Category: reader cats

Milk face.   I adore this picture.   “Hewwo. I am Miss Maddy Mack. Welcome to my cat carrier. It’s small but cozy, and there’s a stuffed monkey for cuddling. I’m growing (I weigh 13 ounces now!), and it’s time to move on to a bigger house. I want to sell my carrier, but I need the help of professionals. Welcome to the newest episode of Sell This House!” All of today’s uploaded pictures are here.

* * * Yawny reader pet pics! This is Adah, who belongs to Lara. Lara says I think my favorite cat-yawn might be the post-yawn, demonstrated by Adah, here. I have to say, I love the post-yawn, too. I don’t think I can count the number of pictures I have of Mister Boogers with that exact look on his face. Hee! This is Ginger, who belongs to Joan, who says [Ginger has] lots of personality & ruler of the house (much to the dismay of our other cat!). I think I can see some personality, there! Thanks for sharing, Lara and Joan! The rest of you – keep ’em coming! * * * Mister Boogers hates you. * * * Previously 2005: We meet Sugarbutt, Tommy, and their siblings! 2004: No entry. 2003: Since he’s a year older than me, that’ll give me two years to theatrically take to my bed and waste away. Sounds about right. 2002: Obviously whoever lives at 308 belongs to the Bitchypoo “If I don’t know you, I ain’t answerin’ the door” school of thought. 2001: I hate you, Mr. Mailman. 2000: Only US Magazine would consider it newsworthy that Michael Douglas is changing diapers he hasn’t been wearing. ]]>

* * * My husband is a budding handyman. It’s nice to be able to pee downstairs now, I’ll tell you that!

* * * Crockpot Swiss Chicken has quickly become one of our favorite recipes around here. I think I’ve made it once a week almost every week since we tried it the first time. You just can’t beat swiss cheese and chicken. What’s funny is that I don’t usually care for swiss cheese at all, but in this recipe I just can’t get enough of it. We also had crustless quiche the other night, and as we were talking about the things we could add to it (peppers, mushrooms, ham), I said “Next year we could have a vegetable quiche, and everything in it would come directly from our chickens and our gardens!” * * * Book meme, stolen from Elizalou. 1. A book that changed your life. I really have to say that the first time I read Carrie – which was my very first adult novel – I realized that there was a whole different world of books out there than the Little House books (which, by the way, I still adore). I don’t think I actually “discovered” young adult fiction until after I’d read Carrie (my brother was a senior in high school, which would have made me… 11 or 12), and if I’d read something like The Pigman, I think my approach to adult novels might have happened in a completely different way. 2. A book you’ve read more than once. The Stand. I just love the hell out of that book. Also, Swan Song. The first time I tried reading it, I gave up after 50 pages. The second time I tried reading it, I couldn’t put it down. 3. A book you’d want on a desert island. Oddly enough, the Bible. I’ve never read the whole thing, and I hear tell there’s lots of sex, murder and intrigue in the book. 4. A book that made you giddy. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I swear to god, when I read the sentence “I can’t do chatting.”, chills went up my spine. It’s an utterly charming book that I suddenly feel the need to read again. 5. A book you wish had been written. I wish Andrew Vachss and Lee Childs would team up. Burke and Reacher together would kick ASS. 6. A book that wracked you with sobs. God-Shaped Hole. I wrote this about it back in 2003: All this to tell you that yesterday I was reading God-Shaped Hole, a book that I foolishly thought was going to be of the light-hearted Zany Chick variety. What happens at the end is made clear from the beginning, and it happens even though you don’t want it to, and even though you hope against hope that it won’t. I was a few pages from the end (and hoping against hope for a resurrection) when I read the line But Joanna wouldn’t understand the incredulity of my grief. And I burst into tears. Even just thinking about it makes me tear up, and I have no idea why. I have no clue why that one line affected me so strongly, maybe because it sounds like the truest thing I’ve ever read. the incredulity of my grief And it still makes me tear up. 7. A book you wish had never been written. We Were the Mulvaneys. I hate that fucking book. Maneater was pretty useless, too – I had to give up after about 50 pages because it was so flat-out uninteresting. 