I’m off the grid at the moment – visiting my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC where they have a timeshare. I’ve scheduled entries to post every morning at 6 am (central US time) Monday through Friday, so you won’t have to go without your daily entertainment courtesy of moi. They’re all picture (mostly cat) entries, … Continue reading “10/12/11 – Spanky, Elwood, Jake, and Buster Wednesday”
I’m off the grid at the moment – visiting my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC where they have a timeshare. I’ve scheduled entries to post every morning at 6 am (central US time) Monday through Friday, so you won’t have to go without your daily entertainment courtesy of moi. They’re all picture (mostly cat) entries, high on pictures, low on words. Just the way you like it!
I don’t expect to be able to check my email or Facebook or anything, but I’ll probably post to Twitter every now and again, so you can check there. Be good, and if you can’t be good, take notes and tell me all about it when I get back! 🙂
This is where Spanky spends his mornings, sitting on this box which is located right next to my chair. Every now and then he gives me this look.
Late morning/ early afternoon, he moves to the living room. This is HIS spot on the couch.
He ventures outside when it warms up and moseys around.
Mosey.
Mosey.
Glare.
He must have sensed Elwood coming up from behind.
Elwood’s all “Whatcha lookin’ at?”
Spanky’s appalled face is cracking me UP.
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Buster and Jake Wednesday
“If I don’t look at him, he isn’t there.”
“If I don’t look at him, he isn’t sniffing my paws.”
“If I don’t look at him, he isn’t sniffing my ear trying to start a fight.”
“WHAT?”
“Gee your breath smells terrific.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere, mister.”
::smooch::
“I LOVE YOU.”
“Of course you do. Everyone loves the Jakey.”
“I LOOOOOOVE YO-”
“I’m late for an appointment. BYE.”
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Everett Peppers and the pretty gold eyes.
Sally checks out the scratcher. See that scratcher? Brand spanking new. Elwood sat on it and crushed it ten seconds after I took it out of the wrapping.
“WHAT HAFF WE HERE?” Detective Harlan Peppers, on the case.
Lucy, getting ready to jump.
Molly Peppers might be gorgeous, but she’s mean as a snake when it comes to little Charlie Peppers. She just doesn’t like the cut of his jib. Or something.
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Previously
2010: No entry. 2009: “He needs one of Lieutenant Dan’s magic legs,” I said.
2008: No entry. 2007: Robyn, why do you use so goddamn many exclamation points?! It makes my eyes hurt. 2006: “Dude, that’s gross,” I said to Spot, who didn’t care and gave me a nasty look as I picked it up and threw it away. 2005: I hate those stupid tests. I always think I’m going to find out some deep, hidden truth about myself, and then I get “Oh! You should be an artist! You’re the artistic type!” Bah.
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry. 2001: TV talk. 2000: I’m about the laziest chick in the world, I think. 1999: Yeah. I’m a bitch.
I’m off the grid at the moment – visiting my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC where they have a timeshare. I’ve scheduled entries to post every morning at 6 am (central US time) Monday through Friday, so you won’t have to go without your daily entertainment courtesy of moi. They’re all picture (mostly cat) entries, … Continue reading “10/11/11 – BUGS Tuesday”
I’m off the grid at the moment – visiting my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC where they have a timeshare. I’ve scheduled entries to post every morning at 6 am (central US time) Monday through Friday, so you won’t have to go without your daily entertainment courtesy of moi. They’re all picture (mostly cat) entries, high on pictures, low on words. Just the way you like it!
I don’t expect to be able to check my email or Facebook or anything, but I’ll probably post to Twitter every now and again, so you can check there. Be good, and if you can’t be good, take notes and tell me all about it when I get back! 🙂
(Note: There are kitten pics, if you’d rather skip the bug pics. They’re not THAT scary, wimps. Also, Elayne, no frogs. I promise.)
Praying mantis. We almost never see these around here, I’d seen maybe three or four in the five years we’ve lived here. I think they’re really neat, but they kind of scare me.
Young assassin bug.
Hanging out on the rain gauge (which is dry).
I think assassin bugs are really kind of neat-looking when they’re little.
Also, they eat flies, which is A-OK with me.
They can hang out in the rain gauge forever, as far as I’m concerned.
BUT.
When they get big and ugly
and hang out on the okra and eyeball me like they’d like to chew my face off
then I’d kind of prefer them to move along, thanks.
MOTH SEX. Didn’t know you’d be seeing insect porn today, did you? (I assume they were mating. They were attached at the back end, in any case.)
Web. I don’t know where the spider was. Maybe she gave up and left because the assassin bugs were getting all the flies.
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They really do love that cat tree an awful lot.
Especially the hammock part.
Leapin’ Molly.
Charlie Peppers in the sun.
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Alice is exhausted from her perusal of the Gardener’s catalog.
She’s a Ham-mick loving monkey.
Alice has a theme song. It goes:
Alice Mo
the calico
sure does love
her daddy!
If I could sing at all, I’d totally record that for you. I need to look into getting me one of those Auto-Tune programs!
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Previously 2010: Yes, that IS an eye booger on his cheek.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry. 2007: I was so concerned for their safety that I ran and got the camera. Ahem. 2006: But there’s no horn on the lawnmower! 2005: Did you feel the earth shake too?
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry. 2000: My breasts are strawberry scented. 1999: I was ambitious today.
I’m off the grid at the moment – visiting my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC where they have a timeshare. I’ve scheduled entries to post every morning at 6 am (central US time) Monday through Friday, so you won’t have to go without your daily entertainment courtesy of moi. They’re all picture (mostly cat) entries, … Continue reading “10/10/11 – Maxi Monday”
I’m off the grid at the moment – visiting my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC where they have a timeshare. I’ve scheduled entries to post every morning at 6 am (central US time) Monday through Friday, so you won’t have to go without your daily entertainment courtesy of moi. They’re all picture (mostly cat) entries, high on pictures, low on words. Just the way you like it!
I don’t expect to be able to check my email or Facebook or anything, but I’ll probably post to Twitter every now and again, so you can check there. Be good, and if you can’t be good, take notes and tell me all about it when I get back! 🙂
Fred went outside, where Maxi was hanging out on the side stoop. She spends a lot of time there, just keeping an eye on things.
Something seemed different about her.
She seemed a little… I don’t know…
FANGY.
Just hanging out…
With her fangs out…
Just checking out the sights.
Honestly, I don’t know where those fangs came from. They seem especially long.
I swear it’s like she’s got fake teeth in, but she doesn’t.
Maybe she was bit by a bat?
“Who, me?”
“What fangs?”
“Come a little closer…”
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Charlie Peppers and Harlan Peppers, checking out the cat tree in the front room.
Harlan Peppers checking out, I don’t know. The ceiling? He’s such a laid-back goofball, this one. He reminds me a lot of Sugarbutt, only less hissy about having his space invaded.
More cat tree hijinks.
Everett, checking out the front porch.
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry. 2008: What kind of freak writes a daily journal for nine years? 2007: “Because you’re a spineless, self-indulgent, self-absorbed narcissist, DUH.” 2006: As of today, I’ve been journaling for seven years. 2005: What I’m not going to miss is the rotten-egg gas Sugarbutt’s been suffering from lately. 2004: Off to Myrtle Beach. 2003: Instead, we should probably go for “Shizzle M. Andersizzle.” 2002: Why I journal.
