Category: CAE

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 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!)

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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!

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The kittens playing with lightsabers were cute, but have you seen the leopard cub who thinks s/he IS a lightsaber?

Actually, I had not. That is seriously CUTE!

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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.

Did ya vote for Gracie over at the Greenies competition, didya, didya, huh?

(Those of you in Canada and other countries who can’t vote, you are excused. I appreciate your trying, though!)

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We have a property line asshole next door. We put in a new hedge at the front of our property and she came over claiming it was in her yard.

After digging out the surveyors papers she agreed we were right. And yes, she agreed, their side fence was TWO FEET in our property. “But that is ok” she decided and went sheepishly into the house.

Ohhhh, Amy, I would make a HUUUUUUGE stink about her being two feet onto your property. This could happen to you!:

My Grandparents lost about an acre of land because his neighbor overfenced into their property (they had something close to 80 acres if I remember right so an acre was sort of a drop in the bucket). When my grandfather went to talk to them about it, the neighbors were all “But we put it in! And it was expensive! And Wah cakes!” so my grandpa was all neighborly with the “I guess it’s alright”. Then, when my grandfather wanted that land back some time later, the neighbors put up a fight and won because they had had it fenced in for so long it somehow became theirs. It pays to be “those” neighbors sometimes.

I’m sure someone out there can give us the specifics, but in many (if not all!) states, if you allow your neighbor use of your land for a certain amount of time, they eventually get to claim it as their own. Which is a special form of assholery, if you ask me.

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Some other friends put a fence only between themselves and their next-door neighbor, leaving three sides fenceless. The neighbor got sort of pissy about that, I’m told.

Fred mentioned the idea of putting up a fence (“How high do they make privacy fences?” he asked me last night.) just on that side of the house. Because, hey, we don’t really have problems on the other side of us, since there’s a church there AND a ditch that pretty clearly marks the property line.

Maybe we need a ditch along the property line on that side, too!

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“99.999% of the time, the household goods sold at flea markets are hot.”

Not true! There is a cottage industry of extreme couponing with the goal of selling the stuff at flea markets.

Wait. Are you trying to tell me that those extreme couponers don’t all hoard their stuff in the basement or the garage or the extra bedroom?! I had never considered that they might sell that stuff at flea markets, but it makes sense now that I think about it.

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When you and Fred bought the house, didn’t it have a pond in the back but it really didn’t have water in it? If I recall, didn’t you have it filled in with dirt? Maybe I’m mistaken…

I can’t for the life of me find it, but I have a drawn property map somewhere, I’ll see if I can’t find it or slap one together in the next week. In short no, you aren’t mistaken, we did have a small pond that was located in the area between the back of the back yard and the beginning of the back forty. It dried up because we had a dry summer, and we didn’t like where it was located, so we had it filled in.

This is what it looked like during the brief period of time when it was full:

And here, the summer before, with dead catfish floating on the surface and the spud on the other end:

The new pond is going to be located at the back of the back forty and will be roughly four times as big as the pond we had filled in. The guy was supposed to start digging the pond on Monday but OF COURSE Mother Nature is a WHORE and it rained on Monday and Tuesday, so we’re not sure when he’ll be able to start digging. Soon, I hope.

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RE: the Pond – are you going to put a plastic liner in the bottom and put large stones around it, or is it just going to be a hole in the ground. Sounds like you are going to have fishys for the duckys – so are you going to have a pump thing heater thing – or go all naturale, like a normal creek/pond.

I don’t think we could afford enough plastic to put a liner in the pond we’re having dug, so I guess it’s going to just be a hole in the ground. It’ll be like a normal creek/pond. I don’t see putting a heater in the pond, but we are talking about a solar-powered aerator. We’re talking about planting a couple of trees near the pond, and I’d like to have a bench so we could sit back there and watch the ducks paddle about.

(Fred’s talking about putting his kayak in the pond. I’m not sure if he’s kidding about that or not…)

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A little while ago you were talking about grey versus silver tabbies. I got all confused. Now I thought my boy was a grey tabby and the vet tells me he’s blue! He’s beautiful but what’s the difference grey/silver/blue??

Oldcat – my go-to expert when it comes to this sort of thing – had this to contribute last week:

Grey versus Silver tabbies –
The difference depends on what you mean by a grey tabby. I have heard of ‘grey tabby’ used as a contrast to ‘brown’, and for tabbies where the stripes are grey. Brown tabbys have a high degree of rufousing, so the hairs between the stripes can show a distinct orange or brown color. Tabbies with low levels will be a pale grey.

If a tabby has the dilute gene, the stripes themselves will be blue grey. Shiela looks like this might be the case with her – are her paw pads purplish or black? There is also some variation of how dark regular non dilute cats are, so it could be that as well.

True silvers have a different gene, the Inhibitor gene, that keeps any pigment from showing. Thus the hair near the skin will be pure white. Chinchilla Persians have this and a wideband gene that makes the pigmented part of the hair restricted to the tip. The black tip over white is supposed to make it look silvery. But if you look on these cats the paw pads and gums show that under it all these cats are black.

So in jargon terms I would call Shiela a blue tabby with low rufousing. The Inhibitor gene would make her background much whiter

Oldcat, can you weigh in on what exactly constitutes a “blue” cat?

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Several people sent me these videos, and they cracked me UP!

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as to fostering being hard.. it really depends on what you mean by hard.. The actual physical work of doing it really isn’t. Even when you have very sick kittens, it’s more hanging out and cuddling them and a few moments of medicating. EMOTIONALLY it can take it’s toll. Most of us have to remember that we are doing good even when the outcome is not what we want. Kittens die. Unless you take only the healthiest and older kittens you are most likely going to have to deal with a kitten passing on your watch. Or kittens can become really sick and you nurse them back to health and they become really loving devoted kittens and your heart breaks when you have to give them back. out of the hundreds of kittens I’ve fostered, the sick ones are still near and dear to my heart (and so are the ones I have lost). There are a bunch of kittens I no longer remember with out the help of my blog, but there are some that will always pop up in my mind from time to time and will live in my heart forever. You do loose little bits of your soul every time you send those special kittens back, but they are that much stronger and better for having taken it with them.

I always segregate. here’s why.

Very well said, Connie!

I should add here that often times the most difficult thing about fostering is the sheer frustration. You’ve got kittens, they’re doing fine, they’re healthy, they’ve been dewormed, they’re having perfect poops and then BAM! for no reason you can determine, they have diarrhea and they’re tromping through it and tracking it all over the place and you’ve changed absolutely nothing about their diet or anything at all. So you start sprinkling Slippery Elm on their food and you take fecal samples to the vet to be tested, and you try this and that and the other, and sometimes it just drags on FOR NO REASON, and other times it just clears up all of a sudden and you don’t know why. So frustrating!

(But so worth it.)

Here’s something Robin from Covered in Cat Hair wrote that covers the whole fostering issue, too, and is definitely worth the read.

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I just saw this comment from Robyn in an entry from January and canNOT stop laughing.

“I just spent at least two minutes talking to a cat who was sitting under my desk, up against my foot. I talked to it, petted it with the foot it wasn’t laying up against, and then finally peeked under the desk to see just which cat it was.

It was a slipper. No wonder it wouldn’t purr.”

And just recently, I kicked a slipper and then apologized to it. Stupid slippers.

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surely that’s not a ‘glare’ look? I thought it was more…well…blonde. Like trying to work out the square root of…ah… something square-rooty. 🙂

“Math is harrrrrrrrd!”

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A coworker sent me this; I wanted to make sure you’d seen it. My favorite bit is the kitten with the fish vending machine.

SO CUTE!

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1) How is The Poo? I can’t remember seeing a recent picture of Miz Poo; is she doing ok?

She is doing just fine, and I’ll post some pictures of her at the end of the entry. I tend not to get so many pictures of her because she’s always right on top of me, which makes it kind of difficult to get a good picture. She’s 12 years old now and slowing down, but NOTHING stops her from getting up on the bed with me every night. Also, nothing stops her from approaching anyone who walks into the house – whether she’s ever seen them before or not – and demanding attention.

4) Regarding the excellent cat relationship chart you made some time ago:

someday, may we have an updated version, now that you’ve added to the herd? That chart was a HUGE eye-opener for me. I admit, I had visions of your cats sleeping together in big fuzzy piles, much like tiny kittens will clump together when snoozing. Clearly, I was WRONG. Now, in my mind’s-eye, I see it more like each cat needing its own personal space bubble, changing in size depending on who is nearby. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since Bolitar came back. I find it very interesting that he’s been accepted back into the herd with little fuss, yet Joe Bob, whose return story is almost the same(?) was NOT welcomed back as smoothly. (Somewhere, at some fancy university, there’s someone just waiting to write some sort of paper on cat herd behavior — what a gold mine of information you may have! 🙂 )

I will do my best to get that chart updated soon with Alice and Buster and Corbie added – I made that chart in April of last year. A lot has changed since then, hasn’t it?

I would love it if the cats would pile up like kittens, but they don’t very often. If there are cats snuggled up together, Tommy is almost always involved. There’s something about him that most of the other cats really like – maybe his easygoing nature, maybe his willingness to groom whatever cat is in tongue’s reach.

I am betting that most of the reason Buster was accepted back relatively easily as opposed to the response that Joe Bob got is because Buster was here for months before he left, and he pretty much grew up here. I mean, he was still a kitten when he left, but he was, oh, seven or eight months old, and the other cats had had a chance to really get to know him as he grew up and make him part of the herd. Joe Bob was only with us as a foster for about six weeks before he left, and he was already an adult when he came to us. He was accepted by Sugarbutt, Tommy, and Mister Boogers before he left, though, which is why we were so surprised when he came back and none of them wanted anything to do with him.

One reason I think Joe Bob and most of the other cats don’t get along is because Joe Bob is touchy; I originally thought it was just the other cats being jerks, but I’m thinking that’s not necessarily so. If the other cats are looking at him, thinking about looking at him, or thinking passing thoughts about him, he KNOWS, and he doesn’t LIKE IT, and he gets all growly and hissy toward them. There are times – three and a half years after we brought him home for good – when I’ll see him rub heads with some of the other cats (disclaimer: it’s almost always Kara or Jake, and when it does happen, it’s when they’re all milling around waiting for me to give them food), but for the most part if every other cat on the face of the earth disappeared, Joe Bob would be A-OK with that. He’s a people lover, not a cat lover.

Wow. I certainly can go on about our cats, can’t I? 🙂

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Have you seen the purrfect house for cats? Several people sent me the link, and I have to agree – that is the PERFECT house for us!

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I don’t know why but for some reason I pictured George and Gracie as being regal all the time.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! No, George and Gracie are total goofballs. They play and they prance and they roll around on their backs like goofy dorks all the time; they can fake it pretty well, but mostly they are never ever regal.

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I recently acquired a new kitten that had shown up at a coworker’s home,who checked out healthy and I think he’s about.. 6-7 months not really sure, and did the required transitioning phase for him and my other two girls, Ember whom I’ve had all her life, and Miss that I’ve gotten just a little over a year ago. He leaves Ember alone for the most part, but just continues to antagonize Miss all the time. I can’t tell if they’re fighting, or rough housing half the time. She’s not happy with him when he does it but when he’s behaving she has no problem with him. He’s going to be fixed this Friday and was wondering if that would help bring his aggression level down, and I’m wondering if this is also because he’s still a kitten just in his ‘teenager’ stage and they’re both fully grown cats. Both the girls are Fixed so I’m not quite sure what it is about Miss that has him fixating on her.

I’m posting this in case anyone out there has any suggestions or thoughts on the situation, but it’s my opinion that they’ll work things out. If she seems to be handling things okay rather than being scared of him, then I think it’ll eventually calm down. She’s closest in age to the new guy, correct? He may think/ know that Miss is more likely to react to and play-fight with him, so he concentrates his energies toward her rather than Ember. He’s still pretty young and he has all that energy of a kitten, but I would bet that being neutered will help calm him down a little.

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Where is the like button?! 😀

At the top and bottom of each entry, of course!

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That wicker cat bed thing is so.cool. Where did you find that?

A friend gave it to me about a year ago (her cat wouldn’t use it). Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find it anywhere online – she said she thought she got it at Costco several years ago.

But then GD and Jenna and Sissy pointed out that Petsmart has similar wicker cat cave/ beds, so I went and looked on their web site. I didn’t find anything on the web page, and I had already gone to Petsmart and come home, so it was too late to look at the store myself, but I would recommend checking there.

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Surely you have room on your wall for a “Life of Christ in Cats” plate?

The tea towel, alas, appears to be sold out as well.

Um. There’s no room at the inn? Those are just horrifyingly wonderful (or wonderfully horrifying, take your pick!)

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You know, if you’re putting in a pond, you could probably farm your own crawfish 🙂

I originally misread this as “catfish” and I was going to say that we will most likely have catfish in that pond. But CRAWFISH! Hmm, I am going to have to think about that, because that certainly sounds like it’s right up my alley.

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Those tiny chicks, SO adorable. I just want to pick up one and pet it. Do you ever do that? Or would it put Momma Hen off the babies?

Fred occasionally picks them up and we pet them, but they get kind of freaked out so we don’t do it often. There’s less of a chance of the Momma Hens refusing to take care of their babies and more of a chance that the Momma Hens will attempt to peck our eyes out. They do NOT like it when you mess with their babies.

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Did your cats actually notice that the electric fence was out?

They didn’t – but it was only out for less than a day, because we went up to Lowe’s the next day and bought a new transformer to replace the one that fried. Fred noticed that one of the cats – Tommy, I think – was closer to the fence than he usually gets, but no one climbed the fence. I’m sure that if it had gone on for longer than a day, someone would have figured it out, and then there would have been trouble!

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Is wee but powerful Patty getting more relaxed around you and Fred?

She is more relaxed than she was, but whereas her brother runs toward us when we walk into the room, Patty runs and hides under a corner of the bed. She comes out pretty quickly, but it’s still her first instinct to hide. I’m hoping that that will go away eventually. She comes to be petted, but I have yet to hear her meow or trill or make any noise other than a purr.

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How about a question?
A question about cat farting that is?

We recently re-entered the world of cat ownership, and this brother and sister team passes some wickedly awful gas. The male in particular lets ones go (silently) that have the sulphur/egg smell.

They were just turning a year old when we got them, and they had been in foster care with something like 18 other cats. (Hmmm, familiar?) The woman taking care of them admitted she could no longer afford to feed them a very high quality food, but I think that what we’re feeding them is decent.

I read online that cats fart and the protein in their food makes it stink, but I also see people that write that you should have a cat with bad gas checked out.

WDRT? (What does Robyn think?)

I think that cat farts are nasty, is what I think. And they ALWAYS do it when you’re least expecting it, don’t they? The little monsters!

Okay, seriously, I think that it’s probably one of three things (or maybe a couple of three things – or heck, even all three of three things!)

1. How recently did you get them? Because if they were switched from a cheaper food to a more quality food, it could take their systems some time (even a few months) to adjust.

2. Have they been dewormed or checked for worms/ parasites? I know that Giardia and Coccidia can cause the most awful gas sometimes – but if their litter box leavings are in decent shape, it probably isn’t either of those. (I know that it’s possible for Giardia/ Coccidia to exist outside of diarrhea, but I’ve never witnessed that myself.)

3. They’ll grow out of it. I offer as an example of this one Loony Jake. When young, he was a gassy, gassy boy. And he was fond of walking by, farting at you, and then slinking off. You’d be minding your own business and then just about fall over from the stink. Gah. SO NASTY.

If the gas gets worse (if that’s POSSIBLE) or there’s diarrhea present or they’re acting anything other than completely healthy and energetic, I’d get them to the vet.

I know readers out there have opinions on this topic. Y’all chime in!

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You can’t really see it, but she was smacking at his tail.

She sure does get the upper hand easily. I’m starting to think he’s letting her win.

::chomp::

He looks like he’s not quite sure what happened.

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“THIS TIME I’m going to get it! For real!”

“Come on… come on…”

::SIGH::

“Lady, I’m starting to think you’re driving me crazy on purpose.”

“Now pet me.”

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THE BOOKWORM BRUDDERS
(Buster and Corbie)
WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU
THAT THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Buster, atop the pantry in the kitchen (nice of him to match his mustache to the color of the pantry, no?).

Keeping an eye on Stinkerbelle.

Corbie chills out in the back yard.

“WHO left this pop-up hamper here?” Detective Corbie’s on the case!

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Miz Poo, in the cat bed next to my computer (that’s where she usually is during the day).

Look o’ love.

Still keeping an eye on me.

