A blog for the feline overlords of the Summerhill Kitten Farm, a division of Kendra Electronic Wonderworks.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Weekly Weigh-in: Return of Catzilla
Emily is also heading in the wrong direction, having lost an ounce at 6 lbs 4.5 oz. I'm willing to put that down to measurement noise, but we'll need to keep an eye on her. As per usual.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Photo Friday: Newsworthy Cat
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Photo Extra: A bear loving cat
(We've seen several stories about Aristotle the bear before, and this one included pictures of the author's real cats.)
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Weekly weigh-in
Billy: 14 lbs. 9.5 oz.
Whitey: 13 lbs. 3 oz.
Emily: 6 lbs. 5.5 oz.
The boys are losing, relative to last time, and Emily is gaining. In fact, we'll soon want to try to level the boys off.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
We are we are we are the engineers
An even more dramatic reminder came this morning. I'm sitting in bed reading the paper when I hear a rattling noise in the hall. It's Billy, playing with the cap from the downstairs fountain. (This is a piece of molded plastic that covers the reservoir and the filter.) Hmmmm....... I head downstairs, where I find the filter, surrounded by wet spots, on the carpet in the front hall. Hmmmm..... Once I get to the fountain itself, I discover that it is unplugged, and pulled out from the wall a bit.
Putting the pieces together, I think this was a team effort. Whitey unplugged the fountain, which I've seen him do before. (Unplugging involves pulling the wire loose from the transformer, not pulling the transformer out of the wall.) This made the water stop cascading down. Billy then stuck his paw into the now dry space (Where'd the water go? Meow!) and popped off the cap, giving him access to the filter.
As a cat valet, I'm annoyed. As an engineer, I'm impressed, and profoundly grateful that they don't have thumbs. Then we'd really be in trouble.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Where did the week go?
Do we have any readers left, anyway?
Friday, December 16, 2005
Photo Friday: Attack from Above
Monday, December 12, 2005
Emily On The Warpath
Maybe I stressed her appearing in the door of her powder room (litter-box closet) to clean the boxes, maybe her stomach bothers her (she threw up a snack today) or maybe it was just her general mood.
In any case, when she came out of the closet into the bedroom, she jumped up on the bed and saw Whitey in "her" spot up by Katherine's pillow. She growled. Then she growled again. Then she bounded across the bed and started pummeling Whitey, twice her weight and an eighth her age.
Whitey rolled on his back and generally looked shocked. I didn't see him hit her back, although given she only got about two swings in, she merely may have made her escape before he could recover.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Not Friday Photo: Brotherly Love Again
They were even more in sync before the photographer turned on the lights and made Whitey cover his eyes.
Friday, December 9, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 6 lbs, 2.5 oz.
- Whitey - 13 lbs, 7.5 oz.
- Billy - 14 lbs, 15.5 oz.
The boys lost weight since last time. Good. Emily did too. Bad.
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
The first reduction in temperature loss must have been caused by coming home and turning on various lights; that's an interesting and useful (in winter) side of effect of not killing myself by tripping over a cat in the dark.
Update: it occurs to me when I came home I shutdown the furnace and its ventilation fan, which pulls fresh cold air into the basement. That may have been the real solution for the dropping thermometer.
Get the Door, It's Domino's
Over the weekend the local gas company dug a trench in front of the house one door up on Summerhill.
Today, they dug a similar trench in front of the kitten farm. I found this when I got home in the dark. I also found a note telling me to call them so that they would turn our gas service back on, which of course implied the service was off. I called, mentioning that the new gas meter had a slight smell to it as well.
Providing this latter information was a big mistake, this turned the turn the gas back on call into a gas leak call. This caused the wrong type of crew to be dispatched.
When he arrived, he hunted for a gas leak in the house with no gas service. After we sorted out that we needed the gas on first, an exterior road crew was dispatched because it turns out that the note saying "turn on the gas" actually meant "replace the gas service from the street". However, now they need an interior crew as well, because they need to slightly redo the internal pipe around the meter.
They are still milling around as I write this, ~ 3 hours after I got home.
The same weather station which monitors our external weather data also reports and records the conditions inside. This means I can tap into our server to report that the dining room temperature has been dropping since 2 PM this afternoon.
Fortunately, it is only down to ~ 61 degrees inside after a reasonably mild day, and they should finish this decade.
The whole affair can be best summed up by that I think the cats liked our previous utility visitor better.
At least the cats all ate well (their usual menu) despite the confusion.
I think all cats have official permission to burrow so long as they don't disturb each other.
Photo Extra: Reunited
The Paw of Friendship
She's been in and out of my office a lot since I got back, and this morning gave me the Paw of Friendship. That's the gentle velvet paw reaching out to stroke and get some attention, and is not to be confused with the claws extended Paw of Death (generally reserved for the boys), or the Nip of Feed Me. Neither of those are exactly happy gestures.
One other gesture I got last night while reading a book after dinner was the Greeting Leap of Feed Me. This would not have been nearly so noticed had it been on to my desk, but I was reading at the dinner room table. That's what she leaped on to in order to announce it was time for her second supper. I don't recall if I she got the Mist of Doom, but I did take the hint and headed up to her suite to provide a snack.
Monday, December 5, 2005
Inmates Running the Asylum: 2005 edition
This year IEDM is in DC, so I actually went down with Katherine to play tourist for the weekend. Jen the Cat Sitter watched over the beasts as usual, which means the the kids were warm, safe, and a little bored in my absence. She'll also stop in the next few days to give Emily lunch.
Emily in particular is affected by us being gone; she doesn't get to graze as much with a cat sitter, so when I offered her snacks last night and this morning, she ate like she was channeling Billy. So long as she eats, we're happy.
Also, Billy decided I was his sleeping pillow. I don't mind much, but I nudged him everytime I roll over and he finally left at 5 AM.
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Tool Time
When I was up again early in the middle of week, Billy hopped on the table and started working the knob. This is not the first time he's tried a doorknob, as he tends to rattle the bathroom knob from the floor a lot. However, the table gives him much better purchase for this door.
No, he didn't get the door open.
Yes, I think he'll try again.
Please don't loan him any tools no matter how much he asks.
Saturday, December 3, 2005
All The Comforts of Home
It used to be when we went on trips, we would lock the thermostat at 60 degrees to save money while we were gone.
Now, especially with Emily who gets cold easily, we're considering locking the thermostat up to 68 during our next trip so the four footed mafia is comfortable in our absence.
