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october 1, 1998 And so another month starts. Cats all around, cloudy skies, hummingbirds at the feeders, sweater cool air, the grass is still green, but for how much longer? The dogs are eating more, as are the cats. This always happens as the weather cools. It's such a wonderful time of year.
Tuesday night, right before we went to bed, I went into the kitchen and didn't see Benjamin cat on his condo, all curled up as he usually is. I went into my bathroom and checked the sink, his other nighttime spot. No Ben. Then I realized that he was one of the first cats in the house at kitties in time which is a mistake, because he just opens the catdoor, which is set to let the cats in, but not out, from the inside (pulls it toward him) and slides back out. He was probably still outside. I got the flashlight and checked around the pool and the woodpile. Then I checked alongside the shop and up the bank. There he was. On the wood. Benny, honey, it's time for the kitties to be in. He came running to me and I carried him inside, his little purr motor running.
I started cleaning yesterday. I washed the throw rugs and changed the ones in the tv room with the ones in the hallway because the ones in the hallway have very little backing on them and the cats bunch them up. Today, I am doing even more laundry. Washing the couch covers, as well as the regular stuff, like our clothes.
Brian has been in a pissy mood. And if I'm not careful, it becomes contagious. And it usually comes out in how he talks, not so much the words he says as the way he says them. He can be such a nag. I think it may have to do with the fact that I didn't get everything together for his meeting with the person that's going to try to arrange the purchase of the property. I find out late yesterday afternoon that the guy was supposed to be coming over last night. WHAT!??!! Now, this really irritates me when he does this. Never did he tell me that there was a meeting scheduled. Not a word. I only found out when I heard him cancel on the phone. I have a house to clean before strangers come into my home. A little advance notice would be nice. Fortunately, because I didn't have all of the paperwork ready, Brian called and cancelled. So, I'm sure that has something to do with his mood. Like this morning, he just stood there staring into a box on the floor with towels in it that the cats had been sleeping in. I knew what was going through his mind (cat pee) and said "WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP?". He said "sorry" and left the room. I think it really gets to me when everything out of his mouth is negative. I can work all day and do a great job, cleaning, or cooking, or doing paperwork, doing yardwork, I mean, do a GREAT job. And he's the type of guy that will say "that's nice, now what are you going to do about _______?" (fill in the blank). I tell myself, okay, I'll just give him a taste of his own medicine and start nagging. When are you going to put the light up like you promised six months ago? When are you going to fix the sprinkler like you promised nine months ago? But, somehow, I never remember to nag. That kind of stuff isn't really important to me. There was a syndicated "Friends" show on the other night and Phoebe was moving out from living with Monica, because Monica was a neat freak and just really hard to live with. Brian thought that was a riot. Because it hit home. He's the neat freak and he knows it drives me nuts. And it's even worse when he's in a bad mood. I hope this will be the end of it for this month. That would be very, very nice.
Well, I got the new game up and running. To find it, you have to go into ben's den. I think it's lots of fun. I also found another game, a javascript game that tests your reaction time. That one's fun, too. Brian even played it. I'll put that up later.
I guess it's time to sign off and start getting busy doing the other stuff I have to do. That way, Brian won't have anything to complain about when he comes home. But if he's had a bad day, I'm sure he'll find something.
