Berkeley Farm Girl

Well, I don't know if she can actually catch anything*, but there was something small and dark she was chasing in the driveway tonight when I went out to get her.

* especially now that she has a new collar, complete with bell

No, I didn't explore further. And I won't be going out later to see if she's not busy. But at least the mystery of why she was not responding to "come here" gestures is solved.

Yeah, still on.

Has it been over a month since I updated? It has been a blur.

High (and low-)lights:

Ruthie-cat (f.k.a. Ocho) has decided to hang out and soak up the sun and heat in the living room (instead of hiding out under the kitchen table). I am thrilled.

The Subaru is now officially "The Money Pit". Latest thing was that some chump broke my drivers' side mirror off when I was at my class on Fat Monday.

So on Fat Tuesday, I had to go get a rental, which screwed with my plans to get PANCAKES. I got DONUTS instead from the little donut shop on San Pablo so bounced around in a sugar haze all day.

The Ash Wednesday evening service was outstanding. The choir offered Allegri's Miserere again, which is, for my money, one of the most beautiful pieces of church music ever composed. I definitely mourned for Mark, and wished that (some of) you were there so you could have let that beautiful music surround you.

The day after that, an all-hands meeting at my employers' announced an organizational restructuring: help desk to be outsourced and us high-end techie types to be doing our things out at the terminals instead of in our data centers. If this can work out, it would likely be a win for me (fewer o.t. hours and shorter commute) but everything is going nuts in the meantime.

Because everything at work is going nuts, a lot of the rest of my life feels on hold. Food is going bad in my fridge because I'm not at home to cook it, I am feeling very bad indeed about not visiting some sick friends with Healthful Foodz, and I got pulled over this morning because my tags were expired.

I signed on as co-mod in a group which turned from a low-drama group temporarily into a high one. It feels like my entire Tuesday was having a nineteen-year-old know-it-all (redundant, yeah, I know) spewing into my mailbox. It's like I was hung over and didn't have any fun doing it.

Probiotics seem to be doing wonders for a chronic and annoying health issue. Between that, having bought some pants that actually fit, and trying to knock off added sugar for Lent, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable.

Opened the back door to bring Maggie in and there was a possum getting up in Maggie's grill empty food bowl, right there on the back landing.

First time I've seen a possum in Happy Little Bungalow land. Even raccoons are rare due to the density of both human and dog populations.

Possum played possum and hid. The practice of leaving Maggie's dinner out for her will be suspended for at least a while.

(Hi, my name is Charlotte and I am currently powerless to stop obsessively checking political blogs in my short periods home from work. I've even started reading Wonkette again. I promise to update more.)

I haven't been sleeping well this week - combo of heat, drama, and being on call.

I was pretty wiped out yesterday evening - Friday afternoon was busy at work, I had an incipient headache from my phones ringing so much, and I orbited for parking a couple of times trying to get to dinner and BEER with cat_herder. I was >< this close to an AW FUCK IT and moping at home.

(I did not read the "no parking" signs carefully enough to realize they didn't apply on Friday night. Sign of mental distress. But I got cat_herder's spot - she had a quite uncharacteristic EPIC PARKING KARMA FAIL and I got the last spot in the front. LOL)

I woke up a couple of times this morning, punched on NPR, and then conked back out. Ochita jumped in the bed with me (I was a bit surprised to see the dark cat). When I finally checked my watch it was about 9:20, so ... no wonder, she was hungry. It's past ten and the cats have been fed (and back to their corners for post-prandial nap) but I haven't had my coffee yet. I am, however, quite refreshed.

Lucy discovered the cat-flap, which cat_herder had uncovered in an effort to train the Maginator. Since she has no collar with the magnetic key, she could get out but not in. I had missed her on Thursday morning (no response to the Opening of the Can) and finally realize what happened (took me a while, as I had been keeping the window shut, so I wondered how she got out).

She came to me when I opened a can in the basement on Thursday evening just before Elissa came over, but launched herself out of my arms (with accompanying Big Scratches) just as I was opening the back door. I almost got her in the morning (denim-shirted) but she, again, bailed on me and hid under the flood-protection boards-on-cinderblocks.

