Beth's Contradictory Brain

Routines

Our cat Little Man is a special kitty - short bus special. He has a blank stare like I've never seen on any other creature - human or animal. But he can hunt like no one else. He's also a very big kitty - about 19 pounds. Not that he's fat really, he's extremely long and tall.

He does love his food though. We used to keep the cats' food bowl full all the time, but we've cut back. And it seems to upset him when he can see the bottom of the bowl, even if there's still some food in there.

So between 5 and 6 a.m., when he decides he's waited long enough for breakfast, he has this funny routine. He jumps up onto my side of the bed, (closest to the door) walks up around the top of both of our heads, down Nerdstar's side, and then walks over the middle of us and jumps down. The funniest part is he repeats this at whatever interval he thinks works, until one of us gets up and puts food in his bowl.

One morning I guess that hadn't worked and he actually started just running under the bed, up on Nerdstar's side and simply running over the middle of us and back off the bed, kinda like a loop. That cracked us up.

Unlucky

Poor Ramen dog. He had stomach/throwing up problems last week. Today, we decided to take him to the self serve dog bath place this afternoon because he got all dusty at the dog park yesterday. Unfortunately, they pretty much ran out of hot water. The dog park we used to go to before that asshole left the gate open was right down the street so we thought we'd be nice and let him run around a little instead of just taking him back home.

We had just gotten in the gates and let him run in when this big, white pit pull went from sniffing him to kind of attacking him. It ended pretty quick and we called Ramen over for Nerdstar to check him out. We thought he was ok. The stupid owner had the other dog on a leash and pretty much started leaving. He also had a girl of about five with him. There were only a couple of other guys there with little dogs and they didn't seem too concerned about the event.

About ten minutes later Ramen was running around and I could see a bare patch of skin on his side around the bottom of his ribs. Nerdstar took a look at it and we decided to take him home and clean it up.

It turned out to be a bigger gash than we thought so we took him to the animal emergency place.

He's not bothered by it at all and to watch him you wouldn't guess anything had happened.

He's at the vet's now, we should be able to pick him up in the next hour or so, they said they wouldn't keep him over night.

We'll be out about $500. Ugh. If we'd been on top of things we would have gotten a pic of the dude and his dog and gotten his name and phone #. But, we didn't. It'd be nice if he had to pay the vet bill, but oh well. It probably would be more hassle to get that achieved. What sucks is knowing that that dog will hurt other dogs, or worse, people, sometime in the future.

We're trying to take the "it could have been worse" attitude.

UPDATE: Pics here.

It only cost $453. He's groggy from the sedation. We've got pain meds and antibiotics to give him for a week. He gets the staples removed in about 10 days. Thankfully he's a mellow dog at home and we don't have to worry too much about him messing up the staples. It's just so unfair that the mellowest, most people loving dog gets hurt.

Dude, Roll Over

I'm not the lightest of sleepers, but I do wake up a couple of times a night. Nerdstar could sleep through a tornado followed by an earthquake.

Last night I was actually woken up by our boy cat, Little Man, SNORING!!

His favorite place is in between us. Failing that - or getting his big butt shoved out from between us - he'll snuggle the outer edge side of one of us. Last night he must have been super warm and snuggly up against Nerdstar and fell deep asleep. It's not the first time he's snored, but it was certainly the loudest!

Nerdstar didn't hear a thing until I woke her up to make sure it wasn't her before waking up the cat.

Ramen Dog

I gave up in frustration before I could get iMovie to work. Here's an unedited video from our digital camera of Ramen dog playing. Isn't his tail beautiful?

More Life With Pets

This time in pics over on my photo blog.

A Dog's Life

Not much going on around here. The weather has been so beautiful lately. Saturday we took Ramen to the park and then for a bath. He's so fluffy and shiny! We've often joked that our dog is gay, mostly because he has a tendency to prance. But we finally realized that he's probably not gay, but he sure does make the big, butch days turn gay! They quite often love to follow him around the dog park and hump him.

Tonight we went and heard Jon Katz, the Bedlam Farm guy, speak. It was pretty cool. It's always nice to put a face and voice with words on the screen.

I'm still waiting to hear back about the job. She left me a message the other day that she just needed to check references and such. Hopefully I'll know soon. I'm getting kinda bored.

Pets

We're cracking up around here at our poor little cats. The temps are in the 60s and I've had the windows open and you would think we'd thrown the cats into the artic the way they're all curled up with their tails over the noses. Or the way they're now all in our laps trying to steal our body heat.

I decided to lighten up my reading for a little while. I read about 2/3s of A Commonsense Guide to Training and Living with Dogs yesterday. If you have a dog or ever intend to get a dog, I can't recommend it enough. It's a really easy read and not at all technical.

I've also got The Dogs of Bedlam Farm and A Good Dog.

