She’s FINALLy gotten to where she will sit still. Sometimes she’ll doze off and be quiet for about 15 minutes on end. She has a mouth like you wouldn’t believe. Tanner has fallen silent in awe.
Tanner hissed at first. But we made a breakthrough the morning we let the Basement Cats out and Tanner, at the top of the stairs, stopped and went back down a few steps, waiting for Finity.
A day on, she returned the favor.
She’s a very elegant, long-limbed monkey. And into absolutely everything.
Seishi still hisses at her. But he’s weakening. Last evening he voluntarily came up on my lap, only about two feet from her in Jane’s lap, and was relaxed about it.
Shu, well, Shu is Shu, and very hissy. But he’s not attacking. He doesn’t like Tanner howling, and he seems to be calmer now that Tanner isn’t howling. Finity can pass within about a foot of him, and he won’t attack. That’s progress. But Shu also is real close with Seishi, and if Seishi starts to accept the kitten, that may make a difference. Both of them were reacting to both Tanner’s and Finity’s scent up here on the main floor, but now seem to have no objection to it. This also is progress.
Sorry to have been silent a bit: we had a computer disaster, lost a file on which Jane had spent a lot of work, and is now having to rework it. Word of wisdom: a solid state drive is a lot like a flash drive: very small chance to read them if they go bad. And one did, on a new Lenovo superthin notebook, and she’s trying to reconsitute it all from memory.
I wondered about the long, radio silence and worried that something had happened. Glad that it was only a computer, which in the short run is frustrating, infuriating, discouraging and enraging (not to mention immensely time-consuming) but long-run wasn’t another major, health scare such as Jane had this past summer.
Delighted that kitty detente is well under way and the possibility of peace on the household horizon.
Computers are those two edged things that are either a godsend or a tool of the devil. E-hugs to Jane from a fellow traveler who is cringing in sympathy. It qualifies in my book as a PTSD-inducing event.
Murmur gently to her that slowly but surely, somethings special are taking shape chez nous for a certain little man whose name starts with a W. A little bit here, and a little bit there on tiny knitting needles in between me driving my mom 1200 miles to the ends of the state and back in five days, and tomorrow I’m having a jaw tooth extracted that has already been root canaled. The game plan is to throw a big chunk of $$$ at it and hope the bone graft takes. (not to mention the 9 colorwork xmas balls to knit between now and the first week of Dec.)
Hopefully, young Finity will fullfil her promise as peacemaker. I will quietly envy you snuggling her and the boys.
For the past week or so, this little asthmatic Western girl child at the high end of the spectrum has been housebound for the past week (cotton ginning season, y’all, and the air is full of herb/insect-icide laced gin trash and cotton lint), but no biggie because she is totally hung up on a (mainland) Chinese TV series based on a video game she’s never heard of, who has no idea what either the game or the film is about, and the dialog is all in Chinese with no subtitles, but Zhèng Yuánchà ng (dang!) and oooooh! shiney!
I knew a woman who had to leave town for both corn harvest and cotton stripping – she had both allergies.
It was kind of fun, though, watching the module-makers and the trucks that collected them and took them to the gins.
Greetings, Finity! Glad the cat situation seems to be shaking down.
SSDs typically are flash memory at this point. But flash memory has gotten more and more reliable. Still, I recall a story about Tesla cars writing so much diagnostic info to their flash memories that the memories were failing and “bricking” the car.
I suppose the lesson is to continue backing up your computers regularly. As I’ve recommended before, I’d keep a flash card permanently in a laptop for backup, assuming it has that port. The SSD might fail; the flash card might fail; but they’re very unlikely to do so simultaneously.
So how did you determine She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed’s name is Finity? And what’s this about a mouth? Last time I heard, she had an earth-shattering purr, not a yawp that would traumatize a trucker. Maybe the paidhi is seeking her own Poetry Corner.
Many hugs of sympathy for Jane and her misfiring SSD. Not to beat a dead horse, but multiple backups are your friends, in a couple different places.
I had a Siamese Cat when I was a kid and they are loud when the want to be. They don’t meow like other cats do. They yell.
Oh, Finity sounds fine! And it sounds like Tanner is on the way to better, with Seishi and Shu perhaps getting won over. Good all around. I am very glad to hear a good outcome is underway, at least started towards it.
Ugh, about the lost files and the drive giving out. — I will be porting over the source files for my font work from the old, moribund program to the new one, and will have to go from there. Not everything from the old files will import (background and guides layers don’t). This means a big pain, but at least I don’t have to start over everything from scratch.
Having to redo a lot of text or an image from memory is fraught with, well, the new draft is going to be different, no help for that. But maybe it’ll end up a better draft after polishing. Still very frustrating.
—–
Goober is his usual gentlemanly self, and happy with the new situation sans Curry.
I haven’t seen Curry since the 31st, but I keep hearing what may be him carousing (or more like fighting or mating) at night. I missed getting there fast enough the one or two times one night he meowed and didn’t wait at the door. So that is where it stands. As said, if the weather gets too cold or wet, I won’t refuse him a port in a storm, but sequestered so Goober doesn’t catch anything the vagabond has picked up. — I will be surprised when or if I see him again. But that’s what he wanted; not me. I think I am about resigned to it.
I’m hoping the blinds and porch light get fixed this week.
In the prior thread, I’d said I’m beginning to think of what I want to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas, how much or how easy I want to do things. Only a couple of weeks until I’ll need to order groceries for Thanksgiving. Wow.
