Bitchy McBitcherson's Blog

Tag: pets

  • 4:45 AM

    and all is not well…

    First of all the furnace in the RV is not working and it is fucking cold. I am worried the fish is going to freeze to death. They (RV rental people) say they will try to get somebody out to repair it in the morning. They also say that I can go pick up a space heater at Walmart and they will reimburse for it. This was not possible as there is no 24 hour Walmart here.

    Tried to sleep anyway, despite it being fucking cold. Luckily, I have a warm blanket, a light blanket and a comforter. Xander was so cold he joined me under the covers to sleep, something he never does.

    We got 2 hours sleep before Willow came over and peed all over me. She soaked through all my bedding. After I killed her (okay, I didn’t really do that) I checked the pamphlet for the campground. It has a 24 hour laundry room. I bagged up all my stuff, took things so I could shower too, since, umm gross. Hauled my ass and tons of stuff over there and found a sign saying that as of Nov 1, the laundry room was closed from 10PM to 8AM.

    I squatted on the sidewalk and cried quietly, so as not to wake the other campers.

    I am cold and exhausted and have no place I call home. This 25 foot box is physically stressful to drive. My back and neck are killing me. I smell like cat piss, and I have no blankets to keep warm. I can’t even begin a load until 8. Who knows when somebody will come to fix my heater or how long that will take. I am already a day late and at risk for missing the movers on the other end. Check out time is noon, so if they can’t fix it by then… Well I won’t have slept anyway by then.

    I would toss all this bedding and buy new stuff so I could sleep, and a space heater… except, yeah, no 24 hour Walmart (or anything else).

    Xander has refused to use the kitty litter since setting foot in the box on wheels too, so perhaps we’ll have an encore soon. If not him, I’m sure Willow will do something. She hates me.

    The fucking Walmart can’t even bother with an answering machine that lets me know what time they do open.

  • The Best Laid Plans of Cats

    Xander: *Purr* *Purr* *Purr* *Snuggle*

    Me: Umm, working. Inconvenient.

    Xander: *Boof* *Snuggle* *Knead* *Knead* *Purr*

    Me: Okay, cute, but try to be less in the way.

    Xander: *Purr* *Purr* *Purr* *Walk on Keyboard* *Lie on Typing Hands*

    Me: Too much cat!

    Xander: *Purr* *Happy* *Purr* *Boof*

    Me: *Grab Xander* *Hug Xander* *Snuggle Xander* *Release Xander*

    Xander: *Huff* Undignified! *Stalks away*

    Sometimes the best response to Too Much Cat is Too Much Person.

  • Willow the Alarm Clock

    Pro:
    Very effective at waking me up.

    Cons:
    I can’t figure out how to set her for the time I want.
    I can’t find the snooze button.

  • Me Ow

    Penny Arcade made me laugh today, in a pathetic, resigned, insane cackle sort of way.

  • Still Not Right

    I am definitely still feeling very tired. Also feeling unusually cold. Is it exhaustion from the stress associated with life and taxes, or am I coming down with something? It could all be signs of my meds being out of whack too. It might be as simple as another stage from my dropping the caffeine.

    I don’t know. Don’t really care at the moment either, which in theory should perhaps be troubling, and yet, I DON’T CARE.

    Vet checked out the critters. I wish I liked this vet better. As I have described before, she isn’t awful by any stretch, she just isn’t the type the inspires any confidence. I wish we lived closer to some of the vets who I feel a lot better about. Basically what this one has going for her is:

    she is nice
    she is raw supportive
    she is local
    she does housecalls

    These things are all good, but I would prefer to be able to add “she seems very intelligent” and “she REALLY knows her shit” to the list.

    Xander has a bad tooth and will need to be sedated to have work done on it. This stresses me out quite a bit. Otherwise he is fine, or he was before she got her. Now he is hiding and fuming about rectal thermometers.

    Willow has been given until Wednesday to shit, or else… Basically, the vet didn’t feel a mass and since cat is acting fine and eating an urinating, we can let it go for a few more days, but really she has to crap at some point or they need to do x-rays.

