PS: I might be in Pennsylvania with you-know-who at the moment. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow – hopefully, with pictures! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I’m so glad that 11/11/11 is done and over with. … Continue reading “11/14/11 – Monday”
PS: I might be in Pennsylvania with you-know-who at the moment. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow – hopefully, with pictures!
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I’m so glad that 11/11/11 is done and over with. That was too goddamn many ones for me, and I found it confusing.
THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID IT.
I didn’t make a wish at 11:11 either, because, well. I forgot. Or I totally would have wished for world peace or more kittens or a million dollars or for Amazon to send me my new Kindle Fire earlier instead of making me wait another THREE FUCKING DAYS.
(The spud is also getting a Kindle Fire, but hers is a Christmas present; I get to play with mine right away, HA.)
I don’t think I ever mentioned that I got an iPad at the beginning of the summer, did I? I got an iPad and it was really neat and I liked it, but I had two issues with it: (1) Doesn’t play Flash, and (2) It was so big and expensive that I about shit a brick every time I used it because I was terrified – TERRIFIED – that I would drop it. And that’s one expensive-ass piece of electronics to drop, no matter what kind of sturdy-ass protective case it’s got on it.
Because I was so worried that I’d drop it or scratch it (yes, I had a screen cover on it. DIDN’T MATTER. I was secretly calling it my TerrorPad by the end.), I was using my iPod Touch more often than I was using the iPad (I’d intended to sell the Touch on eBay after I got the iPad, but never did get around to it), and so in the end I sold the iPad on eBay (only really lost about $50 on the whole thing, which I consider not bad at all despite the fact that starving children in Africa could eat for a year off that $50, I KNOW, SHUT UP ).
And now I’m going to get the Kindle Fire because I like shiny new things and I have stars in my eyes for tablets, even though when it comes down to it, all I REALLY used my iPad for was watching TV shows I’d downloaded from iTunes (which I can do on my iPod Touch) and caught up on my blog reading and used the Kindle app to read books (which I can also do on my iPod Touch)(I have done woefully little reading of books in the last few months. I really need to get back to it – I think it’s been more than a month since I finished reading a book; I’ve been “reading” Queen of Bedlam for at least six weeks, and I don’t think I’m even 50 pages in.) I can do all that with the Kindle Fire, and it’s a whole lot less expensive than the iPad – and hopefully I’ll be a whole lot less terrified of dropping the damn thing.
We shall see.
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Over the weekend, I did something I hadn’t done in probably six (possibly more) years: I drank me some alcohol. Not just alcohol – I wasn’t doing 100-proof shots or anything, for god’s sake, I have some class (no I don’t) – this Raspberry Sparkletini stuff is what I drank.
I have to tell you, I am not and have never been a wine drinker, but although this stuff smells like wine, it tasted really good, and after the slight buzz from the first glass wore off, I had A SECOND GLASS.
As I told Fred, I very well may become a social drinker.
(Not really; as much as I liked that stuff – and I did – I still preferred Diet Coke.)
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People of Huntsville, I am seriously disappointed in you. Not a single Pepper was adopted over the weekend, are you BLIND?
Hmph to you, I say.
Molly, Sally, Lucy, and Harlan were less than pleased about going to Petsmart. To my surprise, Harlan was the biggest chicken about it, and Molly was the least freaked out; I would have expected the opposite, really.
Everett was confused about his siblings being gone (though he was more than willing to play with Charlie and Patty), and spent a good part of Friday walking around letting out the occasional “What is going ON?!” meow. I had hoped that at least one of his sisters or his brother would be adopted over the weekend and that he could rejoin the rest of his siblings at Petsmart, but no. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day when one (or more) Peppers finds a home. Fingers crossed!
(I have some Peppers Gang pics left over that I’ll share with you today and tomorrow.)
Sally watchin’ bugs.
Molly and Sally, the bug-watchin’ posse.
Molly, throwin’ me some attitude.
::thlurrp::
Apparently Sally heard a realllllly good joke.
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Sooooo… is it just me or is Miz Poo SPOONING with Everett here? Next thing you know, she’s going to be HUGGING him!
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry. 2008: Michael’s (crafty items with which to torture the cats) 2007: Amazing what a little maintenance will do, ain’t it? 2006: “I CUT THROUGH THE GODDAMN EXTENSION CORD AND THEN I MADE THE CHAIN COME OFF THE CHAINSAW!” 2005: Senator Stanley J. Boogerton.
2004: No entry. 2003: So I’m not reporting that. At all. Never happened! 2002: Riley’s response? “Nuh uh!” 2001: Dr. Phil looked at me judgmentally, and I began to babble. 2000: And I don’t even like cherry Poptarts! 1999: Fred has agreed to let me adopt the kitten!
2012 calendars. —————–> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Someone always gets antsy around this time of year and wants to know WHEN THE HOLY HELL AM I GOING TO START TAKING NAMES AND ADDRESSES FOR THE ANNUAL … Continue reading “11/11/11 – Friday”
2012 calendars. —————–>
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Someone always gets antsy around this time of year and wants to know WHEN THE HOLY HELL AM I GOING TO START TAKING NAMES AND ADDRESSES FOR THE ANNUAL BITCHYPOO CARD-STRAVAGANZA?!
Not ’til the day after Thanksgiving, damnit. I REFUSE to take your names and addresses ’til then, because this whole ridiculous Christmas starting in August thing just annoys the shit out of me. But WORRY NOT, I’ve already ordered my Christmas postcards (postcards being less expensive both for the cards themselves and also postcard stamps cost less).
(And by “Christmas” I mean “Holiday”, of course!)
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In case you read this site via Google Reader or one of the 3,000 other readers out there, you might have missed that I put up a new – designed by me – banner last week.
I’m so talented (seriously, it took me forever and a day to get that goddamn thing put together). And before you point it out, yes – it IS reminiscent of my August banner:
I say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
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Sooooooooo, I know I’m late to the game but I finally got around to buying a copy of No Limit (Kindle version, Nook version) for the nook. HOLY CRAP, FRED! I’m hooked and wondering if ever there’s going to be another book in his future because this is great! 🙂
I tried to tell you guys how good it is, didn’t I? Fred is currently working on his next one, and though it’s slow going (after he works all day and comes home to do chores, he has a hard time getting motivated to sit down and write – and currently, he’s working his way through (and LOVING) Stephen King’s new book.) Slowly but surely he’s getting it written, though, and I think it’s the best thing he’s ever written.
Have any of your cats come in early and demand crunchies? Ours have to come in just before dark and they get 3 little crunchy bits when they do. One of the fur balls started coming in the cat door several times in the middle of the day and demanding her reward. Sly little fucker.
Generally any time I step foot in the kitchen after about mid-afternoon, I’ve got a group of escorts. They sit on the rug and give me the big hopeful eyes, and will usually nominate one of them (usually either Charlie or Lucy) to howl and howl in case I forgot that they might want some crunchies, pleeeeease. I never ever give in to them (I don’t want to encourage the behavior – or make it worse!), but that doesn’t stop them from hoping!
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How many times per day are cat tails stepped upon?????? Do you have rocking chairs?????
No rocking chairs in this house! We do have some on the front porch, but on the rare occasion that we sit out there, usually the only cat present is Maxi, and she’s more interested in being in our laps than under our chairs.
I pretty much shuffle around the house – I figure if I don’t lift my feet, I won’t step on tails – but every now and then someone will be sitting behind me (usually when I’m in the kitchen) and I step back and step on their tail. I’d say it happens, oh, twice a week, maybe a little more.
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I know you’ve told us all along how gorgeous Corbie is, and it’s not that I ever doubted you or thought he was particularly UNattractive, but I literally went “WOW!” at that first picture of him and Molly in the cat bed. And I actually didn’t see Molly at first (she kind of blends in a bit). I don’t know if it’s the new camera, or just the perfect angle/lighting or what, but, yeah, WOW. I have thought he looks a lot like Maufry, but in that picture, the caramel and black colors are much more striking than I’ve noticed. Almost Bengal-ish.
I definitely think that Corbie looks rather Bengal-ish – he’s got the coloring and the stripes and the pure gorgeousness going on.
I think that not everyone agrees with me that Corbie is the most beautiful cat on the face of the planet, but THEY ARE WRONG I think sooner or later I’ll post enough pictures of him that everyone will have to give in. BECAUSE IT’S TRUE.
Slightly long story about snapping/finger-pointing: We went to my mom’s house on Halloween, and at one point I told my son, “Get me a [something, I forget what].” And I did not say please. Now, usually I am very polite, including to my son, but for whatever reason, “please” was just not happening. So of course my mother chose THAT moment to act affronted and go, “TJ, don’t you give it to her until she says please!”
TJ loves it when we take sides, so he raised his eyebrows and said, “Yeah. What’s the magic word, MOM?” I repeated, “Get me a [whatever], NOW,” and snapped my fingers two times for emphasis. TJ said, “Uh, ‘snap snap’ is not Morse code for ‘please,'” and my mom (accurately) said, “I’m just glad that’s ALL she did with her fingers.”
TJ looked at me and grinned and said, “Yeah, mom. Dot dot DASH,” and as he said “DASH,” he flipped me off.
Ever since then, “dot dot DASH” or “[snap snap FLIP]” has been our go-to phrase. (I mean, it’s only been a week, but we have really USED it.) He was irritating me the other day in the store and I was able to holler down the aisle at him, “Hey TJ! DOT DOT DASH!” without anyone glaring daggers at me for exposing their eyes/children to such vulgarity. I highly recommend it.
Hahahahaha – LOVE IT!