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Previously
2010: Until then, I’m going to try to achieve a state of Sugarbutt-type zen.
2009: Things that are annoying the SHIT out of me lately.
2008: I’m sure SOMETHING will get peed on while she’s here, anyway.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH.
2004: Questions and answers.
2003: I feel like Eudora’s a creepy old lady hovering over my shoulder, reading my email, and threatening to tell my mommy on me.
2002: Anything more complicated than that, and I think you’ll have to look elsewhere.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

Attention, Michiganders! PAAW is having a low-cost vaccination and microchip event this weekend in Madison Heights. $10 vaccs, $20 microchips, dogs and cats – DEFINITELY worth the price. You can find out more at their web page, here, or friend them on Facebook!

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Hey, did you know you can vote for Gracie once a day? In case you were wondering!

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Is Buster a burbler too?? Maybe it’s more common than I’d thought – I never heard that particular type of purr until I got Packer, but now I’ve heard it from two of your cats in the space of, what, two weeks? Buster Burbles might be a good band name. Burblin’ Buster? Buster Burbler. I’ll work on it and get back to you.

Who was the little black Pepper in the “Wild Things” video towards the end who was trying to stay clear of the shenanigans and got pounced on anyway? I LOL’d at that almost as hard as at the head-bonk and total wipeout in the “Yellow Stool” video. Yellow Stool would probably not be a good band name, but WOULD be a pretty good reason to see the gastroenterologist, and I am going to bed now with my tired-ass self.

I think Buster Burbles would be a GREAT name, and when I find my musical talent, I will totally name my ’80s cover band Buster Burbles. Hmm. Buster and the Burbles?

That was Sally Peppers toward the end of the shenanigans. I’d say she’s a lover not a fighter, but she’s been witnessed starting plenty of fights. They can all BRING IT when they want to!

(Also, I would have used a term other than “Yellow Stool” for that video, but (1) I couldn’t think of a better way to describe that piece of furniture and (2) It made me LOL to type it that way. I amuse myself far too much.)

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re The Pond–I know several people around here who’ve had ponds dug, and they started out by having them filled with water from the nearest town–I think the fire dept. actually sells the water & does the filling? And I think it was fairly cheap to get done…

At this point, I don’t know when the guy is going to get out here to dig the pond, since we had rain the other night and he was already behind in the work he was doing, due to the rain we’d gotten last week. If the damn pond is ever put in, we’ll see if the local fire department does that sort of thing, it would be kind of neat to not have to wait for the winter rains to fill the pond!

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So now do we get weekly reminders how pretty Buster is too?

Of COURSE. If y’all forgot how pretty Buster is, I’d never forgive myself.

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I’ve been lurking since the day the McMaos were born – the post came up on my mom’s Google Reader, she sent it out to my sisters and me, and I’ve read every post since. While I love them ALL, I think Miz Poo is my favorite of your cats – my Quinn is a tortie, too, so I’m probably biased. I just wanted to let you know that during Hurricane Irene, when we lost power (I’m in NJ), I started reading Fred’s book on my Kindle. I finished it this past weekend, and I really enjoyed it! Tell Fred to keep writing!

Thank you! I’ve told Fred that you enjoyed it (and conveniently included a link up there to Fred’s book for those of you who haven’t read it and might be interested – it’s available on the Nook as well).

Fred’s about 25% finished with his next one, and you can read a rough draft of the first chapter, here. I’ve read most of what he’s written so far and I really think it’s the best thing he’s written.

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Will you be able to put the black Peppers kittens up for adoption around Halloween? I’ve heard (but never confirmed) that shelters around me do not adopt out black cats in October in fear that they will be abused or used in satanic rituals or something. But maybe that’s just a local rumor? (I do live in the Salem MA area…)

Challenger’s House doesn’t usually put a hold on adoptions of black cats around Halloween, but the adoption counselors are aware of the whole issue and are always (around Halloween and at all times!) careful who adopts Challenger’s House cats.

God bless the CH adoption counselors, because sometimes people get maaaaaad when they’re turned down. I know that one man said “Geez, lady, it’s just a CAT!” to the shelter manager once (which strangely did not convince her to adopt to him!). They have a Do Not Adopt (DNA) list that they keep current.

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99.999% of the time, the household goods sold at flea markets are hot. Random assortment of “new” items, usually in smallish quantities…people professionally shoplift all of it! It’s crazy, there is at least one documentary out about it. 48 hours? One of the new corps. had a big thing on it a while back. (p.s. not trying to make you feel bad for your purchase! I once bought a bunch of Nivea moisurizer overly cheap from a flea market in TN once!)

I should have added that the entire reason I bought hair stuff at the flea market table is because the Sunsilk styling spray (I can’t even remember the name of it, but I’d recognize the bottle – it was a leave-in spray conditioner in a yellow bottle and had UV protection in it) is no longer made. I saw the familiar bottle on the table and HAD to have them. Otherwise, I don’t generally buy that stuff because I figured it probably sits in a hot truck with the sun beating down on it. The idea of people buying food from those tables just gives me the willies.

Also, Lisa sent me this link yesterday – Meth lab found in flea market. That’s the flea market we went to over Labor Day weekend and that we occasionally visit! I had no idea that sort of thing was going on – but I probably shouldn’t have been so surprised, either.

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Wasn’t Sheila (from the Rescuees) a silver tabby? Or was she just grey?

I was thinking she was just gray, but went and looked, and I think I’d call her a silver tabby. It’s hard for me to tell – she was darker than Molly is, but the light parts of her coat were pretty light, so… I think she’s a silver tabby (but I could be wrong)!

PS: Look! It’s Sheila and a much younger Buster!

Awww, and Sheila and Reacher! I’m going to say, comparing the two, that if Reacher’s a silver tabby, then Sheila definitely is, too!

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I’ve thought about getting into fostering and was wondering if it was hard at first. I do have an extra room that I could strip down and remove the carpet. Can you remember what you went through when you first got started in fostering and how long have you been doing it ? Love your journal and hope you never stop. Especially love the pictures with the cute sayings. Also enjoy the photos from around the yard.

I would highly recommend taking the carpet out of the room if you can – otherwise it’s going to get seriously stained (at least, my carpet in our previous house certainly did!)

It’s hard to say whether fostering is hard – there are hard times, especially when you’ve got one or more of a litter who are sick for no discernible reason and you don’t know what to do for them. But the joys of fostering far outweigh the hard times and it is so, so worth it.

I think really all you need to start with is a room where they can be segregated from the rest of the house’s animal residents, litter boxes, cat beds to sleep in (though even old towels and old blankets can serve that purpose) and some toys (and when I say “toys”, I mean anything cats will play with. You don’t have to go out and buy toys; my cats love to play with straws and crumpled up balls of foil and the rings off a milk jug. I do buy a lot of cat toys, but that’s not because they’re demanding them, it’s because I’m clearly a cat toy hoarder.) Anything else you need, you’ll figure out along the way.

We’ve been fostering since May of 2005 – Mia and her babies were my very first set of fosters – and Charlie and Patty Peppers are fosters numbers 164 and 165. The number would be higher, but in the Fall of 2005 when Fred agreed that we could adopt Sugarbutt and Tommy, he made me promise to wait until they’d been with us for six months before I started fostering again. It turned out to be almost a year before the fostering bug bit me again, I took Maddy as my very first bottle baby, and we’ve been doing it ever since!

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Myself, I’m wondering if the lady didn’t just make up the “my doctor said” thing. Seems like the most logical explanation – that she didn’t want to keep the cat for whatever reason/s but was (rightfully) ashamed about saying so, and thus added “my doctor says” to her excuse for extra credibility and blame-dodging.

Curious, though – everyone I’ve known who’s had to take a pet to a shelter or rescue agency says they give you the third degree about your reasons for relinquishing. A former friend had an unrehab-able sprayer and her landlord said it was her or the cat; when she tried to take the cat to the rescue agency they told her they needed a letter from her vet saying that the cat had been checked for UTIs and attesting that the owner had done, in the vet’s opinion, everything possible to properly box-train the cat and that relinquishing was the only option. And a friend of my mom’s wasn’t going to be able to care for her dogs after a major surgery, and got the same type of response from a different shelter – they were willing to take the animals (with a suitable donation) but they really grilled her long and hard about other options… friends, family, boarding until she was recovered (which was expected to be up to 18 months, so not feasible) – they even suggested that one of their volunteers could come over a few times a week to help with big stuff (grooming, yard cleanup, walks) in exchange for the same “donation” they would require for her to relinquish the dogs. They really ran her through the wringer; she didn’t want to have to give them up and it seemed like they made it as hard as possible for her, even though she was expected to be bedridden for 3-4 months and then minimally mobile for at least a year after that. (One of her grandchildren eventually moved in with her to help out, and they were able to re-adopt the dogs back. Yay!)

So I’m curious now whether the people at Challenger House challenged (ha) the lady’s story of “ammonia fumes,” or if they just decided it was better to take him back than to risk her dumping him off in a field somewhere.

I’ve honestly wondered whether she used the “my doctor said” excuse to return Buster because there was some other reason that she felt didn’t have as much strength to it. Was she overwhelmed with the idea of having her third kid and having to care for Buster, too? Let’s be honest here, Buster’s a drama queen. Was she worried that he wouldn’t be good around the baby? I can say that he talks a good game, with the complaining and growling (we say he’s “blustering” when he starts up), but even when he grabs my hand because I’m doing something that displeases him, he never uses his claws on me.

Because Buster was a Challenger’s House cat to start with, her story wasn’t challenged because any Challenger’s House cat will be accepted back at any time, whether that’s two days, two years, or a decade after the initial adoption (though you won’t get your adoption fee back if it’s been longer than, I think, 30 days).

Had she called the shelter and said “Look, this cat’s smudgy face bugs me. I don’t want him any more.”, he would have been accepted back. There was a time when she would have tried to convince someone who wanted to return a cat that they should try this or that, but she’s been doing this long enough that she can tell whether someone wants advice on what to try or just wants to bring the cat back for whatever reason. If they’re intent on bringing the cat back and she tries giving them advice, it’s entirely possible that they’ll just opt to, I don’t know, dump the cat on the side of the road or turn it into a kill shelter instead. Better not to question them and get the cat back, you know?

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I saw this page on my local online newspaper and thought I would share, it is such a cute idea:

Pre-owned, certified cats on sale this week.

That is adorable, and that kitten’s face is cracking me UP!

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Totally off topic…unless you want a 15th cat, I stumbled across this yesterday: Glow-in-the-dark cats helping with FIV and AIDs research. How cute would a wee gitd kitty be?

That would be WAY too cool!

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Charlie’s protectiveness of Patty is one of the sweetest things I’ve heard of in a long time. Does Challenger’s House even do that – insist on kittens being adopted together?

They do strongly suggest kittens being adopted together; I’m not sure if they insist on it, though. And actually, I’m starting to wonder if Charlie and Patty were so on top of each other all the time just because they were in such a small space. Now that they’re in the guest bedroom, they’re almost never in the same space – he likes to sleep on the cat tree, she curls up on the bed. They do play together, but I’m not sure they’re as closely bonded as I initially thought. Though even if they aren’t, I’d still love to see them go to the same home, of course!

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I need some help for a co-worker of my husband’s. He and his wife have had a kitten (5 to 6 months old,not spayed yet) for a couple of months and she is very active and has a fantastic personality.The problem is that she likes to put her teeth on your hands when she plays. She won’t break the skin and to be honest it wouldn’t be a problem if his wife wasn’t watching kids all day in their house. They have tried the can of air (which worked perfect to keep the kitty off the counter) but it doesn’t seem to phase her when she’s nibbling. I talked to them yesterday and they are willing to keep her if they can break her of this nibblyness deal. Otherwise she is going to have to find a new home :-(.

I don’t have any suggestions here, but I’m hoping maybe someone out there has some helpful hints!

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Just love Charlie and Patty, no matter how crusty or raggedy they are! And am I the only one who is thinking Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty?

You are not – and for good reason! Sally and Lucy’s names were stolen from Connie – Sally here, Lucy here – and when I needed names and decided to keep “Peppers” as the surname for these two rather than go with a whole new naming theme, I ultimately opted for Charlie and Patty. Though I kind of think that Linus would have been a really good name for him, too!

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I’m still worried about the junior Peppers’ mother. Has there been any talk of trapping the poor girl?

There hasn’t, because she seems to have disappeared. The woman who handed Patty over to us said she’d call if the mother cat showed up again, and as of yet we haven’t heard anything. I am REALLY hoping that she doesn’t show up to drop another litter under that trailer.

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5-hour drive to IKEA? I personally do not see a problem with that.

I know! Does anything sound like more fun than renting a little U-Haul van and driving to Ikea, loading up the van, and maybe spending the night before heading home? Because I don’t think so. Fred, however, is a big party pooper who has no idea how to have fun. 🙂

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Did the chickens react to the ducklings suddenly in their midst?

The chickens don’t seem to have noticed that there’s anything different at all. The ducks are smart enough to keep out of the chickens’ way, and the chickens just ignore the ducks.

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Is there a difference between a gray tabby and a silver one?

I’m thinking a gray tabby would be darker, but I just went and looked at some pictures and, uh, I dunno. I’m thinking they’re pretty much the same thing!

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Piggies are so adorable. How can you eat them?? I am vegetarian and one of the things that made me give up meat was the intelligence and cuteness of pigs!

We’re not vegetarians and have no plans to change that, and since we have the time, room, and inclination to raise our own food, I think it would be irresponsible for us not to. Our pigs (and chickens) are spoiled rotten from the day we bring them home until the day they leave, and we’d much rather our food come from happy animals than from those who live their lives in CAFOs.

(For the record, I’m pretty sure they’d have no objections to eating you.)

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Question about the piggies — how old are they and how much bigger will they get?

They’re about five months old currently and weigh about 125 – 150 pounds. One of them will be leaving us around 10th of October (the man who’s buying that pig prefers to go through a different processor (camp counselor?) than we prefer) and she’ll be 200 – 225 pounds. The other two will be going around the end of October (a little over six months old), and should weigh 225 – 250 pounds at that point.

Love that Buster is back where he belongs — how is he doing with Corbie?

There’s really not been a lot of interaction between Buster and Corbie. The occasional head-butt, the occasional sniffing of each others’ back ends, other than that, nada. As far as they’re concerned, it’s no big deal.

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The pig farms I’ve ever driven by have a, shall we say, distinctive aroma. (OK, it smells like pig shit from miles away.) Do you have a problem with piggy smells, or is it not a problem because they have room to roam and are treated more humanely than a farm?

I’m going to guess that the pig farms you drive by have wayyyyy more than three pigs, am I right? If you go out by the pig yard here, the worst smell is that of the pig feed they’ve knocked onto the ground, which has gotten wet and is kind of fermenting. The pigs themselves don’t really stink. The grass that grows in their yard, which is well fertilized by them, is the prettiest, greenest grass I’ve ever seen!

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Have you ever had anycat bit you or bunnykick you in your (and their) sleep? We’ve only got 5 cats, and only one sleeps curled up in my side, usually with my arm around her. One night I woke up to a searing pain in my finger. She had bunnykicked me really hard. I had a gash from the top of my finger to the bottom. Last night I woke up to a searing pain in my thumb. She’d apparently BITTEN me pretty badly. I’m certain she did it in her sleep, as, even if I’d been smothering her or otherwise annoying her, if she’d been awake when she did this, she’d have run away, because no matter what, they are not allowed to hurt us. Even if they accidentally catch a claw on us during play, they run away, because they know hurting a human is not allowed. So, since both times, she was still laying where she was after doing this I’m certain she did it in her sleep. Must be some really bad dreams. 🙁 Has anything like this happened to you?

I have to say that that’s never happened to me! That could be due to the fact that Miz Poo is the only cat who sleeps right up against me (I usually get Tommy at the end of the bed and Elwood next to me, but not touching me). That’s certainly not a pleasant way for you to wake up, is it! I’d offer some advice on what to do, but I really cannot think of a thing.

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have you seen this? cute overload

I had not seen that. How frickin’ CUTE. The way kittens sleep on their backs with their mouths open just kills me DEAD.

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has Molly officially assumed Ciara’s “I’m a cut you” mantle, or is she still trying out for the role?

She’s still trying to decide if the role fits her. I think she’s got the glare down, but she tends to go from the “I cut you” glare to the “I love you” eyes too quickly. She’s got to learn to hold the glare for longer!

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Aw look at that buster man — he’s so happy! I cant recall were he and Elwood close before? Or is he just that lovey?

I’m trying to remember – I think they were pretty close. Elwood’s pretty good with the little ones, once they’re past a certain size (the little little ones kind of freak him out, but Jake loves them) and by the time Buster left, he was about seven or eight months old and thus just the right size to tussle with Elwood and then snuggle with him.

