estacey
(alli took this pic at fantasy fest!)
Finally, it’s here! Target sold out of the doggy costumes long ago – they were only $9.99! So I didn’t get to get them costumes, but they still had little head-cover things, so the dogs get to be a dinosaur, a lobster and, um, I forget. I’ll get pictures, for sure.
I wanted to wear something to answer the door for the kids.. I was thinking scuba diver. Wet my hair down with conditioning oil, talk through my snorkel… Instead, I’ll be a doctor, because it’s easy and because it’ll be more comfortable – I can even wear my crocs!
On another note, I actually got up early today. Early enough to go for a run, care for the critters, even actually PET them, finish laundry, etc. It was awesome! Of course, I was still not ready when 8:30 rolled around, and ran out the door with a towel on my head, a plum in my mouth, and wet workout clothes in hand (“Do I have any in the car? Better take these in case!”). So, in related news, my car is getting seriously out of hand. It’s becoming my primary closet, I tell ya. And a drying rack as well. Whee.
OK, time to go carve a pumpkin and dress up the dogs!
On an entirely different note, this weekend we went to have drinks with a friend Chris had visiting from out of town and some of her friends. She used to live here and moved to Houston right around the time Chris & I met. At one point, it came out that she tried to get Chris to move to Texas, too, that she was trying to make it a condition of her new employment that Chris would be there as well, at x salary, etc. Luckily, he was not interested.
When this came out, just the idea of him moving.. before I even met him.. I could feel a sort of.. I dunno.. quick ache in my chest. You all know the feeling, I'm sure. I had to lean over and whisper, "I'm glad you didn't move to Houston."
Butterfly flapping its wings in China, you know; you gotta be thankful that the things that have happened and haven't happened have led us to have things in our lives that we're happy about.
Had I never found Kitten in the bushes 2+ ago, I probably never would've learned how to get my allergies in check and had these blessed little furry things around.
Had I never visited Florida as a teenager, I probably never would call this lovely (over-priced, traffic-laden, grumble, grumble) place my home.
Had Dawny's mom never called my mom and said, "Let's get these two together," I wouldn't have her as such a good friend.
I could go on and on, but I gotta go.. :)
the one on the left died on friday. dunno how or why. chris found him dead when he came home. it really seems like there is one in every litter that doesn't make it. chris looked it up online - it turns out this mortality rate is actually right-on, although lots of cats die within the first few days after birth. in any case, it was quite a bummer.
also on friday, girl kitten went home with a burly, tattoo-covered fella. he was naming her keisha. :) he called saturday to let me know all was well and she was acting like a bat out of hell. atta girl.
the dot-nose kitten stayed with us at chris's through the weekend. he's a really sweet cat - likes to be scratched, falls asleep on you, purrrrs.. we took him to animal aid last night. a volunteer was going to take him home with her until he looked better - although 9 weeks old, he was the size of a 4-5 week old kitten. :( i guess livin' outdoors gives cats parasites that drain them. i'm glad he's in good, more knowledgeable hands.
he was real cute, though - he didn't like being alone, so i took him in the house quite a bit (despite chris's no-animals-in-the-house rule). when we were gone, we'd put him in the garage with sebastian. if the dog wasn't there with him, he'd cry, but he was fine as long as he had sebastian there. i gave sebastian lots of treats as payment for babysitting.
the weekend was great. saturday it rained, so i had an excuse to stay in bed with a book and fall back asleep. sunday was gorgeous - sunny and a little cool. of course, by cool i mean that you can wear jeans comfortably. it was nice. :) did a little boat ride yesterday with gretchy - she loved it.
saturday night, we went to this place, gatsby's. they wouldn't let chris in because he was wearing a tank top. "we require that our patrons' shirts have sleeves." (unless they're women, of course.) so we walked over to kmart and picked out a $10 shirt. it said "Italian Stallion" and had a picture of a horse. the door guy was really impressed when we came walking back over.. why oh why didn't i get a picture?
now it's monday, and i'm back at work. grr.
“The Hotel Campestre might be their last hope. If the golden frogs make it, this crumbling backpackers' hangout could very well provide a revolutionary new model for handling one of the world's most endangered species.”