    London, well they all fucking adored London, of course. He is such a scam artist. They kept going on and on about how good, and sweet and handsome he was. He got lots of strokes and snuggles and one of the techs rubbed his belly a long time. What a bunch of suckers. They’ll get back to me with his titer test, and in general he looks and sounds good. She poked at the mini-lump that is on the back of his neck and are not very concerned. I am just supposed to keep a feel on it and let her know about any changes. She also said I could stop by the new office for the open house next week and pick up some cream for his allergies.

    Indy just got a shot.

    I’ve been wasting my day away on a personal project, but at least it is doing something, which is more than I actually feel like doing.

  • Just Checking In

    I am so very tired. My brain feels like it is in a fog, and has for the past two days. Luckily I managed to get some onsite work done yesterday (and not fall asleep in the car either direction), and field 5 calls from another client, plus get a flyer done for somebody, despite the fog.

    Taxes were finished and in the mail in time for the 5PM pick up on the 17th. I did not have to find a post office that was open late, and my electronic filing happened before the TurboTax server crash. Of course, I was two days past the actual due date, but happily for me, the dates fell in my favor this year.

    I just fell while going down the stairs. Now my back, my arms and my left leg hurt quite a bit. The right leg is doing just fine.

    Anyhow, I am alive and kicking (with one leg anyway). Ready to tackle the rest of my to do list… but not today.

    Tomorrow the animals get a visit with the vet. Willow needs her annual so she can stay on her meds. This has timed out well because she also happens to be constipated for the past couple of days. I hate cat shit when it is coming out, and yet it is a bit disturbing when it stops. London needs titers run and the required by law rabies vaccination. Indy alreayd got a once over this year, but also needs the rabies. Xander will get poked and prodded just for fun, since everyone else is. Next week the dogs go to get microchipped because it is THE LAW here now. I am not actually opposed to microchipping, but I so much not a fan of the government imposing upon my personal decisions.

    I need to run some errands today. First, I should probably get dressed.

    I really have so very many subjects I want to write about. Maybe once I wake up I will, even though they won’t be very timely.

  • Jaw Breaker

    Two nights ago, my friend’s dog tried to kill me.

    Okay, not really, but that is what I keep telling my friend because it is more fun that way. The dog in question is still very much a puppy, and was simply doing a puppy face nip and lick attack, only she did it by frantically (and impressively) launching herself from the ground – 5 feet into the air. I was caught very off guard and did nothing to protect myself, or correct her.

    She hit the underside of my jaw with her jaw wide open while I was mid sentence. It slammed my jaw shut, scrambled my brain and luckily the word she caught me on was such that I only bit a very small side portion of my tongue. She got me with a tooth on each side of the underside of my jaw, which is why I keep telling him that his dog was trying to rip my throat out. One side left a little pointed bruise and the other side had a pinpoint scratch surrounded by a welt. At first there was actually a visible pinch mark in the center too, where her teeth had come together in her nip. I had a headache for about 12 hours.

    I am not even a tiny bit mad at the dog. She was not attacking, she was just doing what comes natural and it hasn’t been trained out of her yet. I am not even a tiny bit upset with my friend. He only got her recently and legitimately has not had enough time to train this behavior out of her yet. He is aware, and is working on it. He also has every reason to expect me to be puppy savvy enough that he not have to be on his absolute top guard with her, it isn’t like he had her around a toddler (and he did correct her as I stood there too brain stunned to do anything but hold my aching jaw).

    The welt is gone, but that spot still hurts a lot, which was really starting to bug me. It is nothing. There is no significant bruising or sign of damage. Just a little red mark that looks like the end of very pathetic attempt at a zit. I am not one of those people that is usually oversensitive to pain. Because of various health conditions I’ve actually lived with pain every day of my life for over two decades, so why the fuck was I being such a baby?

    Today as I was washing my face I finally figured out what the problem was. She actually nailed me with that tooth precisely at the bad point in my jaw on that side of my face. That is where it had been sawed apart and screwed back together almost 15 years ago, and has always remained bone sore to pressure (have a matching spot on the opposite side, but luckily she didn’t tag it). So, it is still sore, but now that I realize there is a physical reason why it still hurts so much, I feel less like a whiny wimp.