The apartment complex little neighbor kids ran wild today, and the upstairs neighbor has, for several days now, been moving things around, cleaning, rearranging, clomping around, I’m not sure what, including occasionally during the night. I have wondered if it’s normal, such as holiday prep, or what. Possibly, I don’t want to know too much, haha.
Slow, small daily progress on my own apartment. — The laundry backlog is done with, just drying, with anything soured to be rewashed. This is, no kidding, a big step. On to other things, rebooting, reducing, downsizing.
I am going to stop and read until I can sleep, with Goober for company. — Tonight, I’ll be restarting Alliance Rising vol. 1, in hopes of being ready for vol. 2, whenever it comes out. Meanwhile, there are other books, Cherryh and otherwise, I want to reread or read for the first time.
We are supposed to get temps down into the low 40’s at night again, 60’s or so during the day, starting around Friday or so and for about a week. I will have to turn the heat back on then. I had to switch back over to A/C. It will be often rainy then. It’s been sunny, mild, and very pretty the past few days.
Wishing WOL and others a good time with their allergies.
Oh! — There is a PDF pattern for the 18 inch dolls such as Kidz-n-Cats, American Girl/Boy, and so on, available on Etsy, for a Colonial / Revolutionary era gentleman’s suit for those dolls. It could maybe-maybe be adapted to Wiishu’s sizes, I think? I haven’t seen a pattern for that for either his YOSD 1/6 27cm size or the MSD 1/4 45/46cm size. — I haven’t bout the pattern yet, but intend to, it’s not pricey. — There is also a pattern for a Civil War Union uniform, and another for a boy’s pioneer era civilian clothes, trousers, suspenders, shirt, cap. — I wonder if those could be adapted for Wiishu also. Might be fun for y’all to try. You get PDF files to download from Etsy for a very reasonable price. There have been ready-made outfits for the pioneer boy costume. — I have considered that a khaki, brown, and jewel-toned shirt (or a bib-front shirt) from that Union soldier pattern, with a rancher’s horse riding coat, would be very close to what Mal and Zoe wore as Browncoats. Might be a source of fun for Wiishu and pals.
Hmm, a Colonial era men’s wig would be pretty easy for a BJD doll like Wiishu. For the 18inch dolls like Kidz-n-Cats or American Girl, there’s probably something available that would work to put a wig over their existing hair. (Or redo that.) — I don’t know about the stockings / hose or shoes, though, that might be harder to find.
The idea being, well, if Wiishu or one of the other crew wanted to dress up as the paidhi or another person at court, well, aha, there you go!
BCS, I think I remember Wiishu already has a lovely creamy-white paidhi’s outfit, with lace on his shirt and all!
Have to look it up on Jane’s blog to be sure.
Oops, I think you’re right, I should look again also.
Wish would look good in a Dickensian era frock coat, tie, and hat, with a nice waistcoat / vest. Hmm…spats for his shoes?
(A long while back, I recall seeing something similar available for the 1/4 (45cm) MSD size. I don’t know if they made them for Wiishu’s YOSD 1/6 (27cm) size. The look was rather steampunk or chimney sweep, Mary Poppins-ish.)
—–
Paul: I’d think Kitty-Finity is a separate class-object instantiation, so therefore she and the starship have nine lives each. Or perhaps they are connected in some trans-dimensional, timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly sort of way. Haha.)
(One does suspect that, as such things go, Kitty-Finity’s End is much cuter than, say, a large interstellar starship’s. However, I suppose that’s in the eye of the beholder. If she’s your ship, her end probably looks pretty good as long as it’s not going away from you. While if you’re, you know, a cat of a certain mood, a Kitty-Finity’s End will surely look cute in one way or another, or it may look cuter in a certain way later on when she’s got her feminine wiles in full sway, so to speak. Haha. But meanwhile, well, kitty butts are sort of cute in their own way, at least to cat lovers, in much the same way baby butts have a certain round babyish charm.)
…No, I have no idea why I went on that particular track and stayed there a minute more than really expected…. LOL.
Oh, I remember when Goober and Smokey were each at 6 to 8 weeks, and then Goober as a skinny little new teenager kitty, so happy and pleased with himself and curious about all and sundry. Young or old, they can be a joy to be around. ( am glad Goober is still healthy and active and happy, and hope he has a few more months or years longer than I had thought. He’s on his way to being the longest-lived cat I’ve had, and I’m very glad to have him.
—–
My cell phone is wonky. I’m going to have to look up my account info, get properly logged in again, and find out what my upgrade options are for a new phone. Phooey and fie, I say, on planned obsolescence.
Finity sounds like a most excellent little feline indeed. Happy to hear she is brightening their lives. She certainly got good fortune and blessings, to be in such a household. Interesting if her addition balances the pride in the way needed, so Tanner’s reconnected and not feeling so solo. If this lets him integrate and lets Sei and Shu integrate him as well as Finity, well, that’s a most desirable outcome. Good going, Miss Finity, Ma’am.
As you may know, my territory includes a large warren of what some call two-leggers and others call Yew-mon. This warren consists of multiple burrows, most of which contain at least two of the species. Many also contain young and juveniles.
I began to notice one particular burrow with only one occupant. He was a pale adult with the usual scruffy patch of fur on his head in sand color. He rarely interacted with the other Yew-mon. I decided that he would bear watching.
