?!” to Yummin’ time?!

“Who ready for the snackin’?!” is for the permanent residents. “Who wants de yummins?!” is for the fosters. The fosters get their snack at a different time than the residents, so I don’t want to get the residents all riled up by yelling “Who ready for the snackin’!” when they won’t get anything.

I might need a life.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

So when you say the kittehs are not giving you the love, may I ask if it’s… um… they’re just not that into you, or is it that they aren’t that sort of kitteh?

It’s more that they just don’t like the snuggling and the being-kissed. They’ll give love, it’s just in their own way, usually consisting of slumping against me and allowing me to pet them, or (in Zoe’s case), climbing up under my shirt when I’m laying on the bed with them and smacking at my stomach. There’s love to be had, but when it involves snuggling or kissing, they’d rather get that kind of love from Kara. Brats.

My cats, on the other hand, will start purring if you kiss them on top of their head – especially Miz Poo, Mister Boogers, Tommy, and Sugarbutt. Joe Bob, too. And Spanky. Really, all of them except Stinkerbelle. I’ve never tried kissing Stinkerbelle on top of her head, because I strongly suspect that she’d respond by clawing my face off and then swishing off down the hallway to rub against Her Boyfriend Tommy.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I cannot imagine the pecking order fights in your house. It’s bad enough in mine and I only have 3 cats. Of course, two believe they are top cat and hence the fighting. They tend to conduct their power wars during the middle of the night. I just love being awakened by a cat screaming and the thunder of running cats. I’ve actually had to put one cat in “time out” several times because he just don’t know when to stop. Five minutes in the bathroom by himself does wonders.

These days, the pecking order fights almost always include Joe Bob or Stinkerbelle, and both those cats have got some big, bad lung power. If you hear a hellcat scream from the other end of the house, you can rest assured that it’s one of those two. If we can identify the offending party (very often Mister Boogers, SHOCK) we’ll usually put him out in the back yard until he calms down a little.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

My comment is really for yesterday, but it being a holiday and all I treated it like a weekend day and didn’t read your blog. When I don’t go to work my routine’s all messed up. Anyway, the pic of new little pig standing in the trough should win some kind of prize. It’s wonderful and should be framed! Really!

Yeah, I have to agree that’s a pretty good picture. It’s like she’s posing in a beauty pageant, you know how they walk to the microphone, say their name and where they’re from, then walk over, pose, and then walk back to their “spot”? She’s totally posing before she walks back to her “spot”!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

How many chickens are there all together now? I seem to have lost track, but then there were some sitting on eggs. Wow! Quite the chicken farmers y’all are turning out to be.

I don’t know the exact number and neither does Fred, but it’s in the area of 50. We also have 24 eggs in the incubator (the eggs we bought in Tennessee from an Amish man), due to hatch in a couple of weeks, and Fred’s candled them the other day and thinks we’ll get between 16 and 18 chicks from that batch.

I think we might be chicken hoarders.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

That spider was S.C.A.R.Y!!!!!!!!!!!!! How big was it??????? Those eyes made me scream on the inside. YUCK.

I might be remembering wrong (that thing creeped me OUT), but I think, legs and all, it was about the size of my hand.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

You know, I remember that my Mom used to wash our shower curtain liners every so often, but the last time I tried to do that, the liner came out full of holes from the machine, and I had to go buy a new one. Do you have to use a gentle cycle?

Yeah, you definitely need to wash it on the gentle cycle!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I wash my shower liners, too, but I hang them right back up in the shower from whence they came. Hanging them up outside to dry sounds like too much work!

I hate dripping water on the hardwood floors, which is the only reason I hang them up on the clothesline before I take them through the house to hang them back up in the bathroom.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

What’s with cats and their stainless steel brushes? My cats play with ours too. They insist on trying to bite it – bristles and all. I have to hide the brush in the tissue box on the end table so they don’t see it. I keep it on the end table so when they are sitting with me and they are all sheddy, I brush them. I swear I’m going to get the Furminator – but since we are ending the shedding season, I might put it on my wish list.

