Curse of the Black Cat

I can’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep. Lately, it just seems so much worse. I feel so agonizingly tired all the time and my fibromyalgia had been getting better but now it’s back with a vengeance. I know what the doctors said — no rest, no ease of pain. I just feel like everything hurts, even my eyeballs.

This morning I finally accepted the truth.

Aloof is a lot to blame for my lack of sleep and something has to be done about it whether I like it or not and whether he likes it or not.

Non-stop for months now he has been on a tirade about his food. I guess it’s just been getting worse and worse since I cut off the cat food ever-dispenser and went to feeding them twice a day on a vet-recommended restricted diet that the vet insisted that he’d get used to. He hasn’t lost any weight though Needy has but Aloof’s attitude has just gotten worse and worse.

How does he tirade? He goes around knocking things off of the furniture, whatever will make noise or spill — he’s figured out that cans sometimes have fluid in them.

So he starts anywhere between 3:30am and 5am and he starts sliding things off of my bed stands and dresser and he’s found other ways to make noise that annoys me too. He’s discovered the right amount of time from when I wake up and yell at him and he runs away to just before I’m about to fall asleep again so I never quite get back to sleep. Clearly he’s learned some sort of sleep deprivation torture from Dick Chenney’s people.

This is why I never want to get up in the morning, why after the animals have been fed in the morning at 6am, I can drift back to sleep, sleep through my alarm and be late to work, and sleep through half the weekend. It’s why I never feel rested through the work day. It’s why my eyes feel so tired that when I blink I feel on the edge of dreaming almost constantly and it’s getting worse.

So tonight, I’m going to start putting Aloof in Pugly’s kennel when I go to bed. Pugly and Needy always sleep quietly through the night or if they don’t, they rest or play quietly near me while I sleep and don’t wake me up until the alarm goes off — or until I start chasing Aloof. Aloof is the one that has to learn that bed time is bed time.

Of course, catching him is going to be the hard part. Catching him more than once, will be near impossible. But I think it’s this or part ways and I’m not ready to think about that.

Tags: the cats, the puppy, sleep deprivation, black cat, retraining a cat, photo blogging, flickr

Unwanted House Critters

Well, it appears that I’ve got signs of at least one unwanted house critter — though you know if there’s one, there’s more.

The clues:

• Some thing’s definitely been imbibing in the bird seed I’ve got stored in the basement and it’s not the birdies I bought it for, which makes me very grumpy.
• Needy and Pugly have both been interested in some thing beneath the stove.
• Pugly has been barking at the wall between the kitchen and the living room for no apparent reason. (There goes my theory that he’s gone insane.)
• Two nights ago, Needy was very interested in the skittering of some little feet along the sloped part of my bedroom ceiling over my bed, which is just too chilling to think about.

Needy and Aloof really aren’t mousers. They really are the kind of cats that prefer to be given their kibble at regular intervals and aren’t really happy that they’ve been put on a diet. They don’t like wet food. So I don’t see them actually knowing what to do if they see an actual unwanted house critter.

Pugly is probably more likely to to be a good mouser, but that’s kind of icky to think about.

So, I guess I’ll be researching what to do about unwanted house critters.

I don’t know that I’m all that excited about the whole catch them and set them free thing because couldn’t they just come back? And wouldn’t I have to, you know touch them?

I’m not excited about the whole idea of poison or slow death either. I’d rather put up an eviction notice.

Tags: mice, rodents, rats, little red house, the cats, the puppy

What My Cats Think About My Dog

Yesterday was the day my cats go to the vet for their annual check up and shots.  They’re indoor cats so they never leave the house except to go to the vet or to move.  So…so far, I think their experiences leaving the house probably haven’t been all that spectacular.

By the time we got to the vet, poor Needy had completely peed all over himself and his carrier.  As the vet said, “How embarrassing.”  Overall though, Needy was fairly tame getting his check up and his shot once he got cleaned up despite having spent the entire trip to the vet mewing loudly and pitifully so the whole world would know that he was in great distress.
Aloof had come quietly and calmly, but it’s the little ones you have to beware of.  He had the look of an impatient biker in the clink and once he was out of his carrier, he growled everytime the vet touched him.  In the end, it took the vet, an intern, and myself plus two towels holding him down to give him a shot and we ended up having to redo the shot because of those deadly rear claws.

