august 23, 1999

Well, there's the garden as it looks this morning. I pulled up all of the corn yesterday and started digging the soil up with a hoe. Brian offered to rototill the area and I wasn't gonna say no. After he finished, I got it moist, sprinkling two bags of catnip on it, raked it, then sprinkled two more bags. Then I turned on the sprinkler and let it get wet. The packages say that it will take 14-21 days for the plants to germinate. These are old seeds, so I don't know how well they'll do. I'll just wait and see. They can't be as bad as the corn, though.

The other pictures are the tomato plant, isn't it huge? Well, there is more than one plant there, but gosh. It's taller than me. The next picture is a picture of the tomato plant and the jalapeno plant next to it. That tiny little thing. Then it's a picture of the zucchini that I picked yesterday. The red stuff in the little container on top of the zucchinis is cherry tomatoes. The last photo is a jalapeno pepper. There are three that you can see in the picture. A little to the right in the center, one on the left in the middle and one at the upper right.

If the catnip grows, then when I harvest it, if there's enough, I'll send it out with the stuff that gets ordered through LV Designs. That will be the only way it will be available, to begin with anyway. I did that when we were trying to sell the cathouses and I had more people ask for catnip than houses. *grins*

Last night, we had chicken and rice for dinner and I cooked up some of the zucchini. Let me tell you something about zucchini. If ya let it grow real big, like I did, the skin gets real tough. I should have realized this when I was cutting it up. I cooked it and the zucchini meat was really good, but like Brian said, you can't even poke the fork through the skin. He said it just goes to show you how tough our teeth really are. LOL!! Anyway, I pulled the skin off of mine and Brian ate all of his. He said "look at all the fiber I'm getting." (Yeah, now go eat a tree, it couldn't be any tougher.) So, from now on, either I pick the zukes sooner or I peel them like a potato before I cook them. But it was really tasty. I'm going to make zucchini bread. Brian thinks it sounds horrible. I reminded him that he's had it before. He doesn't remember at all. It's sweet, like banana nut bread.

Yesterday, I finally put all of the CDs away. The ones I had taken out of the 111 disk player and the ones I had pulled out when I was gonna make all of these CDs on my CD recorder. What a mess. It took a couple of hours to get them all sorted.

The light of my life had to go to Home Depot yesterday, to get a new hose for the fountain. He also picked up two light fixtures, since the ones we had wouldn't look right. I asked if he would stop at the pet store and buy a couple of cans of catfood, because I had run out Saturday night and the stuff I ordered wouldn't be here til sometime this week. He said "if I have to" and I said "you have to." When he came home, he had four cans. And boy, did he go on about the price. It was over a dollar twenty a can. At Petopia, we are only paying .49 a can. But that's on their special, half price. Even so, their full price is less than a buck. A savings of twenty cents a can is a good deal. Looks like our local pet stores are going to be for emergencies only.

august 25, 1999 Gracie has bloody stool again. She's eating okay, sleeping, being affectionate and playing. She just has nasty stool. So, I found the metronidazole from when Maggie was having her recurring problems and started Gracie on that. Of course, I checked the expiry date and it's in 2001. If she hasn't shown any signs of improvement by Friday, to the vet we'll go. I checked all of the litter boxes this morning and didn't find any diarrhea stools.

I had thought to catch Jackie last night, but s/he didn't show up until late. And after noticing Gracie's problem, Brian asked if I really wanted to bring another cat in. I thought about it for a couple of hours, because what he said made sense. I looked at the reasons that the cats might be stressed as it is (Gracie, for one). I think all of the work he's been doing has upset the applecart, with the banging and the weird smells. And since Ciara had her polyp removed, she's been slowly getting more energetic and she wants to play. She and Maggie have gotten into it twice that I know of. The other cats are out of the extremely playful stage, and she bothers them more than anything. I think that bringing a cat into the home who is closer to her age will give her somebody to play with and leave the older cats alone. I think a new kitten/cat will give them *less* stress in the long run. It's a tough decision, I will admit that. It's not something to do on the spur of the moment. I do think we *are* going to take him/her in. And we can do it the same way we got Red. Trap him/her in the garage. I sure hope it goes smoothly.

As I said, Jackie came by late last night. It was pretty hot yesterday, hot and humid. Cleo came over earliest and Jackie is usually with her, but not last night. Then OC shows up, I look out and there was a possum at the dry food. Before, the possums would run when they saw me or heard my voice, but not last night. The rest of the cats showed up eventually and Blue brought Little Opie. Little Opie was still here when Jackie showed up.