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didn’t the black cat just wanna to erm bite the chick? sorry, but I thought is like animal’s instinct… heh
Well sure, the black cat (that’s Tommy) would dearly have loved to have eaten that chick, but we never left the cats alone with the chicks when they were little. When they were bigger, we had them in a coop in a corner of the back yard with their own little fenced-off yard. Eventually, we let them out of their little yard into the back yard, where they were free to roam around with the cats, but by that point they were about the size of the cats themselves, and the cats never went after them. In fact, the cats were kind of intimidated by the grown chickens.
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Since you have 2 girl ducks and 2 boy ducks, does that mean in three years you will have 67 ducks?
PROBABLY. I don’t think we need ANY more ducks (never thought we needed them in the first place, of course), but Fred wants to have some baby ducks around. I’m not eating ducks, though, so if we end up with 67 ducks THEY’LL BE STAYING and I’m sure I’ll be complaining about it.
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Do you use a regular heating pad as a warming pad for the cats? Or is there something at Petsmart a person can get?
You can use a regular heating pad (set on low) as a warming pad, I’ve done that in the past. Currently, I use pads that are specifically made as bed warmers, and there’s a whole range of them available at PetSmart. I like the small K&H pad (that’s what Miz Poo has in her Poo Cave), and I have one of the large ones on the end of the couch (bonus: I can warm my feet up on it when I’m watching TV!)
They’re expensive – but if you’re not in a hurry and don’t mind waiting to have them shipped to you, they’re about half that price on eBay, which is where I get mine.
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Is that as deep as the pond ended up being or did they did deeper? That will definitely help with drainage!
I believe that that’s as deep as the pond got, but of course it got wider.
Do you have a Furminator For George and Gracie?
We do have a Furminator for George and Gracie. Fred’s in charge of brushing the dogs (which he does about once a week; you’ll note that in a lot of the back forty pictures I post, there are piles of dog hair from them being brushed) and he uses the Furminator and also an undercoat rake. When he gets out there and starts brushing, it’s absolutely amazing the amount of fur he gets off of them!
We also have a Furminator for the cats, which I use on them from time to time – usually when it’s nice out and there are a lot of cats in the back yard, I go out and chase them around and Furminate the heck out of them. I love doing it (it makes me feel so productive to get all that loose hair off of them!), but most of them don’t care for it.
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I have a question for you… you’ve had (and seen) quite a few black kitties in your time, I’ve seen black and white cow patterns, tux patterns, black with a white spot on chest, foot, etc… but I’ve never seen this before have you?
(Sorry for the bad quality our camera sucks rocks) Anyway, this is Ash, he’s going for ye ole ‘snip next week, he came to us looking like this:
and look at him now!
A handsome lad, but we’re baffled by his tail. I’ve never seen a black cat with a tail like his. Maybe he’s part Raccoon? ;- )
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that, either – that’s very neat! I think you may have hit the nail on the head, clearly he’s part raccoon. 🙂
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Alright, what’s a hush puppy? You’re readers aren’t all american you know, Robyn!
I’m not sure even all the Americans know what a hush puppy is, actually. Hush puppies are basically deep-fried corn batter – you can read more about them here. They’re good, but I don’t eat them very often. It may be because I didn’t grow up in the South so there’s not a lot of Southern cooking that is comfort food to me – though I didn’t grow up eating grits, either, and I think they’re the most comforting food there is.
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And how come you guys get so many more litter options than us? ’tis not fair, I tell you! and on a difft topic, excuse me, but is Dino Direct online shpooing (with free worldwide delivery!) an american site? I just haven’t heard of it before and wondered…
I don’t know WHY we get so many more litter options – I’m just grateful that we do!
I had never heard of DinoDirect, so I went to look, and I still don’t know if it’s an American site. It certainly looks like it might be, though!
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Stinkerbelle has the prettiest blue eyes
Isn’t she gorgeous? Fred loves his blue-eyed girl, even if he only gets to pet her once or twice a week!
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Any word on Gorgeous Gracie and The Contest She Will Win If The Judges Have Half A Brain Between Them?
No word at all on Gracie and who won the contest. I’m fairly certain that the winner was supposed to be announced on the 7th, and I haven’t heard anything and can’t find anything online either – so I’m going to guess that Gracie didn’t win?
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Seeing you talk about how big the cats were made me think of our local celebrity cat, Otto. He was on the Today show back over the summer…he was brought to a local animal hospital weighing in at 35 pounds! His previous owners didn’t take care of him well at all. He couldn’t even walk around. They’ve had him on a diet and exercise program and he is now down to 26 pounds! He can get around better and has even been playing outside some. He spends the weekends with a friend of mine who works at the clinic and he gets along with all her assorted pets and kids. Here is the link to the Clinic’s FB site..there are progress pics and they update often with Otto’s weigh ins! Just thought you might get a kick out of seeing it 🙂
Thanks, Denise! Poor sweet boy – I’m so glad that clinic refused to give up on him!
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Oh, and total non-sequitur but you might like this: Business Cat.
LOVE it!
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In the original size the trailer in front of the red building looks like it says Pork Chop Express. Is this the bus the porkers take to freezer camp?
Yeah, that’s the pig trailer. Back when we had our first couple of pigs, Fred mentioned the idea of spray-painting “Pork Chop Express” on the side, and it made us both laugh, so he did. I tried to get him to also paint “oink, oink” on it, and he refused to because he’s no fun.
What can I say? We’re warped.
Is Everett having balance issues or do you mean just how he looks? Did his sister chew off all the whiskers on that side or just the white one?
No, he’s not having balance issues, I was just joking about him being off-balance because Sally (or possibly Lucy) chewed off the white whisker on his right, but left the long white whisker on his left side untouched (of course, now that I said that, he’ll come through here with that one chewed off, too!) She chewed several of the whiskers on that side off, but of course the white one was the most noticeable, since it’s now a short little stump of a whisker.
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Did you ever mention why you got the ducks? Is it for duck eggs, or do you like duck meat, or is it just for their cute quacks?
Fred Anderson is why we got the ducks. He whined and moaned and complained and begged until I told him to JUST GET THE DUCKS SHUT UP YOU ARE DRIVING ME CRAYZEEEEEEEE.
Basically, he wanted ducks so that they would follow him around and mumble-quack at him. I don’t intend to eat any ducks (though he is certainly free to process and cook duck for himself if he’d like)(I don’t know why I’m resistant to duck; probably for the same reason I won’t eat goat – don’t wanna, not gonna, you can’t make me)(I also do not eat deer)(I am a picky princess, clearly), but I’m certainly willing to bake with duck eggs, I hear that duck eggs make your baked goods really, um, good. Heh.
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Wouldn’t a zombie chicken prefer GRAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINSSSSS?
LOL! Indeed she would!
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In clearing out my email inbox yesterday, I found two emails of note. The first was one that Cydney (another Challenger’s House foster Mom) sent me more than a month ago. She said:
Neither ladies nor kittens fart……they fluff. So when one of my dear ones jump up and promptly leave after leaving a not so dear aroma, we say we’ve been fluffed. 🙂
Believe me, I’m going to be stealing that!
The other was from Lisa – one of the Challenger’s House adoption counselors, the one who actually delivered the Peppers Gang to me. She forwarded me pictures of the Peppers Gangs’ Mama, Scarlett. If you’ll recall, Scarlett showed up at a man’s house, and he brought her inside and discovered she was pregnant. He had all the kittens in his house, but was going for surgery and couldn’t deal with recovering from surgery and also take care of the kittens. He kept Scarlett, though, and had her spayed and everything, and apparently she is one very happy little girl. She might resemble one of the Peppers Gang, though I can’t quite put my finger on who….
I kid, of course. She looks exactly like a long-haired Harlan!
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“Am sleepin, lady. You go ‘way.”
“That’s right, I snuggled with Ellie Bellz, and I LIKED IT.”
Sweet Sally.
Sweet Lucy.
Charlie has such pretty eyes.
Poor Tommy. Everyone loves him so much, he never gets a minute to himself.
Harlan, pre-yawn.
Apparently that one big ol’ rabbit foot wouldn’t fit on the windowsill with the rest of her.
Harlan and Charlie.
Have you ever seen such a contented little face?
I love it SO MUCH when the little kittens use the big kittens as body pillows.
Harlan, Sally, Lucy and Molly are headed off to Petsmart in a few hours. We sure will miss having them around, but I’m excited that they will (hopefully) find their forever homes soon.
Also, Charlie and Patty had their spaying and neutering yesterday, and all went fine. Charlie didn’t seem to realize that anything had been done, but Patty was pretty quiet all evening. Of course, it’s a bigger surgery for her than it was for him (though he might disagree); by this morning she was back to her usual active self.
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This picture of Alice reminds me very very much of…
This picture of Mister Boogers (I don’t have any idea when that picture was taken. It was at the old house, so more than five years ago. Six or seven years ago, maybe?)
Good ol’ Boogie. Indulge me for a moment while I post some of my favorite pictures of him…
He sure was a character. We still miss him an awful lot!
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What was I going to say….
I can’t quite remember…
It’s on the tip of my tongue…
Oh, right.
CORBIE IS BEAUTIFUL. (Also, sleepy.)
That is all.
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Previously 2010: Crooked Acres sights (and a house tour).
2009: No entry. 2008: The goddamn cats can’t go three feet without falling over a bed but, you know. 2007: Why should I answer the door if I’m not expecting anyone, I ask you?
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry. 2004: That girl has some serious lung power. 2003: Not holding my breath – but a girl can dream! 2002: Let me tell you about the saga of the box.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.
1999: No entry.
