Erich took Tuesday off to get some winterizing done around the house and caught Jack and Gus in a serious wrestling session.
Gus, our alpha male, is LOVING the chance to romp again. I’m amused, though, at how he keeps putting a paw out as if to tell Jack to just “stay over there. No. There. Stay there. There.”
I’ve just connected the link to where Erich uploaded it to YouTube, so no worries about crashing your browser if you’re on a slow connection.
I actually had hoped to do some blogging over my long vacation weekend, but Erich and I got sidetracked by sometime completely unexpected. Well- okay, unexpected, but all of our friends are undoubtedly rolling their eyes and saying that this is par for the course for us.
Friday evening, Erich and Matt come in the door looking a bit… sheepish. In Matt’s arms was a tiny bundle of fur.
(and yes… if you know us at all, you know what comes next)
Melissa and Erich roll their will saves, and each roll a one (translation for the non-geek among us… we fail at resisting the kitten cuteness. Horribly)
Right.
*sigh*
Now. Have I mentioned before that we already are owned by six?
So at first, it’s a big “okay… we’ll keep an eye out for lost kitten signs in the neighborhood.”
None appear.
Erich sends a photo of the kitten to Lisa, who immediately replies that it’s the same cat she and I saw a couple weeks ago that went scurrying into our bushes when we pulled into the driveway. I truly can’t recall what said cat looked like, but do remember seeing one.
Hmm. Well, that may cause problems with the lost cat theory. Our neighborhood has a fairly significant feral/stray population. So much so that three of our six? Are neighborhood adoptees.
So then it becomes “Well, if it’s staying, then it has to be Matt’s cat.” Forcing the roommate to adopt it means it’s not ours, right? Right?
So goes the weekend. The kitten spends the weekend in our sunroom, which has been used as a good isolation room before. (WTF is it with August and September and cat findings with us?) On Monday, Erich and Matt take him to the vet to get him checked out, the first round of vaccinations, make sure we don’t have any illnesses to worry about exposing the other cats to, etc … and he gets a clean bill of health. He weighs 3.1 pounds. We estimate him at about 10-12 weeks old.
Introductions to the other cats and the house have commenced, and overall they’re going okay – nothing to worry about, actually. Lots of growling and some hissing for boundary establishment, but nothing nasty. Colley is all sorts of “get off my lawn” about him. Elly isn’t thrilled either. Gus is fascinated and has done a little romping with him. Hoodz is just confused. Noby seems honestly terrified by him (despite being three times his size). Fizzy… well, she isn’t a cat’s cat. She was never going to approve of this situation, but will tolerate him if he leaves her alone.
So it looks like he’s staying.
May I introduce little Jack. (with the last name of Sparrow or Harkness, both of which apply very well to him).
We’re so doomed.
Stitching updates tomorrow. I need to solve the Mirabilia Round of Doom before I post.
This is my snuggle cat.
Those who have followed my blog for years have heard a lot about Colley (whose full name is Colorado, per the breeder he came from). He’s always been quite the possessive cat – ever since Erich and I have been together, Colley has made it quite clear that he remains the main man in my life (shhh… we just let him go on thinking that way). At night, he makes a point to sleep between Erich and me, usually leaning against Erich as if attempting to hold him back. For this, he’s gained the nickname of the Coll Wall. It’s quite effective against husbands, apparently.
Colley turns 12 this month. He’s a purebred Norwegian Forest Cat and was briefly a show cat before the curve of his nose disqualified him from competition (which is when he was neutered and put up for sale as a pet). His coat color is called “classic brown patched tabby with white.” In his case, he’s about 1/2 white, 1/2 brown tabby. All four legs are completely white. His toes are a myriad of colors, which I’ve always loved. And he has a mood nose – when he’s relaxed, it’s this super light pink. When he’s stressed or hyped up, it turns bright, bright pink.
He’s always been a social cat – in the few weeks before he came to live with me in Boston, he’d cuddle next to my mom on the couch as she drank her morning coffee. But sometime between 2002-2005, he discovered that he could sit on people. Ever since, he’s been a lap cat (or more accurately in my case… a boob cat.) His needs are simple – he wants to sit on me ALL THE TIME.
He’s my baby. And this photo is of him tonight during the hockey game – he absolutely lives for cuddle time.
He tempts you. That belly calls out to you. Those glorious UberPaws scream at you to wiggle them. But no, it is all for show. Because if there is one thing Erich and I have learned in four years -
Do not taunt happy fun Hoodz.