2001: No entry. 2000: Okay, enough of that mushy crap. 1999: So. Welcome to my journal.
Vote for Gracie! (Thank you!) Gracie is the Healthy Smile of the Week, but the voting for the “Next Pet Star” doesn’t end until October 21st, so please keep voting, please! She’s in first place (at least at the moment I’m typing this), and I’d like to keep her there. Once October 21st comes, then … Continue reading “10/7/11 – Friday”
Gracie is the Healthy Smile of the Week, but the voting for the “Next Pet Star” doesn’t end until October 21st, so please keep voting, please! She’s in first place (at least at the moment I’m typing this), and I’d like to keep her there. Once October 21st comes, then the judges take over and decide who the final winner is. I think it should be Gracie!
Thanks again, those of you who’ve voted (and those who want to but can’t!), Gracie thinks y’all RAWK!
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Wednesday afternoon, Fred had to work later than usual. This doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it falls to me to feed the pigs and toss out the scratch for the chickens, refill the waterers, and gather the eggs. Feeding the pigs used to consist of dumping their food in their trough, but that changed last week. One of the pigs is going to a different processor – one that the guy who’s buying the pig prefers – and she needs to go next week, because after the end of October this processor only processes deer.
(The other two pigs will go sometime in November, I believe.)
So because the guy who’s buying the pig who will go next week wants her to go to the other processor, he brought his livestock trailer to the house this past weekend, and he and Fred set it up so that the pigs have to go up into the trailer to eat. (This is so that on Monday, they won’t have to chase the pig into the trailer, because she’ll already be in there eating.) Unlike our trailer, which is open-topped, this trailer has a roof on it, so you can’t just get up on the hitch and dump the food over the side of the trailer into the trough. You have to walk across the pig yard and go into the trailer and dump the food in the trough.
Since Fred has been feeding the pigs since the trailer was set up, I didn’t realize I’d have to enter the pig yard until he called and asked me to feed them.
Now, the pigs are about 200 pounds each, which means that they far outweigh me, and I had JUST THAT MORNING been laughing with the lady who cuts my hair about how I do NOT go into the pig yard ’cause I don’t want them to knock me down and eat me.
I told Fred I’d feed the pigs and I put on my figurative big girl panties and went out to the pig yard, bucket of scraps in hand. The pigs greeted me at the gate, and then watched me open the gate. As I started walking across the yard they took turns pressing their snouts against me, none too gently.
“Quit it!” I shouted, and waved my hand in their direction. This used to startle them and send them running. You know, back when they weighed about 30 pounds each. Now that they outweigh me, the waving of my arm and a shout doesn’t apparently scare them much. At ALL, really. They ignored me and got more aggressive about rubbing their muddy snouts all over my shorts and the hem of my shirt.
“QUIT IT!” I yelled and waved my arm again, again to no avail.
And then one of them shoved me and I fell to my knees. Then another grabbed my arm in her mouth and suddenly the “Yeah, Fred will come home from work and he’ll be ‘Where’s Robyn? In the pig yard? No, IN THE PIGS!'” seemed a little less funny.
I was absolutely terrified, and if you’d been watching me from a distance, I imagine you would have thought that I’d been hit by a jolt of electricity, because I screamed and started flailing both arms and punched the nearest pig and struggled to my feet. The pigs had moved away from me, but as I got to my feet they were too close for comfort, and I grabbed the bucket and dumped the food on the ground, and then clanged the bucket against the nearest pig’s head and I ran out of that yard as fast as I could. The pigs, seeing the pile of food on the ground, ignored me in favor of food that didn’t scream and flail.
When I got into the house, after I showered the mud off me and inspected my appendages to be sure they were all there and inspected my arm to see if it was okay (it was; it’s a little bruised today, but no broken skin), I threw my clothes into the washer and emailed Fred and said “In the future, if you work late, the pigs eat late.”
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Yesterday, one of the Peppers was doing something super-cute, so I went looking for the big, expensive, good camera, a Sony DSLR-A100 that we bought shortly after we moved into this house, the camera I get most of my good pictures with. It was sitting on the table, where I’d left it, under a pile of (clean) cleaning rags, which I’d dumped there until I got around to folding them and putting them away.
As I picked up the camera, I noticed something dripping off of it, and I knew. I just KNEW. Things had been going too well, and things had been too quiet.
Someone had peed on the camera.
As I picked it up, I turned it over to see, well, had someone peed on the rags and a little got on the camera or had they soaked the camera? One instant I realized that they’d soaked the camera, and the next instant it slipped out of my hands and hit the floor and I heard something crack in a rather disturbing way.
Today, the camera stinks like cat pee (I wiped it down with Nose Offense the best I could, but it didn’t do a lot of good) and that’s okay because, hey. It doesn’t work anyway!
On the good side, I do have the little camera – the DSC-W300 – to take pictures with while the big camera is off in Texas being examined to see if there’s anything that can be done with it.
I really need a vacation right about now.
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From Miz S:
I feel compelled to tell you this story: my sister-in-law recently took some turkey sandwich meat out of the kitchen trash can (I AM NOT LYING) because she insisted it was still good even though 2 different people had sniffed it and pronounced it not fit for consumption. Several hours later, she was sick to her stomach. According to her, she felt sick because she had eaten Thai food the night before. HA!
That is both revolting and hilarious – and also, it makes me think of the Seinfeld episode where George took the donut out of the trash and took a bite just as his girlfriend’s mother walked into the kitchen.
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This is going to sound a bit weird, but since I know you think it’s fun when your readers dream about you – in my dream last night, you and Fred visited us at our family’s summer house by the sea in the south of Norway. We all went swimming in the sea, for some reason in the seaweedy place rather than off the pier in the deep water, and our bedrooms were heavily spider-infested, though luckily you didn’t seem to mind (and don’t worry, there are no poisonous spiders in Norway!).
So yeah, I’m not a weird stalker or anything, I swear – but I’ve been reading you regularly for about ten years, so I guess it’s no wonder that you should show up in my dreams 🙂
I LOVE it when y’all dream about us!
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Your Meyer lemon tree and tomato plants look unmolested. Do you get a lot of bunnies and squirrels nomming on them?
I think the occasional squirrel goes after the occasional tomato, but Maxi and Newt hang out in the garden a lot, and I believe the squirrels and bunnies don’t visit very often.
Actually, I think the squirrels are more interested in the pecan trees, which is probably why they don’t spend much time going after the tomatoes!
There’s been no harm to the Meyer lemon tree, but it’s in a little fenced area (with my raised beds), so is probably a pain in the butt to get to.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a bunny. We used to see them running across the back forty a lot, but that was before we fenced it in and got George and Gracie, so they probably found greener pastures to hop across.
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We need to start up a collection to get you a new kitchen rug – your current rug is pretty but it does not provide a proper compliment to the cats. A few of them just fade into it especially Miz Poo – and that ain’t right! What were you thinking?
I was thinking “That’s a good price!” 🙂
We got that rug at the local flea market, it wasn’t horribly expensive, and I knew I did NOT want a solid-color rug. If Miz Poo wants to be properly displayed, she knows she can go to the couch or the carpet in the foster room!
