DragonBlog

One does not thump the cage of G'Quan...

So much going on, much of which I'm just not posting about right now. Upcoming Solstice celebrations will include a family breakfast, which we're looking forward to. And there's lots of little year-end things adding themselves onto my long "to do" lists... so much to remember as 2007 winds quickly to an end.

The end of this year is marking the end of quite a few things, but I was stunned to learn that we lost our iguana the other morning. I suppose it shouldn't have been totally unexpected - we've been kicking up quite a bit of dust and fumes in the family room for a while now, trying to get it redone ever since the flood, but we'd been trying to keep her cage covered during the worst of it, to minimize her exposure. Unfortunately, the habitat she's been in is just too big to just move into another room while we worked. I suspect that she finally succumbed after we had a huge round of cleaning and clearing out last weekend, which kicked up a surprising amount of dust and cat hair. All the while, I had been more worried about how Jareth and I were going to deal with all those allergens assaulting our systems - I didn't expect it to be harder on G'Quan. We also think she might have been building up eggs again and she's had trouble with those in the past. I guess it was a combination of things. Regardless, it's still hard to believe. Every time I go down into the family room, I expect to see the familiar greenish-yellow glow of the heat/UV lamps coming from her cage. It seems so DARK down in our family room right now. I suppose it's a good thing we're not done yet, so we're not spending any time down there. Jareth hasn't even realized she's gone yet. We're still trying to decide the best way to explain it to him...

There's a doozer. What to tell the four-year-old when a family pet dies? It was easier when we gave the cats away - they went off in carriers to be with another person. A new home! How cool! It was a positive thing and we presented it that way. When my in-laws had to put their little dog to sleep, we just sort of never mentioned it. We waited to see if he noticed and planned to keep it simple, but he must have just assumed that the dog got a new home too or something - he never asked. I think the cat situation led the way for that, and children adapt easily if the concept is set up for them.

Fortunately, he hasn't been seeing the iguana every day. I suppose that's a blessing. But the next time they go down there, one of the children will ask "where'd the 'guana go?" and something will have to be said. Explained. Ugh. I'm not looking forward to that.

To top it off, I miss the durn critter. Now it's just me and the kids in the house during the day. I feel outnumbered without my cats and the lizard to at least lsten to my whining about the kids. She and I used to watch one another sometimes, when my desk was down in the same room with her. She probably thought I was nuts...why aren't you out basking in the sun, you stupid biped! Get off that computer and get some fresh air!

I hope her next life rocks!

Anyway... more later. When things aren't as chaotic!

Current Mood: anxious

Zoo Collage...

I made the collage. It's big. Really, really big. So the more reasonably sized-down version can be found by clicking on the thumnail of it. If you want to see the really, really BIG (like more than 3 megs big) version then you can click here instead. Just be aware that if you don't have DSL or Cable bringing your internet to you, you might want to go have dinner or something while it loads. Don't say I didn't warn ya. If you want the slighly less resolutioned instant gratification version, then use the thumnail:

Enjoy!

Current Mood: hungry

Fresh Air!

I'm not the only one who's enjoying having the windows open lately...

Maybe more from me later. We'll see.

The return of the kitten...

The last two nights I rushed through my blog entries, wanting to get back to life at large and whatever enjoyable thing I was doing. Tonight I have a little bit of time to write it in, so I will include one topic I hadn't mentioned - Cinder. On Thursday morning, the vet came to my house and gave Nora her shots. Then he left with Cinder, whom I had gotten into her carrier before he had arrived (mostly so I could ambush Nora and lock her in the bathroom by bribing her with her canned-food breakfast. Otherwise she can sense the vet's car coming in the drive and tends to hide the moment she knows). Friday morning, before we headed off to Kid Rock, he arrived again with the newly neutered, declawed and microchipped Cinder. Poor kitty. The look on her little kitten face and the way Nora has been treating her since she got back has been giving me heartache. Her little front paws obviously hurt her and she has been meowing pitiously at me when I pick her up no matter how hard I try not to jostle her belly. Fortunately, over the past two days I have been seeing some improvement.

When she first arrived she was groggy and giving me that look like - what the hell just happened to me? Nora didn't exactly give her a warm welcome - hissing a lot - but I tried to make her welcome with what little time I had before we had to breeze out of the house to go to Kid Rock and a short grocery trip. I did try to make it up to her some the rest of the day, however, and she spent quite a bit of the afternoon and evening in my lap or nearby where I could pet her. There was one point where the drugs were making her eyes roll off to each side. That worried me some. Fortunately, that was a short-lived concern. She has slowly been perking up, although it is obvious that her paws still hurt her especially. Brian has been helping me give her the pain medication, which seems to help a lot. There's also an antibiotic that she gets with her canned food. I was concerned she wouldn't take it, but she finally did.

I went through a wave of guilt, despite the fact that she really really needed declawing, and I don't want a kitten litter to accidentally become an issue if she were to get out of the house. I felt no guilt over getting the microchip put in - I've been assured that she won't have really felt that, and it's value in identifying her if she gets out and is found and scanned is important. Even if she were to get out and be hit by a car or some other horrible thing, I might find out what happened to her because of that little microchip.