About a store artist at a Whole Foods Market:
Sometimes, the chalkboards become downright political. Former Whole Foods employee and painter Matt Robison, a devout vegan who’s shown a series of grotesque paintings titled “Animal Rights,” dreaded having to make drawings for the meat department of the Silver Spring Whole Foods. “When I’d have to write text like ‘tender and juicy,’ I’d just cringe,” he says. Robison’s solution was to draw the cutest, most helpless looking animals he could, to remind customers what they were eating. “I tried to be very bad at it,” he says. After a while, he just kept illustrations off his meat boards entirely, limiting himself to text.
Sorry about that; I’ve been busy, and very tired.
Let’s see.. The grey and the brown kittens went home with a lovely woman named Lauren yesterday. She is absolutely in love with them.
She also had a co-worker that was looking for a girl kitten. Since the other adoptive mom fell through, this is perfect. Even more perfect, when the woman came to meet the kitten, she fell in love with Oreo. So she’s deciding which she wants and is coming back tonight for one of them. Oreo is a great girl, but will be harder to place since she’s grown-up already.. I am so hoping she decides on Oreo! So that just leaves me Oreo, girl kitten, and two of the shed kittens. By the weekend, it’ll just be one cat at my place and the two shed kittens. After the weekend, it will just be one cat at my place, or 0 if the lady takes Oreo (since the girl kitten will be snapped up pretty quickly at Petsmart). Great, eh? I love having the babies around, as always, but it’ll be a load off my mind to have them all in loving homes. And maybe I can stop using my inhaler every night. :)
Other than that, just working. We moved into a new office, in the same building as my old one. It’s like a meat locker it’s so cold. I’m wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a blazer, socks, and boots – and I’m still freezing. My NOSE is cold. It’s so ridiculous that we have to dress like we’re in
Did I write about last weekend? Probably not much to write. Went out for drinks Friday night. I got completely bombed on TWO vodka & cranberries. I am a sad woman, but in my defense they were quite strong. Saturday we went for a jog. Then for a quick boat ride. Then I went sola for a long sail with the Grounders. Sunday I dropped Boy Kitten (now Fred) off at his new, perfect home! Then we went for a leisurely boat ride to the bookstore. Then Chris & his sister made fabulous eggplant parmesan. I had a headache for most of the weekend which sucked. I wish I could pinpoint what exactly causes them. I think it was booze the night before + jog in the sun + day on a boat in the sun. The sun is a killer.
Or, um, I guess it's Mini!
Seriously, is there any doubt who this girl's daddy was?
:D :D This pic almost made me cry!
The kittens are staying at his house until they can go to the PetSmart. Hallelujah! Keeping them at my house and not caged (so that the grey one wouldn't cry non-stop) would mean keeping them in my bathroom. And that's just no fun.
So they're in Chris's garage, being sniffed by the dogs.
How cute is this picture? This morning, they were all four sleeping on this stool, but had woken up and shaked off by the time I got the camera.
Chris helped me cart them around from outside to inside and vice versa this weekend, helped set up his garage for them (they have a crate up high-ish and a ladder to get to it, if they need time, ya know, alone).. He dealt with the crying grey kitten, played with them, dealt with the fact that Buddy barked into the night at the kittens... It was a lot of work, and not at all his responsibility, so.. yeah, it's very very very very very cool & very very very very very appreciated. :) He's not supposed to be reading this, so maybe I should send him this entry. I have offered a free kitten in exchange for all this help, but strangely he turned me down.
Lolly? Lalli? Sorry if I didn't get that right.
Anyway, you said there were too many pics of cats, so here's one of Chris. :)
they're with me at chris's house now. they get the run of the garage while the dogs are outside, and are in a crate by the pool to sleep overnight.
it's amazing how they've gone from kittens under the shed who are terrified of me to cute little cats that want to be held and petted. seriously, overnight. it's great. the grey one is adorable and cries and cries, until you hold him.
gonna put an ad for them on craigslist tomorrow, telling people to adopt them through animal aid.
Seriously, I'm not a cat lady. No, really.
I mean, I help geckos and stuff too. When I used to find them in my old office building, I'd give them drops of water and warm them up before I sent them on their way.
I like dogs. I play tug with Chris's doggy Sebastian much longer than I would like. I let Gretchy like me every now and then. I give Buddy treats even though he's a little slow and can't really follow commands.
I bring veggies over for the bunny when I remember.
