Category: CAE

Fred sent me the link to this page a few weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to link to it, because it makes me guffaw.

Photobombers of the Day.

Is it just me, or did this week just CRAWL by? I imagine time will be at a crawl until late next Tuesday, which is when I’m due to start freaking out about having major surgery which means that time will begin rocketing by at a too-fast pace.

Didn’t you have a Cafe Press store at one point? The afternoon McLovin series (complete with captions) would make excellent note cards.

I actually have three of them, but there’s nothing there for now except the 2008 And3rson Kitties and Foster Kitties calendars. I’ll have to think about making McLovin cards, but I’m not sure how many people would actually be interested enough to buy them.

If there are 2 orange kitties and 2 kitty beds why does Newt get them both and does Sugey mind?

Those beds weren’t intended to stay there forever – I washed them then put them on the dryer intending to put them wherever they were before I washed them, then the cats started laying on them and so I just left them. Newt gets them because he was there first, of course.

Can you hear him from the house? Does it ever get annoying with him going on all day about what a stud he is?

You can generally hear McLovin from anywhere in the house. It all depends on where he’s crowing from whether it’s annoying or not. If he’s doing it from the fence post directly outside the computer room and he goes on and on and ON about it, it can get annoying. Most of the time it’s just like background noise and I tend not to notice it – unless, again, he goes on and on about it. And he DOES like to go on and on about it, except when I get the damn camera out.

Here’s some time in the life of McLovin the Man on YouTube:

Or in MPG format, here.

The parts where you can hear him crowing but it’s muted is shot through the window.

Is the no-litter-scooping because you aren’t supposed to bend over that far while you’re healing? Because if so, I have a suggestion, not for the litter, but for picking-up whatever you might drop: garden shops and hardware stores usually have a thingie that looks like a kind of claw at the end of a long stick. You put the claw-thing on what you want to pick up, squeeze the handle, and the jaws of the claw close around your dropped sock (or whatever) and voila! you’ve got it with no bending. Works like a charm. I use mine to retrieve things from in back of the washer, to retrieve soda bottles and cans that have fallen into a deep crack in back of my storage area, and so on. It works to pick up stuff as heavy as a large can of soup, and as light as a bit of paper.

I was kidding when I said that I couldn’t scoop out the litter boxes for six months. I’m sure after a week or so (depending on how it feels to bend over and scoop them) I’ll be so incensed at Fred doing it WRONG that I’ll take back scooping duties.

I actually have one of those claw-on-a-stick things. I keep it in the garage (to help me with filling the bird feeders), but after thinking about it, it would certainly come in handy in the house!

Ok, it’s official: Zoe’s my favorite. I love those serious stripes on her forehead. You do realize that this might send me to my local shelter sometime this summer to check out them kittens there, don’t you? Is that intentional (I hope it is!)?

and

Since so many people fell in love with Kaylee. I pick River now as my cyber kitty love. He has a face doesn’t he?

and

Is it wrong to choose a favorite? I love Zoe and Inara! LOVE THEM!

Honestly, every time I think one of them is my favorite, another one comes along and steals my heart.

I love River because he always looks so amazed by everything (and also because he’s the first one out of the teepee when I walk in the room).

I love Inara because she’s a feisty little brat and not scared of anything at all (I’ve been calling her “Chompers McGee”).

I love Zoe because she’s the littlest and sweet and cuddly, but I apparently needed protection from the camera yesterday (it turned itself off), and she didn’t hesitate to show that camera what was what.

I love Kaylee because she’s gorgeous (well, they’re all gorgeous) and reserved, but yesterday finally decided I was okay, and she climbed in my lap and stayed with me for a good long time before she ran off to play.

And I love Kara because she’s a good, caring Momma and even though the kittens are probably driving her bonkers, she’s (usually) patient with them and makes sure they have plenty to eat.

It is absolutely not wrong to pick a favorite, I understand completely.

Also, it’s not my intention to convince y’all to visit your local shelters and check out the kittens (and maybe bring one or two home), but if that’s the end result of my posting pictures and videos and stories, it’s certainly worth the effort it takes!

Since as a SAHD, I sit around eating bon bons, watching Oprah, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo, I find myself reading the odd “PREVIOUSLY” entries. One of the ones from yesterday led me to a description of a visit to a petting zoo. You made the comment that you made Fred promise if you ever have land he would get you Pygmy Goats. Welllllllllllllllllllllll? Where are they to be found on Crooked Acres?

Hush up, shit stirrer. You’ll note that I said:

I said to Fred “Someday, if we have a house on enough land, promise me we’ll get some pygmy goats!” He wouldn’t, though, damn him.

See? Fred wouldn’t agree. I would certainly never suggest that he change his mind, so no goats for us!

Did Kara hurt Mr Boogers Eye?