2012 calendars. —————–> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sights from around Crooked Acres. Those of you who guessed that these flowers (the pink ones, not the Hydrangeas) are Periwinkles were correct. Also known as Vinca Minor. They’re … Continue reading “11/10/11 – Crooked Acres Thursday”
2012 calendars. —————–>
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Sights from around Crooked Acres.
Those of you who guessed that these flowers (the pink ones, not the Hydrangeas) are Periwinkles were correct. Also known as Vinca Minor. They’re still hanging in there, despite the fact that I haven’t watered them in like a week and a half because I suck. (I’ll water them today, I PROMISE.)
The garden, pretty much put to bed. There are two or three okra plants still out there – you can see them in the middle-right side of the picture. I need to harvest the humongous pods off the plants to save for seeds for next year, and pull up the plants.
My little raised-bed area. Those are chinese cabbage in the front (one of them has bolted; I’m going to harvest the seeds for next year), regular cabbage beside them, catnip there in the background, doing beautifully, and carrots on the right side of the picture. I have hopes that I’ll still be able to harvest those cabbages, but good LORD are they growing slowly.
That’s the volunteer tomato plant growing through the fence. Fred reported that he saw one of the littlest chicks roosting on one of the branches that was sticking through to the other side of the fence. Too cute!
Panoramic view from atop the dirt pile. This is of the front of the back forty, looking toward the house. The red building on the left is the garden shed. The green building on the right is the chicken coop. The house (white) is straight ahead. The problem with panoramic pictures is that when you size them down to fit in a blog post, it makes it hard to see anything! You can see this picture larger here (if you want to see it full-sized (8192×1856), here it is original-sized.)
And a panoramic view of the left side of the back forty. That’s the pig yard behind that fence, and the pond on the right side. Size large here and original size here.
“HURRY UP LADY WE WANT OUR SNACKINS!”
I love this face.
Dirt Mountain has a ROAD up to the top, for the record. The dogs think it’s SUPER AWESOME FUNTIME.
Me (and Gracie) in front of Dirt Mountain. This still really doesn’t show the full scope of how much dirt there is. We really need to figure out how to get a picture of it from above.
(The pig yard is on the other side of Dirt Mountain, btw.)
Gracie sure does love her Daddy.
Sweet pups.
I love this picture. I don’t know why all the hens were hanging out in the coop on such a warm, sunny day, but I like seeing the range of colors.
“Come on out, hens! I promise I’ll behave!”
This hen is really pretty, but the eyes on her – she kinda looks like a zombie chicken, doesn’t she? Braaaaaaains.
This is one of the hens from our original 12. Of the original 12 we got four(ish) years ago, we still have about six of them.
Okay, I had to go look at Flickr to see when I first posted pictures of the first chickens we ever got. We got them in March 2007, so 4 1/2 years ago. Here’s one of my favorite pictures from then:
Also, the following year (2008), here’s the Rock Star as a little chick:
I like how ducks always look like they’re smiling.
They just keep getting prettier.
Ready to rumble. You can really see the difference between the males and females from the front.
When you’re a Duck,
You’re a Duck all the way
From your first juicy bug
To your last dyin’ day.
Okay, lastly, a couple of Crooked Acres videos!
The first is the ducks and chickens, hanging out under the big tree. The first part is the ducks, the second part is the chickens – mostly the white Silkie and a couple of her babies, roosting on some fallen branches.
And the second is a couple of roosters making sure everyone knows what studs they are (crowing, that is. No chicken sex in this video!)
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It cracks me up how casual Lucy is. She’s all “Yes, I’m sitting on top of my brother. What of it?”
Lucy and Everett.
Have I ever mentioned that if Harlan were human, he’d be a laid-back surfer boy? He’s such a sweet little stoner, always sitting around with his eyes at half mast, letting you pick him up and carry him around, and purring the whole time.
“Whatchoo want, lady?” (Sally)
Charlie comes by for a visit.
Charlie likes to keep an eye on things.
Harlan and Lucy, watching the bugs go by the window.
I love it when they snuggle up together like this.
Harlan, air-kneading whilst getting a belly rub.
Seriously. Do you SEE the size of those paws?!
Patty has the prettiest eyes.
Everett also has very pretty and very striking eyes.
Snoozin’ Chuckles.
Molly, lookin’ for bugs.
I hope his chewed-off white whisker grows back soon – he needs his balance restored!
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Miz Poo in the Poo Cave (there’s a warming pad in there, thus this is her favorite place to hang out when she’s not on top of me).
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Previously 2010: And then Rhyme proceeded to run around like a great big goofball. The end. 2009: The other night, Fred said “I should go out there at night and put a “NO FISHING” sign in the middle of the garden.” 2008: The pigs gave it two (four?) hooves up. 2007: Write about your day! 2006: I guess you can teach an old Fred new tricks. 2005: Can’t a girl be a dumbass without the whole world going into an uproar about it? 2004: For once, he had no good comeback. 2003: “Oh yeah. I hate this feeling. I should have just had a Diet Coke.”
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry. 1999: Can you tell this irks me?
2012 calendars. —————–> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After being lost in the AA baggage terminal for two months and finally found and taken to the vet, Jack the cat was unable to recover from his injuries … Continue reading “11/9/11 – Kitteh Wednesday”
2012 calendars. —————–>
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After being lost in the AA baggage terminal for two months and finally found and taken to the vet, Jack the cat was unable to recover from his injuries and was euthanized on Sunday, poor guy. You can read more about him on the Facebook page that was started up soon after he was lost.
If you, by any chance, were ever concerned about what would happen if Harlan lost the use of his back legs – how would he get around?! – he would like to assure you that he’s got it figured out.
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In case you missed it over on Facebook, the big Peppers will be going to Petsmart this weekend!
Well, most of the big Peppers will. Molly and Lucy will be sharing a cage, and Harlan and Sally will be sharing another. Everett will stay here for now, and when one of the others is adopted, he’ll go take their space. Depending on how adoptions go, I think Patty and Charlie might be going soon, too, I’m not sure. (Charlie and Patty are going for their neutering and spaying tomorrow and will pretty much be ready to go as soon as space opens up.)
The big Peppers have been here for three and a half months, can you believe that? They’ve come a long way, for sure.
Tommy looks pleased to have Charlie biting his tail, doesn’t he?
Charlie sure does like the big cats.
Molly, in one of the rare moments when she’s not rolling around on her back in front of me, demanding belly rubs.
Charlie is one happy boy.
Lucy shows off her pretty eyes. Couldn’t you just kiss her square on the mouth?
Smug Charlie, snuggled up with Sally.
‘Nother shot of the pretty, pretty Molly.
Harlan, doing his Corbie imitation.
Harlan and Patty.
In the evenings, when it gets dark, we call in the cats and shut the back door. Then everyone gets cat treats. The fosters have learned to partake of crunchy time. Note that four out of five big Peppers are present, both the little Peppers, Corbie, and Jake and Elwood. Sometimes Spanky comes in for a few crunchies, but this is the core group.
Note that Corbie and Harlan are practically nose-to-nose, for comparison purposes.
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This makes me laugh, because Joe Bob’s all stretched out, chillin’, and Maxi’s out there acting like she wants to come in and is appalled that Joe Bob’s inside and she isn’t. But then OF COURSE I went over and opened the door and she gave me the Manson lamps and strolled away. I so hate it when cats do that.
Beautiful Miss Stinkerbelle from atop the kitchen cabinets.
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Previously 2010: Links you should check out. 2009: We actually left the house after dark on Saturday AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW THE EARTH REMAINED ON ITS AXIS.
2008: No entry. 2007: Stupid bossy car. 2006: “Damn pansy-ass city folk.” 2005: as a customer and a HUMAN, I outrank the computer, and I’d like a little RESPECT, thank you. 2004: All this cleaning is making me lightheaded.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry. 2000: Little things make me happy. 1999: Guest entry by Fred.
2012 calendars. —————–> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After being lost in the AA baggage terminal for two months and finally found and taken to the vet, Jack the cat was unable to recover from his injuries … Continue reading “11/8/11 – Tuesday”
2012 calendars. —————–>
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After being lost in the AA baggage terminal for two months and finally found and taken to the vet, Jack the cat was unable to recover from his injuries and was euthanized on Sunday, poor guy. You can read more about him on the Facebook page that was started up soon after he was lost.
Is it just me, or does Kim Kardashian perpetually look stunned, like she’s been zapped in the ass by a cattle prod and she’s trying to determine whether she liked it or not?
I unfortunately exposed myself to a few hours of that Kardashian show (I truly don’t know the name of it. Growing Up Kardashian? Kicking it Kardashian Style? Where are the NBA Players, Here Come the Kardashians?) when I was recovering from surgery. It was oddly easy to snooze to (also very easy to snooze to: Nancy Grace. I’ve never watched a minute of her show, but I happened to stop on whatever channel she’s on for a moment, and the next thing I knew it was an hour later and I was waking up feeling rested and refreshed.)
As far as I can determine, there’s Kim (Porny Spice), Khloe (Amazon Spice), and Kourtney (Living with that Douchey Looking Guy Spice), Kris (Attention Whore Mama Spice), Rob (Boy Spice), and an assortment of younger girls who are not really Kardashians (Jenner Spices). They all seem really annoying, and now that I’m mostly recovered from surgery, I can’t believe I was able to sit through any of those shows, let alone like six of them AND the wedding.
(Fred walked in while I was snoozing through one of the shows and was HORRIFIED because he thought I had recorded it with the DVR. I am not THAT desperate, thank you, especially when I have like 40 episodes of Friends on the DVR. God, I still love that show.)