Come to think of it, in my years as an amateur animal rescue person, I’ve helped and/or taken in knight anoles, a basilisk lizard, Florida tree rats, a possum, a dove, a tangled-up pelican, a crippled blackbird, a starling, mystery baby birds, mice, a beautiful one-eyed cardinal, dogs, pool-trapped frogs, tick-infested toads, a box turtle, uhh.. tarantulas (no, really).. Okay, I think that’s it. If I could just go to Australia for a while, think of how this list would expand! So anyway, it’s not all about the cats!
But, yeah, overwhelmingly it seems like my life is filled with cats.
I caught the other two cats from under the shed tonight. It was really easy. I just bribed them with wet food, then sat back until they were comfortable eating. Then I picked them up. Then they fought me, but I held on. Then the nice Indian man who owns the motel where they lived helped me put them in the cage.
And, you know, bless that family. They've been so decent to these cats. It's what everyone should do; everyone should be decent. But so many people aren't that it really seems like it's praiseworthy when someone acts with a kind heart.
So anyway, they're here in my room now. Not so happy to be in a little dog crate (I bought a collapsible one at Wal-Mart for $15 so they'd have some more room than in the good dog crate Chris loaned me), but dealing. Eating, pooping, cuddling. It's all good. I have to get them vaccinated, wait a week, then I can take them into the Petsmart to get adopted out! In the meantime, I have to do my best to convince them that humans are a-ok. I think my daily visits helped a lot, though; these guys are scared of me, yes, but shit - I got close enough to pluck them up. The other kitten that was living there when I first started feeding there honestly wouldn't let me get within 20 feet.
I'm super tired now; after catching the two little guys, I had to go to Petsmart to do litter duty. I really actually kinda enjoy that little routine.. I could go without the stinky stuff and the whole getting home so late thing, but I really.. well, I don't mind it, even when I'm tired. I guess it's good to feel useful, to feel like you're helping out. Plus, it's nice to see the cats I know, and good to see when some are gone as that may mean they were adopted out.
Sailing this weekend with the Grounders; that should be fun.
Okay, time to go in a coma for precisely six hours and 10 minutes. :)
I didn't intend to catch them yesterday, but when I went to feed them, they were RIGHT THERE. So I caught the two. One was easy, the other fought me. Then I was holding two kittens and had no idea what to do with them. Luckily, I had a box in my car that I was able to empty out one-handed and put them in it. Now I'm borrowing a crate from Chris to keep 'em in.
Tonight, I try to catch the other two. We'll see how that goes. And what do I do with them now? I have no idea.
These guys are very scared. Not mean at all, luckily, but terrified. I feel bad that I took them away from their mama, but it'll be for the best, we all hope.
Chris & I took the boat out last night for its inaugural launch. I can't say it went off without a hitch (due to dropped phone and parking ticket, the evening cost $325), but it was a very nice ride and I think Chris is happy with his new toy. Fort Lauderdale is so different by boat.. Hell, Fort Lauderdale is a different place when you're near the water (as opposed to the suburbs). Riding a boat at night, with the lights reflecting in the calm water.. ahh, it's a really nice experience. :)
Sometimes it's nice to have to drive west to get home. Not often, but sometimes. :)
Caught Girl Kitten mid-yawn.
Now it's time to go play my least favorite pet owner game - find the smell. Yay. ¶ 6:55 PM 1 comments
It's amazing to me that someone cheated on her. She's got the simultaneously cute & hot thing going on and has an awesome voice. Seems like a really sweet girl, too. Men, what are you thinking sometimes??? ¶ 3:16 PM 0 comments
That is the big news of the weekend, understandably.
He's very excited, and I'm excited for him. :) There aren't many things nicer than being on a boat at night with the water all calm.. I look forward to it.
This picture is of Chris while we were eating at a diner and he was quickly reading up on "Maneuvering Your Trailer" before we had to go back and pick up the boat from where the wiring was being done. It was so cute.
This weekend was just so perfect, weather and otherwise.