No, Mister Boogers has allergies in the Spring (and Fall), and tends to have a goopy left eye for a couple of months each year. Dosing him with Chlorpheneramine (which we buy over the counter) usually helps, but we’re not great with dosing him regularly, and tend not to unless his eye looks particularly bad.

Wow That’s a quick date for the surgery. How long is the recovery supposed to be? *ouch*

The surgeon said it’ll be about a month before I wake up in the morning and feel completely normal. What I’ve read online says that I should be able to resume normal activities after about two weeks. We’ll see!

I used to do a vinegar rinse in the laundry all the time till I got a new HE washer. The directions say to ONLY use fabric softener (or nothing) in the dispenser and it scared me out of using vinegar (which is corrosive) anymore. Do you think it would be alright anyway?

I’d recommend you try calling the manufacturer’s customer support line and ask them. I’d hate to tell you to go ahead and do it only to have your washer die on you!

You read this all the time but, DEAR GOD, those kittens are so damnedably cute. Which one is Nance getting?

I think Nance is refusing to come visit again ’til all the kittens are gone. I think she should take Inara, personally, but I don’t think she’ll go for it after adopting the evil Maddy.

I am hesitant to ask this because I have the exact same thing going on at my own blog, but I’m going to ask anyway. You probably have some genius readers (or husband) who can tweak it right up for you without killing your whole site for a week like I did mine the last time I tried to “fix” anything. So, here goes:

Is there a way to make your … masthead, logo thingie up there, clickable so it goes to the “main” (i.e. current) page? I was browsing your past years and got sort of stuck in a 2007 time warp. I had to – horrors! – click on my bookmark to get back here. I looked for a “home” or “main” button, but if there is one I missed it. I kept clicking on the piggie in the unreasonable hope that if I clicked enough times it’d take me back to the main/today’s page. (I considered using my back button but that’s entirely too sensible. Can’t be having with the sensibleness, now.)

I actually fiddled around with this after I read your comment last week. You’d think it’d just be a matter of putting an html tag around the image tag, but I tried it and it didn’t work worth a shit.

I’m thinking it would be easier to just add a “home” link at the tops and/ or bottoms of the entries, but I don’t know how to do that, either.

::shrug::

You may have thought of this, or are doing this and I’m not aware, but have you ever thought of printing some of your awesome photos of the fosters you take in and maybe putting them in a little inexpensive photo album to let the shelter folks give to the people who end up adopting the kitties? You could even write something about what the kitties like to do, their “history” at your house, etc.

I think if I were going to make a decision about adopting a cat, a little something special like that would make me feel like I knew the cat a little better, and that it had definitely been cared for. Plus, especially with the baby kitties, since they change so much, it’s just really cool to see the transformation.

and

I just had what may be a goofy idea just pop into my head while looking at the (per usual) heart achingly sweet pictures of the kitties. When it is time for each cat/kitten to go to the shelter, it would be kind of cool to make up a little baby book (including your captioning) to take with each one which would guarantee melt the hearts of whomever is looking. Especially for the ones who may be taking too long to be adopted. I know it would work for me if I was the one looking. 😮 You could print out a few pictures on paper and punch a hole and use a ribbon or something to tie it onto the cage so people could look through them. Just a thought.

I’d probably be more likely to burn the pictures to a disc so their new owners can have their baby pictures than to put together a picture album – I don’t really have the patience to go through all the pictures, print them out, and put them in an album. Little kittens get adopted pretty quickly, but seeing as HG still hasn’t been adopted (DAMNIT), maybe I’ll put something together for him that shows off his personality.

have you ever read animal farm by george orwell?

I have not. Should I?

It’s hilarious that you have the patience to take 70,000 pictures of the bebbe kitteh’s every day (to get the perfect pictures of them yawning/fighting/open mouthed), yet zero patience when it comes to in-animate objects that malfunction. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone markets to this very urge we all have when frustrated.

Malfunctioning inanimate objects just piss me off IMMEDIATELY. I’ve got a hairtrigger temper when it comes to the computer – or really, anything electronic – not working the way it should. All I want is shit to WORK the way it’s supposed to, why is that such a fucking PROBLEM?

Kittens won’t use the litter box? Sit and gnaw on my hand? Won’t yawn when I’m pointing the camera at them? I’ve got infinite patience for THAT!

Say, just how did you dispose of that dead grackle? Inquiring minds want to know.

This is from my husband, the shit-stirrer, who thinks that you will all stop loving me if I tell you that I tossed that dead grackle into the pig yard and didn’t look back. What? It’s DEAD. (PS: The grackle was gone later when Fred looked.)

All the babies are now using the litter box, hooray! They’re not pooping in it, but I’m sure that’ll happen soon enough. They’re exploring the room a lot more now, sniffing at the bowls of water and showing no interest in food at all. That’s okay – just like your average kid doesn’t go off to college still in diapers, your average kitten figures out that whole eating-food thing when his or her Momma decides it’s time to stop being quite so free and easy with the milk. They’re still little, they’ll get it sooner or later.