While my dad was visiting, he made several remarks to the cats that they must feel so jealous of Pugly because Pugly gets to go outside and play and ride in the car, and as I was standing in the chaos of that vet’s exam room, I thought about my dad’s silly remarks and I considered what my cats might be thinking about my dog…

What is wrong with that dog?  Why does he get so excited to go outside all of the time?  Nothing good ever happens when you get in that car.  Yet the moron just keeps jumping up and down up and down every time she asks if he wants to go for a ride.  Stupid dog.

Tags: the cats, the puppy, the vet

A Saturday Morning In Pictures

Tags: photo blogging, the puppy, the cats, nature

Hunger Strike Ends: Parties Compromise!

I don’t know what’s wrong with my cats. I swear!

Out of desperation last night I opened a can of chicken, drained it a little and put it on a plate. I mean, they were on day four of not eating and I couldn’t take it anymore. If they wouldn’t eat the raw food I was trying to feed them, maybe they’d at least eat some canned meat. (I refused to give them that grocery store kibble with it’s disease-ridden meat-part bits and who knows what else!)

At first, things looked good. The two of them huddled around the plate, tongues lapping at the meat.

Then, I realized…they were just licking up the chicken broth. They didn’t touch the tasty, tender chicken chunks!

So, I had to take Pugly to obedience training at the pet store that evening; I went early and did some bag read on Innova Evo products. During my research last week, Innova Evo was one of the top pet food products recommended next to feeding a raw diet because it’s formulated based on a raw diet — and no “by-products”! The cat foods are high protein and low carb which I’m kind of iffy about. I don’t necessarily agree with that line of thinking, but the good news is that they have a kibble version — Innova Evo Food for Cats and Kittens!

O.K. But would they eat it? That was the real test.

After obedience class (which Pugly did very well in, by the way), I went home and put about 1/2 cup in their cleaned out cat food bowl and set it down for them and waited.

It looked like kibble.

It smelled like kibble.

It felt like kibble.

It tasted like kibble.

It ate like kibble.

It passed the test.

Today they are eating the next-best-thing-to-raw-food-diet kibble. It’s not what I would choose for them, but this is what they want. They are not great hunters. They just want their kibble.

Meanwhile, I can sleep a little easier knowing that they aren’t eating the diseased parts of animals that humans wouldn’t eat or cardboard filler or somesuch.

It’s a compromise I guess.

Tags: Innova Evo, raw food diet, the cats, the puppy

Day Three Of The Hunger Strike

No, I’m not talking about Saddam Hussein. I’m talking about my cats.

As of Saturday morning, Pugly, Needy and Aloof are no longer being fed store-bought pet food. I bought them fresh ground turkey and all of the other ingredients necessary, followed one recipe for dogs and one recipe for cats each from Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, and proudly set the bowls down.

Pugly, being a dog and therefore a living food disposal, immediately dove into his concoction with only a little skepticism, but Aloof just sat on top of the dryer next to his bowl and stared at me with those gold eyes of his as if to ask me where his kibble was.

I had to hunt down Needy because he doesn’t like Pugly and had to carry him kicking and scratching to the dryer to proudly show him my new creation that I had slaved over to make for him. He took one whif and glared at me! Where was the kibble?

I tried to explain to the cats that this was dinner and wasn’t it exciting because it was raw meat? I tried to remind them that they were carnivores but they didn’t seem to grasp that concept and Needy ran off and disappeared into the somewhere cats disappear to when they don’t want to be found.

Needless to say, they didn’t eat that evening.

We went through the same routine Saturday night and again Sunday morning and Sunday night.

This morning I tried mixing in some of their kibble. Aloof actually managed to pick two or three pieces of kibble out that didn’t seem to be touching any of the other food to eat but refused to eat anything else. It was very bizarre to watch. Needy has yet to eat.

I’m very frustrated. The book says that they will come around, but I think Aloof is stubborn. I think he’s like that kid who hates the liver and brussel sprouts and hides them in his shoes or something. He keeps begging for food and he’s acting out, but he refuses to eat what I put out.

