Archive for » November 25th, 2008 «

Cat update

…because someday we’ll want a record of what has been happening.

BluRay is skinny and doesn’t like to be picked up. Once we pick him up he doesn’t want to just lie in our arms, he tries to stand up and move his front paws up toward our face. He will take his head and bump our chin or cheek. He put his front paws on Anthony’s hands and his back paws on his chest and was fearlessly standing up. Definitely not the cuddler that Bluetooth is, but fascinating to play with. 

When he purrs, his motor is quieter, until you put your ear up to his body. It’s just well muffled because it is going quite loudly in there. He hasn’t figured out the purpose to the scratching pad, scratching post, or scratching circle. He’s going after my area rugs a bit more than I would like.

He knows how to eat. He also went straight to the litter box. His paws don’t have traction on the wood floors. I’m not sure what’s different but Bluetooth doesn’t slip and slide all the time, just when he’s running. But BluRay slides around a lot. Anthony can push him around like a dust mop while he’s standing up.

 

Some of the adventures since BluRay’s arrival:

BluRay arrived Monday night, a week ago. Monday night BluRay spent in the master bathroom (with obstacles to keep one of us from innocently opening the door in our sleep). Bluetooth slept in our bedroom as usual. We listened to BluRay meow most of the night.

Tuesday we let BluRay out of the bathroom and let the two cats see each other. They stayed away from each other mostly but had some less than friendly exchanges. Connor and I would interrupt them and they would call a truce (as long as we were watching).

Tuesday night we left BluRay to wander around the house and Bluetooth came to bed with us. Wednesday morning there was some activity at 4am and again at 5am but we managed to get through that and tried to squeeze one more hour of sleep in. About 5:30 am BluRay jumped up on the bed with us. Bluetooth didn’t move from where he was so Anthony and I had sleepy thoughts that maybe this was going to work out after all. Then as BluRay walked across our feet we heard this liquid splash and then smelled his lovely bowel movement all over the bottom of the comforter. Needless to say, all attempts at sleep stopped. Anthony ran BluRay to the litter box to finish. We scrubbed the comforter and put it in the washing machine with the sheets ready for the next load.

Wednesday through Friday went along. We have a cat door in our bedroom door (so we can keep the heat in and not have to let the cat in/out all night long). BluRay doesn’t understand the cat door so he is effectively shut out all night (this is not a bad thing, see Wednesday morning story above). The two cats hiss at each other occasionally, and they certainly aren’t playing with each other. Mostly they just leave each other alone.

Saturday morning we hear a strange meowing. We walk around to find BluRay meowing at Bluetooth. Bluetooth is avoiding eye contact and cringing a little bit. He sees room to walk around BluRay and starts walking off. BluRay jumps on Bluetooth’s back and fur flies. One of us distracts BluRay and the other comforts Bluetooth. This isn’t working out well.

Sunday afternoon BluRay pees on a jacket. He also corners Bluetooth and jumps on him as Bluetooth walks away.

Monday evening BluRay pees on our bed just before I’m ready to go to bed. We wash the comforter and then the sheets (it takes 3 turns in the dryer to get the comforter clean). We watch the specials to Wall-E. BluRay is shut up in the bathroom with the litter box. After I turn the comforter for it’s second drying I open the door to let BluRay out (his meowing is pitiful). He has managed to turn on the CatGenie all by himself. This could be a neat trick! But he has to use the CatGenie first. 

During the night he pees on the rug in front of the garage door. It goes in the washing machine.

Tuesday morning BluRay gets into the bedroom with the door shut (I guess he’s figured out how to use the cat door). He poops and pees on the bed. The sheets and comforter are cleaned yet again!

 

I’m glad we aren’t here for Thanksgiving, I don’t think we need the added stress of company. We’ll see how long this keeps up or if we decide it isn’t working out. But that’s the update for now.

[Note to self, the water bill may be a bit high this month]

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Category: General  2 Comments

Conspiracy!

I found this over at Mt Hope Chronicles and wanted to share it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU&eurl

 

Check out Advent Conspiracy for more information and ways to get involved.

 

I’ve been thinking about this myself. I have some gifts for just about everyone on the list. Maybe this will be a transition year for some of those people with a WorldVision or Samaritan’s Purse gift included and a discussion about how to do even more next year.

 

Join the conspiracy!

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Category: Family  2 Comments

What’s on my nightstand in Nov

 

A quick review of what I read since the last Nightstand entry. I read Antsy Does Time and Everlost by Neal Shusterman, see my reviews here for Antsy and here for Everlost. I assigned Antsy as required reading to my nephew last week. He balked until he realized I had said it was the only thing he had to do that day. As soon as he picked it up I heard him start talking and laughing (he’s a verbal reader, likes to talk back to the book). He stayed up a bit late to finish it that day. From his reaction I would say it was a hit!

I also read Anticancer by David Servan-Schreiber.  This is an interesting book because it talks about how so much of the prevention that is touted for cancer is really early-detection. It follows this doctor’s research into studies and options for true prevention actions after he was diagnosed with cancer. The food and environment information is not all new, but it is a good argument for making those changes that seem inconvenient.

I also picked up The Instinct to Heal by the same author. It is an interesting book about ways to work with our brokenness outside of the normal psychiatric methods and medications. He mentions some techniques like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for distinct trauma wounds, and then things like waking to light, acupuncture, Omega-3 fatty acids, and the “high” from exercise. It is an good resource if you are looking for way to handle stress, panic attacks, or other issues.

While picking up Antsy and Everlost at the library I spotted two others that looked interesting.

I read The Place to Be by Roger Mudd about his time at CBS as a TV correspondent. This was fairly interesting. Some interesting things happened between 1961 – 1980. He has a good perspective on the beginnings of tv news and coverage of Congress as well as some of the behind-the-scenes struggles to get that news onto the air. His tone is respectful but he still shares some interesting facts about people and events.

The other book I picked up is The Truth Commissioner by David Park. It’s still on the nightstand and I have a few more weeks to read it.

Adding to my nightstand this month I have Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, thanks to the Reading Through the Classics plans over at Challies.com

I just heard about Little Britches by Ralph Moody. I picked it up at the library and hope to read it over Thanksgiving.

And I picked up Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day at the library after reading about it at Blue Yonder. Anthony made some good bread on Saturday and we have dough in the fridge to do a few more loaves this week.

After school is over on 12/12 (hurray!) and I have time to myself again, I will also be picking up a copy of Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon. This is the first book that our new book club at church will be discussing on January 18, 2009. I am so excited about the book club. I’m also very excited to be finishing school.

 

I’m also glad I know how to get the Amazon links for the book titles too. Thanks to my wonderful husband and all his techie knowledge.

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Category: Reading  10 Comments