I last saw Gravy being chased by a Holstein into a neighbor’s yard

No that’s not a LCD-induced vision; it’s my poor kitty cat being chased by white-with-black-spots-and-no-tail cat. I was feeding a lizard and saw out the window little Gravy kitty trotting around the yard. Then I saw the WwBSaNT cat trotting behind her. Then I saw Gravy look back to see she was being followed and speed up her trot. They went out of the view of the window, so I ran out to that side of the yard, and found no trace of either cat. Meanwhile, Biscuit was on the inside of the door, but could tell an intruder was on the outside somewhere. So he bravely stayed inside when I told him to go outside and find his buddy. I hope Gravy is alive when I get home. Thanks for protecting your friend, Biscuit.
 
And yes I’m complaining about cats running amok outside when I should keep them inside. Cats are wild animals and need to roam.

[UPDATE] She's alive.

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Happy early Halloween, From Biscuit

You can tell how happy he is.

P.S. Just found feathers all over the basement. Think he's trying to tell me something?


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My weekend

Had a pretty good weekend, meaning lots of lazing.

Friday: stayed home and played Evony all day, then finally made some beer bread and dips for BBQ at 10 or 11 pm. Hubby rented some scaffolding to put a blown off piece of siding back up. (Been getting harassed by HOA for maybe 7 months to get that up.)

Saturday: played Evony and went to a BBQ for like 10 hours.

Sunday: played Evony, got surprise tickets to AAA baseball Ironbirds, so went to that. Hubby got the siding piece back up. Took all of 30 minutes with the scaffolding up. Played more Evony after baseball.

Monday: played Evony. Gave two cats baths, flea problem not as bad as I thought, as I only saw one flea. Mowed the lawn while avoiding rain (it decided not to downpour). Played Evony and did laundry.

Man I like 4 day weekends!

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More Biscuit

Biscuit went to the vet, she found the puncture inside his ear and tried to see if the abscess would leak out though that. It didn't as well as it should, meaning the goop in the abscess wasn't as runny as it normally is. But they shot him up with antibiotics and also boosted his rabies (he was due next month). And also gave him more oral antibiotics: a pill this time! yay! So it's been a few days since then, his abscess in his head is almost totally disappeared. He had some swelling around the rabies shot, and I still feel some of that. I think the swelling at the injection site actually caused him more pain than anything else. But now he's happy.

I've been keeping everyone in and all the food off the deck after I witnessed La Chupacabra harassing Saffron. Actually I only saw it's back end as is sauntered off the deck when I opened the door. That sneaky bastard looked exactly like a 20 pound cat! That's how no one has discovered what La Chupacabra actually is yet. I also now know how a cat could get Biscuit's head inside its mouth, since the vet thinks it was probably a cat and not dog that nommed his head. It helps that this things is almost twice and big as Biscuit.

So anyway, everyone's all better, until the next fight he gets into.



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Biscuit is a bad kitteh (very boring post)

The other day Biscuit was out all night or I hadn't seen home morning and evening or something, and when he showed up his fur was covered in something like dried spit. Now you know when a cat washes itself they end up very clean. His fur was sort of crusty. So he's got dried slobber all over his fur, one ear is very sensitive and has blood on the inside of it, and he yowls every time he would try to scratch his head (not a very bright kitteh). I was pretty worried, but decided to wait it out and, if necessary, would take him to the vet the next day.

Don't leave yet, there more boring cat stuff below the fold!

That must have been Friday, because I remember wonder about Banfield being open on Saturdays. Also, I was lamenting not putting him on the Wellness Plan. [Gravy is on it, and you pretty much pay per year, and a lot of things that normally happen to animals is covered. It's like a warranty, you're just hoping something bad happens so you'll get your money's worth. But in addition to some bad stuff being covered, all the vaccines, neuter/spay, etc. are covered.]