later same day I've gotten a couple of emails and I just want to clear something up. The move (if it happens) won't happen (for me) for at least another three years. And the plan is not to sell our current home, but to rent it out. I don't want to move. I was born in Germany on October 16, 1953, child to an American GI and his Irish citizen wife. I am an only child and we moved every 2-3 years my entire life, until dad retired from Edwards Air Force Base back in 1971. We settled here in San Diego County. I was nineteen when I finally moved out on my own (it seems to me that girls leave home a lot sooner than boys - is that my imagination?). Once again, I kept up the status quo, moving for one reason or another every two to three years. When I was 26, I moved into the most darling little house, a house with no hallways. It was a rectangular structure, with the living room opening into the dining room which had a doorway into the kitchen, which went into the bathroom, which went into the bedroom which went back to square one, the living room. I drove a little white Chevy Luv pickup up with a camper shell (my party-mobile). I had a nice yard, which I kept up. To make it look bigger, I would mow my neighbor's yard, too. It had a fenced back yard where I kept my first dog of my very own, the best dog that ever was, Beau Jess (Beau was euthanized at the age of fourteen, he had hip displasia, was going deaf and was having seizures, a really poor quality of life and I wish we had had the strength to let him go sooner). All that for only $225 a month, a real deal, even back then. I lived there for five years before I met Brian and fell in love. We moved to our current home in March, 1986. When we moved over here, Brian took nine truckloads of my stuff to the dump. :-( (Heck, I don't even know what was there, an old sewing machine that hadn't worked in ages because of disuse, old magazines ("but they'll be collector's items someday" was my excuse) and just a bunch of crap. I had only lived there five years (the longest I'd lived in any one place) and there are still a few boxes in the garage from the move that I never unpacked. Guess that stuff wasn't all that important. Anyway, I will find a way to keep the website up. Especially if we are living at "the Sticks" as I have affectionately begun to call it. If we do qualify for the property, and the current owner agrees to Brian's offer (which is half of what he's asking), it is currently covered in brush and scrub. Brian would work it by himself on the weekends to get it cleared off. Then he wants to build a barn, then try his hand at growing something, maybe hay. If he is successful at that, he would be able to close down his current business and work the Sticks full time. Then he would build the house. So, like I said, it's a long way off. But, I promise, even if I have to buy my own server, I'll keep connected. See, I want to sell lisaviolet stuff. Teeshirts, sweatshirts, nightshirts (don't you think a nightshirt with the babylisa on it would be a great gift?), mousepads, things like that with our best cat photos on them. I just need to get off my fat a$$ and get busy making some of these things to see if there's a market for them. Of course, I would start the selling on the internet. (Sometimes, I feel like Kramer on Seinfeld, all of the great ideas we come up with. Remember the cathouses we built? They were a great idea, but they just never took off. I think we must have sold all of fifteen in the three years we had them for sale.)
Anyway, I'm gonna be around for a long time.
october 2, 1998 Welp, hubby was in a MUCH better mood when he got home last night. That was nice.
Yesterday afternoon, while I was trying to figure out how to do a profit/loss statement for the loan people and cleaning house at the same time, the phone rang. I figured it was Brian. No, it was my mom. Now, my mom and Brian both have this same habit that can be really annoying. At times, they take forever to say what they are trying to say. Brian does this because he's still thinking about what he wants to say and sometimes it takes him so long to say what he has to say, that he forgets what he was saying. But my mom is a drama queen. She stretches her stories out for added excitement. Me, I'm a just spit it out type of person. I say what I have to say. So, then, I can say some more. I'm a fast talker. Literally. Well, anyway, she finally gets the story out. With Brian, I can say an irritated "what?", but I would never do that with my mom. But I'm thinking it. Can I come over and take her to Urgent Care? She hurt her big toe. She pulled the nail almost off when she climbed over a dog gate in her home (the gate is to keep her dog out of her living room, because he's old and he's never been neutered and he pees on stuff). Sure, yeah, okay. Now, I smell like coyote bait. I stink. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. I haven't taken a shower, because I plan on having my floor washing done before I do. And I have planned on cleaning the shower while I *take* my shower. My hair is gross, too. *sigh* I quick go into the bathroom, do a thorough job of brushing my teeth, take my shirt off, put on a bra, smell my pits (peeeyoooeee), put my shirt back on and out the door I go. I pull up to mom's gate. She comes out the door, drama queen. Holds her foot up for me to see. I don't want to see her foot, I know it will make me feel weird. I told her I don't want to see it. She tried to shut her back door, but it was bungiecorded open, so the wind wouldn't catch it and slam it shut. She hobbles down the stairs. I look (I couldn't help myself) at her toe. Oh, gawd. The toenail is at a ninety degree angle to her toe. It's sticking straight up. The nailbed itself is red and raw. It hurts to look at it. My stomach gets butterflies. Not that I felt like I was going to vomit, but I had a sympathy pang for her. Then the woman that lives directly across from her came home and parked in the street. Well, just great. I can't back up now. I'm a rotten backer upper, as readers of my diary know. And this is an impossible situation. The man that lives there opened the gate and his wife pulled in. Good. I was concerned about it for about thirty seconds. Anyway, we got to the clinic, waited our turn and I went with mom into the room where the doctor would see her. The nurse came in, asked mom some questions, mom asked her if the doc would give her a shot. Nurse said she didn't know, but sometimes the shots were more painful than just taking the nail off. Then the doctor came in, looked at mom's toe, left then came back in and pulled up the cart with the tools of the trade. He told mom, no shot. He was just going to rip the sucker off. Mom grabbed on to the nurse's arm and grimaced. She made noises. The doctor said I haven't even done anything yet and just as mom was going to reply, he pulled the nail completely off. *shudder* Mom said it hurt worse when she did it. Anyway, the nurse cleaned it up, bandaged her toe. The doctor asked mom if she had hurt her toe before and she said yes. He said you should ask your doctor for some antifungal medication now that this nail is gone. It seems she had an infection, which makes it easier for the nail to come off. We got back in the truck, I took her home and I guess she's doing okay now. But, she has something else to show to her friends. Oh, something I found out on the way back to her place? She cleaned up before she called me. Thanks, mom.
All I have left today as far as cleaning is my toilet, wash the couch covers and dust the living room. Maybe run the vacuum again. And I really should wipe off the stove.
We are almost out of dry catfood, we are completely out of their moist food, the stuff I mix at night. Guess we're going shopping.
OC was in our entry way this morning. Nice. OC, if I open the door, will you please come inside? No? *sigh*
october 5, 1998 What a wonderful weekend I had, yesterday being the best day.
Saturday, Brian said that I could still lay out by the pool, I would still get sun. So, I did. I even went swimming. The pool was 75 degrees and the air temperature was 80 degrees. The pool was a little nippy when I first got in, but it was nice. Then yesterday, oh, our weather is back. It was a beautiful day. Warm and nice in the shade, real warm in the sun. The weather was perfect.
Ann and Rosemary came over a little before noon yesterday, and we sat outside in the shade of the tall pines. The dogs had to be put up, because they were being extreme pests. We drank orange juice and champagne, and I had cut up fresh vegetables, made guacamole dip and ranch sour cream dip. We had chips and salsa. Ann didn't eat anything and Rosemary had a little. After they left, Brian ate a bunch, almost finished the guacamole. I was eating the veggies and dip. Yum. It was a wonderful visit with them and the time flew and they had to leave and get back to work. Ann is in love with Maggie and the first thing she did when she walked inside was to put her stuff down, then go in search of Mags. Maggie was extremely co-operative, staying close to us the entire time they were here. She even stretched out next to Rosemary on the lounge. I was sad to see them go.
Also, I noticed yesterday that my declaw page was getting more hits than usual and I checked out to see from where they were coming. Wow. PBS has a link to my declaw page with the online resources page for their Nature program "Cats". They have eleven resources listed and I think that mine is the only personal site listed. Oh, yay!! I've had a link to them for months on my spay/neuter page for the Nova video about human child conception and birth. I think twenty dollars for a video about human birth is much more practical than watching Muffin give birth to more kittens. I am quite honored. Thank you, PBS.
Saturday night, I went into the kitchen and Benny, once again, wasn't in his regular spot. I started calling him without success. Darn it. He was one of the first cats in and he did his little out the in catdoor trick. I went out and called him, he meowed at me, came running up to me and back inside we went. Heh heh heh....I was on to him yesterday and he was one of the last cats to come in. And of course, the first thing he did, was hightail it to the catdoor. Oh, no!!! The access was blocked!!! He walked off in a huff. Awww....poor kitty....
october 7, 1998 I laid out in the sun yesterday, it was great. Went swimming, too. Ah, I love Southern California.