Never mind they have fur and will burrow into blankets if they want.
Are we suckers or what? :-)
Friday, December 2, 2005
Photo Friday: Brotherly Love
First, Whitey is curled up on my futon, happily asleep and minding his own business. Then, Billy comes along, climbs on top of his brother, and starts cleaning Whitey's head and ears. After a little bit, I get the camera out. By the time I'm ready to compose the shot, Whitey has apparently said, "Hey, Tubbo, I can't breathe under here!" and taken matters into his own paws. I'm sure everyone out there with an older sibling can sympathize.
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Home for the Holidays
The wayward tabby Emily from Wisconsin that disappeared two months ago and wound up traveling across the Atlantic to France on a ship boarded a Continental Airlines flight Thursday -- in business class.
Our own Emily wonders how else would a cat travel (if she had to).
She also points out that of course one would leave it to a tabby to go and get lost like that in the first place...
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Emily Stench Double Trouble
I guess a better keep practicing giving medicine for during Katherine's next business trip.
Demonstrator, Front!
He was so cute, I came up with an alternative excuse to give him milk -- I practiced giving medicine with the syringe on him. He doesn't like objects poking into the mouth, but as soon as he finds out there milk in there, he is looking for more.
Billy got (happily) practiced on as well, but this was really Whitey's show.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Human Training
I tried with the boys this morning, refusing to give them the treat until they settled down.
Two words: cat-like reflexes.
Two more words: Cat claws.
Two final words: New flavor!
In short, the boys got their lovely new tuna flavor kitty treats without a full training session. I considered this fair, as they never had to wait before, and I still have all my fingers.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Late one night at the Kitten Farm
Me: Sorry. My feet are cold because I was walking on the kitchen tile barefoot.
Drew: Oh?
Me: I was walking on the kitchen tile barefoot because someone left the package of hot dog buns on the counter. Whitey found the package. He brought it upstairs to play with. It made a funny noise. Billy woke up to help him. I woke up to investigate.
Drew: Ohhhh..... I wish I had a voice recorder so I could blog what you just said.
Me: Murf.
Someone to Watch Over Them?
I hope the vet who rescued them can find them a good safe place them to live.
[Updated to note that the one cat is only blinded in one eye.]
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Kitten cuteness overload
We had stalking of Emily. We had assaults on the laundry. (Whitey thinks it's especially fun to pounce on sheets as they're being folded.) We had cat fu. We had an invasion of my closet shelves. We had mournful meowing.
All of which left us smiling because it was accompanied by equally outrageous cuteness. Because the boys look so much alike, they're especially cute when they do things together.
Practice Makes Purrfect
I promptly made it fall down and make noise by merely wallking by,
However, the closet door was found open a few hours later, with the restored shake can still on the knob.
Katherine's comment, "He's goood."
That's our boy.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Billy's turn
Billy thinks that the tall shelf that we keep the cat teasers on top of must be reachable somehow. Thursday night, he took a new tack towards the goal and jumped onto the third shelf (~18 inches off the ground), knocking a bottle of cat deodorizer off. He was still trying decide if he could climb from shelf to shelf when I booted him off.
Friday morning, he decided he wanted to curl up on the towels again, this time at 7 AM in the morning. He got caught because he didn't open the closet door quietly, and refused to move until I showed him a primed Mist of Doom. (I didn't have to fire, which is good because I prefer dry towels, thank you.)
Then he decided to play with the toilet paper dispenser; again, he could have more fun if he was quieter. As it was, I caught him after he only spun off ~ 3 feet off of the roll. The official t.p. shake can has been returned on top of the roll to stand guard.
Photo Friday: The Serenbedi, Revisited
(We know Billy's technically not on the Serenbedi itself. But he's sharing the warm sun with Whitey and Emily.)
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Weighing in
Emily was up about an ounce and a half since last week, at 6 lbs. 5.5 oz. I took her off the anti-nausea medicine, and immediately changed my mind when she couldn't keep her breakfast down. Sigh...
Billy is stable at 15 lbs. 2 oz. His brother gained an ounce, and is up to 13 lbs. 10 oz. We've cut back their food a little bit to try to fend off impending tubbiness.
QOTD
Is that your foot that just moved?-ahd-, after seeing a large cat-like lump under blanket move.
Whitey had gone burrowing in the middle of the night.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Emily (again)
Katherine is going to start her up on her anti-nausea prescription again.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Keeping Good Company
However, the early morning is made kinder by Billy having risen with me. He's been in and out of my office, and adding a little warmth on each pass through ...
Later -- Whitey has appeared and ascended the bookshelf. All is right with my office.
Emily on Parade
Eat a Frog ...
First words from Katherine this morning before the alarm:
Yes, that was the sound of Emily throwing up.
At least it was only spittle.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Plush Death From Above
Today's duty bear was Christopher, the large dark bear in the right upper row of the staff portrait. Since Katherine was at the bottom of the stairs, I tossed him down to her from the landing.
However, Billy was headed up the stairs, at least until he saw an object almost as large him swoop by overhead. I don't know what the Mighty Hunter thought Christopher was, but he didn't like it; he turned and bolted. At least I think he turned. All I really know is that one moment Billy was headed up the stairs, and next moment he was streaking back down to the first floor and out of the hall.
Billy was even faster than if we had announced it was dinner time, if you can believe that.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Photo Friday: Ah ha! Here's where Mom hid the towels!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Emily and the Morning Stench
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Making The World Safe For ...
The net result is a basement almost safe for unsupervised felines, in particular the boys. Officially they are not allowed down there because it's not 100% safe, but if they catch the door open and come down to help us, we don't sweat nearly as much as when they were kittens and it was more of a feline minefield. It's also better for me, which is good since the server computers (including the web server hosting this blog) and one of the exercise bikes are down there.
We're almost there ...
But "everything we care about" has to come out of the basement. Pulling the old furnace and its oil tanks showed a hole in the foundation wall, and when a expert looked over it and some holes in the floo, he also noted all the cracks we have around the entire perimeter. This is not a shock, but the soup to nuts fix we want (and need) means people putting dust all over the basement for a week in January.
Should be entertaining ...
