This is More Dangerous Than it Looks

Hyram has decided to return to his favorite roost, my desk top. There he is in all his glory, toy at hand. It’s fun to have him so close and affectionate. But this perch location has its drawbacks. See that tail sticking out to the left? It’s a mouse movement destroyer. Its also a really good broom. It has been known to knock the mouse entirely off the desk. Anything on the surface of the desk that gets in the way of that tail goes elsewhere. Notice the phone beside the corner of the monitor? He must have been on the desk last night while I was sleeping because this morning I had to crawl under the desk to retrieve the phone from behind the desk where his tail had knocked it. Sometimes I distress Hyram by insisting that he orient himself in the opposite direction. That usually saves my workspace from too much disturbance but it isn’t perfect. I guess in a perfect world I’d have a desk that had a shelf just for him and his tail could drape down from the height showing off all its glory. Sorry you can’t see the entire tail. It’s very brush like and really magnificent. As is my boy! Cheers!

Killing Bugs!

Ugly things, crawling in places where living creatures shouldn't be able to cling, moving faster than I can with a shoe in my hand! I hate bugs! Have since I was a kid. I'm scared of them too. One of the earliest home movies Dad took was one where my younger sister ferociously killed a bug with a raggedy Andy doll, and then taught me how to do it, with much bashing of the doll on the hapless corpse of the spider unfortunate enough to meet up with her. I think we were 2 and 4 at the time.

Being bigger than the bug doesn't help. When I was a little bit older I was in a downstairs half bath and out from behind the toilet crawls a tarantula. My feet came off the ground. I cried out for Mom to no effect. I was trapped in there until it crawled to the other side of the small room and I was able to leap from my feet upon the toilet seat perch to the step in front of the doorway and escape. I'm sure I then ran to tell mother, but somehow that image fades into vagueness while the crawling of the very large spider along the wall is as vivid today as it was when I experienced it.

Killing bugs is daunting. They seem to want to live really badly and are hardy enough that sometimes you have to kill them more than once. There are several cans of bug spray, of various strengths and for various species, in my cleaning cupboard. In a pinch a can of hair spray will do the trick. But the flying bugs are the worst. They not only avoid the spray with lightning speed, they fly right at you in the process making you run squealing for cover. It usually takes a few moments to gather ones courage when a bug has flown at you nearly ending up, Eek!, in your hair. Shudder! After your nerves are no longer in flight mode and you've gathered your courage together, along with a weapon bigger and nastier than the previous one, you creep out of the adjoining room to try again. No woman in her right mind wants bugs in her home.

So you can imagine my dismay to discover that roaches seem to like my boys' litter box. The youngest is often found in the early morning hours sitting intensely focused in front of it waiting for the roach to reappear. This morning it had escaped Hooboo to make its way into the bathtub. So there I was watching this ugly, medium sized, brown thing with legs I knew all too well from magnified pictures, scuttling around the bottom of my tub. Fortunately it didn't seem to be able to get up the sides. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for me (it didn't get out), Hooboo seemed to not want to get into the tub to chase it. When I tried to put him in there to take care of his bug destruction duties he jumped right back out and snuggled up to my ankle purring. So it was up to me and I didn't feel armed enough with a wad of paper in my hand. I went and got a shoe that 1) I didn't intend to wear today (Eew! Bug slime!), and 2) was way much bigger than the bug! Bam! Bam, bam! It took me two attempts to manage to smash the thing and I made sure the laces were gathered in to give it nothing to suddenly scurry up towards my descending hand. Finally, SPLAT! It was blessedly and thoroughly squashed! I was safe to gather it in some toilet paper and flush it into the sewer system. Whew! Now I just need to disinfect the bathtub and find something with a healthy residual effect to spray around the litter pan. I hate bugs!

Misc. Bits

It's been nice to be busy this past week. Work is interesting and going well. I'm working a field test so details can't be shared but it is Math and the grades I'm on are 5 though 7. Each question is under development so they get created and then given to a sampling of students before they are put into an actual test. It takes a long time for test questions to be developed to the point of test inclusion. This is one of the reasons the education system doesn't have enough money to hire teachers. Tons of it is going to pay for the proof that they are doing their jobs, these high stakes tests.

This past weekend Hooboo managed to get himself into a fight and got his ear chomped through. There is a hole all the way through although it is healing. But over the three days before I realized it needed attention it developed an infection. When I looked at it on Tuesday it was weepy with stuff that turned scabby and was a little bit pink when I washed his ear out with ear cleaner. Uck! Yesterday evening I ran to the store and picked up hydrogen peroxide and some antibiotic ointment. With a treatment yesterday and again this morning it is looking better. The swelling is going down and the heat is gone. Whew! Thank goodness for kittens fast metabolisms.