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I’ve been meaning to tell you that a while back, I read one of your old entries where you mention Andrew Vachss’ Burke series of books, which then made me check which ones I hadn’t read – which was surprisingly a lot. So for about 10 days straight I was obsessed with Burke and his family. Thinking of it again to thank you for the short lived obsession as I box them up for goodwill and someone else to enjoy.
I LOVED the Burke series and I was sorry to see it end – though they did get a bit, uh, complicated toward the end of the series, and I know that more than once I thought “I do not have any clue what’s going on here, but I love you, Burke.”
I’m glad you enjoyed them, too!
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Question completely off topic – have you ever tried making your own cheese? I’m thinking of mozzarella and ricotta – soft cheeses – not the hard kinds with rind. If so, do you have a recipe?
I have never made my own cheese, actually! Wine.woot had a “make your own mozzarella” kit for sale a few weeks ago and I ordered one, but haven’t received it yet. I’m looking forward to giving it a try, if only for the experience. Probably if we had our own cow I’d be more gung-ho about cheese-making. I love reading about Suzanne McMinn’s cheese-making experiences, I bet she’s got some good recipes over there!
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Robyn, I don’t know if anyone else has said this before, but you keep having these crops of Peppers and I keep reading Peepers. I think you need to name a round of Peepers soon.
When I thought I was going to have a bottle baby several weeks ago, all I knew was that she was a calico and I had decided I was going to name her Polly Pickles. Then when I got Charlie and Patty, I thought about naming them Polly and Peter Pickles, before I decided I wasn’t done with the Peppers surname (also, I really want to save “Polly Pickles” for a wee calico for some reason).
Which is neither here nor there, really – I kind of like “Peepers” as a surname, but I may have to put it off for a while until my fingers stop wanting to type “Peppers” instead of “Peepers!”
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I was thinking about your babies yesterday – have you had a batch named after candy bars yet? Because Zagnut would be the perfect name for an orange kitty. 😉
I have not had a batch named after candy bars, but I did have a Skittles a few years ago!
I like the name “Zagnut” for a cat. I know that a lot of candy bar names (Snickers, for one) have been used for Challenger’s House cats in the past, but y’all leave candy bar name suggestions, I’ll add them to my list of potential foster names!
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Did you tell us that you use olive oil to wipe down the sides and bottom of the clean litter boxes to keep the stuff from sticking? Does that work? I’ve got a spray can of PAM that I refuse to use for food purposes and wondered if that would do the trick? Ever used spray Pam? The main issue I have is that Mackie never aims his butt in the MIDDLE of the litter box, but just kind of haphazardly pees on the SIDES where there is no litter to dehydrate it.
I have used both regular olive oil AND spray Pam, and both work really well – the spray Pam more so than the olive oil, but the olive oil will do in a pinch!
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That yum yum cat reminded of NONONONO cat.
That video freaked me OUT at first, because I thought “What the HELL are they doing to that cat?!”, but apparently the cat was looking at a friend (of the video poster’s daughter)(that’s not a convoluted description, is it?) and making that noise. I’m going to have to state right now that if any of my cats look at someone and make that noise, whoever they’re making the noise at is just going to have to live with not being able to come into my house because I wouldn’t be able to handle it!
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From Elayne:
I honestly don’t mean to be a concern troll or a downer, but I’m actually a bit worried about the cat in that video eating from the spoon. I know a lot of cats will making “mine all mine” noises while they eat, especially if the food is not in a traditional food bowl, but it’s the way he moves his head that bothers me. Those noises and head/mouth movements were EXACTLY what Mr.T was doing, in the days before I learned that his mouth had basically turned into an enormous maggot-ridden* ulcer**.
So at the risk of being That Commentor (sorry), I would encourage anyone whose cat is doing this to check the cat’s mouth, or better yet have the vet check the cat’s mouth, just in case it’s a pain reaction and not just a “don’t you think about taking my food away” reaction.
*To be fair, I don’t know for sure that the maggot came from his mouth. I mean, I saw it fall from his mouth, but IT wasn’t bloody and his mouth definitely WAS, so maybe it had been hitching a ride in his fur or something, or in the towel I had wrapped him in, and just chose that moment to appear. I never did ask the vet about it, first because his kidney stuff was more important, and then because it was all irrelevant.
**Mr.T was never a sit-by-you, let-you-pick-him-up, come-when-you-call kind of cat; he was always reclusive and aloof and don’t-touch-me, so I didn’t realize that he was losing weight until he’d already lost a ton. He obviously wasn’t eating, so I got a jar of baby food, and he tried to eat that, but made those noises and head movements, which was when I noticed that his mouth was bleeding. I took him to the vet right away, but it wasn’t soon enough. He had massive kidney failure, and the vet said that apparently the buildup of toxins in his bloodstream and tissues had caused the mucus membranes to ulcerate – which of course was why he was barely eating, and losing so much weight, and when he DID eat, even babyfood or broth, he made those noises and those head movements because it was hurting him so much to eat. The vet tried for almost a week to kickstart his kidney function, but in the end we had to put him down.
I don’t consider your comment to be at all trollish, Elayne! (And I’m sorry about Mr. T.)
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And will you look at all those cat beds on the shelf in the background of the pic with Molly and Harlan…LOL
Horrifying, isn’t it? And lately, I’ve been looking at patterns online to see how hard it is to make a “donut” cat bed. I’ve found instructions that indicate it’s not too hard, and I have all this material that I keep buying, so I think it’s only a matter of time before I actually make one. I’m not much of a seamstress, though, so I’m not confident that I’ll be able to do it (just sewing a straight line is, I swear to you, beyond me sometimes), but if I can, it will be ALL OVER. You won’t be able to go two feet in this house without having to step across a cat bed.
(Oh, wait. You already can’t do that!)
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What’s the little spot in Tommy’s right eye? I just noticed it in his last couple of pictures.
I recently noticed that spot and just went back through his pictures to see when it turned up. About a year ago, there was a very small, light spot there, but the year before there was no spot at all. He’s got an appointment next Thursday with the vet. I’m hoping it’s nothing, but I’m worried. He’s always had the most beautiful eyes, I can’t believe it took me so long to notice that spot.
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The bigger Peppers are looking huge; how old are they now?
They’ll be 4 months old on the 12th and they’ve hit that ridiculously long and lanky stage. Remember what scared little hissers they were when we first got ’em, two months ago?
They’ve come a long way, baby!
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Patty Peppers vants to be alone.
It’s a rough life, Charlie Peppers.
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Glaring Sally Peppers.
Check out the size of Harlan’s paw. He’s going to be huuuuuuuuuge.
Peppers taking over the couch!
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The Beautiful Bookworm Boys!
I managed to get exactly two pictures of Buster and Corbie together this week.
(“Together” might be a bit of an overstatement.)
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Previously 2010: Crooked Acres tour continues. 2009: “That’s like me!” Fred said. “Maybe I’m schizophrenic! I always need stimulation!” 2008: And he likes the chickens, but I think if a hawk swooped down and snatched one up while he was watching, it would make his YEAR.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry. 2005: 9. What is your biggest mistake? Immediately believing what I’m told without standing back and thinking about it. 2004: Reader requests. 2003: Why have kids if you aren’t going to make them do the scut work? 2002: You know, I don’t even have the words.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.
