Things seem to be going pretty well with the new cat. He came with the name Oliver, which I liked. But Anthony really liked Blu-Ray so he and BlueTooth would be the Blues Brothers. So, he is now Ray.

Once we decided to call him Ray, he proceeded to pee in a box under my desk and then yesterday he peed on our bed. I’m thinking he may prefer Oliver

Some thoughts on why he peed on our bed. Marking his territory? Perhaps, but really the bed is ours and he’s allowed to spend time there, he needs to learn that. Jealous because we abandoned him to watch a movie? Doubtful, he spent the whole time curled up with one of us. Mad because we wouldn’t let him jump on the table and eat some of that delightful salmon fresh from the grill? I’m thinking this is it. He stomped off toward the bedroom to pout and I think he took revenge.

Of course, we didn’t discover it until time to sleep, so our evening was disrupted some. He also got Anthony’s pillow so I had snoring, cat pee smell, and BlueTooth making weird meowing noises while Ray stalked him. I finally went up to the guest bedroom to sleep. Then I got up this morning and did 3 loads of laundry. The sheets smell great, we’re still working on the bed.

When he isn’t making wet disturbances, Ray is actually a cute cat and he and BlueTooth are getting along better each day. Both of them were resting on Anthony yesterday afternoon and they aren’t as loathe to be in the same room together now.

BlueTooth tends to stay away, and here’s why. Wherever BT goes, Ray follows. But if BT curls up somewhere and goes to sleep, Ray will leave him alone to go find the action. Therefore, the only way to be alone is to be sleeping, away from us. Hopefully Ray will continue to calm down and let BT have some space once in awhile.

One game they play is entirely accidental. The sun will reflect off of BT’s tag and Ray will chase the light. BT is completely unaware that he’s the reason Ray is suddenly leaping all around the room. It’s pretty funny.

That’s it for now!

Oliver doing yoga

We adopted a second cat Sunday. Cat #1 (BlueTooth) has not said he wanted a friend, but we keep thinking it would be nice if he had a another cat to play with. 

BlueTooth is still wondering what he did to deserve this. And hisses when Oliver proceeds to sniff his rear (I can’t blame BlueTooth, I’d hiss too). But it’s only been two days so we have hope. 

BlueTooth is about 4, and Oliver is about 1. What a difference. Oliver is very curious as he learns the new smells and sights (and harasses BlueTooth). He is also persistent and fast. Putting him down just means he gets to jump right back up. 

He’s also a paper chewer. BlueTooth chews through tiny wires, but that’s not a worry with Oliver. He’d rather chew up a book or papers sitting on the table. He’s also attracted to push pins. 

I’ve been alternating between having fun playing with him and watching him do fun things and then pulling him away from stuff and removing things from his mouth. Then he just chews on me (maybe we should file his teeth . 

So, it was with great trepidation that I rode the bike on the trainer and then did yoga. I kept him away from the bike successfully. Then he turned out to be an even better yoga partner than BlueTooth. BT thinks he should watch my yoga session from the center of my mat (which hampers my form just a tad). Oliver was content to lie down at the head of the mat and didn’t get in my way at all. In fact, he closed his eyes and stayed quite still. I may have found a way to tame the inner wildcat.

Sunday night Anthony slept in the guest bedroom with Oliver and I stayed in our room with BlueTooth. But I didn’t shut BlueTooth up in our room so he kept going to the guest bedroom door and meowing pitifully. No one but Oliver slept well.

Last night I slept in the guest room with Oliver and Anthony and BlueTooth were shut up in our bedroom. Oliver decided to play around 3am and I had to hide my digits because he kept chewing on my fingers. Then he would lick and chew on my ear. I finally got him to stop that, but he just laid down with his belly right up beside my ear and purred nice and loud!

I really hope BlueTooth accepts Oliver soon so they can go play with each other at 3am and leave me to sleep.

So nice of you to ask. I have been very active this week – as in physical activity for fitness purposes.

Two weeks ago I bought a brand new road bike, a Trek 1.2 WSD (that’s a beginner Trek bike with woman specific design, such as shorter in some places and longer in others). Along with it I got the clip-in pedals and the computer to tell me how long I’ve been riding (usually not as long as it feels).

We also bought a trainer, which is a handy little contraption that lets us use the bicycle inside (when it’s too cold, too wet, or too hot). I like it because it holds me up and I can focus on getting in and out of the pedals and adjusting my rear because my bum is sore.