Yesterday afternoon I went with Chris to the wedding of one of his staff. They're Jamaican, so even though we were 45 minutes late (not my fault!), we were still early. It worked out great. I didn't get any pictures of us, which is too bad since dressing up once in a while is nice and it's nice to have evidence of it. Ah well. The wedding was very interesting; I'd never been to one like that before. Well, the ceremony was pretty straightforward, aside from when some chick's phone started ringing with a Beenie Man ringtone ("Dude") and some of the scary outfits straight outta those ghetto-prom emails. But the reception... wow! An interpretive dance to a gospel song, people getting up to talk and sing to the bride and groom.. No booze, even for the toast! In any case, it was a nice time. :) It seemed like a very genuine group effort (bride's sister did the food for the buffet, homemade rumcake as we walked out the door).. So that was nice to see. People get so caught up in the superficial stuff of weddings, so it was nice to see it the way I think it should be; expensive as you want, but keeping in mind what it's all about. And what is all about is not $2,000 worth of flowers.
I think the kittens are going to their new homes, like, this week. I'm going to be sad to not have the kittens to love on when I get home, or to pounce on my face while I'm sleeping. Strange how something can become a fixture in your life in just 7 weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/opinion/16glock.html?em&ex=1161144000&en=f8d44138e8cace03&ei=5070
Maybe it was Ms. Glock?
Nice to see I'm not the only one who's noticed this phenomenon... ¶ 11:31 AM 0 comments
This is interesting.
http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/commercials/3421/
“No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.”
I saw these yesterday outside of the Target. I felt bad that the lady was giving them to anyone who wanted one, probably without much concern for what kind of home they were going to.. I hope they luck out and get good homes.
¶ 8:43 AM 0 comments
It is so perfect outside.
This has been one of those days when I am just, well, happy to be alive.
I was hanging out in a boat while Chris inspected it, for quite a while.. Watching butterflies flitter about the empty lot we were in. The breeze was blowing, sun was shining.. It was just a perfect, perfect day.
And now all of Chris's windows are open and it's breezy and beautiful in here. No A/C and it is absolutely PERFECT.
Sorry to all of those of you who live up north; Florida is gorgeous.
Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize. Yay!
I read his book; it’s just such an awesome, awesome, happy story. He’s done such great things for so many people. Check it out!
tonight, i did the petsmart thing. that's a good 20 minutes from here, way out west. further west than i think i'd been before.
then i came home, by way of the whole foods market as i wanted to check my email before i came home as i didn't think my home connection was working yet (obviously it is). it was the one place i could think of that had wireless that was more or less on the way.
chris was working late, in his plantation office. he was supposed to work until 11.
i was resuming my drive home when i called him at 10:30.
i decided to take a roundabout way home so i could get to the stray cats without having to wait for stoplights and do u-turns and all that.
as we're talking, all of a sudden my phone rings. it's chris! apparently he lost me for a minute. as i re-answered my phone, i was making a right turn and ended up hitting the curb.
i looked back at the traffic stopped behind me and thought, "my god, those people probably think i'm drunk."
then chris, on the phone, says, "wait, where are you? was that you?"
it turns out he was directly behind me. which meant, after i took a minute to re-group after running over the curb, i was directly behind him.
i got this picture, and then we stopped off for a brief, unexpected visit. :)
it was really weird.. considering i had taken two detours on the way home and he got done "early" (after a 15-hour day).. the fact we wound up directly next to one another on the same road, unplanned, was pretty surprising!
Where do I sign up?
What do you think "lets [sic] say entertainment and companionship" entail?
How nice, eh? Changing leaves.. ahh, how strange.
You know, I have been thinking. It's been YEARS since I so much as SAW an acorn. Or what about those little maple seeds that whir down like helicopter blades when you let go of them? I loved those! Or piles of fallen leaves? I remember the way they smell, and the way they sound when you jump in them.
Strange that some things can be just part of the world when you're growing up, then you move and you realize they're just part of PART of the world.
I definitely think, when I'm older (assuming I have vacation time and dough someday), I'll definitely do one of those fall-colors trips, as hokey as it may sound. I'll gather some acorns. Jump in some leaves. Breathe deeply. Take pictures like this. :)
Like this morning.
I got up a little early so I could go for a quick run before work.
See, I love staying at Chris's because that means I will actually get to bed at a decent time (last night: 11) instead of my usual, oh, 1:30 a.m.
So far, it's just meant that I get an extra good, nine-hour night of sleep. This morning, however, as I wasn't really sleep-deprived starting out last night, I had no excuse to not get up early.