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Speaking of recovering from surgery, I had Fred take the recliner upstairs on Sunday, and am back to the couch when I watch TV, and the living room looks a lot better. I’m able to lift more (though Fred’s still doing the heavy lifting for another week and a half), I’m doing the cooking, and I even drove to the grocery store yesterday. I’m still not supposed to – and don’t – turn my head all the way to one side or the other or all the way up or down, but that’s pretty much it as far as limitations go.
YES, I KNOW YOU WANT PICTURES. I’ll get on it soon. Maybe. Probably. Some day. I don’t expect that y’all will see the difference as much as I do, because I think that it’s not the sort of difference everyone else would immediately notice, but I notice it every time I look in the mirror, and I am really happy with how I’m looking in the under-chinnal area these days.
I’m still wearing the stupid head garment for a little while during the day and all night long, but I’m getting to the point where it’s making my ears hurt (because they rub against the material), so I told Fred that I’ll wear it during the day ’til tomorrow, and then I’m calling three weeks good enough, and will just wear it at night. I think I’ve healed enough that nothing will snap loose and re-jowl me.
Guess what I get to do tomorrow? VACUUM. Don’t mock me, I’m kind of excited about it. Fred does a good enough job, but he doesn’t do MY kind of vacuuming job and I don’t really expect him to.
Perhaps in another week or so, I’ll even clean the bathrooms. You know you want my exciting life.
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Lisa’s comment yesterday made me laaaaaaaaugh:
I laughed my arse off at the video, because like others have mentioned, it sounds EXACTLY like hubby and I. This week-end, I was on the receiving end and it did *not* go well. I was clearing off my desk, occasionally shredding a sheet of paper. WHILE MY BACK WAS TURNED, Steve decided it was vitally important for him to call somebody he works with to discuss who-the-fuck-cares. Being unaware his very special ass was now on the phone, I ran a couple more things through the shredder. And then, THEN, he YELLED at me, “Hey, you want to hold it down over there? I’m on the phone!” Perhaps feeling his life wasn’t in *quite* enough danger at that point, he SNAPPED HIS FINGERS and POINTED at me! Yes, he did! I will leave you to imagine what I told him (after he got off the phone, because *I* have some manners!), but the gist of it was that he was going to end up with either a phone or his pointer finger jammed up his ass if he EVER pulled that shit again. He just kinda giggled weakly, because he knew I meant it!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up the phone and called someone while he was sitting behind me, and I always assume he hears me dialing the phone, but then I say “Hi.” and he says “Hey.” I say “What are you doing?” and he says “Sitting at my computer.” Then I have to turn and say “I’m on the phone” so he won’t continue responding to me.
(I have also snapped my fingers and pointed at Fred, but only when he’s being deliberately annoying.)
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Lisa, by the way, is the same evil woman who directed me to Pioneer Woman’s Apple Dumplings recipe. I halved it and made it over the weekend and OH MY GOD, that stuff is SO good. Also the easiest thing I’ve ever made!
I actually had a second can of croissants, and I used it to make this stuff which was basically sugar and butter sprinkled on the top and baked, then topped with a glaze, and we were both completely unimpressed. I was kicking myself and wishing that I’d just made a whole batch of Apple Dumplings – but probably it’s best that I didn’t.
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In Friday’s comments, Paula mentioned that her friend works at the company that produces Cat’s Pride litter, and they’ve recently come out with a version called Fresh & Light and that I might want to give it a try. Since I am ALWAYS ready to try another litter in hopes of finding the perfect one (I’m a litter slut, I’ll go where the wind blows, I KNOW the perfect litter that isn’t dusty, clumps well, and holds down the stank is OUT THERE, I just need to find it!), I asked Fred to pick up a box of it when he went to Walmart Saturday morning. He did, and Saturday evening when we emptied, scrubbed out, and refilled the litter boxes in the upstairs bathroom and in the foster room, I filled one of them with the Cat’s Pride Fresh & Light.
I can tell you that it is possibly the least dusty litter I’ve used yet – Fred said that he thinks it’s even less dusty than the Cat Attract. It clumps well, but it just so happens that that litter box is one of the lesser-used ones, so I’m thinking of moving it either into the bathroom or switching it with one of the ones in the guest bedroom. I can’t speak to how it is with holding down the litter box stank, at least not yet, but probably by mid-week next week I’ll know whether it’s a litter worth sticking with or not. If I decide it’s worth switching over to, I’ll do it ever so slowly, so as not to set off the spraying bandits in the house.
I’ll try to remember to let y’all know how it holds up – if I forget to and you’re wondering, feel free to remind me. I tend to forget to follow up. Y’all know how I am.
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“I HAVE YOU, feather teaser!”
Tiptoe through the tulips. Er, the foster room.
Lucy has the giggles.
“Dude. Your toenails are UP MY NOSE!”
Tasty, tasty feather teaser.
Would you look at the monster paw on that guy?
Harlan keeps an eye on Everett.
If you’re Facebook friends with Love & Hisses, you’ve already seen this picture. Corbie was in the big bed on the table, snoozing, when that little hussy Molly climbed right in with him.
He was like “Dude. You see what I have to put up with, here?”
Newt just kept sleeping.
That much beautiful stripey goodness in one cat bed? It’s unheard of. I’m surprised the bed didn’t have some sort of nuclear reaction and blow to bits.
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Tom Cullen is a fine figure of a mancat.
And he knows it.
But he’s not such a manly mancat that he isn’t willing to help with the groceries!
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Previously 2010: You know, I’m just never allowed to have anything nice ’round here.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry. 2007: That is not “getting” someone a car, that is BULLYING SOMEONE INTO DRIVING THE KIND OF CAR YOU WANT THEM TO DRIVE. 2006: Y’all just shut UP. We do NOT have eight cats. 2005: It’s a fucking mystery. 2004: I seem to be a tad less fluttery today.
2003: No entry. 2002: Pictures. 2001: Fred in the dog house. Literally. 2000: I said “It’s a good thing you put your first AND last name, PLUS ‘your daughter’, otherwise I’d never have known!” 1999: Oddly, even though he’s had two doses of the antibiotic, he’s feeling worse instead of better.
2012 calendars. —————–> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Over the weekend, Fred dug up one of his old entries and posted it over at Goodreads. Still makes me laugh! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ … Continue reading “11/7/11 – Monday”
I haven’t heard anything about who won the Greenies Healthy Smile contest (the one I harassed you guys to vote for for weeks, which you did because you are WONDERFUL, and thank you again!) I feel like I remember that today (the 7th) was the day the winner was to be announced, but I’m not seeing anything on the Greenies site and haven’t heard anything, so I don’t know. If I hear anything, I will definitely pass it along.
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Sunday morning I woke up around the same time I’ve been waking up lately (6:30), only due to the time change, it was only 5:30, so I got up and let Tommy out of my room and went back to sleep. I finally rolled out of bed around 6:45, and was getting dressed in preparation for scooping the litter boxes and all that fun morning stuff, when Fred yelled up to me.
“What?” I yelled back.
“Are you up?”
“Yes.”
“Chickens are here!” he said. It was his plan to get up and process roosters first thing in the morning, something he’s been needing to do for a while now, but – understandably – he tends to procrastinate. This weekend, though, he decided it was time to get it done and over with, and so he set up his processing station Saturday night. I expected he’d be done with the processing by the time I got up, because he likes to do it as early as possible.
I didn’t know what he expected me to do – I was up and getting dressed, after all – so I just called down “Well, I’m up!” and continued getting dressed. I went around the house and scooped all the litter boxes, then opened the side door (he was cleaning up his processing station in the driveway) and said “What did you want me to do?”
“Huh?”
“You said the chickens are here, was there something special you wanted me to do?”
It turned out he was just letting me know that he was done with the chickens and it was my turn to take over and do my thing (bag them, put them in the fridge to age for a couple of days, and then put them all in the freezer).
I walked into the laundry room to fill the cats’ food bowls, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Elwood run across the kitchen counter with what looked like a piece of ham in his mouth.
Where the hell did he get a piece of ham? I wondered, and went back into the kitchen for a closer look. It wasn’t a piece of ham – it was a piece of a chicken breast, and he hunkered down and started eating it, while Alice sat nearby and watched him closely.
After some investigation, I went to the side door and said “How about next time, instead of saying ‘The chickens are here,’ you say ‘The chicken pieces are in bowls in the sink in a perfect location for Elwood to steal a piece’? I assumed you’d put the chickens in the fridge.”
I went back into the kitchen and took the piece of chicken away from Elwood, then cut it up and put it on a plate for him. Sure, I could have rinsed it off and put it with the rest of the chicken but, um, no. I wasn’t going to eat chicken that had had cat slobber all over it, thank you very much. There wasn’t a lot of chicken there, maybe an ounce, so I gave it to Elwood. (In retrospect I’m sure that I just rewarded the food-stealing behavior and probably he’ll skulk around the kitchen counters constantly in hopes that he can “catch” some food and be rewarded by me allowing him to eat it.) Once he ate as much as he wanted, I put the plate on the floor.
Here’s where it got kind of interesting – all the big Peppers came through the kitchen and sniffed at the plate then kept moving, but Charlie and Patty both bellied right up to the plate and licked it clean.
“I guess you can tell who lived under a trailer and who was born into a home where they were fed regularly, can’t you?” said Fred.
Indeed.
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I’m aware that I sound like a shrieking harpy in this video, but it has to be shared. It makes both of us laugh and laugh. (Warning: not safe for work or little ears or anyone who shouldn’t hear me saying “goddamn.”)
The video ended before he could complete his reasonable suggestion, but he was saying “Well, why don’t you TELL me when you’re recording?”
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So, we finally got around to watching last week’s The Walking Dead.