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About those automatic litter boxes, I know of two types, the ones that rake it when they leave and the one that tumbles so the stuff goes into a little holding area. The rake ones can freak them out because of the noise if they havent left the area when it starts, making them afraid to use it. (One of my cats stands outside the box for about five minutes when she’s done, scratching walls and floors like she’s still trying to cover even though she’s not actually IN the box any more…) The tumble ones coat all the sides until it’s like being in a tunnel of poo which most cats can’t deal with, so they’ll tend to hang out the side. I used to think one of those would be great, but now I don’t think it’s worth trying.

A few years ago, back when our permanent residents number was in the single digits (sigh), we had a Litter Robot. It worked well enough, and some of the cats would use it, but some of the other cats were freaked out by it, so we also had to have regular litter boxes. But between emptying the drawer at the bottom of the Litter Robot and then wiping out the inside of the thing once a day so it didn’t get gross, I was spending more time dealing with it than I would have spent scooping the litter box. When the globe cracked less than a year after I got it, I wasn’t sorry to toss the whole thing in the garage.

Peppers v2.0 are too cute! I hope they get adopted together too. Just curious, why the same last name instead of a new one?

It was mostly because I just like the last name “Peppers” for kittens, I think it’s awfully cute. I was originally thinking of naming Charlie “Buster Peppers” because he looks like Buster (and Buster’s “official” Challenger’s House name is Bolitar), but then I thought that might be confusing – and that was before I knew Buster was coming back to us! Charlie and Patty will likely be the last Peppers we have, though.

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Charlie’s definitely the more curious (and less scared) of the two. He’s always the first to approach, but once he’s determined that things are safe, Patty comes along behind him.

“What doin’, lady?”

She’s a petite little thing.

Charlie shows off his scratching-post prowess.

He’s a climber (this is how he gets on the bed – he climbs to the top, then steps onto the bed!)

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Everett Peppers has two white whiskers, on his left side.

“What you want, lady?”

::glare::

Harlan’s not quite sure what’s going on.

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CROOKED ACRES
PRESENTS
THE BEAUTIFUL BOOKWORM BROTHERS
(so you won’t forget how beautiful they are)

Buster monkey-walks across the walkway.

…thinks about it…

and smugly lands on the platform where Loony Jake likes to hang out. Awfully proud of himself, no?

Corbie prefers to sit pretty whilst keeping an eye on the bird in the yard.

A VERY close eye.

(And yes, it’s my goal to get a picture of the two of them together! I hope that much beauty doesn’t break the camera.)

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Previously
2010: Sights from around Crooked Acres.
2009: (Thank god – being unable to understand someone with a thick accent always makes me feel incredibly stupid.)
2008: I’m certainly enjoying all the naked male behinds that pop across the screen pretty regularly, too.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Just call us the three bears.
2004: small things that will remind me of my grandmother.
2003: Man, this whole running-a-business thing is strictly FOR THE FUCKING BIRDS.
2002: Fred (as if narrating a book): “She was a bitter-butted woman….”
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

Note: Pardon any typos, I didn’t proofread before posting this (because I wanted to get it posted), so there are probably 10 zillion typos. Sorry ’bout that. 🙂

Attention, those of you in the Roanoke, VA area! Barbara needs help finding a home (or a rescue) for a dog:

The dog is ours, Dodger. He is an Australian Shepherd/Collie mix. We got him in April as a 6 week puppy. To cut to the chase, he is aggressive towards our youngest, Erin, who is 7, and shook one of our cats so badly, she is at the vets with a spinal cord injury and we are trying to decide what to do…. We have 6 other cats that I have kept inside, because I didn’t feel like putting Dodger in his kennel is fair either. But the cats are in/out cats so that isn’t fair to them. He has collie coloring, but the blue/brown eye combo of a shepherd. He loves to run. He would do well in a house with teenagers and no cats. Our shelter is full, I tried the Australian shepherd rescue group and haven’t heard back, and I tried a local no kill, and haven’t heard back from them either.

Our animals add so much to our lives, but this is the hard part, isn’t it? Finding a safe home for the pet who hurt our beloved Tabby Dabby, and trying to decide if Tabby needs put down.

If you can help or know a person or rescue who can or have any questions, please email me (mizrobyn (at) gmail (dot) com), and I’ll pass your email on to Barbara.

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Attention, those of you in the NYC/ NJ area! Gail’s looking for help:

A kitten literally followed me into my car this morning. Literally. First day of school (I’m a teacher). Sigh. NYC is famous for alley cats. I can’t help them all, but when one runs over to you in a moving car…

And I still have three warehouse kittens. And am moving in 20 days. If you could think of anything to help, I would appreciate it.

BTW, all he does in purr and purr and lick and snuggle. And eat.

Here he is pre-bath:

Here are some pics of him cleaned up. They are bad, because he doesn’t know how to be still. He took a bath and didn’t fuss, and allowed me to blow dry him. He is a charmer for sure, just can’t be still.

If anyone can help, or has any ideas or questions for Gail, please email me (mizrobyn (at) gmail (dot) com) and I’ll pass your emails along to her!

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an update to the spay/neuter clinics closing letter campaign:

Just got a thank you letter from one of “my” state senators (who I wouldn’t vote for if my life depended on it) thanking me for writing to him and explaining to me as though I were an idiot, how Alabama was out of his jurisdiction and why he couldn’t do anything about the issue.

So, to answer my original question, yeah you have to be an Alabama voter for your letter to count. If you’re not, it seems your letter will be forwarded to one of your state senators.

Thanks for the update, Maxie! I suppose it makes sense that only votes from Alabama count, doesn’t it? But still. Hmph!

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And I’m glad you DON’T have a time machine, because if you hadn’t handed out your phone number, who knows what would’ve happened to Patty? That poor baby. At least now, whatever happens from here on out, she’ll face it in a warm, dry, safe, well-fed, and well-loved place.

This is very very true – I’m glad I did hand out my phone number! I’d much much rather have her here with me than with that family or even worse, left under the trailer.

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We have a bottle fed kitten right now. Our neighbors found him? her (I can’t tell) under their porch during Hurricane Irene. Mama cat had a whole litter and she moved them but left this little guy behind. They watched for about an hour and Mama never came back and the poor little guy was wet and crying. They brought him over to us and I’ve been caring for him. He’s a feisty little guy and eats like a champ! I thought he was about a week old when we got him because his eyes weren’t open yet. they opened on Saturday. But his teeth are coming in and he weighs about 13 oz. so I think I am off on the age.

This is a good guide to aging kittens by teeth. Using their teeth to determine how old they are is (I believe) a more accurate way than by weight – as an example, there’s a 9 ounce difference between Charlie and Patty! (She’s doing her best to close that gap, though. Girlfriend can EAT.)

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What kind of nail scratcher thingee is that? it’s all curvy and I love it! I’m using the cardboard box kind for Mackie. He just will not use an upright pole type scratcher. Well, other than the end of the sofa, I mean. But that curvy kind of scratcher looks like something he would like and it’s way more estheticallly pleasing than a cardboard box!

That is a Grreat Choice Corrugated Scratcher. I got it back when Maggie was pregnant because the scratcher that was in the foster room – also by Grreat Choice – was so light that it would move across the room when she used it, and it was clearly annoying her. And we canNOT have an annoyed Mama, so I bought something heavier for her to use.

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Joe Bob is a TALKER??? I LOVE chatty cats!!

He is SUCH a talker. I try and try to get him to talk for me on video, but he absolutely refuses. I’ll get him one day, mark my word!

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Have you seen Kathy’s newest blog entry featuring Reacher Creature?

I have! I love that Reacher has acclimated so well after such a rocky beginning. I have to admit that when, for a little while, we thought Reacher might have to come back here, I wasn’t absolutely heartbroken at the thought, because he was pretty good with the Brady Bunch and well – you can always use cats who’ll put up with the shenanigans of little kittens! But I love love love that Reacher is so happy now. It was a long rough road, but he’s in a great home and clearly loves his brudder, so I’m glad I let him go! (Also glad that I get to see pictures of him from time to time!)

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I have only had one gray tabby cat, and wonder if the brown tabbies are more common than gray?

I’d say brown tabbies are definitely more common than gray – we’ve had a ton of them come through here, but not very many silver tabbies. I’m sure that Reacher wasn’t our very first one, but other than Reacher, Rufus, and now Molly, I don’t remember any other silver tabbies.

Reacher and Jan Brady.

Rufus.

Oh, wait! Of course. Maddy’s a silver tabby! How could I forget? Here she is, little and grown up:

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I love me some SOA, but that whole going-to-Ireland thing bored the hell out of me.

Oh god, did that storyline not drag on FOREVER? The worst part is that I could not understand one damn word that came out of Jimmy O’Phelan’s (aka “The man in black” from Lost) mouth. I told Fred at one point that we should turn on the closed-captioning so I’d know what the hell was going on.

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IANAS (I Am Not A Skimmer) but… I just re-read that 2002 post and WHAT DID YOU BUY with all your water bubbler moneys? (Do you call that a water bubbler? Whatever, you will now.) Cats? Chickens? SCOOP HANDS. I must know.

I believe what we did was deposit it all in the bank and spend it on renovating this house back in 2006. In fact, the money I was saving to pay for a trip to Australia (or Scotland or… I don’t think we ever decided where exactly we were going) went to help pay for the renovation, too! Can you believe it’s been 5 years since we bought this house? I’ve been thinking that most rooms need a fresh coat of paint, but it’s going to be a lot more difficult with a million cats running around while I’m trying to paint!

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I swear I’m not a SKIMMER but where did you get the little kitty bed frame? I want a couple for our cats!

That’s an Ikea Duktig doll bed, and if like me you live nowhere near Ikea (there’s one in Atlanta, but I’m having a hard time convincing Fred to make a 5-hour one-way trip to Ikea, go figure), you can occasionally find them on eBay!

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Do you remember how much that license plate rooster was by chance? I would love, love, love to find something like that near me.

I wish I knew – we didn’t ask, and there was no price on it. I’ll keep my eyes peeled next time we get up there (which probably won’t be for a few months) and if it’s still there, I’ll ask (or make Fred ask, heh).

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Duckies! How are you going to keep them from flying off when they get bigger? Trim their feathers? Or are you just going to count on them lovin’ your spoilin’ ways to keep them close by?

and

My grandmother had ducks when I was little (a mallard pair that she named Donald and Daisy). For the life of me I can’t remember how she kept those ducks from flying away. Do you have to do something to prevent that from happening?

The guy we got the ducks from told Fred that Rouen ducks (that’s what these are) don’t fly. I was skeptical, but just now Googled it, and apparently it’s true!

Rouen is another popular domestic breed that closely resembles a mallard duck when fully mature. Unlike its smaller cousin, the mallard, the Rouen is too heavy to fly. They are said to be calm in nature. They originated in France and came to America around 1874. (source)

I’m glad to hear that they’re calm in nature!

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Are you sure that poor little Patty and Charlie are really siblings? Charlie is so much bigger!

I’m pretty sure, given their teeth, their resemblance to each other, and most importantly their reaction to each other – they curled up together almost immediately, and Charlie is pretty protective of her. It’s not unusual to have such a big difference in size in the same litter. When I got the Spice Girls, Clove was about half a pound smaller than Cori, and don’t even get me started on tiny Beulah from The Seven.

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I SWEAR that I read “Only time will tell whether he has the Buster sass” as “BUSTERS ASS”…

I made Fred proofread my post, and he misread that the same way! I half expected that some of y’all would read it that way – I know that every time I say a kitten is “peering around” someone misreads it as “peeing around”, and so when I type “peering”, it always makes me giggle.

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Did you ever find out from the vet how old they probably *really* are?

I didn’t even ask, actually. I set their date of birth at August 1st, which I think is probably pretty close to how old they are.

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And where does one get those mousies with the long tails from, lady?

That is a most excellent question. I get mine at Petsmart, but I can’t find them online anywhere.

Oh, scratch that – I found them (amazingly enough) on the Petsmart web site, here.

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“His little girlfriend”??! Was Alice aware of this?

Fred and Alice practice Polycatamory. She knows he has other girlfriends, and if any men come along who strike her fancy, she’s free to snuggle. (She won’t, though. She’s really a one-man girl. But she’s secure in her felinity enough that she’s willing to share.)

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does he have a touch of loony jake face???

I think maybe Buddy (the former Bobby Brady) does have a touch of the Loon to him!

Must have rubbed off when Buddy was our foster!

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Don Corbione…snork! Is all this going to his head or is he just averagely vain, like all cats?

(Kerry referred to Corbie as “Don Corbione”, which made me laugh out loud!)

Corbie is as un-vain as they come. He has no idea how beautiful he is. You’d think that, as often as I say “Hello, gorgeous!” to him, he might realize that he’s pretty darn pretty. But no, it just hasn’t sunk in yet.

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Question, what do George and Gracie protect the chickens from? Racoons? Rats? Also, do they protect the pigs too?

Hawks! Before we got George and Gracie, we lost several chickens to hawks, unfortunately. Since we got them, we haven’t (to my knowledge) lost a single one. Of course, they protect them against raccoons and rats and snakes, too. They kind of protect the pigs; though they don’t have access to the pig yard, the pig yard borders the back forty on two sides, so if the dogs hear anything big out in the woods, they go to the fence nearest the sound and bark and bark. (At this point, though, the pigs outweigh at least Gracie, if not George, too, so they could probably take care of themselves.)

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And whatever did you do to her when she was little that Sheriff Kara worries so about you being outside?

The Sheriff is just a born worrier, so she worries. It’s just her nature!

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The ducks are very cute. Do they need a permanent sort of lake or something in order to thrive? Do you have something like that? What do the chickens and pigs think of the ducks?

I think they could make do with kiddy pools, but we are actually having a pond put in at the back of the back forty! A big one – I’m calling it a mini-lake – that should be more than big enough for the ducks. Now watch – we’ll probably have the driest Fall and Winter ever, and the stupid thing won’t fill up!

P.S. In the future ideal world, no one will ever again sell animals–only adopt out–and no one will do backyard breeding or puppy or kitten mills. If only that world would come to pass.

That would be truly wonderful!

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You know what, I got such a kick out of the STAIRS (in AND out of pool!) for those little ducklettes!! That’s just so cool I can’t stand it! 🙂

Wasn’t that a great idea? All Fred’s work, of course!

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Charlie and Patty Peppers are doing okay. They got their bath the night before last, which they withstood in silent resignation. They look better than they did, but they’re still kind of a mess. The cuts around Charlie’s mouth are still healing, and Patty’s still got the goopy eyes. They spend most of their time sleeping and eating, but they do seem brighter-eyed and more interested in what’s going on around them than they did.

I’d like to hear their voices – thus far, I’ve only heard Patty meow once (on the way home after we picked her up), and haven’t heard a peep from Charlie. Charlie does like a good belly rub, but Patty’s a bit scareder, poor baby.

Patty in the front, Charlie in the back (yes, this IS after they had their baths. Like I said, they’re still a mess.)

That looks like a baleful look, but he was actually purring and kneading the air.

Patty and her big ol’ belly.

I think he was keeping an eye on Patty.

“You give me back my brudder, lady.”

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Sally, Everett, and Harlan, hanging out.

Pretty boy Harlan, up close.

Sweet Miss Molly.

Oh, how this thing drives him crazy.

Everett, a blur in mid-air.

::smack::

Wild thing Everett.

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And now for…

A moment of Corbie.

“I go with you to get groceries, Mom. You don’t get the right cereal.”

Snoozin’ Corbs.

Truly, it’s a rough, rough life for the Corbs.

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Previously
2010: “DID SOMEONE SAY ‘COOKIE’?!?!”
2009: Maybe Bill just thought I didn’t have enough to worry about?
2008: “I SEE YOU HAS CORN GIVE TO ME NOM NOM NOM”
2007: Who needs a stinkin’ appendix, anyway?
2006: No entry.
2005: (I shot a man in Texas, just to watch him die.)
2004: No entry.
2003: So basically I paid twice as much for a keyboard as I would have on my own for no good reason, all thanks to that Staples employee, may he rot in hell.
2002: I hope that leaf doesn’t give me a damn yeast infection.
2001: No entry.
2000: I’m not sure what happened next. I believe I blacked out.

The okra talk reminded me that I wanted to ask about pickled okra. I made some last year that was really great, but can’t remember where I got the recipe. I don’t see it in your recipe list — did you post that or did I find it elsewhere? Thanks.

P.S. I’m assuming “waller” is Southern Speak for “wallow?” Took me a while to figure out what waller meant.