I don’t want to go back to feeding them store-bought food though because it’s really not all that healthy for them. I want to feed my pets healthy food.

Anyone have any success changing their pets’ diets?

Tags: the cats, the puppy, home cooking pet food

Honey, We’re Killing The Pets

I totally got freaked out during the “nutrition” lecture during obedience class last. I was so sure I was doing so well buy buying Pugly Beneful because it claims to be made with things like “real chicken” and it’s advertising promises to be balanced nutrition.

Heck their website says:

Beneful® serves up a whole variety of superb formulas for the perfect balance of healthful ingredients, quality nutrition, and great taste. For your best friend, that means pure contentment.

And that cute guy in the commercial says it’s good for the dog. OK I didn’t buy it because of the cute guy. However, I did kind of fall for the front of the packaging that claims things like are also on their website:

		Moist chunks made with chicken are rich in protein for growing muscles.			Enriched with all the calcium of real milk for developing bones and teeth. Formulated to be lactose free.
		Contains vegetables, including peas and carrots, and other vitamin & mineral sources to help build a healthy immune system.			Crunchy rice, a highly digestible source of carbohydrates, for the energy active puppies need.
		Contains essential fatty acids and other nutrients for development of a glossy coat.			Contains iron for healthy blood.

Now, when I buy things for myself, I alway check the ingredient lists. I don’t know why it never occurred to me not to do so for my babies.

So imagine my horror last night when the trainer pulled out a package of Science Diet and Beneful and said that those were the worst two you can feed your dog! I mean, I thought I was giving Pugly a nice balance diet with real chicken and vegetables and rice and calcium and iron. How could I be that wrong?

Have you ever looked at the ingredients on a bag of dog food?

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), chicken, rice flour, milk, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), calcium carbonate, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, copper sulfate, brewers dried yeast, biotin, garlic oil, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite. A-4093

OK The first ingredient, “ground yellow corn” is just filler. It’s probably most of the food.

The second ingredient, “chicken by-product meal” that’s the diseased part of the chicken that’s too nasty to feed to humans; would you really want to feed your dog that? That is how things like CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) gets passed from one animal to the next, by feeding diseased animals to others.

The third and fourth ingredients are more fillers and the fifth ingredient is there because fat makes things taste good and otherwise the dogs wouldn’t eat it.

I’m really afraid to look at my cats’ IAMs Healthy Weight bag or their little pouches of Whiskas meat packs.
The trainer apparently is a “home cooker” for her pets and follows Dr. Pitcairn’s New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats methodology. However, she recommended doing some research using the website DogAware.com and the magazine The Whole Dog Journal. (Note:You can get a subscription through their website for $29/yr for 12 issues or through this link at Amazon.com for $20/yr.)

The DogAware.com has a huge amount of information about the selections but it’s information overload. I don’t know that it’s all that helpful on giving me an idea on what’s the right choice to make except that I know now I don’t like the idea of continuing to give my babies by-products and fillers.

Through DogAware.com, I’ve also found The Dog Food Project and I guess I’m going to go pick up a copy of Dr. Pitcairn’s book from Borders today. I think this is going to require some research and no snap decisions. However, I’m going to stop on my way home and pick up some real meat to mix in with Pugly’s dry food for now.

This pet parenting is hard stuff.

Tags: Pug, the puppy, the cats, Pet Health

Things You Might Overhear At My House

(Note: The denizens of my household are one human, 2 cats, and a puppy. Unless otherwise noted, everything is said pretty much matter-of-factly.)

• Don’t chew on my bra.
• Have you seen your brother?
• Don’t look at me with that attitude.
• Twizzlers are for people.
• Piddle on the paper, please.
• No, this is the paper where you piddle.
• Bring back that bath mat please.
• Potato chips are for people.
• Please don’t chew on the laundry.
• You have food; you have fresh water; you have a clean litter box; what more do you want?
• I am not a chew toy.
• I can make that face too you know.
• This is where people piddle.
• Please don’t eat that plastic bag.
• Please don’t shed on the clean laundry.
• C’mon, poo-poo for Mama.
• I hope dog spittle is good for my complexion.
• Please don’t chew on the computer.
• Chinese is for people.
• Where are you going with my underwear?

