My Turn

So, while Julius and Dante argue about who's going to post next, I decided to take matters into my own paws while they're occupied. Which makes me, Romi, smarter than those two put together. :-)

The training of our humans is coming along nicely. The Woman makes sure our food dishes are filled before she leaves for work in the morning, and even though the Man empties them before he goes, she puts down more food for us when she comes home from work again. And the Man only needs a gentle reminder for our bedtime snack. Now if we could just get the Woman to put a couple of those yummy plants on a lower shelf - within nibbling range.

Speaking of nibbling, the Treat Lady was over the other day. She really came to give the Woman a fruit basket as a get well present, but she didn't forget us boys! We each got a few treats out of her before she left.

Apparently our sister, Josie, was put on a diet too and she's down to 26 pounds now. Good thing she lives with the Treat Lady instead of us, there'd be no living with her. If you ask me, too much emphasis is put on appearances anyway. There's nothing wrong with carrying a couple of extra pounds, just makes more of me to love.

Moving On

So, it's been a while since anyone's posted here and I thought it was high time I got the ball moving again.

It's me, Taz, in case you were wondering. That's me on the left getting an earful from my dearly departed Panda.

It's just us boys now and we've been experiencing a period of adjustment. Now that Panda's gone it was only natural that I finally took charge (since she's not around to stop me). It took some convincing, but the boys finally agreed.

It's my favourite time of the year, window sitting time! Yeah, I know I can sit in the window any time, but it's finally warm enough for the humans to keep the windows open and there's nothing better than sitting in a window and feeling the breeze ruffle your fur.

I keep trying to convince the humans I should be allowed to go outside on my own, but so far I'm not having much luck. They just start ranting on about how dangerous it is, and how there's foxes and racoons, and coyotes and fishers . . . I mean seriously, a fisher? I could so take one of them!

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...




Almost a year ago, Panda (short for Pandora, because she was so curious)developed a kidney problem and we almost lost her. To everyone's surprise, especially the vet, she rallied and fought back against the darkness. She endured being force fed through a syringe when her weight would go down, twice weekly trips to the vet to have water injected under her skin, and being medicated twice a day.

She remained bright-eyed and feisty throughout the last year. Despite the vet's warning that we'd only be buying her a couple of years at best, death seemed a long way away.

Two weeks ago she started losing weight again. First, on the 18th, she went down to 5.8 pounds. The following week she was down to 5.2, which was lower than she'd been when she was first diagnosed with a problem. Thursday she was down to 4.9 pounds. As painful as it was, we came to the realization it was time to let her go.

Rest in peace, our precious girl.

Julius' Journal

Did you know that cats sleep two thirds of the time while humans only sleep one third of the time? But really, what do you expect? Humans get to go out into the Big Scarey World and do who knows what, but we cats are stuck in the house 24/7. You try staying in one place for your whole life and see how long you can stay awake. I mean, let's face it, you can only chase a cat nip ball for so long before you get bored and have to take a nap. You can't even watch T.V. unless you have opposable thumbs.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade being a house cat for any amount of birds I see outside the window. It'd be great to catch a bird, mind you, but I wouldn't want to have to go outside to do it. There's dogs outside. And big metal monsters that take humans away. And sometimes it's wet out there! *shuddder*

Nope, you can keep your great outdoors. But maybe you could talk Firecat into inviting a couple of birds inside . . .

Panda's Ponderings

Okay, how fair is this? Yeah, I lost an ounce last week, but I'm back up to 5 pounds 8 ounces and how do those rotten humans reward me? More medication! I've got another pill that I have to take twice a day that's just as big as the one I'm already taking, and a smaller one that I also have to take twice a day.

On the plus side, my humans noticed that even though I wasn't eating I was hungry, and they finally talked the vet into checking my mouth. Turns out my teeth need cleaning, but not until they get my oral infection cleared up. That's what the little pills are for.

At least Firecat is trying to be nice to me about all those pills she's making me take. She found me a great place to sleep. I've been sleeping on the bookcase upstairs where it's warm, and today she got rid of a bunch of pillows out of the basket chair that's right beside the heat. Not only is it soft, and warm, and cozy, but the boys can't bother me there either.

Now, if I could just get her to up the treats . . .

Panda's Post

There's going to be no living with Firecat now - I've gained four ounces since my last post and she's taking all the credit. Of course she deserves some of the credit, she's the one feeding me with a syringe to make sure I'm getting enough to eat, but I'm the one who's keeping that yucky "good for me" food from the vet down.