I did pickle okra once, but neither Fred nor I cared for it, so I didn’t keep the recipe (and I never posted it), so you must’ve found it elsewhere.

And yeah, “waller” is Southern for “wallow.” I picked it up from Fred (who, I think, uses it ironically).

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Hey, whatever happened to the chicken with the crooked toes/feet? I seem to remember it not being around anymore, and am too lazy to search your site. It would probably take me HOURS to find the info. 🙂

Aww, good ol’ Charlie, with her twisted-up toes.

She died in June of 2010 and we buried her in the yard of the blue coop, where she was happiest. She was quite the character – when the blue coop was our maternity coop, she was the mascot of the maternity yard. The hens never considered her a threat to their chicks, and they never worried about her getting too close to the little ones. If any other adult chicken had gotten this close to her babies, Silkie Mama would have run them off, but she knew Charlie wasn’t a threat.

Good ol’ Charlie.

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If someone was thinking about starting a blog, would you recommend going with Blogspot or something like that, or is having your own domain name preferable? Didn’t you start right out with your own domain name? Any general thoughts about this much appreciated!

I think that I’d recommend starting with Blogspot (or WordPress – I like WordPress, I think it’s easy to use) and then, if you know for sure that you’re going to stick with it (not that I think you won’t – just, a lot of people start out strong and then fade away after a few weeks or months) you can buy your own domain and move your stuff over.

Why, back in The Day when I started, I had to buy an html editor to write my entries on, and then FTP everything up to my domain. It sure was a pain in the ass. It’s a lot easier these days, thank god!

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I think this may be the first banner I’ve seen without a cat photo in it. Is the world ending?

It’s not the first one – but it certainly doesn’t happen very often that I have a non-cat banner. This reminds me that I need to get my butt in gear and make a page where I can post all the banners I’ve used over the years. It’d be neat to have all of them in one place!

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Loony Jake’s loony face reminds me of Christopher Lloyd’s face in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” when he finally let his true, crazy, cartoon self show through.

I can totally see that!!!

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Our Bailey is about the same age as the Peppers, but he is so much smaller than they are. I guess he was the runt of the litter and I wonder if he will be smaller all of his life. Any ideas on that?

It’s possible he might be smaller all of his life, but it’s not at all guaranteed. Sugarbutt was the runt of his litter, and was much smaller than his siblings, but these days he’s a very muscular 12.2 pounds.

Alice – remember tiny Alice, who we thought was 6 or 7 weeks old when she showed up in December and then found out she was six MONTHS old?

The vet told us that she didn’t think Alice would get much over six pounds – and she was almost 8 pounds at the end of June.

On the other hand, Beulah – remember Beulah? This is her, smack dab in the middle of her much bigger siblings:

Beulah, last I heard, stayed small. Here she is, near a year old, with her normal-sized sister.

So really, the answer is that it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing. Bailey may stay little, or he might grow to be normal-sized. It’s pretty much impossible to know at this point.

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de-lurking to share this video with you. it makes me wonder what would happen if the superbox was “right side up” instead of on its lid…

SO cute. I can totally see Elwood sitting on top of the box like that!

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You (or he) may have already covered this, but why did Fred stop blogging?

First (and foremost) he lost interest, and then when his company went out of business and he had to get a job working for THE MAN, he didn’t relish the thought of any new coworkers reading about how he farted out a walnut in the bath tub. So he shut it down.

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Did you recently have a cat with a name similar to Harlan? A Harley or Marlon, perhaps? It’s driving me nuts. Nuts-er. More nuts. Whatever.

The only kitten I can think of might be Martin – he was around a year ago, so if you’ve recently read any entries from this time last year, that might be who you’re thinking of.

Martin and the pink floof.

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In the second picture, it looks like the head of the black kitteh in the front has come off his/her neck!! Maybe it’s just me ….

I can see that!

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Now that I read about the fence you use I thought I’d ask you about what my cats do. We have the same brand as you, but the little fuckers know where it’s located, so they go and stand super close to it then make a run for it like the devil is chasing them and cross to the other side. I have its settings at the highest value for both the collar and the wire and they still go over it :S

Has this ever happened to you? Any ideas? 🙁

Well, we have an underground fence, but we also have a physical fence, too – the underground fence is at the bottom of the physical fence, so if the cats want to climb over the fence, they’ll be zapped the entire time they’re climbing up, and that doesn’t seem to be something they enjoy. Actually, the underground fence is buried at the bottom of the physical fence, and then Fred went around with more wire, and ran it around the fence at the top, too, so if they aren’t zapped at the bottom of the climb, they’re zapped at the top. (Does that make sense? If it doesn’t, let me know and I’ll take pictures to show what I mean.)

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Robyn, what do you use for household cleaner? I’m worried about one of our kitties, who likes to get into the shower after we used it and lick the shower pan. I use Tilex on it to clean it, but always makes sure I rinse it thoroughly. Still, I’m worried there is some residue left that could make him ill.

I think that if you rinse thoroughly, your kitty should be okay. HOWEVER, I use this bathroom cleaner that I found over at Crunchy Betty’s site, and it works really amazingly well. I highly recommend it – and she’s got a lot of great cleaner recipes over there, her site is definitely worth poking around.

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My cat vet has HSP. It’s why he specializes in cats, the noise dogs make really bothers him. His office is very quiet, the cats don’t meow much because he has a pet pigeon that flies around in the building. The cats (who are in cages) obsess on the pigeon and stay quiet.

If it weren’t for the bird poop, I’d totally demand that we get a pet pigeon in the house to keep the cats occupied! Well, except that they’d chase the damn thing all over the place, and you KNOW that Elwood would be hauling his big ass across my face in the middle of the night, ripping my cheek open with his long talon-like rear claws.

I guess perhaps it’s better that we don’t need a pet pigeon. (But still, that’s a neat idea!)

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Have you seen The Fancy Farmgirl’s chicken coop? She put more thought into decorating her coop, than I did for my house!

and Elayne said:

I can’t decide whether to be in awe of her obviously abundant and overflowing resources of time, money, energy, motivation, and creativity, or to feel that some people need to be locked away (in chandeliered chicken coops, perhaps) for the good of all humanity. To be honest, I feel both sides in equal measure.

I mean, I know it’s mainly envy and self-pity and bitterness taking (I’m having a really rough week, and might actually manage to take a shower today, if the pain pills kick in strong enough, soon enough), but if she channeled only one-third of the resources (time, money, energy, motivation, creativity) that went into that chicken coop into something like running a food kitchen, volunteering with the disabled in her community, working with at-risk teens or, say, fostering cats, imagine what an impact she could make on the world! (An impact beyond an obviously heavily-moderated comment stream, that is.)

On the other hand, what do I know – someone who has enough energy to clean out their chicken coop every day, with a thorough cleaning biweekly, probably already does all those things, as well as saving the whales AND the rainforest and fomenting a cure for cancer in her Crockpot (using organically grown vegetables, with a side effect of removing unwanted hair and regrowing that hair where it is wanted, even on other people), while spending her nights playing the Tooth Fairy so tired parents don’t have to stay up to sneak into their kids’ bedrooms.

Now that I think of it, it’s probably the useless unaccomplished folk like me who should be locked in the coop.

Which, hey, a chandelier! AND I don’t have to clean it – win-win!

Elayne said a mouthful there! I think that the fancy chicken coop is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want one of my own. There are places that I’ll

Okay, no. I just went and looked at it again, and that is some crazy-ass shit. Interesting to look at, but you keep that crazy far, far away from me. I have 138+ things I’d rather be doing than scrubbing out the goddamn coop every day. Bless her heart – I guess you decide what’s important to you and you go at it full-tilt, and artwork on the chicken coop wall is not even in the realm of… anything for me.

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One of my cats, Cassie, is a tortoiseshell, and I think she’s one of the most beautiful creatures in the world. My mother, on the other hand, constantly refers to Cassie as “that awful ugly monkey-cat” and says it’s a good thing I adopted her because she’s “so ugly” that surely no one else would ever have wanted her. What?? She’s GORGEOUS! Her colors blend beautifully, she’s got orange Cleopatra-stripes against dark fur on one eye, not a speck of white on her anywhere but rather a lovely buttery cream color as her lightest shade, and her fur is the softest, silkiest, smoothest fur I’ve ever encountered on a grown cat. Ugly??!?! (Obnoxious at 3 A.M. when she stands outside my bedroom door keening, yes, but never ugly.)

I quote this comment only so I can tell y’all that Fred once said that Flossie – do you remember Flossie?

Fred said that Flossie was “SO UGLY” because – I am not making this up – “her markings are asymmetrical.”

There’s no accounting for taste.

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Thanks for such a great post. I do feel compelled to say that those first two videos are the reason you have so many chickens!! The things which help with broody hens whose eggs you want are work gloves (esp. the ones with leather backs) and speed!!

Ha – no, the reason we have so many chickens is that after trying to break a broody hen (we have a cage he refers to as a “broody buster” that works about 3/4 of the time) for several days, if the broody hen will not be dissuaded from her broodiness, Fred doesn’t just put one or two eggs under her to sit on – he puts six or seven. He’s always worried, if he only puts one or two under her, that they won’t be fertile and she’ll sit there and sit there and waste away with the anguish of never having her own babies. And of course, the eggs turn out to ALL be fertile and hatch. I think we’ve got a pretty good number of chickens right now, though – enough to lay eggs for us, and some extras to sell!

I usually find that approaching the egg from the chicken’s back end – so they can’t see what I’m doing – works best. And even if they get me, it doesn’t really hurt. Well, unless they get a pinch of skin and twist. But that only hurts for a few seconds.

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I want to find who makes those boxes and send you a dozen. Get the printed with something like paws and fishes. Has Loony Jake always had such a loony expression? Does he look that loony in real life? His little mug cracks me up!

Oldcat pointed out: You could make one from a regular shoebox and lid by cutting off one edge of the lid and taping it to one side. Glue or use contact paper to make the patterns on the side that you want.

I had three of these shoeboxes in an area waiting for a use when she first wrote about them. They are pretty popular – even the ones that don’t sleep in them rub on the edges of the top.

Fred got some sneakers at Kohl’s – Sketchers, I think – and they come in the superbox type of box. We’ve got two boxes as backup in case (as inevitably happens) someone pees on Superbox.

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The Irene 6 — Nothing cuter than kittens and firemen, and it’s good to see a small bit of good news in Irene-damaged New England.

Love it!

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Is Elwood as big a lovebug as his brother is?

Except for Tommy and the occasional headbutting with Kara, Elwood prefers people to cats. He especially loves bedtime, when he climbs into bed with us and walks back and forth to be petted. Then, when Fred goes off to his own room, Elwood will lay right up against me, roll around, and purr and purr while I rub his belly. He looks very stern and severe, but give that boy a pet or two, and he loves you to death.

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Is it the lighting or is one of the Peppers a silvery tabby?

Molly Peppers is a silver tabby.

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So now that the kitty-cats are pavlov trained to their collars, how high is the fence they won’t go over? And how come Maxi was in the veggie garden with you?

The fence in the back yard is five feet tall. And they KNOW that those collars are what’s keeping them in the back yard. Last weekend, Fred left Tommy’s collar off all day, and after a few hours, I looked on the side stoop to see that Tommy had climbed over the fence and was waiting to be let back into the house. It’s definitely not a matter of them making the connection that the fence is a no-no; if their collar doesn’t warn them away from the fence, they’re OVER it.

Maxi and Newt are our cats who are free-roamers. They came “with” the house, and they freak out quite a bit if we try to keep them contained to the house and back yard. They’re not TECHNICALLY our cats (they “belong” to a lady down the street), but really at this point we’ve taken them both to the vet often enough and they spend enough time here that the case could be made that they’re ours.

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“Y’all can keep partying, but I’m going to bed. It’s exhausting, being this cute.” (Harlan really likes that bed.)

Lucy almost looks like she’s not cross-eyed here, doesn’t she?

::thlurrrp::

“Derpy der, I’ve got my Starbucks and the paper. I’m going to go poop in my water bowl and then smear poop around on myself with paper and then push on the lever to make a loud noise!”
Molly: ::giggle::

“Derpy der, ::giggle::, I’ve got to hurry, I’m late for work! I need to type and type and type! ::giggle:: Hand me my smartphone, I need to send an important text! I am very import–”

“Uh. Oh. Hi.”

“Uh. Just stretching my back.”

“Um…”

“I….”

“No, I wasn’t mocking how funny you look, walking around on two feet. Why do you ask?”

“Was there something you needed?”

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I’m pretty sure that you almost forgot how beautiful Corbie is. How COULD you? Hmph.

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Previously
2010: If you came sauntering across the room slurping on a Diet Coke right now, I would cut your throat and steal your Diet Coke as you fell to the floor.
2009: No entry.
2008: For the next half hour, it sounded like a TB ward in our house as we tried to expel from our lungs the fine powder we’d stupidly breathed in.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: My god, has Bill O’Reilly always been such a pontificating blowhard?
2004: (No, he’s not going to remove her eye. Thank god.)
2003: The first time I did actually inhale was the last time I ever put a cigarette to my mouth.
2002: “What’s “porn”, Mama?” she would ask.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

 

 

 

Just so you know, those of you who asked, I haven’t forgotten that I need to post pictures of myself post-surgery, since it’s been almost 7 months.

For the record, I can tell y’all that I’m going back in to have a neck lift revision in mid-October. I went to see my plastic surgeon earlier this week to talk to him about my arms. They don’t look like I thought they would – for one, they’re bigger than I expected. He looked at my arms and told me that while there’s some “fullness” in my left arm, my right arm looks the best that he could make it. He told me that there was some work he could do on the left arm, but it would entail taking the incision down past my elbow, and after he explained that, I decided you know what? I can live with it the way it is. I just really don’t want to have to deal with another recovery, and honestly I don’t think that there’d be such a huge improvement in the way it looks.

So hopefully, once the neck lift revision is over in October, there will be NO MORE SURGERIES in my future.

(I can feel my appendix getting ready to make a liar of me.)

I’ll try to get pictures posted next week!

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Random question…is that wainscoat on the ceiling? I was thinking about doing that in my bathroom and wasn’t sure how it would look. Do you like the look?

I had to ask Fred, but no – according to him, that’s not wainscot on the ceiling, it’s beadboard. I like it well enough, but I think I’d really prefer to have the wood ceilings exposed throughout the house – the ceiling in the dining room, guest bedroom, and front room are all wood, which is original to the house.

I have no opinion on wainscot. 🙂

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Do you get crickets in the house and do the cats hunt and kill them for you? We’ve had one in here for a few days and none of my pets are trying to catch it. I am quite annoyed.

We get cave crickets in the house – they seem to congregate in the laundry room, though I don’t know why. Maybe they’re doing their laundry before they go exploring in the litter boxes and fall in the cats’ water dishes and drown. We don’t get a LOT (that I know of; it’s always possible and probably likely that the cats kill and eat cave crickets I don’t know about), one or two a week. I’d rather find them dead than alive, because they’re icky and creepier than regular crickets. I’d REALLY prefer the damn cats to eat them, and I’m guessing they at least partially eat them, because I’m not a fan of finding cave cricket legs in the middle of the laundry room floor (but it’s better than finding them in my bed, I suppose).

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OooOOooo! You know what’s awesome about ducks? Duck eggs! Our local Egg Man has ducks and we get duck eggs off of him from time to time. They are excellent to cook with (and are tasty too). Can’t say as I like duck for eating though…maybe you can find some immortal ducks or something like that so you can have them around forever and don’t have to send any to freezer camp. Duck is really greasy and there isn’t much on a bird.

Fred did mention the possibility of eating duck, but I find that I’m not really interested in it. He’s more interested in having them cluster around him and do that under-their-breath quack-quack-quack that they do when they know you have food for them and they want you to give it up. So they’d probably end up being pets, is what I’m saying.

I am interested in trying duck eggs, though – I know that occasionally Lisa mentions cooking with duck eggs and she makes them sound very tasty!

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If you could make a breed of fainting kitten-sized cats, you’d make a mint. I’d buy two.

My god, could you imagine? I’d have nothing BUT fainting kitten-cats in this house, and when they were all clustering around me and annoying me, I’d just yell and clap my hands, and they’d fall over and stop annoying me.

Crooked Acres Fainting Cats! (Not ever) coming to a farm near you!

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It just occurred to me that a cute idea for cat names would be ingredients that make up recipes. It just hit me as I read Cilantro’s name during this entry. Cilantro (the herb, not the cat) always makes me think of salsa, and then I thought “How cute to name a litter of kittens after all the ingredients that make up salsa: Cilantro, Tomato (Tommy), Onion, etc. I’m sure other recipes would yield cute names too, and then you could say “This is the Chocolate Cake gang!” or something.