Vote for Gracie! (Thank you!) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sights from around Crooked Acres. Probably the last Rose of Sharon bloom for the season. I am now understanding why y’all were amazed that I planted Purslane. … Continue reading “10/6/11 – Crooked Acres Thursday”
Probably the last Rose of Sharon bloom for the season.
I am now understanding why y’all were amazed that I planted Purslane. Invasive is exactly the word I’d use to describe this stuff. It’s growing EVERYWHERE now. (On the plus side, next year I’ll just harvest it from the lawn!)
Left to right, Meyer Lemon tree, sweet gum tree (which started growing in the driveway, then Fred potted it to see if he could keep it growing. Because we don’t have enough sweet gum trees. Please, can we have more gum balls to slip on in the Fall and Winter?) and garlic chives, which didn’t do much this summer.
Leaves are finally changing.
Volunteer tomato plant in the middle of the row of butternut squash.
Teeny tiny butternut squash. Hope springs eternal, I guess.
If he plants Tabasco peppers next year, I’m going to kill him. What a PAIN to deal with, these tiny peppers.
Morning Glory, I love you.
Okra flower. So so pretty.
Sungold tomatoes. I finally started pulling up the tomato plants earlier this week – got about half of them pulled up – and got a huge bucket of split and chewed-on tomatoes for the pigs and chickens. I’m going to pull the rest of the tomatoes up later today. Time to put the big garden to bed.
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Charlie Peppers now has the nickname “Chuckles.” Patty’s nickname is “Sissy.” I remember a time when I thought Charlie Peppers was never going to meow, he was so quiet. Now he’s the whiniest little complainer I’ve ever seen. Good thing he’s cute.
“I sleep now. You go ‘way.”
“HEY. Where you goin’?!”
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Molly, near the laptop where Fred works on his book. One day he reported that when he sat down to write, the document had a row of Ts across the bottom. Clearly Molly wants to be a writer, too!
The face. The little crossed eyes. Doesn’t Lucy Peppers just kill you DEAD?
Molly makes herself at home.
Tree full o’ Peppers.
Pepper tree!
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In the evening, when it gets dark out, we call all the cats inside so we can close the back door. As a reward for coming inside, they get crunchies. Some cats like them, others don’t. These cats assuredly do.
Tommy, Jake, Elwood, Buster, Miz Poo, Corbie.
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Previously 2010: “I SAID stop making the googly eyes at me, Melodie!” 2009: I love me a good juicy Asshole. 2008: Pretty batshit crazy, as it turns out.
2007: No entry. 2006: You all have my full permission to skip the boring stuff to get to the cute kitten stuff. 2005: I forsee a lot of spud-teasing this evening. 2004: Phil Hellmuth is a whiny little bitch. 2003: “And then he told me he likes to have sex with you in the break room every day at 11!” he lied.
2002: No entry. 2001: Recovery. 2000: No one ever said I had a long attention span!
Vote for Gracie! (Thank you!) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Y’all, put on your advising hats, please! I’ve got two questions that I know y’all can help out with. First, Lori: I have a kitten question so … Continue reading “10/5/11 – Kitteh Wednesday”
Y’all, put on your advising hats, please! I’ve got two questions that I know y’all can help out with. First, Lori:
I have a kitten question so thought I would go to the expert. I have had all ranges of animals, but I have never had a kitten so ignore my ignorance please.
Approximately a little over a month ago, I suddenly aquired a tiny kitten in my horse barn. He/She has never allowed me close, as she runs and hides but loves to hang out with my horses. I purchased kitten food and have been feeding it daily in a protected old grainery. I have no idea whether the kitten has another home and/or is provided food, but it is eating well, so I guess not.
If it is to stay, which I do not mind, what is your knowledge about if, and if so, how to get it to interact with me in the future? If it stays, I do want it neutered and vaccinated. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
(Lori, I’m posting this at Love & Hisses as well, so make sure you check the comments over there, too!)
I’m going to bet that the best way to make progress in interacting with the kitten is to use food. Work on getting closer to the kitten as he’s eating – if need be, you can use canned kitten food or Gerber chicken and gravy baby food to make it more enticing. Once he allows you get close to him, start trying to pet him and go from there.
It’s hard to know whether that will work or not, though, because of course we don’t know whether he’s been around people before and is just skittish, or if he’s feral. In a perfect world, you’d be able to trap him and bring him inside and work on socializing him from there, but I know that’s not always possible. Hopefully other people will have other suggestions!
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I have a question for you & your amazing readers. My little boy, Vash (5 years old) has been very sullen lately. He lays around a lot (which cats do – but he seems excessive), and is whiny a lot. He also wants to play with Kairi (his sister), but most often she doesn’t want to play. Do you have any toy suggestions for him? He plays with lasers but gets frustrated because there isn’t anything physical to catch. He loves Da Bird, but breaks them quickly. We recently found some spring toys that he loves, but I was hoping that you (& your readers) could maybe suggest some more toys for him. I tell my husband I think he needs a little brother (a kitten) to play with, but that’s really NOT an option for us. I want to help my little Dude. If he spoke English I know he’d tell us what he wants, but he’s horrible at English and he can’t sign so he just MEOWS and MEOWS and MEOWS and we don’t know what to do!
A little more story – we thought he just might want more attention, but no matter how much attention we give him – whether we’re playing with him, petting him, or cuddling with him – he seems to get grumpy and sullen after a bit. I just want him to be happy!
Also – We don’t think he’s sick – he’s not losing weight & his diet hasn’t changed. He’s not puking or anything like that.
Oldcat suggested: Perhaps a kicker toy or suffed animal that he could wrestle with like another cat would help
And I said: I was going to suggest one of those toys that fits over a door, you know, with the toy that hangs down that cats can bat around and jump up after? We have one of those in the foster room and one in the guest bedroom, and they’re a big hit with the cats and kittens! The only down side is that eventually they chew through the cord holding the toy on and the toy gets lost, but I always just tie another one up there.
I know y’all out there have suggestions, too, so let’s hear ’em!
Edited to add: Doodle Bean said: Since he’s sullen and meowy, you might want to get him checked for a bladder infection. Neutered male cats are prone to that problem, and they don’t necessarily run a fever or show much sign of it until it’s well advanced. If it’s been awhile since he’s had a vet check, you may want to run him over to the stabby place.
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“Ho hum.”
“Hey. Something’s missing. Where…”
“HEY!”
“What?”
“Get over here! I’m bored!”
::thlurrrp::
::leap::
“Go ‘way, lady. No one invited you!”
Brats.
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I know that sometimes Molly looks brownish in her pictures, but here she is with Harlan, so you can see the difference in their colors. Also, Harlan’s going to be HUGE and Molly’s a petite little thing.
Molly shows Sally who the boss is.
Sally shows Molly how sharp her teeth are.
“What?” (They moved the fight to the other side of the bed, so they could tussle in comfort.)
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Tommy, hanging out in his favorite hanging-out spot.