Of course she also deserves the scratches on her arms. Yeah, I know she's trying to help me stay healthy, but that doesn't mean I have to like being wrapped in a towel and having gross food squirted down my throat. And seriously, is it really necessary for me to get those pills twice a day? Actually, it's kinda fun to see how many times I'm able to spit it out before she manages to make me swallow.

I've come up with a great way to get her back though. I wait 'till she sits down, preferably someplace without easy access to a book, then I curl up on her lap and give her the old sweetie pie eyes. Then she pats me until I go to sleep. She feels so guilty about being mean to me that she doesn't move me, even when she's dying to read that book that's just out of reach. And the best part is, she can't even use her lap top because I'm in the way.

Revenge is sweet!

Taz the Terrible

You don't want to be messing with me. I've been around here the longest and I was named after the Tazmanian Devil. Something about climbing door frames when I was a kitten and holding my own against the dog, whose head was bigger than I was . . .

I'm the father of the Terrible Trio - not that that's any great accomplishment. It's not like I was allowed to discipline them as kittens, and their mother babied them something fierce. She wouldn't even let me protect them from the dog - when the dog would start barking at them I'd go after her, but then Panda would come after me! A guy just can't win around here.

So mostly I keep to myself these days. Or I try to, anyway. Julius just won't give up the idea that we can be best buddies. He wants to cuddle, for crying out loud. Romi and Dante are just plain annoying.

Not one of those kids is fluffy, like me. And the only one who inherited my extra toes was the girl, Josie, who lives with the Treat Lady. That's right, I have extra toes.The technical name for it is polydactylism, but I preferred to be called a Hemmingway Cat. Maybe someday I'll even write a novel of my own.

Reliable Romi

My name is Romulus, but you can call me Romi. I'm the firstborn of the Terrible Trio, and mom's favourite. That's right, in your face, Julius and Dante, mom likes me best!

Of course now that mom's not feeling well she's not socializing a lot, so I'm kind of at loose ends. I've taken to sleeping in Firecat's chair in the living room during the day just to be on hand in case mom is feeling up to giving me a head bath. She's been sleeping in the house in the cat tree in the dining room and the chair is the most comfortable place close by.

Now I want to clear the air about something. The girl and her mate make fun of me because I'm a plus size kitty, but I want it stated for the record I AM NOT FAT! I'm just big boned. It's a good thing those two only visit on Sundays, otherwise I'd have to cough up a hair ball or two in their shoes.

Hump Day Hunk

Hi, I'm Dante, your hump day hunk. That's right, I'm the best looking of the Terrible Trio. For sure I'm the only normal sized one - I mean, have you seen my brothers lately? Talk about porky!

Maybe if they got off their lazy butts once in awhile and got some exercise they wouldn't be so fat. Me, I like to play chase to stay in shape. Mom and I used to play chase a lot before she got so sick, but we don't play so much any more. That's okay, I don't need someone else to play to have a good time. Firecat spends a lot of money on toys for us, and if all else fails I can always chase ghosts.

Pssst! Wanna know a secret? You can't tell the other guys, but I'm Firecat's favorite. She calls me her wild child 'cause I don't like people picking me up or making a fuss over me. I mean, it's okay if she pats me, but only when I ask and she's good about only using one hand to pat with. Two hands makes me twitchy.

She calls me her muse. Hey, I can live with that. Last year we spent a lot of time together in the recliner while she wrote, especially during this weird NaNoWriMo thing she was doing. This year she's been writing a lot more in her office, but that's okay 'cause she has a box full of papers in the open closet behind her that I can curl up in. It's really comfy. In fact, I think I'll curl up in it right now for a quick nap before supper.

Julius' Journal

First off, my mom would like to apologize for not posting yesterday, but she was busy hiding from Firecat. Aparently she lost another couple of ounces and the Scarey Doctor Man is insisting that Firecat start force feeding her again. I'd give my favourite claw for some of mom's food, but I guess it just doesn't taste the same when you have to eat it.

Anyway, like the title says, my name is Julius and I'm the cutest of the Terrible Trio. And I'd like to point out that I was the only one who was supposed to stay living with mom and dad and the humans. That's right, they picked me! Those other two just kept hanging around until they were allowed to stay.

See all that white on me? I've got more white fur than anyone else in the house, not even mom has as much white as me. The man comes close, but his is all on his head so I don't think that counts. It takes a lot of work keeping myself so pristine looking, so I spend a lot of time bathing myself. Some times mom or Romi helps me, but for the most part I do it all by myself.