Not much happens when it's so darn hot. Too hot to get into trouble.

august 26, 1999 Boy, it's hot. It's really, really hot. It was eighty at nine last night. Hot. Humid. Muggy. Very, very uncomfortable. Pant pant..... So, tell me. What's the deal with the cats? The a/c is on. All fans are going to help circulate the air. Attic fans, ceiling fans, tabletop fans. It's 102 in the shade. And the cats? Well, most of the cats are in the house, where it's cool. But not all of the cats. Lonee is outside with her best friend in the whole world (because he licks her butt, I bet) Junior. And there are three other cats outside. Ciara. Benny. And last but not least, Maggie. What do these last three all have in common? They're all longhairs. I guess that fur really does a good job of insulation.

We're almost out of dry cat food. We are out of moist. The dogs' food is running low, too. I surely hope the stuff I ordered gets here today.

Last weekend, I thought I would really like one of those 'mudslide' drinks. I bought a four pack the week before and I thought "I can make them better than that". So, I did a search for the recipe online, found it. One part vodka, one part Kahlua and one part Irish Cream. Okay, I search the alcohol shelf (I can't believe how much we have, people have given us booze and we never drink it). I found the Kahlua. I found a bunch of vodka. I found the Cuervo Gold that Brian had been looking for (it was a half full gallon bottle, he didn't want to have to open the full one since he knew there was one that had already been opened). But only a little Bailey's. Last night, Brian went to CostCo and I told him to get a bottle. We have a friend in town visiting from Colorado (she use to be our catsitter til she fell in love and moved away). I thought mudslides would be yummy. I think I'll make them with vanilla ice cream instead of crushed ice.

I watched Kirby pee outside this morning. What a fine strong output. I worry about him, because of his predisposition to infections and blockages.

Last night I looked out front and saw no cats. Being tired, I went ahead and got their dinner ready. Much to my surprise, when I walked out with the bowls, Jackie and Cleo were waiting. They must know the sounds of dinner in the making, I guess. I put the bowls down and ran inside to get the leftover chicken breast from Tuesday night's dinner. I went back out, the bag in hand and sat down on the cement. I dished out the normal food and Jackie came close. I offered him/her a piece of chicken. S/he wouldn't come close enough to get it from my hand, so I laid it down on the ground. S/he ate it. We went through about a third of the breast this way. Blue showed up, as well as Little Opie. Little Opie is way too afraid to ever think of bringing him in here. But Black Jackie is so laid back. At one point there were five cats in the entry way, me sitting there tossing out small pieces of chicken. I had already dished up the regular food and Jackie came up to eat out of one of the bowls. I took a piece of chicken and touched him/her with it. S/he turned to bite what was touching him/her and oh, yay, it's chicken. S/he walked off with it in her mouth and finished it off. I realized that I wasn't gonna get me a new kitten this night, so I got up and came inside.

I slept weirdly last night. I woke up about every hour, then went right back to sleep. Mickey woke me up this morning by dive bombing into me.

Gracie's doing better. She ate well yesterday and I didn't find any runny stools anywhere. And she wasn't licking her bottom like she had the day before. She slept by me all night. I hope she'll be okay.

Hmmm...is there anything else I wanted to say? Let me think..................(Don't hurt yourself...*snicker*.... Shut up, little head voice!).....Oh, yeah. So, this morning, I opened up the front windows. Hey, Jackie's out there!! I run to the kitchen and grab the chicken. I had only turned on the computer so far, hadn't logged on. I went outside and Jackie sat there and looked at me. I gave him/her chicken. S/he ate it. S/he just sat there, looking at me. I came inside and got the stick I use when I play with Kirbs. I took it out with me. S/he looked at it. I waved it. S/he slapped at it. We played. I gave her chicken. Brian got out of bed and came and watched through the window. We made the decision. He got all of the cats out of the garage. He shut the doors. I moved the water bottles. He opened the side garage door, propped it open. All this time, Jackie sat in the entry way, watching with curiosity. I went into the garage. I tossed chicken pieces to the kitten. S/he came and ate the ones outside of the door. I called in the big guns. A can of Fancy Feast. I opened it and took it outside. S/he ate from the bowl. I took the bowl away and put it in the garage. I watched. S/he stepped inside the sill, ate the pieces of chicken there, then left. I got up and went into the house, out the back door, around the side of the house and softly opened the gate. I couldn't see Jackie. I walked slowly, praying that my ankles wouldn't choose this time to crack noisily. I saw Jackie's tail through the crack in the door. S/he was inside, eating. I quickly, quietly shut the door. WE HAD JACKIE!! Jackie is now in the garage. The door is open so that the other cats can check him/her out. It's great because s/he doesn't mind the other cats at all. S/he minds me, though. But Kirby seems to be spending alot of time out there with her/him. I haven't been able to sex him/her yet. I'm leaning towards female. But I have to see the bottom to be sure. S/he has been checking out the window, climbing the screen, trying to get out. But s/he's nowhere near as frightened as Lonee or Red was. As soon as Jackie has calmed down, I'll try to get some pictures. But I don't think it will be long. I haven't mentioned this elsewhere, my diary is the first place. Because I felt I owed it to those who follow my daily life, to share the good news with them first, before I tell anyone else.