So anyway: Saturday. Biscuit had a swollen forehead, and looks like a Cro Magnon Kitteh. And it apparently was more sensitive, as he was really upset when he would try and scratch his head. Again, not a bright kitteh. But his ear didn't appear to have any tears or anything in it, I think there may be a puncture maybe inside, but I'm not sure.

Now Sunday: swelling down, sensitivity lower, haven't checked inside his ear. I was trying to figure our what animal has Biscuit's head in its mouth. Fox seem to leave Biscuit alone, also not big enough to get his big melon in their mouths. So that leaves dog. That means either there is a free range dog on the loose. (There are a couple near me, but they seem friendly enough. Check that. One chased Mittens under the neighbor's deck once. hhmmm.) Or, Biscuit roamed into a dog's yard, in which case he deserves to be nommed. Stupid cat.

So anyway, to wrap up this boring post. Biscuit nommed by dog, don't know what damage to his ear there is. I'm keeping him inside at night now.

In other kitteh news, Gravy is fixed so I've been letting her outside as long as Biscuit is there. Because he's such a good influence and definitely won't get her into trouble. She seems to have a great time in the yard, as there are lots of flying bugs and crickets in the grass to chase and pounce. She's been caught in monsoons a couple times, but I've gotten her before the hard downpour started. Just a few slow-moving giant rain drops that seem to freak her right the hell out. I don't know if it's the things hitting her from the air that she doesn't like, or her paws getting wet on the grass, or what. But she gets kinda freaked and then is frantic about finding a hiding place. Biscuit and Saffron know to head for cover under the maple or some other bush and stay put (if they are too stupid to come inside when I call them). Gravy hasn't learned that hunkering down thing yet.

[UPDATE Wednesday] Biscuit's ear is less tender, but he has a likely abscess in there. I feel a hard lump on his head (and inside smells bad). So now I get to go to the vet! Yay!

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Ahh, finally back to the warm weather

My parents are turning 60 this year, and they just got done redoing their back yard, so they wanted to throw a big shindig to celebrate both. Hubby and I left Tuesday, even though the arty was Saturday so he could get in some face time with his parents. Also, he needed his drivers license renewed so we needed a business day to do that. Plus there was whatever helping needed to be done ahead of party time.

So we left the house in good hands paws:

I didn't take any pictures until I got to my parents' house Thursday, where I finally got to meet their newest additions:

Jenny Smudge. She is such a cute sweet little thing. I don't care what the pound says, I'm guessing her age to be 2.5-3 months old:

And Squeaker Stinker (she has a tummy problem). I think she's 3-3.5 months old:

They love each other, honest!

OK, maybe they love each other when one isn't taking up valuable real estate.

OK! Party Time! I just took a couple shots of the party. 

Not a lot of people in that picture, because most were downstairs hanging out with...

...some very lovely ladies.

So after helping with cleaning up the house, peeling shrimp (blech), putting together some focaccia creations, and eating candy I was too tired to do anything. Except it was so freaking cold, I had to do something to stay warm! It was 100F in Seattle not 10 days ago, and it was in the 60s when we were there. So I stayed in the kitchen mostly and played some outdoor games with Brother to keep warm. Also wrapped myself in an afghan that I'm pretty sure had cat pee on it.

But all in all it was a fun time, and Hubby was a hit because he was just a Chatty Cathy the whole time. (He claims agoraphobia only when kids are round.)

I feel like I am forgetting something, but I'm just end here with me enjoying the 90F 50% humidity. I never thought I would love this weather, but it was just so cold there! And then the flights home were cold! If I had known, I would have at least packed socks and shoes instead of sandals. And maybe a jacket.

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Working on my dandelion patch

Before we got our socks blown off by wind and hail, the day was actually very nice today. Nice hot and sunny. So I got out to start working on the plot for the avocado trees (only one of four has sprouted a root yet). The kitties helped in this venture. I put Gravy on the lizard leash again, and tied her to a shovel. She just got fixed, so she'll be outside pretty soon. I wanted her to start sniffing around before getting total free reign of the outdoors.