That would be ADORABLE, and I’m adding it to my list of name ideas!

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When you said that there was a lot of gas in Ciara’s intestines, it instantly made me think of this and the follow up (no worries, both are fine for all but the most easily offended viewing audiences).

LOVE IT!

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Hey Robyn! Just to remind your readers of a little Humane Society information. There is the Humane Society of the United States and then there are lots of local Humane Societies and they are all UNRELATED to each other – they don’t share leadership, funding, policies, or information. So the behaviour of one HS like your other commenter described is unique to that HS and most of them are not like that. I volunteered for my local HS for several years and I can tell you that they were doing all they could to get animals into no-kill shelter and forever homes as well as a good spay/neuter program. I hope your readers don’t stop supporting their local HS based on this one story!

Very true, thanks for the reminder. 🙂

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Also, if you don’t mind me asking, how do you powder your tomatoes? Do you dehydrate and crush? Thanks!

Yeah, I dehydrate them and then give ’em a whirl in the blender ’til they’re completely powdered.

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I have never had a cat (but am enjoying vicarious ownership through your brood), so what I know about feline behavior will fit on the back of a postage stamp with room to spare. That said, I am positive I heard at some point that a cat only flicks its tail when irritated. However, I’ve met Labradors that wag their tails less often than Maru of The Many Boxes! What’s the real story with cat tail action?

Elayne had a good response to this (I should start paying you, Elayne. Do you take kittens? 🙂 )

I’ve always heard that the tail twitch or flick indicates a predator mindset. When the cat is stalking prey, or thinking about stalking prey, they tend to keep their entire body still, but the tail sometimes twitches or sweeps. When I see one of mine staring out the window at birds or leaves, watching their tail flick around while the rest of them is perfectly frozen, it always makes me think that if they were *completely* still they’d explode, that the tail twitching is sort of a pressure release valve.
And the predator mindset can be activated by irritation, of course: “Go ahead, puny human, poke my nose and make that ridiculous ‘boop’ noise ONE MORE TIME, just SEE what happens next.”

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What happens to the pigs? I may have missed it when I’ve been catching up, but are they going to be bacon, or have a permanent spot as trash compactors on Crooked Acres? Bill wants to get pigs to raise so we can have bacon. I think I would have an issue keeping them and then eating them. I’d invariably name one and think it was cute. 🙁

The pigs will go off to freezer camp in October or November. One of the pigs will end up in our freezer, one of the other ones will go to someone else’s freezer, and the third will be a world traveler, because she’ll be split between two freezers.

This is, I think, the 7th or 8th set of pigs we’ve had, and it’s not easy to send them off to freezer camp, but we do know that they’re spoiled every day they’re here with us, with treats and homemade cookies, and scratches behind the ears. The first set was the most difficult to send off; at this point I don’t get too attached to them because I know how much it sucks to send them off when you do get attached.

On the other hand, by the time it’s time for them to leave, they’ve gone from little and cute to big and absolutely incredibly fucking obnoxious and demanding. It’s kind of a relief not to have them out there squealing angrily at us every time they catch a glimpse of us and want to know where their goddamn food is.

In the past, we’ve raised two sets of pigs a year because they are so very handy to have out there to give the kitchen scraps to. But it’s a lot of work, and we decided this year that we’re only raising one set a year – which is why we’ve got three pigs this time around (we’ve always done two pigs at a time in the past). So many people are interested in buying a pig from us that Fred joked that in another couple of years, there’ll probably be TEN pigs running around out there.

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A little while ago you listed three anti-odor products (and one mix-at-home dealy) (yes, that was me searching for odor remover just now). I know you said they all work really well and that you listed the one out ahead of the others only because it has no scent of its own – my question is, do you know how well they work on KEEPING odors away? Not just covering up temporary odors but getting rid of lingering problem smells?

(The whole comment can be seen here.)

The information on the anti-odor products I recommended can be seen here, for those of you who missed it, by the way.

Earlier this year, we had a chair – a recliner – peed upon by one of the cats. We soaked it with Nose Offense and let it dry, and at this point, the smell hasn’t come back. Now, I don’t know if it might one day resurface, but it’s been about six months, and so far, so good. At about the same point in time, we soaked a couch cushion with the hydrogen peroxide/ baking soda mixture and let it dry, and the smell from that hasn’t come back, either. I haven’t tried the other two sprays on stuff that soaks up the urine smell, so I can’t speak to whether the smell comes back from those or not.

I’m throwing this open to the rest of y’all – anyone got advice on this topic? Is there something you’ve tried that worked for you, that you can recommend?

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What brand of electronic fence/collar do you use? We had a crappy one that had two settings – nothing at all or full-blast-scare-the-poop-out-of-the-dog. Could never get it to work right!

It’s a PetSafe underground fence, this one to be exact. It does a great job, but I’ll tell y’all that I hate those damn collars, I think they ruin the pictures I take of the cats who are wearing them. But the fence does work, and the cats who wear the collars – Tommy, Elwood, Kara, Sugarbutt – stay away from the fence, so I guess the collars are worth the ruining of the pictures!

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I always wondered why you planted purslane, it grows like crazy in our backyard and if I don’t get a chance to weed every week it takes over my entire patio! We named one of our cats Purslane after the character in “A Love Song For Bobby Long”.. Pursey for short.

I got all interested in purslane last year when Fred pointed out some weeds growing in the ditch in front of the back forty. He said he thought it was purslane, so I started reading about it, and wanted to give it a try. (I particularly liked that it’s high in Omega-3 fatty acids.) But the stuff in the ditch wasn’t purslane, so I kept it in mind to grow this year. Which I did – and apparently it IS aggressive as hell, because it’s growing all around the raised beds as well as in the one where I planted it. Maybe next year I can just harvest it from the yard instead of needing to plant it!

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GHOST PEPPERS! YIKES! My hubby loves some spicy peppers but while we were on vacation we went to a store called The Pepper Palace and he tried salsa made with ghost peppers and almost DIED! I had to get him some milk an his mouth and throat burned for hours afterwards! You are a brave woman working with ghost peppers!

Is that The Pepper Palace in Gatlinburg?? We’ve been there many times, and I’ve been having a hankering to go back (to Gatlinburg, that is, not necessarily The Pepper Palace.)

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Would you describe Ciara’s purr as “burbling”?

My Old Man Of The House, Packer, has a purr that sounds like a – I hate to use the word again, but – burbling brook, with a tiny hint of squeakiness thrown in. And it’s LOUD. When people hear it for the first time, they tend not to believe it’s all him; they usually think there’s some other noise going on in the background in addition to his purring, and insist on looking around for it even after I tell them, no, it’s him.

It actually makes me wonder sometimes if he might have asthma or something, though his unusual purr is the only odd sound he makes. Everything else (breathing, meowing, not-snoring) is all normal. I hear a hint of the same squeakiness in Ciara’s purr, though not quite the full burble*. But I know that when the camera’s on, they sometimes change things up…

*BRB, off to form a band.

That is a REALLY good word to describe it – I’d definitely call it a burble!

Elwood has a high-pitched squeak in the middle of his purr when he’s very very happy. And when Spanky’s purring particularly hard, he sounds like a cricket singing. (Note to self: carry the damn camera around more often!)

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For two people that don’t drink you sure have a lot of booze layin’ around!

I know! I was just telling Suzanne last week that two years ago I thought “Huh. Strawberry Dacquiris would be good!” and I bought the mix and the alcohol and… we just never got around to it. Both bottles are unopened still! We also buy vodka and… something else I don’t remember at the moment. Rum, maybe? … so I can make my own vanilla extract. I want to try using bourbon next time I make vanilla (which won’t be for a while, since I made a ton last year).

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As a Summer pastime at our house when we are sitting the backyard watching the squirrels grazing around the lawn we get long thin pieces of bamboo(13ft+) and gently poke the squirrels in to patooty. They jump straight up in the air about 5 ft. Yes it’s kind of evil but so funny.

I am pretty sure that if I were to see this in action, I would probably fall over and laugh so hard I’d die from asphyxiation.

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Maw Peppers is ultra-cute — and oh, that feathery tail! I’m not even going to go into how beautiful her children are, not when Ciara and her stash have stolen the kitty show. And don’t get started on joyous Jake; is he as kooky as he looks?

Jake is more kooky-looking than kooky-acting. Underneath the looniness, he’s just a sweet, social boy who loves kitten food (and will put up with kittens to get to their food) and loves all the other cats in the house. When Fred gets up in the morning, he puts the collars on the cats who need to wear them before he opens the door to the back yard. While he’s got Tommy (or Elwood or Kara or Sugarbutt) held in place so he can put their collar on, Jake KNOWS that the cat being collared can’t get away, so he comes right over and rubs up against them and purrs and purrs. That’s the best description of Jake I can think of.

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*snicker* I see cat-butt magnets on that fridge 😉

Are you implying that not everyone has cat butt magnets? 🙂 I also have a Crazy Cat Lady Action Figurine!

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Do people ever keep the names that you give the kittens? They always seem “just right.”

I for one can’t imagine Clove as anything but Clove. Her coloring, her button nose is just like a clove!

I heard that cats that are colored like Miz Poo are the most difficult to get adopted – true in your experience?

Sometimes people do, and I’m always a little surprised when they do – when I name the kittens, I always assume they’ll be renamed when they’re adopted. Reacher, Dorothy, and Bill all kept their original names, though!

I’ve heard that black cats – at least here in the US – are the last to be adopted, and right behind that are the torties. Which seems absolutely nuts to me, because I’ve had plenty of black fosters, and of course Maxi and Tommy are black, too. Every single black cat I’ve had has been absolutely awesome. And torties, well, Miz Poo is a tortie and she is AWESOME. I think everyone needs at least one black cat and one tortie!

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*delurk*

For whatever it’s worth, in regard to the thing about nervous cats: I discovered a few years ago that I am what is known in psychological circles as a Highly Sensitive Person (or HSP for short) which basically means that my nervous system is “hard-wired” to respond more strongly to stimulation than most. That is, my sight, hearing, etc. aren’t necessarily any better than anyone else’s, but my brain processes all the sensory information which does come in much more thoroughly than that of a non-HSP, so I’m more AWARE of things like bright lights and noises, and it’s therefore much easier for me to get OVER-stimulated (and tired, stressed-out, and grumpy) from simply being in an environment with a lot going on. Shopping malls and airports, for example, just wear me the heck out!

I want to stress, though, that being HSP isn’t a pathological thing. It’s not a “disease” or a “syndrome” or anything like that; it’s simply a trait, like hair color or eye color, and is probably genetic in origin. In fact, from the reading I’ve done, the tendency toward High Sensitivity seems to be present in approximately the same proportion (around 20% of total population) in everything from fruit flies to horses to humans, so it must have some kind of survival advantage or it wouldn’t be that prevalent. The lady who’s done the most research on High Sensitivity (Elaine Aron, you can Google her if you want to know more about her work) believes that those with the HSP trait are designed to be a kind of “early warning system” for others of their species–we’re the ones who NOTICE things, and so tend to spot the predator lurking in the bushes before anyone else does.

Anyway–given all that, it’s certainly possible that at least some of these “perpetually nervous even though there’s no reason to be” cats are actually feline HSPs, and thus the spooky behavior is genetic rather than learned, which also explains why it can persist throughout life even with an owner who’s never harmed the kitty in question. So I will second what Oldcat said about giving nervous cats a spot of their own where they can retreat when they’re scared, particularly if they live in a busy household with kids and/or other animals. Believe me, being overstimulated isn’t very much fun, even when you understand what’s happening and why, and High Sensitivity isn’t something that can be trained or conditioned away. As Brandy so elegantly put it, the best you can do is accept that this is just how Nature programmed some of us to be, and try to work around the limits it imposes. (And while I definitely don’t advocate trying to “cure” High Sensitivity with drugs, I will say that a little Rescue Remedy can be VERY helpful at difficult moments. I’m not a pet owner myself so I have no personal experience with using it on an animal, but I can tell you for certain that it’s a real lifesaver for a human HSP, and I literally won’t leave the house without it these days. I’m given to understand that some people/animals respond to it better than others, but it has no side effects and if you have a fur-kid that you think might be Highly Sensitive, I would say it’s certainly worth a try.)

So, informational message delivered–back to lurking.

I found this very very interesting. Thanks for delurking to share!

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Did you plant all the plants in at the same time? I love how staggered the harvest is, and can’t help but wonder if they ripen on their own calendar or by the time you plant them.

We planted the summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, and green beans at the same time. Oh, and the corn. The beans and corn have been harvested and the plants pulled up to make room in the garden, and we had to pull up the squash plants because they were starting to die due to vine borers. The tomatoes are still (kind of) producing (they’d probably be doing better if it wasn’t for THE BLIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT) and the peppers are still producing like mad. The acorn and butternut squash were planted about a month ago, and they’re doing REALLY well, as you can see.

Wait. When did we plant the watermelon and cantaloupe? I’m thinking at the same time as the tomatoes and peppers, etc. And we’re still getting watermelon, but the cantaloupes are mostly played out.

Basically, they ripen by their own calendar. Some plants just take longer – it seems like forever between the time you see a squash flower and are able to harvest your first squash from that plant, but the peppers and okra will just appear overnight.

So no, for the most part we planted everything at the same time (except the acorn and butternut squashes, and I think we waited a while to plant the okra), they just kind of staggered themselves. 🙂

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Do you eat the purslane? I’ve heard it’s good in salads.

We do eat the purslane! It’s good in salads and also good sauteed in some olive oil. It’s crunchy and has a very faint lemony taste. I’ve been known to occasionally pull up a stalk and eat it while I’m working on the raised beds.

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Miz Poo was laying in this bed, and Ciara was all “Hey, let’s snuggle!” Miz Poo growled and hissed and smacked, but Ciara just made herself at home. Miz Poo showed her displeasure by taking a bath.

“What’s YOUR problem?”

“I hate you.”

Ciara’s off to the place. You know. The place. etSmart-Pay. In a bit. I’ll try to remember to take the camera!

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“What’s she doing?”
“I don’t know. She’s weird.”

“WHAT YOU DOIN’, LADY?”

Sally Peppers has clearly gotten over her skittishness.

“I SAY, pet me, lady.”

“What’s going on over HERE?”

Hello, Lucy Peppers.

Lucy keeps an eye on me.

Yesterday, I finally moved the Peppers Gang upstairs to the foster room. They were a bit freaked out – the first couple of times I went up to check on them, they were hiding in the closet. By the time a couple of hours had passed, they were hanging out on the cat tree and yelling at me to get over there and pet them. I’m glad it didn’t take them two weeks to adjust to their new circumstances this time!

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Corbie and the Ears of Annoyance. Jake and the Look o’ Looniness.

Keeping an eye on the guy next door.

SO BEAUTIFUL.

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Previously
2010: How I have not squeezed the stuffing out of that boy, I do not know.
2009: Damn whippersnappers.
2008: I don’t know why he can’t just call it Demer0l or whatever the fuck other people call it.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: I sure do hate the hell out of housework.
2003: When I think of Judge Roy Moore, the phrase “Getting too big for his britches” comes to mind.
2002: If he didn’t do that creepy, over-intense stare all the time, he wouldn’t be so (you guessed it) creepy, but he does, so he is.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.

Dexter was adopted by a staff member at the clinic he was treated in. Sadly after 8 weeks he was put to sleep. He had been getting better, we all watched as he moved in with Tiffany and got to live a great life. Was a shock when we all found out his fits had returned. Sadly the fits couldn’t be stopped and Dexter was allowed to toddle over to cat heaven where I’m sure his bro was waiting. There is a petition still going so do please sign. Don’t let Dexter’s death be without any real justice

Sign the petition!

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Just discovered this story: Pennie And Steve Lefkowitz Charged With Animal Cruelty After Nearly 700 Cats Seized.

The video at the bottom is just heartbreaking. I had to walk away for a few minutes around one and a half minutes in, when they showed the cat with the out of control rodent ulcer on his top lip. Miz Poo has had an issue with rodent ulcers in the past, and if she hadn’t received care, it’s pretty likely that’s what her upper lip would look like. So sad.

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With the clock right in the path of the kitty’s shelves, do they ever knock it down? I know my cats are fascinated with the second hand movement of our clock. It’s positioned right below a banister and every now and then I catch one up there, leaning over and batting at it.

The clock that was there before got knocked to the floor a couple of times before it was broken and we had to toss it. I don’t think they’re batting at it – though Clove was VERY interested in that second hand! – I think they were just brushing by it and it was knocked down. This clock has a square of putty holding the bottom of the clock to the wall, so hopefully that’ll help extend its life.