I weighed the kittens last night. Inara (whose other nickname is “Porky McGee”, since she outweighs the other kittens by at least an ounce, which is a lot when you weigh less than two pounds.) continues to lead the pack at 1 lb 7 ounces, and Zoe (“Peanut McGee”) is still the littlest at 1 pound 4 ounces. River (“Goofy McGee”) and Kaylee (“Badger McGee”) are spaced respectably in between the other two.

(pic) Kaylee is the sleepiest of the four. Always ready for a nap, always last out of the teepee. In between, she races around like her butt’s on fire.

I don’t know what was going on in the kitten room yesterday, but apparently it was pretty amazing.

(pic) “You did WHAT?!?!”

(pic) “She did WHAT?!?!”

(pic) “NO WAY!”

We took the kittens’ 4-week pictures last night.

See River’s progression pictures here.
See Inara’s progression pictures here.
See Kaylee’s progression pictures here.
See Zoe’s progression pictures here.

Buttloads of cute kitten pics over at Flickr.

Also, a video demonstrating why I call Kara the Queen of Clean.

And you can watch it in MPG format, here.

(pic) “You rang?”

Previously
2007: They’d surely have fabulous gay parties and invite their fabulous gay friends and give my inner Mrs. Kravitz something to spy on.
2006: I’m READY FOR SUMMER, THANK YOU.
2005: I like cats. They’re good to eat.
2004: No entry.
2003: We’re some calendar-loving motherfuckers, that’s right.
2002: Kitty meeting.
2001: So… I guess we could probably sell your shithole…
2000: It sounds like there’s a lot to do in Gatlinburg, so it should be fun.

Survivor spoilers; skip to the next section if you haven’t seen last night’s episode yet!

This is the fucking BEST SEASON EVER. Those women have played the FUCK out of those men, and I cannot believe that boy was SO DUMB as to give up that idol. OH MY GOD. I can’t remember the last time every episode has had me on the edge of my seat like this. Those men are SO GODDAMN DUMB, it’s totally the season of dumbass men.

There have – if I recall correctly – been seasons where the final four were all women. Right? Definitely there’s been at least an all-female final three, it’s all kind of a blur. This is the first time I feel like every one of those women absolutely deserves to be there. None of them slid into it or rode coattails, they all schemed and manipulated and played the game to DEATH. Even Natalie, with convincing him to give her the idol.

I hope like hell that Amanda can get her ass into the final three, because if she can then I don’t think anyone has any chance against her. I think they all know that Amanda’s going to end up winning if she gets to the final three, too.

This has been the best season in a long, long time. I can’t wait ’til Sunday!!!

What’s up with the pigs nose? It looks totally clogged with goo. I don’t know anything about pigs, but it looks like it can’t breathe!

Nope, it’s not clogged. There’s some mud around the edge of his nostrils, but other than that it’s just… nostril. He can breathe just fine! (See here for the larger version)

Aren’t those pretty yellow flower weeds a field of canola?

and

I do believe that those flowers are feverfew. It supposedly cures just about everything – try it on your favorite ailment and see if it works! 🙂 Even if it doesn’t cure world hunger, the flowers are lovely, aren’t they?

I haven’t got a clue what the yellow flowers are, but they certainly are pretty!

I’m back just to say – it’s been hanging out in the back of my brain all day . . . Moldy strawberries? Man – Could you imagine all the food that would not go to waste if we human or even cats and dogs could really “Eat like a pig”? Or – the amount of food poisoning we would not have to endure? Once again, another saying that is a lie…

I should add here that the pigs weren’t terribly crazy about the strawberries, moldy or not. Which surprised the hell out of me – they like sweet stuff, I thought for sure they’d like strawberries (mold or not)! They did eventually eat the strawberries but it was in a grudging way, kind of like “Well since there’s nothing ELSE…” Spoiled brats.

I tell you what, ever since we got those pigs, NOTHING has gone to waste. I used to have to empty the compost bucket every couple of days, but now I only have to do it once a week, and that’s only because it starts to smell if I don’t. We’re pretty much only composting coffee grounds and onion peels (our pigs don’t like onions); the pigs and chickens eat everything else!

Vinegar for fabric softener? Tell me more…….. Do you put it in at rinse? Can you put it in the dispenser. Are your clothes really soft? How is it better than Downey (besides being cheaper)? How much do you use?

I use a cup of vinegar, and I put it in the dispenser when I start the wash. A cup just fills up the dispenser, so I don’t have to even measure it. It makes my clothes just as soft as fabric softener does (though keep in mind that I hang my clothes out to dry, so they’re not as soft as they’d be in the dryer), it doesn’t leave the fabric softener smell behind, it’s cheaper, and it’s better for the environment!

Hi Robyn – Your mention of Paula’s Gooey Butter Cake reminded me of this.