Life has gotten really busy for me at church. Normally I'd think you couldn't do too much at church, but I may have been wrong. I added in choir as an activity about 3 weeks ago and while I love it I'm having to give up some of my adult education time. I'm already a Lay Minister and on Altar Guild, so the first Sunday I sang I was at both services since I was serving at the early service and singing at the late. This past Sunday I was singing at the late service and had altar guild duties afterward. Did I mention we are having a really good Sunday school class on spirituality and how to return to its center? I hate leaving early to warm up but I can't let the choir down. This Sunday two of those serving areas want me to help out by manning a table during our ministry fair which we are holding to try to increase the number of people contributing time to church service. I'm trying to decide if I want to attend early service to visit with my friend Kathy and keep in touch with what is going on there (because I'm also signed up for verger training and knowing how things are supposed to go is the main responsibility there). So when am I supposed to be at home and calling Mom? She sits by the phone waiting for those calls that I make with love every Sunday! And why did I pick up choir? Because it's fun and I wanted some socializing other than just on Sunday's. And I'm getting that! I get to sit next to Paschal's wife Tina most practices and Sunday's and when Betty comes back from traveling I will get to sit next to her too. Last night Marise, who I know but don't spend much time talking to, offered to sit next to me so that I'd have a strong singer to follow, I'm singing alto and haven't followed sheet music in over 30 years. I was delighted! It made things so much easier! And how nice of her! :)

Newsy Bits

Church of Reconciliation Episcopal, my church for the past 6 years, is having their 40th birthday party in December. We held the organizational planning meeting yesterday. I'm on the liturgy committee. Celebrations will last almost a week and there's an air of excitement all around.

My poor kitties who've been fighting off flees, Hyram more so than Hooboo, are seeing the Vet on Wednesday morning. Before then I've got to get Hooboo his own carry case. He's smaller than Hyram so I guess it can be smaller than his.

There's a scoring job at Pearson lasting 2 weeks in September. I'm signed up for it and get trained for a half day tomorrow. Productive activity! Yay!

Last night I finished reading "The Joys of Love" by Madeleine L'Engle. It's a pretty good coming of age story. Overall the feel was less complicated than her other fictional writings. The writing seemed more straight forward and the ending while adequate was almost, but not quite, abrupt. I wonder why she didn't publish it. From what I read about it's publishing, it was kept by her for a long time and her granddaughters are responsible for its being published now. If you'd like to visit her website go here.

Dibs and Dabs of Stuff

This morning I'm grinning from ear to ear. San awarded me the "Just Plain Fun to Read" award. Yay! Thank you San! It's proudly displayed on the right sidebar.



Thursday evening I rediscovered the public library. Wanted something new to read. Didn't want to face the dangers of walking into Barnes & Noble...or any other bookstore for that matter. So I stopped by on my way home. While there I picked up a copy of the latest book by the late Madeleine L'Engle, The Joys of Love. Apparently this had been in the possession of her family and is published posthumously. At my friend Micheal's suggestion, I'm trying out a book by Lois McMaster Bujold, Cordelia's Honor. Michael and I've been functioning as good personal libraries for each other lately. That's a great way to save and keep in touch with friends. The third book I picked up, and am in the process of reading now, is Maria V. Snyder's, Poison Study.

Getting books at the public library has been added to the lifestyle changes list.

With books I'm like a kid in a candy store. It can be hard to choose. When I have more than one new book I sometimes use a method for choosing which to read first. Two or three of the most interesting looking (it's a mood of the moment thing) get into bed with me and I read a few lines or a page from each. The one I get hooked by at the time is the one I start with and read for the next few days. That's what happened last night with Snyder's book. I was hooked in the first paragraph. Wow! Talk about good writing. You wake from a nightmare caused by experiences you lived through. You're in prison. You're walking towards your own execution thinking "how nice to have it all over," and then boom, you're getting offered one of those jobs which might kill you, but while you do it your still alive. Who couldn't get hooked by a book that does that in 6 short pages?

While at the library, I proudly noticed that Susan's book Shelter was on the shelves. Yay, my friend is known locally too!

Michael is teaching me how to play Dungeons & Dragons. This is apparently going to take some time because the game isn't being played yet. He is in preparation still because he's writing the scenario and needs to gather a team of players to play it. What we've been doing towards my part is design my first character. The story is set in an alternate US history. It has lots of cultures in it and I'm a Half Elf, Asian-American, Female Sorceress. So far we've done the creation dice rolls that tell you what your strength, knowledge, and some other stuff are. Then we added the extra points by race and selected weapons I'm supposed to be good with. Those were longsword, rapier, and short and long bow. Now I'm in the process of reading through a list of feats to choose one which I can have as a starting feat. Why they call these feat I've no idea. They seem sort of like talents to me. But I'm new to this and maybe talent has another meaning in the game.