8. A book you are currently reading. A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident. The moment I read the part on the flyleaf that said The Halls do not approve of Ray, for vague reasons summed up by their son Jamie’s observation that Ray has “strangler’s hands.” and snickered out loud, I knew I was going to like it. And so far, so good! 9. A book you’ve been meaning to read. I literally cannot lay on my bed, on my right side, and look at the bookcase in my bedroom, stuffed with books. There are SO MANY books and SO LITTLE time, that it just stresses me out, because I lay there and realize I have this book or that book or the other, and haven’t read it, and WANT to read it. I need to become a bed person so I can do nothing but read all day, every day. 10. Tag 10. Consider yourself tagged – and if you do this meme, leave a link to it in my comments. * * * On the Maddy front (yeah, I guess that’s going to be her name. I think it suits her.), things are going well. Yesterday evening I was worried enough to call the shelter and talk to the manager, because the first three feedings I gave Maddy, she ate about 2 tablespoons of kitten formula. The next two feedings, she ate about 1 tablespoon at each feeding, then just wouldn’t take the bottle, but she’d lay there and howl. I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on, but was assured by the shelter manager that they’ll eat more sometimes than they do others. Since she was pretty active, pretty vocal, and was peeing well (and had a bowel movement! Yay!), then I should just keep an eye on her weight and make sure she wasn’t losing. I had heard her sneeze several times, though, and the shelter manager – okay, it’s time to give the shelter manager a name since typing “shelter manager” is annoying me. Let’s call her Susan, shall we? – told me that if she kept sneezing to call back, and she’d have someone run some amoxicillin down to the pet store for me to pick up. When Maddy had a sneezing fit around 8, I called Susan back and told her I thought we’d need some amoxicillin. At her 9:00 feeding, Maddy only ate a tablespoon of formula, but she was peeing well and she seemed interested in crawling around, so I made a little playpen of my legs and let her explore. This morning when I opened the carrier to feed Maddy, she heard my voice and came out of the carrier directly to me, as fast as she could. I got her to eat one and a half tablespoons, then burped her and let her explore, and then went to get a washcloth to clean the formula off her face. She squawked while I did that, then started climbing on me, making sucking noises. I gave her the bottle, and she sucked down the other half a tablespoon of formula and seemed content. So she’s had a bowel movement – that makes me feel SO much better, you have no idea. I bet it makes HER feel better, too. Ha! – and she’s also purred several times. I feel like I read somewhere that orphans start purring earlier than kittens who are kept with their mothers, but I also seem to recall that the first batch of fosters we had, the kittens were purring when we got them, and they weren’t much older than Maddy is. Anyway. I know y’all just come here for the pictures, so let’s get to it! Maddy sadly contemplates the vast expanse of my thigh. How will she ever cross it and reach freedom?! She always looks amazed by just about everything. Maddy frantically eats, while sinking her needle-sharp claws into my hand. Those things HURT. Mister Boogers growls from the doorway. I can guarantee you that if Maddy took one step in his direction, he’d run away like the great big wimp he is. I actually made a short movie of Mister Boogers making a jerk out of himself, growling at the tiny baby kitten. You’ll have to turn the sound up – you’ll hear Maddy meowing, and then the unearthly growl that is Mister Boogers. YouTube link. * * * What a cute baby. I’m not a cat person myself and I feel us dog lovers are being discriminated against! 