Wednesday, September 01, 1999 Aw, September. Back to school, the nights are cooling off, the days are getting shorter, the shadows longer.... I love this time of year. It's always been my favorite. To me, autumn is the time of new beginnings. Most likely due to the early years of summer vacation going into new friends, new teachers, new schools, so much new in my life all at the same time. I loved school, I loved learning, it was a good time for me. I love the change of season (something we don't see much of here), the coolness and crispness of the air. It's good convertible weather, cool wind in the face, the sun not so draining. It's invigorating. I even love the way the heat is now here in Southern California. Still hot, but not quite so hot as it had been. Time for me to work seriously on my tan, last chance before our October Disneyland trip. And usually by this time of year, the humidity lessens and the air just feels good. I love it, it makes me nostalgic. It's the time of year when we get ready for Halloween (our big holiday because of the cats, we decorate the entry way for that one special night) and then before you know it, it's Thanksgiving, then Christmas. Ah, I love the fall.
When Brian came home yesterday, he was raring to go to CostCo to get the stuff we needed. And stop by the pet store for kitten food for Jackie. I had on sweats and an old shirt and I had to change. I put on a pair of denim shorts and zipped them up. No problem. And the waistband wasn't cutting into me. Wow!! I'm amazed. I think the new exercise bike is helping alot. On the way over, at a stop sign, Brian opened his door, then reclosed it. I made this really stupid surprised look on my face and held it until he looked at me. He finally did and he said, "WHAT?" I started giggling, then full on laughing. He said "you're really weird, you know that?" I said "you knew that when you married me." To which he replied "No, I thought you were different. There's a difference between different and weird." Then he thought about it. "Well, yeah, maybe you were weird, I just didn't know how bad you were." I thought this was really funny. After we finished with our shopping, Brian asked what was for dinner and we ended up at Home Town Buffet. He had to hit the ATM, because between us, we only had three dollars and change. We use to eat much more than we do now, I'm proud of us. On the way over there, it dawned on me. I hadn't eaten all day. Boy, I love it when that happens. I completely forget about food. Not that I think about it alot, but when I get bored, I will munch. One of the reasons we don't keep junk in the house. A month or so ago, we got these "energy pills" at CostCo, they have herbs and bee pollen in them. They work as long as I remember to take them. I also take one of those over-the-counter diet drugs. They never worked by themselves, but they seem to work in conjunction with the "natural" pills. Whatever, it's sure nice to think "I forgot to eat!" Going like this, I should probably be fitting back into my jeans by October, maybe even have them a little baggy. I wonder what that would be like? The only baggy pants I have are my sweats. Boy, it would be nice to fit comfortably into nice clothes again. Stretchy stuff bothers me because it stretches out of shape.
This morning, Rusty told me something very enlightening. I was a little put out with him, because last night on the couch, he was laying on me and decided he had to pee. So, he stood up and went on me. (Well, now you know firsthand that it's better to be pissed off than pissed on....*snicker*) I pushed him off of the couch and took the light blanket I had on me into the laundry room and went into the bathroom and cleaned myself off. I think he's getting a little senile. He doesn't do this all of the time, though. I think he might just get so relaxed and happy that he forgets about going into the litter box. Since he's been doing this for over ten years, I think it also has something to do with the time he got caught in the garage door (he was stuck at the top when it closed, never let out a meow at all) and the other time when the dog behind us grabbed him and bruised him (his poor belly was all purple). We think that Rusty was headed under the fence when the dog made his move. That's the same dog that broke Holly's back. Rusty's sixteen years old, I'm not going to get real upset when he has an accident. I'm just glad I have him. Sometimes, when I go to bed, Rusty comes with me and has to get up in my face. When my nose is a little stuffy, I have a hard enough time breathing, but with him laying right there, it's almost impossible. So, I turn the other way and face the edge of the bed. Then, when he scootches against me, I scootch away. I do this in my sleep and wake up right on the railing. This doesn't please me. I will roll over, pick him up, and move him. Of course, he sees this as "mom's awake!! time for love!!" and the whole thing starts over again. Well, Brian wasn't in bed. He was on the couch. I got up and looked for him and he told me that I was snoring. Okay, so I snore. I've always snored. Way back when, before Brian, at my boyfriend's house, I would fall asleep on the couch and he and his roommate always teased me about how loud I was. Well, fine, at least I don't wet the bed. And I certainly don't do it on purpose. So, anyway, Rusty tells me something this morning. He told me that Brian promised him a can of tuna a day if he would drive me crazy. Brian promised this because Brian has tried to make me nuts for almost fifteen years now with no success. As I disclosed this conversation to Brian on our way into the exercise room, he just smiled and shook his head. "He told you that, huh?"