First, I have to register a complaint – I’m sorry, but “herd” of zombies? Really? That is possibly the least imaginative, least creative descriptive they could have come up with. I’d like to submit for your consideration:
A shuffle of zombies.
Thankya. Thankyaverymuch.
IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN LAST WEEK’S EPISODE OF THE WALKING DEAD (THE ONE WITH SHANE AND OTIS IN THE SCHOOL), SKIP TO THE NEXT SECTION.
Okay, so we watched last week’s episodes of The Walking Dead.
Unfortunately, I had inadvertently read in a recap what happened at the end of that episode so I basically waited the entire episode for it to happen. Fred, on the other hand, had no idea at all what was coming down the pike, so his gasp of surprise was oddly gratifying to me.
I don’t like Shane at all, but I was still surprised that he’d pull a cowardly move like that. I mean, I guess I can KIND OF understand it – they’re surrounded by zombies, he’s got the supplies that can help save Carl, it’s the only way he can think of to get away – but, man. COLD.
I guess that’s all I really have to say ’bout that. Except that I don’t like Shane. AT ALL. I think he and Lori are the perfect pair because I also don’t much care for her. They should go off and be assholes together.
I read somewhere that Merle will be back, but a perusal of IMDB doesn’t show that he’s listen in any 2011/ 2012 episodes, so maybe not. I have loved the hell out of Michael Rooker since he was Earle in Bastard out of Carolina. Fred and I watched that together, and we spent the whole damn movie saying “Earle would not put up with this shit. Someone tell Earle what’s going on!” and when the time finally came that someone said “Go get Earle,” we cheered loudly. Ever since, every time we see his name, we get excited because WE LOVE US SOME EARLE.
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Charlie and Patty are going on Thursday for their spaying and neutering!
“Say what?”
Um, nothing.
Poor Miz Poo. They just CLIMB right into the bed with her. As much a needy little lovemuffin as she is, you’d think she’d welcome the intrusion, but she has no use for other cats, she’s strictly human-only when it comes to giving the love. If she’s feeling sassy or if they get right up in her face, she’ll smack ’em. Otherwise, she just looks the other way and pretends they don’t exist.
I sure wish Charlie could relax.
He’s a ball of stress, is what he is.
Patty, too. Super stressed!
(Her eyes are not that blue, it’s just ’cause of the blanket she’s laying on.)
Molly’s wondering why I’m all the way over here, pointing that camera at her, when I could be over there, petting her.
Oh, this drives me crazy. Everett had a jaunty white whisker on either side of his face. And THEN one of his crazy whisker-eating sisters (I think Sally’s the culprit) chewed one of them off. He’s off-balance now!
Harlan noms on some tasty cardboard.
The table is where I put stuff when I’m too lazy to put it away. The cats and kittens find it endlessly fascinating (and okay, there ARE beds for them there, after all).
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Sheriff Mama sees what you’re doing and thinks you’d better knock it off NOW before she gets serious on your behind.
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry. 2008: This ‘n that. 2007: I nominate Fred to do all the slaughtering himself. 2006: Questions answered. 2005: This makes me want to wrap my child in bubble wrap and lock her in her room until she’s 35.
2004: No entry. 2003: Meme. 2002: “How fucking much is that goddamn bread? A dollar ninety-fucking-five? Okay, put a couple of the motherfuckers in my cart, would you, fuckwad?” 2001: I briefly considered making a citizen’s arrest. 2000: (ie, “It’s all the fault of that fat bitch you married!”) 1999: I woke this morning at 2:30ish, feeling something wasn’t quite right.
The 2012 calendars are available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House. I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be … Continue reading “11/4/11 – Friday”
The 2012 calendars are available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House.
I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be in the sidebar to the right.
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okay, 13 cats. And now you have a swimming pool. Does this mean you might be ready soon to make your own Cat & Dolphin video?
Never say never!
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Did you have to pay anything for your revision, or is that something the plastic surgeon did for you because of you not liking the initial result? Just wondering, as I may be in the same boat.
I did not have to pay anything at all for the revision. My surgeon has his own on-site clinic, so it might have been a different story if the surgery took place at a hospital, but it was completely free (to me) in my case.
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When I glance at your bio box, every single time, the lines:
very happily married to
Fred (Fred no longer
blogs)
morph themselves into a different arrangement so that, and let me repeat that this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME, my brain processes it as:
no longer happily married
to Fred (Fred blogs)
and (EVERY SINGLE TIME!) I think, “Whoa, what happened, and why is FRED the one blogging about it?!”
In fact, that’s not quite true, because it’s happened so many times that by now, my reaction is more, “Yeah, they split up, I remember hearing about – wait, NO, that’s not right.”
Elayne, you make me LOL at least once a week!
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Where is that pile of dirt located on your property? What popped in my mind was grade it so it is easy to mow. Landscape it up all nice. Have a area on the top where you and Fred can sit and relax. Observe the goings on all around Crooked Acres.
It’s located in the middle of the back 40 (I’m looking forward to taking a panoramic picture of the back forty so y’all can see (1) just how big it is and (2) where it’s located). Fred keeps claiming that he wants to create a Devil’s Tower out of it, but he’s (mostly) kidding.
I’m trying to convince him that we could use it to make an adobe hut at the back of the back forty, and it could be our summer home (heh), but he doesn’t seem convinced.
He is planning on using some of it to even out bumpy spots around the property, and we’re going to raise the garden’s low spots a bit, and I’m sure there are other plans for that pile of dirt, but we’ve still got wayyy more dirt than we could ever use.
For the time being, the dogs and chickens are really enjoying running (and pecking) around in that dirt!
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Hubby digs ponds for a living (in Kansas or I would have sent him your way) and he’s never dug a square (ok, retangular) pond. That took alot of extra time to have it so perfect, ie extra money. Let me guess — that’s what Fred wanted, right? haha
Fred tells me there was no discussion on the shape of the pond – and we see a lot of rectangular ponds in this area, so maybe it’s a regional thing?
I would think that digging a straight hole with a backhoe (that has straight sides on the scoop thingy) would be easier than digging a round hole, no?
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I have been reading you for going on a decade, and have never commented (guess that makes me the ultimate-skimmer/lurker). Love your postings and miss you while you are gone! I can’t believe I am even posting this of all things I could have posted about over the years, but I have been watching reruns of the Big Bang Theory lately on TBS, and last night I totally thought of you, and your section today about the cat songs makes this (in my head) even more entertaining. Sheldon, one of the geeky main characters, likes to sing a song entitled “Soft Kitty” and last night he and the female character (don’t know her name) were singing it in rounds on the show. It made me laugh out loud, and I immediately thought of you and your brood. Sheldon only allows it to be sung when he or someone else is sick, so you may want to add that to your rotation if need be. Thank you for doing this and being so entertaining while doing it.
I absolutely LOVE that song. We don’t watch The Big Bang Theory (I imagine it’ll be like just about everything else we end up watching – people told us for years and years how awesome Arrested Development was, and we didn’t start watching ’til the show was cancelled, and fell in LOVE, I’m sure it’ll be the same with The Big Bang Theory), but I know of the song, and it always makes me happy to hear it.
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Hey are you and Fred watching “The Walking Dead” on AMC? Season 2 just started. It really is a great show. I’m not into the whole zombie thing, but the characters and story line in this show are great. If you haven’t seen season 1 you guys should Netflix it! I’m just sayin”.
Indeed we are! I’ve never been a big zombie fan either, but the show’s definitely worth watching. I recently read that they’ve already renewed it for a third season.
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I agree! That color green looks mahvelous on you. And once I picked myself up off the floor upon seeing you in something that is NOT a t-shirt that is FAR too large, my first thought was “I want!” Where did you get it?
I do all my shopping at Kohl’s because I’m a fancy bitch, so I’m sure it came from there. Might have been from last year, though – I think it’s been hanging in the closet for a while.
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happy 12th! i’ve been reading you since the summer of 2000. you, robyn, are my longest relationship. 🙂
And you are more beautiful than the day I started posting and you started reading, dahling. 😉
Yes, I completely missed the occasion, given that I was in Myrtle Beach, but my 12th blogiversary (journalversary, I think I used to call it) came and went on October 10th. 12 years, 3,031 posts, and I bet there’s more than one of you who’ve read every one of them, am I right?
Here’s to another 12 years! (I just burst a brain cell trying to figure out how old I’ll be in 12 years. But first I had to figure out how old I am NOW. Good lord.)(I’ll be 55 in 12 years, for the record, if my calculations that I’m currently 43 are correct.)
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We are going to expand our chicken yard and are wondering what kind of fencing materials you guys use for your chicken yard. We will be putting our flock dog in there with them as you guys did. I’ve tried looking back through Crooked Acres Thurs. pics and it looks like you might use several different types of fencing materials, but I wasn’t sure if the different types were for the chickens vs. pigs.
Will, I’m sorry it took me so long to get these pictures! As I mentioned in the email to you, the fence all the way around the back forty is 5-foot chicken wire. In addition to that, because we were having issues with chicks pushing under the fence to wander around the property, I went around last year and added 2 foot-tall welded wire fence around the bottom. I used wire snippers to cut pieces off, and then pushed the bottom into the dirt, and attached the welded wire to the chicken wire with zip ties. We still occasionally get some wandering chicks who get out of the back forty (there are some small gaps around the gate), but once they’re past a certain size, they can’t squeeze out, and stay in the back forty.
In the first picture, you can see the pig fencing off in the distance. That’s four-foot (I think) welded wire, and has electric wire running around the inside of it.
Actually, we had electric fencing around the inside of the back forty fence up until the tornado came through earlier this year, and the tree came down on the fence and the electric wire got hosed. Fred was planning to replace it, but we haven’t had any issues with George and Gracie getting out, or even trying to, so I’m not sure if he’s planning on doing that any more.