Last night, no sign.

This morning I was concerned that she was dehydrated. I opened a can, no sign. Came down with some water, and she came out of the back basement room. I managed to get her in this time, minus injury. She didn't protest as much.

The good news is that Ochita has been exploring the house more. I moved the laptop setup into the living room so Elissa could use it, and Ochita has been coming out and cuddling with me on the chair in the living room, which she hasn't been in much. My right arm got licked pretty raw last night before I went to Serene's party! Purr, knead, lick.

And this morning, it was hot enough that Maggie was in, and on the couch, and didn't cause drama with Ochita in the room. The old girl is holding her ground, which is good.

This has not been a good week for the pets of people I know. Da Bronxelf lost Argent to incredibly invasive cancer and Da Flea lost her very friendly neighbor cat apparently to a coyote (!!!). I seem to recall that tigerberries lost her Ozymandias, King of Cats, and a friend of mine off LJ had to put his dog down. So if you have pets (or, like F, "borrow" animals), please give them extra scritchies.

I am incredibly thankful that worrying about other peoples' animals and how the hell I am going to cope without my weekly-or-so Mr. Benjamin Biscuit fix is really about the biggest I have on my plate at the moment. Last week this time, things did not look so good (I might or might not be up to posting about it, but it was a doozy) and it was a hundred farking degrees on top of it.

I have determined where Miss New Thing is sitting when she's not in the room. She found the fabric stash in the utility room. Clever girl! Comfy and protected from the regularly scheduled Maggie Maraudings and Lucy RocketCat bouncings. (Lucy did, however, take advantage of the absence to pee in the "other" litter box. *eyeroll*)

Da Box of Tasty Meatz has arrived. I wanted to cook the pork chops tonight - with CSA carrots and green beans, how incredibly eco-groovy of me, I know ;) - but the darn things were still frozen after all day in the fridge and an hour out on the counter. Tomorrow is another day. (Ayse, what's the best email to reach you at these days?)

This month's haul was: two pork chops bigger than my hands (for those of you who have not met me, I have big hands for a gurl), some pork trim, 2# ground beef, two very thin t-bones, a chuck steak, and some very free-range eggs - all sorts of sizes and shell colors. I had two of them fried for my breakfast this morning.

The CSA box was: 2 small grapefruit, bag-o-green-beans, carrots, small but incredibly delicious bag-o-cherries, a couple of onions. (I got carrots last week too, so it's time to eat up.)

I also helped themagdalen clear out her pantry - pasta, red bell peppers, and condiments.

So there will be COOKING in my future. I'm thinking it's time to do some. Except for making brownies and truffles, I haven't done much lately. Maybe this weekend I'll attempt caramel a la Shuna eggbeater_food Lydon. The combo of No Sleep and 100+ Degrees made me not want to deal with boiling sugar.

Well, I had big plans on Thursday to spend the evening catching up with life, including working on kitty's integration into household.

Then something blew up at work to the tune of conference call with Microsoft support till 8 pm. I barely had time to look in and see how she was.

Maggie also got into the room during my brief look-in on Friday morning, hissing as she went until I scooped her up and pitched her out. Fortunately kitty was on the bed so there wasn't a direct confrontation. Otherwise she's been very purry and groomy with me.

Anyway. The backstory. Her name (currently - I am probably going to give her another one) is Ocho. She is a mostly-black tortoiseshell with medium hair. She's eight. She has a very deep voice - growly when she's upset, but the occasional rumble/gurgle otherwise.

Her previous family turfed her out - the official story is that Ocho was harming the family's baby, but I'm having trouble buying that because baby was < 6 mos and problems tend to arrive slightly later on*. The ever-fab Bronxelf organized kitty rescue so Ochita wouldn't be placed in a kill shelter (prospects for older cats are not good, as we all know). It's one of those very cool "internet community" things because lots of kind-hearted people kicked in money for the expenses of Foster Mom (including an anticipated plane ride to Forever Home).