Jackie seems to like the kitten food. I put it in a separate bowl for him, like Georgie's prescription food. The problem is that Jackie doesn't realize this yet. I put the bowl near him, but he runs off from it. So, I have to toss a trail of kibble to the bowl. Hopefully, he'll start associating the shaking of the bowl to the food. I have the Video Catnip tape in right now, he's watching it. I think keeping him awake during the day as much as possible, helps at night. He is definitely not as vocal and he hasn't been climbing the windows and screens. Okay, so you already know why Brian was on the couch last night. He told me this morning, he was laying there, Pepper had pretty much been with him all night and he saw Jackie by his foot, sniffing his toes. Well, for some reason, Brian moved his toes about an inch. He said Jackie jumped up (as only kittens can do), up and back. He must have leaped four feet from where he had been. Brian said it was so funny. As we watched Jackie make his way into the garage this morning, Brian pointed out how long Jackie's tail is. It's longer than his body. And this morning, I was able to put my hands along his sides, feeling the shape of his ribcage. It feels like Maggie's. I'm sure that this little boy has a lot of Maine Coon in him. I was sure that Blackie was a Maine Coon, too. But this ribcage thing is something I've only heard of in Maine Coons. The ribcage seems to be triangular, which would make sense for a cat that had evolved in the snow. That's the reason for the differing lengths of fur on the belly. Brian hope that Jackie's fur stays pretty much like it is now. His pantaloons and armpits long, the fur behind his ears long and his tail long and the rest stay short. It would look neat. I think he's going to be a large cat, too. Blackie was a big guy and he didn't have the best care in the world. Jackie will. Last night, Jackie tried to play with Ciara, but she decided she wasn't having any of it. Big baby.
We finally got a new garage door opener on the shop door. The other one has had intermittent problems and the garage door people always say it's because the garage door is too heavy for the opener. Brian always said well how come it worked before? Anyway, the guy hit the button on the remote for the door to close. I freak, hey, there could be cats in there, gotta make sure they don't run under the door!! I push the button to stop the opener. Turns out, that's what he wanted to show me. There's a sensor at the bottom and if anything breaks it while the door is going down, the door stops. Cool.
After I realized that Brian wasn't in bed and I found where he was, I climbed back into bed. Within minutes, I heard a repetitive sound coming from my bathroom. It sounded like one of those small, hard rubber balls being batted around in the tub. I listened, listened, then I heard too much noise for it to be a hard rubber ball being batted around in the tub. I get out of bed, drag myself down the hall, into the bathroom. I turn on the light. One of the closet doors is open, toilet cleaner and hair conditioner and Caruso curlers laying all over the floor. Miss Innocent looks up at me with her big blue eyes. "Hi, Mom!! I didn't do this, honest, I was just walking by the door and it opened and all of this stuff fell out." Yeah, right. I picked it all up and put it back. Then went back to bed and Ciara followed. Back to sleep.
Well, I guess I should start doing my daily work. Whatever that is. *grins*
Thursday, September 02, 1999 Geez, I just hate it when I type a bunch of stuff then carelessly close without saving. I did it again this morning. Maybe one of these days I'll remember to save as I go along. After each paragraph. Like right now.