And on a frustrated but also affectionately amused note, now that my desk top has been cleaned and decluttered (for the most part), Hyram has decided that it is his favorite perch again. So he keeps jumping up in the middle of the desk. And I keep shoving him over to one side. His tail flicks a lot and when it disrupts mouse movements I lift him down. He turns around and jumps right back up. So we're in the battle for computing/cat perch space right now. I love that he wants to be close to me. I love how he purrs when he's up here even while flicking his tail swiftly and roughly. But I don't love to have my mouse, in my hand at the time, flicked by his tail so that my efforts to work are disrupted. Oh well! Maybe someday I'll get a deeper desk and have more room for him. I'd give him the entire side of this one but so much of the back edge is lined with stuff that he'd knock off and I'd then have to crawl under the desk to retrieve them. At least Hooboo hasn't decided he wants the space too so there are no cat fights going on while Hyram rests on his new throne. :)

Voila! & Cat Silliness

Yay! The new look is up! Some of my wonderful friends have visited and left nice comments. Thank you, guys!

There was a vision, but it happened in bits and pieces. Terry, of Terry's Playpen, did all the html work on this and he is awesome. He also did some Photoshop image adjusting to get me the great banner image. That image started out as a NationalGeographic wallpaper, so I don't feel any guilt in modifying it for my blog. They had already published it as a download for broad personal use. Yes, we took the name off because there just wasn't room for everything to fit in the small space allowed for an image. That's one of the reasons I'm giving them credit here. Plus, I'm not making money off this blog and don't really intend to. It's for personal use and friendly sharing.

Terry tends to downplay his skills, but the creative work he put into that image is fantastic. He cropped it, rearranged sections of it, carved out the edges of flowers and butterflies. He created awesome translucency on the butterfly wings so that you can see the background through them. He has a really great sense of color too. There are so many tiny detail touches that he put in that I couldn't even begin to list them all. Compare the banner image to the original image below and you'll get an idea of just how much work Terry put into it.

When I said the vision happened in bits and pieces, I wasn't kidding. It started as a request for a tag cloud. I casually mentioned that I was thinking about adding a background pattern. Terry picked up both of those ideas, offered to help, and things grew from there. If I ever wondered how a project goes from small to large, I have an excellent idea now. It's those little tweaks and changes you get when people are excited about their work and spend time making things just right. The background pattern got scratched, the image got implemented, also the tag cloud, and the new 3 column format. Plus there's a custom background color now. Lots of work!!!

One of the nice things with this new look is the 3 column format. With that I can now post awards, such as those Sandi has been giving me, without making you scroll forever to see them. The drag and drop feature of blogger is also much more useful in this format because there's actually room to move things around. I'm delighted!

So, there you have it, "my new look!" In the process of creating it, Terry got some ideas for future tweaks and "how to" posts for his Playpen. Be sure to put his blog on your list of those to visit. He is terrific (pun not intended)(well, maybe it is)!

To celebrate the new look, I'm sharing some cute cat pics of Hooboo. Yes, I know, he tends to get star billing and feels it is his due. Fortunately, Hyram knows he is still the love of my life and assures me he doesn't feel neglected. The other day Hooboo was in one of those playful, exploratory moods where none of his usual toys were quite right. He discovered the fringe on the afghan I have for the sofa. In the process of playing with it he crawled under the pillows piled at one end. Suddenly he was in a "pillow jungle" and started having all kinds of exciting adventures. This made enough noise that I was alerted, grabbed the camera, and came up with some great shots.

Here he is crawling up through the "Pillow Jungle". He didn't seem to mind my picture taking this time. I guess he was just having too much fun with his jungle fantasy.

And here he is, having made it to the top of that jungle climb playing peek-a-boo through the pillows. I couldn't resist taking several pictures of that face. He definitely had his cute on.

Enjoy folks! And have a Happy Holy Week!

Froggie Came Out to Play!

Way back in December when I received the lovely shawl Susan knit for me, she included kitty toys and politely hoped for pictures of them in use. In an earlier post I showed the sheep toy. I've finally managed to get a picture of the other toy in use. Hooboo is the most playful of my boys. He plays with anything that looks remotely interesting, so, being easiest to capture photographically, he's in all the pictures of Susan's gifts. Here's a picture of Hooboo playing with the frog toy. If you look at his paws he is hugging it to his chest.

Wednesday, I wore the shawl to school and one of the teachers noticed and asked about it. She thought it was lovely, and commented on how soft it looked.

Here's another picture of Hooboo after he has caught the creature and subdued it. One of his favorite perches seems to be the chair seats at my dining table.

Hyram on the other hand has found the one toy that Hooboo isn't interested in. It's a koozie that I was given at a school district. When he plays with it the string and bead pulls attached to it rattle nicely. He's a very split second player which means he gets tired of playing pretty quickly. When I'm finally able to get a picture of him playing with it I promise to post it.

My Next Pet?

Upon reading about my newly acquired title, my friend JS suggested that my next pet perhaps should be a "Jesus Lizard". I didn't know what this was so I looked it up. Here's what Wikipedia has on this creature.