A Real Group Effort
We originally fed Emily on the boy's schedule, three times a day. We almost weaned her down to two meals a day, but Katherine generally kept offering her lunch. Since Emily lost weight, Katherine started making sure Emily at least got one or two snacks a day. This has evolved to where Emily is now fed on demand, and boy, is she demanding. Katherine has thrown in the towel, and uses a seal-able Tupperware dish as a second food dish left upstairs for when Emily announces its time to eat. Emily may now ignore food at mealtimes and we don't panic ... because she just ate.
(Katherine recently referred to the Tupperware as Emily's secondary food dish relative to her regular crockery bowl. I pointed that she may have secondary and primary backwards at this point.)
We almost never feed the cats people food. However, Whitey has perfected the art of looking sweet at dinner, sitting quietly on the sideboard or piano bench in the dining room watching us eat. When we're done, he perks up ever so slightly, and is rewarded on a regular basis with a few drops of milk from the otherwise empty glasses. Last night, we knew this was over the edge when after minor litter box issues which which may have been Whitey, we let him have his milk drops anyway.
Billy meanwhile, is tall (long) enough to look peek over the dining room table with his front paws on the table while keeping his hind paws firmly on the ground. This gives the impression of a very cute furry 3 three year old trying to see what mom and dad are doing. Never mind that kitten heads above the dining table are strictly verboten (generally while on a chair), he was actually offered a kitty treat to keep his head up long enough for a picture.
At least they haven't asked to borrow the keys to the MINI ... yet.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Our 15 minutes of fame started yesterday ...
Just a reminder, we are running on a new server, if you see problems please comment on them or send us mail.
Thanks!
Clean up on Floor 2 (minor)
The Daily Stench: Facilities Division
Every so often I've smelled gas in the basement, but never been able to smell it twice in a row, until last night. It was very faint but repeatable for a change, so we called the gas company. It was so faint we didn't clear the premises, even though a house blew up in near by Lexington last week.
A very nice yet efficient woman arrived with sniffer in hand within the hour. The first thing I noticed was she knocked, rather than use the doorbell (can you say "avoid electric sparks"). She checked out the area of the meter, and announced we had a trivial leak around the meter itself.
We were correct to call, and we were also correct that we didn't need to run for the hills.
Our efficient friendly utility worker did stop on the way outside to get a new meter to say hello to the boys, who clearly charmed her (and were charmed in return). Emily even popped onto the stairs to say hello.
Our meter is replaced, and our little kitten farm remains warm, cozy, and in one piece.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Clean up on Floor 1
Answer: Billy was covering up that he missed the litter box and put a lake on the floor.
Katherine handled the inside cleanup while I took the dirty mat outside and hosed it down.
As usual, the hardest part was keeping the boys from helping to finish bury the evidence outside the box ...
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Photo Weekend Extra: Chief Napper
(Actually I did take the nap -- the professional was easily bribed with kitty treat!)
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Cat's Best Friend
Our crew observes that being named an honorary cat is quite an achievement for any creature, but they agree that Ginny earned the title.
Weekly weigh-in
But after all that, she's gained a bit since last week. She's up to 6 lbs. 4 oz., and her appetite is still good. Yay!
Billy is at 15 lbs. 2 oz., while Whitey jumped to 13 lbs. 9 oz. That's 5 oz. in a week for Whitey, which is a lot. But his appetite seems normal, so I'm guessing we just caught him at a different part of his digestive cycle.
We're Live and Internet Wide
General feedback is also welcome.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Photo Friday: Boys on the Scale (box)
The Fursome Threesome Does The Early Shift
I, being the morning person, was woken up all this, and as a result I was up an hour early because of it as well.
At least this means we were awake for Emily throwing up clear fluid before breakfast.
Just another great morning on the farm.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Coming Soon to a Blog Near You ...
A gentle notice that our little blog will be changing appearance slightly, perhaps as soon as tonight.
The only visible affects should be:
- Reverting to the default MovableType layout for now.
- Easier and faster commenting (we hope to turn off requiring authentication).
The underlying change is that we're moving to a new server (one which was originally planned to be installed two years ago!). This however includes:
- Upgrading the hardware from a Pentium II to a dual processor Pentium III with three times the memory, twice the clock speed, twice the disk, and other improvements.
- Upgrading the OS from FreeBSD 4.11 to FreeBSD 6.0 (a jump of 5 releases).
- Upgrade the major version of the Apache HTTP (web) server.
- Switching to a more powerful back end database (MySQL).
- Upgrading to MovableType 3.2.
- Dynamically generating some of the blog pages when they are first accessed.
(But aside from that, we're not touching anything.)
Since this is an entirely new server, it should be a smooth cut over after we get the bugs out. (Cross your fingers for us.)
p.s. Yes, Pentium III's are obsolete, this machine was retired from front line desktop service back in August 2003. The two years did not make it run faster, but it's replacing a machine which was state of the art in 1998.
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Window on the World
Unfortunately, he doesn't know a good way down. He was rescued via step stool by Katherine and her shoulders, but he really wasn't expecting the friendly shoulders to have a vertical drop.
Both cat and shoulders did survive with minimal damage.
Emily's Daily Stench
Emily seemed relatively uninterested in her dry food (which is all she gets now) earlier in the week, so last night I dribbled some oil from the boys wet food on her dinner. This seemed to help her appetite, so I did it again this morning.
Unfortunately, it may have also helped her throw up this morning. (She definitely threw up. It's why is the question ...)
It could have nothing to do with it, it could be she ate too much because it was suddenly yummy, ot the oil itself could be affecting her tummy. No easy way to tell. :-(
Monday, November 7, 2005
To Reach The Unreachable Star ...
What has not been noted is that we actually own five other seven foot bookshelves, the rest of which the cats can't get up to because they each require at least a four foot vertical leap from the nearest launch pad.
Or so we thought.
Last week, Whitey was chasing a bug which fled to safety on the top of one of Katherine's office bookshelves. Whitey decided under the rules of hot pursuit, the laws of physics didn't apply. So he jumped four feet straight up to the top of the shelf. This freaked out Katherine, who fetched Tiger Tower from the hall for him to come down via instead of a four foot drop back on to her metal stereo.
Just to show he knew how, he jumped up there again earlier this week. Katherine swears that this time she saw him do an intermediate push off jump half way up the smooth surface, but we don't have instant replay.
We're gonna have to buy that kid a climbing harness. Or a parachute.
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Not quite Friday Photo: Off to the hunt
Friday, November 4, 2005
Step on the scale, please
The new scale continues to justify its existence, as it's much more accurate and much easier to use.
They like me! They really like me!