But she's doing better today - markedly so - so the guilt is slowly fading. She will hopefully be a little calmer now, and unable to destroy quite so many of our possessions or continually cause our son to back away when she goes for his feet. While she has taught him the understanding of gentle, she has also given him cause to learn the word "ow" - usually when she goes after his feet with her claws. Hopefully this means we can all have an even better relationship with our little kitten.

It's all part of the experience, in the end. Cinder's experience too.

In other news, tonight was a Sunday dinner night, which was at the in-laws. Good times. I'm starting to think that spreading them out to every other week makes me appreciate the family time that much more. This is a good thing. Family time should always be appreciated.

G'night!

Countdown until the cat gets declawed...

I think I wore myself out with all the productivity of the last couple of days. Not only that, but I hurt my right foot somehow - twisted it or something - so I'm kind of trying to give it some rest. I had errands to run today, so I did those. I overslept however so we didn't even make it to Kid Rock. I suppose it will give Jareth a week off from potentially catching some other nasty thing from the other kids there, since I think he's fighting off a cold right now anyway. But we still needed to do the errands, so I couldn't just stay in and totally off my foot.

I put a collar on Cinder finally. I tried to a few months back, but her head was still so small that the collar didn't get small enough to stay on her, so I tucked it away. It might stay on her now, I'm not entirely sure. She's totally freaked out about it, and tries to get it off. She does manage to get it as far as her mouth, which concerned me at first, but I just saw her get it back down out of there so I guess it's safe. At least I know it's a break-away collar so if she starts trying to rub up against stuff to get it off it won't choke her. Nora managed to do that once in our last apartment, and I found it dangling by the kitchen sink. Next week is declaw/neuter time for her, and I need to talk to the vet about whether or not it will calm her down some. Something has to give - this kitten has been destructive. Far more than Nora ever was. If she doesn't calm down, I need alternate ways to discipline her. She runs when I squirt her with water, but she just goes right back to getting in trouble the minute I turn my back. Arrrgh. God help me if we ever get a puppy in this house. I can't handle an errant kitten!

That's all for now though. It's bedtime for Jareth and television for us for a while yet. More tomorrow.

G'night!

Littermates...

I think the new kitten, Cinder, has adopted Jareth as a littermate. I know for a fact that Jareth absolutely loves it. He seems to want to pet her soft fur every time she gets close, and he'll sit in his high chair leaned way over to one side so he can peer down at the floor in case she comes by.

I think Nora is finally starting to warm up to her too, as it appeared they were actually playing today, even if that playing involved chasing each other all over the house. Cinder has found that under the recliner in the living room is a good place to hide and still see out, while Nora doesn't seem to try to go under there as it is very low to the ground. She still seems like she's trying to pounce Nora's tail, which is almost always twitching whenever she's lounging somewhere keeping an eye on the kitten.

I was concerned that when the vet comes he'll tell us to put Nora on a diet, as she's been on the border and starting to seem a little heavier lately, but I have a feeling the renewed activity of chasing Cinder around may just be the cure. I saw Nora get more exercise today than all of the prior week! She even has had this tendancy to get bored with playing with me, and walks off to go lounge instead. This little kitten is helping breathe some fresh life into our cat's somewhat lazy one.

Of course, what I really need to finish doing, is breathing some fresh life into my own.

More to ponder on. Then again, there's always more to ponder on...

"Ponderous, man... Truly ponderous..."

Points if you can tell me where that quote comes from. I've got to get that on CD. Note to self: add to Amazon wish list before Christmas.

G'night!

Critters and other chaos running amuck...

I think we're about to turn the bend on Nora and Cinder, the new kitten, finally getting along. I have this feeling that Nora has realized that the new kitten takes the attention off of her in the matter of Jareth, who's little hands love to touch the fur on the new little gray kitty. He's learning the concept of "gentle" finally, although he still wants to play so badly that he tends the throw toys at the kitten instead of to her. He means well, and so far hasn't managed to actually bean her on the head. Yet. But suddenly Nora isn't the one being chased by the little boy, and I think maybe she's not minding that part. Just the part where Cinder keeps exploring her territory. We let the kitten have the run of the place today and she explored quite a bit of it. I'm still keeping her in the bathroom overnight though, just in case Nora isn't as complacent as she's been acting later this evening.

I'm also still having troubles getting my www.rayndragon.com domain transferred properly, so bear with me while things get straightened out. I've now got e-mails going back and forth with the customer service peeps so I'm thinking we might be able to get it resolved next week. I've also asked for advice on getting Wordpress up, as I haven't had any luck there either.

In other news, Brian has his car working, though not perfectly fixed, and we did have to order a new locking thingy after all. I'm also going to need to call and get a new key so that if the battery dies on his automatic door opener thing we can still actually get into the door. I'm going to make sure there are extras this time too. I hadn't realized there was only one key to his car. Ouch.

Anyway, more things brewing, but I don't feel like being long-winded tonight so I'll knock off here.

G'night!

Teeny Tiny Claws...