Bedlam Farm

I ran across a link to the Bedlam Farm blog last week. The parts where he blogs about the farm and his dogs and other animals has me so jealous. The blog parts about his hospice work had the tears flowing.

I sometimes feel guilty that we haven't done more for Ramen dog, like training him to be a therapy dog. He loves people, and even more loves to be petted. But, he's a hard dog to train because he's so stubborn. I did try to find a training place when we first moved here, but they were all far away.

I mostly hope to get him and the cats a house with a pet door and yard. They will all be much happier.

I picked up a couple of Jon Katz's books at the library today.

More of Today

Yesterday was stressful enough, I was hoping for a quiet, productive day today. There's laundry to be done, books to be picked up at the library, and then taking the dog to the park to burn off some of his cabin fever.

There was a nasty incident at the dog park. One man was there with his dog, and on the way to the enclosed area, Ramen dog pooped, and no, I didn't pick it up. I didn't take any poop bags with me because there are usually some at the park, and the place he pooped wasn't where anyone walks. I heard the man yell "pick it up" and ignored him. About ten minutes, maybe less after we got into the park, the man and his dog were leaving. The man came over and was a complete ass, so I told him he was being an asshole. Then ended up telling him to fuck off. I'm sick of people bossing people around, being bullies. If he'd started the conversation off nicely, I would have been nicer in response.

This park has a fence around it with two gates - one right after the other, so you can come in the first gate, close it, unleash your dog(s), and then let them in the second gate. This park is also 50 yards from 6 lanes of local traffic.

On his way out the man deliberately left BOTH gates wide open. When I went to close them Ramen came running through them, out them and down the street. I yelled after the man who was already 100 yards or so down that street that he was a complete son of a bitch. At first Ramen was going away from the street, perpendicular to it, down by a creek. But before I could get him to come to me - and right about the time he was close to the man - he darted into the street and was almost hit by a car. At that time I'm yelling at the man to GET HIM and he doesn't.

Thankfully at that point Ramen came back to me. He didn't even seem to be phased by any of it.

I don't know when I've ever been so angry at another person. At that time I wished with all my heart that gypsy curses and/or voodoo dolls worked so I could punish him terribly. This is nothing I could have done or said for him to endanger my dogs life.

Bad Parents

We've had Ramen dog for over six years, and he's been bored for 90% of it. This weekend we finally got him one of those toys you put treats in. He actually seems to like it, and has played with it. He doesn't usually like to play with toys, he certainly doesn't play fetch.

At least we're getting better.

Poor Dog

It's really comical. Every night when we all go to bed - the dog on his bed at the foot of ours, and the two cats mostly at the foot of the bed - and then Nerdstar and I are talking, poor Ramen dog always sighs. It's as if he's so tired from his day of napping like the cats and we're just torturing him with our incessant talking.

Poor Poor Ramen Dog

Our very pretty dog has had a couple of growths on him that we finally decided it was time to get rid of and get checked out. One was on his forehead and the other on his upper chest. One looked pretty normal - for a growth - but the one on his chest was growing kinda weird.

So today was the day. Nerdstar dropped him off at the vet to get them removed and to get his teeth cleaned - might as well while he's out. So in addition to removing the two growths, they also pulled a tooth they said was really loose.

Poor puppy dog. He came home this evening more than a little groggy. Although, not too groggy to sleep on the sofa while we were at dinner.

Here's a pic of his groggy face and shaved forehead.

Poor Dog

We've had a nice, wet snow falling all day. My commute this morning was actually better than normal. Poor Nerdstar took 3 hours to get to work.

We still have Ramen's coat and shoes from last winter so we bundled all three of us up for the walk tonight. Then we did something even worse to him - we took his picture.

Prissy

If we weren't so sure Ramen comes from a long, long line of muts, we'd be convinced he comes from a long line of show dogs - he's so prissy! His theme song is "I'm so Pretty."

Ramen Dog

Just a short example of Nerdstar trying reverse psychology on the dog.

Disgusting!

While Nerdstar was getting ready for work this morning, she came in and said Ramen's neck was all wet and he smelled really bad. Hmmm.

Then in the spare bedroom she saw that one of the cats had thrown up. But it didn't look like normal food vomit. It was weird.

We finally figured that Ramen must have decided the smelly mess was perfect to roll around in - to the extend that he could. Lovely!

Before heading out to meet up with Nerdstar, I figured it'd be smart to shovel the snow out from around the car and the end of the driveway. (Excellent workout!) I went down to the baesment - something we rarely do - and there I saw the explaination for it all...

There's a dead mouse in TWO parts down there in the middle of the floor. EWWWW!!

Little Man (the boy cat) cries like he's dying any time we don't let him run around down in the basement. And, seeing how we had a mouse before, we figured we'd let him keep guard down there.

No way did we see this morning's events being the result!!