Okay, where was I? Or better yet, where did I start? Oh, yeah. I think I remember. Remember how happy I was when I got the RealJukeBox? I had emailed everyone I know telling them about what a great product it was? Well, it was a good idea, but it always froze my system. This was before I upgraded to my current system. I contacted their tech support to see what the problem was and I found out my system wasn't good enough for the player. Okay, I guess that's just how it is. So, after I upgraded, I never reloaded it. Just never got around to it. So, on Monday, I'm reading the local paper and there's an article about a different jukebox player, but the company is much smaller than RealAudio, the place that puts out the RJB. I didn't see anything in there about getting it online, just mentioned how it came bundled with other programs. But it had my interest in online music again, so I got my RealAudio G2 going and went over to a local light jazz station, KiFM and went to the page for the internet radio. They advised getting the Windows Media Player, said it was much better than RealAudio and it was free. So, I click on the WMP button, was whisked off to the MicroSoft site and I started the download. While waiting, I checked out some of the other stuff they had listed and one was a link to the MusicMatch site. Huh. I'll be darned. So, I click on the link and let my fingers do the walking. I checked out the site, liked what I saw, bought and downloaded the player. I didn't have to buy one, they have a free player, but I like all the bells and whistles. So, I got it set up, started saving CD sounds onto my harddrive. And I like it. I like it alot. I just had to tell them and I sent them an email. Here's part of the mail:
"As I write this, I am listening to Steely Dan (Do It Again) while the MusicMatch is recording the Alan Parsons Project.... I'm happy. I'm smiling. I'm waxing nostalgic. The sun is shining, the day is warm, the breeze comes through the windows and I'm listening to favorite oldies on my computer and the mouse still moves. *grins* Does it get any better than this?"
This was the response I got this morning:
"Hi Lisa,
It was great to read your email. Pure poetry. I have to say that putting people in the mood you described was exactly what we were hoping for when we started up MusicMatch in the first place!
Have a great day yourself, and thanks,
- Dennis"
Dennis is the CEO.
Yesterday, I received another email that had good news. I thought. But it wasn't so good after all, at least not yet. The place that hosts LV Designs said they had to move LV Designs to a different server for technical reasons, but that it was a better server. They had moved all of my files for me. Well, that's real nice, but none of my cgi programs work. The counters don't work, the forums don't work, the chatrooms don't work.... I'm not a happy camper. I sent a mail last night as I found each program that didn't work. I quit after three mails. This morning, I sent one email with all the programs listed that weren't working. I wish he would get back with me. It would be a considerate thing to do.
Jackie has been here a week and not a peep out of him last night. No night cruising, no pawing at the window and no crying. He's starting to settle in nicely. I was able to get a kitten dose of Advantage on him yesterday and I found at least ten fleas in the process of dying. He must have been covered with them. When Advantage is first applied to a flea ridden cat, the skin twitches and jumps as the fleas start to die. I think they must start a feeding frenzy or just start running through the fur. I know how much I hate it when there's a flea in my hair. Drives me nuts til I find it and kill it. I hope we got him before we have another flea problem with the other animals. We haven't had a flea in this house since Blackie came back from being shaved and bathed.
I'm going to set up his page this morning. Or try to, anyway. It's about time he was listed. *grins* Now that I finally have a passable picture of him.
Recall that Brian made our Disneyland reservations last month? The rooms are $171 a night. Yesterday, we get our quarterly Disneyland Annual Passholder Newsletter. For the time period between August 29th (gee, we missed that date, didn't we?) and December 16, you can stay at the Disney Pacific (where we have reservations, we like it better than the Disneyland Hotel itself since the DH got rid of all of the villas and went highrise) for $109 a night, Sunday through Thursday, and $149 a night for Friday and Saturday. Well, spit, we're gonna be there on a Saturday and a Sunday, so I called yesterday and changed it. It's a savings of $84. That will pay for the petsitter. Yay. This was good news.
My flash attachment didn't show up yesterday and it dawned on me this morning that a program I ordered on August 18 isn't here yet, either. Guess it's time to do some checking around.
Friday, September 03, 1999 I was right about Jackie's age. He lost a canine tooth last night. I found it. It's so cute!! This happens between four and sixth months of age. Kittens are supposed to have all of their adult teeth at seven months old. Each day, just a little, I'm able to pet him more often. And he and Ciara had a little tiff yesterday, this is good. At least they aren't ignoring one another.