There’s got to be something about the pointy little ends of the cat brush that makes cats want to bite them, because every cat that I try to brush with that brush ends up grabbing and biting it.

I love the Furminator. LOVE IT. I just got it out the drawer the other day for the first time in ages, and went out to the back yard and brushed Tommy and Mister Boogers with it. There was SO much fur flying around the back yard when I was done, you could have easily made another cat with it! The Furminator is just AWESOME. I highly recommend it!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Have you seen the Am. Funniest Home Video of the college boys and the praying mantis. One of the boys pretends he’s boxing it, the praying mantis takes his foolishness for about 10 seconds and then jumps at him. The shrieking and running that ensues is priceless. I’m sure the young man needed a change of underwear once the camera was off. Big bad frat boy 0 praying mantis 1.

That sounds very familiar – I’m sure we’ve seen it.

Recently there was an America’s Funniest Home Video of a couple of women and a very small child, and they saw a frog (or a toad) on the sidewalk, so they stopped to look at it, and then the toad jumped at the small child, all ::SPROIIIIIING!!!:: and landed on the child’s leg, and they all screamed and the woman holding the child’s hand picked him up by one hand, the abject TERROR on that child’s face made us laugh until we wheezed. We actually saved it on the DVR so we can watch it whenever we want. We also saved the episode of AFV that had a woman and a bird – a cockatoo, maybe? A big bird, anyway – and she’s patting the bed and saying “Jump, Kramer, jump! Jump, Kramer, jump!”, and the cockatoo considers for a moment and then starts jumping and it makes us laugh our asses off.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

When you know you want “pork” for dinner, do you let it thaw just that day? And do you thaw it in the frig or on the counter? My mom always used to thaw meat on the counter and it makes me insane. I’m OCD about my meat and how long it’s been “sitting out.” I’m always curious as to how other people take care of this instead of going to buy meat every time you want it, which is what I do. Which is NOT cost effective OR time effective, but I’m a freak.

It depends on when I know we’re going to want to have pork (or beef, or whatever). If I know the night before that we’re having, say, pork chops for dinner the next day, I take the pack out of the freezer, put it on a plate and leave it in the fridge to defrost. If I don’t know until that morning that we’re having pork chops for dinner, I leave the pack on the counter (on a plate) to thaw. If I forget to take the pork chops out of the freezer until mid-day, I’ll put the whole pack in cold water in the sink, and it usually only takes a few hours to thaw.

I know you’re not supposed to thaw meat at room temperature, but I’ve been doing it for 20 years and my mother always did it that way, and we’re still here to tell the tale, so I imagine I’ll keep on doing it when I need to!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

I noticed that last year’s entry talked about ants in the kitchen. I have little, black ants in my kitchen that I CANNOT get rid of. Did you ever find a solution? I’d love to hear it!

The only thing that worked for me was cleaning the damn counters off (with my favorite cleaning spray) and never ever leaving any kind of food out. Oddly enough, we didn’t get any ants this year, despite the fact that we keep a bucket on the counter in which we toss scraps and egg shells and things of that sort for the pigs, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single ant inside the house this year.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Was suggie stretching or does he always sleep with his toes spread out?

He was stretching. I actually grabbed the camera because he was laying with his head hanging over the edge of the bookcase, but he heard me move and lifted his head up, looked at me, then put his head back down, stretched his toes, and went back to sleep.

I had to go squeeze him and kiss him on top of his head after I looked at that picture. I sure do love my Suggie.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Yoga kitteh is surprised that you’d interrupt her during such a crucial exercise. Sideward Facing KittenDog with a Twist is a difficult position and requires concentration!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

What I love about this picture is how evil Tommy looks in the background and how completely unaware Mister Boogers looks. He has NO IDEA the evil that lurks behind him!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Previously
2007: I wanted to take a BATH in the stuff, I wanted to stick it in my purse and take it home, I wanted to marry it.
2006: Mister Boogers seemed to disapprove of the land, and at one point the seller of the land started having a discussion with Mister Boogers, only instead of “Mister Boogers”, he referred to him as “Curtis.”
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: It’s a good day, indeed.
2002: FUCKING telemarketers.
2001: I turned to Fred and said “He looks all dilemmanated, doesn’t he?”
2000: Trip to Tennessee.