And seriously, until you’ve found yourself trying to teach your puppy to squat to poo in the apartment complex parking lot, you have not truly embarrassed yourself…especially if you have a celebratory party dance for when he actually does the deed.

Tags: the puppy, the cats

Friday Kitty Blogging: Aloof By The Window

It’s just so rare when I catch Aloof in a moment of quiet intraspection where he’s not napping where he’ll let me take his picture without running off and this was such an awesome Kodak-type moment, I couldn’t believe I had my camera and the opportunity.

Don’t forget to stop by today’s Friday Ark!

Tags: the cats, photo, Friday Ark

Friday Cat Blogging: Needy And Aloof

I installed these window perches so Needy and Aloof could watch the world go by and instead they spent the whole weekend watching their favorite human. Go figure.

And don’t forget to check out the Friday Ark!

Tags: Friday Ark, pet blogging, the cats

Cat Blogging

I’m trying out this thing where people blog their pets on Friday…

So, here is Needy. He wouldn’t share my blanket…

And here’s Aloof supervising my work in the kitchen.

Tags: pet blogging, photo, the cats, Friday Ark

Needy Goes To The Vet

So yesterday I took the afternoon to take Needy to the Vet since he’s taken a dislike to his litterbox. The two possibilities are generally a UTI or a behavioral problem. I figured it is the latter but I don’t want to risk him being sick. So $37 later, I’m told he’s probably got a behavioral problem. I felt kind of robbed — like Duh!. However, he has to go back next week so they can try to get a urine sample.

In the meantime, I’ve been instructed to buy 2 more litter boxes — one for each cat plus one. I’m not looking forward to walking around several times a day scooping. That’s what the Littermaid was supposed to put an end to. *sigh* Also, I’m going to have to get rid of my bath mats, which he does seem to like because no matter how many times they get washed, the smell is probably still faintly there.

And everything I’ve read says you can’t really punish a cat for not going in the litter box because all it does is make him more anxious (which with Needy seems impossible) and less likely to understand what he’s supposed to.

I wish I knew what to do. I feel like a hopeless parent with a problem child. Oy.

In the meantime, does anyone know how to get cat pee off of shoes?

Tags: the cats

While I Am Out

Not surprisingly I have had re-occuring nightmare themes in the last few months. The main theme is that I’m being fired, of course. Even as late as Friday night, the night before I officially moved into my new apartment, I was having dreams that I had lost this job before I even started. I know it’s weird since I’ve been here over two weeks now and all, but the mean nasty old company and then the place in Alabama really screwed me up, I think, more than I expected. I even woke up feeling really bothered by the whole thing and that I didn’t want to tell my family because they’d just driven all that way to move me.

Even today I’m feeling a bit paranoid still. Perhaps I’ll feel better when I’m not looking at documentation so much of my day. Tomorrow I have to talk to Lurch about getting started on the E.D. project to give me something less mind-numbing to do.

***I don’t know what’s going on at my apartment. My parents have been there all day and the last time I talked to any of them was around quarter to noon. At that time my father was on his 3rd trip to ACE Hardware, but supposedly the pantry had been mounted to a wall and the bed frame had been finished but he now couldn’t find the screws that went with the mirror for the dresser. My mother had supposedly finished unpacking the kitchen but there is still a box missing that contains bowls for my Great-Grandmother’s dish set, which I inherited. I can’t imagine where it is. My mother has however definitely agreed to part (or let me part) with my step-grandmother’s pretty but mix-matched dishes.But since I haven’t heard from them in over 3 hours, I’m now a little concerned about what they’ve been up to. ;)I’ve been given a list of groceries to pick up on my way home, which is o.k. because we do need to eat. In fact, I’m glad the pantry is unpacked finally so I can get to all those cans of soup. I need to finish off the canned stuff this week since I suspect the canned ones have MSG, which is on the no-no list. I believe my mother is making some sort of chicken parmessan with penne dish I found in the freezer section while I was at the inn but didn’t get around to making. I guess we’ll have green beans or something with it. There aren’t any frozen veggies in the freezer; guess I should pick some up, though I’ve been disturbed by the lack of frozen veggie variety here.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be busy when I get home which is good since there’s no cable, internet or phone. Heh. I’m kind of hoping that Dad got to the TV, VCR, DVD player, and stereo in the living room, but since the furniture in there still has to be placed, I doubt it. *sigh*

My mother has figured out that the shower radio is also in the box with my alarm clock, but she stil doesn’t know where that is — probably next to the box with the bowls.