Biscuit helped from under the protection and shade of the Japanese Maple.

I think I spent half of my time getting Gravy untangled from underneath the wheel barrow.

So about that dandelion patch. I got to about where I had done for the failed rhubarb plant, and that stuff all came up pretty easily. Then I got to stuff that seemed stuck in there a bit better. Well yeah, it's weeds growing out of clay that hasn't been disturbed in god knows how many years! So I decided to quit. And no, I don't feel bad about being a quitter.


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random

Just got back from the big fish/lizard/pet store in PA, and I got a leash for (iguanas) Fatboy! So here I shall post a picture of Fatboy looking displeased.

Actually the top one he could almost be showing off his leash. Well the squirming he's doing right now makes me think he doesn't quite like having something tied around his neck.

These two were of Biscuit escaping from Gravy. He seems pleased with his escaping abilities.

Yes that's Evony on the computer. Don't judge me. (don't know why the ads around the internet made it look like a porno, it's not. Just MMORP... whateveryoucallit.)

And yes I put the lead on Gravy. What else do you think I'm going to do with it?

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Early birthday present

I got my birthday present from my parents today. It had the company name in big red letters on the box, which by itself didn't really mean anything to me. It's not like it said "This is a camera store in NY" or anything. So I googled the name, and it came up with camera stuff. So that confirmed what I guessed: zooooooom lens. A big one. I waited all the way until Hubby got home, which was a few hours, because I had to be there to sign for the box. So in those few hours I was getting more and more excited as I grew more and more sure of what was in the box. Right weight, right size for a big lens.

Hubby got home and pretty much said what are you waiting for. He's such a bad influence! His justification was it would affect what he got me, like if we had to get a new tripod to support the monster (we don't, it works great).

So inside the box: a Nikkor 200-400 zoom lens with vibration reduction, along with a nifty travel case. (lots of thick padding!)

So here we go: zoom pictures of cat poop:

What. It was like he was begging for his picture to be taken. We were already out there playing with the lens, so I had to practice! (slow shutter is what is causing thr blur.) Anyway, that was 100% crop. He was about 25 feet away.

And Saffron was about the same distance; these two are both 100%. I wanted to see if you could read the tag. It was washed out a little, so had to do some tweaking in Aperture.

I was going to show a picture taken with the 70-300mm lens, and draw a little box to show the relative size of the field of view on the new lens, but I messed up.

But here is an actual photographic test. Although not as important as the ability to capture cat shit as it's coming out, bokeh is a good quality to have in a lens. Apparently "good bokeh" is when the out of focus background is really diffuse and doesn't show any hint of structure:

It helps in this picture that the leaves had some sideways sunlight to light them up nicely, but I think this is good bokeh.

Here's 100% crop of Biscuit's other end at about 10 feet away.

But anyway, Thank You so much Daddy! I love this thing already. Do you know I almost drove up to the eagles as soon as I had decided what was in the box? Don't actually know if any eagles are out, but still. I was totally gonna do it.

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Bits

1. Addendum to "stuff in my yard": Hubby saw a baby fox in the back yard last week while I was a tupperware party. He should have taken a picture, even though I know it would have come out blurry. I thought they were very protective of their young, so I don't know why one would be out on its own in the grass. But I have noticed the fox activity is up from years past. I have only seen adults, two different ones I think. One is kind of mangy looking, and the other looks in better condition.

more rambling after the fold

2. Biscuit barfed. He had a hairball and ate some grass to alleviate the problem, and he alleviated it all over the carpet. At least it was dark carpet and not the almost white. He's been shedding like crazy lately and I hope it's just the increasing heat and not something serious.