Chris got up before 6. I managed to drag myself out of the all-too-comfortable bed at 7:30. Went for a little, half-hour run. At the halfway point, I went through a break in the buildings onto the sand, where I decided to continue my run back to Chris's.
The water was completely flat. It was gorgeous, and so inviting, especially with the sun starting to beat down on me.
I was simultaneously cursing the fact that I had to be in the office in exactly one hour and that I didn't get out of bed much earlier; I could've gone on a longer jog and finished it with a dip in the ocean.
But, my, what a good way to start the day. Usually it's just a 40-minute mad dash from bed to the car; I don't catch my breath until I sit down at my desk at work. I hate starting my days out like that, but am so self-indulgent when it comes to sleep.
Tonight is the PetSmart shift. Maybe after I can get to bed at a decent time and do a run around the suburbs in the morning. Cross your fingers for me. :D
http://viceland.com/int/dd.php?id=404&country=us
Sample (a Don't):
"Sometimes when people get rejected by humans they regress into a love of animals and even secretly wish they could be one of them. When that animal is a manatee you know the teasing was really, really bad." ¶ 11:27 AM 0 comments
Halloween is a very good time to have little helpless things to dress up (e.g. children, pets).
:)
and, oh my gosh, are they ever little bundles of energy.
they hardly let me sleep at all the night before last.. last night, luckily, they were compliant when i made a do-not-touch request by quickly covering up any part of me that seemed to interest them.
they will be going to their new homes this weekend or next. how sad! but happy! :)
my internet wasn't working at home last night. it would connect, and all looked well, but no pages would load. i'd like to lodge a complaint, but considering i'm stealing the connection from a mystery neighbor, i don't know exactly how i would go about doing that. nail signs to tree trunks around the neighborhood? "hey, you. i got very important email to read. get your wireless shit worked out, pronto."
i've been listening to a lot of jewel lately. rediscovered, from a decade ago. i don't think i've ever been so frustrated that i can't sing as when i listen to jewel. "morning song" - listen to it. fabulous. (yes, this is a pretty random post.)
i love pictures. love, love, love. they make me happy.
like this one.
for better or for worse, pictures are pretty powerful things, huh?
¶ 12:30 PM 0 comments
Great day yesterday. I posted a few pics at Flickr.
You know, I am a completely ridiculous person.
This morning, I happily said good morning to the starlings bathing in the sprinkler stream. Then I saw a blue jay. "Good morning, little blue jay!" Then I went in the house and kissed all the kittens as they winced, licked their lips in that goddammit-woman way, and tried to hold me back with their little arm-legs.
I realize this makes me completely ridiculous. But I think I'll take it, because it also means that I am pretty ridiculously happy. :)
Almost as happy as Bowie with her string cheese.
gorgeous! we did an hour or so under the pier at commercial boulevard. it was so great! i don't know how impressed chris was, but (had we not had to get out so he and his friend could get to their hair appts.) i could have stayed there all day. probably on one tank of air, even; as long as we were down there, i only used about 1200 psi. not moving much will do that to ya.
a soapfish, taken in lauderdale-by-the-sea by a guy i don't know! flickr rocks.
there were lots of lookdowns - of course. a couple of big tarpon. seemingly dozens of hovering barracudas. the resident soapfish in that mysterious sandcastle-looking structure. a big crab. and the biggest stingray i've ever seen! he was gorgeous. i was in the sand next to him.. he got a little nervous and raised himself off the sand, then gracefully swam away. i watched him swim until he disappeared.. it was so beautiful.
ooh! and the smallest scorpionfish i've ever seen! he was so cute! like maybe four inches long? i like to have staring contests with scorpionfish, where i get all up in their grill so i can be impressed at how confident they are in their camouflage; they never move. this little guy, though, he moved. someday he'll learn. :)
so yeah, it was great. beautiful. happy. :)
Today Chris's friends were talking about going to Miami.
"Do you want to go to Miami?" they asked two-year-old Bowie.
Bowie pointed at me and asked, "Is she going to go to.. You-ami?"
Oh, I thought that was funny!
I got it done in about 1.5 hours, including the time I took to hold and snuggle the cats. I let a bunch out again.. It makes the cleaning a lot harder since the cats always want in whatever cage I'm cleaning, but I think it's definitely worth it. They have a blast playing together and I think it's good for the more skittish of the cats to see the other ones getting along.