When I'm not having a bath, I'm usually sleeping waiting for the man to come home. Firecat's okay, and she can give a good chin rub, but the man is an expert at the belly rub. Ah, there's nothing like a good belly rub to get me purring. And I have an extremely loud purr, everyone says so.

Wait a minute, I think I hear the sound of the man's car right now. Sorry, gotta go. See ya next week.

It's About Time!

Hey. Panda here. If you were expecting to see one of Firecat's boring posts, then too bad. Go to her writing blog. You can find it HERE . Don't say I never did anything for you.

As queen of the household, I claim the right of spokes-cat. Firecat's been neglecting this blog so we've staged a coup. We've taken over just about every other aspect of her and the man's lives, it was only a matter of time before we took over here.

Anyway, there's five of us cats, and we're each taking a different day to post.

I go first 'cause, let's face it, I'm the most important. I mean, without me there wouldn't even be a Romi, Julius, or Dante.

I know there's a few of you out there who've be inquiring about my health. That's so sweet of you, really.

Firecat and the man are pretty concerned about my weight. Apparently, they think it's a bad thing that I'm down to 5 1/2 pounds. Well maybe if they'd feed me more treats instead of that stupid expensive food I'd gain some weight. And they need to start buying the same treats the Treat Lady brings me. Those are primo. Worthy of me, you might say.

My usual day is going to be Mondays; you know, a treat to start your week.

So, let me tell you a little about myself. My brothers and I were abandoned in a snow bank out in the country and were rescued by a nice family who already had several cats. So, they put a notice up that we needed homes, and Firecat came to see us. I can smell a sucker good person a mile away, so as soon a she picked me up I gave her the sweetie pie eyes and started to purr. Then I curled up in her arms and pretended to sleep.

She actually named me Pandora, because I was so curious, but mostly I get called Panda. The man calls me Pantaloons, too, but he's not all there at the best of times. I mean, you should see him around that suck-up Julius. Pathetic!

But I digress. This is about me. I've just passed my 7th birthday and I have a pretty good life here, despite the fact the humans won't let me play outside. Something to do with the wildlife lurking around our town and the high incidence of cats who've disappeared.

My favorite food (this week) is Tuna Feast, by Fancy Feast. I'll wait until Firecat's stocked up before I switch to something else. My favorite sleeping place is on the padded desk chair in the rec room - it's dark and cozy, and right under a heat vent. Sometimes, if she's not using her lap for her lap top, I like to curl up on Firecat's lap while she's in the recliner.

But that's really just to keep her happy so the treats keep coming.

Walloping Wednesday

So someone *coughcrazynancecough* reminded me that I said I'd be back in December and that it's December now so I should be back to posting. So here I am.

I'm having to use the crap top desk top computer for this because my lap top got infected with a virus or shareware or some such pain in the bytes thing. Being as broke as I am, I entrusted it to the IT department at school for repairs. I was supposed to get it back today, but that was before we got the first blizzard of the season, which resulted in only a handful of us intrepid souls making it to school today.

It snowed last night and then started warming up this morning, so by the time I had to clean off my car it was really wet snow. Then at some point today it turned to rain and now it's a real mess out there. If it freezes tonight we'll be in big trouble tomorrow. And did I mention I had just enough time to make some oatmeal for breakfast before the power went off? Was not able to have my chai latte so I ended up having to spring for a coffee at school. *sigh* It just wasn't the same.

This was the week I'd intended to start the edits for my NaNo novel, only most of it is on the lap top - I got slack about backing up. I also had the urge to edit my first NaNo novel, Driving Into Forever, but again, it's on the lap top.

My poetry book marks are all on my precious, including the poetry forms I've been doing a series on. And the research I had for a few of the posts for my Random Thoughts blog is also on the lap top. And while there are some who would say that the desk top is better than no top at all, I'm not one of them. The screen, though much bigger, is hard on my eyes, the keyboard's a little stiffer, and oh, did I mention it's a little on the SLOW side?

So, cross your fingers I get my lap top (with files intact) back tomorrow. Or brace yourself for another cranky post on Friday.

I'll Be Back in December

Wide Awake Wednesday

Well, I'm wide awake since my nap, anyway. Can't say I was at my brightest of eye and bushiest of tail this morning though. :-)

I went to see the movie 2012 last night. If this movie doesn't win a bunch of awards for special effects, then there's something wrong with the system. The story itself was a little hokey at times, but the effects more than made up for it.