Gotta watch them-that hew-monz. They’ve got some real funny-peculiar Ideas on things. Like if you don’t do it in the little sandbox they give you, which they’ll sift and talk about and save the stuff like it’s real important. Or they keep all the good food locked up out of reach and won’t share it whenever you ask. And they have the gall to put a collar on your neck with this silly little bell and expect you to wear it like you’re proud of it. And, and I heard the hew-mon talk about, about…you don’t wanna know what they were gonna snip, but no way, dude, I’m way outta here!
So Finity’s end is off eight lives in the future?
Sorry folks, somebody had to ask!
Oops! Time for a quick costume change!
One of these months we’re going to catch you in your long, red undies!
Finally figured out when I got there why grampas wear long thermals under their pants–they learned a thing or three–got smart in their old age. Wearing some under my jeans now but they’re white, maybe ecru. Got two pairs in navy, no red. Got a couple red & black “buffalo plaid” shirts. That do?
I thought of using the real Tux in a Bourbon Red Turkey outfit. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_Red) Maybe that?
Close enough. I seem to recall Foghorn Leghorn losing all his feathers once and being seen in a red woolen union suit with a sadly denuded lump where his tail feathers used to be.
Yeah, Siamese cats are known to be very vocal when something displeases them or they want attention, and they don’t do well left alone all day. Luckily she’s only half Siamese IIRC, that might halve the noise… 😄
I do hope she’s less constant in her yelling than Tanner was with his howling….
It sounds as if you’ve achieved objective 1, stop Tanner’s constant howling,
and are on the way towards 2, getting enough of a détente between the rival factions that originally Tanner, now both basement cats can come and live upstairs too.
And have perhaps added a new objective 3, getting Finity to stop yelling…
BTW, I like her name!
By those standards, our last half dozen cats have been at least part Siamese 😀 Junior, the part-Maine-Coon, is parked behind my chair and yelling at me about lunch or some such. The Three Stooges (Outside) all have things to discuss when I come home; they only thing they are quiet about is if they are eating.
Friend has two part-Siamese cats. One is black with gold eyes – very striking – and the other is a lynx-point (named Godzilla).
Yes, friend is a fan.
Lemme try for a larger image… Never mind, there was one above! (mature memory! sigh…)
I see Paul’s penguin has changed into his turkey-feather costume. Is that the one to stay for this month?
I am in favor of long underwear / union suits, any time the weather is too cold. I was very glad to buy some when I was at A&M, because I was not used to how cold it got, and hiking across campus in the snow. Brrr! Gosh, I no longer have any; back in a very much warmer climate. I guess they’d sold out of any red or navy ones; I only had the écru / natural color.
—–
tonight, I had “Tom Koa Ghai” soup, which I had to try when it turned up in a search for curry or coconut. (It’s available from Kroger’s, ready-made, I think in their deli section.)
Huh, now that is one of the most unusual taste combinations I have ever had. I didn’t know what to make of it the whole way through. The container, maybe a pint or more, I got was mostly broth, though, thickened somewhat. Chicken and coconut, the label says. There’s also a notable component of lime, which I thought was pretty good, though the taste was unusual. Not sure of the other ingredients, but some veggies and I think some mushrooms, possibly some lemongrass? Looking for the ingredients; I may be surprised, haha. — It was good enough to get it again. I added tortilla chips. Call it “fusion cuisine” that way, haha. Also not sure of which nationality it comes from, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese?
After checking the ingredients, too many to list, but in small quantities. I was right on the ingredients I thought were in it, plus onions figure in the ingredients, and garlic, so CJ and Jane would need a modified recipe omitting at least the onions. However, some substitution or omission ought to work fine. The mushrooms were straw mushrooms. Tbere’s a very mild amount of chili pepper and jalapeño pepper, even for me, in the store-bought version. I could get this again. Nothing too surprising in the ingredients, mostly typical of both Western and Asian cooking, a few more specifically Southeast Asian cooking style spices. Unusual. On the one hand, still don’t know what to think of the laste combo. On the other, yes, I’d buy that again. My only real complaint is, yes, that was mostly liquid. That’s good for certain cases, not so good if you want more solid or filing soup. Worth trying it. Worth it for CJ and Jane to modify a recipe to their liking. I take it this is a very traditional homestyle or country rural sort of soup; and it’s basically chicken soup with a unique take on it.
Several cats ago, we had a very mixed and senior tomcat who showed up on our doorstep the night we’d moved into the temp. house, over the summer between the house I grew up in and the completion of the house we moved into. He showed up at the patio door, meowed wanting food, and oh, invited himself right in when we opened the door. And stayed for the rest of his life, through and past my first stint in college. He passed away after my folks were gone, poor old guy. — I named him Sepia. He was at least half Birman, the kind of Siamese who have white toes. His body build was more of an American shorthair, though, more burly, so he was mixed. He had quite a meow, but could be quiet too. He had those Siamese color points, plus the white toes. I’d guess he was a “seal point,” rather than a “chocolate point,” and it was a bit greyed, so “Sepia” fit him. He had those deep blue Siamese eyes. — I admire how Burmese cats look too, and the “Oriental shorthairs” that one YouTuber, hobbikats, has are very elegant and almost alien cats in appearance, so elongated.
Sepia was an unusual old fellow, mostly just glad to have a good home with me and my parents and my mom’s cat, Sunshine, who joined us the day we moved out of the temp. home and into the new home. (She walked into the car with mom as if she’d always been there, and curled up, cuddled up, and my mom was hooked from then on. A very sweet longhair orange tabby, thus her name, which also fit her personality.) Sepia was my cat, and I was not happy to have to leave him at home while I was away at college. But he stayed, even so. — Heck, I love cats anyway.