Anyway, back to her adventures here. Maggie was out this morning and Lucy was snoozing in The Cat Tower of Gondor. I was making pancakes for my breakfast when I heard a BAT-BAT-BAT at the back bedroom door into the kitchen. So I pitched Lucy onto the sun porch and let Ocho sniff the house. She explored the whole thing and only growled when she got to one toy that is covered in Lucy-hair. She spent quite a bit of time on the front window ledge - that thing is definitely made for cats. She's back in the back room now. Plan for the weekend is to clear out the clothes hanging off the doors enough so that I can move the two indoor cats around.

I was thinking of getting a baby gate so I could block off the kitchen - didn't matter if the cats could see and hiss at each other, as long as there was that fence, nu? It would get her out of the back room more. Not sure how effective that would be with my leapin' lizards pussycats, though.

Subject was retrieved at airport at about 1630 yesterday. Installed in back bedroom at about 1715 (ballgame traffic).

Was shown food, water, box, toys and installed herself between the bed and the wall. (Thankfully close to the Feliway dispenser.) Did not seem exceptionally stressed as she accepted petting and returned blinkie-eyes when I looked over the headboard at her. Came out for some attention on second visit in but quickly returned to safe space. Yours truly decided to just let her work it out. Even the almost inflappable Maya spent the first day or so in this house sulking under the desk.

This morning she was not between the bed and the wall when I arrived; she had moved to the more comfortable space but still private space I set up under my makeshift bedside table and came out to greet me. I was groomed. Kibble and box appear to have gotten some action.

Lucy almost got in, as I seem to have forgotten to firmly close the second door behind me in the bathroom-to-bedroom airlock and the first door doesn't latch. Fortunately not, but I think she knows something is up. Maggie just wanted to go O-U-T.

Must find my grooming comb and give her a brush. She is in the midst of a powerful shed.

lowflyingsquab summarizes it in a picture here.

I didn't get a sticker when I voted (so could not put in on MY pancakes), but I did get some bebe time and had an interesting conversation with Momma Mags.

The qats were both taken to the V-E-T to have their tires rotated. Lucy did much better than I expected - she didn't scratch us all to hell or cry. (She did poop on the exam table, but that was easily sorted.) I haven't seen her much after she wolfed down the food I gave her afterwards, but that's pretty much to be expected. She'll get over it. Maggie was also a Very Good Kitty - no yowling and she started headbutting the tech in the front through her cage as we were sorting out the bill. (Lucy, on the other hand, was Miss Big Eyes.) They are both in excellent health and my guesstimates on their weights were pretty good.

In other news, I decided to pitch my snark communities - Hell on the Ship (it's not mostly a snark community, but work with me here), stupid_free, sf_drama, and alt.usenet.kooks on the usernetz for Lent.

I can't claim lofty spiritual motives - they've been distracting me from the job hunt - but this was a pretty good time to Do Something to Take Care of Business. So if you know me in one or more of these places and don't see me there much, you'll know why.

There was a brief burst of blue sky this morning - but the third of the back-to-back storms has arrived. Oddly enough, the not-exactly-unexpected levee break was in Nevada, not the Central Valley.

Maggie is not complaining about not being outside. I did not let her out the last few days as I was unwell enough to not want to herd her back in again and it was narsty out there. (if she could hang out on the fabric pile in the basement.) She went out during the sunny bit, and wanted back in again when the storm came in.

Lucy, of course, adores it when I'm more or less immobile.

I managed to bestir myself to replace a bulb in my bedside lamp and to finish loading the dishwasher, so I am feeling righteous (and a bit perkier because the bedroom is better lit).

I need to make a phone call pretty shortly to someone who volunteered to help with coffee hour - I did (this is not my regular sunday) but I am really not up to it. Remembering my submerged resolution: Don't be a martyr. (As much as I like working with Fran, who is about as much fun as a barrel of monkeys.)

I think I might be up for making some cranberry-orange bread and some artichoke dip, but that would be fun and I could just drop it off. Artichoke dip would be nice on a cold day and festive for the High Holy Day. (And it's dead easy to make with a FP.) I was going to make mini-financieres in my mini-muffin cups from Clotilde's recipe, and stick a bean in a couple of them for the King Cake effect, but I think that might just be too much effort for me. (Although I do know how to blanch almonds now.)