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I’m not sure where information about a shortage of animals in the northeast came from but I can assure you that is not true in any sense of the word. Our shelters up here are bursting at the seams as well. There are so many stray/feral cats it breaks my heart. Shelters are constantly begging for money!

Lisa, I picked it up from this article, these quotes are what caught my eye:

When the van pulls out of Animal Services parking lot Thursday morning, it will be loaded with 38 dogs and puppies and 27 cats and kittens being taken to their no-kill shelter on Long Island, where people are waiting in line to adopt animals, especially puppies.

“By the time the puppies hit the floor, they are gone,” said Gleason while checking out some kittens he was considering taking with him.

Sheppard said there is a shortage of dogs in the northeastern United States because of strict spay and neuter laws enacted 30 years ago.

I should have known it was too good to be true. :/

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Nicole: Inquiring minds want to know…. did you name Lucy Peppers after Lucy Liu, another cross-eyed, exotic beauty? Or is it merely coincidence?

Elayne: Lucy Liu is cross-eyed? When did that happen? (45 minutes of staring at imdb photos and google images later)
One of her eyes is a bit differently shaped than the other, a bit narrower, but I don’t think she’s cross-eyed…

Nicole: Maybe Lucy Peppers isn’t cross-eyed, either. But they are both very pretty.

Lucy Peppers is definitely cross-eyed, but she wasn’t named after Lucy Liu (I do call her Lucy Lu, though, of course, because everyone’s gotta have a nickname.), she was named after Lucy from Peanuts. Actually, Lucy and Sally’s names were stolen from another blog, where there’s also a Patty.

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I just had to share this video with you. Visa and Spike are just too cute together. Guess this must be Share a Video day!

That is one fearless little kitten! I love the sideways hops down the hall.

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OMG. Have you met Maru yet?

I’m pretty sure that these days, they’ll take away your blog if you’ve never heard of Maru. Love him!

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I never ever comment even though I have been reading you since 2004 or 05 (!!!!) – but I just have to delurk before Clove gets adopted away… If I could possibly adopt just one cat (I live in Ontario, and am going away to Europe for the year next week, so it’s impossible), I would jump on a plane today and scoop up Clove in a heartbeat! She is just the most beautiful cat ever seen on this Earth, IMHO – please tell her I said so before she goes off to her forever home! I look forward to new photos of her every day – and I do hope that whoever is lucky to adopt her stays in touch with you and sends on photos from time to time… She is the foster I will miss most of all you’ve had, and you can tell her that too! Big hugs from up North!

“Will this box hold my toys, too, or should they buy me new toys when I get to Canada?”

(Clove thinks you have excellent taste.)

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Does Cilantro talk a lot? My Yenta has an oral fixation too, licks EVERYTHING and man, does she chatter, hence the name Yenta. Just wonderin.

She doesn’t talk a lot, no. She does, however, get “lost” when you’re more than ten feet away from her, and if she doesn’t know where you are, instead of looking for you, she meows until you call to her. (Right now, she is under the desk licking my feet, by the way.)

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Oh no – Jake is so skinny. What’s wrong with him? Did he have food poisoning? Is he allergic to his food? Poor guy. I hope he gets better sooon!

and

Look at Jake and Elwood! Elwood is, um, quite the portly man, isn’t he?

and

Elwood’s…bulking up. Lifting weights, is he? 😉

There’s nothing wrong with Jake, he weighs what he and Elwood should BOTH weigh. Elwood weighs almost 5 pounds more than Jake, and it’s obvious in that picture!

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For the record I love and buy hot pepper jam or jelly from our local farmer who does up jams. Its delicious with cheese and crackers. I never get enough peppers from my garden to make jams, Canadian summers just aren’t long enough if you don’t have a greenhouse.

As for the Ghost peppers, there is a great spice shop in Charleston, SC that makes ghost pepper salt to sell. It has quite a kick (but I love hot) and I use it as a substitute for regular salt when I want to heat something up. I’ve never made a flavored salt, but I guess it’s the same as making a flavored sugar??

Well, I make Jalapeno jelly and Habanero jams, but the thought of working with the Ghost peppers has me a little nervous. Fred decided last night that he wants to use the first of the Ghost peppers to make a hot sauce, then he’s going to have me make a batch of strawberry-Ghost pepper jam, then who knows?

(For the record, I can eat Jalapeno jelly, but cannot eat Habanero jam because it’s too hot for me and I don’t like feeling PAIN when I eat!)

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Maybe I missed it, but did all the McMaos and Maggie find forever homes?

They did! The last two to go were Maggie and Fergus Simon, who both were adopted two weeks and one day after the whole bunch went to Petsmart (but weren’t adopted together). The only McMao left unadopted is Ciara, who goes to Petsmart in a little while with the Spice Girls.

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I’m glad that Ciara and the sisters will be heading off tomorrow — though only because they’re growing so quickly. Hope they can be paired off in cages and then permanently. Godspeed, lovely girls, and here’s wishing that Robyn will let you keep her up during your final night at Crooked Acres.

I did let them have the run of the house last night, and they were a bit calmer about the whole thing. Ciara settled down in the cat bed at the foot of the bed, and the Spice Girls took turns laying across me, laying against my legs, and curling up next to my head and purring loudly.

There’s a large cage available at Petsmart, so all four of them will be going into that cage together. I would love it if they were adopted together in one configuration or another. Fingers crossed!

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All three petitions signed. Dexter is breaking my heart. I know pretty much all of us wish we could beat this woman senseless with a baseball bat. I have special words for her. I am a prolific curser as well (I remember you saying this awhile back about yourself) and, to paraphrase from A Christmas Story, I have woven a tapestry of profanities to describe her to my other cat-loving friends.

I am too familiar with this closing of helpful cat shelters. The Humane Society here raided one about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. This woman had owned the shelter for more than 20 years. (In fact I adopted Luanne from them in 2007, from a Petsmart.) She was given a certain amount of time to reduce her numbers by x amount. She’d gotten about half of those out and had scheduled the other half to be shipped to a few other no-kill shelters. The Dept. of Agriculture wasn’t satisfied even though she was doing what she could (despite low funds and the fact that she was sleeping on a cot at the shelter). They told her she had to euthanize 60 animals and she said she spent 2 sleepless nights making up the list (how AWFUL). She and her lawyers got the euthanization date pushed out for a few weeks and she was continuing to schedule some of the animals to be transferred. When she was out of town, the Humane Society here and the Dept of Ag raided her place, took film, said it was deplorable and the animals were all sick. (Please tell me what shelter has animals that are all healthy and glowing??? That’s why they’re in shelters.) So this woman was completely shut down. They took 165 animals, including the lab (her pet) she’d had for 10 years. They eventually gave it back. But all of these other animals who would’ve been spared (and who WERE spayed and neutered; this is where all her funds went) were taken in by the Humane Society. Petsmart canceled their contract with her before finding out all of the facts. I’m sure tons of the animals were eventually euthanized. The HS is now the Wal-Mart of the animal world. Instead of another no-kill shelter getting funds for doing good work, the HS can get more funds to kill animals. WHATEVER. I will never support them again. I have given money monthly to North Shore Animal League for more than 3 years now.

Sorry for my soapbox. I just hate these types of situations; they are so unfair.

Definitely unfair!

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“Today’s headlines: Civilization is breaking down, unemployment is at 110%, and a litre of petrol now costs more than your children’s college education. And now here’s Tom with the kitten report.”

It would make the news so much more bearable, am I right?

I think they ought to just televise kittens playing, and have the human anchors do the news in voiceover! (Also, you can scroll down in this entry to see the cats doing a news report.)

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I love the photos (and loved yesterday’s btw), but do wonder why the bed of Princess Smug of Smugonia is so plain. Shouldn’t it at least have rhinestones on it… oops! I meant the finest diamonds, of course.

It is very plain, isn’t it? I just put that thing together earlier this week, and I’m trying to decide what exactly I want to do with it. I’m considering painting it white, and perhaps making some sort of floofy mattress-type bed for it. Then again, maybe I’ll paint it pink or blue. Orrrr maybe I’ll just leave it the color it is and talk about making a cute cat bed for it, then never actually doing anything at all. That last sounds most likely to happen.

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By the way, just in case you wanted a reminder, now you have a bunch of baby kittens, you could take a closeup picture of their faces once a day or once a week, and we could see how their face changes as they grow up?

I’m going to do my level best to make that happen!

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My Frankie is 1 year 3 months old now, and is still really scared of everything around him. If he’s sleeping next to me, he jumps up off the couch every time I get up, and he jumps and runs away at the smallest of sounds. Even still,he loves to be scratched and getting a body rub, but he is literally a scaredy cat. I don’t really know what to do to make him more relaxed. Any ideas?

If anyone out there has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I think that some cats just have a more nervous nature than others, and despite the fact that they live with you and you would never hurt them in any way, they still get nervous when you move around.

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I can now exactly see why one needs to wear jeans to the foster room, I can just imagine how needle-sharp those little claws are!

SO true – I went into the guest bedroom yesterday morning to give the Peppers Gang their morning snack, and I was stupidly wearing shorts. Molly didn’t care one little bit that I didn’t have jeans protecting my legs, she climbed right up my bare legs to my shorts, then finally stopped climbing when she reached my stomach. Suffice it to say that I have learned my lesson!

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My cat Luna was frosted like that when we got her. Her tail even looked like a raccoon tail! That’s how we named her, those little white hairs along her back made me think of moonlight on a lake. Anyway, she doesn’t look like that anymore, her tail is just fluffy solid black, along with the rest of her. Well, brownish black. Also, I have a white cat that had two teeny black spots on her head when she was born, then just one, now none at all. Her mom had a few black hairs on her head when we had her (we fostered her out & kept 2 babies) and I’m assuming she also had a larger spot that was slowly going away. What’s up with that? How is it that they can change colors like that? Anyone know?

Oldcat? I think this might be a question for you!

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“Shares of Boston-based Carbonite Inc. jumped more then 23 percent yesterday in the company’s first day of trading after its initial public offering. The online computer backup service priced its shares late Wednesday at $10 per share. The stock closed yesterday at $12.35.”

I am actually gonna put a (small) chunk of change on the stock for its entertainment value. Will give it a year and then donate any earnings to Challenger House! Anyone else want to see what comes of one of Robyn’s Favorite Things? 🙂

Very neat idea!

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Lori sent me the link to this video, and it cracked me UP!

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All five Peppers, hangin’ on the cat tree.

Lucy and Sally, chillin’.

Harlan haz a complaint. “This platform is too smaaaaaall, and everyone keeps trying to cram themselves on the platform wiiiiiiith me, and I don’t liiiiiike it!”

Smilin’ Molly.

The Peppers girls – and Harlan’s foot.

Molly haz a complaint. “Sally keeps biting my taaaaaaail, and it huuuuuuurts and I don’t liiiiiiike it!”

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Something hath disturbed the Ciara.

Cilantro’s looking for her next licking victim.

This really doesn’t look like the most comfortable position, does it?

Ciara and Clove, all stressed out.

Ciara checks out the dryer.

::thlurrp::

I’ll be heading out of here to take Ciara and the Spice Girls to Petsmart in an hour or so. Adoption hours take place this evening, and I like to let them have the better part of the day to become accustomed to their new surroundings (though I am certainly hoping they won’t be their surroundings for long!) I will, of course, let y’all know as soon as I know they’ve been adopted.

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“Hello, I am beautiful.”

(Your weekly reminder.)

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Previously
2010: “Because I feel like I can’t get a good, deep breath, so I’m pretty sure I’m going into multi-system organ failure.”
2009: I adore stories that talk about what a pain in the ass Gwyneth Paltrow is, and I always cackle when Dlisted refers to her as “Fishsticks Paltrow.”
2008: Or… is that how learning curves work?
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: she’s got the skank lines rolling off her, doesn’t she?
2004: Fred is just amazed that one portly cat can have so many health issues.
2003: ::Sproing!:: he went, leaping at least a foot in the air, and I watched, impressed that he’d contained that much energy in his dry and dead-looking little body.
2002: “TUBBY GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” I ordered, and grudgingly he did.
2001: No entry.
2000: Being completely, one-hundred percent useless in the slightest emergency, I slapped my hands to my cheeks and let out a horrified scream.

Attention, those of you who know stuff about dogs! Becca needs help. If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments, or you can email me and I’ll pass your email along to Becca. Thanks!

I love dogs, but never really had one as a pet, so their behavior totally eludes me. Here’s why I ask:

On July 31st, my grandma passed away. She had a Chihuahua, Butchy, for between 6 and 9 years – none of us can remember when she got him, thus we don’t know how old he is. For Butchy’s entire life, it was him and my Maw, and the occasional cat – at any given time, Maw had at least one cat living with her, inside or outside. Butchy was very attached to Maw, he knew us, and would play with us, ask for belly rubs, etc., except for my dad, he must have scared Butchy early on – we think it was because Dad would rev up his motorcycle right outside the window and Butchy would go berserk over the noise. Butchy would freeze up and give Dad the evil eye when he was around.

My grandma passed away in her home, in her sleep (a shock to us all, but that’s a great way to go). Dad found her that morning (visited everyday, they were neighbors), called an ambulance, etc. I don’t know if the ambulace had it’s sirens on, but if so, that would scare Butch. So that day there were many unfamiliar people in and out of the house – Butchy stayed in his crate all day. He wouldn’t come out at all – he stayed curled up in the back and would shake, lay his ears back, and slightly growl if anyone tried to pet him. We didn’t want to traumatize him, so we let him stay in the house, one of us went over each day to fill up his food and water and slightly try to coax him out to go potty. He never came out. He’d hide.

On Aug 4th I managed to get him to come out of his hiding place and go into his crate, shut the door and loaded him into my car. He did wonderful on the 45 min drive to the town I live in, didn’t make a peep. My best friend decided to take him, give him a home. This was really wonderful of him – none of the family members could take him due to other pets, allergies, or, in my case, work required travel. The first day Butch came out of his crate on his own, checked the place out, drank some water, and went back to his crate. Again he would growl and snap at us if we tried to touch him.

So, we didn’t try to do much with him for a few days so he could get used to his new surroundings. He barely ate, only his treats (roast beef, and cheese- this is what my grandma fed him), and drank very little water. On Saturday, we were able to get him out and take him outside, where he seemed quite happy, even lying on his back in the grass for a belly rub. Sunday, people came over, a usual thing, which really, I wish they hadn’t cause everybody wanted to talk and pet him. He of course was not having it.

Monday I went over to let him out in the afternoon, and he was happy as a pig in mud to see me. He ran some little circles, even played a little bit, and covered me in puppy kisses (which i really don’t like, but he was so happy I let him). I snuggled him and loved on him for a few hours. My friend, Josh, was at work by the way – we’re wondering if Butch just doesn’t like men. Tuesday, I went over around 3 to let him out and Butch did not approve. He growled at me, and was shaking. Later last night I went back to try again – and he was all happy again! He even took a nap in my lap! After a couple hours of lovin on him, I left.

Josh says he’s still hiding under the kitchen table or in his crate when he’s there. This morning he growled at Josh and his dad. It occurs to me, the times I went over and he was happy I was wearing my favorite pajama pants (which I wear for 3 or 4 days between washes). I don’t know what to do. I thought he would be a little bit better by now, warming up to Josh more… I don’t want to keep going over there (Josh and I just broke up a couple weeks ago, still friends tho) and I don’t want Butch to expect me to be there, I don’t want him to be attached to me- for above reasons. But it breaks my heart that he’s so scared.

He’s a really great dog – cute, smart (when told to “go get ducky” he will retrieve his duck toy, etc) and a total lap dog. But it’s like he’s forgotten everything – he seems so lost without my grandma, which makes her passing even harder. Rehoming her dog was maybe the saddest thing I’ve ever done, made her death real, I guess. Butchy is a little piece of her, and I want him to be happy and know that he’s safe.

I’ve done some research, and from what I can tell, he wasn’t socialized well…I guess, but everything talks of how to help puppies, and young dogs. Butch is gray of the muzzle, can he be resocialized? I just have no idea. Anything, ANYTHING, will be of help. I feel like, just leaving him alone should work. Time to get used to Josh- but it’s been a week… And he’s still barely eating- evident of him barely pooping. Help us if you can- or do you know of a helpful resource?

Again, if anyone can help please leave a comment or email me. Thank you!

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I learned last week that your second odor solution (Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda and Dishsoap) works terrifically on a dog that’s been sprayed by a skunk. Also gives him some stylish highlights. Just wanted to pass that little tip on.

I did not know that – thanks for the tip!