I put Advantage on all the cats with the exception of Annie, Lonee and Red. When I was on the floor yesterday, a adult flea jumped on me. I know that it came from Jackie, but I don't know if it was dying. So, to prevent an infestation, I got them all. The three that I didn't get don't usually lay where Jackie's been, so hopefully I won't have to do them. Fingers crossed.
My new flash attachment got here yesterday (yay!) and so did the graphics program I ordered. Nice mail day.
Georgie got in a lot of trouble last night. He went after one of the other cats, big time. I did the Feliway on a tissue and made him sniff it for about thirty seconds. Then we let him go back outside. I hate it when he's so wound up. We got him in at bedtime.
And sleeping has gotten much better since Jackie has settled in. And the nights are cooler. Good sleeping weather. Yeah!
Sunday, September 05, 1999 I've spent the past two nights sleeping on the couch. Brian hurt his shoulder somehow Thursday (I think) and it's really painful. So that he could get a better night's rest, I'm not sleeping in bed. The cats aren't as obnoxious when I'm not in there. But I did go in before I was ready to sleep and Brian's legs were hanging over the edge of the bed, out of the sheet. And who should I see, pressed along Brian's lower legs? The very same cat that pushes me out of bed. Rusty. It's really difficult to make Brian understand that if he works his shoulder, it won't get better any more quickly. He needs to let it heal. And then he gets grouchy because he gets squirmy, gets bored watching television, wants to do something. *sigh*
It looks like LV Designs is down this morning. Grrr...
Friday night, we had swiss steak. I made it in the crockpot and I should have been able to sense that there was something wrong with Brian. He said the meat had no flavor and I ended up splitting it between the cats. Yesterday, I baked chicken with this really yummy recipe I saw on tv years ago. You take a pan and coat it with olive oil, place the chicken breasts in it, cover them with tomato sauce, squeeze the juice of a lemon over it and sprinkle them with basil. The directions call to cook uncovered in a hot oven (400). I usually cook it slower and covered, because I use frozen chicken breasts to start with. It's really good. I serve it with spaghetti (tossed with butter and parsley), putting the chicken and sauce on the pasta. I prefer to have spinach as a vegetable (cooked with butter and lemon juice), but we didn't have any. :-( Well, I made three breasts, because I usually save the last one and freeze everything for a complete, microwaveable meal. Darned if Brian didn't finish everything. It's been a while since he's emptied the pots and pans. He asked if there were more vegetables and I said yes. He went into the kitchen, saw the meat, saw the pasta and put it all on his plate. Gee, I guess he was really hungry. :-0
Jackie is getting less and less afraid of my hands. This morning, he was actually playing with my fingers when I wiggled them, not running off. Hopefully, he'll realize that they aren't a weapon. I know he lets me pet him and stroke him, but I'm looking forward to not having him cringe when my hand comes at him. A couple of times, he caught himself, though, he was going to rub up against my legs. Same thing with Red. Red has never rubbed against me when I was standing and he almost has a couple of times this past week. More progress, completely unexpected.
I have a bunch of stuff to wash today. Towels, clothes. Yawn. Laundry isn't the most fun thing in the world.
Monday, September 06, 1999 Well, I didn't get any laundry done yesterday. I had the load of towels in, did the double rinse thing, went into put them into the drier and they were still pretty damp (wet). I noticed last week that the washer didn't seem to be spinning on a regular basis, but I put them through the spin cycle again. Doesn't work. Great. Well, I just renewed the warranties on the washer and drier last weekend, looks like I'm glad I did. Brian said I should probably go over and use my mom's washer (she rarely uses her drier because of the $$ to run it). I told him that he's gonna have to quit wearing three pairs of socks a day. (He really does, no lie. Makes me crazy. He puts on a clean pair to exercise, then he needs two more clean pair that he wears with his boots.) Of course, it'a a holiday weekend, so I can't call until tomorrow. Spit.