ANo sound or sight of Curry so far today. He is confirmedly Outside. I think I’ve adjusted to this, but I still have an ear and eye open, just because. He, I guess, is happy on his own and not too bothered not to see me. But who knows, I may catch sight of him and we might greet each other sometime, even so. I’ll be aware in case he shows up when our cold snap hits.
Will we see pictures of Finity when she’s ready? I like the name, but then I’m partial to the book anyway. She sounds like a very good addition to the pride / crew. (Huh? Oh, who me, I wouldn’t dare drop in a hint in favor of the Chanur books, would I? Oh, you bet I would, ma’am, haha.) — Here’s hoping little miss thang is fitting right in, getting her rightful share of love and other goodies, from the hew-monz and the cats. Good for Tanner, and good for Sei and Shu.
My goodness, it’s only 20 days plus or minus one, to Thanksgiving. Oh my! Finity will have her first taste of whatever Thanksgiving goodies CJ and Jane favor, and she gets to discover what Christmas decorations and the tree are! Oh wow! … And a very energetic kitten just starting into kitty teenager stage…. Well, hang on, CJ and Jane, it sounds like y’all are going to have a very active holiday season there! Hahah! Careful, Finity! But have a good time learning and exploring. 🙂
Wiki article on Tom Kha Kai. The Kroger’s label reads, Tom Koa Gai, chicken coconut soup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_kha_kai
Curry… is still his own solitary cat. I hadn’t heard anything for a day and a half. So he’d been out for a full week. Here it is, 2 or 3 a.m., and I heard a cat fight/mate commotion. (I think there’s usually a different sort of sound to it, so I think, fighting.) I waited a bit and checked. Didn’t even call. Well, hi, there, Curry. Surprised to see you too. Want in? Well, no, he walked in then back out. Hmm, OK. It’s still raining, though lightly, and still fairly mild to cool out there. It’s supposed to get down to low 40’s tomorrow night. By Sunday or Monday, it’s supposed to get plus-or-minus freezing, with or without precip. I would want in with it that cold out. Not Curry.
OK, kitty. I gave him a can of food, outside. He wolfed it down. Meanwhile, I heard another cat meowing repeatedly, as though unhappy and wanting in (or out?) at another apt. a few doors down. Sounded female to me. Poor kitty. I think she was outside, from the volume.
I went back in and fed Goober, who was very insistent he should get fed too, if I was gonna feed some outside interloper. Heh. I went back out to check. So, do you want in? Well, no, not really. But he might stick around for a little attention. OK, kitty. And then, just as that seemed to be going fine, Curry growled. Though I think this was not at me. I couldn’t see whoever it was, cat presumably. Curry keeps this up, but still it doesn’t seem directed at me.
I opened the door. Curry was sitting there, couchant, watching whoever (cat?) was beyond there, still growling at the rival. Curry didn’t come in. I didn’t think petting him while he’s angry was a good idea, given his previous couple of outbursts directed at me while he was mad at me. So…I said OK and sighed, and went back in and shut the door.
Curry is therefore outside where he wants to be. It’s not quite down into the 40’s; it’s been raining all day, it’s going to get much colder. But he’s had a can of cat food as a bonus and a little attention from me. He still has on his new collar, but no tags. He hasn’t lost that one yet. And he was not inclined to come in and stay. I was iffy on that but willing, because to me, it’s bad out.
So he’s still around, seems to be unhurt and is happy as he is. And now he knows he can bum a can of food from me and a little attention, and maybe he got the idea this might stilll be a shelter for him if he needs one.
I feel slightly better knowing he’s OK. I’m not sure how I feel about the other. Was he defending his chance at food and attention and a friendly haven against the other cat? (Funny too, he didn’t feel a need to get up, he stayed lying down.) Was he actually growling at me too? (I don’t quite think so.) I’m not sure how I, and my home base and a potential base for Curry, figure into it. But he did not want in, and I got that message pretty clearly. — Also no meowing after. I figure he could figure out how to meow to be let in, if he wanted to, since he sure knows how to meow to be let out.
So…. I have this sort of almost friendly but not quite fully, relationship with a confirmedly outside cat, but who is a little friendly when he remembers he likes attention. A very male tomcat now, beginning to bulk up more as he’s into early adulthood more than late adolescence.
I can tell I’m still disappointed and dismayed that he doesn’t and didn’t want to stay, wasn’t nearly as attached as I’d thought. I know intellectually that I should not feel unhappy with him. It’s his nature and his personality and how he’s been brought up. He somehow just doesn’t seem to understand that he could have a home indoors with a human and a cat and he could therefore have friendship and love, food and water and shelter, safety, warmth and coolness, all those survival needs met, and a chance to be happy, to belong, to have allies, friends. So I am still not really adjusted to this. I think I’m stuck feeling let down. I know I should be able to let it go and treat it as a friendship that didn’t work out, but still an acquaintance, and go on feeding him, being hospitable, offering that friendly chance from a human who isn’t going to be mean to him, and the chance of a place to shelter if needed. — I’ll be that, but I am having trouble, still, not feeling let down or having hurt feelings or even a little miffed, ticked off, about it. I really wish I’d get over that soon, and get to where it doesn’t bother me, where I’m even-tempered and back to being open and friendly about it.
Well, at least now I know he is still OK, unhurt, and happy in his outdoor life. That’s better than the past week has been. Maybe that’ll help me let go. And I know now, if he really needs it, he does know I’m still here and willing to be friendly and a sheltering spot for him. So maybe that’s as good as it gets, and it’ll rock along that way for…well, until it doesn’t. Can’t make somebody love you or want what you want, when they want something else, or don’t like you enough to stay more than acquaintances.