I really need to unpack my clothes tonight. I’m still living out of the suitcase and those clothes really kind of need to go to the laundry room. I still haven’t been able to convince my parents to let me go ahead and get the washer and dryer while they are here so I can get my dad’s opinion and help. If I buy a used one and it’s after he’s gone, I won’t be able to install it and I’ll have to hire those Rent-A-Husband people. If I buy a new one and have it delivered and installed, it’ll be way costlier. Anyway, I really need a washer and dryer. The laundry room (which is now across the parking lot and down a slight hill) charges $1.25 per wash and $1.25 per dry — $2.50 a load! If I wash four loads a week (darks, lights, whites, towels/linens), that’s $10! That’s $40 a month! What if I have 5 loads???! In the long run, buying a new washer and dryer would save me money.

I can’t convince them though and I understand the whole needing to watch my expenses thing right now. I mean I just spent $1800 just on hotels this month. My dad spent $1300 on the truck, not including gas. The hospital will only reimburse me $2000, so I’ll get $700 minus the gas the truck used and my dad will get the rest. They really have helped me out a lot financially over the last few months and I respect that. I can’t just start buying things I want willy nilly even if I think the apartment needs to be fixed up or if I think I can save money on laundry…Probably didn’t help my case that to save money on Sunday, I threw both loads into the same dryer — though they came out a bit damp. :crazy:

***Meanwhile, Needy is all freaked out from the move from the inn to the apartment yesterday. Twice I had to pull him out from inside the recliner — I had trained him from a kitten not to go under there, but that’s all gone now. I’ve stuffed a broken-down box into the wood frames of the chair to keep him out now. My mother said at lunch that she hadn’t seen him all day, but he’d slept with me last night and had been sitting on the bottom stair when I left, so I know he’s there somewhere. Maybe he’s just scared because they’re there without me. He was being really friendly to them in the inn, before the newest trauma, which is odd for him because usually he hides when people come over, so I don’t know what’s going through the little schytzo’s furry head. *shrug*

Tags: dreams, discombobulated, the cats

Sleepy time, the Moving Drama, and “Angel”

I don’t know why but this morning around 11am, I became can’t-keep-my-eyes-open sleepy. Admittedly looking at documentation is pretty brain-numbing and Needy kept me up most of the night with his OCD and I got up an hour early to take my car to the shop, but really I shouldn’t have been sitting there doing the head-bob thing at my desk. :doze:

Now I just can’t seem to wake up. And it doesn’t help that two days ago someone decided to turn the air-conditioning on in here and it blows right on my freaking desk and it’s friggin’ cold even with my floor heater. I’m tempted to put on my gloves but then I wouldn’t be able to type right.

***So, my father changed the moving plans 3 times in 24 hours.First, he wanted me to call the apartment people and change the move-in date to the 30th because of his club meeting tonight.

Then an hour or so later he had reserved a moving truck for Saturday and they were going to leave NM this morning and take two days to drive to Ft. Walton, FLA and back to New Orleans (to drop my grandmother off at some friends for the duration of the event since she can’t be left alone). Then they would load the truck on Saturday and Sunday and possibly Monday and leave Tuesday for Maine and be here by Friday OR they would load on Sunday and Monday and possibly Tuesday and leave Wednesday and be here by Friday. I really don’t know how much stuff he thinks I have…it took two days to load two trucks when they moved from their house and storage unit, but I’m one person with a two bedroom apartment…