Ramen has a bath appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Furry Visitors

We had our first little mouse in the house last night. We were about to get into our warm, comfy bed and had told Ramen to go to bed when we heard him scratching at his bed. Hmmm. So we turned the light back on and Nerdstar went to see what he was after - it was a cute little grey mouse! Yikes.

Now, down in Texas I was used to all sorts of things coming into the house, geckos, big roach like things, even a couple of snakes and a huge spider. But we've never had little furry things in the house before.

We think it's funny it was the dog and not one of the two cats who caught it. Although we're just thankful one of them did!

We finally got it away from Raman and gathered it up in a big towell and threw it outside. We both agreed that we could live with it if the pets kill the mice, but we couldn't kill them ourselves.

Brrrr

The snow didn't stay - thankfully - but the forecast doesn't call for temps over 40 for the next week or so.

I don't think the pets are at all happy with the new cold life. If the sun would at least come out it would warm the house some, but not knowing what the bills are going to run heating this place, I'm trying to keep it cheap. Nerdstar's about to start shopping for sweaters for Ramen. Little Man spends all day under the flannel sheets and down comforter.

And for reasons beyond our mere human brains, Ramen almost absolutely refuses to poop in his new back yard. I don't know if it's all the new smells or sounds or what, but he's totally distracted - and is the kind of dog that can't poop if distracted. Maybe it's the cold, but I don't think so, he usually just wants to come back to the house to escape whatever he senses out there.

The cats, on the other hand, really want to go outside, but we're hesitant to let them. They have their claws, and used to go outside in Austin all the time, but we worry anyway.

Displaced

Silly was my cat a few years before Nerdstar moved in. We don't think Silly has ever forgiven either of us for disrupting her life time and again.

Since Nerdstar's been in Japan, Silly has decided to take her rightful place in my bed - just below Nerdstar's pillow on her side of the bed!

And I'm just not seeing how Nerdstar is going to be able to convince Silly to give up said rightful place.

Is It Wrong?

To need a vacation from your pets?

I think a 3 pet to 1 human ratio is way out of whack!! Ramen is better behaved without Nerdstar around, and sighs a whole lot less. But still, he's a needy dog and I'm the only one here for him to pay attention to. And I'm also the only one here to walk him, and we're on a 3rd floor apartment. I'm so glad he's going to be at my parents' house with the kid and the backyard for a while.

The cats, well, the cats are starting to drive me crazy. I think they miss being able to run around outside tremendously! I don't blame them. I feel terrible that they're going to be cooped up for almost 3 weeks with just someone to check on them. Then again, I'm not going to miss being walked all over and woken up ass early in the morning by the boy cat.

Pet Cemetary

Nerdstar and I have had several conversations about what to do with our pets' remains when the time should come. I think we've finally agreed on cremation. Then, she wanted "alters" for each of them - with the little urn, pics, etc. I had to laugh. That might be manageable if the three pets we currently have were going to be our only pets, but I'm sure that's not going to be the case. So, imagine some part of the house with lots of little "alters" to past pets. That would get creepy!

I've also joked with Nerdstar that I'm just going to cremate her, too, and put her ashes and all of the ashes from the pets in one big urn. That way they can all be together. She just gives me her sigh and eyeroll.

Inspired by this post.

Pets

Do you ever stop and look at your pets and think that it really is just a little weird to have these animals living in your house? It's maybe not so weird that we take them in, but the cool part is that they become attached to us. I guess it's that idea that I can't be all bad if my cat comes and spends the afternoon in my lap while I'm watching tv.

Little Man and Silly

Little Man and Silly

Sad Day

The found kitty has a new home. One of Nerdstar's coworkers knew someone who was looking for a new kitten. The lady came by this afternoon with her two sons and took the kitty with them.

We're all pretty sad. It's such a cute, fun, playful kitten. We just didn't have room for it at this time. Ramen will be almost as sad as Nerdstar.

At least is has a good home now.

Tricky

Nerdstar posted a pic of the found kitten on her site. We're calling it Popsicle for now - because that's what it almost became.

It's tricky taking in a stray when you already have pets. Poor Ramen is exhausted from being a nanny all day and night so far. He's been camped out in the hallway by the bathroom we have the kitten's cage in. Last night we closed the other two cats up in the bedroom and let the kitten roam around a little. Ramen desperately wants someone to play chase with, the new kitten didn't hiss at him once and even kinda sat on him. It was cute.

Unfortunately, we're pretty sure the kitten has a cold. It's sneezing and coughs occasionaly. We're not sure if we'll get it into the vet today or tomorrow.

Tonight we're going to try putting up flyers to see if we can find it's humans.

Found

"I found a kitten" aren't exactly the words I want to hear before I've even really woken up. But seeing as it's freezing outside with a bit of snow (the dry kind) on the ground, well, I couldn't tell Nerdstar to put it back outside now could I?