It’s really amazing – this cat came into our lives as a completely battered stray, whose back leg was so badly injured that he was hobbling up and down our kitchen stairs on three legs – on ice. He’s suffered a ripped ear, too. But at first, we didn’t want to let him into the house. We couldn’t get attached to another cat – we already had five. Maybe we’ll just put a cardboard box on the back step for him. It’s dry, it’s elevated so he won’t be in the snow. And we’ll find an old ratty towel we don’t really care about so he has something to curl into.
And that should be good. We’ll have been good people – caring for a cat clearly unable to handle what’s being dealt to him.
Three months later, he has a name. He’s Hoodsie – partially because he’s a neighborhood cat, and partially because he’s colored like the ice cream in a Hoodsie Cup. And yes – he’s still sleeping on the back porch.
Three more months later, he waltzes into the house one day when I open the door – strolling across the dining room and almost all the way across the living room before I scoop him up to get him back out of the house. He managed to collect a large following of resident cats, who wondered who the hell had wandered into their domain.
A couple weeks later, we found one of the other neighborhood cats, another laid-back, gorgeous cat, dead, hit on the busy road near our house.
We brought him inside then. Called the vet. Had him checked out. He’s been inside ever since.
As you can see – he absolutely despises indoor life.
Really.
Happy Caturday!
After a long, miserable week of low 50s temperatures and gloomy fog and rain, the sun finally came out yesterday afternoon. Today has been lovely – we started the morning with bright sun and a very light breeze, making it easy to get out into the yard, do some planting, and enjoy our yard a bit.
Elly also enjoyed the sunshine this afternoon, sprawling on the back of the couch and over Erich’s shoulder while catching a sunbeam. Life is good for our little girl, isn’t it? She wasn’t particularly happy with the photography. We were interrupting her glorious springtime nap, you see.
Happy Caturday!
The King of Beasts compels you to pet him! LOVE THE CAT. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!
DO IT. DO IT NOW!
Gus is our alpha male. Generally, he thinks he’s huge and vicious. He’s now eight, and he’s starting to develop into a bit of a whiny lap cat, though.
He’s a large, elegant cat who stands taller by four inches than many other cats of his size. He’s almost black, but in the sunlight show marbled swirls of dark brown on his body.
Now that the weather is getting warmer, he’s enjoying his sunbeams in the morning. As I type, he’s curled up in the window, watching the birds outside in the bird bath.
Happy Caturday everyone!
Today’s Caturday offering is The Cows. Elly is on the left, and Noby is on the right. This photo was taken around Christmas 2005, which made them about 5 months old. They really haven’t changed all that much – right down to the snuggling together for naps.
As you can tell, they’re littermates. We found them about three streets over in our neighborhood as small kittens (approx. 6-7 weeks old), following their mom down the sidewalk toward U.S. Route 1. Both were in very bad shape – stomach worms, fleas, ear mites, conjunctivitis (and an underlying herpes infection that continues to plague Noby in particular). We were able to get them easily, but their mom ran away. We honestly weren’t sure if they’d survive that first night. Nearly six years later, and they’re doing great.
We have a lot of Elly and Noby clones in our neighborhood – it’s apparently the dominant feral colony coat pattern. Oddly I don’t see a lot of calicos, but I’ve seen so many white and orange spotted cats.
Happy Caturday!
You know… for someone who has six cats and is a justified Crazy Cat Lady, I don’t post about my cats nearly enough. What the heck is wrong with me? I have lots of great photos. Erich has a ton of great photos. We need to share some of them! So yes, from here on, Saturday on my blog will be known – as it is known on many blogs around the world – as Caturday. And I shall share some of the crazy, cute, or just plain silly pictures from our collection of our feline family members.
Longtime readers are probably familiar with the kitties, but for newer readers and just to keep this properly organized, I’ll kick off Caturday by introducing my gentle readers to the Horde:
I know. Six cats in a photo. It doesn’t happen very often. Notice the bribing
with food to make this photo possible!
Starting at the bottom left, going clockwise:
Hoodsie (aka “Hoodz,” “Hoodzimus”) – Grey polydactyl. You’ll see a LOT of photos of his feet, which are absolutely awesome, and lots of roly-poly belly shots, because that’s what he does. Hoodz doesn’t follow the rest of the pecking order since he joined us as an adult cat. Sometimes we joke around that he’s still “new,” despite living with us for nearly four years now.