Woody Harlson had a small part as a crazy man who lived in Yellowstone National Park, and I must say that he makes an excellent loon. Totally believable. LOL

I won't go into any detail - you really need to see it for yourselves. Let's just say that if you have the urge to move before December 21, 2012, your safest bet is the African continent.

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Does anyone remember all the hoopla surrounding the turn of the century? As the year 2000 approached people started freaking out, claiming the world was going to end.

These claims were backed up by ancient prophecies, like those of Nostradamus, and new prophecies made by modern sooth-sayers. Then 2000 rolled around and nothing happened.

Suddenly it was "Oh, you took our meaning wrong." It wasn't really the end of the world, it was just that many computers and much computerized equipment were expected to have problems when the clock rolled over to 2000.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time recalling any real disastors that resulted from this. Electrical equipment was updated - disastor averted.

It's always easy to interpret predictions after the even has happened.

Just sayin'.

Mandatory Monday

Here I am, another Monday with not much to say.

After a doom and gloom weekend, today is bright and sunny. Go figure.

I'm sitting here looking out my office window and I can tell you that even with the sun the view is not inspiring. I see my naked birch tree outside my window and beyond that a few other naked trees.

Have you ever noticed that different kinds of trees seem to be able to hang onto their leaves longer? I see that there are a few trees out there stubbornly clinging to their leaves - weeping willow, chestnut - while the birch and ash are totally naked and the maples nearly so.

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There's a fat man asleep in the mall.

On my way in to school this morning I couldn't help but notice they were setting up the enclosure for Santa (it's set up pretty much right in the middle of the most direct path down to the college). When we left, they'd finished the set up and Santa was snoozing away in his bed in the center of the enclosure.

This, my friends, means that the Santa Claus parade cannot be far away. Probably on Saturday. The mall will be swarming with tykes ready to scream and yell to wake Santa up so they can all have breakfast with Santa before the parade.

All I can say is, bah, humbug! Glad I don't work in the mall!

* * * * * * * * * *

You know, I always thought I was pretty good at spelling and grammar, but this course in Business Communication is showing me how wrong I am. I'm still pretty decent in spelling, I even pick up words that the spell checkers miss (ones that are spelled correctly, they're just the wrong word), but grammar - well that's a different story altogether.

Either the rules have changed or I've forgotten more than I realized. I did all right with the nouns, adverbs and adjectives, but apparently I have a problem when it comes to the tenses of verbs.

*sigh*

Can't wait for tomorrow when we do punctuation! :-(

Forgetful Friday

I had something wonderfully pithy to say today, but I thought of it at school and forgot to write it down so now it’s gone forever. As my law teacher would say: “Sucks to be me!”

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Wow, I’m looking out my office window and the birch tree outside is naked! Where did all the leaves go? They were there just a couple of days ago. Next thing you know the white stuff will be coming down and before you know it it’ll be Christmas.

I am so not ready for Christmas this year!

Although apparently many of my neighbours are. I see outdoor Christmas decorations springing up all over the neighbourhood. In fact, the people on the corner had their Christmas decorations up November 1 and have them lit up every night. Are they crazy?

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Panda Report

She seems to be holding her own. She sleeps in the sun in the spare bedroom during the day, and under my lap top desk when I’m reclining in my chair in the evening. We’ve reached an understanding - she’ll let me up for the occasional potty break as long as I make sure there’s room for her under the lap top.

Her pickiness when it comes to food is beginning to drive me crazy. Just when we think we’ve found a food she’ll eat, she’ll change her mind. I think she’s doing it deliberately, just to drive us batty.

* * * * * * * * * *

NaNo’s going well. I’m behind in my wordage, but I’m not too worried about it. I have the whole weekend ahead of me and there’s still two more full weeks.

If you want to follow my progress, I’m keeping track HERE . I even posted an excerpt a couple of days ago. :-)

Lest We Forget

I hope everyone took a moment of silence this morning to remember our veterans. Bless each of them, and their families

I'm Baaackkk

Did you miss me? I sure missed my internet for the last few weeks.

I think what happened was this: three weeks ago we had a storm and I think my modem got damaged by a power surge. It didn't go out right away, just got steadily worse until finally I wasn't getting any service at all.