Yesterday, I really had a hankering for brownies, found a recipe for "double chocolate" brownies. Didn't have any chocolate chips, so I went to the store. Got the chips and some other stuff we needed, came home and put all the stuff away. Brian says "I thought you were gonna make brownies" well, I thought he was gonna go to the store. At least, that's what he said Saturday night. He didn't though and so much for "three's a crowd". I can't believe how long the lines were. The ice cream was soft by the time I got to the cashier. And on the way out, some guy asked me to sign a petition for Indian gaming. That whole thing really ticked me off. The people of California said "okay, let them game, let them have their video poker, it provides jobs and is doing a great job of helping the reservations prosper". I'm all for it. Then, the gov steps in says "no, no, no, what they are doing is against state law"....state law, schmate law, I thought they were a sovereign nation, let them be. Haven't we, the "white man" done enough to the Native Americans already? Hell, we took everything they owned, let them have gambling if they want, I don't see what the big whoop is about it. Unless it's those monied twits in Vegas, afraid that they're losing big bucks to the reservations. So, I signed this guy's petition, he says "why don't you just leave the stuff in the cart and leave the cart by your car like I do?" I swear, I almost hit the guy with his petition board. I said "have you noticed that it's the people who are in shape that are lazy and don't take their carts back and the overweight people (like me) do?" I'm one of those people that thinks it would be great if you had to pay a deposit, say a buck, for a cart. Then, when you took your cart back to where it belonged (not next to my truck, just sitting there waiting for someone to push it into the truck and give me a nice dent or ding) you would get your dollar back. And if the dollar didn't matter to you, then there would be kids that would push it back. Heck, a dollar is a dollar. I remember collecting bottles for deposits for extra money when I was a kid. Easy money. Anyway, I was yelling at this guy all the way back to my truck. The bags were too full, should have been double bagged and they were starting to rip. Grrr....
Well, I finally made the brownies and talk about chocolate overload. Brian asked me "do you think maybe these are too chocolatey?" Yes, I do. So, I'm gonna split them up, freeze them and we can warm them up and serve them with ice cream on top. That should cut down on the overload. I'm sure it didn't help that I didn't eat anything of substance yesterday. I was sick to my stomach last night. This morning, I woke up with the little headache men in my head. You know, the little guys with the hammers just banging away against your brain and skull. That's why I take Exedrin, because Robert Urich said it's for those "full on bangeroo headaches". That's what I've got, for sure, those little men are in there shouting "BANGEROO!!!" everytime they make contact with a part of my inner head.
Brian is working on a scale model of our new home. Since he had those ants in his pants, I figured that working with small pieces of wood wouldn't hurt him. He was working on it until long after dark last night. He enjoys working on it.
I got to sleep in bed last night and it was a good night's sleep. Except for those little hammering men this morning.
I can't believe how much it's cooled off. I've been wearing long sleeves and Brian had been wearing a flannel shirt at night. I just know it's because of the catnip I planted. The weather cooled off earlier this year when I originally planted the garden.
Jackie is fitting in so well. And I was able to go up to him quite a few times yesterday and he didn't run off. Just laid there and stretched and purred while I stroked him. This morning, he came looking for me. Right now, he's playing with a hard little ball in the hallway, hitting it and bouncing it off of the baseboard. It bounces nicely, which the cats like. And he's starting to respond to his name. What a little cutie....
Ahh....the Exedrin is working......those little men aren't hammering quite so hard.....
I'm really hungry right now. I want bacon and eggs for breakfast, but Brian's still sleeping. I don't want to fix breakfast until he's ready for it. I wonder how this NutroMax kitten kibble tastes? It's smelling pretty good....... Oh, hey, Brian's awake!! I tell him I'm sick to my stomach, my head hurts.... I need food. He said go ahead and start breakfast, I'll be up. And make potatoes he calls out..... yum!!
Oh, I got the mailbag page up. Made a new background for it. Now, I feel like doing more backgrounds.
Tuesday, September 07, 1999 I called Sears this morning before 6:30 and they'll have someone out tomorrow to fix the washer as well as look at the light in the dryer. It keeps burning out. I stopped replacing it a couple of years ago when it lasted for a week at the most.
Yesterday, I was able to get instructions for limiting the length of the subject lines at the Cat Fights board. It annoys me to no end when people post novels in the subject line and post nothing in the message area.