Gus (aka “Augustus Mousedeath,” “Gustibus,” and “Huge and Vicious Cat”) – Large black panther. Gus is our resident high percher. If it’s over six feet off the ground, he will find a way to go up there and loom over you in gargoyle fashion.
Colley (aka “Colorado,” “Coll-Ball,” “Fluffbutt”) – Longhaired brown tabby. Colley is the eldest of the Horde and is the only purebred cat among the crew. His lower half is all white. He’s reached permanent feline rug status, and I imagine most of the photos of him will be lounge photos. Often sprawled on my lap, which is where his old bones prefer to be these days.
Fizzy (aka “Mephista,” “Fizzbit”) – Dainty little black. Fizzy is the smallest of our cats, at only 7 pounds. She’s the second oldest, and has suddenly become a very outgoing kitten at the age of 10. We’re thankful she doesn’t have wings – because she’d be like a hummingbird if she did. She gives epic nasty stares to the other cats, and we’re convinced that she swears like a sailor. She acts far too classy not to have a dark side.
Noby (aka “Nobanion,” “Nobulius Rex,” and “Mighty Hunter”) – orange and white cow. Noby is the male half of The Cows, a littermate twosome of trouble if I’ve ever come across one. He is the only one of our cats who has actually caught a mouse, and although he’s the omega male in the pecking order, he’s been deemed the Mighty Hunter by Erich and me and has proven his worth.
Elly (aka “Eldath,” “Elly Belly,” “Trauma Kitten”) – black, grey and white cow. Elly is Noby’s sister (can’t you tell?), and is a complete opposite in most ways to her brother. Where he’s long and lean, she’s stocky and rather… round. She’s incredibly shy and skittish where he is an extrovert. Most visitors to our house barely see her, if at all. She’ll even run away from us a lot of the time. But late at night as we’re ready to go to bed, Elly comes out – to suckle on Erich’s shoulder. For she is Trauma Kitten, and must nurse away her troubles for some reason.
Come on back every Saturday for a new Caturday celebration! :)
Hi.
Those of you who have followed Measi’s blog for a while likely know about me. I predate this blog. I predate all of her blogs. And I’m tired of her spending time on the computer when she should be petting ME instead.
See, today’s a perfect example. Mom stays home because it’s icy and cold and the roads are dangerous. So I figure – sweet! Mom’s going to do what I expect her to do: sit on the couch all day so she can pet me. But does she? No. She says she has too much work to do. That she can’t afford a day sitting around because she has lots of projects all due at the same time and she’s going to go, as she terms it, “batshit insane” if she doesn’t get stuff done.
So she goes upstairs to her office and works at her desk. And there’s not a lot of space there for me. Her chair is too high so her legs slope down and I can’t sit on her properly. Doesn’t mean I won’t try, but still – I can’t get comfy. And do you know what she did? She put me on the floor. I mean, really – can you imagine such an insult?
I want to file a formal complaint to the establishment that Mom didn’t pet me properly today. I refuse to be treated in such an improper manner.
Signed,
Colorado Catticus K. the First
It’s been a wild few weeks around here. Mostly good, I think. Although the impending holiday craziness is already starting to creep in, and that has me worried.
The really really good news: Both Erich and Matt are working. Erich has found an IT job with a metro-Boston hospital, and so far is enjoying it. He likes the atmosphere and the people he works with. The commute isn’t great, but that’s fairly normal for us. I’m now commuting most of the way with him, then jumping the subway to finish my commute. I’m not all that sure if I want to do that every day – I honestly miss the peace of the commuter rail (and the personal space), but I’ll split the time with him. It’s a long bitch of a commute alone every day, and unlike me – he has to drive his. We have some friends who currently work there, albeit in a different department, and they seem happy with it. It does really appear to be a good fit for him – so I’m hoping he enjoys it and is able to stay there for quite a while. IT work can be so iffy and out of a person’s control, though.
Matt is working for the gaming store Erich and I have frequented for years. They recently opened up a second location in Plainville, Mass. which is much, much closer to home. We’ve already been there a few times (a couple intentionally to harass the roommate, as is required). It’s a great space – nice and open and bright. I confess that I may like it more than the original. The pizza place next door is fantastic, too.