Common basilisk, Basiliscus basiliscus, (or simply the basilisk) is a lizard found in Central and South American rain forests near rivers and streams. It has a diet consisting of insects, flowers and small vertebrates like snakes, birds and fish. The basilisk has numerous predators including large birds of prey, snakes, fish, other larger reptiles, and mammals. The basilisk is not endangered.

The basilisk's maximum lifespan in captivity is around 7-8 years, but in the wild most die much sooner. Females lay about 2-18 eggs, five to eight times a year. Eggs hatch after about three months and the young weigh about 2 grams. Their outstanding camouflage allows them to remain undetected when they remain motionless in the undergrowth. They have long toes and sharp claws, and their head is adorned with both a crest and a coloured dewlap. Most are under 25 centimetres (1 foot) in length, but some may grow up 75 centimetres and usually weigh between 200-600 grams. Like most reptiles, basilisks are active during the day.

Ability to walk on water

The basilisk is part of the iguana family. It, along with the Brown basilisk, has the nickname the "Jesus Christ Lizard" or "Jesus Lizard" because when fleeing from a predator, it gathers sufficient momentum to run on top of water for a brief distance. Basilisks have large hind feet with flaps of skin between each toe, much like the webbing on a frog. These are rolled up when the lizard walks on land; but if the basilisk senses danger, it can open up this webbing to increase the surface area on the water relative to its weight, thus allowing it to run on water for short distances. Smaller basilisks can run about 10-20 metres on the water surface without sinking, and can usually run farther than older basilisks.

So, now you know all that I know about this creature. Being a lover of dragons, I'm attracted to it's dragonish crest. Very attractive! If it can walk on water perhaps JS is right. It just might be the perfect pet. Good call, JS! (G)

Camera Play on a Rainy Day

It's wet and nasty outside. So of course I decided it was a good time to play with the camera. Things started off kinda awkward. I got some decent shots but only a couple were very share worthy. However, as the playing progressed I got a little casual with my aim and stopped trying to point the camera looking directly at the LCD. Surprisingly things got better at that point. (Shrugging shoulders - I've no idea why) Some of my results are below.

Because the weather was nasty it quickly became cause for a Fowl Weather Party.

Hooboo isn't totally happy when indoors, even on the nastiest days. Thank goodness today is above freezing. Here he is being the patio Watch Cat.

When he finally did come inside, Hooboo started a fight with Hyram. My scolding started immediately but Hooboo isn't impressed by this. He gets this Tired Old Man look and just sits there till I stop.

Hyram doesn't get up on my lap often so sometimes, when he is rubbing past my ankles, I grab him and put him there. It's sort of a game we play to see if I can catch him. He is so long that to let him settle comfortably on my legs I have to cross one knee over the other making an incline he will then stretch out on. Here's Rum Tum being a Lap Blan-Cat.

While Hyram was keeping my legs warm I decided to play with closeups. Here he is in profile. This is a bit blurry but he's less than 2 feet away. My pants are dark and I think the flash went off. Thus the colors are lightened. It's almost black and white.

Finally, I just wanted to see how close I could get with the camera and still have things come into focus. Maybe I should ask if you can guess what this is like David does but I think the label gives it away. This was taken from just over a foot away. It's a bit hard to see in the image the blog shows but may show up better in the larger version if you click on it. The part that is best in focus are a few tiny drops of water on the inside of the bottle. I just thought that was kind of neat. Enjoy!

The Life of Hooboo

Trying to keep pace with the exciting lives of Susan's 3 gorgeous felines is tough. See them in action here and here. When I asked him to play with something for the camera, Hooboo yawned and politely informed me he would rather not be a copycat. He then proceeded to do his own thing. Hooboo likes to read.


As you can see in the picture above, he reads in the same sort of places I do. One where he can shove the books aside after he is done with them and then go to sleep. Here he is with a stack of Kim Harrison books behind him having already spent the last 3 nights staying up reading them. As you can clearly see, the next book on his list to read is Susan's Shelter. He wasn't patient about me finishing it either. He said I took way too long and expressed his discontent by lying on top of it. When that didn't hurry me up, he got Hyram to do the same. Now he is jealously guarding his newly gained territory.


In other moments of the day, he does his best to destroy the lovely catnip filled toys that Susan sent the boys for Christmas. Here he is playing with the lamb, bouncing it off the sofa. I don't have a picture of him with the frog, but he did the hind foot strafe till Hyram decided it needed to be his if it was going to survive. Hyram prefers to bath his catnip toys. This picture didn't come out as nice as I'd like it to. The camera was on auto and it focused on the sofa instead of the leaping kitten. Oh well, I'll get better at this with practice...looking longingly at Gary's copy of Photoshop.

Kitty Pics!