I can't find the darn film for the fax machine. It looks like I'll have to tear the closet apart. I hate it when I do this. What a mess and what a hassle.
I haven't exercised yet. After I get done with this, I'll do that. I guess I should do the dishes and some housework. I'd rather go back to sleep.
Wednesday, September 08, 1999 Well, now I wait for the repairman. The laundry is piling up. At least Brian hasn't complained about not having socks. *grins* They were supposed to call before nine this morning, but didn't. A little after ten, the phone rings and it was a reporter from the Wall Street Journal (remember my email to Music Match? Well, the WSJ is doing an article on PCs and music and the people at Music Match asked if I was interested in talking to the reporter; I said sure, they emailed him, he emailed me, I sent him my phone number and he called, we talked for over thirty minutes). After he hung up, I waited for about fifteen minutes and called Sears. They won't be out until late this afternoon, 4:45-6:45. I hope it's not the later part. I worry about the out front cats.
This morning, I saw that the cats were playing with something in the backyard. Lonee was having a great time. I go outside to see what it was and they had a young rat. I picked the thing up by the tail and put it over the back fence. I thought the cats over there would be done with breakfast by now and the rat could get away. Wrong. I looked over and a tortie had the rat in her mouth and was scurrying off. Oh, well, better it be somebody's lunch than die from being a toy. I look out a little while later and Lonee was playing again. I check it out, this time it's a dead rat. I've not seen two in the yard in the same day and I'm thinking the new dog next door (the house that has the visiting cats) has something to do with it. The beagles are hopeless at rat catching/chasing. I don't know who this dog is, but it's a beautiful dog.
Sears just called, the repairman should be out in thirty minutes. Good deal.
The weather has been unseasonably cool this past week and it's starting to warm up again. After the Sears guy leaves, I think I'll go lay out in the sun. Except it's starting to cloud up. Darn it, what's the deal with the weather?
I made one of those frozen dinners for the skillet in the crockpot yesterday, one where you just add chicken. Don't do it. Prepared dinners that are to be made in a skillet should be made in a skillet. It was terrible. It was edible, but gross. Hard to explain, but it won't be a repeat in this house. There was a lot of chicken left over, Brian rinsed it off and I split it up between the inside cats and the outfront cats. The outfront cats really liked it.
The washer if fixed and has a load in it. Yay!!
Geez, it's after noon already. Guess I should wash last night's dishes.
Friday, September 10, 1999 We had a little rain yesterday. :-0
Geez, it's almost 11:30 and I've been trying to write in here since before 8 this morning. Busy, busy morning.
Okay, first thing I did was post a survey that I got in the mail over at Benny's forums. It's a "getting to know you" survey. Feel free to answer it, if you like.
My mom stopped by to show me a letter one of my American relatives had sent her about a family reunion next year. So, I have to respond with our regrets. Mom hadn't seen our house since before it was painted and I could hear her exclaiming about how nice it was before she even got into the yard. *grins*
I spent most of yesterday doing laundry. What fun. I got it washed, dried, folded and put away. I think the dryer vent has a buildup of lint and Wednesday night, I said something to Brian about blowing it out with the compressor. He didn't go for that idea, thought it would be easier to pull the lint out with some tool he has. It didn't work. So, yesterday, I tried the toilet snake down the lint hose and I think that loosened some of the lint, then I got the compressor hose and dragged it to the laundry room and blew it out myself. It worked much better. Of course, I didn't tell Brian I did that. He'll find out when he sees that the compressor attachment is different than the one he had on it.
The cats had a couple of rats again yesterday. I was able to save one, but not the other. Boy, Lonee's feralness sure comes back with rodents.
Jackie is getting more and more used to me. And this morning, Brian was able to touch him, but Jackie backed away. A couple of times I've been able to just walk up to him and start petting him. And last night in the garage, he almost rubbed up against me. This cat trust is a hard thing to earn, as we found out with Red and Lonee.
Well, now it's after one. Geez, where is the day going?
The catnip is coming up nicely in the garden. Lots of little sprouts all over. I took my mom back there this morning and asked if she would like some tomatoes. She said sure and said "hey, look at this big one!!" and started to reach for it. I yell NO because that's the first big one we've had that's almost ripe. We get the first one. *grins* I think I kind of startled her.