Both of them seem much happier lately – I think getting out and going to work and not feeling rejected from all of the job application denials is a huge help. I have to admit, I’m not looking forward to shouldering a good chunk of the weekend chore load again, but at the same time – I was annoyed that it really wasn’t getting done how I prefer it to be done. So… *shrug*
The good news: I’m finding a rhythm in my job, and I’m starting to really enjoy the work. I got a good yearly review, which makes me feel much better about things. The difficult part is that due to how crazy it’s been this year, I’m still finding it difficult to catch up on the volume. I’m slowly slogging through backlog, but way WAY too slow for my liking. So I convinced one of the folks I report to that, especially with the normal end-of-year pace of our industry, that I’d really like to borrow a company laptop so I can do some catch-up work on the busy work that’s behind, but honestly could be done quickly if I’m not disturbed for a while. I mean heck, if I’m on the commuter rail – I have nearly three hours of time that I could use to catch up on these little projects (updating status charts and such) that don’t require access to the databases and such.
The bad news: Colley’s been ill. Really ill. He lost a third of his bodyweight sometime between July 4th and the middle of September. He’s been diagnosed with fatty liver disease and a form of hepatitis that essentially translates to “infection and inflammation” of the liver. If left untreated, it’s fatal. Basically, at some point he stopped eating for some reason – and he wasn’t eating long enough that his liver started trying to burn fat to replace the protein he wasn’t taking in. Only problem – cats don’t process fat very well at all, and the fat was building up in his liver. Essentially, his body started eating itself to try to produce the energy he needed, but there wasn’t the protein his obligate carnivore body needed… and that caused the weight loss.
So after a round of blood tests and an ultrasound, he got the fatty liver diagnosis. Medications have included an appetite increaser pill (he’s now off those), two separate antibiotics (liquids), and a bile producer (suspension liquid) to start cleaning out his liver. He was given a few cans of a high protein cat food, although the vet really just encouraged us to get him to eat any protein he’d eat – the protein intake was the important thing. The solution to the problem is to make his liver kick-start into recognizing and burning protein again. And thankfully it seems to be working. He’s not thrilled with the meds at all, but we’re managing to get most of them down him. He’s up about 11 ounces since diagnosis, which is good – and he’s now eating without any medical intervention. So I think we’re now out of the woods with him. The only problem is that for the first two weeks, by necessity, he was being fed on demand – and it’s starting to become a habit. Sooo… yeah. We’ll have to break that out of him eventually and start toning down the extra cans. For now, I just want to know that he’s better. Once he’s finally off the antibiotics, we’ll start cutting back the volume of food a bit. I’m thinking that whatever caused his loss of appetite may have been due to something with the kibble – he used to be an exclusively kibble-interest cat. Now he refuses to touch it, which I find interesting.
Stitcher’s Hideaway is a week away now, and I can’t wait to head to Mystic. Four days of work are between me and my vacation week. And oh, I need it.
There’s some other possible big news on the horizon, but not confirmed yet. I’ll get to that when I can. 
Quite a few photos to share for this one. These were requested by wiggiemomsi, ctorres, ruisseau, roxyk630, jadore_histoire, and heathere3. All of these photos link back to Flickr, so just click on them to see them better. I know some look a little blurry on the resize link.
Dragons that need clicks. (I guess the Dragon Cave is somewhat back up… I dunno)
Erich and I saw our best man’s production of The Sound of Music at one of the local all-girl Catholic academies this weekend. He directs both plays per year at the school, with his mother as the long-time musical director & a brother helping with backstage work. Very, very good, especially for a high school performance. Two girls in particular, twin sisters, have the most amazing voices. Something genetic runs in that family!
Sunday was a lazy day. I made corned beef & cabbage. It takes too long to cook on a weeknight with my commute schedule (really don’t want to eat at 11 pm). It was delicious as always, and worth the time needed to cook it. My recipe includes beer & a bunch of spices in the boil pot, so it definitely doesn’t come out with the “bland” flavor that a lot of people associate with boiled food. We have a bunch leftover, so I think tonight’s going to be a leftovers night.
It’s one of those dinners I should make more often, but we only cook it for St. Patrick’s Day. I suppose it’s mostly because it’s something I really can only make on the weekend. It takes about 4 hours, all told. It’s kind of like turkey – I love making it, but just don’t that often due to the time involved. But really, neither are THAT complicated. Most of the time the food’s just cooking on its own. *shrug*
I signed up for Netflix finally… I know I’m a bit behind the times on it, but it’s honestly been more due to the fact that I just didn’t have the time to watch a lot of DVDs until recently. Now that things are slowing down, and the weather’s better so I can safely transport the laptop on the train again… it made sense.
