Cats and Old Cars

After I went to bed last night, Dan caught these two acting like friends...



I'm glad he got a picture of it. Seems they only act this way when I'm not looking.

My old '93 Beretta is getting tired. The 'low coolant' light came on yesterday morning as I headed to work. Dan checked it when I got home and found that the anti-freeze is leaking internally (into the engine) and has started mixing with the motor oil which now looks like chocolate syrup.

I figured I'd just take his pick-up to work this morning but it wouldn't start last night. He worked on it for a bit to see if he can keep it running long enough to go get parts to fix my car. No go as of this moment. He'd been up all night so he's taking a nap now. And I'm not at work which is where I need to be, especially since the cut in hours this month.

Three vehicles sitting here and not one is drivable.

*sigh*

What a Lousy Day

Today was one of those days where you wish you'd stayed in bed. Got to work this morning and found out they've cut my hours. I'm down to only 3 days per week. This gave me a miserable headache and when I tried to buy some Excedrin (only thing that helps) I saw that all of it had been recalled.

Lots of slobs at the store today. I lost count of how many times I had to pick up their messes in the shoe dept.

I was exhausted when I got home so I took a nap. Steve slept with me on the couch. All of a sudden, he jumps up and goes and pees on the rug in the corner of the livingroom. I grabbed him, stuck his nose in it and yelled at him. He took off out the cat door and I haven't seen him since.

When I started cleaning up his mess I found a puddle of water under my bathroom sink. The drain has corroded (sp) clean through and the water was pouring out under the sink.

Then, I put the rug in the tub to soak with some baking soda and vinegar. When I tried to drain the tub, it was clogged.

I'm going to run away now.

Such a Good Little Mouser

Last night I was on the computer 'playing' with Paint Shop Pro when Gary decided he liked the looks of my mouse pad and thought it would be a good place to relax for a bit.



I didn't have the heart to make him move, so he stayed put.



Since I couldn't use the mouse pad I brought the mouse down to my leg and was trying to use it that way. It didn't work very well but the movement of the cord caught Gary's attention. He started grabbing at it and tried to chew the cord. Eventually I just gave up and put the mouse back on the desk and Gary 'captured' it.

Hmmmmm....

I don't think he likes it here. What do you think?

Schedule Shenanigans, Rain & Steve

It seems whomever made out the schedule made some errors and mine has been corrected. Haven't spoken to the manager but when I checked online this morning my hours had been put back to what they are supposed to be. Thank goodness.

It's been raining for two days. I need to get some things done outside before Winter hits and I should have done it Monday when the weather was nice. But I procrastinated...again.

Looks like we've got another kitty. Steve has decided that this is his new home and who am I to argue with him? He really is a sweetie. And a bit of a pig.

Definitely not a house cat

Steve came into the house the other day through the cat door, looked around the breezeway, then immediately turned around and left. Guess he's not ready to trust us just yet. He appears to be feral but does have his moments. He lets us pet him and seems to enjoy our company but every time we approach him he appears frightened at first and cries up a storm.

I didn't see him for three days last week and was worried about him.

(Just what I need) :o)

He and Gary will occupy the backyard at the same time but Gary growls at him...a lot! Steve is a much bigger kitty than Gary and I hope they continue to 'tolerate' each other. Don't want any cat fights.

Say hello to Steve!

There's something about me that seems to draw in homeless, hungry kitties. They always seem to find their way here and since I'm a sucker for their furry faces, they always get fed.

This is Steve. He's been hanging around since April and has decided he likes it here. Of course, getting free food ain't so bad, either. (He loves chicken.)



Gary doesn't like him...growls at him all the time but so far, no fighting. Here's Steve looking into the kitchen window:



He doesn't let us pick him up. I tried the other day and got my arms and hands clawed pretty badly. He's a cutey.

Gary, the Weather and Eagles

The medicine seems to have helped Gary. He's doing much better. He's an indoor-outdoor cat but while he was sick I kept him inside. He did not like this one bit and made sure we knew his feelings. I didn't sleep much for several nights.

The weather has finally cooled down a bit. It is 84 degrees today but the humidity is down so it's not miserable out there. I opened the windows for the first time in maybe two weeks.

I'm really looking forward to Wednesday. The Wildlife Center of Virginia will be releasing the 3 Eaglets from the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. It has also been announced this morning that 2 more young Eagles will be released at the same time. They plan on streaming live video of the event and I'll be glued to the computer all day.

Female - Oldest - Designated NZ (leg band)

Female - Middle Child - Designated NX (leg band)

Male - The Baby - Designated NV (leg band)

I've Got a Very Sick Kitty

Gary had been coughing for several days. I was hoping he'd be able to fight it off without having to take him to the Vet. He's done it in the past but this time he just seemed to get continually worse.

Yesterday I took him in first thing in the morning and found out he has pneumonia. The poor baby. Man, do I feel like a bad meowmie. He was so good at the Vet's and he's pretty easy to give medication to. He's probably the best-behaved kitty I've ever had. I'm pretty worried about him now but at least he's still eating and drinking...that's always a good sign.

Get well soon Gary.

Winter Coats

Even though I've been looking forward to fall this year, mainly because it's been such a horribly hot and humid summer, it's still a bit depressing. The Hummingbirds left two weeks ago. The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are gone. No more Orioles or Cedar Waxwings (which I never got a decent shot of) and I haven't seen any Robins in a while.

There's no shortage of Chickadees and Goldfinch, though.



And I see a lot of Tufted Titmice.



The male Goldfinch are no longer a bright yellow like they were during the Summer months. They've put on their winter coats and look almost as drab and dull as the females.