The darn dog next door has been howling a lot. I bet it's one of the cats. Last night, Chaplin was in front of our house, ready for dinner. He ran when he saw me, odd thing, he ran to the wrong side of the yard. I hope these guys are okay until they find a decent home. I see that their daughter's dog is now living there. I bet mom is having a fit. She's not really an animal person, as I mentioned before. Now, in addition to her own two dogs (which she's said she wouldn't have if she had her way) she has three cats in the yard and a large, rambunctious dog. And her daughter and her grandson. A full house.
Pepper seemed to be under the weather for a while, but has been feeling better. Yesterday, I noticed that she's missing one of her canine teeth. I don't remember if the vet had pulled it, but I don't think that's one that they took. Boney and Lucky are both missing canine teeth. I know that one of the cats had a canine pulled. Maybe I should go look in some mouths. I just did and it must have been her that lost the canine. Hmmm.....
Well, I guess I just can't seem to concentrate on the diary today... too many interruptions, I guess.
Saturday, September 11, 1999 Well, I had a *little* excitement yesterday. Yesterday afternoon, I got an email asking if it would be okay if my website (the catcam in particular) could be shown on the Roseanne Show. Of course, I get all excited, say yes. Then I get an email with a permission file attached, I fill it out and send it back. I post about it at Acme. One of the posters mentioned the fact that Roseanne hates cats and makes no bones about it. I try to think of what she could possibly say to upset me, when talking about my site. The gears start turning in my head. I don't like what I'm thinking. I don't watch Roseanne, so she's an unknown quantity. Yes, I have seen parts of her show and I know she can be extremely mean spirited, thinking it's humorous. I email the woman who originally emailed me. I tell her my concerns and that I don't want my website being used as an object of derision. I explain that I've already given permission. She finally emailed me back and said not to worry, that I had her word that they wouldn't use my site. She said she had never even thought of the fact that Roseanne is afraid of cats. She said she had two cats of her own and understood my concerns. The Roseanne would in all probability say something mean about my site. I also sent a follow up email rescinding permission to the other address I had. Top priority.
I just walked into the garage to get some food for the outback cats and slipped in a pile of cat puke. If Rusty eats too fast at night, it comes right back up and he goes to another bowl and eats more, which stays down. I was able to somewhat regain my balance, so the fall wasn't as bad as it could have been. I'm gonna have a big bruise on my leg and man, the palm of my hand hurts from trying to block the fall. And to add insult to injury, I take the food out back, dump it over the fence, look at the garden and check out the tomato I kept mom from taking yesterday and IT'S GONE!! I bet Buddy ate it. Well, hopefully the crummy part of the day is over.
I forgot to mention this when it happened, but one night last week, Benny was able to get out of the house at night through the hole OC made in the screen. When I moved the catcam and changed the chair, I had to (darnit, my hand hurts!! ouwwy I probably bruised it, do palms of hands bruise, I wonder?) move the cat scratching post that was behind it. I moved it to in front of the door. Not even thinking about the screen. So, what I had been doing was partially shutting the sliding door so that the hole was covered up. Without any problems since and not seeing Benny in here trying, I left the door opened all of the way last night. Around ten o'clock, I went out to see what the heck Buddy was barking at (probably protecting his tomato from Junior...grrrr) and there was Benny. I picked him up and brought him in. My fault, I didn't cover the hole in the screen.
So, after the discussion about Roseanne and my continued proclamations that I am not a cat, I did this little picture to prove my point...
Scary, isn't it?
In one of my catalogs, they offered a little thing that you put in water, plug it in and it vaporizes the water. Just what we need for Halloween. This thing cost about seventy dollars and the dry ice usually runs us fifty. So, after using this for two years, it's paid for itself. I also ordered a skull that has a microphone. The microphone has the ability to change your voice. I thought it would be great for the cemetary. Brian told me that we aren't buying candy this year, not the bags of it. He said we will give out full sized bars, one to each kid. That should make it much easier than bagging up so many different ones. Probably will cost less, too.
lisaviolet is seventy 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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