Have a great day, all!!

august 28, 1999 I had written in here yesterday, but I didn't save it (dumbdumbdumb) and I didn't feel like rewriting. So, I didn't.

Thursday wasn't a good day, besides the fact that we got Jacqui. An old friend was in town and I invited her dog, too. Big mistake. Taos chases cats. My cats don't like being chased. And when Taos chased, Junior helped her out. At one point, they had Bart stuck on top of the doghouse and he was terrified. I kept yelling at her to hold onto her dog, knowing damn well that the minute I walked into the house holding Bart in my arms, the dog would come after me. I know the dog wouldn't have hurt the cats, but the cats didn't know that and I seemed to have a really hard time getting that through to her. I don't really think I did. She's definitely more of a dog person than a cat person. And the visit was really shot to hell when she informed me that she convenience declawed her cats at her husband's insistance. She told me because she wanted me to know that not all cats have problems and that hers are just fine and that she thought I should lighten up. No way in hell will that ever happen. I think she wants me to lighten up because people that have mutilated their cat's paws don't want to feel that they've hurt their cats. They don't want to feel badly about a decision they've made. I won't lighten up. Never. Even though one of them did sit there with his paws in the air after the surgery, she still wanted me to believe they were okay. Can you believe her vet told her it was because her cat was trying to make her feel bad? (And the moon is made of green cheese and there really is a tooth fairy and leprechans do exist and there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow....) Holy spit, batman. CATS DON'T HAVE THOSE THOUGHT PROCESSES FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!! If they could think like that, don't you think they would understand that clawing the furniture was a bad thing to do, that the mean old nasty ogre man human might have them permanently mutilated? The cat held his paws up for one reason....THEY HURT. Why couldn't the vet be honest with her? Like I said, she's more of a dog person than a cat person. When I asked her about debarking, she said if her husband said she should have her dog debarked, she said she'd be out the door. *sigh* I didn't like the husband before and now I'm glad I'll never meet this jackass. His is one bridge that I don't mind burning. She's said many things to me about him in the past and I've had one telephone conversation with him that sickened me. So, the paw mutilation was just icing on the cake as was his total disregard for her feelings. And I sure won't send flowers to his funeral. A bottle of champagne to his widow, maybe, in celebration. Of course, as you would expect, she made excuses for the way he is. She said that one of his brothers told her, when she mentioned having spent money to put her very sick bunny down, that he would have done it for free. (Farm family...remember Noah's Ark and the farmboys that broke into the no kill shelter and beat sixteen cats to death in Iowa? Cats ain't no big thang, they ain't wurth squat.... the jury of his peers (farmers) found the cats' value at $35 a piece, making the charge a misdemeanor? What about breaking and entering, or is that okay as long as you're just killing cats?) Anyway, she told him that she was raised in the city (Yeah, Bubba, I was raised in a home with indoor plumbing.) and they do things differently. I just feel really badly for her that she's had to change her beliefs and give up so much of herself for this man, who, in my eyes, doesn't deserve her. I'm curious what he's changed about himself for her. What kind of compromises he's made in their marriage. From things that she's said over the years, it seems like everything is a power struggle and he always wins. Not the sort of way I would want to live. And that's enough about the visit on Thursday. I guess I have to learn that we all go our different ways after a while and things change and you can't go back and all of that. Her values have changed. Mine haven't. I guess that's it. If she never speaks to me again, well, I won't be surprised. Sad, maybe, but not surprised. I'll tell you one thing, it's one of those days that I thank God over and over again for giving me the strength to hold out for the man of my dreams and thank Him even more deeply for sending him to me. Brian, honey, no matter how much I tease ya and bitch about ya, you're one in a million and I wouldn't trade you for the world. I love you so damn much. I had two criteria for the man of my dreams. One, that he treat me better than I treat myself (no yelling, no putting me down, no picking on me) and two, that he love animals as much as I do. And Brian meets both of those standards with flying colors.