Look at me, rambling on and on about fencing. Who knew it’d be so fascinating? Let me know if you have any questions!
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My Gawd! When you said POND I imagined a nice little round rock pond. What you’ve got there is an Olympic Sized Swimming pool. Since you aren’t going to swim in it what are you going to do with it? Stock it with fish and have a fishing hole? It’s so big you are bound to attract Canadian Geese and THEN you will be sorry. Then you will be forced to buy some Chinese Geese to keep the Canadian’s in order. And those Chinese Geese will scare you and break your eardrums with their LOUD bellows. Just saying.
THE POND IS FOR THE DUCKS, you guys. THE DUCKS. Because this ridiculous setup, right here:
“Why am I not floating? Oh, right. Because I’m just standing here in this shallow, shallow pool.”
is not working for them. Who’s the brain trust who HAD to have ducks even though we didn’t have a pond? Who? Who went on and on and on about wanting the fucking ducks until I snapped and told him to get the fucking things and then stick them up his ass? I was not the one who HAD to have those fucking things so they’d follow him around and mumble-quack under their breath.
(But they are cute, damnit.)
Also, we are putting catfish in the pond, I think. I hope they don’t eat the ducks. (Catfish are the pigs of the water world, I hear.)
The main reason that pond is so big? So that when the rains hit this Winter/ Spring, instead of the back forty flooding and causing the ditch to flood and causing half the property to flood, the water will go in the pond instead of flooding us out. We’ll see how that works.
Also also, George and Gracie would never in a million years allow any stinkin’ old GEESE to set up camp in that pond. I base this on their reaction when they see a Robin set down in the middle of the back forty. They run those songbirds OFF and then they are so super-proud of themselves they just can’t stand it.
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That IS one big motherfucking pile of dirt. Any takers of the excess yet?
Not a single solitary one – like Fred Tweeted recently, people see a sign that says “You haul it” and think it means Fred will haul it for them. Uhhhhh, no.
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How are you going to fill the pond? How do you keep the water from soaking down?
The rain, hopefully, will fill the pond this Winter. The bottom of the pond is mostly a clay-type soil, and the guys who dug the pond are pretty sure that it’ll hold water.
(Yes, these are the guys who were surprised at how much dirt came out of the hole they were digging for the pond. SIGH.)
The guys who dug the pond packed down the clay with their big, heavy equipment (stop snickering), too. If the pond doesn’t hold water, there’s some sort of… something (sorry to be so technical, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is) we can sprinkle on the bottom of the pond to encourage it to hold water. If THAT doesn’t work, we can switch the fences around next Spring so that next year’s pigs have access to the pond, because apparently nothing seals a pond like pigs. Given how well their wallows hold water, I’m thinking that’s true!
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I know you probably mentioned it before, but I am too lazy to look for it….what camera did you end up getting?? I love the panoramic shots. I think my camera does that too but I have never used it…maybe it was my old one that did :-/ I need a new toy…it’s been a while since I got one, but I don’t think I will go so far as to have my pet pee on something to get one!
It’s a Sony Alpha A55. I looked at a bazillion different cameras, but in the end we’ve always had Sonys and really liked them, so after reading the reviews on Amazon and thinking hard about it, I decided on the A55. It’s lighter than the A100 was (though that could be because the lens is smaller), and it has a rubberized grip area so that it’ll be a little more difficult to drop (and unless I’m using it, I keep it in my desk drawer to avoid having it peed upon). So far, I really really like it. The next sunny day we have, I have a date with Fred in the foster room to get some jumping kitten pictures!
Also, perhaps I mentioned that I really like the panoramic function?
While I’m recommending things, I recently got and LOVELOVELOVE an Eye-Fi Card for my camera. In short, it automatically, via Wi-Fi, uploads your pictures to your computer. So if I’m wandering around snapping a zillion pictures, by the time I mosey back to my computer, all those pictures are ALREADY on my computer, waiting to be looked at. You can also use it to post your pictures on various sites (Flickr is the only one that I can remember at the moment), but I don’t use that function. You can read more about it at the main Eye-Fi site.
I love this thing SO DAMN MUCH, y’all. Like I told Craige on Facebook yesterday, if this were an infomercial, you’d see the text/ hear the voiceover “NO FUMBLING WITH CARD READERS OR MESSY CORDS!” and me fumbling through my Drawer of Doom looking irritable.
I swear, this is the best thing I’ve purchased this year. I HIGHLY recommend it. (I would have tried it before now, but the Eye-Fi wouldn’t work with the A100 and doesn’t work with my little W300.)
Go get you one! (I got the 4GB card because I’ve never in my life filled up a memory stick – I like a clean memory stick – and also because you can set the Endless Memory function so that when the memory stick is too full, it will automatically delete pictures that have already been uploaded. How neat is that!)
PS: Annika, I will post a more in-depth review of the camera when I’ve been using it a bit longer, along with pictures of the camera itself. I can tell you that it’s not a camera you’d throw in your purse and go. It’s got heft to it, and though I’d take it on vacation (to Myrtle Beach or Maine or any other place where I’d get scenic pictures), I wouldn’t take it with me, say, on a trip to the supermarket (that’s what my little W300 is for!)(Also my cell phone.)(Also my iPod Touch.)(I have too many things that take pictures, obviously!)
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beautiful mb pictures, thanks for putting them up – i miss the southeastern beaches, a lot (i was born and raised in blacksburg, va and spent time during every summer of my childhood at the beach – va beach, nags head, cape hatteras, annapolis, md). did you eat hush puppies while you were there? people out here (utah currently) don’t know what a hush puppy is. 😛
I live in Alabama – I don’t have to go to Myrtle Beach for hushpuppies, they practically hand ’em out on the corners here!
Okay, not really – but since I can have hushpuppies whenever I want, it turns out that I rarely do, and I didn’t have any in Myrtle Beach. Five bucks says that if I were to up and move to a place where I couldn’t get hushpuppies, I’d probably want them all the time!
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Wow!!! That is one giant sparkle ball! Where did you get it?
I wish I knew! I’m thinking maybe Pet Depot, though I think it’s also likely that I just saw it in passing somewhere, bought it, and wiped the location from my memory.
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Any word on Buster? It saddened me to hear that he did not play well with others. Hope he finds his forever home soon as well.
Buster is still in residence at Petsmart. Lisa (one of the CH adoption counselors, who brought me the big Peppers!) reported that the first time she let him out of his cage so she could snuggle him, he started herding her, like he did me in this video:
AGH, HE IS SUCH A SWEET BOY SOMEONE NEEDS TO ADOPT HIM RIGHT NOWWWWWWWWWW!
I will, of course, let y’all know when he gets adopted – his picture’s over there in the sidebar under “At Petsmart”; I plan to put a big red “ADOPTED!!!!” banner on his picture when he’s adopted!
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20 cats…WOW! Just how many litters boxes do you have in operation right now?? And does everyone come inside to go, or do you have some that prefer to do their business outside?
Right now, I’ve got three litter boxes in the laundry room, two in the front room, and two in the upstairs bathroom. In addition, I’ve got two in the upstairs foster room, and two in the guest bedroom.
(Getting out my calculator…)
So, that’s nine eleven litter boxes. Which I personally scoop twice a day.
I know that conventional wisdom says that you need to have one litter box per cat plus one, which would mean we’d need 21 litter boxes right now and I can just tell you that, um, no. We don’t have the room for 21 litter boxes. We don’t even have the room for the 14 we’d need (following that conventional wisdom). The number of litter boxes we’ve got seems to work well as long as they’re scooped twice a day and completely dumped out, scrubbed out, and refilled with clean litter every other week or so.
We are talking about getting air purifiers to put in a couple of different locations in the house. Not so much for the smell but more for the dust. Even the Cat Attract litter, which is the least dusty litter I’m able to find, produces some dust, and Fred’s been coughing a lot lately.
Most of the boy cats will use the back yard as a litter box (hey, don’t you want to come over for a cookout? We can hang out in the back yard! No, really, take your shoes off and walk around!) and I know Kara will too, but Miz Poo and Alice usually come inside to use the litter boxes, then go back outside. They’re layyyydeeez and they have some manners, don’tchaknow.
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How big is Joe Bob? My male cat, Logan, looks very similar (though he has more grey and less white) and I’m thinking they would be a match made in heaven. 😀 Logan’s 18lbs of tall, long Tom.
Joe Bob’s actually lighter than he looks – he recently weighed in at 11.8 pounds. He’s a big cat, but he’s more tall and long than heavy.
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I’m so glad I’m not the only one that makes up cat songs. I make up songs about our two cats all.day.long. In fact the other day I was hanging with my 2yo when our 22 pound tabby came over. His name is Youk, and after he KNOCKED ME DOWN head butting me, I referred to him as Youkapotomus. Then I began to sing, “Oh I want a Youkapotomus for Christmas,” which is now my 2yo’s favorite song EVER and he must hear it sung anything Youkie comes near us.
Love it!
(Also, I love “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” – I have to hear it multiple times every year or my Christmas season isn’t complete!)
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That Elwood, he’s HUGE. Do you know what he weighs?
14.2 pounds as of mid-July (I think). He is a big, big boy. I actually thought he was bigger than Tommy, but Tommy is actually about half a pound heavier. I won’t be surprised if (when) Elwood passes Tommy, though.
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Have you seen this kitty attacking apples…funniest thing I have seen in a long time.
Is that a Scottish Fold, do you think?
How cute is that!
I do think that might be a Scottish Fold, but I’m not super-familiar with the breed, so I can’t say for sure. Looks like it might be, though!