8/29/08

In the dehydrator right now – cayenne peppers (the red ones) and habaneros (the orange ones). To say the air in the kitchen is spicy is understating it – I can’t take a deep breath in there without feeling like I’m setting my lungs on fire. When the peppers are dehydrated all the way, I’ll grind them up and we’ll have ground cayenne pepper (which I use in some recipes) and ground habanero pepper (which I won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, but Fred thinks he’ll sprinkle it on his food sometimes. We’ll see how THAT goes).

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

Friggin’ spiders. One built a web outside one of the windows by my desk and then abandoned it, and a small beetle blundered into it yesterday. I figured it would die quickly so I ignored it, but a day later it was still out there weakly kicking and trying to free itself, so I finally went out and rescued it.

And then fed it to one of the chickens.

What? It’s the circle of life!

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

Note: This is NOT Nance‘s Maddy.

This week has been a tough one here, my dear Maddie cat left us, after a very brief battle with non-regenerative anemia that wore her body down until we decided to do what’s best and put her to sleep. Our big fear was that the anemia was caused by Feline Leukemia or Immune Syndrome, and would affect our other fur kids. Thankfully, it wasn’t, (the vet said it was a cancer, but not one of the contagious ones) but we’re already doing what we can to immunize our other kids (not that they like it much). Could you please alert your readers to the need for immunization against this very contagious virus in cats? I appreciate it! (And so does Maddie!)

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

Aw, poor Kara. I bet she is missing the kids. Makes me sad. Will she be going to the pet store or is she spoken for?

and

Are you still planning on keeping Kara a little longer by herself after you take the rest of the babies to the pet store?

She’ll be going to the pet store eventually, but there’s such a backup of cats right now that it may be a while. I’d love it if someone happened across her picture on the PetFinder site and fell in love with her (she’s such a sweet thing!) so she never had to stay in a cage – for that matter, I’d love it if someone would fall in love with Kaylee and Zoe online too, because I’d be perfectly happy if none of them ever had to be in a cage. What will likely happen, though, is that Kaylee and Zoe will go to the pet store when there’s room, and Kara will go at a later date. It’ll all depend on how adoptions go – right now, they’re pretty slow.

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

We used to raise pigs for slaughter on a small scale years ago – I still shudder when I remember what we went through to get those pigs loaded for the trip to the butcher! We tried to do it on our own the first time – after much reading and planning and talking to the “real” farmers. It didn’t go very well. One jumped off the truck even though we thought we had it set up so that wouldn’t happen. My husband ran after it and shot it. We(he) bled it out but the butcher refused to take it if it didn’t walk in. It made me sad for a very long time that the poor pig went through that and was left for the butcher to dispose of.

Anyway, what I really wanted to share with you is what our butcher would do with the pig loins. He’d remove them both, stick a knife down the length to make a “tunnel”, then put the opening over the sausage making machine nozzle and stuff it with garlic sausage. (We always had some garlic sausage made so he just used some of it for the stuffing). Our whole family really loved those stuffed tenderloins roasted up. Something you may want to try sometime if it appeals to you.

I had such a fear that the pigs would somehow break out of the trailer when we were going down the road at 40 mph and go tumbling off the side of the road, breaking a leg or two in the process. I told Fred he needed to bring a gun with us just in case – he didn’t (he forgot), but luckily we didn’t have any problems with the pigs. THANK GOD.

That garlic sausage-stuffed tenderloin sounds FABULOUS.

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

Also, maybe I missed this, but is River part Bengal? Just curious.

Not that I’m aware of, but we don’t know what his father looked like, since Kara showed up as a stray on someone’s front porch. It’s possible he could be!