Does Steve Carell look like the NICEST guy on earth, or what? I watched that entire video and just grinned like a goon the entire time.

Did you happen to notice that in the pic of the apron, you kind of look like you are balancing the pot on your head? It looked that way when I just glanced quickly at the screen and I had to laugh.

I actually did NOT notice that until you guys started commenting about it. Rest assured, I am NOT balancing that pot on my head and I don’t think I could if I wanted to. That sucker is HEAVY. It’s the best pot on earth, though – I use it all the time.

I may have mentioned this before, but Fred seriously needs to get a t-post driver so we don’t have to read about “The sledgehammer incident of aught eight”. You should be able to find one at any farm supply type place.

I think you did mention it before, because I remember saying something to Fred and him making noises about getting a t-post driver and then we both immediately forgot about it completely.

I swear, if there is ANYTHING on earth more precious than kittens (and puppies) I don’t know what it could be. LOVE the kitten photos, brings back so many happy memories of the kittens I’ve raised. They definitely DO recognize you, early on. I bottle-fed one kitten, which as at times a chore, but she was adorable and it was a fun experience. The only trouble I had was getting her to learn to eat FOOD; she just wouldn’t do it, even when I’d dip her little face in liquid, soft cat food. She wouldn’t even drink cream. Finally I put her with my other cats (she was the only suviving kitten of several) and after observing them eat, lo and behold, she started eating! Ha!

This reminds of when I had Maddy and she would NOT eat canned food, no matter how much I tried to get her to try it. She was NOT interested, I would put it front of her face and she would sniff it and walk away, I’d pile it up on the plate and show it to her, NOT interested, I would smear a little in her mouth, she’d swallow it and still? NOT INTERESTED. And then one evening I was trying it for the millionth time, and suddenly it was all she wanted on earth. She just didn’t want to start eating food until SHE wanted to and once she decided she was ready, there was no problem. Brat.

You mentioned putting the cat food outside … do you have any problems with raccoons or possums or (gulp) skunks? We have had them actually coming inside our house through the pet door – which, by the way is nowhere near the cat food. They have to come all the way down an “L” shaped hallway and through the dining room to get to the cat food in the kitchen. It is definitely creepy to know they’re in the house at night … I get up pretty early, and more than once I have seen a raccoon (or maybe a possum, but I am in denial on that one) at the catfood dispenser. Ugh, they’re so unconcerned by humans, they just kind of saunter out of the room, almost giving me a dirty look over their shoulders.

I haven’t seen any raccoons or seen or smelled any skunks, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there! We lock up the house at dark, make all the cats (except Maxi and Newt) stay inside, and don’t leave the cat door open, so if they’re out there they can’t get in. At the other house we never had any issues with raccoons or skunks, but we did leave the cat door open at night, so once a strange cat came inside (and got his ass kicked by Tubby), and we had a couple of baby possums brought into the house by our cats, too. I believe that’s why we started shutting the cat door at night!

I was also wondering about whether you have had any problems with raccoons (or other predators) around the chickens?

This is another case where I’ve never seen raccoons or any other predators around the chickens, but we lock them up at night, and I don’t believe there’s an animal out there who could get into the chicken coops. Those things are like Fort Knox!

No more open pet door at night at our house, so now we are in the market for a self-cleaning litter box. Any suggestions on that front are welcome, as well.

I liked the Litter Robot at first, but after we’d had it about 6 months, it started not working all the time, then at 9 months the globe cracked and I decided I’d go back to scooping them by hand (which I’d been doing anyway, because not all the cats would use the Litter Robot) and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since!

Readers, self-cleaning litterbox suggestions?

Ok, maybe this is a totally stupid and ridiculous question but I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no kittehs. Do the kittehs always use the same nipple to nurse? Do they line up in the same order? Or do they line up by who gets there first? Is there a nipple pecking order? Or … just random? HEY. I’m a CITY KID.

Oddly enough, I thought it was just a random thing, that they grabbed whatever nipple was closest and free, but once I started paying attention, I realized that they do seem to each have their own nipple. Inara and Zoe are on either end, River’s in the middle, and Kaylee’s is located right underneath River’s, which makes it interesting. If you notice the pictures where all four of them are nursing, you’ll never see Kaylee’s head, just her feet sticking out from underneath River. I don’t think they always use the same nipples every single time, but they do seem to gravitate toward “their” nipple.

(pic)

Just out of curiosity, does Kara carry the kittens around by the scruff of their necks at all?

No, I haven’t seen her do that at all. When they were very little, they didn’t leave the box at all – or hardly at all – and now that they’re big enough to explore the room, she keeps an eye on them, but they always come back to the box and to Momma, especially when she calls them.

It will be interesting to see who is pissed off with Fred. Someone not getting enough attention because Fred spends all his time outside playing instead of sitting and cuddling. I hope you figure out the culprit and stop him or her. I had a cat that did it and no matter what I did, I could not stop him from peeing on my bed.