But now the plan is that they will leave Friday morning (so he can go to his club meeting). They will drive two days to go to Ft. Walton and then to Mandeville, LA. They will spend Sunday and Monday in Mandeville with their friends and then get the keys from Red on Monday and get the truck on Tuesday. They will load the truck on Tuesday and clean up on Wednesday — I think they forgot that they still have to pack up my piles of artwork in there somewhere. They will then drive to Maine in two days (it’s just a 26 hour drive after all; 13 hours a day). We will then unload the truck on Saturday, take the truck to NH on Sunday (because there apparently isn’t a Budget truck dealer around here) and also take their friend JE (the one who fixed my parking break by making a wood wedge ) to the airport in Boston (because he’s coming up to help with the move and it’s way cheeper to fly out of Boston than Portland). Then they haven’t decided on when they are leaving as my mother has to be in D.C. on the 30th for some Red Cross thing, but they might want to go site seeing or visiting before then.

In the meantime, despite all of that stress, I have set up to have the electricity and heat (propane) turned on for the 23rd, though I have to actually meet the propane guy as I must be given some sort of training on how to use it. However, Time Warner won’t be able to come to my house until the morning of the 29th, and since I decided to go with them for cable, internet, and phone, I will have no distractions at my home for the first few days and will be forced to spend my time unpacking. Of course, TNT has just got to episodes of “Angel” in the afternoon that I haven’t seen and I am absolutely certain that those 4 days I won’t be able to tape and watch later will be pivotal episodes that I will then have to wait four months to see again. Of course, they could be the episodes where Cordy is possessed with the evil, in which case, I’ll live. (I basically missed the first part of the fourth season and the final episode of the fourth season and am trying to catch up now.) Plus, I won’t be able to see “Smallville” (isn’t Clark a cutie? Lex too!) or one of the last 5 “Angel” episodes.

***Speaking of “Angel”, I don’t understand why the WB has decided to cancel it. It’s apparently one of the network’s most popular shows. However, I’m told that they are going to try to revive “Dark Shadows” (again) next year, though that effort hasn’t worked in the past. 2Cool thinks that the WB just doesn’t want to compete with itself with Vampire shows. Stupid to get rid of a known success for something that hasn’t worked in revival mode for others. That’s my opinion anyway.Plus, I’ve not really liked the direction of the fifth season, though now that I know the series is ending, I understand some of it. If they had to kill Cordy off, I think the way they did it was very well done. However, killing off Fred felt forced and unnecessary left me angry — in fact, I realized they were going to do it a week or so before when they rushed a relationship with Fred and Wes after years of Wes’ unrequited wanting and whistfulness. Then this week, sacrificing Gunn for Lindsay (though Lindsay is one of my favorite questionable characters, not quite the total bad guy but certainly not a good guy). I realize from the previews that Gunn is not necessarily gone forever at this point, but I do think this is a low point for the series.

I do like that they’ve brought back and are bringing back some of the major players from throughout the series, though I think to have some sort of closure, they need to have Connor kill off that demon warrior who brought Holtz into the 21rst Century since the whole warp of that was that the demon had changed the wording in some prophesizing documents to imply that Angel would kill Connor rather than Connor killing the demon — damn what was his name and how did you spell it?

They say they’re bringing back Darla and Dru, but what about the love of his life? Earlier in the season, an ex-watcher working for the new Buffy regime basically told Angel and friends that they were now the enemy because they’d taken over the L.A. office of Wolfram & Hart. I sure would like to see Buffy and Angel meet up again before the final episode. Wouldn’t mind seeing Willow either, but I’ve thought all season that Willow should have come to L.A. to help them after Cordy’s mishap.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest since most of my friends either don’t watch “Angel” or aren’t watching 5th season yet — PW is watching it on TNT from beginning to end.

Tags: discombobulated, Angel, the cats

The Truth About Needy

It’s not a new habit per se but it’s an annoying old habit that seems to have resurfaced in the last few weeks. Needy has restarted obsessing about the litter pan, usually around 4 or 5 a.m. He goes to the litter pan and possibly uses it and then begins scratching the litter, the area around the litterbox, etc. He does this for five or ten minutes and then wanders around the living area (hotel room, suite, apartment) meowing somewhat loudly and usually walks all over me before repeating the process. The scratching is particularly annoying because of the plastic litter liner and the newspaper under the litterbox. I don’t know which disturbs my sleep more, the scratching or the meowing.