I was out working in the yard today and could hear gun shots. I couldn't tell which direction they were coming from but I believe it's illegal for people to be shooting in a residential area. They'd better not be shooting my deer!

It was close enough to scare Gary. He high-tailed it into the house.

Gary

This is my kitty, Gary, spending a warm afternoon in the shade. You may think Gary is a strange name for a cat and I agree but it fits him for some reason. He came to live with us in 2002 when we adopted him from my niece. His name was Titan at the time.

Over the years we've had many pets and most of them started out with one name then ended up with another. At one time we had a German Shepherd named Fred (from the Smokey and the Bandit movies) and a cat named Sid Vicious...because he always attacked our ankles. My cat Dipstick, who lived to be 19½ years old, started out as Blizzard. But his naughty and sometimes dumb behavior brought on the name Dipstick which was inspired from the old Dukes of Hazzard show.

Gary was named after the character on Sponge Bob Square Pants. I guess he's a snail that meows. Makes perfect sense, right?






Just look at that face!



I just love this little guy so much.

Sure Wish I Could Have Kept Them...and more stuff

A week ago Wednesday I sent an email to the lady who took the two kittens. I promised her I wouldn't make a pest of myself but just wondered how they are doing and asked her if she could email a picture or two of them.

She hasn't replied.

Now, I'm scared that I should have heeded the warnings I received about giving kittens away for free, especially in October. This is going to sound weird but I guess there are cults out there who sacrifice kittens around Halloween.

I don't even want to think about it.

I've been quite busy lately. Even though my hours at the store have been slashed to the bone, I've managed to pass the time with something productive rather than worry. Sharon has been adding new stuff to her site, Crafts by Sharon, and I've been working on the PayPal portion of it, trying to figure out fair shipping fees on all the products. I really hate PayPal!

Still can't get Google to index her site. I've gone through and started validating all the pages, submitted a sitemap and done everything but get on my knees and beg. Even though no one can find her site through Google, she's still getting orders. And that's a good thing. I told her if she was indexed in Google that she'd probably have to hire someone to help her. I'm convinced that if more people saw her prices and compared them to other similar products, she'd be bombarded with orders.

I have to get busy and get Uni's site going, Uniques by Uni. I had a pretty good start on it then discovered a flaw in my design. Seems things like to stack on top of each other if the screen resolution is lower than 1024 x 768. I know why it does it and should have thought of that in the first place. But sometimes thinking hurts too much. LOL!

Mixed Emotions

It's hard to explain but I'm very happy, yet very sad at the same time. When I found those 2 kittens Sunday morning I was beside myself, wondering what on earth I was going to do. There was no way I could leave them outside alone, yet there was no way I could keep them.

I did some searching online Sunday and found several animal rescue groups in the Muskegon area. Some are so overloaded with kitties that they couldn't take anymore in but you could post an ad on their website to try to find a home for your little critters. I posted on 3 or 4 sites late Sunday night and by Monday morning I had a few emails in my inbox. All of them were from people who warned that putting ads on such sites is dangerous for the animals and irresponsible on my part.

(I guess it would have been better if I had just taken them to the pound or put them in a plastic bag with some rocks, then thrown them in a lake.)

Several phone calls came in Monday and Tuesday but all of them just wanted the male kitten. I wanted to give it time to try to find someone who would take them both so I informed the callers of this then went back to all my ads and made that clear in the wording. (I thought it was already clear but...)

When I got online Tuesday afternoon I received an email from a lady who wanted them both. We spoke on the phone and made arrangements for her to come and meet the kittens.

The lady and her teen-age daughter arrived about 8PM. I was holding the little female, whom I had named Sprinkles, when I answered the door. Just at that same time the little male came around the corner.

The kittens were to be a surprise for the daughter so she had no idea why they were here. She reached out to pet 'Sprinkles' and I said, "I was just saying goodbye to them." The girl gasped with glee because she then knew why they had come. Her mom said she kept asking where they were going and why but she wouldn't tell her anything.

They seemed very happy to have the kittens and I hope they will take good care of them. I said a little prayer as they left then went and sat down and cried like a little baby.

I don't know what it is about kittens but I just can't resist them. And I fall head-over-heels in love with every one I see. I'm weird that way.

BTW - Gary doesn't miss them one bit.

They're gone

:o(

They're NOT staying!!!

I've Gone and Done it Now

Early this morning I heard a cat fight out front. I went to the breezeway to see who my cat Gary was fighting with now and sitting there, just outside the cat door was this:



AND This:



It was one of the coldest nights we've had so far this Fall and I couldn't leave them out there.

Can you see the word "Sucker" on my forehead? Well, it's there! Now I have to find them a home. They're sleeping on my lap as I type this and God help me, I love them already.

Darn!

Here they are fighting like normal siblings:



I tried to get a cute close-up of each of their little faces but they move faster than I do!

Our Pets Really Are Part of the Family

I had to take my cat Gary to the vet this morning. A few years ago he had an intestinal blockage that was life-threatening. After several weeks of treatments and a 5-day stay at the clinic, he recovered. But the vet warned that he will have problems with this his entire life.

Yesterday, right after Gary ate he began to vomit violently and didn't stop for 10 minutes. That's one of the first signs of a blockage. I called the vet and made an appt but worried about Gary all day and night. Just like I always did when my son was sick. Some may think it's silly but I love that little guy.

The vet examined him and found him to be blockage free but I have to be sure to give him his laxative and keep him as flea-free as possible so he doesn't constantly groom himself and swallow so much fur.

Here's a picture of my little fur-butt. That used to be his favorite sleeping position. Looks a bit uncomfortable to me.