I think the issue with the cat peeing on the bed could be as simple as the fact that the mattress on Fred’s bed was the one that Tubby peed on years ago toward the end of his life. I think there would be no peeing on the bed if we replaced the mattress, but Fred doesn’t want to – the cat pee smell isn’t noticeable to the human nose, just the feline nose, apparently!

I’ll tell you what – if anyone ever pees on MY bed, they’re all going to become outdoor cats IMMEDIATELY. Fuckers.

I just found out that you guys missed a major holiday! Apparently May 4th was “International Respect For Chickens Day” (http://www.upc-online.org/) I realize it’s a crunchy granola vegan holiday, but there’s no one I’ve ever known that respected their chickens more!

We definitely respect our chickens. Speaking of chickens, we have one chicken that’s gone broody. She’s currently sitting on a nest of five (I think) eggs. More days than not, she leaves her nest of eggs to get something to eat and drink, comes back to find another chicken in her nest (that’s a favorite nest for laying, apparently) and gets in another nest. The chicken in the nest with the eggs lays her egg (we’ve marked the eggs that have been there for a while so we know which ones are fresh) and wanders off, leaving behind a nest of eggs. And the broody chicken just stays where she is.

We tried separating her off – Fred made her a nest in a clean litter box, put the whole thing in the little coop with the little chickens, and that goddamn chicken would have nothing to do with those eggs ’til Fred put them back in the big coop. I don’t have high hopes for these eggs ever hatching.

Chickens are not known for their intelligence, I suppose.

De-lurking to say I did the cat/bird in the house thing only it was with a dog and live rabbit which escaped at one point. I’ve learned to #1 – if dog is carrying a rabbit do not go out and try to get him to drop it, and #2 – if you do go out, do not leave the door open. Good lessons to learn.

I could have smacked myself for leaving that door open when I went out to try to get Joe Bob to drop that damn bird!

Speaking of small animals in the house (that don’t belong), my sister’s cats once brought a chipmunk in her apartment. A CHIPMUNK. I need me a pet chipmunk, those things are freakin’ adorable.

what did the vet suggest for suggies toes?

An antibiotic ointment applied 3 – 4 times a day. Since we can’t keep a bandage on it, we also lightly spray Bitter Apple spray so that he won’t lick at it. It seems to be improving; it’s definitely better today than it was the day I took him to the vet!

My spayed and neutered cats NEVER pee on anything….until my grown kids come to visit. They smell a male hormone…..that’s all she wrote.They’re peeing all over their dirty laundry, duffle bags, sheets, you name it. I also once had a female cat that peed (constantly) on my room mates bed, after she had S.e.x. (the room mate, not the cat) I am now convinced the peeing has something to do with the smell of sex. 🙂 Anyone agree?

I don’t know about that, but I can tell you that one night, Fred was sleeping and Mister Boogers was in the room with him (I think Fred had gotten up to pee and Mister Boogers followed him back into his room and Fred decided to let him stay). Mister Boogers was laying between Fred’s legs and Fred farted. And Mister Boogers peed on him. Fred doesn’t think the peeing had anything to do with the farting, but come on. It MUST.

Wanted to update you on the lady that spent 30 days in shelter for the Humane society. Here is her last day blog.

God bless that woman!

when do the kittehs go to the shelter for some adoption lovin? Is it when they are spaying age? 3-4 months is it?

Well, the kittens can be spayed and neutered when they reach 2 pounds. I went and looked back through my journal when we had Maddy, and Maddy just barely hit two pounds at about 10 weeks old (I remember being glad that we could have her spayed before Nance and Rick took her home). So I’d guess that 10 – 12 weeks, these guys will be big enough to be spayed and neutered, and once that’s done, they’ll be going to the pet store, hopefully to be adopted immediately!

We have some litterbox issues with the elder gentleman and I have taken to using the puppy training pads you can get at Target. They absorb, are pretty good sized and have an attractant that might help overcome the dislike of the different litter. Just a suggestion.

I have honestly considered putting down a couple of pee pads (we have some left over from when we had that old beagle back in January) in a few places in the house. Whoever occasionally pees seems to do it on anything we leave on the floor, so if they have a pee pad upon which they can express their displeasure, maybe they won’t pee on things like beds and blankets. It’s worth a try, I think!

I love the raccoon kitteh! My heart goes pitter patter and I’m not a cat person! At all! Are all cats born with blue eyes like human babies – and then they change color as they get older? If so, What color do you think the raccoon kitten’s eyes will be?

As far as I know, all cats are born with those absolutely gorgeous dark blue eyes and they almost always change color when they get older. If I had to guess, I’d say that Kaylee’s eyes might turn out the same pretty green color as her mother’s eyes, but there’s no way to be sure. We’ll just have to wait and see!

For the record, Maddy’s eyes were that pretty blue at the beginning, like this, and now they’re a really cool green color, as seen here.