After about 35 minutes of it this morning, I called him to me and then held onto him. He was pretty pissed and tried to get away for a while. I tried petting him and he purred all the while trying to get away. I admit, I swatted him when he tried meowing in my ear — Siamese cats’ voices are like nails on chalkboards. After 30 minutes, I let him go and he went and hid under the bed rather than go back to the scratching routine. I went back to sleep for an hour before I had to get up and get ready for work.

He doesn’t seem to do this Obsessive-Compulsive thing during the daytime — I know because I was home for 3 months with nothing to do but observe my cats. :crazy:

I wish there was something I could do to help him — and by that I mean help him be quiet so I can sleep. I’ve tried changing the litterbox when he does that but the clean litterbox doesn’t seem to help stop the behavior. Ironically, I had cleaned the box before I went to bed last night.

Plus, I miss having him sleep all night with me in the bed — something he hasn’t done at all since we got to the inn. For the most part, he did sleep with me in the hotel because he had buried himself under the covers for the duration, but now that the bed actually has room under it, he’s staying there.

In other news, I have located an apartment for around what I expected to pay though more than I wish to. It’s in a complex and has Washer/Dryer hookups and a large kitchen. I think the Dining Room/Living Room suffers a little because of the nice kitchen but I’ll find a place for all of my stuff somehow. Of course, my father has taken the wind out of my sails. I asked him the other day that if I signed the paperwork today, could he be up here with my stuff for the weekend of the 23rd. Now that appears to be a problem. He wants to go to some club meeting on Thursday and the dog needs a trim at the vet on Friday…blah, blah, blah. O.K. I kind of understand that they have their lives too, but mine has been on hold for so long and I just want to get into my own place. Tomorrow I have to call the complex to ask if I can push back the move in date until the end of the month. I’m tired of being in a hotel/inn. I want me and the cats to be someplace real where we can have a routine, etc. and start paying bills and saving money and getting back on my feet.

So now I can start working on the other things in my life like getting my car fixed. Ever since I got up here, I’ve had this weird issue with my gear shift. Randomly I have trouble getting it back into park. At first I thought the problem was the cold, but it doesn’t always happen when it’s cold and it sometimes happens when it’s over 40 degrees. It seems to happen most often when the car has been driven less than 20 minutes and not with consistency — ie. in traffic. I can turn the car off in neutral but I can only get the key out when it’s in Park. It’s very frustrating. I was 20 minutes late last Friday to work because I couldn’t put my car in Park in the parking garage. So, MJ at work has given me the name of a garage and I guess I’ll call tomorrow.

I also need to get my hair cut and colored. It’s been 6 weeks and my red hair is getting all bleached and the roots are showing.

I couldn’t do those things while I was apartment hunting because they take the use of the car and my time. Now that I’m sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for my crap to show up, I can do that stuff. Heh. What else do I have to do. :doze:

Also, every day that I’ve been here, I’ve woken up with a headache. At first I thought it was the rain but then the sun came out (though the rain is all dreary again). Last night I left the windows open and finally woke up without one. It was the oppressive heat in the hotel and inn that made me too hot while I slept and triggered the damned headache. So, tonight there will be windows up again. Heh.

Tags: the cats, discombobulated

a fresh start

So, I’m starting a new journal.

I felt that now was a good time what with the moving and starting a new job and the leaving my old life behind and all. Strategically Bent represents my life at the old hospital, my life with the old baggage, my life with everything I was used to including my friends and acquaintences and regular haunts. The Naked Truth is my new life here in Portland, ME including the person I may become now that I have a chance to recreate myself without my saftey net. I have left my friends, my apartment, my everything I was used to behind to start over fresh here in the artic North. I suppose it’s time to start a new journal as well as a new life.

So, overview…

I have accepted this job in Maine and since I begin next Monday, I had to quickly pack up my apartment in New Orleans and load the cats and whatever would fit in my Jeep and spend three days driving through 15 states to arrive by yesterday so I could be present bright and early this morning for a “physical” and TB test. The cats and I are currently staying in a hotel while I look for temporary furnished housing while I also look for a permanent unfurnished rental so my possessions can have some place to go when they arrive in a few weeks.