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

My husband just recently bought that same cat carrier but when we put our fat cat in there the top seems like it’s going to pop off. What’s the heaviest weight you’ve put in it? Our kitty is 16lbs, do you think it’ll be fine? I say so but he doesn’t like it.

I think Tommy’s our heaviest cat at about 12 pounds, and I think he strains the carrier a bit. If I were you I’d go ahead and use the carrier, but instead of carrying it by the handle, carry it by the body of the carrier. Also, if you haven’t already, you can reinforce the parts where the top and bottoms join with twist-ties so you don’t have to worry about it popping apart at that point (let me know if that part is confusing, and I’ll post pictures).

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

I saw this video and thought you’d like it. It’s about a woman who has 500-700 cats on a 6 acre sanctuary. None of them are in cages – they just roam around happily. All of the cats are available for adoption at any time.

I’m pretty sure I’ve linked that video before, but just in case, I’m linking it now!

It would be my DREAM to have a sanctuary like the Cat House on the Kings. In fact, last weekend when Fred and I were dreaming of winning the lottery (we matched ONE number in five quick-pick tickets. Ugh!) one of the things I insisted on was that we’d have a building and a very large amount of fenced-in land devoted to cats, and Fred actually agreed. We’ll see what happens when we DO win the lottery (and we will!).

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

Robyn, something to add to your book reading queue… and DVD watching queue… solely for you to read/watch it first and report back to your readers, so we don’t waste our money if it turns out to be bad…hee hee.
“America Unchained” — a book + documentary about a British visitor who goes across America not staying in one chain hotel, not eating at one chain restaurant, not even patronizing Starbucks, my goodness! ….only using Mom and Pop establishments ala Alabama backroads…. searching for the America of yesteryear… Sounds very interesting but I don’t know… anyone out there read/watch this? Evidently it won some documentary award.

How about it – anyone seen/ read it? It does sound interesting!

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

I know you’re a cat person, but this http://thechaistory.blogspot.com/2008/08/chai-story.html breaks my heart. I wanted to see if you would maybe post a little about it next week to help spread the word, since I know many cat people also have dogs.

That is so sad – poor Chai!!!

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

So we went to see one eyed, one eared rescued kitteh at lunch today. Totally scrawny and beat up but making biscuits and stretching out so looks like a save for the good guys. However, I think foster Momma is going to keep the baby. You know that look you get when you are in love with the baby kitteh? She has it times 10. However, she is evil in that she then shared that they had two kittehs that need homes. Brother and sister, about 6 months old, completely cute and fuzzy and lovely. Names are Owen and Filomena (sp?). Of course we had to go see them and hold them. Owen has white paws which are my huge weakness. Here we were innocently checking in on rescue kitteh and they sucker punch us with the twin homeless kittehs. ARRRGGGH!

Ooh, that is a BRILLIANT woman. Total bait and switch!

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

I was reading an entry one time, I couldn’t even tell you when! And someone was describing a story to see if you recognized the plot to name the book. Some readers thought it was the Shell Seekers, but other confirmed it was not. I was just wondering if anyone ever identified the title, it sounded so interesting.

I bet you’re talking about the book Elayne was looking for, back in November – her comment is here. So far as I know, she still hasn’t been able to locate it!

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

Please tell me that Fred did not seriously think that Amish piglets wouldn’t stink and/or behave like other piglets? Religious piety or refusal to participate in the English culture causes piglets to behave differently or causes people to scrub them clean 20 or 30 times a day?

No, he was just kidding. Also, I think he just forgot how very bad the pigs smelled when we brought them home. God, those things smelled BAD. I had to take a shower when I got home, had to toss my clothes in the washer, and I never even touched the damn things, just spent half an hour in an enclosed space with them!

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

And for the love of god, does the period go inside or outside the quotation marks? I can’t friggin remember!

The period goes inside the quotation marks, I think. I know someone reading this knows the answer, so if I’m wrong, y’all let me know!

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

I must admit, I’m from New Zealand, and tend to put “r”s on the ends of words when they follow each other. So some how, pizza and beer become “pizzerandbeer.” And a American friend of mine told me once that it’s not “pizzer.” But that’s just how I talk, and if I tried to change it, I’d probably only sound really weird.