3. Gravy does this thing that I don't know if it comes from being a kitten or her half feral beginnings: if she gets really hyped about a toy or some activity, she'll spaz attack my hand if I am grabbing her. Like with sharp teeth and razor claws really start biting and clawing and kicking hard. She's still little so it may hurt a lot for a kitten but in the scope of cat-damage it not really a big deal. I yell at her ferociously in my angry voice, but I don't think she cares.

4. I was putting the pre-shredded cheese (Kraft brand) on my microwave burrito today, and happened to look at the ingredients. I already knew there was starch or some sort of moisture absorber to keep the individual shreds individual, but it turns out there's an antibiotic in there too (for mold prevention)!! This I was very surprised at. It's natamycin. I've never heard of it, but it's not like I'm versed in antibiotics. I know the few used in aquaria, and that's about it. Anyway, it seems like this would not be a very good thing gut-wise. Or just general superbacteria-wise. Maybe we shouldn't be putting antibiotics in the general food supply? Or maybe we already do? I don't know, it just feels wrong.

5. I watched a few movies recently. hhmm, Netflix says I've watched Boogie Nights, Taken, The Machinist, The Bank Job, Knocked Up, American Psycho, latest James Bond, and the Harold and Kumars.
- Boogie Nights: still love it. "Have you seen my fucking wife?" Love it!
- Taken: I liked it because he wasn't afraid to kill bad guys. Problem is he's ex-CIA in a foreign country and so should maybe not run roughshod over their laws, but still I liked Aslan kicking ass (more that Aslan already kicks ass) a lot.
- The Machinist: I looooove loooove looove Christian Bale in a totally I'll leave my husband sort of way. He lost 60 pounds for his role. Hubby left halfway through because it's kinda artsy, but I enjoyed it. It may have borrowed too much from Memento and ... shoot I can't remember now. Anyway, good and creepy and one that makes you think about what you just saw when you get to the end.
- The Bank Job: not the next in the line after the Italian Job (that's The Brazilian Job) but it has Jason Statham in it as well. Based on a true story. I liked this just fine.
- Knocked Up: Hubby had no interest in watching this, but I found it a little funny, but also a little sweet at the end too. One reason I liked it was the lead actress Katherine Heigl seemed like she really fit the role of upper crust who shouldn't be telling or laughing at dick and fart jokes. Or maybe it was just stiff acting, I couldn't tell.
- American Psycho: again with the Christian Bale! (and guess what's next in the Q? 3:10 to Yuma) People may give him shit for his meltdown, but dude can freaking act! This was a really good movie, and he did a really good job in it. I mean, he really was quite amazing. And I'm not all fangirl with the vapors about this. He really did an amazing job. Sounds like overall, though, the book is much better as usual, just because you get so much more detail about what's going on in that noggin of his.
- Quantum of Solace: I really dislike the name of this one. But I still enjoyed it. What's not to like about a super-secret super-powerful super-embedded group of super bad guys? Except for the fact that head bad guy is a douchey twerp, but I liked it anyway.
- Harolds and Kumars: I actually liked both these movies because they were a lot smarter than I thought they would be.

[OK gotta pause and watch me some crab show]

6. My fish still have fin rot. And I don't know if there are any babies left running around. I just wish I knew why this tank has so many problems. Discus seem to be doing A-OK.

7. "Something has happened in Iran": Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I would say "Turn on a TV and open your ears" but we all know this story is not being talked about except by the internet, as usual.

8. And that reminds me about why this Iran thing bothers me so much. Yes, it's the wanton abuse of the regular people just to scare the rest into submission. But it's also the way they are going about it: stalking to dormatories and killing students who were going to go to, no have been to, opposition rallies. Also the government wanted to try and track Tweets and texts to locate the people writing them. And by locate I assume they mean learn their names and addresses so they can later sneak into their homes and kill them. Now it looks like some stories are saying that Hamas has perpetrated some of these killings, and so the Iranians are sort of consolidating against Palistine. I'm thinking only good things can come from this if that's the direction they are heading.