I think it's about six months old, has really soft mostly grey fur and purrs louder than any other cat I've heard. It was pretty snuggly, too.

Fortunately, we have two crates, the smaller of the two is still pretty darn big, so we cleaned up the crate, but in some towels and a little bowl of wet food and put the kitten in.

Silly and Little Man haven't ventured out to even take a sniff. Poor Ramen dog was all confused looking. He's not at all aggressive, but he loves to chase cats. Once I mostly closed the bathroom doors to where the kitten is he's calmed down and is sleeping on the floor by me.

Tonight we'll take a pic of it and put up some signs to see if it's lost. If no one claims it we'll find it a home. I might be a little tempted to keep it if our other pets wouldn't be so unhappy about it.

How To

How to piss off the pets in one easy step...

Move the sofa.

Heh

I'd love to post dozens of pics of our dog Ramen, but the poor thing walks off every time he sees the camera. He has the best facial expressions. There is a link to one decent photo we got of him over there on the side.

Anyway. You can't tell by looking at him sitting still, but our dog is totally swishy! His tail curls and fans out which just makes him look that much more swishy. So the other day when we were walking him I told Nerdstar we should get shirts that say:

I'M NOT GAY - MY DOG IS.

We won't even talk about how almost every boy dog he meets totally wants to hump him.

Ramen

The other day I told Nerdstar about how when I pet Ramen he does this thing where he licks his mouth and it’s creepy. So when she was waking up this morning and petting him I pointed out he was doing it. We both just laughed at him.

This led to…

Ramen – The E! True Hollywood Story

(As told by Ramen)

Yes, it’s true, I’m a former dog porn star. It’s not a pretty story, but it’s my story. It’s the story of how I ended up a stray, wandering the streets of Austin, then at the shelter where this lovely lesbian couple adopted me and took me home with them.

Let me begin by saying that I apparently come from a long line of dog porn stars – that’s why even vets can’t determine what breed of dog I am, it’s all too mixed up. It also explains why I hate to have my picture taken.

It all began innocently enough, it always does. I have these masochistic tendencies, as long as you’re paying attention to me, I don’t care if you yell at me and call me a bad dog. It’s a little fuzzy in my memory, but somehow I ended up on the streets, wandering around, not getting petted, not being loved. And as is so often the case, I fell in with the wrong crowd. Oh sure, she was a cute little poodle, but she was pure evil under those poodle charms. She introduced me to all the other strays she was hanging with. At first it was all fun and games, a little chase, then a nip here and there. It wasn’t long before it just got out of hand. Next thing I knew they were giving me cheese and french fries to be their cute little bottom – for both boys and girls. Soon, I had no shame.

It’s not a time in my life I talk about much. It was even a relief when someone found me and took me to the shelter. At least there I had my own cage, alone to regain some dignity.

I can’t ever express how grateful I am to the lovely lesbians. They have been so good to me and so understanding of my idiosyncrasies. There are times I have flashbacks, which confuses my owners, but I’m so glad I’ll never have to go back to that lifestyle.

(This was a collaborative effort by Nerdstar and I.)

Prissy

You know your cat is prissy and spoiled when there are very loud birds in the tree outside the open back door and she looks at you like, "Well, go chase them off!"

Update:

The dog's life would be much better if he understood the implications of the phrase "I'm going to kill you soon."

Cats and Birds

Spring isn't much fun when your cat likes to hunt and there are lots of baby animals for him to catch and bring home! Twice in the past couple of weeks I've had to throw out baby snakes (about six inches long).

In the past 12 hours I've been dealing with baby birds. Turns out there are a couple of bird's nests under the front overhang of our duplex. These little birds are trying to grow up and be brave and daring and learn how to fly. Unfortunately, this means they keep ending up on the ground - where Little Man thinks they make lovely toys and brings them in for all the pets to play with.

According to a website I found thru google, the best I can do for them - other than take them to some wildlife rehab place - is either put them back in their nest or make them one and place it close to the old one. I can't reach the old one so I've got them in a nice little bowl on top of the shrub close to the front of the house. All I can hope is that they will get fed and quickly learn how to fly!

Bad Dog Vibes

I'm in a much more mellow mood. In keeping with my self improvement plan while Nerdstar is in Iraq, Sunday I went to church, then went to Oshman's and got a nice gadget that lets me ride one of the bikes I bought Nerdstar and I for her birthday last year in the house while watching tv. Then, in an effort to eat less fast food, I even went to the grocery store.

So, when the weather was cold and rainy yesterday, I thought, yippee, I can cook a nice little chicken and have it today and have leftovers for some chicken noodle soup. Well, the first half worked out fine. It was a delicious chicken, just a little salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme, slow cooked all day.

I was nice to Ramen and poured some of the broth over his dry food. He wasn't nice in return. Before bed I wrapped the leftover chicken on the plate in foil and left it on the counter. Silly me. I was startled awake to the sound of the plate crashing to the floor. I guess he thought he needed a midnight snack.