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Is Joe Bob an outside only kitteh?
No, not at all – Joe Bob goes outside during the day (and is supposed to stay in the back yard!) like the rest of the cats, but occasionally figures out how to get out of his collar and comes to let me know that “Hey, Mom, look what I did! Now let me roll around and purr!” I would have thought that he’d make the connection that finding Mom = being brought back inside and recollared, but somehow he hasn’t figured it out yet!
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I think you should calculate (as best you can) the total number of cats you’ve had in yours and Fred’s lifetime, plus all the fosters. When someone asks you how many cats you have, proudly announce that total: “Elebenty-billion!” and when they come to, laugh and say that you’ve had cats all your life and fostered many more, and all “your” cats are living all over the world. Then that ‘thirteen’ seems like nuttin’.
and
ooo, I like the way that sounds: your cats are living all over the world!
(ok, probably just all over Alabama, but it still sounds pretty cool 🙂 )
I’m not sure I could actually count that high – and wouldn’t I feel awful if I missed/ forgot someone!
My fosters are actually living all over the country, if not the world (though, with the Army base being in Huntsville, I wouldn’t completely discount the idea of them being all over the world!). Remember, Gus and Mike (now Topher and Dorian) went off to live in Oregon a couple of years ago. Hoyt (aka Lugnut) is in NC with Michelle, who drove down here specifically to get him. Starsky and Hutch (now Percy and Jack) are in Indianapolis with Jen and Kiefer. Dorothy‘s in St. Louis with Andrea. And let’s not forget Maddy, my very first bottle baby, who went to Pennsylvania to live with Nance and her family way back in 2006!
Hmm. This appears to be the time of year when people fall in love with one of my fosters over the internet and drive long, long distances to come adopt them! (Well, except that Michelle came in the Spring and Andrea in the Summer.) Something about the cold weather makes people in fall in kitten love, I guess. 🙂
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I love cats dearly but I think twenty in the house would drive me completely crazy. I currently have two and I always feel as though I’m surrounded by cats when I’m home. Like today I am home sick and have one cat under the blanket with me and the other sitting next to me on the couch. I can’t escape them. Twenty would bury me alive.
I have got to say that though there are times when I’m like “OH MY GOD I CAN’T BREATHE, GET OFF ME!”, those times are pretty few and far between. Right now, I’m sitting at my computer and there are four cats (Spanky, Miz Poo, Charlie Peppers and Sally Peppers) within reach, but they’re not on top of me or even against me. Molly will probably come and flop down in front of me in a little while (she comes, she stays for some belly rubbing and kissing, then she goes along her merry way). If I go watch TV later, one or two kittens will probably climb up for some love for a while, then go off to play or whatever.
Sometimes I feel like I’m the Peanuts character Pig-Pen, only instead of a cloud of dirt around my feet, I’ve got a cloud of kittens.
Also, I cannot stand having cats on me when I’m sleeping. I can handle having them up against me (and when the weather turns cold, more and more of them show up to sleep against me), but the only cats who reliably sleep with me are Miz Poo (ALWAYS – she’d crawl in my mouth and sleep there if she could) and Tommy, who sleeps in the cat bed at the end of the bed.
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What on earth do you and Fred do with all your cats when you both go out of town together? This issue has been on my mind since we’ve been arranging care for our three cats during our upcoming Christmas travel blitz (6 nights, 2 states, lots of driving!).
What is this “go out of town together” you speak of? Seriously, since we bought this house 5 years ago Fred hasn’t left overnight even once. I WANT him to come away with me, I keep harassing him about it, but he just… doesn’t want to. We used to go to Gatlinburg pretty regularly, and we even went to Ft. Walton Beach a few times, but since we moved here, EVEN THOUGH we’ve had friends and family members offer to take care of the animals for us if we go away for a few days, he just hasn’t been interested.
I imagine that if I could convince him to go away, we’d either ask a friend/ family member to scoop and feed for us, or hire a petsitting service to come in and do it.
Ideally we’d have a college-aged kid who could come stay in the house while we were gone, but we don’t so that’s a no-go.
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I should have known when the kittens started jumping down from the tops of the bookcases all of a sudden that there was something going on.
There was.
A wasp had gotten inside. I had no problems finding it, thanks to the kitten alarm system, and scooped it up and squooshed it before they could get stung.
(Alice’s face is cracking me up. She’s like “What fresh hell is this?”)
Harlan and Lucy watching bugs out the window, while Charlie gets a bit too familiar with the sniffing of Harlan’s chest. How RUDE.
“Someone need to clean this window, lady.” Shaddup, Harlan.
I love the way the sun is shining through Lucy’s ears.
Our Lucy’s getting to be a grownup lady cat, isn’t she?
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ATTENTION. THIS IS YOUR WEEKLY EMERGENCY NOTICE. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.
CORBIE.
IS.
BEAUTIFUL.
THAT IS ALL. YOU MAY GO BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED LIVES.
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Speaking of Corbie, back in the Spring, someone (or as it turned out, TWO someones) were spraying in a couple of spots in the house. We couldn’t figure it out who was doing it, and so we did the obvious: we bought a motion-detect webcam that would record when there was movement, and so in the mornings I’d come downstairs to a thousand short movie clips on my computer that I had to glance through.
I got a couple of clips that showed just how Corbie – who is kind of muscularly challenged from the midsection back (he’s perfectly healthy, there’s just a lack of muscle back there that makes it so he walks funny and can’t really jump. It doesn’t slow him down – he climbs well in spite of his lack of Arnold-sized muscles) – gets up on the couch.
One thing for sure – we can never clip his front claws, or he’d never be able to get anywhere!
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Previously 2010: Sights from around Crooked Acres.
2009: No entry. 2008: Didja vote? Didja vote? Didja vote? Are you gonna vote? You’re gonna vote, right? You know there’s an election today? Didja vote? 2007: Good thing they’re not our cats, huh?
2006: No entry. 2005: Well, well, well. Look who’s a big tough talker, but when the can of whoopass is opened and a little orange kitten gets to smackin’, Mr. Badass cowers like a great big girly-man. 2004: Apparently I had nothing to write about last year, either, ’cause it’s all meme and comment-answering.
2003: No entry. 2002: Now, THAT is a church name!
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry. 1999: She thought “gauze” was plural, so obviously the singular would be “gau”!
The 2012 calendars are available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House. I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be … Continue reading “11/3/11 – Crooked Acres Thursday”
The 2012 calendars are available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House.
I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be in the sidebar to the right.
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Sights from Around Crooked Acres.
The Begonias on the front porch are still holding strong.
I love Azaleas.
And Hydrangeas.
And… whatever these are. I don’t remember – starts with a “p”, I think. Or has a “p” in the name.
I love how Morning Glories pop up in random locations.
George and Gracie on the hill o’ dirt. I think this was about mid-way through the pond dig – the hill is much higher now.
Gracie racing around and making me nervous ’cause I didn’t want to fall off the dirt hill (though I would have had a soft landing, I guess).
I’m the motherfucking Queen of Dirt Hill, yo.
(Please note that I did not know, when I went out to the back forty, that I would be having a picture taken of me. Otherwise, I would have taken OFF the two-sizes-too-big sweatshirt and put on a cocktail dress and tiara. And waxed my eyebrows and put on makeup and gotten a bikini wax. The point of the picture was less “Look at ME!” than “Look how tall this pile of dirt must be if someone who is five feet, five inches tall can stand on top of it and look like a speck!” That is a lot of motherfucking dirt.)
The ducks are not quite completely grown yet, but they’re just about there.
We’re pretty sure we’ve got two boys and two girls. Why?
Girl. (That splash of blue is just gorgeous, isn’t it?)
Two girls on the left, one boy on the right.
See how his head is turning green from the beak back? These are Rouen ducks, which look just like Mallards.
Another shot of the green.
I think this means we’ll have baby ducks next year. Because what we need in the back forty is MORE birds.
This one is “The Featherhead.”
The Rock Star. She is so pretty, I just can’t stand it.
Young rooster.
Mama hen and her babies.
Another young rooster.
Yet another young rooster. There are about ten of them out there right now, and since you just can’t have that many roosters for the number of hens we have, most of them will shuffle off to freezer camp soon. We decided that this one is going to stick around – he’s really good with the hens and not aggressive toward us.
Angry Muppet (the Silkie) and her babies.
Happy, happy pup.
George, being brushed. That look on his face is one reason Fred calls him a big doofus.
“You has a treat for me?”
::thlurrrp::
Back when the pond was about a quarter of the way finished. I need to get some updated pictures of the pond itself!
Brushin’ time.
Gracie, watching.
George and Gracie, watching Maxi walk by. That tomato plant in front of Gracie is still hanging in there.
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Harlan loves a good belly rub.
Patty’s all “Do you MIND?”
Harlan melted right out that bed!
Sally and Everett.
Harlan on the cat tree.
So, I got my new camera and finally took it out of the box earlier this week. Some of the pictures above (the chicken and duck pictures, some of the dog pictures) were taken with it. I really like it quite a lot, and not least because it has a function I didn’t realize it had when I bought it: it has a panoramic function and it is TOO COOL to play with. I used it to get this picture of all the big Peppers atop the bookcases and cat tree in the front room (please ignore what a mess those bookcases are; I seriously need to organize the shelves).
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Much like Joe Bob does, if Maxi sees one of us outside she talks to us until we walk over and pet her.
And then she flops down in the dirt and rolls around.
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Previously 2010: Have you met Rhyme?