Goober, by contrast, it still his usual self, loving and gentlemanly and slightly aloof, independent-minded, but also happy to be around me. He’s been in the living room lately more than the bedroom, but when it gets colder, he’ll likely want to be on the bed. (I think he’s enjoying looking out the blinds from the newly moved stand.) The difference is clear. Goober is a confirmed friendly cat, a homebody. He likes his cushy setup and he loves me, which goes deeper with long association and friendship, even when, like now, he’s hanging out in the other room. (He comes in periodically to get attention even so.)
Curry’s just the outside, indie, feral sort, I guess. He hasn’t yet, and may not ever, come to the conclusion that a home with a human is a better deal than being out on his own.
For all his bad behavior, he still has that sweet side. I think that’s what gets me, is that I think if he’d had just a little better socialization, a little better life as a kitten and young cat, that he could’ve been a happy housecat and would have loved being with me. But no, he thinks I’m sorta OK in a pinch, but really, he wants his freedom outside more.
So…. I see I haven’t let go of this yet. I am very glad to see he’s OK. I don’t know if he’ll want in when it’s going to be around freezing this weekend / Monday. I am going to have to be OK with that and make peace with it if he doesn’t. It’s good he’s OK. That’s as good as I can expect, and I really have to get myself OK with the reality of the relationship instead of what I wanted it to be and thought it was going to be. It is not that. But he’s OK; it’s what he wants, even if it isn’t ultimately better for him than being here. So…. Welcome to adult life, Ben. You’re over 50, you’re supposed to know this already. But my heart wants it to be otherwise. So…still adjusting. Dang emotional attachments.
I am so glad I have Goober and he’s happy here and loves me too.
My young lady cat, Snowy, was spayed today. She seems to have accepted her little blue onesie to stop her licking the incision, and I’m keeping her upstairs with me this afternoon & weekend & Monday, with the stair-gate closed.
She’s nearly nine and a half months old, and still only weighs 2.7 kg, and has hardly grown anymore these last weeks.
Her full brother Coco is 4.1 kg and still growing, rather rambunctious and sometimes a bit clumsy, but always wants to be with and lean on and play/roughhouse with her or me, so he’s having to stay downstairs for a few days until she’s more or less healed up.
I’ll have to divide my time between them.
She got subcutaneous stitches, but I’ll take her back to the vet in 10 days to check on everything.
She gets liquid medicine (antibiotic/painkiller) once a day, until then, and I have to keep her indoors & out of the garden for 10-14 days.
Does anyone here have experience with this?
Should I keep the siblings separate until then, or would it be okay to let them mingle when I go to work on Tuesday?
By Tuesday, your little lady should be feeling better and more healed up. I’d recommend calling the bet and asking them if it’s OK for your recovering kitty to mingle with the others when you go back to work during the week. My hunch is that by then, you can likely let them mingle while you are there to supervise, but Tuesday might be a little soon for it unsupervised. The vet can better estimate this.
By comparison, when I discussed getting Curry neutered, the vet said Curry would be back home that day and would have subcutaneous stitches, and would be fine, inside for a while, and could interact with Goober. — But the surgery for male cats is less extensive than for female cats, so I’d ask advice about your girl kitty. — And I’d be interested to know what the vet recommends. Gosh, it’s been so long since I had a girl kitty around. Most of mine have been boy cats, and come to think of it, the law of averages ought to have ensured a higher rate of girls to boys. I’m equal opportunity on that, but somehow, it’s worked out nearly all boys, with girl cats usually being, for example, my mom’s or grandmother’s cats, or the mama cat who was semi- or fully feral, back when I was a teen. These days, the say or neuter surgery is simpler, less invasive, and easier recovery for them.
Hmm, it’s time for that brother, at 6 to 9 months, to be neutered too, any cat from that litter who’s still there. That’s the age they’re first ready. Around 9 to 12 months is when the boys start getting more territorial and begin marking and other behavior, like wanting to roam.
Best wishes for a quick recovery for Snowy. Being a little extra careful for that couple of weeks will make sure she heals up and does fine.
The only cat we had to get spayed ourselves was our first cat, Snowball’s Chance, way back when, and she was solo for many years. All our other cats came pre-fixed, so can’t speak to whether it’s okay to let them be together; as long as they don’t play too hard while Snowy is still healing, I should think it would be fine. When in doubt, check with the vet. Get well soon! to Snowy.
Finity eh? Which leads me to ask if there are any pets on the big ships? I don’t think that there are any in Bren’s universe. Of course, since Ms. Cherryh does the writing, she calls the shots.
On losing computer files – cringe cringe. It even happens on my iMac. But back up and back up the back up and even back up the backup the backup. Redundancy is the key.
Jonathan up here in New Hampshire where I saw some snow drifting down this afternoon.
I’m not sure of either of these, but it’s my recollection:
I think in Bren’s story-universe, the Phoenix didn’t have pets because it was a colony mission. But I think there was mention of livestock and pets, plants for crops and so on, a gene-bank like a “Noah’s Ark,” though not stated quite like that, so they’d have everything they might need for exploration and colonization, to setup a station and colony, if they found a suitable planet in their destination star system. Bren’s aware of the idea of pets, and I think the Mospheiran humans may have pets such as dogs and cats. Others may need to correct me if my memory’s off.