My cats don't do cute things like Susan's do. Yep, that's my current excuse for not having gorgeous images of my boys being playful. The other excuse is that I've only had my new camera a week and am still learning how to use it. But, in the interest of sharing, here are a few images of Hooboo and Hyram.

This one is of Hyram looking brave as he faces the flash. Later he is doing his best to avoid looking directly at my camera so the other shots of him are from the side. Hyram is a Flamepoint Ragdoll which I adopted from the veterinarian 10 years ago. He is finally getting adjusted to his new buddy Hooboo but the competition for attention and food is intense. :)

Here's Hooboo by my desk trying to decide whether he wants to stay in and mess with Hyram or go out and be the cool street cat he was when I adopted him this past summer. I love both my kitties but here is some advice for pet owners and vets. If the owner has one old male cat who has no front claws (not my choice) and has been castrated (the old way of neutering a cat) and they adopt a young street cat who keeps his claws but also gets neutered, DON'T give the new cat a vasectomy! The left over testosterone production will make for an aggressive domineering kitten who will then have the older supposedly alpha cat running for cover. Sigh, I'm sure that keeping his testicles in tact will help Hooboo live a longer and healthier life but I let him outside just to give Hyram some peace and quiet. Poor old guy.

Here's a second one of Hyram looking nonchalant in front of the camera's invasive lens. He was trying to take a nap and be close to me. He now spends a lot of time lying near me in the living room or under my desk when I'm working on my computer. This winter is hitting us both hard. We each seem to have aches and pains in places we wish we didn't. He's moving carefully these days and my right hand is aching in the cold.

Here is Hooboo taking a nap on the sofa. He looks upside down because that's the way he looks from the front of the sofa. Hooboo is an American Bobtail, that's why he doesn't have a tail. I didn't know tailless cats existed except for the Manx. Now I do. He likes to have his back scratched just in front of the stub. Don't all cats? :)

That's it for the best kitty poses right now. I have others but they are just too similar to be worth sharing at the same time. As I get better at animal photography I'll share more of my boys. Hooboo is becoming the cuddle bug Hyram never has been. He gets picked up and snuggled when he comes in and plopped on the bed as I get ready for sleep. Hyram is now starting to spend time in the bed with me when he can catch a time that Hooboo isn't there. Otherwise he still sleeps on the cedar chest (my grandmother's hope chest) which is right next to my bed and has lots of lovely soft laundry piled up on it. Hyram is the one who wakes me in the morning and if his efforts don't succeed Hooboo does a run and bounce across the bed a few times. If I'm determined to sleep late they eventually take up posts waiting for me to be ready to get up and feed them breakfast. I've even had them both on the bed at the same time for that. Ah food, the great leveler. (G)

Happy New Year!

Adjustments and Judgements

My bedroom is still not quite put back together after the earlier mishaps but it is getting there. The comforter, after being washed, is now wonderfully fluffy. It seems that drying it with 3 tennis balls is a great boon to the loft. The bedroom is now off limits unless I'm in it. So far this has only inconvenienced Hooboo. Hyram is happy sleeping almost anywhere. Hooboo wants more play ground.

In my classroom, I'm finding myself already developing likes and dislikes. I have my favorites but I'm trying to make connections with all the children. Yesterday, I discovered that one student has the same birthday as I do, so I shared that with him. I hope it made him feel better. A couple of children are definitely getting my irk factor up. Neither pays attention to the teacher. They are both determined to do their own thing. One is a bit of a know-it-all. The other is a tattle tale. And although I haven't figured out yet why I think this, one of them seems to be a bit of a liar. I wonder if I'm taking denial of misconduct as a lie and over emphasizing it. I certainly don't want to be unfair. But I also want the students to own up to their actions.

At the university yesterday, I mentioned to my supervisor that my CT was less than enthusiastic about having a student teacher. So far she seems accommodating, but I worry about the things I might not be aware of and the results of any actions or attitudes she and/or I might display. I'm not always savvy about motives. My supervisor suggested that I simply be aware of it and be very, "It's your space and you rule" to her. I might even want to hold back on some of my idea generating. That's kind of sad because I really want to make learning fun. But I also don't want to step on my CT's toes in any way.

While reading Susan's blog I noticed her lovely slimy mollusk graphic and checked out TTLB. I am wondering about signing up but I know that my hit count is so low that I'd only be an Insignificant Microbe if I didn't drop off the chart entirely. I'm actually proud of my hit count. It is nowhere near Susan's but I get caught up in a lot of subject searches and so my count has climbed from 2 or 3 in the beginning to 8 or 9 a day. I've passed the 2000 mark and am almost halfway to 3000. Not bad for a beginner who is horrible at networking. I know that a few of the hits I get come from Susan's page or people who have read her page, checked mine out and came back later to see if I'd updated anything. So, Thanks Susan!

Ok, the 2nd alarm on my watch has just dinged telling me it is time to head off to work. Gotta run and do the klutzy, still finding her way, student teaching thing. Have a good day all!