(Did anyone out there who grew up in the 80s try to give themselves highlights using Hydrogen Peroxide? I didn’t try it myself (that I remember), but a friend’s brother did, and his hair turned a very unnatural shade of red. I’m sure he’s not the only one who tried that particular trick!)

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My Hoover commerical vacuum has both a rug and bare floor switch. I’ve only got bare floors to can’t testify to how well it does rugs but I have used the smaller brush head to vacuum the furniture and I’ve been quite pleased. For $100, what do you have to lose?

P.S. Even though I KNEW what was going to happen in the spider video, I screamed anyway.

I am 99% sure that I did buy that very vacuum at some point in the past, and for some reason or another it just didn’t work out for me. It wasn’t in this house, though, and now I’m thinking that the issue was that we had carpet throughout most of the house in Madison, so maybe here where there’s more hardwood than rugs, it might work out better for me. I’m taking it under consideration!

And I jumped, gasped, and put my hand over my mouth even though I knew what was going to happen in that video!

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Previously, 2007. Bahahahahahah!

and

I’m glad I’m not the only one that was cracking up over the ’07 entry. Especially the part about the chances of keeping MaryAnn/Stinky being “nil”. 😉

and

The 2007 entry is funny. Did you ever try the kool-aid pickles?

and

I had to laugh when I read on you “Previously” for 2007—six cats (permanently living in the house) are our limit (famous last words). Who would have thought?

That’s regarding this entry, wherein someone asked Regarding Maryanne . . . I was wondering, what are the chances since Fred is her favorite, that he relents and wants to keep her??? and I responded with, I’d say the chances are nil that Maryanne will be staying. She’s cute and playful (though still skittish) and we like having her around, but six cats (permanently living in the house) are our limit.

Yeah. Four years later, we’ve doubled the cat population. You may have noticed that these days when someone asks if we’re going to keep one cat or another, I don’t say a definitive no because I have LEARNED never to say never.

(And no, I never did try those Kool-aid pickles!)

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I’m just catching up here so forgive me if I am repetitious with comment content, but I HAVE to tell you 2 things: First, that little Molly Peppers is GORGEOUS. Would you call her a gray tabby? A silver tabby? Whatever you call her, she’s a looker.

The other thing is, when I saw that you had named them “the Peppers” and that there were 5 of them, I was sure you had named them after that old-timey book series “5 Little Peppers and How They Grew” or some shit like that. I looked it up on Wikipedia and found this awesome description of one of the plots: “Things change for the Peppers after Phronsie is kidnapped by an organ grinder.”

Molly Peppers is considered a silver tabby – though if you referred to her as gray, I wouldn’t disagree with you.

And several people mentioned that book, and I have to admit that if I’d read a description like that, I’d probably have gone along with the naming theme. Well, except that the kids in the book were comprised of three boys and two girls, and I’ve got three girls and two boys. I’m going to have to keep those names in mind for a future litter, though, because “Phronsie” would be an excellent kitten name.

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Also, Robyn, you won’t regret the Miele vacuum. We bought ours almost 20 years ago and it’s still going strong. It loves cat litter, too. Last week, when I was trying to open one of those huge square bags of litter, I spilled about 5 pounds of it and that Miele was so happy, it almost turned itself on to get to it.

That certainly does sound like my kind of vacuum!!!

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LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

If I might add on fountains:

stay far away from the cheaper/regular Drinkmate. I’ll also recommend the Petmate fresh and flow. Perhaps most important: the quality of your water will drastically effect how well the fountain works. Another thing to keep in mind with fountains for anyone considering buying one… does the water fall actually splash into water? That’s noisier/etc…one of our cats doesn’t like that style (the drinkmate) but is fine with the other style (the Petmate)

One thing (well, two things) I forgot to mention about the Cat Mate fountain in yesterday’s entry is that it’s by far the easiest fountain I’ve cleaned. It comes apart simply, and there aren’t a lot of nooks and crannies that you have to scrub with cotton swabs because they’re too small for your fingers. The thing I don’t like about it is that the cord is really, really long, and since my fountains are fairly near to the outlet, I end up with a pile of fountain cord sitting next to the fountain and it’s annoying (but since the cords are covered, I don’t have to worry about the cats chewing on them).

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You’re like Oprah! I kept on imagining you would tell me to look under my chair and I would find a Ham-Mick and some Nose Offense! I can’t think of any suggestions, cat-related or otherwise, but I will cheerfully take yours. Thanks!

I thought about having a thing where people could enter to win one of each item that I mentioned, but there were a lot of items in that list. Also, it was kind of a spur of the moment topic, so I didn’t think of that until about halfway through the post. 🙂

(I should have called it “Robyn’s Favorite Things”, though. Can’t believe I didn’t think of that at all!)

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You must check out this site…I’m laughing. And figuring out how to convince my cats to stay on the scanner long enough to be scanned…

I don’t currently have a flatbed scanner, but I had one in the past, but I’ve never successfully scanned a cat. Usually when the scanner started up, whichever cat that was hanging out on it would skedaddle.

I did scan the spud’s face once, though, back in 2001.

Hee.

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Once again great pictures…but an important question emerges: Did you paint your kitchen to go with Jake’s beautiful green eyes?

The way you’re asking the question makes me think that there might be people out there who don’t decorate the house to flatter their cats, is that what you’re telling me?

Actually, that wall doesn’t have that tinge of green to it, in real life. It’s a cream color. And when we painted the walls, Jake and Elwood weren’t even a twinkle in their mama’s eye.

I’ve been thinking, now that we’re coming up five years since we initially painted the walls of this house, that it might be time for a repaint, if not an update (I still love the colors of our walls). When we painted, though, the house was empty and I didn’t have to worry about a zillion cats wandering through and brushing up against wet paint.

All of which is a long way to say that no, we didn’t match the walls to Jake’s eyes. But we should have!

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Harlan looks like Clove to me – could we have a side-by-side comparison? Photos are enough, since I know the Peppers still can’t enter Gen Pop.

People said that he looks like Corbie, too, so here’s a picture of Clove, one of Harlan, and one of Corbie, and y’all can draw your own conclusions. (That’s an awful lot of spotted stripey gorgeousness, isn’t it?)

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Oh my goodness Harlan is a fluffsome little cutie. Something about his head shape and expressions reminds me of this sand cat kitten.

If anyone knows of a way I can get me one of those Sand Cats, please let me know ASAP, thanks.

(I’m kidding, of course. But my god is that a cute kitten.)

I definitely see Harlan’s resemblance to the Sand Cat kitten, though. Or the Sand Cat kitten’s resemblance to Harlan. However you want to look at it, there’s a resemblance, is what I’m saying.

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The many faces of Everett Peppers.

I love his “frosted” look.

“I haz an angry.”

“Hmm. Everett cannot be bothered with you and your silly camera. Everett has better things to worry about.”

“Go ‘way.”

“If I close my eyes, you’re not there.”

I originally thought this was Everett, but the crossed eyes lead me to believe this is actually Lucy with her floofed-up self. So, surprise! It’s Lucy Peppers!

“Lord, it’s so hard to be this beautiful.”

“Did I mention go ‘way?”

::glare::

“Am so sleepy… is hard to keep the glare going…”

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Cilantro, in a rare non-licking moment.

“Who, me? I’m not up on the step to the platform! I wouldn’t do that!”

(She is, as far as I’m concerned, allowed to go up there all she wants, but she acts like she’s not supposed to be up there.)

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Corbie the beautiful.

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Previously
2010: Damn her, she was right!
2009: It’s a rough life, but someone’s gotta live it, right?
2008: ”What are we going to do when we find out?” Fred asked. I still don’t know the answer to that. I just want to KNOW.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Right now, Fred’s upstairs trying to snooze while Mister Boogers comforts him.
2004: Does she think she’s Paris Hilton?
2003: Me, earlier today: “I swear to god, I’m going to go on a shooting spree!”
2002: ME LOVE LOBSTER, have I mentioned?
2001: No entry.
2000: It sure is good to be home!

So, last Wednesday night/ Thursday morning, we had a really scary storm with some very strong winds. Fred actually got up at midnight to go out and close the chicken coop so that it wouldn’t get wet inside (we usually leave the big door to the coop open at night so it can cool off a little. He hadn’t really expected it to rain so left it open.), and was so freaked out by how hard the trees were bending and creaking that he thought he was about to die.

We lost power a little after midnight, and it stayed off until 5:30. Which isn’t so bad, except that without the air conditioner running AND without the ceiling fan going, I got pretty warm and miserable. That was of course the exact time that the hottest cats in the house (Miz Poo, Elwood and Tommy) wanted to be RIGHT on top of me, which didn’t help matters.

When I got up at 6:00, our internet was down. Then it came back up for about half an hour ’til we got another strong storm. The power flickered on and off about 7 times, and when it came back on for good, the internet was down and stayed down. We didn’t get internet back until late afternoon on Friday, and since we get our phone through the cable line, the phone was down as well. In addition, the cell signal was going down and coming back up constantly, so you can imagine how thrilled I was.

Thank god for McDonald’s and their free internet.

We didn’t lose any trees, only a lot of branches. We did lose several tomato plants, but that’s not a big deal since we planted way too many of them this year. We were lucky once again, so I’m not complaining.

I’d happily wait ’til next Spring for another bout of really bad weather, though, if it’s all the same to you, MOTHER NATURE.

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Are you sure that is a wilting hydrangea? I am a complete hydrangea fan and I do not recognize the leaves. If it is a hydrangea (love them as I can root them myself, they love shade and bring late summer fall color.) put it in a shady area and water it madly. They are hardy plants that root quickly.

That’s an Oakleaf Hydrangea that Fred’s father and stepmother gave us. I think it’s been two years (possibly three) since we planted it, and it’s finally starting to do well. The problem is that I often forget it’s even there until it acts all drama queeny (okay, to be fair, we hadn’t had any rain in quite a while!) and then I have to carry buckets of water from the back yard to water it. I’d love to have a whole shade garden in that area (it gets zilch for sun), but the closest water spigot is in the back yard. Hmm. Maybe Fred’s winter project should be running a sprinkler to that part of the property!

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Have you tried that super cool device called an Eye-Fi to transfer your photos. Basically it comes with a reader and a card. You install the software and from then on, whenever you take a picture it automatically uploads from your camera to your hard drive.

I would dearly love to use an Eye-Fi to transfer my pictures, but sadly the Sony DSLR-A100 isn’t supported by the Eye-Fi. Which means, if you ask me, that I need a new camera.

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Saw this trick on Rachael Ray to slice a large quantity of cherry tomatoes in half: The Cherry Tomato Trick

Thank you so much for the tip! It certainly beats having to slice the damn things in half one by one – I’m going to give that trick a try!

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For what it’s worth (and I have a feeling I may have shared this with you before), we use a turkey fryer filled with water to cook the corn we’re freezing. We set it up outside, and it keeps the kitchen from getting miserably hot and humid. It also reheats very very fast, so you’re not standing around waiting for the water to boil again.

That does sound familiar! We don’t, unfortunately, have a turkey fryer but I almost think it would be worth buying one just to deal with the damn corn.

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Robyn, did you know cats luuurrrvve cantaloupe?

Do the cats know that they luuurrrvve it? Because I can’t seem to get any of ours to show any interest. Which is too bad, because we’re growing a lot of cantaloupe. Fred better get to eatin’.

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We have had 2 Wolf spiders in our apartment. The first one was found 4 months after we moved in and was dead. I pretty much lost my shit when I found it dead on the kitchen floor. The lights weren’t on and I at first thought it was a hairball from one the cats. Never wished so hard for a hairball in my entire life after finding out what it really was. The second one was found ALIVE in our bedroom. Yes, bedroom, just as I was getting ready to go to bed. Almost stayed in a motel. I was convinced that those bastards were living in my boxspring. Our backyard is a huge expanse of woods, and we get every kind of bug, spider, critter that you can imagine. Lots of many different kind and size of spider. I hate that f’n woods!

You know what really creeps me out about the Wolf spider? The eyes. The EYES are so friggin’ creepy, I can’t even stand it. ::shudder::

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Have you realized that there is now evidence that the spiders are smarter than dear Tom Cullen? Shh, don’t tell him, he would be hurt if he knew.. And he is black like the spiders, too. Does this mean that he is Spiderman?

They’re smarter than Elwood, too, as I found Elwood flapping toward the back door one day last week, stopping every few steps to kick his front left paw around in hopes of dislodging the spider glue trap. I peeled it off for him, and he was completely ungrateful.

He’s no Spiderman, he’s CullenMan! (And I’ll see if I can’t find the Spiderman and send him on some new adventures, Sofia.)

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That show about the Cat House on the Kings is on the National Geographic channel this evening. What an awesome place.

I set up the DVR to record it as soon as I heard it was coming on. That is one amazing place, and she is one amazing woman! I imagine that you’d never wonder where you stood with her, would you?

I’d LOVE to see a regular series about that place.

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Since you and Nance are BFF’s where has she been? She hasn’t posted in her blog since june, am worried and going through withdrawal pains. I love her writing and miss her terribly. Can you pretty please tell her to get back to writing 🙂

Nance has been working hard and hanging out with her family. She’s just fine, and I imagine she’ll be back when she feels the urge to post again.

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Thought of you when I heard this news bc I am also a Lee Child fan. HOW is Tom Cruise (short, smarmy) going to play Jack Reacher (tall, taciturn)? All of my fantasies are now RUINED!

Oh, it is absolutely horrifying that Tom Cruise is going to play Jack Reacher. He is the LAST actor in all of Hollywood (except maybe Danny DeVito) who fits that role. UGH. Just wrong, wrong, WRONG.

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Big spider attacks daddy

GAH.

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If Fred thinks black widows don’t come in the house…tell him WRONG. The first few years I was in this house (and it was a brand new house) I had black widows in the garage and in the house. I went to get in the shower one morning and just as I started putting my naked self in the tub, I looked down to see a black widow in the tub. I killed it with foaming bathroom cleaner and then I showered for the next week in my hall bath. They eventually died out. Haven’t seen one in years, but have seen mostly those damn ugly creep grass spiders and several weeks ago I saw a house centipede and declared that if it was any more than 8 legs I hated it and that was the creepiest and FASTEST bug I’ve ever seen. Ick!

If y’all think I am breathing ONE word to Fred about the fact that Black Widows do come into the house, you are flat out NUTS. He once told me that the first time he sees one in the house is the last time he’ll see one in the house, because he’ll move out immediately. I cannot imagine what his reaction truly would be if he saw that tell-tale red hourglass in the house!

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My UPS guy rings the bell and then runs – not like I live in Graceland or anything, but I never get to the door before he has left.

After bitching about the UPS guy, I want to take a moment to say that I love the hell out of my FedEx guy. He is super awesome, friendly and does a fantastic job. In fact, I think I’m going to send a letter to FedEx expressing that very thought.

(I did finally get Fred’s birth certificate, but I had to go to the main UPS place to pick it up. I think you can imagine how happy I was about that.)

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You can go read Elayne’s whole comment here (and Arizona Robin’s follow-up, here), but to summarize: buy commercial-grade appliances and don’t be suckered in by the pretty, cool-looking stuff! Which makes sense, right? Here’s my problem and the reason why so far the only vacuum that has worked for me in this house is the Dyson: we have area rugs, and I need a vacuum that will work well on both rugs and hardwood floors. Every vacuum I’ve tried (except for the pain-in-the-ass Kenmore, which I switch out between the rug attachment and the hardwood attachment) tosses litter around, except for the Dyson.

Last Thursday, when our internet was down for the entire day, Woot had refurbished Dysons on sale for $199. I totally would have bought one to get me through while I’m saving up for a Miele (I think. I haven’t completely decided.), but our internet stayed down all freakin’ day long. Maybe this is a sign that I’m not meant to buy another Dyson, you think?

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I have a food dehydrator, but I’m afraid to use it. I’m worried that I won’t leave stuff in long enough and then it will mold when I store it. How do you know how long to leave stuff in and how do you know its dry enough when that time has come?

Your dehydrator should have come with a book that you can reference, but if it didn’t, you can Google “How long to dehydrate [whatever]” and get your answer. I leave food in the dehydrator until it’s dry and brittle (it doesn’t hurt to check what you’re dehydrating every so often), but if you’re not sure whether you’ve dried your food long enough, you can put it in a glass jar or plastic container for storage and check it after a while. If there’s still moisture in the food, you’ll see condensation on the glass (or plastic), and you can take the food out and put it back in the dehydrator for more time.

Foods like sliced squash dehydrate pretty quickly, in a matter of hours, whereas foods like tomatoes and fruits take longer. It generally takes a day and a half to two days for a dehydrator full of cherry tomatoes to be done, for instance.