😉 Can we send some dog yawning pictures in? But of course! Hell, I’ll open it up to any yawning animal at all. Cats, dogs, ferrets, mice, birds, whatever – send ’em in! This is Shelly’s cat Piglet. Shelly says, Her hair is so short b/c it’s her summer haircut (which she LOVES) b/c not only is she a piggy eater, she is Pigpen dirty too. And she CLAIMS it’s a yawn, but I don’t know. That kind of looks like a “Come closer and I’ll CHEW YOUR FACE OFF!” look to me. Okay, so possibly Sunny isn’t yawning – but obviously he’s thinking about it. Sunny’s momma, Sandy, says His name is Sunny, a/k/a Mommy’s little fat boy, and the toy on his back we call Pookie. We have two other cats, Ollie (who is a total camera whore) and Rascal (pretty old and doesn’t want to be bothered). Oh, how I love the orange kitties! This is Jill’s Toonces. Jill says, Toonces is such a “Diva Cat”. I have a group of three pictures which include this one I’m sending you in a picture frame on the wall in my office. People always comment on her pictures and the cat lovers who see these really enjoy them and it sparks a lot of conversations about their cats, too. Needless to say, her pics are quite the conversation starters! I love this picture – not only does it look like it was professionally done in a studio and everything, but also Toonces apparently yawned so hard her pupils popped right out and rolled across the floor. (Jill, I LOVE that you named your cat Toonces!) Thanks for sharing, Shelly, Sandy, and Jill! The rest of you – keep ’em coming! * * * Mister Boogers hates you. * * * Previously 2005: For the record, there’s a big fucking difference between pranking someone and just being an asshole. 2004: Like, so world-weary, like “I can’t be bothered to sign ‘love’, because it sounds so warm, I need something COLDER, so I’ll just scrawl ‘as ever’”. 2003: No entry. 2002: No entry. 2001: No entry. 2000: No entry.]]>

this address. And change your bookmarks!

* * * I had physical therapy yesterday morning for the first time since surgery. The physical therapist asked about my pain – I’m having NO pain in my back at all, yay! – and looked at my back, and told me that my back is looking MUCH better. So much better, in fact, that I’m going again in two weeks, and then another two weeks after that – assuming the pain doesn’t suddenly reappear – I’ll probably be discharged as a PT patient. I’ve gotta say, I’m going to miss the back massages. I might even have to suck it up and start getting regular massages. Or maybe I’ll just talk about it and never do it! * * * To my UTTER shock and amazement, the motherfucking floor guy didn’t show up yesterday at all. When Fred called him a little before 9:00, he told Fred to give him “An hour and some change” and he’d have his “demo guy” come out to start the job, then his “floor guy” come out to finish the job. At noon, I had to get up and leave the house, because sitting around waiting for Bungholio to show up would just stress me out. So I went to Target, where I couldn’t find anything I went to look for, OF COURSE, then I went to Shoe Carnival, where I couldn’t find any shoes that I liked at ALL, then I went to Publix, where I bought a chef salad for lunch, and while I was standing in the nut aisle pondering soy nuts (soy is something I need to not eat too much of, since it can mess with my thyroid, but limited amounts are okay, and I was in the mood for something crunchy and salty, but all they had were these HUGE bags of soy nuts, and that wasn’t what I wanted) Fred called me. “Oh, you won’t believe this,” he said. “What?” “I just tried to call him again, and there was no answer. Then like two minutes later the phone rings, and it’s his cell phone. It was his wife, trying to sound like she’d just woken up, and she said that he was out getting medication for her.” “Oooookay…” I said. “She said that her mother died, and he’s been helping her deal with it, so – get this – she hopes I won’t hold it against him if he can’t get the job done today.” “Oh! Her mother died!” I said, too loudly. “Well. Isn’t that CONVENIENT?” Isn’t it strange how when people want to get out of doing something and don’t want you to be pissed off at them, a family member conveniently dies? “I just kept saying ‘When do you think he could call me?'” Fred said. “And she finally said that he might be able to give me a call tonight.” After spending a little more time fuming, Fred went into the bathroom and did what he should have done from the beginning. But I’m going to let him tell that story. * * * While I was in Maine, the manager of the cat shelter I volunteer for sent out a couple of emails