Monday, October 31, 2005
Pounce Forward, Fall Back
Unfortunately, no one gave the cats a copy of the memo.
This means their solar calibrated morning routine has them awake and ready for attention based on CST (Cat Standard Time).
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Photo Weekend Extra: Heisen Cats no more ?
To be honest, we didn't get the phones for the cameras (we didn't have a choice given the other features we wanted), but they could reduce the incidents of Heisen Cats around here.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Turn for the better (Winning Lottery Numbers)
Billy, meanwhile, weighed in at 15 lbs., 4.5 oz. Whitey was 13 lbs. 7 oz., which is a 5 oz jump in just a few days. However, this weight was after dinner, and the previous weight was before, which could explain much of the difference.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Photo Friday: Self Storing Cats Revisited
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Daily Stench
She threw up on the bedroom floor after Katherine left for class and before I got home (at least upstairs).
Tagamet was given to her again, this time organized with Katherine so we only dosed her once.
Preciousss ....
She basically had to chase him all over the house and finally pried it out of his mouth by hand. She still has all her fingers (kids, don't try that at home).
Unfortunately, chasing him around the house every time he catches the teaser takes the fun out of it...
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 5 lbs, 15.5 oz.
- Whitey - 13 lbs, 2.5 oz.
- Billy - 15 lbs, 5 oz.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
0.3 ml for you, and 0.3 ml for you, and ...
On a more serious note ...
I just gave Emily her evening Tagamet (which I'm generally afraid to do) and a kitty treat.
I don't know if I hit the spot with Tagamet.
I know she ate the kitty treat, because she threw it up less than ten minutes later. Not good.
Later ...
It gets worse. That was a second (double) dose I gave Emily, Katherine had already given her her evening Tagamet.
At least Emily (for now) has kept dinner down.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Solitude
It makes me sad to suspect that Emily got up because she was uncomfortable.
Here we go again
This time we had blood work done. The good news is that her kidney function is pretty much where it was back in April. The special diet is doing what it should and keeping her kidneys happy. Or at least keeping them from becoming more unhappy.
The bad news is elevated calcium, which could mean anything from osteoporosis to stomach cancer. Her continuing digestive problems could likewise be due to anything from a stomach ulcer to a tumor.
An ultrasound would detect a tumor, but there just aren't many treatment options for a sixteen year old cat. Both surgery and chemotherapy are right out. So we're debating whether to get the test done or not.
Meanwhile, the doctor has added an anti-nausea potion to her medication regime. It's the same stuff the boys took back when they first arrived. If I remember, they didn't mind the taste too much. Sigh...
Ninth life?
She seemed happier towards the end of last week, and was keeping everything down, so we started her slowly on wet food again.
Unfortunely, she threw up twice over the weekend, the first time a pink stream (hopefully food), the second time mostly water.
(This just in, she threw up again today just before breakfast after she got her morning Tagamet.)
The up shot of all this is that Emily has another vet appointment this morning.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 5 lbs, 15 oz.
- Whitey - 13 lbs, 4.5 oz.
- Billy - 15 lbs, 3 oz.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 5 lbs, 13.5 oz.
- Whitey - n/a
- Billy - n/a
Weekend photo extra: Spider Hunting
Friday, October 21, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 5 lbs, 14 oz.
- Whitey - 13 lbs, 0 oz.
- Billy - 15 lbs, 4 oz.
Emily continues to drop, ever so slightly. We need more data for a trend.
Photo Friday: More Chaise Lounge
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 5 lbs, 15 1/2 oz.
- Whitey - 13 lbs, 4 oz.
- Billy - 15 lbs, 5 1/2 oz.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily - 6 lbs, 1 1/2 oz.
- Whitey - 13 lbs, 4 oz.
- Billy - 15 lbs, 7 oz.
Step Right Up ...
Even Emily didn't mind being picked up to be set on the scale. (Well, she did mind a little, but was perfectly calm once placed on the flat scale with a treat.)
The boys didn't need to be picked up, they were happy to follow the treat up to the table holding the scale.
Had we known it was this easy (and relatively affordable), we would have bought a scale for the kids a year ago.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Winning Lottery Numbers
- Emily 6 lbs, 1 oz.
- Whitey 13 lbs, 5 oz
- Billy 15 lbs, 7.5 oz
Cats"R"Us
I had previously been online and seen an array of pet and infant scales (it seems the same devices serve both groups).
When I checked in person at PetCo, they didn't have a scale, but someone suggested Bed Bath & Beyond. I checked their web site and yes, they had one. I went down to the nearest store (where I have never been, I've always been to the location I knew about near a mall). I found myself in shopping nirvana, with a pet store, Bed Bath & Beyond, an office supply store, cell phone store ...
Unfortunately, the Bed Bath & Beyond didn't have the scale, it appears to be a online only option.
However, the shopping nirvana also included a Babies"R"Us, which has (Ta da) baby scales. I found a nice low one with a pan big enough to hold Catzilla (and kitty treat lure); Emily could bring a friend her size if she wanted to.
If only making a our little girl healthy was as easy.
once more ...
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Back to the vet
Dropping her wet food didn't help, nor did adding the second litterbox to the her closet to give her a choice.
We could blame the litterboxes on her being a fickle witch, but the vomiting after meals is downright scary.
This is bad, so it was off to the vet, where the most interesting thing we discovered was she has dropped half pound since her recent checkup. Everythinge else seemed normal for her. They gave to her fluids, suggested we give her the Tagamet before (not after) meals, and sent her home.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Photo Friday: Engineer's Assistant
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
You want me to use that?
After much frustration, we've decided the problem is that the closet litterbox is the most heavily used one in the house. If cleaning and food service are not properly synchronized, she'll decide the box is too dirty to use. Or, she'll use it once with no trouble, then go back to it a short time later and decide it is too dirty, what with that fresh waste and all.
The problem may have been exacerbated by the migration of the hallway litterbox. It's en route to the closet, but is currently at the top of the stairs outside my office. Her majesty appears to prefer a bit more privacy. So. We'll be expediting the move to the closet, thereby nearly doubling the available litter area.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Wasting Time (or more exactly, Waste Product Time)
We had another solid mess up against the wall in the litterbox closet caused by Emily. We don't know exactly what she is protesting.
We also (we think) Emily threw up in the hall, it looked vaguely like a hairball to Katherine. I wasn't sure, but I was sure I wasn't gonna dissect it.
