Animals Gone Wild

Sorry I missed a few days. That doesn't bode well for the post goal...

As I am sure you guessed, I have taken MANY more photos of the kitten, so it's time to post them...

First, artsy Dudley...

Kitten tries the "head in the lion's mouth" trick with Dudley

"Help me!"

Kitten getting the upperhand?

Dudley looks like he is being scolded for playing to rough by kitten

Dudley apologizes

Everyone kisses and makes up

Kitten needs a drink after all that activity

Milo and Otis

I have never been a huge fan of movies that involve talking animals. However, there is one exception to that rule - Milo and Otis.

The movie is about the adventures of a dog and cat that meet at birth and are friends for life. I always wanted to have a puppy and kitten that could grow up together and get along.

Kitten No Name has become Dudley's new best friend. He is fascinated with the kitten - goes running to it every time he hears it's meow. The kitten seems to be a fan of him as well, rubbing his tiny face against Dud's big wet nose, licking it (and occasionally biting it).

I still have no plans of keeping this kitten, but I am enjoying the next four weeks of my personal Milo and Otis.


Listening to: (watching) Batman Begins

Art Festival Photos

This weekend was the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival. Here are some random shots taken while there.

Car on Park Ave

Entryway in an alley on Park Ave

Dolphin fountain by entryway

Brick pathway in alley

Lunch under a bright green umbrella

Painting of a giraffe (the original was a bit different...I liked it better this way)

Booths and fountain in the park (REALLY bright out, the tents looked like they were glowing)

In the rose garden...

No Name Part 2

A quick update to let you all know how No Name's vet visit went.

Negative on Feline Leukemia/AIDs tests (yay! I was nervous one of those would come back positive and I would have to put him down). He does have a parasite, but he is on meds and that will be better in just a few days.

He is an otherwise healthy, 4 week old kitten.

The Cat With No Name

Day 2 of Save the Kitten...

You wouldn't know to meet him that just yesterday he was a wild cat roaming the streets (or more accurately, bushes) of our neighborhood. After responding to his cries with feedings, the kitten has accepted me, as well as everyone else it meets.

I purchased a bottle yesterday evening (I broke my NO Walmart rule doing so...a forgivable offense when there's a hungry kitten waiting and the Pet store is closed) and some kitten formula, and tried feeding him while we sat at a friend's house. Excited to be eating, it completely bit through the nipple of the bottle. So, we switched to an eye dropper, which seemed to hold up better against the surprisingly firm bite this tiny mouth has.

At 2 am, the cries began again, so dropper in hand, I approached for another feeding. This time, the kitten gave me a small heart attack by biting through the GLASS dropper. I managed to grab the piece from his mouth quickly and switched to pouring the formula in a spoon. It took a little figuring out on his part, but after a few seconds he learned that he needed to lap up the formula, rather than bite the spoon.

4 am, another round with the spoon.

This morning, after a feeding, he played on the bed with J. Grabbing his fingers and rolling over on his belly, chewing on his hand, all the cute kitten things you would expect. He also walked right up to Dudley (who is scared to death of him) to see what he was all about.

And now, he is curled up in my lap falling asleep.

Everyone wants to give him a cute name, but since I am determined to get him healthy and socialized and then find him a home, I refuse to name him, thinking that somehow that will leave me slightly less attached.

My mom, brother, or sister, however, are welcome to get attached. :)

Listening to: These Photographs by Joshua Radin....and the sounds of a purring kitten
Current Mood: awwwwwwwwww

It's Raining Cats and Dogs

The weather outside is really unpleasant and stormy, but that is not what this post is about.

Last night, we went to meet with a no-kill shelter to see about adopting another dog. Dudley loves to play with others, so we thought that maybe it would be good to have a "sibling" in the house. I never was a fan of the idea of the only child, and it would seem that mentality carries over to my animals.

We picked out two dogs that they would bring to an agreed upon dog park. One dog was a Pug/Corgi mix that the previous owners paid $1800 for (What is the deal with people breeding MUTTS and calling them designer and selling them for ridiculous amounts of money?? I hate people sometimes...plus, this dog looked more Pit than Pug...), and a Shepherd/Corgi mix that was rescued from Kill shelter in Tennessee.

We picked out the Pug/Corgi based on the descriptions of how smart it was, responding to simple commands, etc... The reality was that, as sweet and attentive as the dog was, I don't think it was as smart as the people made it out to be. I don't think they lied - I just think they misunderstood his eagerness to please his people with intelligence. AND it seemed to like people a lot more than dogs, as evidenced by its growl at some of the dogs in the park.

The Shepherd mix was ADORABLE. It looked like someone had literally taken a Shepherd and shrunk it down to 18 pounds. It was playful and confident, but had NO clue what its name was and obviously had no training. The lady was telling us she thought it was two years old, but when she walked away I made a bet with my husband that if his paperwork was accurate it wasn't more than a year, based on his puppy behavior. (I won.)

Neither dog interacted with Dudley much, but that was probably due to the distractions of the dog park, and the fact that they weren't allowed off their leads.

While I was in love with the Shepherd, my plan was to find a dog who wasn't an untrained puppy, so I decided today that I would continue my search.