Industrial Strength Cleaning

One of my cats is very unhappy with me. In the past 12 hours I've stripped my bed twice and thrown everything into the wash. That's not easy when part of your bedding is a down comforter. I think the culprit is Hooboo because I spotted him coming out of the bedroom just before I discovered the second middle of the sheets kitty pee "accident".

Last night's bedding took 3 loads, so I got to sleep later than I'd planned. Once stripped and remade, I read a book in bed till the washing was done and the comforter was in the dryer. This morning, I've had time to toss the newly wet sheets in the wash, clean the catbox, and take out the trash. I'm beginning to feel really organized if I can get this much done this quickly.

With the bedroom door closed, I'm hoping the problem is solved until I've had a run to WalMart. I realize I need one of those plastic covers for mattresses. I'm praying that the cause was simply an effort on the cat's part to get me to clean their box more frequently and not testosterone competition coming to a head. If it wasn't the box I may come home to something worse. If that happens I don't know what I'll do. I think I'll leave Hooboo out today just to be safe. He liked being outside yesterday and I came home to find him sleeping in my Kalanchoe planter.

On the going to work side, my CT suggests I bring my own lunch so that I can eat what I prefer. She also suggests I leave my purse locked in my car and only bring a little change in the room with me. Her room and filing cabinet don't lock well. So maybe this is a good idea. I offered to take a list of repair requests to the office for her commenting that if they kept her room in top working order she would feel taken care of. When I sign in this morning I think I'll ask who we turn in such requests to and see if they can't put a new lock for her on the to do list.

Happy Tuesday all!

Midnight Destruction! And maybe a blessing...

This morning, I stepped from my bedroom to find the floor covered with papers and magazines. Hooboo had climbed onto my desk during the night and knocked almost every piece of paper on it to the floor. I know it was Hooboo because the bag of catnip, carefully stashed in a tray, was out on the desk surface. Hyram just isn't that ambitious. He had also jumped up on the sofa arm, knocking off a small stack of magazines, to reach the strip of paper that was my "Ribbon" poem which I'd hung on the wall. This, sadly, was torn in two and I found half of it on the floor tangled in a piece of cording from my desk. He'd had a lot of fun while I was sleeping. It didn't take me long to clean up my desk or the floor. It will take me longer to forgive Hooboo for the destruction of my heart's creation.

I'm trying to tell myself that it is only a thing and that the poem is written in other places, my heart, this blog. But I put a lot of love and creativity into that piece of literary art and I'm wondering where I can find another strip of paper to try to recreate it. You see part of the poem is the paper it was written on which is a long ribbon of nice quality paper with a sort of parchment coloring. The words were written in different colored felt pens. I'd used a different color for each line.

The ribbon paper may have been purchased at Michael's, as a lot of craft supplies are. Since I need to go to Office Max, Ross's and Payless Shoes today, conveniently in the same shopping center, I think I will check there. Perhaps I can find some supplies to use in my classroom for my students. I really don't want to spend a whole lot on craft stuff but because it would be for my classroom I can take those supplies off my taxable income next year. So, perhaps I can find a blessing in all of this.

In other bits of news, yesterday I cleaned up my kitchen throwing away a few things and putting others I wasn't using out of sight in spare cabinet space. The whole thing looks much better and I'm pleased with the results. I also threw out some more magazines and papers and in the process got the stacks of paper on my very small coffee table down to just one pile. Having done the dining table earlier I now have two mostly bare table surfaces to look at and use. Yay!

While throwing things away I noticed the Math Pack I purchased over a year ago for my math approaches class. It is a kit with a bunch of wonderful math manipulatives and an instruction book to go along with them. This will be perfect to test out in my student teaching classroom. I'd always fussed about my professors requiring us to purchase long lists of supplies for their courses which we only used once. Now I know why we did this each semester. It was to build up a stock of things we would be using later when we had a classroom full time to work in. A stray thought popped up just now from when my leg was broken and my parents were here helping me take care of myself. I might have looked like a pack rat to them, they insisted I throw out or give away many things, but I had reasons for keeping most of the things I held on to. No classroom can ever hold all the supplies a teacher collects for use. Yay, another reason to move to a larger place when I have a classroom of my own! (G)

Happy Sunday, all!

Stress Up - Hisses Down

School at the university started yesterday. I'm off and running full tilt, or so it seems. Already I've been given tons of information, joined two professional organizations (thankfully free to students), filled out forms required for student teaching, and had my picture taken for the district ID badge. The next four weeks are filled with seminars, observations, things to do in preparation for certification, and lots of different manuals to read. As intimated in earlier posts, I shall be very busy.

Today's instruction included how to write a resume, dress for an interview and how to work the student job services system. We also got a good bit of legal advice on what we can and what we can't do as teachers. Oh, and yesterday they told us about the education version of FERPA.