There was a bit of excitement last night in the foster kitty room. Or rather, the excitement was OUTSIDE the foster kitty room. I was going into the room and didn’t realized that Sugarbutt was in the hallway behind me. Usually I’m very careful to make sure there are no cats visible to Kara when I’m going into the room, because she’s still got that protective Momma thing going on. But Sugarbutt was behind me, and she caught sight of him, and she FLEW out of the room and it was all a blur. They ended up in the bathroom and I managed to push Kara into the bathroom while letting Sugarbutt out so he could go racing down the hall and down the stairs and I shut her in the bathroom.

She kicked Sugarbutt’s ASS. He’s fine, she didn’t hurt him, but she scared the everloving shit out of me, for sure.

Fred brought her back into the foster kitty room and she was fine and the babies weren’t even scared by the noise (I yelled “No! No! NO!” during the entire altercation, which did no good at ALL), but we petted her and reassured her that she was a good mommy.

I guess I’ll be a little more careful from here on out! I thought she was going to kill poor Sugarbutt.

The kittens are three weeks old now, and exploring the room more and more. This morning when I went into the room to scoop the litter box, three of the kittens were in the padded pyramid, sound asleep. I think they like the padding in the pyramid and how closed-in it is. When they saw me, they came right out. River’s started climbing me, and Inara will climb into my lap for a minute. I tell you, my tongue is just in SHREDS, I spend so much time biting it so I won’t squoosh them to death.

Kaylee is the deep thinker of the litter. She spends a lot of time watching everything that’s going on, and I’ve seen her looking contemplatively at the top of the box they’ve been living in. I suspect she’s going to be the first one to jump up there – though they’re still little, I’d give it a few weeks!

I weighed the kittens last night, and their weights range from 1 pound 3/4 oz (Zoe) to 1 pound 3 3/4 oz (Inara). They’ve pretty much doubled their weight since their one-week weigh in, which I believe is just perfect, that’s what they’re supposed to be doing. They won’t gain as quickly from here on out, but I’m still going to do weekly weigh ins to see what their progress is.

And speaking of progress, here are their three-week pictures! (Next week I’ll do progressive pictures from 3 days old to 4 weeks old for each of them so you can see the difference!)

(pic) Zoe.

(pic) Inara.

(pic) Kaylee.

(pic) River. (He looks scared, but he’s not. I think he was meowing at Fred.)

Lots of kitten pics over at Flickr.

(pic) “I weren’t skeered of that Momma kitty. She don’t skeer me. At all. Ever. I did NOT cry like a little baby after she kicked my ass – she didn’t kick my ass! I just let her think she did! – at ALL. She don’t wanna come near me. I’ll show her who the boss is. It’s me! I’m the boss! And I’ll show her! That’s right.”

Previously
2007: Cleaning is my favorite thing ever, you know, so it was a happy, happy day for me.
2006: 18. Have you ever been in a fight? Nothing stronger than a slap-fight. Are you kidding? I’d shit myself and pass out before anyone got a chance to hit me.
2005: NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT COREY CLARK.
2004: No entry.
2003: You know you’re hormonal when the video for Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” (hee! I almost typed “Fancypants”) makes you all teary-eyed.
2002: It rocked. I loved it. I see a strong love for sushi in my future.
2001: I’ve managed to stay strong.
2000: Poor, poor pitiful me.

HG has gone to the pet store – room opened up, so I took him with me yesterday when I went to scoop and feed. He was quiet – worried – on the trip there, and a little hesitant when I let him out of the carrier in the cat room. He roamed the cat room while I did my thing, sniffing all around, making friends with the other cats. He was the last one I put in his cage when I was done cleaning – and I waited until I absolutely had to leave to make my 9:00 appointment – and he immediately climbed into the litter box and meowed sadly at me when I walked by the window.

Poor HG. He’s under strict instructions to get adopted by next Thursday. Hopefully he will!

(The sidebar will be updated by the third of When I Get the Fuck Around to it.)

If you get a chance to add this to tomorrow’s part 2: When you freeze the onions (and bell peppers too, since you told me I could), how do you store them so that you can get only as much onion as you need out later? I thought I was clever the first time I froze onions and chopped up like four huge onions and put it in a tupperware-knockoff figuring I’d just open it up, scoop out how much chopped onion I needed, and close it back up. Brainiac that I am, I didn’t think about the fact that it’d all be frozen into a solid onion brick. So, what do you do, a few teaspoons between sheets of waxed paper? Individual baggies? There’s got to be something easier and more sensible…

I put my chopped onions in sandwich bags and stick them in the door of the freezer. If I just need a few Tablespoons, I roll the bag back and forth between my hands so that the lump of frozen-together onions break up, then measure out what I need. Voila!

How to figure out the girl kitties from the boys:

Just sayin’!