Today I've been wondering how to let him know I'm still mad at him, for breaking the plate and eating my leftovers. I guess just the vibes let him know because he's been very quiet and keeping his distance today.

I think I'll let him suffer a little longer, then give him a good petting.

Purpose

Our pets have apparently decided that I'm home in order to direct traffic between them and open the door every fifteen minutes when one of them wants in or out.

Not that I'm crazy or anything - but last night about 9:30 I actually announced to them that now that they were all indoors, they would be staying that way until I decided to get up in the morning and let them all out.

Not only is our poor dog going gray from the stress, he now has me talking to him trying to cheer him up, telling him he really should lighten up and laugh at my jokes.

Wild Kingdom

Now for the story I logged on to write. As if having a huge spider wander into my house a few weeks ago wasn't bad enough - tonight it was a snake! (No, I didn't let it hang around long enough to get a picture this time!)

Once again, I'm up past my bedtime. I finally turn off the tv and head for bed. I don't usually, but earlier I had turned on the lamp by the bed so it wouldn't be so dark when I got to the bedroom. Ramen was being a weirdo tonight and I thought he was trying to protect me from Little Man who was outside. (I'm not always sure he's smart enough to know "his" cats from other strange animals.) So, I closed the back door and just left the bedroom window open for Little Man to come in. When I get into the bedroom I see Little Man stalking something, I figure it's a big bug, no big deal. I figure I'll speed up the process and move some clothes I had on the floor so he could find it faster... and OH SHIT - it's a SNAKE. Ok, so it's a skinny little thing about sixteen inches long, but still, it's in my bedroom!

I decided to get it out of the house by getting it into the laundry bag. I almost scared myself to death stepping on Ramen's toy and making it squeek! Then I got the little shovel thing that's part of the fireplace set and the laundry bag. Thankfully the snake was as scared as I was and just wanted to hide so it slithered into the bag! I was very nice and didn't beat it to death with the shovel thing, I just took it out back and let it go. It seemed very happy to be back in the grass and moving away from the house!

I had locked Little Man in the bathroom to get him out of the way during all that. When I let him out he went looking for his new friend and then yelled at me when he couldn't find him. I said, tough, the door and window are staying closed, no more bringing home friends!

Like I said with the spider, I live in a residential area, it's not like I'm living out in the country!

Grandma and Ramen

For those of you who are wondering, if you are wondering about it, my grandma has been doing pretty well in the last two days, eating more and had more energy, thank you very much! She's going to the hospital to finish her rounds of tests and by next Monday, her doctor will read the results and give his opinions and suggestions for her treatment/non-treatment. By then, I don't think that we can hide the fact of her illness anymore. I think she'll be sad, but I know that she also knows that she could not possibly live forever. I hope that, nomatter what, we'll do our best to make her as happy as we can, and also to show her our appreciation of her with the time that remains.

Now, my dog Ramen has been staying at grandma's house for the last 3-4 days, and it's just amazing to see them interact with each other. Every morning, when she gets up, she makes a point of feeding Ramen toast, and at first, he'd eat it, but since toast is not meat, he had been refusing it. I'd get up and grandma would ask me, "why doesn't your dog eat"? Then I'll find out that she had been trying to feed him toast again. One of the reasons why Ramen remained with Beth was because we were afraid that Ramen would be a really overweight dog.

I have no idea whether or not Ramen was trained before we've adopted him, and what language he used to know. The reason why I stated this stemmed from this afternoon, grandma told Ramen to look for grandpa, Ramen looked at her and then proceeded to run towards grandpa! She had spoken to him entirely in Chinese!

He'd also nap next to her bed, and would not get up until she does. In some ways, they are a lot alike in personalities. Most of all, I think he really helps her not to think about her pain so much.

He is also teaching me so much about what it really means to be a faithful friend, to which I've so far found no parallel.

Now, would a palm pilot do all that? (see the first "Life with pets" entry)

Misc.

Day two of nothing much to say. I'm not living in my head any more than usual, just not feeling very talkative, or typeative, this week.

Yesterday I picked up book two in the 1602 series. Thankfully, there's a really good annotation of the series. I also got two Sandman posters - one of Morpheus at his palace, and one of the entire Endless family. I put them up in my office today. Maybe at the very least they'll inspire some nice day dreams at this boring ass job.

Last night Ramen was a complete freak. I took him out for a short walk to be nice to him. A little later, my neighbor came over and we were talking - she said the maintenance guy showed up about her a/c and said they owners are just planning on making improvements (I hope that's true). Ramen loves people so I let him come out so she could pet him. He decided to take off and see what else he could find in the complex. After about five minutes we decided we should find him and make sure he wasn't playing in traffic. She found him at someone else's door - he'd stratched it and the people had been nice and gave him treats. When he saw me again he came running. I asked if he was out looking for a better home!?! A little later I'm watching tv, ignoring him as always, and he brings the tennis ball over to me. WTF? He's NEVER done that. We've tried playing fetch maybe ten times with him in over a year - we're usually lucky if he brings the ball back twice before wandering off. So, we played fetch for maybe four whole minutes. Weird.