I have more relatives coming in this afternoon from England/Ireland, but we won't be entertaining this couple. They want to see Vegas and mom said they don't care to be in the sun. Both older adults, no children, so there's not much we can do. We have to pick them up at the airport.
I'm having more internet company today. This is so much fun. And I might meet somebody else next week. And we're going to Disneyland next week, too. Time for our annual passport renewal. Busy, busy, busy.
Benny has just been my little boy lately. Last night, I did the check for him before we went to bed, he was in his normal place. He got up, followed me into the bedroom and slept beside me all night long. He just now helped me to make the bed. He is such a sweetie.
I finally got all of the stuff done for Brian on Monday. Now tax time at the end of the year won't be so tough since I have three quarters already taken care of. Oh yay.
Well, since not much has happened, I guess I should get the litterboxes cleaned out, maybe run the vacuum. And I have to go to the store.
october 8, 1998 Renee is a very nice woman and loves the cats. And they love her. She met all of them, even though some ran and hid. Benny for one. I can't believe how brave he is one minute, then how afraid he is of people. I don't know why he would be so frightened of others. Kirby hid, of course, and so did Annie. But I expect them to. Renee got every cat she petted to purr and even held DeeJay, Gracie, Boney and gosh, a couple of the others. It was a wonderful visit.
After she left, we had to get to the airport. My mom had said that her brother and his wife were supposed to be in at five thirty. That's not what the internet info said. The internet information said the plane was supposed to land at 4:45. A big difference in that and what we were told. So, we rushed to get out of here, got my mom and off we went. Brian dropped us off at the entrance and left to park the truck and mom and I went inside to see if they had gotten here yet. What timing. We were halfway to the gate from the security entrance when mom saw Tommy and his wife Anne in the crowd. We met Brian at the baggage pick up. Since Tommy had a rental car waiting, he, Anne and Brian went to pick that up and mom and I took the truck and I drove her home. And it was rush hour. And my mom is a chatterbox. And I hate traffic. But she understood and didn't talk while I was driving after I told her that I couldn't concentrate on her and the traffic at the same time. We finally got to her place and got out and waited for the others to show up. It took forever. An hour later, they arrived. There was a long line at the rental agency. We chatted for a while, then Brian and I came home.
We got the cats in with no problems, which was nice. It was late and they were hungry.
OC was here this morning. I think that's a good sign. I have a feeling that Angus spends a lot of time in the entry way after dark. I've seen him more than once laying on the feeding station.
I think I'm gonna change my name. I'm not gonna answer to *Honey* anymore. So far this morning: Honey.....I need socks..... Honey...you promised to make me breakfast this morning... *sigh*
Okay, breakfast done, hubby out the door.
So far this morning Rusty has been in the chair and now Pepper is in it. Pepper has been spending more time in the chair. Remember how she quit getting in it after OC was in here?
My hot weather is back. I'll be in the sun again today. I don't know for how long, though. The guy is supposed to come over about getting that property. Not something I'm looking forward to, not at all.
Oh, the other day I heard gunshots. A couple of other neighbors knowledgable about guns said they sounded they were from a 22. And they were coming from a street close to us. I was worried for OC. Much to my relief, he did show up that night. But I haven't seen the black cat since.