Helping me along in that decision is what I found on Duds early morning walk:

Yup. Not so much a dog. A very small baby kitten. One too small to be away from its mother. Unfortunately, it meowed all day long, and no mother showed up, so I decided that I needed to save it. With the help of some gloves and a towel, I pulled it from its hiding place in the bushes and took it to my house. It is currently living in the dog's crate, curled up in a towel. Tonight I head to the Petsmart to get some kitten formula, and for the next week or so, I'll work on getting it strong and socialized (it's a feral cat).

Then off to find it a home (NO, I am NOT keeping it. I haven't named it for that reason...no betting on how long I will be able to keep that promise...)

Listening to: Cuscutlan by Frente
Current Mood: Is mom a mood?

Land o' Lists

Admittedly, I am not the world's most organized person. I have a tendency to lose things, or forget why I am walking into a room. Just minutes ago, I grabbed my phone and couldn't remember why.

Due to the fact that I am not innately together, I have recently become a fan of lists. Lists of what needs to be done at work, what has been done, what I ate, immediate needs in the house, future needs/wants for the home, etc... Each have their space in a notebook on or in my desk. (el cuaderno es en la mesa, indeed!)

Seadragon introduced me today to listingly.com, a tool that allows you to keep your lists online. You can print them, OR pull them up on your iPhone. I am very excited about this function.

Since I am a big fan of lists, I generally make one for the weekly grocery run. A window into how obsessive I can be, I generally have to make a rough draft list, containing all the items I plan on getting, then a second list in the order of where things are located in the supermarket (I warned you...obsessive). This final copy (usually handwritten so I don't have to deal with our old printer) ends up folded up and shoved into a pocket before I head out the door.

With listingly.com, I will be able to create the list on my computer and save it to the site. THEN, whilst browsing around the Whole Foods aisles, I can simply pull the list back up on my iPhone.

I am so easily taken with technology.


Listening to: Another Hundred People from Company

New Music Monday

Since I am posting with some regularity, I could in theory make this a regular Monday thing. And that gives me ONE more thing to post about.

Today's recommendation: Kings of Convenience

They are a "Folk Pop" duo from Norway that has been described as the "indie set's Simon & Garfunkel". Very chill harmonies. Below is the first song that drew me to them, "Cayman Islands".

iPost

This post is a test of my newest toy - an iPhone.

Woot!

A Dedication...

...to my multilingual Arizona friends...




I don't know if I can single out one favorite, but I do love "Bonjour mon petit bureau d’échange".

(And for those of you who are fans "Chuck", you may recognize this song from the first episode of this season)

Weird Cat Facts

As much as I would like to be snuggling up with my pillow right about now, I made a commitment and I am sticking to it. So here I am, posting.

About cats. And the weird things they d0

Not speaking generally, but more specifically about Oliver and Elliot, the two cats that reside in my house.

They go for walks.

Every evening, before bed, I take Dudley, our dog, for a walk. Every evening, I am joined by the two cats. They walk exactly where we walk, sometimes right alongside the dog. We've become known in the neighborhood as "those people who walk all their pets".

I guess there are worse things to be known for.

Like Himmy, a tabby in Australia that weighed 46 pounds and died of heart failure. At least these cats are known for their regular exercise habits.

Currently Listening to: The Most Beautiful Girl by Flight of the Conchords
Current Mood: Sleepy
Current favorite line in a song: "You're so beautiful, you could be a part time model...but you'd probably have to still keep your normal job..."

Weekend at the Beach

Two weeks ago, we went away with a good portion of the family (both older brothers, their families, and my parents) to Don Pedro Island for a little relazing. (yes, not a word. Deal.)

The trip mostly entailed laying on the beach, taking photos, and hanging with my incredibly adorable nephew:

Seriously, I know I am partial, but you really can not deny the cuteness that is Squeakles...

There are about a million photos of him on my computer now, so I'll go ahead and move on to beach photos before I get carried away...

I loved the texture of this grass (?)...

..and I am not exactly sure WHAT this is, but there were several of them lying around on the beach...

...and this is probably one of my favorite shell pictures. Although, it did involve laying on my stomach, and probably did not do me any good in staying away from the no-see-um's that ate me alive on the trip.

Fortunately, having my sister in law along was nice, since she did not think I was crazy for taking photos of practically everything I saw.

What would taking photos at the beach be without a proper sunset?

And maybe ONE more picture of Squeakles...

This is one of my favorites. It reminds me of a photo of my mom with me as a baby. So peaceful.

Entries that are predominantly photos still count. Shush.

Listening to: nothing!
Current Mood: nice

Challenge!

If you are old school and watched The Cosby Show back in tha' day (the show that inspired my father to buy our first VCR), envision today's blog title appropriately. For those of you not familiar:

Challenge!

But back to the topic at hand...as I have been slack about updating the blog, I decided to create a challenge. For myself. I have decided to revive the blog to the glory of it's first year. So before December 31st, I have a goal to have my total post count equal that of 2005.

Let's do the math on that, shall we?

Not counting this post, I have posted 13 times this year (so sad).

In 2005, I posted 119 times. That would be a difference of 106 posts.

Today is October 1st. There are 92 days left to this year. So I need to post every day - and twice 14 of those days. Can it be done? With your help, it can.

Feel free to submit topics/comments/questions and I'll blog about them. OR if you are feeling particularly adventurous - why just comment when you can GUEST POST!

And now I am off - likely to figure out what's next on the agenda to blog about.

Listening to: Knock Knock by Lenka (Attention Seattle friends - she will at Chop Suey this month)
Current Mood: Happyish