So many sad stories there, though! Like the cat that acts terrified of me, but the second I pick him up starts to purr. The purring is the quickest way to my heart, you know. Or the surrendered pets who get depressed about living in a cage and refuse to eat, even the wet Friskies I try to treat them to. Poor things.
I went from there to the Greek restaurant by Chris's place. He has some friends visiting from out of town - Hansy, Loly, & Baby Bowie Zoe. Sounds like Dr. Seuss, right? Poor baby Bowie, who is about two, ended up puking up all her soup right there at the table. Hansy was holding a cup for her to do her business in and said, "We've all been there, bro." Funny stuff. Probably not so funny for Bowie, of course. She was a little champ, though; she handled it much better than I would have.
After we got back, Hans, Chris & I rode bikes over to meet Chris's friend at the local tiki bar.
Chris is so nice. He always takes the little bike.
It was a gorgeous night out, as it's been for the past few.. Seriously, just perfect. Had a couple of rum runners, then rode back and went to bed. It turned out to be a nice night. Nice & relaxing, even though it started with a horrible commute home and a shift of cleaning up cat poop! Capping any night off with a couple of drinks makes it feel like a weekend night, and that's great!
Ooh! I hit my head on an open cage door last night. It seriously hurt. It took me a while to realize it was bleeding, but by the time I got to Chris's a couple of hours later, a nice big section of hair on the back of my head felt like it was coated in hair gel. Yick.
Couldn't get a good picture since I didn't want to have to ask anyone to take a picture of my head wound. :D I was laughing on the drive over to the restaurant, that I was going to show up in public with a bloody head. Made me think of Massive Headwound Harry. (It's just bump & a little cut, really.)
That's my last 24 hours in a nutshell. Now it's the weekend!
Cute story: NY Times: A Simple Show of Hands
And another good story: The Energy Diet
I love NYTIMES.com! ¶ 3:02 PM 1 comments
I like hyenas. I decided to do a search on Flickr for them.
Never thought I'd find anything as fucked up as this, though.
They are at a very fun stage right now. It's all cuddling and fighting! Cuddling, fighting, more fighting. Okay, time to nap.
They also like to snuggle with me at night. And try to walk on the keyboard whenever I'm on the computer. Like right now. Go away!
Thank gosh I have the kittens - always a topic to write about, without resorting to how hot the new Danish chick on Law & Order is. (Hey, as a Norwegian-Danish American, I don't often have the opportunity to be proud of my peeps - what, with all the whaling & Muslim cartoons - so I gotta take it where I can get it.)
Anyway, last night they were stalking one another. At the same time. I think they would realize there would be no element of surprise once they realized that their "prey" was also crouching low to the ground and stomping its back paws.
Then they attacked poor Oreo's tail. That made her grumpy. She made the devil-cat noise and flipped her tail around, annoyed. Which only more enticed the kittens. Eventually she would play-attack them. Like she really wanted to go for blood, but the second her teeth locked around their neck, she morphed into Good Mamacat and groomed them instead.
Okay, enough cat talk.
Chris and I have known each other now for two months. As of today. This is weird, although I can't explain how, exactly. (Actually, we kinda met two years ago this weekend. Well, not really. But we were both at the Columbus Day Regatta in 2004, rafted up just one boat away from each another. I very well may have walked by a passed-out Chris on the neighboring catamaran's trampoline!) But, anyway, what a happy thing. :)
You know, he was showing me some of his vacation pics the other day, from the days before digital. The pictures were in photo albums. It was really retro. Anyway, one of the albums had the picture of a flushing toilet on it. "Um, Chris, why does one of your albums have a toilet bowl on the cover?" I asked him. "Those are my Australia pics," he answered. "Huh?" "You know, the toilet flushes the other way around there..." he started to explain. Of course! That cracked me the hell up. Cute, cute Chris. :)
Real funny! As if the puberty, periods, leg-shaving, high heels, childbirth, child rearing, less-pay-for-the-same-job, breast cancer, and menopause crap weren't enough, we also get to age faster. Ah ha ha ha!
Me, bitter? :D ¶ 10:18 PM 0 comments
The other day, a cool chick I know was telling me about her difficulties dealing with this fella, whom we'll call Dan.
It seems Dan has some trouble communicating. In email and on the phone, he'll sometimes confuse his words - "Do you have any ideals about this?" when he means ideas, for example.