Life With Pets Again

How pathetic am I that I'm kinda glad to be at work today because it gives me something to do and helps me not to think so much. My brain is always trying to kill me.

Our pets are crazy. Little Man (cat) has been bringing in six inch worms and playing with them until they die. Then he sometimes put them, along with other dead bugs and cotton balls and such, in his food bowl. No wonder Silly (cat) is so skinny, she doesn't want to be eating food out of a bowl with all that crap in it!

Last night I was on the computer and I hear Silly meowing. I asked her, "what?" and she just kept on so I went to check it out. There was a live worm moving along the living room floor and apparently she didn't like it there. So I threw it outside and reminded her that she's the cat and should handle these things herself. I'm sure her reply was - "that's why I've got you!"

It's raining this morning, which means poor Ramen (dog) is probably curled up in the corner somewhere. Little Man likes to play in the rain. I leave the bedroom window open for the cats to come in and out. Which means he gets all wet and then comes in and lays his wet little fur on my furniture!

For about a week now Little Man has taken to opening the cabinet door under the bathroom sink and sleeping under there all day. From the day we moved in he liked to open all the cabinet doors and check things out, guess he finally figured out which space was most cozy.

At least with Nerdstar gone things aren't totally boring at home!

Bleh

I played hookey from work today. Just didn't feel like being there. I've had this job for almost three years, and I go thru phases like this where I just can't get my butt out of bed and get there. Sometimes I feel like I'm caught in a stupid cycle with this job. But I've written about that crap before and won't bore you again.

All I can say is thank God moods aren't permanent.

I think our dog is turning into a cat. All he does is sleep all the time like they do. He even lays in the same sunny spots in the spare bedroom they do. We think he's hoping that eventually the cats will think he's one of them and play with him. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to work.

That's it. That's all I've got today.

Damn, Buffy is another re-run. Yes, it's a fantastic episode, and maybe the "people in chage" are running this one again to remind us of stuff before they get on with it. But damn, it's still a re-run.

Last night Ramen was funny. First, Silly was outside the fence to the tiny back yard, and Ramen ran out there barking at her like he was protecting his house from this mean old cat. Problem is, she's his cat. I've tried and tried to explain to him that Silly and Little Man are his cats and he really should be nice to them. But because they won't play chase with him, I don't think he likes them much. So I yelled at him to be nice and explained to him that if I ever have to make a choice between making the cats happy and keeping him, he's going to go live with grandma! Not too much latter, I went into the bedroom to get something and he followed me in there and went to bed. It was like he was all sad so he called it an early night! Yep, life with pets is good - or so I'm told!

Rant time. Remember how everything was supposed to be different at 9/11. It was "the death of irony", there would be no more partisan politics, etc. etc. etc. I guess I'm kind of feeling all of that again. I'm losing patience with "trivialities" and politics and bullshit. If I'm ever world dictator, rule #1 is going to be honesty in all things. Can you imagine what business and politics would be like if they all had to state their true intentions?

pause

I don't know how to express what I'm feeling. All the shit going on these days isn't about politics, it isn't about patriotism or anti-americanism, or opinions and censorship. It's about freedom and safety and a better world.

What's happened in this world in the past fifty years that we can't see a damn thing clearly anymore?? Was it really Vietnam that changed this country so much? How can the "american psyche" really be stuck like that?? Maybe it's not, but the talking heads sure are.

I guess my irony is that even as I call this site "beth's contradictory brain" all I ever want is truth and absolutes. I don't want shifting shadows, I want things to be plain and clear.

Well fellow readers - what's your take on all of it?

Damn, Buffy is another re-run. Yes, it's a fantastic episode, and maybe the "people in chage" are running this one again to remind us of stuff before they get on with it. But damn, it's still a re-run.

Last night Ramen was funny. First, Silly was outside the fence to the tiny back yard, and Ramen ran out there barking at her like he was protecting his house from this mean old cat. Problem is, she's his cat. I've tried and tried to explain to him that Silly and Little Man are his cats and he really should be nice to them. But because they won't play chase with him, I don't think he likes them much. So I yelled at him to be nice and explained to him that if I ever have to make a choice between making the cats happy and keeping him, he's going to go live with grandma! Not too much latter, I went into the bedroom to get something and he followed me in there and went to bed. It was like he was all sad so he called it an early night! Yep, life with pets is good - or so I'm told!