I phoned my ISP last week and the earliest they could send someone out was Friday. So I waited, albeit a little unpatiently. The guy they sent out was not worth the wait. I must have been his last appointment of the day because he was in and out of here in less than five minutes. He never actually tested anything, he just looked at my modem and said "It's your wiring. You have three choices: run the cable around the outside of the house; pay a professional to fish it through the walls (again!); or move your service to the other end of the house." Then he left.

Shortly after he left I had a mini-meltdown. It had been a very bad week and this was the last straw.

Saturday morning I took the modem and my lap top down to the basement where the cable fed into the house. I unplugged the cable from the service provided splitter and plugged it directly into the modem, then I plugged the modem into my lap top. Still no connection.

So I phoned my ISP again and they sent some out today. This guy actually knew what he was doing. He came in, plugged his lap top into my modem and said: "Looks like your modem is fried." and then proceeded to go out to his truck and get me a new modem, ethernet cord, and power supply.

And here I am.

Oh happy day!

Anway, I can't say that I'll be doing any better at posting 'cause we're one week into NaNo and I'm falling behind, but at least you know that if I don't post it's for a reason other than my lack of internet. :-)

Two Books Forward, Five Books Back

The good news is, I managed to finish reading two books last week. The bad news is, I bought five new ones when the daughter and I were in Peterborough yesterday. *sigh* And it’s not like I’m going to be having a lot of time to read in the next few weeks, NaNo starts at midnight on Saturday.

NaNoWriMo, or NaNo as it is often fondly called, is the National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. For those of you who’ve been living in a cave and have never heard about NaNoWriMo, you can check it out HERE and if you’d like to follow my NaNo progress, you can do so HERE.

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If I make it through the cold and flu season without coming down with something, it will be a miracle. I’m bracketed in the classroom by women who are coughing and hacking - one of them to the point where the teacher suggested that maybe they’d rather be at home, but they insisted on staying. The other one insists on keeping the door to the classroom closed so they can keep all the germs trapped inside. I am not impressed!

What is wrong with these Typhoid Marys that they find it necessary to spread their germs wherever they go? You’d think with all the media hype about the H1N1 they’d have more sense.

And remember that tooth I broke a few weeks ago? It chooses now to bother me. I cannot afford a dentist. Go away little toothache. Go away.

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Panda has decided that it’s cave season. And where does she prefer her cave to be made? In my chair in the living room. If I want to sit in my chair, then she’ll sit on top of me and I’d better be prepared to stay for the long haul. And if I’m mean enough to insist on having my lap top on my lap, I have to make sure it’s balanced on my knees in such a way that she can curl up in the cave underneath it. Good thing she’s such a small cat!

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On a happier note, did anyone catch the pink sunrise this morning? It was like seeing the world through rose coloured glasses - very inspiring!

Misaligned Monday

I have a very good reason for not updating last week. My internet and/or computer was having problems. I can get blogs up this week, and my gmail and sometimes my hotmail, but not if there's a lot of graphics in the email and I still can't get my ISP e-mail up.

If it's my internet service provider, the problem will eventually sort itself out. If it's a virus in my computer . . . then there's not much I can do about it. I can't afford to have it looked at right now so I'll just have to limp along.

* * * * * * * * * *

I was going to say last week wasn't too exciting, but that's not exactly true. I had poetry group on Tuesday, which is always enjoyable. And I got lots of writing done, although as usually the writing started to fall off towards the end of the week.

Got my assignments for school in on time and got very good marks on them both. I also had an exam on Friday and got 95% on it, which is very good considering I didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Saturday my sister from New Brunswick stopped by with her husband for an overnight visit and we had a small birthday party for the daughter. Much fun and eating was had by all. :-)

Sunday a friend and I went to the big city of Belleville to the Michael's craft store. I love all the stuff in that store, but I don't love the prices. Then we went across the street to Chapters where I bought myself a new journal and, of course, had Starbucks.

* * * * * * * * * *

Panda is slowly gaining weight again. She's up to 6 pounds 3 ounces. The weight gain is much slower than before because the canned food doesn't pack on the weight the way that the dry food does. She's also turned into a bit of a lap cat. If I'm sitting in my recliner, she has to be on my lap. Otherwise I have to make her a cave with a blanket on either my chair or the husband's chair (the couch won't do).

When I have my lap top on my lap, she has to be content with just snuggling up to my legs. Sometimes, however, Dante beats her to the foot of my chair and she's forced to wash his head vigorously in a bid to get him to move. It doesn't always work (he's his mother's son when it comes to stubbornness) and they end up curled up together, half draped over my legs.

And that about brings you up to date. :-)