As result of the litterbox rejection, we're considering moving the hall box into the closet. Our previous plan was to retire the hall box completely, it doesn't get used much where it is, and is in the way. Either plan requires teaching the cats the hall litterbox is now in the closet, so yesterday evening the box moved the length of the hall to outside the bedroom door. It will make another jump in a day or two.
Saturday, October 8, 2005
New and interesting stenches
Emily's digestion seems to be especially vulnerable to stress, as she showed this morning. She tossed up her tummy medicine and the treat I gave her along with it, for no reason I can see except frustration with stupid humans who don't speak cat.
In other news, the monthly weigh-in puts Whitey at 13.0 pounds, Billy at 15.5 pounds, and Emily at 6.5 pounds. That puts all three of them down a half-pound since last month, which seems as likely to be due to scale flakiness as anything else.
Friday, October 7, 2005
Photo Friday: Mother's Little Helper
I guess I should be happy that she didn't decide the pen was a fun toy, too, huh?
Any readers who think the content of the notes is the most interesting about this entry may want to visit my business site.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
On my honor, I will try
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Happy Birthday Auntie Em!
Sunday, October 2, 2005
Every Thing Old is New Again
Specifically, before the kitten pantry was the network pantry, it was the Puppy Pantry -- we had the crate for Winnie the Paws sitting there.
Putting pet supplies there again completes the cycle.
Bow - woof!
Friday, September 30, 2005
Photo Friday: 10 years ago today ...
I believe the photo was taken the very day Winnie the Paws arrived. Unfortunately, we only lasted three weeks with her schedule, at which point my brother adopted her. He has looked after her all these happy years.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Kitten Furnances
Billy stretched out next my leg overnight, just close enough he got booted when I lost my preferred range of motion. (I hate doing that because I don't feel Billy did anything wrong, but I hate being tense and therefore awake more).
Whitey got more slack from Katherine, and he used all of it, curling up behind her legs. Then he took more space by rolling on his back and stretching out, turning her into a pretzel. He got booted too.
Emily, who curls up more like a teddy kitten next to Katherine just out of reach, survived the night in place.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The Haunted Kitten Farm
The oil fired steam boiler which keeps the farm house warm and cozy in the winter is rather old, a conversion from coal fired which in turn was a conversion from dried dinosaur gauno fired (from back when live dinosaurs were plentiful). So we're replacing it with a new natural gas fired boiler.
Being a steam system, this work means our plumbing has been opened up, and a few air bubbles have gotten in the system. This leads to water hammers and related vibration in the pipes.
One flush of the toilet and the resulting screech as the tank filled and shuts off left Billy shaken for minutes. He looked so troubled that I did an exorcism on the house, running the bathtub to flush the remaining air out.
We hope Billy won't need counseling.
Things that go chomp in the night
I think it was Whitey, since he's more of a toe pouncer than his brother. The Mist of Doom reminded him that toe pouncing is not allowed.
Monday, September 26, 2005
The Good, The Bad, and the Purring
He parks his considerable bulk at my feet, clearly ignorant of the fact that I move around a lot, and that it bothers me to get weighed down by heavy blankets, much less 15+ pounds of cat. The Bad.
At the same time, I don't want to tell him to avoid the bedroom, so I go the bathroom (hoping he'll follow me). He doesn't. I came back in the bedroom, and sit down at the foot of the bed to stroke him. This yields 15+ pounds of happy relaxed cat with a friendly rich tenor rumble from deep inside him. The Purring.
The kid knows I'm a sucker for good purr.
(I cheated and used the bed room emergency kitty treat supply to get him to move.)
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Photo Weekend Extra: Self-storing Emily
Unlike the boys flirting with new places to explore, this move may be permanent. What ever our goddess wants ...
Saturday, September 24, 2005
QOTD
Whitey, if you're going to meow for attention, don't do it on the dining room table!
Friday, September 23, 2005
Photo Friday: Cat Storage
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Emily status
She seems stressed at times in general, but there is not a lot we can do about it except rub her chin and tell her we love her. *sigh*
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Dawn Patrol: An After Action Report
Billy again climbed the bookshelf before 6 AM to check out the door, and discovered it no longer tastes good.
Shortly after that, a crash from the first floor announced that Whitey had managed to tip over the front hall watchtower. When I arrived on the scene, Whitey was slightly dazed but unhurt.
Emily was so fickle at breakfast that Katherine asked me to serve her a second time if I had chance before I left. I did, and true to form she decided to nibble a little more.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Chew toy?
Bitter Apple has been applied to keep the door from tasting like a seven foot high chew toy.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Bored, bored, bored
With more closed windows, the boys bore more easily. So they sleep more wake up earlier.
It could be a longggggg winter.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Photo Friday: Scaling New Heights
Photo Friday Extra: The Ying and Yang of Cats
If you follow either of the links, you can also see Sinatra and Samantha imitating art.
(Most of her journal is friends only, which is her very reasonable choice, but she left her wonderful kitty photo available for all of us to see.)
Thursday, September 15, 2005
8 lives ... and counting
I'm up early for non-feline reasons, and Billy joined me in my office. He hopped up to the top shelf (usually Whitey's domain). Then Whitey came in the room, which made the door next to the bookshelf swing open and (almost) closed.
I turned around and Billy had both forepaws holding the top of the door, as if he was planning to either open the now interesting door (it moved) or take a walk on it.
With Whitey having rolled off this same shelf once already and Billy also tempting fate this week, the images I had of Billy falling and catching a door knob in the ribs or landing on his brother were not pretty.
The door has been swung fully open (and out of reach of inquiring paws) by your truly. I suspect Katherine would rather risk sleeping through the sounds of my typing rather than the sounds of a cat crashing seven feet to a hardwood floor.
Meanwhile, having written this up, I hear energic cat fu from the first floor. Sounds good to me.
Not me, officer!
Last night I not only saw Whitey on the counter (but not fast enough to punish him), but Billy jumped up on the counter on the way to the top of the frig and cabinet tops. He saw me coming, but he was so high I was able to give him the Mist of Doom while he was still on the frig hopping down.
A full mine field was laid down to keep the boys off the counter. We'll see.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
9 8 lives for Billy
Of particular interest to him is chasing the pom pom up and down the stairs, and trying catch it as it leaps about on the upper stairs (caused by your truly snapping the wand controlling the string back and forth, like casting a fishing pole in different directions).
Last night, this fun time almost led to disaster.