As far as I’m concerned, nothing any New Zealander says in that adorable accent could EVER be wrong!

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

I only have two cats, but I’ve seen them in that pose in front of my back door too. Cracks me up that Maxi didn’t pounce AND that the squirrel was that insane to test those waters. Were the cats making that lovely ‘chittering’ sound as I call it? They always let me know when there is something capturing their attention.

Every once in a while we’ll get a cat to make that noise – I call it “chattering” – but usually they’re silent. Tommy will occasionally meow bitchily and Miz Poo will whine, but most of the time they don’t make a noise.

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

Ok, this just really wrecks my head. My husband’s stepmother says “twiced” instead of twice. I mean, it’s like she wants to be even more annoying than she already is.

The funniest part of this comment is it’s like she wants to be even more annoying than she already is. I read that and just laughed and laughed, for some reason!

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

Well, since you don’t like goats have you considered these: http://www.miniaturebull.com Also, did you convince Fred you need a Roku for your streaming video needs?

God, they sure are CUTE. I did try to convince Fred that we need one of those, but he says that at $2,000 each, they’re too expensive. Hey – we could start our own miniature cattle business! We could probably fit 40 or 50 out there on the back forty!

I haven’t convinced him that we need a Roku yet, but I was a Flip video camera before I want a Roku, so I need to space my demands out so he doesn’t start accusing me of being spoiled and spendy. (Which I am, of course!)

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

But it’s my husband who incites my wrath the most, poor Southern guy that he is, when he says bedroom SUIT instead of bedroom SUITE, and INsurance, and insists on calling fuel gasoline instead of just gas, like the rest of the world.

Please imagine that I am hugging you in complete and total understanding on the suite/suit issue. Here in the South, they said “Bedroom suit” in the radio ads, and it drives me NUTS. NUTS I SAY.

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

O my! That’s a cute little pudgy belly on your squirrel friend. Wonder where he gets his food? Hmm?

I see where you’re going with this question, and you are WRONG.

I do not bake cookies for the squirrels. I don’t!

(Yet.)

(And only because I haven’t stumbled across a recipe for cookies to feed them. Give me time.)

The squirrels get their food as nature intended. From the bird feeders!

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

“She’s a sweet little lovebug (though after a few minutes of petting she gets bitey), but I would not be surprised if she murdered me in my sleep”.

Do you have any idea why this happens? My cat also wants to be petted but after a minute or two she gets bitey too.

I think it’s just a matter of some cats have a higher tolerance – Maxi and Tommy are our two who seem to get overwhelmed pretty quickly (maybe it’s a black cat thing?), but some of our other cats – Miz Poo in particular – can be petted vigorously for a long, long time without resorting to grabbing and biting.

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

Do you have your pets in your will/living will?

No.

This is where I horrify y’all by admitting that I don’t have a will OR a living will. Neither does Fred. And I know I need them both, especially since I’ve turned 40 and could drop dead of old age at any moment! You know what? I’m going to make it my goal to have both a will AND a living will drawn up before I turn 41. Because what happens if Fred and I both die in a horrific car accident?

(AFTER it takes three weeks for people to realize we’re not around, that is.)

I can tell you that Fred and I have discussed what our wills would say – they’d be simple ones; if he goes first I GET EVERYTHING WOOHOO PARTY TIME! and vice versa. But if we were to die at the same time, what we’d like to have happen is, um. Well. I was going to say that we’d leave directions for a large donation to the pet shelter, and that the cats would go back to the shelter (since most of them came from there in the first place), but if I could arrange it so that the cats were to go to good homes instead, obviously I’d prefer that.

So. Who wants which cat?

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

Zoe. The tucked-under paws make me want to pick her up and squeeze her. In the background, Kara’s in her favorite spot – watching the guy next door sit on the deck. Sometimes she growls at him.

This picture is cracking me UP.

Smilin’ Zoe.

Kaylee has got the cleanest, whitest fur I’ve ever seen on a kitten.

