Kittens! pictures coming

So I now have cats. Last week I had a cat. Last month I had fish. I still have fish, no worries there.

How this transpired:
A few weeks ago I helped run a public education program at one of the local historic sites. There, a volunteer brought a carrier with four kittens, two long haired, two short haired, two gray, two butterscotch (blue and buff, respectively if you want to use proper terminology, but we aren't worried). Not a one the same, a mendel square of distribution. As we had no one at our section, we played with the kittens. One short haired gray one fell asleep on me, and the volunteer said "they need a home." Well, I may be a heartless bitch, but even that was too much for me. So at the end of the day, when we picked everything up, I looked for the cat woman and told her I would love to take one home. I ended up picking the little gray one. All of the remaining kittens, I was told, were male. So we rode home, totally unsafe. I stuck him on the passenger seat, and he (thankfully) meowed the whole five miles home. He made his way to the back seat, to the back shelf (that one against the back window, you know what I mean). We get home, and I bring the little, stinky, flea ridden fuzz ball right to my massive claw foot tub and stick him in it. Then I go to the supermarket and buy food, litter, a plastic shoe box, dawn (safe for kittens, bad for fleas I was told), and a pack of toy mice. Then we go, and he has a bath. He's rather patient with that, i'm surprised. In the next few days I discover he has "butt worms" (I learn that they are specifically tapeworms), I set up an appointment with the vet (reccomended by a friend), and the receptionist at the vet reccomends some OTC worm pills for kittens. I then go out and buy all the pampering supplies: pet bed (fuzzy brown), more toys (squeeky frog), brushes, lead, coller, tag (I decided to name him Orion as he continually pounced; I was thinking Siddartha but he was in no way calm enough), harness (yes, he will walk on a lead), and all that stuff. He sleeps with me, but a full night's sleep is rare as he wakes up constantly and thinks that my lips, ears, and nose are toys. We go to the vet, and I'm informed that Orion is female. Oh well, the name will stay. She gets her shots, more worm medicine (another type was also infesting her), and Advantage. She is 1.9 pounds and 2 months old at this point, and her coat is noticably much better than when she got to my house a week prior.

My professor, after 3 beers, asks me how I'm doing and I tell him that it's uneventful, save for the kitten. He takes that to mean "I am a single bitter female who has given up on human companionship" and proceeds to offer me life encouragement and relationship advice. Yay.

Still, she refuses to let me sleep through the evening. I start to close my bedroom door to keep her out, but she just cries. After some consulting about the nature of kittens, I decide I need another one.

So this past Saturday my neighbor and I went to the mall (we both have a wedding this month) and then to the petstore where the feral cat rescue people set up. I talk with them, and we pick out a quirky 3 month old female calico kitten. Her tail is broken. The tails of all her littermates are broken in the same spot, actually. This just adds to her personality. I pick up some extra supplies: another carrier to take her home with, a cream fuzzy bed, and a pink flamingo squeeky plushy. I take her home and she and Orion really don't hit it off. They tolerate each other, but continue to hiss. One took her post on my knees, and the other on my chest (I was laying down reading) and they hissed at each other, then stared, then they fell asleep. So I think they'll learn each other's roles and deal well.

Saturday night we go out to grab some pizza and listen to a band. I figure it will give the cats some time without my interferance. The band was relatively decent (all cover tunes), the pizza was marvelous (sausage, artichoke, olive, tomato), Florida lost, UT won, and dancing was uneventful (as long as you don't count the dude who kept rubbing his arse against mine and pissed me off enough that I kicked back against the back of his knees, causing him to collapse). We get sorta bored, and in trying to figure out what to do next (it's only midnight, if we go home now, we're pathetic), we decide that since I still have a bottle of Pearl in the freezer that one member of our party brought to the last potluck, I should host people and we'll play with the kittens.

The kittens are overjoyed. They love people. I'm glad about that. Kitten number two, in being a little spitfire when Orion gives her a hard time gets her name Neci (pronounced by me a NEE-see), derived from Latin for Fire.

The two of them are odd. They can both eat from the food dish at the same time and not get mad at each other. But if they get bored, they get all over each other. Orion was rather nippy and sorta agressive before, but she's taken to hissing rather often now. Neci is calm and inquisitive until Orion starts hissing and batting at her. Then she's all sparks. Orion has started giving her a wide berth, but I'll walk into a room and find Orion ready to pounce if Neci walks through the door. So when she sees me, she looks guilty and tries to look like she was going to play with a piece of paper, dust, or invisible string on the other side of the room. Maybe there's some relation to how Neci like red wine and Orion likes hot sauce. I need to remember that the two can now get onto the table themselves.

I need to get a lead, harness, collar, and such for Neci. I wasn't too pleased with the selection at the petstore there.

So now I just need to work on my house, my halloween costume, and the 30 papers due soon. Yay SEAC!

what has occured

I apologize with little sorrow that I have not been blogging. I've been busy. Since I last blogged:
My mother visited, my friend visited, my grandmother died, my house has been painted, my car was totaled, i bought a new car, i rearranged my house, i met some interesting gentlemen, and i have actually (i think) gone on a date.