Yesterday morning at 4:41, when I was sound asleep, I apparently moved in a way that Tommy thought meant I was going to wake up and pet him. Tommy gets VERY excited about being petted, and he throws himself on his back and writhes around, flailing his claws in all directions. One of his claws sunk into my arm, and that was an unpleasant way to wake up, believe you me. Then he jumped down off the bed and proceeded to barf up a lung on the bedroom floor.
It was not the best start to a day, if you were wondering.
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Previously 2010: NOTES TO PAST AND FUTURE ROBYN FROM PRESENT ROBYN. 2009: We are far too amused by ourselves.
2008: No entry. 2007: I had NO IDEA Red Lobster was such a den of heathenry. 2006: The rags used on that closet: ONE MEELLION. 2005: And then the last straw came along and broke the fat woman’s back. 2004: Because he’s a skinny bastard.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry. 2001: Day One. 2000: So obviously I don’t know nothing’ ’bout picking out no paint.
Vote for Gracie! (Thank you!) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ If you have BBC America and aren’t already watching 24 Hours in the ER, I highly recommend it. Fred and I watched the first two episodes of … Continue reading “10/4/11 – Tuesday”
If you have BBC America and aren’t already watching 24 Hours in the ER, I highly recommend it. Fred and I watched the first two episodes of it, and although there were times when I had to look away, or when my metaphorical balls crawled up into my body and hid (especially every single time they talked about the guy who was hit by a bus and then “folded in half” GAH), it immediately became one of my favorite shows.
The only problem was that since it was filmed in London, I have one hell of a time figuring out what they’re saying sometimes. I had to ask Fred several times “What the fuck are they saying?” and he’d translate for me.
I swear to god it’s about time to turn on the closed captioning when I watch TV.
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I got super excited yesterday afternoon, because someone was unloading a big backhoe on the access road across the street. The guy who is supposedly, someday, perhaps, no-really-I’m-gonna dig our goddamn POND told Fred they’d have to unload the equipment across the street and bring it across the street and down the lawn to get to the back forty because they didn’t want to park on the driveway for fear that they’d crack the driveway.
As it turned out, though, the backhoe was meant to do work on the land across the street, and they worked diligently all afternoon.
This whole thing where you hire someone to do shit is just SO FUCKING FRUSTRATING. It’s like we’re standing here with cash in our hands, trying to throw it at anyone to DIG THE FUCKING POND, and they’re all like “Um, yeah. We’ll get right on that. In seven to ten days. I mean two weeks. Oops, it sprinkled, it’ll be another month.”
The economy might be in the shitter, but apparently the guys who dig ponds aren’t hurting any.
After the pond guy came out last week and walked all over the property with Fred and discussed what exactly needed doing, he told Fred that he thought they’d be starting “The beginning of next week” – ie, yesterday. No one showed up. No one called. Nada, nothing, zip.
As far as I’m concerned, he moseyed his way out of a job, and last night Fred called the guy who dug the original pond, the one that we filled in a few years ago.
We’ll see if we get anywhere with HIM.
I say if this pond-digging nonsense doesn’t work out, we dig a random big hole in the middle of the back forty, call it good enough, and buy new living room furniture with the money we saved.
(I’m not holding my breath on the new furniture.)
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Charlie Peppers has been allowed some limited time out of the guest bedroom, running around the house with the big Peppers (and the rest of the cats). Patty Peppers has been out once or twice, but it makes her kind of nervous, so she tends to hide under the couch until we pull her out and put her back in the guest bedroom.
Both of the little ones are over two pounds now, but they’ve just turned two months old, so I’m not in any hurry to spay and neuter them. I’ll wait another month, most likely, and do it around the time they turn three months. Adoptions seem to have slowed down a bit, so there’s no rush to get them ready to go.
Charlie has turned into a total lovebug, and Patty’s starting to come around, too. Fred finally heard her voice for the first time yesterday (she’s been giving us the silent meows up ’til then). Her first instinct is to run and hide when the door opens, but she comes back out pretty quickly.
Charlie, keeping an eye on things.
“Tastes like.. chicken! I better send one of these to Dorothy, stat!”
I know that looks like some sort of dead rodent next to Charlie, but it’s not.
It’s NOT.
Poor, sad, deprived kittens with no toys to speak of.
“MY GOD, LADY, BEHIND YOU! IT’S A SERIAL KILLER AND HE HAS A KNIFE IN EACH HAND AND HE’S GOING TO EAT YOUR LIVER WITH FAVA BEANS AND A FINE CHIANTI! Oh, wait. No, there’s nothing there. Trick of the light. My bad.”
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Molly Peppers shows off her long, elegant fingers.
She is just SO pretty.
Not the best picture, but this is what she likes to do, lay there and have her belly rubbed while she makes biscuits on my leg. When I think of what a scared little hisser she was when we got her, it just blows my mind. She’s always the first to run over and demand love!
“‘Allo, lady. You see that I have razor-sharp claws on my back feet as well as my first? The better to mess you UP with, my dear. Now admire my one white whisker, give me a gentle pet, and be on your way.”
“Pet. Me. NOW.”
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These clothes were laying on the table, and Elwood decided it would be the perfect place to hang out.
Jake, on the other hand, prefers the bed. He’s no dummy!
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Previously 2010: Oh skimmers, why can’t I quit you?
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry. 2007: No, my number one concern is that a woman, somewhere in Alabama, might have purchased a device to ensure that she’s able to get off. 2006: The stinkin’ kitten is not so cute! 2005: Annnnnnnnd that’s just a little glimpse into the dorkiness that is my life. 2004: ARRRGH.
2003: No entry. 2002: Wow. Apparently I’ve been doing the pet store thing for three years now. 2001: Day Zero. 2000: I’m back!
New month, new banner! This was created by Christine, who’s done so many of my banners in the past. Doesn’t Joe Bob look faaaabulous in his fancy mask? Thanks, Christine. As always, you rock! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ … Continue reading “10/3/11 – Monday”
New month, new banner!
This was created by Christine, who’s done so many of my banners in the past. Doesn’t Joe Bob look faaaabulous in his fancy mask?
I went to Walmart last week for a reason I no longer remember. I desperately needed… something. What the hell did I need?
ANYway. I went to Walmart, and while I was there I wandered past a FUN da-middles* mixes display, and I impulse tossed a box of the chocolate cupcakes with vanilla filling into the cart, and I bought that box along with everything else I was buying, whatever the hell that might be, and as I was driving home, I thought “Why the fuck did I buy that box? I am three million percent sure that I could have found a recipe online that would give me a better end result than I’m going to get with this mix, I am such a fucking impulse buying lemming ASSHOLE.”
So, Friday evening I made those cupcakes. And the filling? Not a tasty vanilla filling, but really more of a Fluff-type filling which, don’t get me WRONG, I like Fluff well enough, but only when peanut butter is involved, and it wasn’t quite what I was looking for in a cupcake filling.
ANYway.
So I took a couple of bites of the finished cupcake, and I was like “Meh. This is not very tasty.”
Then I ate the rest of the cupcake.
(YOU SHUT UP.)
I said to Fred “Those suck” and then we went to watch TV. Halfway through The Office, I got THE WORST PAIN EVER in my gut, and I sat up and got all groany and drama queeny enough that Fred was offering to take me to the emergency room, and I was all “I guess I’m dumping, but it’s too low to be stomach pain and too high to be (censored), GAH THIS HURTS.”