Zoe in the cat tree.

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

Mister Boogers hets Van Morrison.

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

Kara, sitting on the wall between the computer room and dining room. Stinkerbelle, under the table, shoots hate rays at her (for being the interloper) and at me for not giving her Snackin’! Time! when she wants it. Miz Poo, on the table (what? We never EAT there!) snoozes away in her favorite cat bed.

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

Previously
2007: It was someone with a vendetta.
2006: Time to give up the raw vegetables, at least for the time being.
2005: John Cusack, however, has become suddenly completely unappealing to me.
2004: No entry.
2003: I see a little silhouetto of a Poo,
2002: Damn him.
2001: Jayzus, I can’t wait ’til I’m Supreme Ruler of the World, and I can run around ordering the death of people who annoy me.
2000: Here we see Miz Poo at the tail end of a Fancypants swish-by. She looks none too pleased.

8-22-08

The other night, Fred and I were sitting down to watch one of the movies we’d rented from Bl0ckbuster last week. It happened to be Shallow Hal which – despite the fact that I posted a mini-rant about it back before I ever watched it – I kind of enjoy. Anyway, as Fred was putting … Continue reading “8-22-08”

“An hour and forty-five minutes,” he said.

And then he had to listen to me bitch about the length of the movie. “Seriously? An hour and FORTY-FIVE minutes?! There’s nothing in that movie that requires it to be longer than ninety minutes! Jesus Christ! What the fuck! What great work of art do the Farrelly Brothers think they’re creating, GANDHI?!”

I find that the older I get, the more I resent it when I have to spend more than 90 minutes watching a movie. Hey, my time is valuable to me! I also tend to resent books that are longer than 300 pages – if it takes longer than 300 pages, you’re throwing too many goddamn details in there and you need to speak to your editor. (Which doesn’t stop me from reading the entire book if it does clock in at longer than 300 pages. I resent the idea rather than the execution, I guess.) If a movie takes longer than 90 minutes, you’re throwing too much useless bullshit and too many substories in there. I usually refuse to watch any videos online that are longer than a couple of minutes – I try to keep mine to a minute or less. I’m not always successful, but I try!

None of this explains why I write entries that are 6,000 miles long, though. Apparently I don’t mind spending my time yammering about boring shit and forcing y’all to skim it to get to the good parts.

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

Never thought I’d be so thrilled to see gas at $3.39 a gallon. I wonder if it’ll ever get under $3 a gallon again?

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

I just got to the tomato sauce recipe chapter in AVM yesterday and was wondering if you had tried it yet. Aside from all the pureeing it looks pretty easy to put together. Did you add the ground lemon peel? I’d like to try my hand at it next year when I have more than 2 tomato plants:)

I did add the ground lemon peel – I followed the recipe exactly and ended up tossing the tomato sauce because I had to simmer it for too long. I’m beginning to think that when she says “Simmer on low for 2 – 3 hours” what she doesn’t mean is “Simmer on low.” I think she really means something more along the lines of “Simmer on lowish. Or whatever.” Next time (I actually already have enough tomato puree to try a half batch, which I may do next week) I’m going to try simmer on a medium heat and see how that goes.

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

That tomato sauce looks good. Does the honey make it pretty sweet? Do you know if that is an optional ingredient? I’m not a fan of sweet sauce. Also, on the recipe site it said something about freezer boxes if you’re not using canning jars. I’m assuming freezer bags are ok since I’ve never heard of freezer boxes? Do you know what freezer boxes are?

The honey adds a bit of sweetness to the sauce but it’s not terribly sweet. I’m just guessing here, but I think you could leave the honey out and it would be okay. I believe freezer boxes are just plastic containers that are meant to be frozen, like these but you can definitely use freezer bags – that’s what I’m planning on using! Just (I’m sure you know this but it doesn’t hurt to mention it) make sure you let the tomato sauce cool down before you bag it, because you wouldn’t want to melt the bag.