So, let's talk about little Jacqui. I think she's a girl. She has pantaloons, so it's hard to tell. She has golden eyes like Blackie did. She's really not afraid of the other cats at all. Like all feral cats, she's nocturnal. After living with humans for a while and not needing to hunt for food, the cat's schedule can change. It has here, heck, look at Lonee and Red. Jacqui cried a little less last night than the night before. She likes to play with toys. She will just lay there and meow. Last night, she was in the tv room (the television mesmerizes her) and had a furry toy with a bell in it. She would bite at it and play with it, look up and meow. Brian and I both talked back to her when she cried. She was on the couch and squatting on a pillow and I told Brian, "she's peeing". I didn't stop her. When she was done, she walked off and I picked up the pillow to put it in the laundry room. Man, strong urine and a lot of it. It had soaked the pillow and gone through to the sofa. I soaked up the excess and dumped enzyme cleaner on it. I'm thinking she had been holding it for a while and maybe this was why she was crying. But, she still cried, so I guess that wasn't it. When I fed the cats last night, she ate with them. She doesn't play with them, but she doesn't mind being sniffed. This morning, she was chasing Lonee. And when Lonee cries, you would think she was being hurt, really badly. I opened the garage door and let Lonee run into the back yard, where she was happy to be, thank you very much. Jacqui had run into the tube and was laying down. She spent yesterday in the tube, too.

One of my internet friends is in town and Monday I'm going to take her up to our local mountains. She and her husband (a really fun person, another animal lover, he makes me laugh) have been in town a couple of times, checking out the area. She would really like to move to this area, but it's hard when they've been in their current home for so long. They've been up the coast, but never to our mountains. We're going to go in the Mustang, but if it's as hot as it's been, we'll leave the top up and just run the A/C. Gee, me, driving farther away from home than ten miles. A real adventure. *grins* I'm sure we'll have fun and I know she'll like Julian. We'll have lunch while we're there.

Gracie is doing much, much better. Yay!!

Brian was watching a CSpan rerun of the press conference last night of an independent investigation into the crash of TWA's Flight 800 (click on the link to see what it was about). It's pretty darned interesting. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but this is pretty good. They make a lot of good points. I wasn't able to watch all of it, I just got up to go to the bathroom, decided to go to bed, didn't even say goodnight. I didn't sleep much the night before (too much going through my mind) and I was really, really tired yesterday. Brian told me this morning that he went to bed after 1:30. He said he just wasn't tired. He is this morning, though. *grins*

He wants to finish the entry way today, meaning, hang the screen door and put all of the plants back up and redo the watering system. The front door has a little decorative scroll in it and I'm going to paint that a matching blue to the wood on the sides of the door. But, there's no hurry on it.

The Ranchita realtor called yesterday. The owner of one of the properties he had shown Brian dropped their price from $275,000 to $165,000. Big drop. Maybe they are finally realizing that they aren't going to get what they want. But it's not the one that Brian wants and he said "why don't we just wait to see what happens with this other one?" So, that's what we're going to do. And after the visit with my friend on Thursday, as a token of appreciation to the wonderfulness Brian, I'm not going to give him any more grief about Ranchita. I'll fully support him, whatever he wants to do. I just want to live on a hill with a great view and my cats and my dogs and my goats and my husband and live happily ever after. What does Julia Roberts say in "Pretty Woman"? I want the fairy tale.

One thing I feel I must clarify. I don't look upon the majority of those in the farming community as tobacco chawing, sloped foreheaded, one eyebrowed, hairy backed, butt scratching, nose picking, knuckle dragging neanderthals. You can be a farmer and still have compassion. It just seems that some people use "farming" as an excuse for cruelty and coldness as far as animals are concerned. And it makes me crazy. My father's family are farmers and I never saw the attitudes with them on my childhood visits, that I have encountered in my adult life. My granpa was one of the most pet loving people I've ever known, he loved them all. Brian wants to be a farmer on a smaller scale than most, and I certainly don't see any cuts and scrapes on his knuckles. So, don't get me wrong. There are jackasses in every walk of life. My neighbor, the banker, is one of the biggest jackasses I've ever met. Foul mouthed and crude and rude and I stay as far away from him as I can get. So, I don't mean to put down an entire community. I would much rather someone say "he's just an a$$hole" than to blame it on how he was raised. In my eyes, saying it's "how he was raised" also makes the point that he was "raised by a$$holes". Yes, I understand compartmentalizing animals, but cruelty is not a way that most parents raise their children. I don't care what the parents do for a living, I can't believe that they would condone deliberate cruelness (as in "I wudda killed yur bunny fur nuthin' [insert sick, moronic laugh here]" ). Don't tell me that being raised in a farm family is a justification for that kind of deliberate cruelty. It's not an excuse for anything.