  • Cooking, Singing and Making the Dogs Howl

    Last night I spent a bit of time trying out Cooking Mama – Cook Off on the Wii. I loved the DS version and was really looking forward to playing it on the Wii.

    As usual, we rented from Gamefly. Their “keep it” feature is very convenient. Their used prices are reasonable, so it works out very well. We spend a lot less money on video games overall, even considering the rental fees. We get to try more games and we only buy ones we actually like.

    I like games that I can spend whatever amount of time I have available playing, and then I can leave and do something else. Needing to play another hour to get to the next save point, or leave a game on pause hoping that the cat didn’t screw something up is not to my taste. I like the quirky games. I like the thinking outside the video game box games. I like them in theory even when I don’t like them in play. I want to support them so that some other developer can interest a publisher in some offbeat, not a sure thing that I absolutely will love.

    I still like this game, but I don’t like it as much as the DS version, so far. Most of this is do to my own SPAZ FACTOR. Hand eye coordination is not one of my strong points. This game, like Trauma Center is simply easier for me to cope with in small gestures with the stylus on the touch screen that waving my hand around. Maybe I am too lazy for the Wii? Anyhow, after approximately 45 seconds of Cook Off, I was feeling like, in my hands, it was mainly a recipe for carpal tunnel syndrome. That is certainly not going to stop us from buying it (we already did) and I am still going to play it. However if I stop posting, perhaps it will be because I can no longer type due to a Wii injury.

    Along with the new recipes and new interface, you can now play against other people. After approximately 45 seconds of competitive Cook Off against the husband I wanted to smack him over the head with the remote. I refrained. Barely.

    Next I spent some time checking out Karaoke Revolution Country. I have not made a firm decision yet, but I think this might well have the distinction of being the first KR title that I do not purchase.

    I started out using a new microphone purchased by a friend after one of her kids broke ours while they were borrowing it. My first song choice was The Gambler, because it is a one note (easiest level) song I know it and it is typically easier to cope if you have some familiarity with the words and melody. I totally sucked and attempting to hit the green was making my throat hurt like hell. I can often sing male vocalist rock songs just fine in the game, but looking back, I’ve had trouble with country before, the few times country showed up on the other games. Now KR is not about singing well, it is about using your voice as the controller. I do not have particularly good vocal range and with the lower male voices I don’t tend to do well. I can’t sing high enough to hit the correct pitch in higher octave and I can’t sing low enough without straining my voice. Either direction I go, it is completely painful for myself, and everybody withing earshot. It makes the dogs angry too.

    Next I tried Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys. I also know the words to this, although I wish to insert “Chipmunks” after Cowboys and make other alterations as well, thanks to Alvin, Simon, Theodore and Dave. Same problem as before, except much much worse.

    I switched to a two note song that was at least by a female vocalist. 9 to 5. That went better. However at this point my voice was completely raspy. For my final song attempt I went with How Do I Live which is a three note song, but again, at least by a female vocalist. That was also okay, but I was exhausted and not have any fun at all.

    I also tried the mini-games. This is the first KR with mini-games. I sucked at them in ways that are difficult to describe.

    In those 4 songs, I opened up some new outfits and other random crap, but no extra songs. Looking through the songs that are visible, there just are not very many I have any familiarity with. I have not decided for certain not to buy it. I’ll let the kid mess with it first. She is much better at her vocal control than I am, but she is going to have even less knowledge of what the songs are.

    We’ll decide by Monday whether or not to send it back, unless the dogs have done themselves a favor and eaten the disc.

  • Long haired cats = Eew

    That is all. Nobody wants the details. I wish I didn’t have the details.

    ick

  • And For My Next Trick… I shall place my head inside the mouth of this vicious creature.


    And For My Next Trick…
    Originally uploaded by mstori.

    Our friend got a new dog, a 7 month old Border Collie named Apache. He brought her over to meet the humans on Sunday night. Willow decided to come check her out too. We did not let her meet Indy or London yet as we didn’t think she was ready for that crew.

    She is very sweet.

    She peed on our floor… but, really, who doesn’t?

    Photo amused me, so here it is.