The chick said, "I'm not sure if he has a learning disorder what.. I mean, I guess he could just be DUMB, but I really wonder.. maybe he's dyslectic."
It was really hard to continue to listen with a straight face. Dyslectic! Ahh, the irony!
So, hmm. Time to try for a non depressing post.
The two kittens did their best last night to make me happy. They all cozied up in bed with me, along with Oreo. I woke up probably a dozen times, twice with the girl kitten puking, and the other times because they were running laps on the bed or trying to scale my bare leg with their little, pin-like claws. I woke up with the girl kitten basically on my forehead. Good times. :)
This weekend, hmm.. Spent Friday evening feeling miserable (allergies) and trying hard to be productive at home. Then I went and acted as Chris's DD and got to meet his friends' really, really fat cat. Seriously, the fattest cat I've ever seen. She's named Trudy, after Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias (yes, her guardians are two gay men). So fat even her FACE is fat. It was amazing and I'm completely disappointed I didn't have my camera.
I woke up Saturday feeling fabulous and relieved to be rid of the allergies. The day is kind of a blur, though. I slept in, big time (11:41 a.m.). We drove to Boca. Went to Lowe's (where they have CHRISTMAS stuff out already). Got my bike from my house. Played with the kittens. Ate at IHOP. Of note, that day, Chris & I reached the stage where we are comfortable telling one another to shut up, so that was heartwarming. :D
Yesterday, I accompanied Chris and & friends boat shopping, where Chris's hopes of having a boat by the weekend were dashed by some sketchy electronics. He called about a boat last night because the price "seem[ed] too good to be true." "So?" I asked when he hung up. "Well, it hasn't been on the water in six years. [List of three or so more bad things about the boat that I can't remember.]
That about sums it up.
I think I am going to try to meditate or something tonight. Maybe jog at the beach. I realized that this weekend, I was droppin' the f-bomb like I was on Goodfellas. And apparently, I'll be around a two-year-old this weekend, so I figure I should try to become a little more zen about everything (sticking locks, tangles in my hair, etc.) by then. Wish me luck!
I don't know how.
As has been usual of late, I spent my weekend with Chris, stopping by here to check on the critters and to feed the strays under ths shed. Yesterday, all was fine. Today, there were only two kittens. I didn't worry at all; after all, they're always here, under the dresser or something. Chris said, "Better make sure." So I called for the third kitten, "Oh, piggy!" And nothing. We searched the whole house, then took the search outside even though 1) I don't know how it could've gotten outside or 2) Once it got out there, it would've been too scared to go anywhere. I took another kitten today outside as a test and, after sniffing around for about 10 seconds, he started to cry. I started to feel sick thinking about if something had happened.
My car was at Chris's so I just said, okay, hopefully he was just sleeping soundly somewhere and he'll be out when I get back tonight.
But he wasn't. Balu told me the neighbors found him on their front steps, passed away. With no obvious signs of why he died.
I worry that maybe he died of fright. What if he got out yesterday? I still don't know how.. But what if he did, and was so scared without his mama...? The only way I can think that he got out is if Mama took him with her, but that makes no sense; once he started to cry, she would've protected him and that wouldv'e been that.
Now my room door is blocked by a piece of cardboard to allow Oreo to still get in and out so she won't go crazy, but so the cats can't leave the bedroom unattended.
I'm kicking myself, because, obviously, if I would've done this before, all the kittens would be okay. I just, in a million years, never would've thought that one of the kittens would've gotten OUTSIDE. I mean, jeez, we had to show Oreo 10 times how to use the cat door. And she's a big cat! Maybe the little guy followed a big cat out. I dunno.
As I had to console myself when Esme died, I have to think that, even though he only lived a month, that one month was a very snuggly, comfortable life, nursin' it up with his brother and sister and crawling in the food dish for a good ol' binge. I just hope the end wasn't so bad for him.
Agh, I feel bad. Another one of those "I should've been here" scenarios. I try to be a good guardian to these guys, you know? I guess I just don't assume the worst is going to happen. Of course they're safe running around the house, I thought. But sometimes the worst does happen. Like after Esme died, I wished so bad I would've told Alli to bring her home to her mama when she seemed so unhappy at her house. Even if wouldn't have stopped her from dying, at least she could've died with her mama there instead of in a strange house. :(