Rant time. Remember how everything was supposed to be different at 9/11. It was "the death of irony", there would be no more partisan politics, etc. etc. etc. I guess I'm kind of feeling all of that again. I'm losing patience with "trivialities" and politics and bullshit. If I'm ever world dictator, rule #1 is going to be honesty in all things. Can you imagine what business and politics would be like if they all had to state their true intentions?

pause

I don't know how to express what I'm feeling. All the shit going on these days isn't about politics, it isn't about patriotism or anti-americanism, or opinions and censorship. It's about freedom and safety and a better world.

What's happened in this world in the past fifty years that we can't see a damn thing clearly anymore?? Was it really Vietnam that changed this country so much? How can the "american psyche" really be stuck like that?? Maybe it's not, but the talking heads sure are.

I guess my irony is that even as I call this site "beth's contradictory brain" all I ever want is truth and absolutes. I don't want shifting shadows, I want things to be plain and clear.

Well fellow readers - what's your take on all of it?

Life With Pets, the unemployed version

Now that I am unemployed, I've got all the time to devote to my pets. Today marks the one week anniversary of my unemployment, and I'd thought that I'd just update you on what's happening with the pets and I.

Little Man, my feline son, has taken to sneaking bits of Ramen's dog food, and Ramen, doesn't really seem to mind it at all. I guess Little Man misses his old artificial color-laden cat food.... too bad.

Silly usually just lounges around and ignores me. Beth had a interesting theory last night about how Silly was the one who had unleashed a curse on me, that was why my luck has been so bad. With the way that she'd stare at me, I couldn't help it but to think that there's probably some merit to her theory! Ramen has been getting more walks, and I hope he's happy about that. He has also managed to lounge on our bed while I am taking morning showers. He should know that he's not allowed on the couch or the bed.... I guess that all fell out of the window. When I'd catch him, he'd stare at me as if I am interrupting
something legitimate.

Being with them, overall, has been therapy for me. Answering phone call from from frustrated people, and working for a messed up company seems like a million years ago!

More Life With Pets

Well, the person who is taking care of Noel came over to my desk today and told me that while she'll continue to foster Noel for a while, she doesn't think that she's a good candidate for taking care of her permanently. She leads a lifestyle that frequently takes her away from home, so she said that it would not be fair to just keep her in a empty apt. without much interaction. I was a bit disappointed, but so much because Noel did not do anything wrong, she's just a dog trying to relax and recover from her heartworm infection. I guess grandma will get her and there would be someone there all the time. Noel must have been confused as to why I took her to all these different places, and staying with all these different people. Thank goodness that she's easygoing enough that she pretty much just adopts everyone that she meets. I think that she sort of makes up for all the crappy people that I'd meet, she just makes up for all their shortfalls and the dishonesty....I mean, she actually looks like she's appreciative of what you are trying to do for her. Can't quite say the same for people, not now anyways.

Life with pets...again

Today I took Noel to a co-worker's house, she volunteered to take care of her for about two weeks and if things worked out fine, she might keep her. I have to tell you that at times, I sort of wished that she would chicken out on keeping her, and we'll end up having to keep her, because you know how easily I get attached to kids and puppies.

I wrapped up her food bowls, favorite blankets, and I also got her a plushy squeaky toy to keep her company.

I showed my friend how docile Noel is and how all she needed is a quiet place without other animal distractions, trying to almost sell Noel to her for free...but already, I was starting to miss her.

I just got back from her place and the superbowl is on, but I am in no mood to watch it, it's pretty stupid if you ask me. In fact, I'd just as soon lose all my respects for those so called "stars" once they perform at the halftime show or the opening. Anyway, that was just my feeling about televised football games, just another excuse to sit on the couch and stuff our faces.... I can do that any other time!!

I am going to have to explain to Ramen what the heck just went on and pet him some more.

Life With Pets 2

We've placed Ramen on diet food, and also cut his food portion somewhat, and late last night, I heard scuffling and some chewing sounds... then I just knew it, Ramen was doing some digging in the trash for some tasty trash... maybe some chicken bones or old bread. "Ramen, no!" I said to him, then swipped him on the butt and told him to go back to bed (he sleeps on this flannel sheet next to our bed.). B. was like "You bad mom, Ramen is starving so he had to go and dig into the trash!" Well, she was the one who told me to stop feeding him for the night!!

He must have been a former famine victim, just like I was in a previous life, because for as much as we feed him, he'd still sit next to your chair at the dinner table and stare at you with sad puppy eyes, just wishing that you'll throw him a piece of bread, chicken meat, etc. Did I tell you that he'll even eat tofu?
B. can be pretty immune to that look, I am trying to be stronger about it, and it's a work in progress.

Strange how the kids just love her to death, and I love the kids but they still just keeping running to her.