In the Alliance-Union universe, including the Chanur saga, Tully, for instance, for one thing, he’s aware of Earth lions and the other great cats, plus house cats, dogs, and so on. IIRC, Tully and his ship may have been from Earth itself. He, ah, doesn’t seem to have mentioned, hey, you hani sure look a lot like our big cats. 🙂 — We know for sure that the mahendo’sat keep pets, such as the small lap/toy creature one mahen stationmaster Personage has, and Ker Pyanfar is bemused but long-suffering about this; she’s used to it being so.
I think we may get a mention of dogs and cats aboard some ships, somewhere in various Alliance-Union books, but I can’t recall a specific citation to give on this. My memory says it’s discussed as being on another ship known to the characters who are thinking about it or talking about it. My hunch anyway would be that, people are people, and we’d bring aboard cats and dogs and maybe other pets, as mascots, guard or guide or working animals, just like we do on ships now, or in our homes.
However, that probably needs a better citation than that. My recollection isn’t really proof. Isn’t there one point where dogs or cats, puppies or kittens, are mentioned aboard some ships and stations? I think we may get that once in a while in various books, but now I’m curious too. Are there references to birds as pets? Maybe, I can’t recall.
The dusei and ha-dusei are a different case, as large companion animals with their own form of intelligence.
Aside from Cajeiri’s pet, Boji, I’m trying to remember if we get anything about the Kyo having pets. Something’s tickling my memory, but I don’t remember if this is accurate.
Hope that helps. Neat subject for CJ and readers to explain.
No snow down here, but we may get at or below freezing, Sunday or Monday, then back into the 40’s, rising slowly; not sure what the forecast for around Thanksgiving is. Still sort of misting rain, not quite actually raining, out there today.
Hope you have a good Thanksgiving up there in NH, and a good Christmas, Hannukah, or whatever holiday you celebrate. 🙂 It’s getting to that season.
I checked. I think I have a sum total of maybe two flannel shirts, these days, and I have one sweater I have not yet worn, hanging around from at least a year ago. This coming weekend might be it! 🙂 By contrast, if I were outside more, such as waiting on a cab, oh, I’d be dressed for colder weather. It’s just that our cold weather here rarely dips down into what northerners would think is cold. This used to happen more, but the past ten years, much less often. Last winter and this fall / winter have, so far, been almost spookily too warm, and I’m a local native, so I can remember it much colder, some years. The record was into the low teens when I was first in college and home for winter break. Oh, was that ever cold!
Stay warm and dry, everyone. Those folks who do knitting and needlework and quilting are very much admired. Very handy crafts, and beautiful and practical results. To me, that’s an ideal blending of arts and crafts, when something is both practical and beautiful, useful and pleasing aesthetically. This is not to slight others where the purpose to the art is not so directly measurable, more esoteric, but still — Hey, I’m an artist’s son who grew up with a love for writing and calligraphy and fonts and music. Heck, my parents met in church choir and singles Sunday school class. So I am naturally very partial to good art of whatever kind. My college degree would have been a bachelor of liberal arts, haha, though it turned into an associate’s degree in using computers. So I’m again partial to art of whatever kind. Useful can have a broad interpretation, you know. 🙂
Fine, but make sure the backups are recoverable before you write over the old ones!
For some unknown reason, I went to sleep last night musing that Finity’s End is a tale while Finity’s end is a tail, and then whether any human language requires more exact verbs–momentarily wondering if English had such but realizing it did–such as Finity’s End portrays a tale while Finity’s end consists of a tail. So went the tail end of my conscious thought.
As long as you’re not the butt of the joke, it’s all good, man. 😀
Around lunch, some neighbor’s car stereo was blaring a hip-hop / rap song involving certain bedroom gymnastics regarding certain male body parts. Uh, I was not prepared to hear that! And shortly thereafter, I realized, (1) there were little kids within hearing distance on the other side in the square, away from the parking lot; and (2) well, yeah, something like that is probably how some of those kids got here. But I am really, really not used to hearing that; not in conversation and for sure not in a song. Whoa. That was way above PG rating.
I still keep getting surprised by things I hear and see around the apartment complex. I heard things at school, t college, and out in the real world and work. But somehow, things hear surprise me more.
However, it/s bright, sunny, pretty, and brisk to chilly out. The forecast now says Tuesday night for the near freeze, and warming up after that.
The less than reliable friend did not show up as he’d said he would this morning. Things have been at the apt. office over a month. Sigh. Including now, I hope that’s where a nice new warm up jacket. If it didn’t land there, then it’s lost, dang it.
I am going to try to write or read or something. Frustrated. But it’s not too bad on the grand scale.
Very little and very loud kids outside, thankfully with an adult around, have found there’s a baby cat under a car, and (haha) were very seriously, very vocally, trying to tell the mama cat to come get her baby, just as if the mama cat would understand and say OK, right away, and not be bothered that there were, oh, two, three, four little kids between her and her kitten. — I got concerned until I heard an adult come out there with them. — I think the adult was wise enough to lead the kids away and explain they need to let the mama cat alone so she can get her baby without interference. — I am therefore assuming that’s the other cat I heard the other night, and maybe the kitten or a third cat was who Curry was growling at. Uh, and I know better than to take a kitten away from its mama. I really hope the mama cat has a place to shelter for herself and her kittens when it gets that cold. No knowing if I’ll see Curry. Did not see him last night.
Kids in one of the nearby upstairs apartments are doing a very good impression of a herd of elephants and a troop of screaming monkeys, monkey-elephants. I, uh, hope any adult with them is safe and not tied up for, oh, whatever. I am also presuming that’s kids making all that racket.