august 30, 1999 Hey, hey, hey, Jackie is a boy. Not a girl. I saw the little marbles Saturday night. He's trying to make friends with the other kitties. And I know he's Blackie's boy, because he likes to poop and pee on the furniture. But he seems to know what the litterbox is for, because when I catch him squatting on the furniture, he will run into the garage, jump into the box and do his business. Maybe people did have him inside, just couldn't handle it and let him back out. He hardly cried at all last night. And his little cries sound so sad. Saturday night, I was able to pet him and scritch his neck and chin. He won't let me do it again. He is getting braver about me, though. Yesterday, he was laying in the tube in the garage with Gracie. Gracie isn't normally like this, doesn't want other cats close to her. They weren't up against each other, but they were inches from one another. And when I was folding laundry last night, Gracie was actually playing, grabbing the bedspread. Not something she often does. Maybe the kitten will affect all of the cats positively.

the new improved entryway...compare to the picture at the beginning of the month

the door

I painted the scrollwork on the front door yesterday morning. Boy, that's a lot of work. It looks really good. Then Brian asked if I would do touch up from where he painted the white trim around the door and windows. I did that, too. I've started nagging Brian about the screen door now. I really want it up. I'm tired of not having the front door wide open for the breeze to go through. And it's harder to watch the outfront cats through the side windows.

Buddy has really been in a barking mode lately. Brian was in the shop late yesterday (painting the screen door) and Buddy was in there with him, barking. Brian told him he barked once more, he was going to stay in the shop all night. Guess where Buddy slept? In the shop. He still barked, even with the doors shut.

I vacuumed and dusted yesterday and this morning, I'm going to wash the hallway and my bathroom floors. Then I'm going for my adventure. Driving up to Julian in the Mustang. Brian has to get the car gassed up and cleaned off (isn't he sweet?) before I go.

While I was cleaning, I did a lot of thinking; I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. I thought about some of the stuff my "friend" said when she was here Thursday (last time I talk about this, I promise). One of the comments was that when she tells her friends about me, they think I'm obsessed with cats. You know, I started thinking about that word "obsessed". Many people can be considered "obsessed" I guess. Einstein, Mother Teresa, Stephen King, Saddam Hussein..... Now, mind you, I'm not even comparing myself to these people, just pointing out how the word "obsessed" can be used to describe many people. And it so often comes across as a derogatory word. Like someone "obsessed" most likely has some sort of mental defect. Maybe so. As I could say that my friend's husband is "obsessed" with pristine furniture. I mean, think about it. His furniture is more important to him than her feelings. To the point that he made her have her cats' toes amputated. I could consider that a little obsessive, I guess. And my "friend". I could also consider her obsessive about her dog. She brought her dog with her because she didn't trust her husband to take care of the dog (and even though he's home, she had to hire someone to come in and take care of the cats, who are relegated to the basement for the time she's gone....(And she thinks there's something wrong with me? Pot..Kettle..Black..)) and she could be considered obsessive about her looks. But here's some food for thought. With my "obsession" I have the ability to help others. I help people (when I can) with questions they have about their cats and their cat's health. This past weekend, I was told by four different people that my website made a difference in how they feel about declawing and now they won't even consider it. The acronym page has made at least one handicapped child smile. I get mail from people who were having a bad day, and my website made them feel better. I've gotten email from people, who when stressed at work, will go to my site and check out the catcam. Not much is more relaxing than a sleeping cat. The backyard page, with the fence instructions, helps people with yards let their cats out without worrying about the cats running off, getting hurt. I've even received email from someone who did the same thing on their high rise balcony. Heck, when the Noah's Ark trial was ongoing, people sent those letters to me and I printed them out and sent them onto Iowa. Over 1500 letters and I'm sure this helped the case even go to trial. In my opinion, never humble, if the world hadn't been watching, chances are it would never even have gotten that far. I could go on and on, but I think I've made my point. Besides, I don't think of cats as an obsession, I think of them as a passion. I'm passionate about cats, not obsessed. *grin* Bubba's obsession with furniture helps no one but Bubba. Her obsession with her looks and her dog, helps no one but herself. She claims that people say she's obsessed about her cats because she takes them to the vet when they are sick. I won't say what I think about the people who believe such things. But it isn't favorable. *grin* So, I guess that I feel that my obsession, cats, serves a purpose. It helps people I'll probably never meet in my lifetime. Can she say the same? After my cleaning/thinking session yesterday, I had a great night's sleep, the first since her visit. Maybe Jackie not crying all night was a little help.