The cats are somewhat traumatized and I suppose so am I. Needy refuses to come out from under the bedcovers and whenever I go out, Aloof joins him. The trip itself was somewhat uneventful, just interstate and more interstate. I’m not particularly fond of driving or travelling for that matter. I like to just get there and it just stresses me out to have to deal with all of the little things like finding the right exits and interstates and gas stations and hotels. I did it though. Three days, fifteen states, 2 motel 6’s (one that did not have the WB so I missed both “Smallville” and “Charmed” on Sunday ), and now a little more upscale but still cheep hotel. There were parts of the trip where I simply could not find a decent radio station — and I don’t mean that I couldn’t find a country station. I mean I couldn’t find but maybe 2 stations and one was alternative and one was talk. I’d always had the theory that a turnpike meant that the travel was faster but I now believe from experience that it means slower travel under construction conditions and toll. Since yesterday morning it seems most of my money has gone to tolls and parking. :plain:

Anyway, we’re here. I’m here.

I have an appointment with an apartment locator tomorrow but I’ve already come to the realization that apartments aren’t like Louisiana or Alabama. There aren’t a lot of complexes. Mostly you’ve got to rent part of a multi-plex or duplex or house. First floors are hard to come by — which is a problem with the piano. :crazy: So, I’ve got to talk to my Dad. He insists on doing this move without hiring anyone (my parents are driving down from New Mexico to New Orleans to finish packing my apartment, load the truck, and drive up with their friend) but I doubt I’ll get a first floor apartment and I don’t know how he and his friend are going to get that piano into a third floor apartment. :crazy:

Meanwhile, I left the hotel twice today. Once to go to the hospital for my “physical” and once to go meet the apartment locator. I got lost both times…and I had driving directions from mapquest! I’ve never lived anywhere where an intersection can have 5 corners, all of them with different names. I was driving down Congress St. for about 5 minutes looking for my street before I realized that I was on Congress St., which was the street I was looking for…and I was going the wrong direction…and I still don’t know how I got there. :O

Meanwhile, I am sick of fast food and take out. I’m dying to settle down and have home-cooked meals again. In fact, it’s so hard to find decent fast food that I’m thinking I might go vegetarian again for a while once I get settled in my own place. I was a vegetarian for about a year after college due to a distaste for meat. I didn’t have any ideals about it, no visions of rescued cows. Anyway, I’m so sick of the chicken meals from fast food places and I made the mistake of trying a McHamburger at one point — not a big beef eater anyway.

There is a Friendly’s attached to my hotel which makes milkshakes and other ice cream things. There’s room service from them. Very evil. I haven’t unpacked my scale but I have a very bad suspicion that I’ve gained back some of the 10 pounds I lost since I was involuntarily separated from my last job of six years. I picked up a salad from Subway to eat for dinner tonight, I love good salads. I don’t know how good it’ll be but if it’s good, I’ll have to stock up. :hehe:

Meanwhile, it’s friggin’ cold here and raining today. Kind of dreary. I really thought I could handle the cold, but someone today told me that my wool swing coat won’t be warm enough next winter! I admit I did come home from the hospital and put stockings on under my pants and change my shows from loafers to hiking boots. I also added a scarf to my outdoors ensemble. Tomorrow I might add the matching fleece hat. My leather gloves are fashionable but not warm enough. Gah.

So much has to change and be bought and so much has to be adjusted to. I know I’ll do it because, well, I don’t really have a choice. I’m here after all. I need to be paid. I need to work. I need this fresh start with all of its opportunities. I just hate being cold.

Oh, and have you ever noticed how different your habits are when you stay in a hotel? I mean, let’s face it, as much as I want to be a neat freak, I am a slob. However, in this hotel, I lay out my clothes the next day, pick everything up and put it in its place, am bothered by clutter. I am so embracing my inner-Monica. :hehe:

Well, my stomach is grumbly. I’m going to eat my salad and try to dig my kitty out from under the covers.

Tags: the cats, Maine, discombobulated