Life With Pets 1

Well, I talked to my folks (grandparents) today, since I was at work, I tried a bit to tell them about how I was going to take Noel home and have them look after her. I took her in to the vet's for heartworm treatment earlier this morning, and on the way back, I was thinking about all these bad things that could be wrong with her health and how I am going to react if it was true. I am such a sucker for dogs and puppies, I guess. The cats mostly now just like to snuggle with Beth and look at me like I am completely insane, which may be true. Anyway, my folks are the kind who'll say that they are not animal people but will turn around and feed the stray cat from the neighborhood. So I hope this "arrangement" will work out fine. In the meanwhile, we've got to help Ramen drop some weight! (My German Shepard mix) He has been eating a lot of Noel's food and showing the effect of it!
Beth usually doesn't like sleeping when all the cats and dogs are in the house, but a household without them just seems downright empty....besides, there are naps that we can take.

Dreaming of coffee and cheesecake right now.....

Queen Silly

Silly This is my cat Silly - or Queen Silly Butt as I call her. I've had her for over five years, and she would much prefer it was just her and I. It was bad enough Nerdstar moved in, then we got Little Man. She wacked him upside the head and then mostly proceeded to mostly ignore him. She's still pretty pissed about Ramen and has taken to self starvation in protest of another damn dog in the house. But what can I say, I love her.

Our Dogs

Dogs The black and tan one is Ramen, who we got from a shelter last March for Nerdstar's birthday. The redish brown one is Noel, who is the stray we're trying to find a home for.

Cool Cat

This is a picture of Nerdstar's cat, Little Man. He's not too bright, but he sure looks cool! Actually, while she's my Snuggle Bunny, he's usually my Snuggle Kitty, her on one side and him on the other.

Rainy Weekend

The weather during this last work week was unseasonably warm and sunny. Then overnight Friday and Saturday morning it turned cold and rainy. But, I'm one of those weirdos who kinda likes it all snuggly for the weekend. So Friday night that's exactly what we did. We had a fire in the fireplace, no tv. no radio, just relaxing and some much needed sex (grin!)

Nerdstar has reserves drill this weekend so it's just me and the pets. The two cats were sitting on the back edge of the desk looking out the window a minute ago and the dogs are lying side by side beside my chair wishing like hell I'd stop typing and pet them! They're such wennies though they won't go out in the back yard and pee while it's cold and raining. I tell them it's their bladder they're abusing!

We finally took the stray, Little Girl, to the vet yesterday. $100 just to do shots and a checkup and all. The vet told us she has heartworms. She's fine for now, but it's going to cost about $400 to get her well. Oh well, what do you do? She's too sweet to let her stay sick and die, and I doubt we could find her a home with that much in vet bills looming over her head. I guess this is one of those times I mention the paypall thingy over there and say any help at all would be more appreciated than you know!

Thanks to d-Kitty for the comments and the help!!

Strange Day

That the weather started off raining, then went to over 70 and sunshine, then ended up about 45 and raining (crossing fingers there's no severe weather!) is perfectly suited to the strangeness of today.

I took little Zach up to my work to show him off. He walked right up to everyone in their office and sat in their lap to play with their keyboards. Nothing shy about him! I'd ask him to hold my hand while we walked around and he always just put his little hand up in the air for me to hold. Everyone tried to give him stuff, he got out with a little stuffed Santa with a helium balloon tied to it and a slinky. When the Santa is on the floor, the balloon is the same height as his head so he likes to headbutt it - way cute. I remember when I was little I had a huge inflated clown that you could punch and it would right itself - guess I'll have to see if they still make those.

Then we went to see Nerdstar at her work and we all went to lunch.

He fell asleep on the way home from lunch, so nap time was easy.

While he was sleeping I was making sure I could open the trunk of my car. It's currently missing the locking system because it was broken. The key and lock guy was kind enough to show me how to open it with a screw driver (as I'm sure every good thief already knows!). There was a stray dog out that I'd seen earlier today. I stood still and she came right up to me. She is skinny as hell. We have a very small fenced in yard so I showed her back there and she walked right in. I set out a big bowl of food and some water. After a while I went to check on her and Ramen went out there with me. It was quite the hump fest, each alternating who was on top.

We tried putting Ramen's huge crate outside for her because the weather turned so bad, but she was too scared to go in there.

So, at 8:30 tonight, I have little cornish hens in the oven, Nerdstar and Zach finished wrapping Christmas presents, and there's a stray dog in my bathroom not making a sound. I'm just hoping she doesn't poop all over the place overnight. She seems really sweet and friendly but a bit scared. After Christmas we'll put up some "found signs" and such. If no one claims her we'll try to find her a home, or maybe give her to Nerdstar's grandparents. They really liked Ramen and we always think it'd be good for them to have a pet.

Tomorrow we load everything in the car and drive to Dallas to my parents' as soon as Nerdstar can get out of work.

I hope you all are safe and happy this Christmas! I'll be back to work and back to blogging Thursday.