october 10, 1998 Yay, the Halloween cards are finally working properly. The java on some of them was provided by Anfy Java and he has something built into the code that when they are clicked on, they will bring up a little java window that will take you to his page. If registered and clicked on, they will take you to any page that the person (me in this case) has set the link to. Well, I was having problems because I set them up on www.lisaviolet.com and Exoridor, the provider of the CGI that runs postcards, had them set up on lisaviolet.com. They didn't work. Fabio sent me more code to add, which made them workable from either URL. Great. Except for one thing. They were called from exoridor.com. Once again, the link didn't work properly after the card was sent. I contact Fabio, tell him of the situation and he sends more code. I add it, notify exoridor of the change and they change it on their end. What? Oh, great, it still doesn't work. I change the post code from exoridor.com to www.exoridor.com and it works. That's the problem. Now I know why the cards aren't working, but I'm loathe to contact exoridor again. I write again to Fabio (he's in Italy). Explain the situation. He sent me brand new applets to replace the ones I have. I uploaded them, and I didn't get them into the correct file. Frustrated after many tries (I can't believe this, I've changed them once before) I uninstall Anfy Java. Then reinstall from the beginning. Success!!! They work. They work beautifully. I am very pleased. I think they are well worth the money I spent on registration.
Gracie slept in the catcam chair yesterday for the longest time. I think it's nice when the cats take turns. Especially for the viewers. She received many compliments on her great beauty.
I don't know if I ever mentioned the mess the cats' pee made of the countertop in my bathroom. I had two small glass tanks (about two gallon) in there, triangular, than Brian made for me. At first, they were terrariums, but I couldn't get anything to stay alive in them, so I cleaned them out and got fish for them, small fish. A beta in each to begin with, then after they died, I got a couple of feeder goldfish, which I had for years. All but one of the fish died and the cats kept peeing on the tanks and the urine got under the tanks and discolored the counter. So, I took the tanks out, with the intention of cleaning them thorougly and putting the one remaining goldfish back into one and making the other into a terrarium again. In the meantime, the goldfish was in another little tank and the bleeding heart that was alone in the ten gallon tank in the living room finally died. I hated that fish, somebody gave it to me and it killed all of the other fish in the tank. Years later, it finally dies so I put the goldfish in that tank. Remembering that my friend Krista had a beta and a goldfish in the same tank with no problem, last week when we did our monthly pet food shopping (got a great deal on Nature's Recipe maintenance catfood, normally $10.99 for an 8 pound bag, but for members of their petpals there was $5.00 off - Brian bought every 8 pound bag they had, even the ones in the back - 13 in all) I got a blue beta. A week later, he and the goldfish are getting along, there is no fighting at all. Cool.
The weather is really pleasant. It isn't too hot in the daytime and the cats love it. They seem to have much more energy and they have been chasing each other all around, play chasing. Since I'm being more careful with the catdoor once Benny is in, he hasn't gotten out again. And he still comes to me in the middle of the night to sleep beside me.
I'm going to make some raisin bread.
Raisin bread is being made. I love fresh warm raisin bread, toasted with butter.
Tomorrow, we are taking my mom and my relatives up to Julian to walk around. We'll go to the little restaurant in Santa Ysabel first. Mom asked me if we are also going to "the Sticks". Maybe. I think my uncle would like to go for a ride and see where we live. It's beautiful.
october 13, 1998 Sunday we took my aunt and uncle up to the Sticks and for a ride through our back country. We had lunch at the little restaurant in Santa Ysabel. We drove to Julian, with full intentions of walking through it, but there was no place to park. It was a very busy little town. Tommy, my uncle, who is 57 years old, was excited about the sticks and the work that needs to be done. He said he would come over from England on a work program and Brian only needed to feed him one meal a day at the Santa Ysabel restaurant. It was pretty funny. The last I heard, they were going to get all of the relatives over to work on the property, but they have to bring their own rakes and shovels. *grins* And here Brian hasn't even made an offer yet.