I've never had a kitten this small before. Cinder is quick, she's clever, and she's got teeny tiny claws. I have these tiny little scratches growing in quantity all over my arms, legs, and neck mostly.

I suspect that's one of the reasons they come so cute. So you can't help but say "awwww" as she scampers around drawing blood here and there...

Nora was already six months old when we got her, and past some of the clumsiness and such that this kitten is displaying. I've never seen a cat pounce so inaccurately before - it's soooo cute! She pounces and then has to finish walking over to the toy she was trying to get to in the first place. Nora also no longer had the tiny "mew" that this kitten has. Her voice had matured to another level of "mew" that wasn't quite as high pitched. I must remain in absolute awe, however, of the level of volume such a tiny little being can create!

Nora is still pissed. I've been continuing to bribe her with extra treats and special snuggles and all, but she is so not pleased. Especially since I'm trying to increase the amount of time that Cinder is allowed out of the bathroom. There's this chain reaction problem though:

Cinder comes out to play + Nora finds out and starts hissing = Jareth bursts into tears!

*sigh*

Anyway, all sorts of computer stuff going on around here. Brian brought home a computer today that he got through a place that sells refurbished stuff. No operating system on it means I won't be registering the computer I just dropped my version of windows XP onto, as I'll be using it on this one instead. It's going to be my new "work machine" so that Brian can use the laptop for writing now. He also got a 19-inch monitor in the deal, which he gets as his died a couple of days ago. Fortunately I already had the monitor for my work machine as I'd bought one to make a Linux box and never really did much with it. I'm using that for the work machine now instead, but was able to lend him one until he got the new one. Upgrading two inches doesn't sound like it was too shabby either. It's only fair, as I have the better speakers.

Meanwhile, I've got stuff to install. And I want to see if any of my RAM will work in there to boost it a bit. Along with my other hard drives.

And then there's this kitten to distract me too...

G'night!

Cinder Gray...

Well, so far HRH Queen Nora the Cat is still hissing and unhappy about this new little kitten who's intruded on her territory. I've been pampering the hell out of her today, but although she's come closer, she's still seeming pretty upset. The vet tells me it could take as long as a month before they get along. The poor kitten seems petrified anytime Nora come close at the moment. I even went so far as to limit my "visits" into the bathroom that the new kitten is staying in for the moment, although we let her have some exploration time in the family room (next to that bathroom) for a while tonight.

Jareth, on the other hand keeps taking the kitten's toys away so he can throw them at her, trying to get her attention. He has the patience of, well, a kitten for that matter, so the minute she starts to go for the toy he picks it up again.

*sigh*

He also doesn't seem to be able to distinguish between soft toys and hard ones, which makes supervision extremely necessary. I've noticed that the kitten is already getting quicker at dodging him though.

Jareth has, however, discovered that the kitten has little teensy claws. He tends to curl his toes away and hide his usually bare feet whenever the kitten decides to turn the tables and play with him instead. It's very cute to watch them play - we think the kitten has decided that Jareth is an unruly littermate.

Oh... and not to forget...we've named her. Henceforth, the little gray kitten in our family is called - Cinder.

Mew.

G'night!

FREE CUTE KITTENS!!!

And the sign wasn't lying either - they were very cute - irresistably so!!

And thus, I present - THE NEW KITTY !!!!

The name is still forthcoming. We haven't decided, as it's partly going to be based on her personality and we don't know her well enough yet. She's six weeks old (apparently born September 2nd).

Those are the only two pictures I was able to get off before the drive inside my digital camera died!!! I'll take tons with my Canon tomorrow, but I wanted a good kitty-face pic and it didn't happen tonight.

Nora actually hissed at the new kitten though, so there will be some careful adjusting to be made. Jareth, on the other hand, was actually gentle when petting the new kitten. He did start crying pretty unhappily when Nora hissed though, and he keeps calling the kitten "Nora" too. In fact, we've determined that all animals are "Nora" to him, when he called my in-law's dog by the same name tonight. Ah, well... All things in good time.

It's killing me to not go hang out in the bathroom with the new kitten right now, who is mewing and wants to play, but Nora was so put out that I'm trying not to make her totally jealous. She's not down here right now though, so I think I may just go take a little peek...

G'night!

One lucky little mouse...

Haven't gone to bed yet. "But why?" you might ask...

So my cat, Nora, was making some fuss about a small box sitting in a corner of the room with some cans of juice and bottles of tonic water stored in it. I squirted her with water - the traditional kitty-discourager around here, but she kept going back. So, I finally looked to see what was so enticing in that box...

An itty bitty mouse.

One really damned lucky mouse if you ask me.

(No girly screams this time!)

So, I removed the other items from the box, leaving just the little mouse. Since Nora hadn't gotten the chance to "play" with this one, I was able to take the box outside and tilt it over on the patio to set the little mouse free...

Awwww...

But not before I shined my desk lamp on the poor bugger and took pictures!!!

Mwahahahah!

Oooh... I hope they turn out! He was SO CUTE !!!

I even stuck a paperclip in for the last couple of pictures for a size comparison...

Heehee!

Okay, I'm off to bed now!