I'm not sure how it happened, if Billy got in the way of the pom pom or if it brushed against his face after he caught it, but I looked at him and realized he had yellow pom pom fur sticking out of his eye, making him blink.
I immediately charged up the stairs and grabbed him to get a better look while yelling for Katherine. Once we got him to hold more or less still, we able to pull the strands away. It looks like they really got caught on the mucus at the edge of the eye, and not in it. Billy seemed okay, and he was more interested in the pom pom itself than his own health, even after we grabbed him a second time to pluck a few last strands out.
We're going to have to find a new pom pom game for Billy, I'm not risking his eyesight just so I can make him jump after a cat toy for me.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Cats of the Serenbedi
Okay, they never left, but this is the first I've seen all three cats lounge on the bed at once in months. They tend to spread out in summer, each choosing their own favorite spot around the house.
The boys even formed a kitten pile to keep warm during a nap over the weekend. Emily of course, is barely willing to be on the same
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Tubbo gets tubbier
- Emily: 7.0 pounds, same as last month.
- Whitey: 13.5 pounds, up half a pound.
- Billy: 16.0 pounds, up half a pound.
It's possible that Whitey and Billy gained in part because we were gone for a week and they weren't as active. Still, we've started setting a timer to pick up their food after 15-20 minutes. Those return visits to the buffet have got to stop...
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Raining Cats
I reached up and scratched his chin for moment.
Unfortunately, he also did something else that Emily does occasionally -- he wiggled so much he fell off.
I realized out this was possible before he did, so I had stepped back out of the way. As much I wanted to catch him, I figured him in paracat mode would be claws fully extended and flailing, and all I would do is get scratched as he bounced off me.
He landed awkwardly on the floor, but a gentle check of him showed no obvious problems. He also seems his normally mobile self.
Weekend Stench Report
We also had a miss next to the migrating dining room litterbox.
Katherine took care of both.
Friday, September 9, 2005
Photo Friday: Whitey Boxed Set
R.I.F.
With the ongoing space issues at the kitten farm, we made a decision last winter to give away many of the plush creatures. With the destruction from hurricane Katerina, this has become more urgent. We've basically been looking for a place which accepts gifts in kind for the youngest hurricane victims.
The Boston Globe had pointer to a collection going on at Foxboro Stadium tomorrow, so 50 or so creatures are leaving us, to lead lives snuggling kids who need them.
However, although we had too many bears even before the cats arrived, it does make me sad to see them go.
Wednesday, September 7, 2005
A Daily Stench Roundup
We also had a cat (definitely not Emily) make a lake outside a second box.
Finally, at 4:40 AM this morning, Emily threw up clear liquid in the closet. This was after she had been looking uncomfortable yesterday evening -- she seems slightly happier now.
Katherine, the wonderful mom, cleaned up all three messes.
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
March of the Litterboxes
Therefore, the dining room litterbox has started moving towards the kitchen. It moved across the dining room towards the kitchen doorway on Sunday, and today it should move to the dining room side of door.
Thus, by this time next week, the litterbox should be properly exiled away from the normal human traffic.
Monday, September 5, 2005
Down in Front!
They must be deeper than the old TV stand because the first thing that happened is that Billy jumped up and stood in front of the TV looking at the screen. No doubt he would have done this on the old stand had he fit.
Officially, he got the Mist of Doom to keep him from scratching the screen of our relatively new TV screen, but mostly it was just he was blocking the view.
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Weapons of mass construction
So, time for Saturday morning Cat Fu practice. Whitey and Billy are chasing each other around the downstairs with wild abandon. Billy runs behind the stack of shelves. Whitey launches himself onto the top of the stack... transferring all his momentum to the low-friction interface between the top shelf and the one underneath. The shelf keeps going, with him on board.
In other words, our little engineering kitten figured out how to throw a shelf at his brother.
Billy got out of the way. The shelf landed with a crash. Both cats were unharmed but were last seen watching the shelves with deep suspicion.
Thursday, September 1, 2005
Wind Sprints
This morning, he was up on my bookshelf again looking down two shelves for treats or whatever. I am still afraid he'll fall and hurt himself, but I decide I might as well get a picture for his memorial service. I get out of my office chair and wander up the hall for the camera.
This causes Billy to do a Heisen Cat in order to follow me. I hear the various controlled crashes which are Billy hopping down from the ceiling in stages. I sort of expected this, but I don't expect what happens next. Billy bursts from the door of my office, goes into afterburner, and shoots the length of the hall. He's headed for the stairs, but he goes into the turn so fast he loses traction on the hardwood floor and bounces off the wall. This doesn't slow him; rather, he uses the bounce to correct his course and is gone down the stairs headed for the breakfast buffet.
Never mind that breakfast isn't for another hour.
In his favor, he does figure out I am not headed downstairs and comes back, but my act of walking to the top of the stairs sends him downstairs again, except for the wall banging part.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tiger Punks on Dope
Today Billy headed for the top of the shelf, which is not common but is a regular occurance. What wasn't normal is that he then tried to reach down two floors to the the shelf where I keep sealed kitty treats ...
... and had recently left the sealed spice jar with cat nip. Whoops.
I got the jar off the shelf before he killed himself trying to climb down to raid it. As a reward/distraction I put some cat nip on both the upstairs and downstairs hall cat condos.
Both boys found the treat within seconds. A fine time was had by all.
The sealed cat nip jar is now back safe in the kitchen spice cupboard.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Heading for the hills
Monday, August 29, 2005
Scaling New Heights
The errands did directly affect the cats, because we continued our reorganizing our shelf space to better accommodate the four footed mafia. Four new shelves were obtained, and two are already up.
Newly installed into Katherine's office is a new small but tall metal shelf tucked into formerly dead space, which gets work in progress off the floor. I'm waiting for Whitey to try scaling it, which should be interesting as it lacks claw holds.
We also replaced the low hall table for the printer with a taller wire rack which can now also handle a displaced printer from the soon to be defunct network pantry. Whitey did try scaling this rack after we left Emily's food on the top shelf for a few minutes. If we leave food up there again we expect Whitey to show up again, next time with his brother and a climbing rig worthy of Batman.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Photo Friday: A Different Kind of Cat
Specifically, we rode the fast Cat Ferry. I especially like how the ship's hull motif includes a nose, muzzle, and whiskers.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
All By Myself
If we leave her alone closed in the bedroom for dinner, a truly sad meow comes drifting out. A human has to step in and stroke her a couple of times to get her eating.