On the home front, I've been trying to stay caught up with things around the apartment. Hooboo has been wanting out in the mornings so I let him go. When I come back later he is ready to come in and have lunch. Considering how much hissing Hyram has been doing lately I was a bit concerned about leaving Hooboo in all day. The few times I've gone out leaving them both inside, when I come back they haven't torn each other apart. They seem to be working things out. What signs do I see of this? Well, earlier I was holding Hooboo and Hyram was watching this. When I put Hooboo down they both took the time to touch noses and no one hissed. Again, when I went to the kitchen for a snack both cats were right there wanting theirs too. Again, no hisses and each knows the placement of his bowl. This might work out. I'm still asking for prayers for both of them but I'm thanking God that they seem to be adjusting to one another.

Liberty & Turf

Hooboo got his first liberty today. For those who aren't familiar with the military usage of the word it means freedom to leave the ship/base and go out and about.

Hooboo elected to take his when I went onto the porch to do laundry. I'd offered it before, opening the screen door and putting him in the opening but this offer had been declined. He wasn't ready to go out without companionship, which I guess my laundry room visit gave him.

Once on the porch he proceeded to scarf down the food in his old bowl which I had left out there. Uck and Ick! I don't remember how long that food has been sitting there exposed to the elements. Possibly as long as a week and no doubt less than fresh. I hope he doesn't get sick.

He's still outside. He is collared with a rabies tag so I won't worry too much about his getting picked up by the authorities. I think he knows the way home. He should, he'd been sleeping on my porch since June. So, hopefully his liberty will work some of the piss & vinegar out of him and he may feel less aggressive after having reclaimed his old outdoor territory. My biggest hope is that he will then leave Hyram his space and not be so pushy.

I'm worried about Hyram a bit. It looks like Hooboo wants to play but Hyram has started backing himself into corners and hissing. He is trying to protect himself from a perceived threat and I'm wondering what to do about it. I didn't really want to get Hooboo declawed but if he attacks Hyram in a vicious manner I may have to resort to it. I'm not quite ready to go there so they both have time to adjust some more. If you have suggestions on how to handle this I'd be delighted to hear them.

Laundrys done. Yup, Hooboo knows his way home! (g)

Transitions

A letter arrived on Saturday telling me about some of the transition from summer free time to very busy student time. I have my first meeting at UTSA on Wednesday. Later that same day I am to attend a meeting at the North East ISD. Each meeting will tell me some of the expectations a student teacher needs to meet. I'm slightly stressed and a little relieved. Suddenly, I'll have lots to do and think about. I'm relieved that things are finally happening and also that both meetings are spaced several hours apart. The morning meeting is casual dress and after it I can go home, eat lunch and change into professional garb for the evening one.

The kitty transition is coming along but not very smoothly. Hyram has decided to hiss frequently at Hooboo. Hooboo, being only a year old, thinks he is invincible. Foolish kitty. Hyram may be old but is over twice his size. Hooboo has done the submissive lay on your side thing exactly once that I could tell. Hyram wasn't impressed. Hooboo has also flown in the face of Hyram with claws reaching out to scratch. He didn't quite make it. I hope he is only showing a bit of bravado. Things seem to calm down at night. Hyram takes up his post under my bed or near it. Hooboo tends to sleep on the sofa till the early morning hours at which time he invades my bed and snuggles onto my pillow with paws kneading and head nudging. Of course this wakes me from a sound sleep. The rewarding thing about this is that he isn't under my feet when he is in bed and the other evening Hyram was on one side of me while Hooboo was on the other. Both were sleeping. And thankfully so could I. This evening Hooboo found the old kitty fishing poles. He has no apparent feather color preference. He'll chase anything. Hyram prefers the hot pink ones and only attacks feathers when he feels like it. My trip to the pet store netted me lots of cat food, litter, a collar for Hooboo and a nice wide cat scratch pad. I'm making sure I reward Hooboo every time he uses it instead of the sofa. Good kitty! Have a treat! :)

More Odd Bits - posts - cat news - an interesting blog

Me has graciously let me know there are lyrics to the Enterprise Theme Song. I went looking and sure enough there they were on a SciFi channel. I've posted them in the comments for "Star Trek" Music.

Hooboo and Hyram are competing for food and space. This morning I had to pick each bowl up, fill them, and then place them down at the same time in spread apart locations (thankfully both in the kitchen). Hyram has always had his favorite places to relax in. Now Hooboo is suddenly coming into these places and there is a certain amount of hissing going on. Last night both cats slept on the floor until Hooboo discovered how comfortable the sofa was. This morning he discovered how to get up on my bed and decided he really liked being there with me and kneading the comforter. Right now, Rum Tum (affectionate name for Hyram) is stretched out on my dining table (seldom used for dining) and Hooboo is curled up near my feet. Ah the joys of being a cat mom. (g)

Found an amusing blog today. Basic Instructions was listed in the notable blogs when I logged on. I wandered through it and was most impressed with the artwork and interesting commentary and humor exhibited while giving out much needed directions for handling certain situations one might encounter in life. I'm adding a link for this one to my side bar. It's worth the occasional read.