I’m starting out with the John Adams miniseries on HBO last year. (And no, there’s no spoilers here – unless you don’t know how the American Revolution turned out). I’m three eps in, and it’s very, very good. The actors are phenominal, and the scenery is gorgeous. I like that while it’s definitely from the American perspective (and New England perspective in particular), some of the ugliness of the American side is being shown, too. AND… it shows the Founding Fathers in more realistic ways than we normally get in our glorified history classes here in the States. I’m appreciating that these men have flaws and limitations to what they achieve, the fighting between them, and how the “some things never change” bumbling when they see the European heads of state, who look down their noses at the silly new worlders as children… makes sense.
It’s also surreal to see Boston’s portrayal. Seeing places that I see all the time – the old State house, the wharves, etc… and then the places that don’t exist anymore, particularly the hills. I realize I live in one of the hotbeds of early American history, but I’m finding that I’m starting to take it all for granted. It’s wonderful to see it refreshed again.
Colley’s going to the vet tomorrow for another round of dental cleaning & tooth extraction. *sigh* Poor cat. He’s going to be gummy within a few years at this rate. Granted, he is getting older (he’s 10), but man, he has poor teeth genetically. He’d lost a good deal on his own before he was 5. We had to have a couple more pulled 2 years ago (including one of his front fangs.. so now he’s a snaggletooth). Poor guy.
Thank goodness for tax refunds, eh? Kitty dental work doesn’t come cheap.
We’ve now had Hoodsie indoors for about a year. As you can tell by the photo, he’s um… struggling horribly with being an indoor kitty. Clearly malnourished, not comfortable, etc. (riiiight)
Don’t even think you can tickle that belly, by the way. It’s the perfect human lure. As soon as you try, he does the clawtrap method of feline attack.
(and OMGlookatthetoes!)
I’m a bit off-center this morning, mostly because Erich’s cough sent him into the guest bedroom last night so he didn’t have to feel paranoid about being restless (and allowing me to get some sleep). Very considerate of him, particularly since I am such a shitty sleeper as it is.
I did sleep, but I swear, even while asleep, I had this weird sense about being alone in the bed. Marriage is clearly getting to me. Not that we haven’t slept in the same bed for six years now, of course… but still… there’s a LOT of room for one person in a king-sized bed.
The extra room, of course, promptly filled up with cats. I woke up with three balls of fur in various spots on the mattress. I imagine at least one of the additionals was with Erich, playing nurse kitten. Hoodsie was undoubtedly downstairs on his ottoman. Cat #5 (whichever it was) was… wherever.
I have a lot to do this weekend, but I’m intentionally forcing myself to take as much of Saturday as possible to curl up in my office and do some brain-dump style writing. Whether on my OSK fic, other fic ideas, or just random schlock writing. I need to get myself comfortable with my own thoughts, and I just need to make the time for it. As I told Erich last night – what I really need to do is just set aside a day, dump off all of my chores and errands as “will do later” and just let myself go for it. If I plan other things to do, I won’t be able to relax and write. It just won’t happen at all.
So that’s tomorrow’s plan. We’ll see what comes of it. I do have a lot of little snippets of ideas churning, so it literally may just be writing 100 word images in my head that have absolutely no coherancy beyond the immediate images. But hey, they’ll be down in print. And I can see later if something comes of any of them. I just need to get them OUT. If I’m getting too distracted at home, a trip down to Borders for a pot of tea may be used as well.
Speaking of tea…
The sorority Tea is on Sunday afternoon for the potential new class of pledges membership candidates, so I’ll be going up to Boston for the afternoon. Should be fun. Hopefully goes well. Need to remember to go buy a car battery beforehand so I can actually get to Boston, though. That may have to kick off Saturday pre-writing.
I read last night that next week’s Torchwood is a double-bill. Eps 5 and 6 will be shown back to back on BBC2. Six is the first of Martha’s run on TW… we’ll see if something’s actually done with her character now that the dreaded unrequited love crap on Who is over.
Hmmm…
I do not enjoy spending a good portion of my Thursday night having to give Cat the Eldest a bath because his butt is an explosion of gross.
*shudder*
*flails*
There are times when long haired cats are just the worst animals in the world. And tonight was one of them. *shudders again*