looking for foster homes for various and sundry kittens. Since I was in Maine and because Fred’s a party pooper, obviously I couldn’t take any of the kittens. I emailed the shelter manager to let her know I was in Maine, but as soon as I got back I’d be ready to take in fosters. When we adopted Sugarbutt and Tom Cullen last year, Fred’s first caveat was that we never foster again, but I talked him down from that and in the end we agreed that we wouldn’t foster again until the boys were “older.” Their first birthday came and went (at the end of June), but I knew that I was going to be leaving for Maine in a few weeks, so I put it off. When I got back from Maine, first we thought I had hepatitis and then I was so worn out I couldn’t think of doing anything, and then there was the gallbladder surgery, and then this past weekend I was looking at some old entries of mine, with pictures of the first batch of foster kittens we had, and I got the yearning. Monday evening I emailed the shelter manager to let her know I was ready to foster if she had any kittens in need of some fostering. She emailed me back and said “Thanks, but all I’ve got is a 3 week-old bottle-fed baby.” My response? “Gimme!” (Actually what I said was “I’ll take him, if you don’t mind worried phone calls for the first few days!” And then I didn’t hear back from her, and I thought, Well, maybe she likes taking care of the kitten herself and I thought about emailing her and saying “Keep me in mind if you get any cats in who need fostering!”, but I decided that perhaps she doesn’t sit in front of her computer all freakin’ day long like I do, and I decided to give her a call at a later point. Then yesterday afternoon I was sitting in front of my computer when the phone rang. It was the shelter manager, and she asked if I was serious about wanting to take the bottle-fed kitten. You bet I was. We haven’t named her yet, but for the time being I’m calling her Maddy (it’s one of the names Fred and I came up with last night, along with Sara Laughs, Sara Tidwell, Misery Chastain, and Mirabelle). She’s about 2 1/2 weeks old, and she’s ADORABLE. Of course, how can a kitten that age NOT be adorable, I ask you? Not only is she bottle-fed, she’s also not at the point yet where she can go to the bathroom on her own – won’t be for a couple of weeks, I think – so I have to wipe her to stimulate things in that area. So far I’ve fed her twice – late last night and again this morning (I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to feed her) and she eats like a champ and pees like a champ, but as of yet, there’s been no poop. I’ll feel better when there’s been a bowel movement; at least I’ll know I’m doing everything right. The other cats are freaked OUT, especially Sugarbutt, who was a bit clingy last night. Mister Boogers likes to think he’s a total tough guy, but when I’m in the cat room feeding the kitten I leave the door open and what does Mister Boogers do? Sits six feet away and growls. Not close enough that the terrifying 10-ounce kitten could actually GET to him or anything, but he feels like he’s defending his territory, I guess, and that’s good enough for him. Okay, enough blather. On to a few pictures! Does the cuteness KILL YOU? Because it oughta. Full belly, empty bladder, happy baby. All of the pictures I’ve uploaded today can be seen here. * * * Reader yawny cat pics! (Don’t forget to send yours in if you haven’t already!) This is Robin’s pretty Mango, who is apparently wearing a Disney Princess hat, which isn’t in the picture. I think we should all buy Disney Princess hats for our cats. I know Mister Boogers would look smashing! This is the beautiful Gracie, who belongs to Dana. Dana’s Karpuz (who looks less like s/he is yawning than complaining about something. Hee!) And Dana’s gorgeous Shadow. I love checking out Dana’s Flickr site, there’s always a cat pic or two to admire. Thanks for sharing your pics, Dana and Robin! * * * Previously 2005: let’s just say I am NOT very fond of Robyn v. 2002 right now. 2004: My mother hung up the phone and said “If she wanted closure so bad, maybe she should have shown up at the nursing home to see her!” 2003: No entry. 2002: I think he has a camera hidden somewhere in the bathroom, and when I’m in the shower, an alarm goes off and tells him to call me immediately. 2001: Time to go cold turkey, Deb… 2000: WHEN WILL THE SUFFERING END???]]>