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

This may be a silly question, but are you simmering the tomatoes with the lid ON the pot? I always turn the lid sideways to that the steam can escape.

Also, basil is incredibly easy to grow. You can plant it now, here in the south, and you’ll be harvesting basil until you get a freeze.

No, I never did put a lid on the pot, I didn’t want the condensation to water down the sauce.

I’ve decided I’m going to grow me some basil in a big pot this year, and have an herb garden next year!

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

I’m confused about the top popping off the blender. Do you not hold the top down, or did something cause an eruption so strong that it threw your arm off?

I had my hand on top of the blender lid, but the eruption of trying to blend something that was boiling hot was strong enough to toss my hand off. I wasn’t holding it firmly or anything though, because I am a DUMBASS.

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

So which was the worse burn: The temperature heat from the recent boiling, or the chemical heat from the oils?

The temperature heat was momentarily painful, but the heat from the peppers was the gift that kept on giving all damn day long. I touch my face a lot – A LOT – and my lips burned all day and so did the corners of my eyes. I felt like I had a sunburn on both my arms. I tried to protect my hands from the habaneros at first – when I deseeded and chopped them, I was wearing vinyl gloves – but once the shit went everywhere, I gave up. I honestly predicted I was going to burn my eyeballs to cinders when I took my contacts out that night, but apparently the fact that I washed 135,000 dishes that day got rid of the habanero oils. From my hands, at least – my lips felt swollen for another couple of days.

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

Robyn, I remember awhile back when you named the kitties from the show Firefly that you thought you would watch it since so many of your readers told you how good it was. Well I had never even heard of it cause I’m not much into Sci-Fi but when I found it on HuLu I thought I would give it a try…. Well they were right, it is the BEST SHOW EVER, such a shame it was canceled. If you haven’t watched it give it a try, trust me it will grow on you very quickly and it will get in your head and stay there. I never liked Nathan Fillion at all, hated him in Waitress, didn’t even realize he was on Desperate Housewives, but the character he plays in Firefly is so perfect for him, you really just have to see it to appreciate it, then go watch the movie Serenity. I promise you, you will love it!

I’ve watched, I think, the first two discs of the series, and then I got sidetracked by The L Word. Once I’ve finished with that, I’ll probably go back and finish up Firefly. I very much enjoyed the episodes I watched. And if I had to name the kittens all over again, I totally would switch Kaylee and Inara’s names because Kaylee’s all dark and mysterious and seductive, and Inara’s all bouncy and happy-go-lucky, and it should be the other way around.

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

Good thing that Fred planted 5,000 tomato plants so you will have enough maters for another batch of sauce. On the positive side, you have an awesome strainer so it’s not as horrible work prepping to tomatoes. 🙂

We’re STILL not getting as many tomatoes as I’d like. There are several Roma plants that are producing these annoying little bitty tomatoes, and a couple more that aren’t producing very well. I don’t think I’ll be making ketchup THIS year, either.

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

Has Spanky lost weight? I know he’s not big like Spot was, but he’s looking rather svelte in this photo… and soft man, soft enough I wouldn’t let anyone named Lennie play with him!

That’s an excellent question, and Fred and I looked Spanky over and discussed him and came to the conclusion that Spanky has possibly lost a little weight. He’s acting as happy as ever, though, so I don’t think he’s sick or anything. He’s spending a lot more time outside than he used to, so maybe it’s his endless patrol of the backyard border that’s made him a bit smaller.

He’s SO soft. He’s got that silky Siamese fur and once you start petting him it’s hard to stop!

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

Did you use fresh herbs or dried? I can’t remember. Fresh herbs go in towards the end of cooking, say the last ten minutes or so. I always add a teaspoon or so of sugar to my sauce (regular saucepan-sized batch) too to help cut the acidity a bit.

I used dried herbs this time around – the recipe actually called for dried. And there was honey in the recipe, which added just a bit of sweetness. At least until I simmered it for too long and the herbs turned bitter. ::sigh::

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

I thought I was the only one who saved spider webs 🙂 I had a very interesting spider in my bathtub the other day. It sat there and groomed itself while I bathed…..I thought I would put it outside after I was done because it had entertained me…..but alas, it jumped on me and instinct took over….and I washed his bits down the drain.