9. As usual no links to anything because I'm too lazy to look stuff up. Just search the HotAir archives.



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Kittens are awesome

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Tidbits

- I got a shipment of superworms today. They must like the 60F weather, because there were zero dead in the 1000. And three freshies! (no shell = no chitin)

- I recently discovered that there are mockingbirds here. There is a bird with a particularly annoying and grating squawk. I thought it was a grackle, but it's mockingbirds:

Anyway, I was able to tell what kind of bird it was from one of my iPhone apps. It's been advertised on TV, and it's awesome. You can search a type of bird by location, how often you should expect it at your bird feeder, it's colors, multiple subgroups of its call, and many other qualifiers. And then when you have a bird selected you can see the drawing of it, or some submitted pictures of it. The most awesome part: you can play its song. And if you put the phone on loud you could probably attract one.

- Saffron is a lazy kitty. But a rabbit in the yard finally got her attention after chomping on the clover for a long long time. It must know it's safe. Well, Biscuit at least catches stuff.

hey buddy. what chu munchin on?

Come back! Please? I'm lonely.

- Saffron is a dirty and disgusting animal. She rolls in dirt and doesn't groom herself. Also, she has a skin condition. So that all combines into a short hair cat having a bad mat problem. I've given her a nice bald spot on her back by cutting out some of the worst offenders, but I'm probably not even half done.

- I thought I had 14 fry in my cichlid tank. I count every time I look in the basket, and keep coming up with 13. So, I figured one died. I discovered a rogue in the rocks, who must have escaped during a recent transfer when I was cleaning. So I am back up to 14! Well, was, before I discovered a dead fry in the basket. The other fish on the outside of the box suck the food through the mesh, and he must have gotten in the way. So, back to 13.

- Gravy is doing very well. I think I'll be able to move her into the cat room this weekend, as Biscuit and Gravy are on the verge of starting to play together. When Biscuit isn't too annoyed to, that is.

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Yay cat video!

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More Gravy Goodness

So Gravy has been here for, what, 4 days now? She's getting better about being out and about, but runs whenever someone enters the room. I took her to the vet the day after I brought her home, and she's good to go: no FIV or Feline Leukemia. She may have been a little wormy, and had a little bit of ear mites, and got medicine for both. She got one vaccine, instead of the two or three, because she's so small. And she gobbled up the dewormer like it was candy! (Usually everyone in the room gets covered in yellow goop.)

So I've still got her locked up in the main floor bathroom, while Biscuit sulks.

Biscuit sulking

He's OK when he doesn't see her, but starts hissing if she's within eyesight. Gravy is starting to play, but is still concerned about being out in the open. So her play is one part pawing at the toy, and another part realizing she not under cover and running for a hidey hole.

Gravy in a hidey hole

Not much else going on: medicating the fish for fin rot. This antibiotic was Tetracycline, which seems to do a lot better than the Maracyn II I used last problem. The water turns yellow-orange, but it's still clear. The Maracyn II made the water totally gunked up and I couldn't even see when all the fish died, It was horrible. So Yay Tetracycline! Got a batch of 14 babies from one female!! They eat the flake food well, and I hope all 14 make it (of the 20some the mom spit out)

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Introducing...Gravy!

Look how cute she is! Six weeks old, female, looks healthy but have to get her checked.


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Random

1) My fish are sick, and I've only have horrible luck with the antibiotics. On the bright side, one of the females just dropped 20someodd babies! How'd they all fit in there??? Of those, 10ish were dead when I finally checked on them, so I pulled them out of the breeder box and fed them to the adults. Bad idea to give them the taste for fish? I'm pretty sure they've been snacking on babies for a while now. So there's another 10 or so swimming up towards the surface of the breeder box, and they seem to know how to eat flake food. I'm hoping for just a couple to survive, but with the coming Apocalypse (medication that will kill them) and then Rapture (me flushing them) following, I may need as many free fish as possible to repopulate their universe.