I went to the bathroom and I’ll not share details with you (YOU ARE WELCOME), but things were flying in all directions for about the next five minutes, and when I came back out of the bathroom, I felt ten times better, but still kind of nauseated.
We started watching TV again, and a few minutes later when Fred was fast-forwarding through commercials, he said “Do you think it was the cupcake?”
“First,” I said. “Do not say that word again. Second of all, make sure you give the rest of them to the pigs because I never want to see them again.”
Fred laughed and laughed about me telling him to stop talking about FOOD when I was nauseated, but damn. Have you ever noticed that when you’re on the verge of barfing, no one ever EVER wants to talk about anything but food when that’s the last thing on earth you want to talk about?
“Was it the sardines, do you think? Was it the softly scrambled, still wet eggs? Was it the bacon where you were eating it and found a piece of bone? Was it that you ate half the chicken and then realized it wasn’t completely cooked? Could that have been it?”
GAH. STOP.
In conclusion: skip those stupid fucking cupcakes, they suck.
*Worst, stupidest, goofiest name on the face of the earth. Seriously, I’d like to find out who came up with the name so I can punch them right in their stupid face. The more I think about the name, the more annoyed I get. SERIOUSLY. What a godawful name.
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It was actually a banner weekend for the pigs – I spent time Saturday making apple dumplings from a recipe I won’t link because I didn’t really like the end result, and then I ate one and gave the rest to the pigs.
I think the pigs probably like it when I bake, since my average appears to be about 50/50 on whether it comes out any good, and if I don’t like what I end up with, they’re more than happy to take care of it.
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I tend to go a long time between checking my PO Box because I forget to, and it doesn’t get a lot of traffic, so sometimes weeks and weeks will go by before I remember to check it. When I was out running errands yesterday, I decided to stop and check.
Imagine my surprise when I had a package from the fabulous Charlene Butterbean!
As it turned out, reader Mari had ordered some Itty Bitty Kitty Committee sparkle balls and had them sent to me – and Laurie had (at Charlene’s directions, I’m sure) included some gorgeous postcards!
Well, naturally I had to see what the reaction was from the kitties. First, I tried Alice.
“I am sleeping, lady. You go ‘way.”
And then I took them in to Charlie and Patty Peppers to see what their reaction would be.
First Charlie knocked a blue sparkle ball off the bed and ran off to kick it around the room (he REALLY liked his sparkle ball, but every picture I got of him was blurry!)
And then Patty chose a pretty pink sparkle ball.
While Patty and Charlie played with their sparkle balls, I took some out to the living room, where the big Peppers were hanging out.
Everett’s pretty sure pink is his color.
Sally thinks pink goes nicely with her collar.
Molly, also a fan of pink.
Everett thinks perhaps blue works better for him…
Or red?
Harlan comes in to see what all the fuss is about.
Eventually, Everett settled on blue.
Thank you to Mari and Charlene (Laurie) for the cool gifts. I highly recommend the sparkle balls, and the post cards are even more gorgeous in person – and they’re nice, sturdy postcards, not those flimsy ones you find in the store. You can get your own post cards or sparkle balls here!
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“Hey…”
“What the – ?”
In the end, Alice smacked the ball and stomped off to take a nap.
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry. 2008: Wouldn’t I be an excellent slacker vacation host? 2007: I was a little shaky as I looked around the first floor of the garage, then I said “I have a gun and I’m coming up there!” and I went upstairs. 2006: He’s always a party pooper. 2005: If I hadn’ta covered my head with my hands, I might be DEAD right now!
2004: No entry. 2003: “No,” Fred said. “You’re the muffinhead. DID SHE STAND OVER YOU AND MAKE YOU INSTALL IT??” 2002: Spanky is the Lance Bass of our family. 2001: I guess if tomorrow’s Day Zero and Friday is Day One, that makes today Day Negative One.
2000: No entry.
Vote for Gracie! (Thank you!) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Have you ever pickled green tomatoes? My husband does it every year and they are sooo good! I haven’t, but maybe I should. We tend not to … Continue reading “9/30/11 – Friday”
Have you ever pickled green tomatoes? My husband does it every year and they are sooo good!
I haven’t, but maybe I should. We tend not to eat much pickled stuff, but I’m thinking that it’s time to make a point of doing so!
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I love George and Gracie! So I know you used to say they are working dogs not pets, has that changed? I think if they decided to stop guarding the flock and the hens were taken by hawks daily you would still decide to keep them.
You know, I’d answer this question, but it truly is a moot point. If they up and decided to stop guarding the flock, I’d have to assume that there was something really wrong with either them or the flock – and I think they’d die from boredom if they didn’t have the chickens to guard. They are really good dogs and if the flock was completely gone for some reason I’m sure we’d keep them – but I still have NO desire to have them in the house, so I imagine we’d have to find something else for them to do!
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As for old man Spanky, he does indeed look good. The first cat late hubby & I ever had lived to be 20, Punkin. We got her the first year we were married, so you can imagine how hard it was to lose her — just old age health problems. I was 40 by then, and had several other cats too, but still. Punkin was almost completely deaf, and she had lost most of her teeth. I guess her eyesight was poor too. I’d have to gently shake her awake, since she could barely hear — sometimes I’d clap my hands over her, and she’d wake up. I’ve never had a cat live that long before, and maybe Spanky will set a new record for a long life. Does he have any health problems as of now?
Spanky has no health problems, amazingly enough! He moves with no problems, his senior bloodwork panel came back good. He’s crazy healthy for such an old guy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him still walking around howling in five years.
Speaking of Spanky howling, this is from years and years ago (when we lived in Madison, so it may have been 7 or 8 years ago), and still my favorite Spanky movie, even though the quality is terrible:
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Just wondered if you keep a private journal only for you, besides your online journal? Do you use one of the many software available for journaling?
I actually don’t keep a private journal just for myself because I’m pretty sure I’d never take the time to write in it. If I did, I’d likely use the old-fashioned notebook and pen method.
I use WordPress for this site, Love & Hisses, and back when I had the Giveaway site, I used WordPress for that, too. I think it’s easy to use, and if I wanted to use it to journal stuff for myself, it would be easy enough to password. (Though with my luck, I’d forget my damn password!)
I used to use Movable Type, then I decided to switch to WordPress, but I don’t remember (1) how long ago the switch was (though I do know it’s been years and years) or (2) why I decided to switch!
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The movie cracked me up – Elwood MAY have a higher jump than George Costanza, but just barely! 🙂
and
Elwood is pretty slick on his feet for a big fella ay? He doesn’t get much vertical in his leap though does he?
Hey, that kind of mass will only move so far off the ground! 🙂
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Robyn, have you seen these? Chilli Willy. You should grow some next year, just for the giggles. Also, you could’ve had a Willy Peppers!
I totally should! (And Willy Peppers would have been an excellent name!)
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Today’s action series? Fantastic! Have you thought of making a “comic strip” type of book with sets of pictures & comments? Best of “Live Action” Bitchypoo or something less awful. Kidding on the title but serious about the idea. Thoughts?
I’ve thought about putting together a book of all the picture entries I’ve done, but man – I’m not sure I’m up to that much work!
