Cat Sanctuary 2012

The players:
Momma Cat
Her Kittens (3)
Smooshy Face
Big Tom
Other family (a momma with 3-4 kittens)
Mean Cat

Scene: Our house, exterior, back yard

So if you actually read my blog you will know that least year we had a cat, Mean Cat, bring her four kittens into our back yard. We captured 3 of the 4 kitten and took them to my uncles farm. We still see Mean Cat around the neighborhood but she avoids us and that's okay. That cat is mean.
This year, we come home to find Momma Cat and her 3 kittens in our back yard. Just like last year, I proceed to feed her and try to make friends so we can catch them. Unlike Mean Cat, Momma Cat is actually nice. She wants pats but at the same time hisses a lot because she is not sure that she trusts you. We had the cage out and everything but since the kittens weren't weaned, they were not interested in the food. Chris and I had to go out of town for over a week and I asked my mom to stop by and feed them. I guess Momma is suspicious of everyone but me and she moved the kittens.
We came home to just Momma cat. I decided to give it a few more weeks and then at least catch her, even if we have her spayed and released.
The next day Momma Cat is back with another adult cat that I call Smooshy Face. She has a very flat face, like Maru. She is super cute but not friendly. She was rubbing on Momma so I guess they are friends. I have just fed them when Chris looks out our bedroom window and sees another cat family behind our building. I haven't seen them since and hope they were just passing through.
Yesterday, a week since we got back home, Momma brought the kittens back. I went out and fed them. All 3 even went in the cage to eat (no Momma so I didn't trap them yet). While they were eating a big black Tom cat came by. He looked sort of beat up, like he fights, so I chased him off. Momma and family were here first.
Anyway, this is how my back yard turned into a cat sanctuary. I actually want to catch everybody soon because all the in and out is stressing our poor sick Boogie.

Boogie update: She had to stay at the vets the whole time away and that stressed her out. She lost .4lb which is a lot for her these days. We had went back to daily treatments after a vomiting spell and now we have gone back to every other day as long as her weight holds. She is still very happy and not in any pain. I think she is happy because she is getting spoiled. She sleeps in the bed, sits on the couch with no banky, and even though she can only eat her special cat food we follow her around the house with the bowl letting her eat wherever.

The Birds

Rocky, our office cat, just brought a live bird into our office. It's probably the office managers fault. She told him to get them because they are pooping on our cars. Well, he listened.
I heard her yell, "Rocky, no!" I assumed he was running out the open front door not returning through it. He immediately came around the corner to my office. Once I realized there was something in his mouth, I expected a mouse before my brain could register bird. I yelled at him to put it down. It flew all around and he caught it again. We finally got him to drop it and it flew into the front office, hit a window and fell behind a desk. I grabbed killer and tossed him in an office, closing the door. We shooed the bird out and flew away looking remarkably uninjured.
Rocky sulked around the place trying to find what we did with his prize. He also got his first flea of the new year for his trouble.

Just call him killer.

Whenever something crazy happens like this no one is around to see it. Who says working in an office is boring?

Your Best Girl

On the dry erase board on the back of our door, the one where we intend to leave ourselves important notes, it says, "Boogas is your best girl." No doubt.


Boogas (Snoopy) went into the kitty hospital last Friday. She is almost 17 years old and was experience kidney failure. We didn't know it until it was very late and she was already very dehydrated. She has been there since Friday and receiving IV fluids. The vet did not seem optimistic at first, but is now surprised about how well she is doing. The thing is that we can't get back any of those 17 years or any kidney function that she has lost. They were doing more tests today so we can know how much kidney function she has left. I am just happiest that she isn't in any pain and she gets to come home and be with us. 
She came home on Monday and every day I have to give her an injection in the morning and Chris gives her a sub-cutaneous fluid treatment in the evening. The IV needle is huge and you have to stick hard. I hesitate which I know only makes it worse which is why he has to do it.
We go back to vet tomorrow for follow-up blood work and to see if she is improving.

Until last Friday when we got the diagnosis from the vet, I had never seen my husband cry. While Snoopy has been my faithful companion and best friend for over half of my life, Chris has known her for more than half of hers. "I never knew I could love a kitty so much," he said. Indeed.

Confessions: I collect things

I used to think only crazy old ladies and nerds collected things. (I am a nerd so now this post makes sense) I collect things. Two kinds of things actually.

I collect vintage Pyrex. First, you have to know that I read the internet a lot. Enough that I would randomly read something about how buying vintage kitchen items like Pyrex rather than buying new is making a comeback. So I read that and a few weeks later I was at my mom's; she had rearranged some items in her kitchen. Where the mixer used to be were two vintage pieces of Pyrex and one Fire King that I had never seen. I asked where they came from and she said that they were my great grandmothers. She then casually said, oh do you want them? YES! Of course I wanted them.
And so it began. This is a fun hobby because I go to flea markets and look for pieces priced far less than what I think they are worth. There is one booth at our local flea market who prices them high, and has the best pieces. I like to think of that booth owner as my nemesis.
Through my pursuits I have even accidentally bought a rare piece. It is my treasure.
You can see all the patterns here. I have pieces in 7 different patterns. Most in good condition, I only buy good condition ones unless the pattern is rare then I will buy just okay condition ones.

I also collect Maneki Neko. It should be obvious why.

Because I own a real life one!

I farted during Yoga

I tried to think of a better title but there isn't one. That's what happened and that's the best way to say it.

We were doing boat pose. Now I am only about 1/2 way there on boat pose. I can't let go of my knees. Even though I don't think holding them is doing anything, it is just psychological. So there I was in boat pose thinking about letting go of my knees and TOOT!

It was a serious toot, more like a honk actually. Very gooselike. I had been sniffling all night so for second I hoped everyone would think it was a sound I made with my sinuses. No one said anything. I didn't say anything. I usually don't say excuse me because usually there is no one around. I am a toot in private kind of lady. Or my husband is there but if it just us and someone farts we both immediately say "kitty?".

By virtue of being late Chris and I were separated by two mats, I hoped this meant he was our of earshot because I would never live this down.

So fart thoroughly dismissed we went about the rest of class. I swear to you it was like the instructor dared himself to make it happen again. Every pose we did put pressure on lower stomach. I have expected him to say this is the downward colon evacuater, good for detoxifying and passing gas.

I made it the rest of the class silently, but after class when Chris said, "It was you, wasn't it?" I said yes, and I am going to blog about it.