Help is on the way as I type though -- Katherine is off to write on her futon, Emily's favorite place to be snuggled.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Pardon the Interruption, Redux
Did you miss us (again)?
This time, a web site outage got Billy and Whitey 3:30 AM cat teaser time. But it wasn't their fault I was up.
A solid power hit at 2:30 AM reminded us just how many UPS protected systems we own.
In our case, we have seven:
- Drew's office
- Katherine's office.
- Living room DVR
- Network pantry
- Production basement server
- Test basement server
- Basement network rack
The drill on a power hit in the kitten farm is count to some number larger than sixty and wait for things to return, since the systems aren't hurt by the temporary outage, but then shut things down before the batteries drain (mostly to silence the beeping alarms).
This time Katherine jumped up almost immediately and killed to the two feeping office units (which don't need to be on at night in the first place). I lay awake waiting for power to return, then gave up and trundled down stairs and on to the basement killing things as they went.
As soon as I got to sleep, power came back, and a cell phone woke me up by announcing it was charging again with a happy feep. So I trundled back down stairs and turned on the production systems again, and kicked off backups for good measure.
When all was said and done, I had awake cats who wondered if I cared about the important stuff, like playing with them, so I did. :-) They even got kitty treats for working hard.
Monday, August 22, 2005
End of an Era
One of our eldest and most revered bears, the rugby playing and networking Ping the Panda, is sad. He's been one of our supervisors in the network pantry (an alcove of the kitchen) for a decade or so, but we're slowing disassembling it in favor of moving the networking equipment into the cooler basement and elsewhere. Ping can't move down there, it's too dusty for a cuddly bear like him.
Worst of all, we're disassembling it so we can move cat supplies and the dining room litterbox into the pantry area. Not bear friendly at all.
Last night we set up new shelves in the basement, and we moved the core of the network down, including the network switch and cable modem. The router which sat between them was already in the basement, after it freaked out in hot weather a month ago or more ago. Now the kitchen only has a few patch cables to link the basement to our original office network ports, plus a couple of computers which are waiting for new homes.
(Data was entering the house via the basement as coax cable, up to the pantry where the modem converted the data to Ethernet, down to the basement router where network address translation (NAT) occurred, and back up to the pantry based network switch for distribution to the various computers in the house. Now all that gear is back on the same shelf.)
They say the living room is the new center for networking, we'll see if Ping is willing to move there.
Breakfast with Emily
Emily misses her medication. This is shown by her throwing up most of her breakfast this morning. It wasn't pretty.
I saw it happen while I was getting dressed, but it was Katherine who cleaned up after Emily while I hopped around on one foot trying to put my other shoe on.
I did pet Emily. She seemed scared after she threw up, as if the humans would be mad at her. We're not mad, we're sad for her.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Pardon the Interruption
Normally this would have been fixed within hours, but while the server was up and the site was being updated, it was doing so on a timer (ala a certain other site, but we didn't get the idea there). We were in Nova Scotia while Jen the cat sitter watched over the crew. Alas, we didn't even know the server was off the net until Wednesday, and Jen's duties don't include extended computer troubleshooting -- I had her check one thing, and then dropped back ten and punted until we returned Friday.
Once we were back, I power cycled a number of items. I think the basement firewall router was confused, and the reset did clear our problems up.
(What? You don't have multiple routers in your kitten farm?)
At least we're back now. (testing 1 - 2 - 3)
Friday, August 19, 2005
Photo Friday Extra: Make My Day
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Accept <b>No</b> Substitute
So I got out the new pom-pom. POW!
Rather like Hobbes greeting Cavin after the school day ...
Monday, August 15, 2005
No Son of Mine
I know this because I wouldn't be able to sleep with my left leg and tail dangling off a seven story cliff. (I am not afraid of heights per se, but I get vertigo.)
I realize the fur, the claws and the tail should have tipped me off before this, but hey, I love the kid anyway.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
The Good, The Bad, and The Furry
(If you look at the photo by following the link, you can see one of the speaker wires behind him.)
All I can say is loud music must not bother him ...
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Play kitty
Friday, August 12, 2005
Photo Friday: Basket Case
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Diet, exercise, and the monthly weigh-in
Emily's weigh-in brings good news: she's up to 7.0 pounds, from 6.5 last month. Seven pounds is her pre-illness weight, though she could still stand to gain a little more. She was off the Tagamet for a couple of weeks, but is back on it now. As noted before, as much as she hates it, it does seem to help her digestion.
Whitey has lost a half pound, down to 13.0 from 13.5. Billy remains stable at a tubby 15.5. That's really a bit on the heavy side for him, so we'll need to think about the best way to further restrict his diet. My first idea is to pick up his food after 30 minutes or so. Emily eats at a sedate pace, and we've been leaving the boys' food down for the duration of her meal. Maybe that's not such a great idea.
Monday, August 8, 2005
Summer Daze
Part of this is summer itself, as I, the primary author, don't feel like typing in a hot office all that much when I have time. This especially is true can I can spend the same time stroking Emily or teasing the boys with a feather at their request.
But also, as we move into the second year with Emily fixed in her ways and the boys fully grown, writing down their actions seems repetitive and routine. This is not say they are boring to us, but trying blog the way Billy begged for playtime today versus last week is a little subtle for a blog which seemed more unique last year.
But no news is good mews -- our cats are happy.
Friday, August 5, 2005
Photo Friday: Lucky Cat Paws
It's like we're storing lucky cats' paws up there or something.
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Dog Paddle
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Internet's Best Friend
Friday, July 29, 2005
Photo Puppy Extra
I ran into a great malamute who was working as an assist dog a few days ago. I didn't ask, but I expect he's very good at pulling his human's wheelchair out of snowdrifts.
Photo Friday: Asleep on the job
Last year, we captured Whitey was sleeping on the job. This year, he's doing it again (or still), but with improved form that takes up even more space on Katherine's desk.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Talking About The Weather
Note that the wind speed and direction is suspect, because our mast is only ~ 13 feet high (standard observations are made at 10 meters, or ~ 33 feet), and in the lee of the hill the kitten farm is named for. However, given it has taken 19 months to get the mast up and the data recording, we're declaring victory here and now.
If you're a true friend of the Kitten Farm, contact us privately for the detailed weather page which also provides a summary of the interior conditions (which is what the cats actually care about).
update: You may not be able to see the weather sticker if you have ad blocking software running on your computer. However, you can still follow this link to our local conditions.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Information Kibble
The cats are pretty much fine.