But, what’s a road bike that never hits the road? So, last Saturday I prodded dh out of the bed and we loaded it all up and headed for a nearby business park. I like this place because the road is wide (4 lanes) with little weekend traffic and it’s a big circle so I don’t have to stop at intersections or turn onto new roads. DH finds it BORING. I find it comforting and SAFE. (We’re different like that.)

DH was very good about spending a few minutes in the parking lot reminding me how to get onto and off of my bike. I know, what’s so hard about that. But with clip-in pedals the routine looks like this.

• Stand on the left side of the bike.
• Position the right pedal at 6 o’clock.
• Put the right food on the pedal and click in
• Now bring the pedal back up to 3 o’clock (that’s toward the front). This means I can push off and get some momentum. Speed is my friend (yeah, crazy, but I keep repeating it thinking maybe some day I’ll believe it)
• Now, while the bike is moving (with me on it, sort of) get that left foot up and clipped in
• If the left foot doesn’t clip in right away, pedal normally to keep up the speed (remember, speed is my friend) until I can get that foot clipped in

Now that I’m moving, stopping requires a lot of planning as well.

• Get up some speed (yep, speed really is my friend)
• With the left foot at the top of the stroke (12 0′clock) jerk the shoe out of the pedal clip. I still have some difficulty with this so I start preparing to stop long before I really need to stop. I can walk the bike the last few feet if I have to.
• Now start braking and lean to the left to put the left foot on the ground when I stop
• Then unclip the right foot

All of this was practiced numerous times at the bike shop as the guy there walked me through it and then watched me do it. I wrote it all down while we were at the store. I have some very real and valid fears about this part.

DH is telling me the fears may be real but they aren’t valid, this will all become second nature to me in no time. Then we practice in the parking lot and I do really well. We finally end up over at the exit onto the road and off he goes. I position my pedal, clip in, pull it back to 3 o’clock to get some momentum and off I go. Only, I didn’t really move much at all (just a slight little itty bit of incline) and I can’t get the other foot up and all my weight is on the right and I know how this is going to end, but I can’t do anything about it. So down I go.

A small part of me is saying “see, I told you so. this is ridiculous, and at your age” but it’s hard to hear that voice over the tears that are coming. Then dh whips around (and gets his foot unclipped with no problem at all!) yelling “that’s number 1″ like my first fall is some great achievement and I’m well on my way to the cyclist hall of fame now that I finally accomplished my first fall. I really love that man!

State changed, tears gone, elbow not really scraped worth talking about, bum bruised, and knee red but not actively bleeding, I pick my bike up and tell him we’re going to finish this ride. (Yes, my age is showing, 10 years ago I would have gone home and mourned all that money wasted on a good bike.) I did point out that my fears were apparently real AND valid.

I have to say, it was much worse than the picture looks. I think the camera lies.

The next 30 minutes were a lot of fun because I actually moved fast enough that DH could ride next to me, rather than taking off and coming back around the circle once in awhile.

However, it was also a lot of work figuring out how to work the brakes and the gears and, of course, dreading the point when we would actually stop and I would have to get my feet unclipped and get off the bike.

I’m sure it meant nothing to DH, but I did notice when we finally coasted into the parking lot that there were 4 women getting their bikes ready. So I had an audience if I decided to end my ride as well as I started it. But, I managed to get my left foot out of the pedal, then brake, and stop (well away from our truck) and walk the bike on over.

I’ve been back on the bike on the trainer twice this week, riding about 8 miles each time. Then I got some crazy idea about signing up for a local 31 mile ride on June 6. That’s just two weeks away. DH thinks it will be a lot of fun and we should be able to knock it out in about 2.5 hours. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Time to celebrate some accomplishments in the Navarro household.

Right now I want to recognize just how awesome my hubby is. He and my brother-in-law have been discussing building an entertainment center for a few weeks. The b-i-l kept asking how it was coming, DH kept saying he needed to finish sketching it up to make sure it was what the b-i-l wanted. I wondered how long this would drag on. Then DH decided this past Saturday was a great day (I encouraged this thought) to get it done!

The MBF was bought Friday and got home dry in spite of the spitful showers we had all weekend. Then Saturday I dragged him off for a bike ride (more on that in a separate post) so he didn’t get started until about 11 am. He got it all done, though. He sent a few pictures to the b-i-l through the day so he would know it was coming along nicely!

The weather looked dicey on Sunday so we opted to keep it in our garage until later in the week. Monday was bright and sunny and DH decided (again, with my encouragement) to just finish this little project so he loaded it all up in the truck and headed to Hickory. The b-i-l got off work and headed home to dismantle the tv and shelf he had. Then b-i-l, DH, and the nephews did some work and got it all in place. Everyone is happy!