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Robyn, isn’t the 6 mos anniversary of your lift surgeries next week? Do you think we could get an update on that? Especially pics of your arms? Pretty please?

Yeah, I’ll try to get pictures at some point this week.

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Oh! I forgot to ask a question about cats. My daughter has a cat that is about 6 years old and just recently he’s been getting eye infections and has been on an antibiotic drop but it doesn’t seem to work for long. Clears it up and within a month it comes back. Her hours at work have really been cut so she’s hoping to treat the problem without going to the vet. Last time it cost her $125.00 and money is super tight right now. Is there anything else she could try.

My only suggestion is that perhaps she could call the vet and get the drops without the office visit – or even ask if there’s a less expensive option as far as antibiotic drops go. The concern here, actually, is that if the eye infection comes back after a month, it doesn’t seem that the drops are really taking care of the infection and that there might be something else going on?

Anyone else out there have any tips?

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The pigs are growing fast, how much longer before they meet the butcher.

The pigs will be going off to freezer camp in October or November. They’re getting big, but they’ve still got plenty of growing to do.

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As large as your kitchen is have you ever considered an island for additional counter space? There are islands that are on wheels so they can be positioned as needed.

Oh, I’d love to have an island in the kitchen – it’s on my mental “I-want” list, which is about six miles long. At one point, Fred was going to make one for me, but he’s decided he’s no carpenter, so I’ve set my sights lower, for a small island where I can stand and chop things or roll out dough or even just put jams to cool. Every now and then I check Craig’s List to see if anyone’s wanting to get rid of an island like that, but HOOO DOGGIE do some people overprice their shit on Craig’s List.

(Side note: I HATE IT when people list shit on Craig’s List and don’t post a picture of whatever they’re selling. What is this, 1998?)

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One of my cats is the wierdest nip-head I’ve ever seen. He rubs his chin on it over and over while DROOLING copious amounts, and as a result his entire face and neck and chest end up plastered down, completely saturated with drool. Does any of your crew do the drool thing??

No, no ‘nip droolers here. Most of them roll around in it, but Spanky treats the ‘nip like a meal. You put a leaf of fresh or a small pile of dried catnip down in front of him, and he eats what’s there. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t know that he actually gets high off of it (not all cats do), maybe he just considers it a snack.

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Can you explain catnip to me? I must be mistaken, but it seems like giving them drugs, which of course, you wouldn’t want to do to children, so why is it ok for cats? I probably sound like an idiot.

You know, I don’t know that I can explain cat nip, really. They do get high off of it, but it’s a short high – they’re not high for hours and hours, it’s more a matter of a few minutes, and then they go about their day. It’s a mood-altering drug in that some cats get mellow on catnip and others get mean (we call Miz Poo our “mean drunk”). It’s not – at our house – really a regular thing. We give them catnip from time to time, but they’re not following us around demanding it, and if they go weeks without it they don’t go into withdrawals. We don’t have to send them to rehab, though I do occasionally sing “They tried to make me go to ‘nip-hab and I said meow, meow, meow” to them.

So in conclusion, um, I don’t know. It’s a drug, but I don’t think it does any damage to them (although I just realized that we have plenty of catnip toys around here, so maybe we DO have some addicts and I just don’t know it!).

Of course, we’d never let them drive when they’ve been ‘nipping. 🙂

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Did the tornado and storms that happened a while back not have a major effect on your garden?

They did! The water washed away almost everything we’d just planted, and we had to replant. A few things popped back up (some of the pepper plants and one or two tomato plants), but for the most part we ended up about a month behind due to having to replant. We are in the process of pulling up the squash plants as they die one by one (vine borers got them – they do every year, no matter what we do), and we really didn’t get nearly as much squash as I would have liked. We’ve always had to force summer squash and zucchini on friends and family in previous years, but this year we ate or dehydrated every single one we got. I wish we’d gotten more, but I’m glad we got what we did. I think the tomatoes are doing so well due to how unrelentingly hot it’s been this summer. The cherry tomatoes are doing especially well, and I’ve been dehydrating like mad!

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I have never heard of Rescue Remedy, and I think I may be giving it a try. Do you know anything about GNC Ultra Mega Relax?

No, I’ve never heard of GNC Ultra Mega Relax. Anyone out there given it a try? Do tell!

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Just out of curiosity, whatever happened to Ike, the teeny little orange? I think he was orange? Temporary fosterling who was so sweet and purry? I know he was fostered by another Challenger’s House person after he left you, but he must’ve been adopted by now, right? For that matter, what happened to the two little brother and sister kittens, Sootie and Sweepie I think? that you were temporarily watching?

Awww, wee baby Ike:

It’s been almost two years since he was here, can you believe that? He was only here for a couple of days. He was originally going to go to the shelter because at that time the shelter manager had room for him, and she was going to care for him. So I left him at the vet, where she was going to pick him up, but then another Challenger’s House foster mum, Heaven, happened along first and snatched him up for herself. And, as it turned out, she ended up keeping him as a permanent resident!

Also, Sooty and Sweepie:

Their story is that a momma cat abandoned two 11 day-old kittens on a woman’s back patio. She was okay with keeping them, but she had a job during the day and needed a babysitter! So I babysat them a couple of times, and then her father in Texas got very ill, and she opted to surrender the kittens to Challenger’s House. I kept them here for a few days, but we were pretty full up on fosters (at that point we had the Cookies and the Wonkas), so Heaven took these guys, too (it was about two months after Ike came through). She fostered them ’til they were big and strong, and then they were adopted out through the adoption center at Petsmart. I think they were adopted together, but I can’t guarantee it.

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I know we all love a cat that is all bowed up and pissed off, but have you seen this? I love how it actually walks out of the shot on two back paws! LOL It made me laugh so hard I wheezed. Enjoy!

Love it!! I sure wish I knew what got that reaction because I would TOTALLY be trying it myself!

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Does Clove ever canoodle with Corbie or Kara? That would be a lot of brown-tabby bliss.

I’m sure that Clove would happily canoodle with Corbie or Kara, but Kara is very much NOT a canoodler (she has no use for other cats at all, except that she can sometimes be seen butting heads with Jake or Elwood) and Corbie doesn’t canoodle much either… he’ll allow Jake and Elwood to rub against him when they’re feeling friendly, but there’s no snuggling when it comes to the Corbs.

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So, to be nosy, does Fred love the kettehs as much as you, or does he just love you awfully much??

Whereas I love and adore teeny tiny kittens, Fred thinks that the little bitty ones are “boring” (his word, not mine!) and he prefers them when they hit their ridiculously long and lanky stage, which is where the Spice Girls and Ciara are right now.

But to answer the question, Fred loves cats as much as I do. I don’t know that he’d necessarily choose to have so many fosters at once, but I ALWAYS ask him before I take a second litter of fosters and I ALWAYS tell him “You can say ‘no’, and I won’t be mad!”, but nine times out of ten he doesn’t even hesitate before he says it’s okay with him. He said once that when we have a lot of fosters in the house, he feels like Scrooge McDuck, only instead of gold coins falling through his fingers, he’s got kittens.

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Is Alice still in love with her Daddy? Or have the sullen teen years crept in?

Oh, she still loves him with a deep and abiding passion. She shows her love for him by climbing into his lap every night when we’re watching tv, and getting her butt as close to his face as she possibly can. And then she lays there and purrs and gives him the eyes of love. She shows me affection, too (especially if I’m in the kitchen and she thinks I might give her food), but Fred’s first and foremost in her heart.

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I don’t know what it is, but Kara is one of the prettiest cats ever. I think it’s something about her face.

Kara thinks you are probably the smartest reader with the best taste, ever.

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You may have already answered this, but I’m a tiny bit of a SKIMMAH. What do you use the dehydrated veggies for? I’m imagining you make sauce with the tomatoes, right? Can you use the squash for casserole or in other veggie dishes? Do you have to soak them first or anything?

I use the squash, zucchini and tomatoes (and usually some okra from the freezer) to make what we call “vegetable medley” – I saute it all in some olive oil. I don’t rehydrate any of it, because it rehydrates well enough in the pan (I sometimes add a little broth to the pan to help matters along). I’ve actually never used the tomatoes to make sauce, but maybe I’ll give that a try this winter! Oh, I also tested the dehydrated squash by making scalloped squash with it, and it turned out really good.

I like to toss a handful of shredded zucchini and dehydrated cherry tomatoes into spaghetti sauce and let it simmer for a while, too.

Also can you recommend a brand of dehydrator? I’d really like to dry my own fruit, but I’m not sure which dehydrator isn’t a colossal waste of money.

We have an Excalibur 2500 (which I told someone back in June that they don’t sell anymore, but I just checked Amazon and they do, so I’m not sure if they stopped selling them and started again, or what). This is, I think, the 4th year I’ve used it, and I haven’t had a single problem with it. Some summers I’ve used it more than others (I don’t think I dehydrated hardly anything last year), and it’s worked perfectly.

If that’s more than you want to spend, I’ve heard that the Nesco brand dehydrators are less expensive, and you can buy trays to add, if you need to.

Also the second, are you having any trouble keeping up the garden(s) with watering restrictions? Here in Texas we’re in extreme drought conditions and have some pretty severe restrictions. I’m having a hard time keeping my landscaping plants alive at this point.

We are actually not under any watering restrictions right now (and weren’t even before we got all that rain last week). When it’s dry, we water the vegetable garden a couple of times a week with drip hoses (about 25 – 30 minutes per row). We don’t have much landscaping to worry about other than the plants in pots on the front porch and the Azaleas and Hydrangeas in the front flower beds. The potted plants get watered twice a week (I have a one-gallon watering can, and filling it twice gives me enough water for the potted plants) and the front flower beds only get watered if I notice the Hydrangeas wilting – lately, that’s about once a week.

We do actually have a well. It’s not working – wasn’t working when we bought the house – but it’s on our miles-long list of stuff-to-do-someday, to get the well working so that we can, at least, water the garden with it.

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(Regarding Stinkerbelle) She looks to me to be a standard calitabby, black and orange with white, but she also has the pointed gene (to give the blue eyes). This will make the colors fade on the body, especially in hotter weather. On a standard siamese, the face tail and legs pale a little on the extremities to give the seal-brown, while the body fades to a light or dark cream color. On Stinkerbelle, the calico spots fade in a like manner – a bit on the head, and more on the body. So I guess the official term would be tortie-point with white.

I’m going to go add that description to her page right now, because I have a terrible memory when it comes to this stuff, and I know we’ve had discussions in the past about what Stinkerbelle is. This way, I’ll know where to look when I’m wondering in the future (if, y’know, I remember that I added it!)

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Do kittens react to the catnip or do they have to be a certain age to care for it?

According to this page, Very young and senior cats do not respond as much, or at all, to catnip. Also, 10-30% of the cat population does not respond to catnip at all, at any age. This is due to genetics — reactions to catnip are hereditary. Some cats are genetically “programmed” to respond to catnip, some aren’t.

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I have a question for you. Have you ever brought in a cat that was not accepted by the others. We rescued a cat last fall that was malnourished and had a bad infection from a collapsed eye. We introduced her as we always do, keeping her in a room and letting the others get to know her through the door. We have three others, two females and a very spoiled alpha male. None of them has accepted her. The one female tolerates her but avoids her when possible. The other female hisses and bats at her all the time [although she never gets close enough to make contact.] The male will lick her one minute and chase her the next. He was aggressive so many times that she doesn’t trust him and even when he appears to be playing she takes the defensive. She use to sleep with my husband until Willie let her know the bedroom is his domain. Now she sleeps under the chair unless one of us is around and she is glued to our lap. Will they ever accept her?

For some reason, the other cats in the house don’t care for Joe Bob. I don’t understand why that is – when he was our foster when we lived in Madison, he and Sugarbutt and Tommy were the best of friends. They played together, they snuggled up for naps, they loved each other. When he joined the family two(ish) years later as a permanent, none of the other cats liked him. I don’t know why that is, he’s the sweetest cat on earth, but they just don’t like him. For the most part they don’t actually physically fight (anymore), but they all have room to spread out in the house, and everyone has their favorite spot in which to hang out. (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but sometimes Spanky will follow Joe Bob around and glare at him. He doesn’t start a fight with Joe, and he never gets very close to him, but he does follow him and just sits and glares at him. We call him Creepy Cousin Spanky when he acts like that.)

I didn’t have much in the way of advice for you, but Doodle Bean had some great advice (thanks, Doodle Bean!):

I have had two for 12 years, and they’ve never really gotten along. They don’t fight that much anymore, so that is something.

Things that have helped: making sure there are more than enough litterboxes. The rule of thumb is one for each cat plus one. I have four for my two cats. Three just wasn’t enough. I also feed them within sight of each other, so they associate each other with something good. I give them catnip in different rooms, however, because that drug tends to lead to fights. In good weather, I make sure I have at least two windows open, otherwise there are fights for windowsill space.

Also, I make sure that I pay extra attention to each one individually during the day. Sweetpea *loves* to be brushed, so that’s what I do. Fuzz loves to go for walks (on leash), so I take him for daily walks. That seems to help the jealousy. When they seem mellow, I will give them treats together, making sure to pet them equal amounts. Finally, I set up elevated beds for each one in the rooms I spend the most time in. Sweetpea likes soft beds, so she has elevated soft beds. Fuzz doesn’t like soft beds, so he has an elevated cardboard boxes on which to snooze. Since Sweetpea likes boxes but doesn’t like sleeping on cardboard, there is absolutely no conflict over beds.

They seem to have worked out a lot themselves. Sweetpea owns the bed, but allows Fuzz to jump up on it for morning pets. Fuzz owns the back door and basement door areas and Sweetpea doesn’t care. Sweetpea owns the living room, but lets Fuzz walk through it. Fuzz owns the kitchen and Sweetpea is scared of the kitchen (long story). They share the food and water area and the bathroom when I’m in it.

I wish they were buddies, but I’ve settled for lack of fighting and tension. Hope this helps with your crew.

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Okay, now it’s time to properly meet the Peppers! (If you missed it, I posted an entry on Saturday that you might want to go check out.)

Sally Peppers.

Everett Peppers.

The slightly cross-eyed Lucy Peppers.

Molly Peppers.

Last, but certainly not least, Harlan Peppers.

The story behind the names is a simple one. Back in June, I was reading Swistle’s baby names blog, and read this post about a woman who wanted to name her baby Everett Peppers (Peppers being their surname), but her mother disliked the name intensely. At the time I read it, I thought “Everett Peppers would be an EXCELLENT kitten name!”, made a mental note, and moved on.

When I got this litter, I looked at them and decided almost immediately that they were going to be the Peppers Gang. I had Everett, I came up with Harlan pretty quickly, I knew I wanted to use Molly, and then I totally stole Lucy and Sally from Connie because I like those names. All together, I think their names sound like they very well might be a gang of ruffians from the Old West, robbing stagecoaches and holding up banks.

That’s Lucy on the left; I’m not sure which of the other two is Everett and which is Sally.

Harlan fell asleep in the middle of making Lucy, Everett, and Sally move over.

I love how Molly’s ears are so light compared to her dark head.

The first few days they were here, they slept almost exclusively on the bed. And then they discovered the cat tree, and now most of the time when I go in there, they’re all crammed together on the top platform.

Like I mentioned, they were hissy-spitty the first few days we had them, but I don’t remember the last time they hissed (maybe Thursday), and when I walk over to the cat tree, they peep at me, and purr like crazy. They aren’t to the point where they’ll come to us and ask for affection and they still cringe a little if we reach for them, but there’s time. They’ll come around soon enough, I’m sure.

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Cilantro in the sun. (She’s actually sitting on top of the Best! Box! Ever!!!!)

Sweet Miss Clove.

Clove on the cat tree in the front room.

Cilantro is the lickiest little thing. You get near her, she’s gonna lick you. Sometimes I have to bury my feet in the couch so she’ll stop licking them.

Ciara’s face just cracks me UP.

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Every time I think “I should take that box out to the garage. No one’s using it.”, Newt suddenly starts using it again. He spends his nights outside, then comes inside during the day, finds some out of the way place to hole up, and then in the evening he’s gone again.

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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Seriously, you people with no web presence at all freak me out.
2007: And the code phrase for “Give me more money, bitch”, can you guess it? “Red velvet. Red velvet!”, of course.
2006: Ooooh, my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it.
2005: the line “I ate 212 almonds last night really fast and then puked them back so they were still kinda whole. I just washed them off and ate ‘em again. I’ve seen dogs do it.” made Fred shoot applesauce out his nose.
2004: No entry.
2003: “Hey, little kitty!” I said excitedly, as I am prone to dorkdom.
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: I will.