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I thought Fred used to do a lot of hiking….didn’t he used to do that geocaching? I’ll bet there’s a really expensive GPS unit gathering dust!
The GPS Fred had back when he was geocaching would be, compared to the GPS units that are available now, like an 80s cell phone compared to an iPhone. (I also don’t think we have it anymore – and if we do still have it, I have NO idea where we put it!)
Maybe Fred needs a new GPS for Christmas so we can try our hand at geocaching again!
Fred used to hike several times a week, but that stopped pretty much when we bought this house. There’s not a lot of hiking paths convenient to where we are now, unfortunately – though I guess we could certainly drive into Madison and go hiking there!
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Robyn, have y’all been to the Nashville flea market before? If not, it’s really worth the trip. True, it does have some of the same old crap – tube socks, dvd’s, knock-off purses, etc., but out back where the…um…I don’t know what they’re called…big roofed areas that are open on all sides. You can find some *amazing* stuff out there. Lots of antique and vintage stuff, lots of it at really good prices. There are lots of interesting stalls in the enclosed buildings, too. I kind of giggled when you said you’d spend an hour then drive home, because we’ve stayed there four or five hours before, and didn’t come close to seeing everything. If y’all get antsy in October, I highly recommend a visit!
No, we’ve never been, but now I certainly want to go! It won’t be in October (I’ll be recovering from my neck lift revision when the October flea market takes place), but maybe I’ll convince Fred to check it out for real in the Spring. It really sounds like it’d be fun!
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As a looooong time reader, Miz Poo and Spanky are my favorites by default (Okay, mainly Miz Poo) and I must have missed the original post with the cat chart because now I am heartbroken that Miz Poo gets no kitty love. So very sad. And probably entirely her fault, but still, I like to picture her as the “cat who oversees all” that the other cats come to. And on that note, I’ve obviously spent too much time imagining your cats interacting. LOL
Do not cry for Miz Poo, the reason she gets no kitty love at all (except when she’s sound asleep and a kitten climbs into the bed with her) is because she has NO USE for other cats. She doesn’t want them in her space, she doesn’t want them head-butting her, she doesn’t want them snuggling with her, and she will whip out the Paw o’ Doom in no time flat if they invade the bubble. However, she canNOT get enough love from any human who crosses her path. Woe betide anyone who steps through the door and doesn’t pay attention to her, because she will NOT be ignored. I’ve always said that if I put her in a baby carrier and strapped her to me 24/7, she’d be SO happy.
I mean, she’s pretty happy anyway – I’ve never known another cat who purrs constantly the way she does. I go to sleep with her purring in my face and wake up the same way. No wonder I sleep so well!
Ok…so are you taking all these action shots by yourself?? or is Fred assisting?? They are just awesome!!!
The action shots I posted this week of the big Peppers, I had Fred assisting – same with the pictures/ video of Buster, Elwood and Alice. The pictures I took of Charlie in action yesterday, I took alone. It’s easier to get pictures when Fred’s running the feather teaser, but if pressed I can get some fairly decent shots on my own.
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Will Charlie have to have his damaged tooth pulled or is it a kitten tooth?
It’s a kitten tooth – but even if it was a permanent, I don’t think he’d need to have it pulled. It’s just the very tip that chipped off, and it doesn’t interfere with his eating and doesn’t cause him pain. It kind of gives him a jaunty air, actually – I’ll have to see if I can get a picture of it.
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and WHEN are you going to get those poor kittens a few toys!!
I know, isn’t it disgusting? I’d tell y’all that I’ll take pictures of all the cat toys in the house AND the ones I have secreted away in my closet, but I’m too afraid you’d call the people at Hoarders on me!
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Here’s a little something to put a smile on your face.
Crack me UP!
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Seeing the photos of Miz Poo brings back memories. She looks very much like our Sunshine, who passed away in 2001. Sunshine was a ‘talker’. She had a very distinct trill-like meow that she would raise or lower depending on what she was trying to say. She mostly ‘talked’ only when spoken to, and ALWAYS had to have the last word. Just curious if Miz Poo happens to be a talker as well.
Usually Miz Poo does most of her talking when she’s trying to soothe me. If I yell or laugh really hard or get mad, Miz Poo decides that I’m in distress and she must soothe me, and she rubs against me and trills softly at me. If she walks into the room and I greet her, she’ll brighten up and usually responds to me with a trill. For the most part she’s pretty quiet, though.
She’ll go through stages, though, where she finds a toy and decides it’s her “kill” and drags it through the house, keening the entire time. She’s fond of doing that in the middle of the night, and she doesn’t just do it for, oh, ten feet or so. No, she appears to find the toy at the farthest possible point in the house and then drags or carries it through the house, keening as loudly as possible, the entire way to my room where I’m usually yelling “Oh my god, Poo, please stop!!!”
Here’s a video I shot years ago showing what it sounds like (I posted it on YouTube in 2008, but I made the video when we lived in the house in Madison, so it would have been before 2007).
She is SO PROUD of herself!
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Anyone in the NW Virginia area want a very friendly, very purry tortoiseshell kitty who likes belly rubs?
Mrowbecca, send me some pictures, I’ll post ’em!
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My lady cat says that ladies NEVER FART. In a book by Anne Perry, a Victorian lady was said to make a “personal noise”, which cracked my DH up, so now we say that our ladycat makes a “pawsonal noise”. She also reckons that tabby brudders are ALL HORRIBLE*. I must explain that while not suffering from farting, she does suffer from a tabby brother.
*this opinion is not shared by the author of this comment.
How much do I love the phrase “personal noise”? SO. VERY. MUCH.
(Also, Miz Poo suffers from tabby brudders, and she agrees that it’s pretty horrible.)
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What pretty blue eyes the Buster Man has. Or is that just the camera angle?
They’re green, actually – and very pretty, the way they’re dark green in around the pupil and then lighter around the outside.. All of the Bookworms have really really pretty eyes. What’s that, you say? You need proof of that? Well, if I MUST.
Buster (about a year ago) :
Reacher (in February, right before Kathy came and stole him away) :
Corbie in February:
Rhyme, last October:
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Robyn, you *need* one of these! Think of the photo opportunities!!!
That is HILARIOUS!
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How old are the chicks, relatively? Small children, tweens? Never had any, so I’m curious!
At this age – a week to ten days old – I’d call them preschoolers, they still stick pretty close to their mothers. In a couple of weeks they’ll be a little taller and a bit ratty looking as their feathers start to come in, and I’d call them maybe middle-schoolers. I’ll try to remember to get pictures of them as they grow so you can see the various stages!
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Please link the fountain again? Or just give me the name. Does it have ‘pool’ at the top and then cascade down? Is it easy to clean? I am sorry I have not paid attention to it before…
The ceramic fountain that someone else mentioned in my comments was this one, the Pioneer Big Max. It is very very easy to clean, and after you put it together the first time, it’s very easy to take apart, clean, and put back together.
HOWEVER, someone who is a klutz, was cleaning our Big Max a month ago, and dropped the top piece, and it broke. Grrrr.
I did have an extra fountain on hand, the Cat Mate fountain, so I set that up where the Big Max had been, and the cats like it just fine. My cats seem to prefer the fountains where there’s a pool at the top and then the water cascades down over the ones where the water pours out into the bowl at the bottom, so both the Big Max and the Cat Mate are fine with them.