The relatives wanted to see Las Vegas while they were here. They left yesterday morning and will be back tomorrow. Of course, my job is to take care of the cats. The dog is in a kennel. Mom, who lives in a mobile home, called me before they left and said that Missy had gotten out. Mom keeps her in at night now, because of the coyotes. I told Brian that I would hang around mom's house until Missy came in. I went over there at five pm, didn't leave until nine. Missy wasn't coming in. She ran from me every time I went to touch her. Her first hiding spot was on a steep bank. Which I climbed. I have no idea what I stepped on, but I think I broke it. Missy was kind of surprised to see me up there, with her, holding out her brush. She loves to be brushed, but I found out, outdoors wasn't the right place to try. She ran from me. I ended up going down the bank on my butt. I left a trail of broken iceplant behind. This went on for hours. I didn't go up the bank again, but she didn't hide out there, either. I tried tuna with no luck. I sat in the house with the tv on, doors wide open, hoping she would come in. Nope. But Patch, her half sister did. And Patch doesn't normally come into the house. Finally, after eight, I think I started to wear Missy down. I had called Brian a couple of times to let him know my progress. He had gotten all of the cats in and Benny did his amazing escape act. Three times. Benny wouldn't even come to Brian. Why Brian didn't block the catdoor after the first escape, I have no idea. *sigh* I wanted to go home, I wanted Missy to come in, I wanted Benny to come in. Finally, I sat on the back steps to mom's place and talked to Missy and explained the situation to her. Then I got up and she ran under mom's car. I got on my hands and knees, brush in hand and tried to pet her with it. She moved out of reach. I knew if I went to the other side, she would run back around the house. Which she did. Finally, I saw her in the back yard, said a little prayer to St. Francis, the patron saint of animals, please let me get her in, and lo and behold, when I saw her back on the driveway side and talked to her, she got up from her sitting position, stretched and layed down in front of me. I tentatively touched her, then petted her. ("Thank you, St. Francis", I breathed.) Then put both of my hands on her and picked her up, scratching her head. No problem at all. I took her in, held her while I shut all of the doors, put her down where she stuck her butt in the air and let me scratch her backside. Then she sauntered into the kitchen, nibbled on the tuna, looked over her shoulder at me, her eyes got really big, as if to say WHO the hell are YOU? and off she ran into the living room. I didn't care. My work was done. I knew she would be safe inside from the coyotes looking for a meal outside.
I called home, told Brian I had finally caught her and was on my way. I closed up the house, walked around mom's property, closing all of the gates I had opened and relocked the front gate. I got in the truck, started it up, backed up and came on home. I carefully pulled into our driveway, watching out for OC and Angus, who Brian had already fed. I went inside and asked if Benny was in yet. Nope. I went out back, called him and he came running up to me. I picked him up, snuggled my nose into his fur, gave him some kisses and brought him into the house. I checked the computer and my connection had been broken sometime while I was gone (it does that on occasion) and I had to redial in. The first line was busy, so I called the backup line, got right on. Darnit. I wondered how long I was offline. All of that time and the catcam wasn't uploading. I had stripped the bed earlier in the day, and hadn't put the clean sheets on yet. Neither had Brian. I grabbed a set out of the closet and started to put them on. I had Pepper, Mickey, and Lisa helping. I didn't need any help. Brian came in when I had the top sheet on and said "why didn't you tell me you were doing this?" and he helped me finish it off. There was a big lump on his side, though. My side was nice and smooth. He picked up the comforter and removed the lump from the bed. Lisa ran off into the other room.
I came back into the office to see if the newest postcards were working yet, which they weren't. Brian asked if I would like some ice cream, and not having had any dinner, I said sure. He brought it in, I surfed a little while I ate the dessert. Then I heard him start up the shower, since we don't sleep on clean sheets with dirty bodies. He went to bed, I took my shower, came back to the office and closed the system down. Then I went to bed.
I'm tired and achy right now. And the guy for the loan is coming over this evening. *yawn* I want to relax. I have to cat sit through tomorrow and then Friday (my birthday), we are going to Disneyland until Sunday. (No catcam til at least Sunday, I don't leave the office open at night or while we are gone overnight. The cats can do too much damage peeing on things.) Then it will be Halloween. When did my life get so full? After my birthday, I'll start working on Sam and Lisa's honeymoon. I have a great idea for it.
Well, I'm going to go make coffee and start doing a little cleaning before Joe comes over tonight. I just want to sleep.
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