Yeah, we’ve actually sexed kittens pretty often. I find this page pretty helpful, but once you’ve done it a few times and know what you’re looking for, it’s not too hard.

Why is your ire so damned funny, Robyn? (Does Fred think so, too?)

Because it’s ALWAYS funny when someone’s pissed off and it isn’t directed at you!

Fred usually finds it funny when I get pissed off as long as it’s not at him (though sometimes if I’m over-the-top swearing and stomping-around annoyed, he finds it funny even if it’s directed at him) and as long as it’s not something he’ll have to fix (ie, the GODDAMN COMPUTER).

How very organized of your cats to place themselves so symmetrically on your bed! A tad OCD, isn’t it? And oh my GOD those kittens are to die for! I can just hear the tiny mewing. I so envy you!! Except all that litter box cleaning, eck. No thanks!

I think it’s funny that they were located equidistant from each other. Apparently they all have the same personal space requirements!

The litter box cleaning isn’t so bad yet, since Kara’s taking care of all the kittens and their elimination needs. Once they start using the litter box (another 2 to 3 weeks, I believe – hard to believe those little squirmy things that sometimes can’t quite locate a nipple that’s right in front of them will be using litter boxes so soon, isn’t it?) the scooping will be a pain, but it’s worth it!

I’ve been meaning to ask you this and keep forgetting! I had my husband rototill half of our freaking yard last week, so our veggie garden is going to be HUGE this year. I’ve never tried canning and I was wondering if there was a book or anything you’d recommend for someone who has no idea what she’s doing. Did you learn any hot tips last year?

The Ball Blue Book of Preserving. Absolutely, without a doubt, the most useful book when it comes to canning. When I got my pressure canner, it came with a book and I read the book and was instantly in a panic, saying “This doesn’t make SENSE, I don’t UNDERSTAND, I’m never going to be able to figure this OUT!” The Ball Blue Book takes you by the hand and leads you step-by-step and makes it so very, very simple. Two thumbs up – and actually, once you understand how to can, the world is open to you, because you can go online and get tons of cool recipes online! It might seem complicated at first, but it’s really not. Just take a deep breath and dive in!

So cute. Those pink toes – I just want to nibble on them!

I can report that those pink toes taste like cotton candy. In case you were wondering. Not that I would lick them myself or anything!

Does the sideswipe blade get the stuff down in the little divot at the bottom of the bowl too? That’s the stuff that drives me nuts. I have to dump my cookie dough out and remix the bottom part to make sure the good stuff is all evenly distributed. I might have some sort of cookie-related OCD.

Yeah, that was my pet peeve, the stuff left behind in the bottom of the bowl. I love my Kitchenaid, but I’m thinking for a damn mixer that expensive, there shouldn’t be shit left in the divot at the bottom! I’ve only tried the Sideswipe once, but I can report that when I dumped the cake batter out of the bowl, there was NO unmixed stuff at the bottom of the bowl. Other Sideswipe owners, your experience?

You should totally watch Firefly… the character of Jayne is a boy (BTW), but River is a great name too!

I actually thought of naming the gray tabby Jayne, since Jayne is a boy, but I thought that might get too confusing for potential adopters!

How much do the kittehs weigh? I need to know so I can send the correct FedEx package and airbill so the kittehs can be sent to me. OkThxBai.

As of last night – one week old – they all weigh between 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 ounces. Kaylee’s the littlest and Inara is the biggest. I know you’re kidding about the FedEx, though. Only UPS properly ships kittehs!

Also, have you ever had experience with a cat with a broken elbow? I have a cat, Gracie, who broke her elbow back in January. I don’t know how she did it – I was handing out treats one morning, and she didn’t come to get hers, so I went to find her and she was laying in her favorite sleeping place, with a broken leg. She spent the last three months in a cast, and the last x-ray didn’t show much if any improvement over the previous one, so they removed the cast yesterday. I am VERY disillusioned with my vet’s office, let me tell you, first because of a billing issue last week, and then because yesterday when she had her cast off, they just took her in the back, removed it and brought her back out to me. I never saw a vet, and never got any instructions on how to care for her now.

I wondered if you or any of your readers have had experience with this. Since I got no instruction from my vet – am I doing the right thing by being so protective? (If she breaks the elbow again,she’ll lose her leg.) My plan right now is to have her loose when I’m home to watch her, and to encourage her to walk on it as much as possible, to try to strengthen it. (She has been living in a crate while the cast was on, and is in there now when I’m at work and at night when I’m sleeping, just so I know she won’t break it while I’m there to watch her.) Is there anything else I should be doing for her? Am I just being overprotective? (Also, there are pictures on my blog, if you want to see her when she just came home yesterday.)

I have never had any experience with a cat with a broken elbow, but I think you’re probably doing the right thing, being protective and making sure she doesn’t jump down and reinjure herself.

Readers, words of wisdom?