LOL, I am so, so not used to apartment living, and I’ve now been here over 2.5 years, close to 2-3/4.
I heard what was probably Curry, fighting, a single screech, a couple of hours before dawn. Goober ran to the window in the other room to see, but only looked, no meowing or pawing at the window. I sighed and considered how Curry hadn’t wanted in, and I didn’t get up to open the door and involve myself in it. No knowing if he started it or was just defending himself. I don’t think that was mating. So, into the third day, I think it is, since last seeing him.
This morning, I slept late since I was up way too late, sleepless, last night.
A human fight woke me, a domestic argument out in the square. It sounded like they were pretty mad at each other, and things were thrown out or at, and I don’t know beyond that and don’t want to know. I am sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or be thrown. Possibly not shoes. I didn’t then hear any massive moving of belongings, so I don’t know. Not the kind of excitement you want to wake up to. No kids in the middle of it, fortunately.
However, it is sunny and pretty out, and just brisk enough, not really cold. It’ll warm up during the day and over the next two days, cool off some. Still supposed to be down to around freezing Tuesday night. Rain off and on all through the week, supposed to be. Nice to see it so pretty out today.
Oh, deliver me. The other shoe dropped. It’s a quarter ’til 2 a.am., which is dark out, which I don’t want to call “morning.” (Morning is after daylight.) — In the apartment above, there is clomping around and what I thought was knocking when I first heard it. Yes, I’m still up.
But in some apartment around here, and then outside, and now back inside — the couple who were having the domestic dispute are at it again, loud enough to almost hear them through the apartment walls / floors / ceilings or from outside. And…oh, tornadoes and hurricanes, the couple rival those easily. I don’t know and I don’t want to know, but things got thrown again (by the woman, I think) and I think, hope, it is only words, not physical violence. No kids in the middle of it (no such noise) thank goodness.
I know I have whatever unresolved issues, emotional sensitivity, which I imagine is evident from my posts. I am very glad at least arguments with my family were rare and there was never physical violence. Whatever baggage I have, I am fortunate it is not that.
I am reminded of Hanneke’s advice that perhaps living solo as I do is a good thing. I still wish I had some good living situation, roommates or housemates, good enough that it didn’t matter if I was living with them or they were living with me, we were together, ti was ours, to the point that didn’t matter, a solid friendship among two or more people. — I felt somewhat apart with my parents, because I was not out then. There. were other important issues. But at least we could get along and there was a measure of support and there was love. (I grew worried that if they had known I was gay, they might not have loved me. It has taken a long time for me to realize, they must have had some idea, both from my growing up and as an adult, so that I have come to think, they just plain didn’t want to see it or deal with it, they didn’t know what to do with that, and so they chose not to see it or face it or talk with me about it. Which…hurt me and left a divide between us, a gay elephant in the room.) And as outspoken as my mom was, she never confronted this nor did my dad, and I, back then, never could confront it with them either, even as a young adult. And 20 years later, I still deal with that too much; that and a couple of other things affected my life permanently, and I struggle to get past that.
But despite that, and despite hearing a fight going on at this time of night, oh, I wish there were friends and someone special in my life, enough that I wasn’t so alone and shouldering the burden all alone, with my own limitations and weak spots not helping that.
But…oh, please, upstairs neighbors, settle down, and oh please, whoever that couple is, fighting, quit the fight, sleep on the couch, get a hotel, whatever, but don’t have World War 3 in your apartment or outside it, and don’t hurt each other, please. Ugh.
It may have calmed down, at least temporarily…afer around 30 minutes or more.
I don’t think the upstairs neighbors and the fighting couple are the same household. I think it’s two separate apartments. But the upstairs neighbors have been up and around, doing things a lot during the night for the past few weeks. I’m not sure if someone new moved in with the existing neighbors or their situation changed, or if new people moved in. That’s how little regular contact I have, even with the folks right near me. And given how much Curry was howling, I can’t really blame the folks upstairs. I’m up at night too, often, but I try to be quiet about it.
So…eegad, apartment living. Just as long as nobody gets hurt, I’ll count it a win, I guess. Could be worse. But I am not used to this. Oh how I wish my situation could improve. But I hope the fighting neighbors see sense and separate, divorce, whatever, before it gets worse. Very bad.
Just…wow. Later, folks. I hope to have a little progress tomorrow / today, Monday or Tuesday.
Weird, this has me both glad I’m solo but also wishing I had roommates or someone special. Dream on, Ben. — At least I have Gooer, who’s decided maybe being with me is a good ideaa with all the fuss going on around us. Thanks, kitty, I know the feeling. Glad you’re here.
@BCS — you’ve hit on all the reasons I would really rather not live in an apartment, and particularly a ground floor apartment. I did live in an apartment for 21 years but it was a second story apartment, and the various below tenants were all employed during the day, and I worked nights and I worked from home. They never saw me or heard me. The one time I lived in a ground floor apartment, Thumper lived upstairs — a two year old who was constitutionally incapable of walking quietly, who had a babysitter who was into death metal. If you could find a duplex, that might be better for you. No upstairs, and duplexes usually have a pretty solid wall between the ‘plexes.’
Because of my spectrum issues, I’m very sensitive to having people around me. I need my alone time to maintain mental health. I have sometimes thought I’d be a perfect person for utter space missions. I’d be perfectly happy on my own with nobody else around. Or a hermit. Or maybe a lighthouse keeper (except for the stairs. Stairs are the bane of my existence). Or any kind of occupation that required you to be on your own all the time (monitoring a wind farm?).