It has not been relaxing in any form.

Report from the field 2

I'm typing this in the front lobby at the Crowne Plaza in Center City Philadelphia. After spending another week in the backcountry dealing with bears and generators and stinky boys (not to be sexist, but those six dudes were RANCID on some days), my coworker and I are living the high life. Valet parking, luggage delivery - all that fancy stuff. Today, we plan to visit INDE (Independence National Historic Site) and the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin. We'll take the decidedly tourist transit system, it's only $4 for the day and runs a fixed route around all the tourist stuff, so we can get from one place to the next without much difficulty. Then we get to hunker down and do the professional stuff for this conference.

After this weekend, I head back to visit the parents because its my little brother's graduation this weekend.

I hope to get some pictures from this trip too.

Check out the other two posts below this one.

Job Advice: 2

• As an intern, your first day should be spent getting to know your position. Do listen to your super, as although s/he might explain some things you do know, it's easy to miss something you did not know - especially if you don't have any experience in the field at all.
• By accepting an internship position, you have told the place of your employment that you want to be there. Keep up that idea. Do not tell your supers that you only took the position because then you would be closer to an annual music fest.
• Do not tell your super that her job is unimportant.
  

Cats Part 3

The cats have grown up. But that's ok. Here's some pictures of them as little cute things.



No - not a cat. But he was in my backyard











and one more not cat

Report from the field

I'm heading back out to the field for a week, but thought that I would give a quick update on the general status.

The first week that we spent out in the field was fun. It was a touch chilly in the early part of the days, but a sweater was all that was needed. This coming week should be plenty warm. I have plenty of pictures of rusty metal, so you'll get some posted eventually. I even found my new most favorite artifact. It might make its way to the blog.

The week went fine, and I have one of my two interns in. He seems like he'll work for the summer.

Now I'm just trying to get all my stuff together and put together for next week. I'll be gone, but will make it back on Saturday - maybe.

Cats Part 2

I poked around a bit more yesterday, there are six... Chloe, Cleo, Cy, X,Y,Z (I'm working on those!

They all ran away from me, but then I put down a can of tuna and it was gone 2 hours later (still no sign of the cats). The mama cat is feral. We have a bunch in the neighborhood, descended from cats of the crazy lady who used to live in my house, moved away, and kicked her cats, so the original (old) ones are somewhat tame and hang around the area and will sometimes let themselves be pet. I spent the spring trying to feed the others and get them close so I could get a cage/carrier and get them fixed at the least.

The bird gore wasn't too bad, I swept up the wings and the poo in the corner they were using (reminder: get litter box) and tossed all that away. This winter, I'll set up a real box with blankets and keep an eye on (and feed) the momma unless I manage to snag her and fix her beforehand.

I knew the cats could get in and out because one cold day I found them laying around my water heater. I guess I should have expected this.

OH HAI - I IS IN YUR BAYSEMENT, FIXIN YUR BOXXORZ

if you don't get the title, read the post, then click *here*

Pictures may come.

This is CrossPosted at my House's blog... eventually.

I've been trying to mow the lawn for the last few weeks, but as I haven't been home while the sun was up as of recent, it's been a little hard. So I finally get out there the other day. I'm chugging along quite well, when suddenly CLUNK chugchugchugwhhhffth th ht. The mower stops because I hit a cinderblock. Oh joy. So I let it set, thinking that time will heal the mower. It doesn't. The mower goes back into the basement, with me verbalizing my dissapointment the whole time. While in the basement, I look up at one of the windows and notice one of the neighborhood's cats walking by. I really don't mind or care. Then, I go to get my weedwhacker - the front yard will be decent looking by the end of the day, even if its not mowed. Moving to the weedwhacker, I step over my shelves.
Wait - that's not right. The shelves are supposed to be against the far wall, not fallen over with the fishbowl shattered all over the floor and the other contents scattered. I'll take care of them all later. First - the yard!
So as I go to grab the weedwhacker, I hear some puttering about going on in another section of my basement. It sounds like someone's walking around, so I go into that section and am greeted by a floor littered in bird wings and spattered in blood. I knew the cats had gotten in and out occasionally, but I didn't think they took up residence. The boxes rumble again so I look over at them and see three little kitten fluffballs. They disappear into the pile, so I wait for them to calm down and then gently disinter their home. They're in the bottom box - of course, which is filled with assorted styrofoam pieces. The three little kittens move from one side of the box to the other, obviously scared of me.

So I just let them be. and weedwhacked my yard.

I'll go down later, pick up the shelving and sweep up the glass, clean up the bird wings, and leave them some food.

Don't you steal it!

Ok - riding on the coattails of the copy protection 09 F9 128 bit number "criminally" released to the internet last week, I have taken my own number.

Don't steal it by publishing it elsewhere.

D2 92 F9 F2 A2 A5 1D E8 96 51 F9 14 16 46 C9 26

I'm not joking, you take this number and I get to tell you to remove it.

Get your own number *here*.

Golden Compass

I remember reading the whole series when I was in Jr. High!