Emily had diarrhea over the weekend (I think), and someone had a small solid litterbox miss this morning. Otherwise, not much is happening.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Photo Friday: High Time for a Nap
Sunday, July 17, 2005
A Kiss is Just a Kiss
Also back is Emily's digestive adventures. (Not Good)
First, various cats wake me up at six AM on a Sunday morning by jumping on the bed and wandering about. Then Emily sees me awake and waltzes up to me to gives me the official Good Morning Nip of Hunger on my most accessible componenent, my lower lip.
I am not happy at this and yell at her as I grab the Mist of Doom. Her feelings are hurt and this is transmitted straight to her digestive tract -- she throws up in the door to Katherine's office.
Fast forward 14 hours, we return from dinner, and Katherine finds a solid accident next to the upstairs hall litterbox. I wander in the bedroom while she cleans it up, and discover more of the same problem. In other words, we have cat sh-t on the bed for the second time in a week.
Not sure what to do here other than to clean it up ...
Friday, July 15, 2005
Emily News Flash!
(CNN) -- A hurricane warning was issued Friday for Jamaica as Category 4 Hurricane Emily churned closer to the Caribbean island and forecasters warned that some additional strengthening is possible before the storm makes landfall.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Second Verse of a Solo Piece
During the day, I left the upstairs windows open in the cooler clear weather; I am sure both the windows and the weather itself were improvements over Monday for the felines. Nothing interesting appeared to happen while I was working.
The evening was not as quiet. I found that a withdrawn Emily had left brown liquid goo on the closet floor. I think she threw up, a small chance it came out the other end. I think her lack of purring bothered me more.
Then at 4:30 AM, Billy wanted company. Again. Even phyiscally bringing him upstairs didn't quiet him. Finally Whitey wandered downstairs, and I think they played soccer for a while.
This morning Emily was more cheerful; I got some gentle purrs and a few head butts during breakfast.
I also got a minor litterbox miss downstairs and some spilled (clean) litter in the upstair hall, neither of which is worth thinking about it.
Now Whitey is meowing at the ceiling. Anyone got a copy of a Tiger <--> English dictionary?
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Mostly Quiet on the Eastern Front
When I got home yesterday, she seemed hot due to the weather, but with cooler weather overnight we have a cooler and more active Emily.
Now if Billy would not meow for a feather at 4 AM, I would be all set.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Daily stench: Double Ended Problems
I am in charge again, which as always means the inmates are actually running the place.
Dinner was an adventure with Emily.
I went up check on her. As soon I opened the door, I saw a piece of cat feces on the floor of the bedroom. (Fortunately, it was near but not in the path of the door.) I checked her litterbox, she missed that as well. From the location of and fur on the bedroom feces, it looks like she missed the box and had some get stuck to her to boot, which she cleaned off on the bed.
(Did I mention I need to wash the white blanket from the bed? Barely visible, so it should come clean.)
She also had thrown up in three places, no extra charge.
All of this raises several issues, most of which I can stall on while holding down the fort, but none of which are pleasant:
- The cat feces in the middle of the bedroom is new behavior, or at least something I have not seen in months and was rare when it did happen.
- This is the second time today she has thrown up
(and yes, Katherine had been medicating her past few days after a break to get more cat friendly Tagamet) - This is the third time in four days she has thrown up.
- She threw up with food in her.
(Normally she only throws up after drinking lots of water when hungry).
My core concerns are she's starting to lose more control of her digestive tract and/or we're going to lose patience with her current problems.
Saturday, July 9, 2005
Gaining weight?
Billy and Whitey are both stable, at 15.5 and 13.5 pounds, respectively. Billy has been acting hungrier lately, so his diet may be starting to take effect. We'll see how July goes before we make more changes.
Photo Weekend: Stranger Redux
And it should be duly noted that Stranger did get along with cats.
Photo Weekend Extra: Stranger
Leash laws didn't apply to him, and he was too nice to get busted for it. Like the time a strange 3 year walked up to him and petted him by bopping him on the nose. He knew human puppies could be silly, and was kind to them.
He and I did a paper route for most of six years together.
He joined us when he was ~ 10 years old, and lived until he was 19. He actually passed away at end of my freshman year in college; this means I didn't have to see him go.
Friday, July 8, 2005
Photo Friday: Flashback 1970
The little tiger's name is Linus. The year was 1970, and he and Victoria (the not very visible calico) were our cattens.
You can just see Linus wearing a collar, for previously explained reasons.
(The reason for the poor quality is the photo is off a DVD, specifically a chapter heading. The DVD was transferred from analog VHS tape transferred from 8 MM film. I'm going to try to track down the original family 8 MM to get a cleaner video and stills.)
Thursday, July 7, 2005
Top This! (A Daily Stench Three-for-one)
~ 5:30 AM Billy raids the clothes racks in the bedroom closet. No damage, but we're both awake and Katherine stumbles out of bed to check on things (and to implicitly shoo Billy off the racks).
~ 5:40 AM Fall back asleep.
5:55 AM Wake up to Emily retching. Both Katherine and I struggle to step up to the plate and clean up the mess. I complete POST first and let a relieved Katherine collapse back into bed.
5:58 AM I warn Katherine before I turn on the main lights to seek visual clues to what we already got on audio.
6 AM While looking for current results of Emily's retching, I find an already dry one. Clean that up too.
6:02 AM Kill bedroom lights, close door while I clean up the main event in the hall.
6:05 AM Done cleaning; get morning paper, grab more paper towel for any upstairs messes to be named later, take morning paper into bathroom.
6:10 AM Exit bathroom.
6:11 AM Discover strong smell of cat urine in bedroom; discover lake buried in kitty litter which wasn't there at 5:58 AM.
6:13 AM Katherine chooses to not fight fashion and rises to clean this latest mess. I get her glasses and head downstairs to get spare litterbox rug and cleaning bucket.
6:15 AM While retrieving bucket, discover smell of cat dung in dining room. Trace to minor (but smelly) miss of litterbox.
6:18 AM Deliver upstairs cleaning supplies, open window to prevent choking on cat urine.
6:20 AM Reverse course to clean up dining room mess.
6:30 AM Katherine completes upstairs clean up, dumps dirty mat on back porch until she's awake.
~ 6:31 AM on Cats take turns meowing for morning attention. We let them live.