Stray Porch Kitty becomes New Kitty

In the midst of torrents of rain which Tropical Depression Erin is dropping on San Antonio, stray porch kitty came home from the vet. For a day or two, while his neutering heals, he will be an indoor kitty. Hyram is uncertain about this new member of our family. He likes Hooboo, he just isn't sure he wants to share his kingdom.

The medical news is good. Hooboo had no diseases, no leukemia or kitty HIV, and has been inoculated against both plus the requisite rabies. He did have fleas so they gave him a pill which kills them all in 30 minutes in addition to spraying him with something that makes him smell powdery sweet. And, having been neutered he is now officially an "it" and can't make anymore baby Hooboos.

I'm following the vets instructions. Hooboo gets half his usual quantity of food and water tonight in case he throws up from the anesthesia. He has eaten and Hyram had his bowl right along side. Hooboo has shown his good manners by properly using the litter box. It's nice to know I don't have to go through the process of house training him. He even deigned to play with a puff on a stick.

If I have one reason to complain about the newest member of my family it's that he can't seem to keep out from under my feet. He has curled around and walked in front and under my feet. I'm so afraid that I'm going to step on him that I'm almost chasing him off. I'm sure this will all work out soon and he will develop habits of familiarity that are easier to deal with. I bet he has just been so lonely that he really needs to be held for a while till he feels more secure.

In the mean time, please pray for him and Hyram. They both are new to this brother business and Hyram is 10 while Hooboo is only 1. So its going to be a real adjustment for both of them.

Sick Kitty

Yesterday I put down some food in the middle of the afternoon and Hyram didn't run to eat it. It sat there all night too. He didn't go into the bathroom where I keep his water either. He seemed slow and lethargic. His usual perches, up high on a table or couch arm, weren't attractive. So this morning I called the vet. Yes, it sounded serious enough for me to bring him in. Could I make it there by 3 PM? Absolutely!

So at 2:30 I put Hyram into his carry case and hauled him over to his vet for a look see. Hyram purred in the case on the way over at the same time as he made little mewing sounds that told me he was not happy to be going anywhere. Once we got him into the examination room he refused to come out of his carry case. The vet assistant tilted it 90 degrees from the table and he clung to the inside bracing his feet against the sides of the crate. So we put him back down on the table and took the crate apart. Then we left him alone for a bit in the hope that he would calm down. After a few minutes the assistant came back and we moved him to a bigger room which seemed to help. They still had to take him out of the crate with a towel wrapped around him. He fussed loudly about this and tried to get away during his exam.

The exam consisted of the vet checking him over for abscesses of which, thankfully, there were none. He also took his temperature which was 105. While that isn't horribly high it is a definite fever and solid signs that something was going on. Dr. Ben told me that what he thought was going on was a viral infection which we would want to run its course. We could do blood work to see if any organs were failing but he didn't think that this was necessary because Hyram didn't seem very dehydrated and had only been refusing food for 24 hours. If I wanted to have this done I could have them draw blood but we might want to wait and see if a shot to reduce the infection and some antibiotics didn't clear things up. Considering that it took two people to hold Hyram down just to examine him I elected to do the wait and see.

The treatment plan we came up with and implemented went like this: 1) he got a shot to bring down the fever; 2) he got an antibiotic shot to get him started on recovery; 3) I got a bottle of 14 capsules to give him over the next few days; and 4) if he doesn't seem to improve, especially eating, by tomorrow I'm to bring him back in for blood work.

Hyram was so glad to get back in his case and into the car that he purred without mews the whole way home. The trip to the vet cost $145 which isn't too bad considering that I got some Frontline at the same time and also some pill pockets to push the capsule into so that he can take the medicine without me trying to force pills down his throat.

In addition to all of that I made an appointment for stray porch kitty to go in and see Dr. Ben to get checked over for infectious diseases, acquire shots, and get neutered thus becoming a safe playmate for Hyram. The two of them actually get along pretty well, having spent much quality time nose to nose through the screen door. The other day I had stray porch kitty in for a short show and tell to a friend. Neither of them hissed and there was much exploring and following around between them. So, I think this increased cat family will work. The stray porch kitty's name will be Hooboo. Don't ask me where I got that. It just seemed right. Maybe it is a cross between "Who are you?" and the term hobo.

The trip to the vet and back home seems to have done Hyram worlds of good. As soon as we got in and I opened his crate he took himself out and then over to the kitchen for some comfort food. Yay! He is eating already. And he accepted a pill pocket treat which tells me that he won't be adverse to them when I start using them tomorrow morning to feed him the rest of his antibiotics. And I am one very relieved owner. Thank God!