My only issue with the Big Max is that the hum of the motor was loud enough that when I put it in the bathroom across the hall from my bedroom, I could hear the motor through the ear plugs that I wear at night, so it didn’t work for me. At the moment, I’ve got Cat Mate fountains in the laundry room, upstairs in the bathroom, and in both kitten rooms. I like how quiet they are, and I like that they can go in the dishwasher (I run each of them through the dishwasher once a week). They aren’t the prettiest fountains on earth but, well, you’ve seen my house. It’s not like they detract from our fabulous decor!
On a side note, reviews of the Cat Mate fountain on Amazon have pointed out that the pump doesn’t last, and that the company doesn’t sell a replacement for it. My fountains are working okay so far, but I’ll report back when/ if the pumps break!
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I was wondering, if a person has catnip tea, if that person is then found rolling on the floor in delirium?
I spent a little while reading about catnip for humans yesterday, and it appears that catnip has the exact opposite effect on humans. It relieves anxiety, helps with insomnia, and with nightmares. There are a whole list of things catnip helps with. It’s a miracle drug!
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My coworker and I both have kitties who scratch at the door jams. My sweet girl has all but engraved a novel on three door jams around my house and her kitty has one that she is set on destroying. Is there something all natural we can spray on the door jams to get them to stop or is there a commercial spray available that works?
The only thing I can think of to suggest is to try putting double-sided tape on the door jam – cats don’t like the feel of tape on their paws, and they’ll avoid scratching there. I don’t know of any natural cat repellents – that is, I’m sure they’re out there, I just don’t know of them! Anyone out there have suggestions of repellents or other ways to keep cats from scratching on door jams? Please share!
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“OH, scratching post, you are so big and strong!”
::kiss::kiss::kiss::kiss::
(Like YOU never kissed your pillow when you were a kid!)
“Stop kissing the scratching post, WEIRDO, I’ve got places to go!”
“Four o’clock and all is well!”
::fume:: “I was NOT kissing the scratching post. We were having a deep, meaningful conversation!”
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So, one thing that Lucy Peppers does that I have been completely unable to capture on video, is that when you’re petting her, if you start scratching her back, she humps up her back, then she does this very dramatic looking thing where she straightens her legs completely, and she slow-motion flops onto her side. It’s hilarious and impossible to accurately describe, but SO funny.
Fred says she looks very much like Nature Boy Ric Flair when he flops. I didn’t know what he meant (I’m not a wrestling fan), so he sent me the link to this video and I have to say that yeah, she totally does.
I tried for the zillionth time yesterday to get her flop on video, but didn’t really have any luck. I did get a video of all the Peppers milling around, purring their heads off. Crank the sound and ignore the idiot (me) who occasionally says something. It’s a purrapalooza!
She does kind of do a modified flop in the last ten seconds of the video. I’m going to keep trying to get it on video, though!
Molly and Everett watching something. Probably the rest of the litter running around like goofballs.
“What?”
I used too much flash here, but you can see Sally’s stripes, which is neat.
Playing on (and around) the Ham-mick.
“Hey! Where’d everybody go?”
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It’s FRIIIIIIIIIDAY.
And you know what that means!
MORE BEAUTIFUL BOOKWORM BOYS!
Buster, on one of the cat walkways in the kitchen, keeping an eye on… who knows? One of the other cats, I’m sure.
Corbie wondering why, once again, my collapsible laundry basket is sitting under the tree. (Answer: because Tommy dragged it there!)
Buster, investigating.
Corbie and the ears of semi-annoyance.
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Previously 2010: House tour, part one. 2009: Flat Holly 2008: “Paul Newman is dead too! What are the chances that… Oh.”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry. 2005: I’m a badass, that’s right. 2004: I 2003: In adults, I am anti-”bye-bye”. 2002: Day in the life.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.
I think I’ll be pulling up tomato plants this weekend. The green tomatoes look gorgeous, but they split (or get eaten by worms) before they can ripen – and the ones that ripen are really bland. On the up side, I’ll have a ton of green tomatoes to freeze, to make green tomato chili this winter!
Carrots have finally popped up – took them 10 days to germinate, I’d about given up hope. (I really should have planted them three weeks earlier, but I just couldn’t get motivated!)
Of the 30+ cabbage seeds I planted, I ended up with 10 regular cabbage and 5 Chinese cabbage. I don’t know how we’ll eat alllll that cabbage (and that’s assuming we actually get full-sized heads, which you can never assume here at Crooked Acres. We haven’t had much luck with cabbage, but that doesn’t stop me from trying!)
The catnip is happy. Next year, I’m planting it in the BIG raised bed. You can never have enough catnip. (On a side note, I read that you can make tea from catnip leaves. What I wonder is, do you then walk around with catnip breath and the cats following you around trying to climb into your mouth? Anyone know?)
Chickens looooove watermelon.
A lot!
I was focusing on the chicken on the log and didn’t realize that the pigs were posing prettily in the background!
Pretty little chick.
Mama hen and babies.
Another mama hen (and one of her babies in the background).
Pretty little hen.
It is absolutely amazing, how fast these ducks are growing!
I love the white at the tips of their wings. Still no idea on the sex of any of them.
Considering his/ her next move (the other three were just off-camera).
I’m not sure what Gracie was looking at, here, but it certainly had her attention!
::thlurrrrp::
George enjoyed his evening snack.
“What?”
Time for the nightly ear rub. If dogs could purr, that’s what he’d be doing.
Checking for cookies.
“If I smile at you, will you give us cookies?” (Answer: NO. They’d already had their cookies!)
And, some sounds from Crooked Acres – whenever we walk out to the back forty, the chickens know they’re very likely going to get some scratch, so they come running from all over. (Special appearance by George, who hopes there’ll be a snack for him, too.)
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Guess whose turn it is to attempt to get the feather teaser THIS time?
Patty looks like she’s thinking “Why, that’s simply AMAZIN’!”
So close!
Taking a break to show off their pretty eyes.
Be vewwy vewwy quiet. He’s huntin’ wabbits.
It looks like he snagged a fuzzy blue ball that he’s juggling, but that’s actually laying on the floor a few feet away.
I swear, Patty DOES do more than just sit around and watch what Charlie’s doing, I swear she does. But sometimes she just can’t take her eyes off him, I guess!
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I love Everett’s brown-orange eyes.
Molly loves her belly rubs.
Three-way fighting (l to r: Sally, Everett, Harlan)
Nyah.
Lucy and Molly partake of some refreshing cool water.
Harlan relaxes.
Lucy keeps an eye on things.
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Stinkerbelle, atop the kitchen cabinets, keeping an eye on Buster.
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Previously 2010: Martin and Jake: it’s a love-hate-love-hate relationship. 2009: Is it not amazing how the tiniest things can make the worst smells? 2008: Did I mention SHADDUP, YOU?
2007: No entry. 2006: No need to send out the announcement that we’re freaks just yet, I suppose. 2005: What a fucking day, I tells ya. 2004: Which makes me think he’s out there talking shit about me, of course. 2003: I know I’ve lived in Alabama too long when 70 is a bit too cool for me.
2002: No entry. 2001: I swear, my work is NEVER done.
2000: No entry.