2) The little lizard I got last week seems to be doing fine; I have yet to see with my own eyes him eating any food. But when I look at him in the evening, the lettuce seems to be less (aside from the fact it's all dried out). He doesn't do a whole lot: he was thoroughly uninterested when I put in a crickie. Could be he's never seen one before.

3) A guy at work had a feral cat give birth in the window well of his basement. There are four kittens, he says about 5 weeks old (but still nursing). He's going to try to capture one for me, and I shall hug him and squeeze him and call him Gravy. Get it? Biscuit and Gravy? Yes, there is a strong likelihood I'm retarded.

4) I ordered new jammies today. The ones I'm wearing right this second are actually falling apart.

5) I had the phone outside while I was clearing a patch of dandelion garden to plant a tiny sprout of rhubarb. So with he phone outside I put the volume on 11. That was Saturday. Monday morning at 6 am I could sense that thing taking a deep breath to belt out level 11 alarm noise. Scared the shit out of Hubby, and I was lucky to not fumble the thing across the room while trying to silence it.

6) About that tiny little sprout of rhubarb. Hubby's mom sent two pieces of rhubarb Friday. One was the itty bitty sprout, with one tiny little yellow leaf on it. The other had some stalks with leaves. I thought what she was sending was some theat and some to plant. Upon reflection, I think I was supposed to plant both. The amount of usable materiel (I consider this shit something the Geneva Convention should cover) was very little. Nowhere near enough to make pie. So then I thought I'd make pielets in my muffin tin. Hubby said don't bother, we'll find some at the store and combine. So anyway, getting as much of the usable stalk as posible means I tore the everloving crap out of the rhizome or whatever rhubarb grows from. Had I used my brain, I would have a better chance of my back breaking labor on Saturday panning out. See above note about being retarded.


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Biscuit caught a bird

I immediately ran for the camera, pictures coming after I eat.

Let's just say he's tenacious.


OK, time for pictures:
In the first two pictures the bird is right there in the crook of the tree.




Then it flew up into a higher branch, apparently out of view from the camera, because I can't find it.


After that the bird flew over to the tree right next to it, which happens to be in the neighbors yard. So Biscuit jumped down and followed it. He decided the best way to get to it was to go up on the neighbors deck so he could jump in higher up the tree. That was when I decided it was time to bring him in and lock the door.

I locked the cat door, but he was still trying to push it open, so I moved a box in front of it. Getting back from eating just now, I notice the box is moved a little, but both cats are still inside.

So how did the bird get from inside Biscuit's mouth to flying away into a tree? Well after he was done showing us his catch (he was gripping it in its back, and it's little mouth was still moving, so I knew it was still alive) and after I ran for the camera, he wandered off into the yard to play. I didn't even have enough time to get one shot off by the time the bird flew away. As soon as Biscuit let it go to play, it flew. Heh. Stupid cat. Now he knows for next time.

But just the way Biscuit was able to follow it from tree to tree, and especially when he was still trying to get out when I brought him in, was impressive I thought. I'm not sure I've seen a cat who knew he still had something waiting for him outside after he lost sight of it. I guess it's bloodlust. Click for full post and comments

Best present ever!

I caught Biscuit being cute:

It's not as good as the Mittens one, that's for sure, but I got a kick out of the way he made a beeline for under the tree as soon as it was up. Like he's channeling Mittens' spirit or something.

Can you believe I only have 11, well now 12, posts labeled as "cats"? I'll have to get to work improving that number.

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Putting things on animals

Click all pictures for bigger. Especially the last one.

God, I thought the other one was on my side. Gonna have to kill him too.

As soon as I get out of here, I swear all you bitches are gonna die for this!

I'm trying to hibernate, bitches

Santa taste yummy

I haven't done anything to Saffron yet. I have a feeling she'll just sit there, because any attention is good attention.

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Cold feet

Biscuit was very excited to be let in this morning.

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