My flash attachment had died. I like it because the flash part is adjustable. I point it over the cats' when I take their pictures so I don't get redeye. Saturday, I got a catalog in the mail from J and R and they have camera equipment. Their listings had Canon attachments, but I couldn't tell if they swiveled. So, I went to their website, where their selection was much more detailed. I called with my question, the item I wanted on the screen. I ordered it and it will be here Wednesday.

Hey, the catnip is coming up!!

august 31, 1999 I'm seriously considering an addition to my webpages, in conjunction with the diary. A "mailbag" page. Where I can post email I receive in response to what I've written. Sometimes I'm asked questions or asked to clarify something and I think a page with the letters and my responses is a good idea. And I've had email that explains things that I'm not sure about, like the one I got telling me what all of the anti-diarrheal drugs I was giving Bobby actually were for. That sort of information can help more than just me. And then I have a place to post pictures that are sent, like the one of that darling goat I got earlier this week. (I want a goat!! I want a goat!!) I won't post names or email addys, maybe initials. Maybe not even those because the people who wrote will know their own mail. *smile* If you send mail and don't want it posted, let me know in the letter. I won't post every email I get, maybe not even post every day.

I've found the best time to interact with Jackie is right after he's gotten up in the afternoon. I played with him a little yesterday. Then I kind of touched him. He didn't back off. I stroked his side. He laid down!! I petted him some more, I scratched his head, his lower back, I rubbed his belly, he started to purr!! At one point, I picked him up and he settled down in my arms, kneading. It was really nice, then Brian made a racket out side and scared Jackie out of my arms. When this happens, I try to set the kitty down gently, not hang on. He didn't let me close the rest of the day. But he's spending more time in the house than in the garage. And he's pretty good at telling me he's gotta go potty. He walks around, crying. I follow him, tell him he'd better not squat and he'll run into the garage and go into the litter box. He doesn't cover, which means he is gonna be a dominant little guy. He's not gonna hide his scent from anybody. Great. I have to go buy him some kitten food. We ran out the week before we got him and I figured since Ciara was almost a year old and spayed, she no longer needed the nutrition that's in kitten food. *sigh* It's always something, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

I didn't have the adventure yesterday that I had planned on. My friend called up and said that she didn't feel well, must have eaten something that didn't agree with her on Sunday. I called her this morning and she's feeling a little better. She's going to see the play "Jeckell and Hyde" tonight. I'm glad I at least got to talk to her while she was here. Next time she's in town, we'll do the mountains.

But I did have an adventure of sorts. I called Brian when Blacatz said she wouldn't be able to make it and told him he didn't have to come home to wipe off the car and get gas in it. He came home around eleven am and we decided to go for a ride anyway. Then the loan guy (Shawn) called and we figured we might as well go in and sign the papers, then go on our drive. While we were at the bank, Shawn said it was nice that Brian managed to take the day off. I had to bite my tongue. We took the truck and it was gorgeous, a great day for a drive. On the way, I mentioned Shawn's comment about Brian not being at work. Brian had told Shawn that it was one of the good things about being self employed. I told Brian I almost said "hell, he hasn't had a decent job in three months, he's home all of the time!!" Brian laughed. Boy, that might have scared the guy. We went up to Julian and had a late lunch, then came home. The place we ate, the Rongbranch, has great french fries, the real thing. It turned out to be a really good day for us. Relaxing.

Well, until Brian went to bed and one of the cats puked on it and the wetness went down to the mattress pad. Guess what I'm washing today?

I set up the Video Catnip tape, just to see how the cats react. I haven't played it in years. I just set up the system for auto-replay, so it will start over by itself. Jackie seems to really like it. He's such a cutie.

lisaviolet is fifty something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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