Apple Music — Apple recently divided iTunes into Apple Music, Apple TV (and movies), Apple Podcasts, and Apple Books (and audiobooks). They’ve made some cosmetic changes as well as some interface / how-do-you-get-to-that-now changes, some of which are annoying or baffling. (And I’m a longtime Apple / Mac user and someone reasonably experienced with them-thar computer magical box thingamajigs.)
Ah, but Apple Music is not just the new program. Er, I mean App, that new-ish buzzword. It’s also a service, whereby, not only can you pay to buy songs, albums, and other audio media (and videos, TV, movies, podcasts, ebooks, dang near anything) but now — Now they really, really want you to $ub$cribe and Apple Pay for a monthly paid subscription. (That’ll be $9.99 per month per person, or $14.99 per month for a Family Plan, please, after a 3 month Free Trial.
Oh, but now if you Search for music, songs, you get — A pop-up ad asking (demanding) that you Start Your Free Trial Today! and then by default pay that monthly fee in perpetuity for their services, besides, you know, paying for your music tracks, songs.
Another $10 bucks a month, when I already purchase songs? And you want to hold me hostage that way? I can’t pay monthly subscriptions to every dang service out there. This is why I do not use Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite programs anymore, for at least $30 per month, for annually more than the cost of an upgrade of the entire suite every year, and oh, if for any reason you miss, you then lose access to all your files, because they are unreadable and unusable, even though you yourself created those files with their programs.
I can see no way whatsoever to say NO to the Free Trial, except to Quit (Exit) the program. There doesn’t appear to be any No, Thank You or, Heck, No, No Way, José button for that ad, no way to close its window. So I’ve ended the program (app) a few times.
It does’t try giving you the ad for every new song or search, but when it does put that up, there’s no cancel or close window or no-do-not-want button I can see.
So congratulations, Apple, by being too greedy for 10 to 15 bucks per month, you’ve lost a couple of $1 to $2 dollar sales in the past couple of weeks. — Today, I wanted to look up a new song by a fan, used in a new science fiction audio drama / podcast. The song was pretty good, and it’s supposed to be available on iTunes, now Apple Music. Oh, it comes up there, but then Apple pops up that ad with no choice to not take the free trial, which I will not do.
I’ll continue to use Apple Music for now, but if this is their attitude, I may decide I’ve had it with good old Apple’s music and videos and podcasts services. — I have a large library of such, because I was an early adopter, way back when. But not giving me a choice to close the ad and not start the free trial, and thereby avoid getting charged another monthly fee I don’t want, is wy too much of a hassle.
I don’t think I’m missing how to close it. I don’t think I’m not seeing the button. I think it’s genuinely not there. And that is not usual for Apple, and it is a deceptive or shady, sneaky business practice.
This is why I don’t subscribe to Adobe’s or Microsoft’s products anymore. I do subscribe to Amazo Prime and Netflix. I do (or used to) get iTunes season passes for TV shows I like, or buy movies or songs or whole albums. But I have not bought a Hulu subscription yet, and I want to avoid it. (I hope to get the Orville season 3 via Amazon when it comes out. I would’ve used iTunes / Apple TV, but now I’m reconsidering that.) I don’t want to pay for Disney Plus, another monthly fee. — And I pay for cell phone service, and I pay for cable internet. (I would happily not get cable and only get broadband internet if I could find that, but I have not figured that out yet.) I really, really refuse to pay for CBS All Access and I am, oh, not happy about that and won’t bother people here with why. (Grr, JJ/DIS-verse, ugh, grr.)
When are these giant software and media service corporations and the TV/movie studios going to realize that the average consumer is not going to pay for every frakking monthly subscription service out there? We can’t afford all that even if we wanted it all, which we don’t. Sure, if I want to buy a TV show, I’ll buy a season pass or a box set A one-time purchase and I can watch it as long as the box set and the technology works. A season pass for a digital streaming or download is OK, IF they don’t do something like a monthly fee on top of that. Buying songs or a CD/album, same thing.
Why do these giant corporations think they can get us ordinary people to pay for all that? No one is going to do that.
I’m really not happy that Apple has gone this route. A simple No, Thanks button to close the window and opt out of the monthly thing would be fine. Or better yet, don’t go that monthly subscription route in the first place.
I’m expecting pushback from Apple’s customer base for this. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get sued for it, these days.
I would have stayed an Adobe customer if Adobe hadn’t gotten greedy and stupid. Now Apple, which has always tended to overcharge and do some too-much-too-sooon techie things. Note I am not a Windows or Microsoft fan either.
This is how to create that tiny minority techno-elite and lock the majority out of anything. I used to think it was a joke that we were headed toward giant corporations running things, or that word corporate slavery. Now, it’s getting to where that’s far more true or more likely to become true. And I’m not one who goes in for all that dystopian conspiracy theory tinfoil hat nonsense. But I think we’re edging toward it more these days. What’s next, multi-national corporations becoming de facto governments? It’s been a science fiction trope for a long time. But we seem to be getting closer to that and to some very ugly political monolithic nation-states. (End Rant on that.)
Sigh. Well, I am going to look elsewhere for the song I wanted.
I find I can find pretty much any music I want on YouTube, sometimes easier than pulling the CD to play it. uBlock Origin can block the ads if you want.
Interesting price comparison: Mini-Metro, a great simple subway-building game: $10 Steam (often on sale for $5); $4 Apple app store; $1 Android. I think a lot of Apple people don’t realize how much Apple costs.
Google Fi….
Apple has never been inexpensive!