Generally, if a spider keeps her web fairly neat and clean – not a lot of bug pieces left hanging in it – I let her stick around. The kitchen spider got tired of my cleaning, and yesterday after I raised the blinds to wipe a dead fly off the window and accidentally destroyed her web once again, she stomped off and, I assume, set up camp somewhere else.

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

Is your freezer full of pork chops, ham, and bacon now?

Not yet! It takes a couple of weeks to get the meat back once the pigs are slaughtered.

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

I am trying to work a deal on my Mother in Law to get her to adopt a little kitten that had a run in with a car motor. Kitty lost left ear and right eye. The catch is that my MIL is blind in her right eye also so they would make a perfect pair.

Oddly enough, we realized last week that we have a Buff Orpington (yellow) chicken who’s blind in her right eye. I think she’d be the perfect addition to your mother-in-law’s life, don’t you?

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

It’s always interesting to hear what you name your fosters (and your own) and then what second name you give them!

It’s funny, because I have to come up with names pretty quickly so the shelter can put them into the computer, but as time goes by, I start calling them something else and that becomes their name. With the current fosters, I generally refer to them by a name that describes how they look (or the way they act – Inara’s earned the nickname “Dora the Explorer”) because Fred doesn’t spend as much time with him, so he doesn’t learn their correct names.

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

I love that spice rack you have, where did you get it may I ask??

We got it three and a half years ago from this site and I LOVE it. I just wish it was a little longer – it’s 48″ long – because we still have some spices that don’t fit on it, but I put the spices that don’t get used much up in the cabinet, so it works out well. It was expensive ($80), but very much worth it.

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

What is Hannaford? Should I have it here? Who is beautiful stranger kitteh in the picture with Security Kitteh?

Hannaford is a grocery store – they don’t have them down here, but I have a ton of bags from there. They’re THE best reusable bags I’ve ever seen. They fold up nicely and they’re strong and huge – you can easily fit six 2-liter bottles in one bag. I do like Hannaford, the store, but I’m not complaining about our Publix because it pretty much rocks, too. Oh yeah – Hannaford used to be called Shop ‘n Save and was renamed after I left Maine, so I still think of it as Shop ‘n Save.

That pretty cat in the picture with Mister Boogers has been kind of hanging around intermittently for a little while now. Fred has been reporting seeing it for a few months but I hadn’t seen it until earlier this week, when I glanced out the window and saw it sitting there facing off with Mister Boogers. As soon as it saw me headed in that direction, it took off. Fred also hasn’t been able to get near it, so I don’t know if it’s feral cat or just belongs to someone in the neighborhood.

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

I heart The Soup too! Robyn, did you ever start recording Chelsea Lately? My hubby and I watch it religiously. It is way funny and way over the top sometimes. I think you would like it.

I forgot to start recording Chelsea Lately, but after I read your comment I went and set up to tape it and The Soup, too. Didn’t The Soup used to be called Talk Soup, or is that another show altogether?

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

Y’all say goodbye to River and Inara. They’re going to their new home to be spoiled rotten in a few hours.

I’m going to miss the little brats.

“Is it time to go to our new home yet?”

River hisses at Sugarbutt, while Inara looks on.

Inara hisses at Mister Boogers, who just looks at her like “What is YOUR issue?”

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

Miz Poo and Sugarbutt were so intently watching the squirrels under the bird feeders that they had no idea how close they were sitting or that their tails were (gasp!) touching.

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

Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: How can you not die from the cute?
2005: So, that’s why I won’t be updating this week.
2004: No entry.
2003: And for the rest of the drive I would occasionally call him “Fo’-Thray”.
2002: Surely they can hear the thunder of Tubby approaching from miles away – you’d think they’d hide somewhere he can’t go, like under the shed or on the other side of the fence.
2001: That’s me, an expert at reading between the lines!
2000: It gives her a rakish air.