From Tina, in yesterday’s comments:

I have a dog that had ACL surgery, not a cat or dog with a broken elbow, so this may be assvice. With the dog, we were to gently extend the leg until he pulled back – like 10 times a couple of times a day. Then the opposite, gently push the leg in towards his body as far as he would let us. Also 10 times a couple of times a day. This gets the muscles working and the blood flowing.

I would baby the cat for a little bit – give her a “boost” onto the bed and furniture. I would slowly let her do more otherwise she won’t heal. If you are really concerned, get her some pet stairs so that she doesn’t have to jump up and down onto the furniture or bed. My arthritic cat has stairs and he uses them in both directions.

Hey, why don’t you call them back tonight at 3 in the morning so they can see how it feels?

A week after my hubby got back from afghanistan, my brother called my house at 3 am… i woke up freakin’ and shaking because I forgot hubby was back and thought they were calling me to tell me he was injured or died… 3 am phone calls only mean one thing to me and that is death! It took at least an hour for me to calm down enough to even TRY to get back to sleep. I haven’t spoke to my brother since then either…

I tell you what, I was tempted – except that I would have had to get up at 3 am to call them, and I need my beauty sleep! The very next night after they called at 3 am and woke me up, I was sound asleep and the phone rang and woke me up and my immediate thought was “Are these people FUCKING KIDDING ME?” But it was actually only 10:45, and it was my friend Liz, so all was good.

Also, after that 3 am call, I actually went back to sleep and dreamed that it had been a call from someone telling me that Fred had died, and then the Real Housewives of NYC came over, Luann was lecturing me on the proper way to write thank you cards, and Ramona was trying to get me to go out dancing with her. Good lord.

So – does Kara keep that towel clean or do you have multiple purple towels that you keep replacing daily?

Kara keeps that towel perfectly clean, except for all the cat hair that’s starting to build up. I’ve thought of putting a clean towel down, but right now I think it’s probably best to leave that towel in place, because I’m sure it smells like Kara to the kittens, and smells like home to them. Once their eyes are open and they can see what’s going on, I’ll replace the towel on a somewhat regular basis.

Since you DID answer the phone at 3am.. have you ever thought of running for president? LOL

I tell you what, you do NOT want President Bitchypoo answering the phone at 3 am. “HELLO? Do you know what TIME it is? Oh REALLY. Well, did anyone DIE, someone better have DIED for you to call me at 3 am! They…. HOW many? GodDAMN it. Nuke those fuckers and don’t call me back ’til after 8 am, you hear me?!”

Are those your NEW purple towels?!

HELLZ no. That purple towel under Kara and the kittens is an old one I’ve had kicking around for a long time. We have quite a collection of old towels, there’s no reason to sacrifice my nice new ones!

I have read a lot of birth stories on the Internet and this is the only one that made me teary.

I actually got teary several times during the process, first because it was so hard to see Kara in pain (always easier to BE in pain than watch someone in pain, I always say!), then because – well – MIRACLE OF LIFE!, and then because I was thinking about our cats and imagining what they must have looked like as newborns. I bet Mister Boogers was one seriously cute (yet hetful) little thing.

By the way, started the morning today at 5:30 with an earthquake and then went in for a job interview during which we had an aftershock. Not sure if that is a good sign or bad.

We actually felt that earthquake! Well, the aftershock, I guess. We were both awake, me in my room and Fred in his. I felt it, but thought it was a cat tromping across my bed. Fred felt it and knew it was no cat, ’cause the cats aren’t allowed in his room at night, so when he got up he checked the news and found that, indeed, it had been an earthquake.

What is Firefly? I’ve never heard of it.

There’s a sudden lack of oxygen as the entire internet just gasped in horror. Firefly is a cult hit TV show (that is no longer on) that everyone appears to LOVE, and you can read more about it here. And when I’m done with October Road (shut UP), Firefly’s going to the top of my Netflix queue, promise!

The look on Kara’s face – with the tongue stuck out – is cracking me UP. “No milk for YOU!”

Pretty Kara.

Kara was out wandering around the room yesterday afternoon, so I gave her a catnip bag to see what she’d do. What she did was roll around on it and get high and then get aggressive with me (grabbing my arm and nipping it), so I took the catnip bag away from her ’cause I didn’t want her eating no kittens!

She’s a mean drunk.

(pic) Miss Momma (Maxi), snoozing on my bed. She haz a nipple. Let her show you it.

Previously
2007: Alternately, I came up with “expressional”.
2006: A belly rub is a religious experience for Our Tommy.
2005: Friday sucked ass for the following reasons
2004: No entry.
2003: I am apparently married to a 100 year-old man.
2002: “Your air gap floopy.”
2001: And thought about putting my motherfucking fist through my motherfucking monitor because my motherfucking internet access has been going down every 9.8 seconds.
2000: “There’s no Easter bunny, there’s no tooth fairy, and Bruce Willis is DEAD, he’s DEAD, DEAD!”