2009: No entry. 2008: Poet! Knowit! 2007: Newt was a total teeny baby this time last year – he was clearly NOT fully grown at that point, as this picture can attest. 2006: Maddy’s new Mommy and Daddy came a-visitin’ yesterday. 2005: Huh. I was wondering why Tom Cullen was snooping around in the stamp drawer 2004: The spud and I stood patiently by while the man chattered at the school employees for several minutes and then my head exploded, scattering brain matter everywhere. 2003: “Jessica Lynch!” I said. “Isn’t she the only POW we’ve ever had in all of history?”
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry. 1999: She went in and treated the whole office to a very loud gagging sound (she gets that from her mother), and came out a few minutes later a little less green.
The 2012 calendars are available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House. I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be … Continue reading “11/2/11 – Kitteh Wednesday”
The 2012 calendars are available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House.
I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be in the sidebar to the right.
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New month, new banner! Okay, that’s not the banner for this month, that’s just a temporary placeholder ’til I get the picture I want so I can make the banner I want.
Banner made by the very untalented me, with lots of swearing at the photoediting software I was using, GIMP.
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Alice may be all grown up, but she still plays like a kitten!
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The cat traps always work!
Molly stomps off ’cause there’s not enough room for her, while Charlie sniffs out the situation.
“Let me just shred this couch a little more…”
Note that Charlie and Molly are pretty much the same size now!
“Here, since she’s got the couch, let me take care of the chair!” (Charlie and Patty are completely appalled.)
Charlie and Patty, keeping the electric blanket warm.
Amazon box with a long piece of brown paper used as padding means lots of paper for the kittens to play with! (And a big mess in the front room.)
Charlie and Patty snoozing on the couch – and then Corbie comes up for a visit.
Everett in one of the rare moments when he’s not racing around like a wild thing.
Sweet Miss Molly.
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A Peppers video for you of them jumping around like little wild things, chasing the feather teaser. They crack me up, the way they go sailing through the air!
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Smilin’ Joe…
…the tuxedo…
…sure does love his Daddy, yo.
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Previously 2010: I do love my Canoodlians. 2009: “I heard they was servin’ chocolate pudding at the Senior Center. Outta my WAY!”
2008: No entry. 2007: How’sabout you win us $100 billion in the lottery and we’ll negotiate the terms after that, foolio!
2006: No entry. 2005: He’s a class act, that Vincent Gallo 2004: “Squee!” it reiterated. “Squee! Squee! Squee!”
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry. 2001: Is it just me, or do you get pissed off when you’re the victim of unexpected pain?
2000: No entry. 1999: Damn that Halloween candy!
The 2012 calendars are FINALLY available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House. I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll … Continue reading “11/1/11 – Tuesday”
The 2012 calendars are FINALLY available! All the calendars are marked up by $1, and all profits go to Challenger’s House.
I’ll put this up at the top of the entries for the rest of the week for those who don’t read every day or who read via a reader, and after this week they’ll be in the sidebar to the right.
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Joan asked:
I hope you can help me with this question. My son moved back home with his 6 month old kitten. His name is Zeus and he is a little love-bug. We already had our spoiled 2 year old Lola.
The problem is that Zeus stalks Lola constantly and she isn’t able to eat or use the litter box or anything without him pouncing on her. I feel so bad for her because she has taken to hiding upstairs all the time. She used to sit on my lap as soon as I got home from work, but that has ended since Zeus moved in with us. 🙁
Will things ever go back to “normal”? Will Zeus ever stop stalking Lola so she can eat and use the litter box without looking out of the corner of her eye all the time?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
I told Joan that sometimes kittens calm down, and sometimes they stay jerks, and that it’s possible Lola and Zeus will adjust to each other over time, but my mind was blank and I couldn’t think of things she could do to make life a bit easier for Lola. I do know that y’all will have great suggestions for her and will chime in – so please do so!
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Yesterday, as I mentioned, was the day the pigs were scheduled to go off to freezer camp. I always accompany Fred when he takes the pigs because he likes having company – it’s a pretty long drive. So we headed off toward the place, and we were about two miles from it, when we came upon a “bridge out half mile ahead – detour” sign. Fred sighed and groaned and turned right, and we went on a 15 minute drive down a pretty road with lots of pretty houses and fields to look at. Just as we’d both get worried that we were supposed to turn somewhere already, a “detour” sign would show up to reassure us that we were on the right track.
To recap, we turned right at the detour sign and then after about ten minutes of driving, we turned left onto another road that was kind of windy and curved back toward the road we wanted. Another five minutes, and we came to a stop sign. To the left was a detour sign telling people coming from our right to turn onto the road we were on.
“Which way do you suppose we go?” Fred said.
“Go right, this is our road,” I said.
He went straight. To his way of thinking, because there wasn’t a sign that said “You have reached your destination” or “Hey, fucko, this is the end of the detour. THIS IS YOUR ROAD,” then clearly it was not our road. We drove for about five minutes with me explaining to him that the detour sign was the other side of the bridge, that he should have turned right on that road, but he was just not having it. Until the road we were on started getting narrower and narrower and winding and twisting and the houses were farther apart.
So here we are, driving down this winding, twisting road, pigs in a trailer, and the driver of the truck is not the best at backing up the truck with the trailer attached. I’ve got Fred’s phone and am trying to look up a map of where we are so I can show him that I AM RIGHT, but of course we’ve wandered into Deliverance country and there’s no cell signal (my GOD, what is this, 1977? NO CELL SIGNAL?!), and finally he spots a driveway with enough room that he can turn around without going off the road, and he starts to pull in and back out and pull in some more.
I would dearly like to tell y’all that he ran that trailer of pigs off into the ditch and the pigs escaped and are on the lam, but what happened was that a truck came down the road toward us and stopped to see what the holy hell we were doing, and Fred got out to talk to him, and the old man driving the truck said “Your wife was right, Stupidhead.*”
We got turned around and finally got headed out on the right road, got the pigs delivered, and headed home. We were so far behind schedule (and y’all KNOW how that man loves to keep to his routine) that after some persuasion from me, he picked up his phone, called his boss, and took the day off!
I’d love to tell you that we spent the day doing something fun and romantic, it being our anniversary and all, but in actuality we got home, Fred cut some grass, I snoozed in the recliner, Fred helped me empty and refill the litter boxes, and he did some more work outside.
I’m not complaining, though – even though there were no diamonds or lobster dinners, it was a pretty damn good anniversary. I’ll take it – and another 13 like them, please.
*Perhaps not those exact words.
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Someone – a couple of someones, I think – mentioned the number of cats currently in the house. As a reminder, we ONLY have thirteen ( ::coughcoughSOB:: ) permanent residents. At the moment we’ve got seven fosters, which gives us twenty cats in residence.
We’ve got too many permanent residents, in my opinion, when we have so many that I couldn’t give all the cats their own page in the Anderson Kitties calendar. Did y’all notice that, Tommy on the cover but not in the calender itself? Not that I’m hoping any of them shuffle off this mortal coil anytime soon (Spanky’s doing so well that I seriously think he’s going to live to be in his 20s, I’m not even kidding), but perhaps we shouldn’t add to the permanent population? Ya think?
(Which means we’ll have 25 permanent residents by the end of the year, since that’s how things go. SIGH.)
I decided, the last time I stocked up on Cat Attract litter at Petsmart, that from now on when someone asks how many cats I have, I’m going to say “Too.” As in, “Too many.” Is it my fault they’ll hear “Two”? I think not.
Of course, I said that and then last week when I was at the surgeon’s office, after Fred BULLIED the surgeon into saying I could scoop litter boxes again (heh), the nurse was removing some of my stitches and asked how many cats we had. I never did tell her how many permanent residents we had, but did tell her that we foster and currently have twenty cats.
I’m thinking I should tell people we have thirty cats, and when they express shock or start dialing the Hoarders people, I’ll laugh and say “Just kidding! Thirty cats would be LUDICROUS! We only have twenty!”
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Harlan Peppers, headed up the steps to the platform in the corner of the living room. A couple of you noted how big he is – he is TOTALLY huge. I don’t know how much he weighs at the moment, but two weeks ago he was at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. I imagine he’s probably over six pounds by now. The big Pepper who weighs the closest is Everett, who was 9 ounces lighter than Harlan at the same weigh-in. Judging by the size of his paws, Harlan is going to be one big, big cat.
(Note to self: get current weight on kittens.)
Charlie Peppers, lookin’ smug.
Patty Peppers, chilling.
Patty, Everett, and Charlie, hanging out on the couch.
I don’t know what I was doing, but Elwood, Sally, and Everett thought it was pretty interesting. (I LOVE Everett’s white whiskers.)
Molly Peppers is just so purrrrrrrty.
This is where Charlie and Patty hang out most of the time.
Patty Peppers…
…loveslovesloves a fuzzy blanket.
Everett in the back, there, just hanging out with his jaunty white whiskers on view.
Harlan watching bugs go by.
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Elwood and Charlie Peppers (aka “Chuckles”) have a special relationship. A very special one. One where Elwood grooms Charlie vigorously, and Charlie lets him. It’s awfully cute… until Elwood gets overzealous and it all goes wrong.
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Sugarbutt in the dog house on the patio. He’s all “What? You go away. I’m having my private time.”
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Previously 2010: He grabbed the rubber hammer again and pretended to beat me with it again.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry. 2007: “Bessie!” he said, waving his arm expansively. “Are you having a good anniversary so far?” 2006: I hope one of the little brats who took a handful of candy ended up with a slug, too. That’d serve ‘em right! 2005: And I don’t WANNA. 2004: Fuckin’ yawnsville.
2003: No entry. 2002: Bob Riley’s campaign strategy is to say “Nuh uh!” 2001: Did you know that they make foam cups in espresso size?
2000: No entry. 1999: Such appetizing topics, eh?
