Friday, November 30, 2007

evening

Someone is too big to share cat tree cubicles

But, I won’t mention any names, Scampi.  Carlo looks a tad alarmed, like Scampi is sucking all the oxygen out of the cube in the tree.  I can’t remember the last time we had a fully grown cat attempting to share the cube with anyone.  Not to mention, Carlo is no tiny kitty anymore.  We thought he would grow up to be the size of a Guinea Pig, and except him not being healthy, I was okay with a teeny tiny cat.  Alas, the Wild Kitty Cat Food (you do NOT want to type in plain ol’ Wild Kitty DOT com, unless you like popups of an adult nature), not only fixed Carlo’s poopy problems (cramps, diarrhea, not making it to the litterbox, etc.), it’s turned him into gigantor kitten.  He’s a big soft fluffy cuddly kitten, who kneads on you like he really really really means it.  He concentrates so hard.  We’ll have to get video of it sometime.

 

So, have you finished up all your shopping yet?  Have you started?  Have you no time for anything other than NaBloPoMo and work?  Not me, just work and sleep.  And more sleep, and some vet visits.  By the way, Bunny is doing really well on her meds, and except for being extra cuddly (she’s a tad confused by all the attention, I think), she looks completely normal on the outside.  She has an echocardiogram scheduled for Monday morning, so we’ll find out how her insides are doing.  If you know of any super wealthy people who love cats and can’t figure out who to donate to this holiday season, might I suggest a cat rescue near and dear to my…er, house, Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary.  This absolutely does not mean anyone we know - we don’t know any millionaires, so this is only if you might happen to know Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Stephen Spielberg or Oprah - hell, we’d even take money from Ellen.  She has some amends to make over that overwrought weeping Izzy ordeal.  Rescues generally aren’t overflowing with cash, so when you (meaning Ellen) make life miserable for a rescue (death threats…because a puppy didn’t go where you wanted it to go?  Seriously???), all you’re doing is hurting animals who need help. 

And to end on a good happy final note - “Chuck” was picked up for a full season.  If you’re not watching “Chuck”, you’re missing some terrific tv.

No, wait, more good news - the Leafs won a game.  They finally didn’t choke in the last period.  I’m sorry that it was at the expensive of Helly’s Thrashers.  And for local good hockey news - the Las Vegas Wranglers are 14-2, with a ten game winning streak.  We may only be ECHL, but we (almost) always have a great team, and we have a great little arena.  Mmm, I miss my hot pretzels & cheese.  This is the first season since the Wranglers have existed that we haven’t been to at least one game by now.  We attended every other opening home game.  Maybe we’ll get some tickets for Leigh-Ann’s birthday.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

late evening

Glowy Eyes Ruin Pictures Worldwide

grumble, grumble, grumble

Nonetheless, it’s not hard to miss the love that little TJ has for Eli.  He’s outweighed by 90+ pounds, yet he’s determined to be pals. (please excuse the nasty eye fix attempt)

Mmmm, sleep.  It’s hard to believe it’s a crime.

A sleeping circle.  When they have more energy, they’re going to try a drumming circle.

early evening

Idiot of the Day - Emma Clarke’s (The Voice of London’s Tube System) Boss

Dear Transport for London Officials, Emma Clarke has been a model employee for eight years.  Okay, I assume she’s been a model employee.  After all, she does voice-over work, what problems could she possibly cause at work?  Anyway, firing someone for having a sense of humor is really quite pathetic.  So she spoofed her own London Tube announcements, so what!  It’s funny.  Haven’t they seen the movie “Airplane”, where they spoofed the airport parking announcements?

Male announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a red zone. Female announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a red zone. Male announcer: The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in a white zone. Female announcer: No, the white zone is for loading. Now, there is no stopping in a RED zone. Male announcer: The red zone has always been for loading. Female announcer: Don’t you tell me which zone is for loading, and which zone is for unloading. Male announcer: Look Betty, don’t start up with your white zone shit again. There’s just no stopping in a white zone. Female announcer: Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have an abortion. Male announcer: It’s really the only sensible thing to do, if it’s done safely. Therapeutically there’s no danger involved. - from imdb.com

Here are a couple of her spoofed announcements: “Would passengers filling in answers on their Sudokus please accept that they are just crosswords for the unimaginative and are not in any way more impressive just because they contain numbers.”  “We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly.”  I’m an American and I’m not offended, so give the lady her job back.  By the way, you can also join the Facebook group titled, “Reinstate the Tube voice lady!”  Join the 154 of us, fighting for truth, justice, and the sarcastic way.

To hear Emma Clarke’s entertaining spoofs, go here.  Unfortunately, her website has been so overloaded with traffic that she probably couldn’t afford the bandwidth required to keep her recordings available.  I guess maybe I shouldn’t say “unfortunately”, because the traffic means that the word has gotten out that she lost her job because she mocked herself, so she’s probably being offered jobs left and right.  She has a lovely voice - I’d hire her to speak for me.

evening

Bunny Update

Bunny is feeling better.  She’s now comfortably laying down to sleep.  Yesterday she sat up because her lungs were so full that laying down probably felt like drowning.  We’re still not sure what’s happening with her, but it does seem like she was in heart failure and her prognosis isn’t great.  However, I’m going to hope for the best, and hope that we’ll have her around for many years to come.  She and her brother are such great little kittens, it’s hard to imagine them not being around.

Tonight, Leigh-Ann was napping with Carlo snuggled in her armpit and wrapped around her arm.  I brought Bunny over (she prefers a bit more solitude when she sleeps, so she was on my computer desk chair - it has a cushion in it that the cats seem to really like) and settled her down on the middle of the bed.  Her brother streeeeeeeetched out his legs, and then rested his paws atop hers.  And then, I cried.  So, keep your fingers crossed.  We’re not ready to lose any kittens.  We have some seniors (dogs, cats, birds) who we’ve prepared ourselves that we might lose in the coming years, but absolutely no kittens.  Hopefully, next week when she has the echocardiogram, it’ll show that she’s improving and maybe with a daily diet of meds (like her moms!), it’ll keep her going.

I know that people mean well, but when you have a sick young pet, the last thing you want to hear about is helping them “over the rainbow bridge”.  It’s like telling someone that their child is going to die, but you were a good parent, so you should feel good about helping them die.  Ugh.  In fact, I never ever want to hear about the rainbow bridge, even if I’m talking about an ancient pet.  It reminds me of Precious Moments figurines or something, like it’s a way to make death cute.  Maybe it’s the bitter atheist in me, but I prefer to claim rainbows for pretty pictures…and gay people.  Heh.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

evening

Oh no, Bunny is very sick :(

Poor Bunny seems to have heart problems.

update below:

For more sad details, you can read Leigh-Ann’s more thorough explanation.  I can’t stand the thought of losing Bunny.  I know I’m not supposed to be choosing favorites, but Bunny & Carlo have always had a special place in my heart.  Carlo had such a rough beginning, and we thought he was going to die until we discovered Wild Kitty Cat Food, which is the only food he was able to digest and thrive on.  He tried the special prescription-only diets from the vet and…nothin’.  But, the Wild Kitty stopped the irritable bowel, the constant diarrhea, the body rippling cramps, and the pooping outside the litterbox because he didn’t have any idea when the cramps would hit him.  Once Carlo started to gain weight (he’s probably going to be one of our largest cats), we thought everything was perfect.  Until Bunny stopped being joyful and kittenish, and started panting and not wanting to lay down.  Now, it appears that she was in the beginning stages of heart failure.  She’s only 8 months old, it’s not fair.  More proof that there isn’t any sort of supreme being, at least not one that’s at all useful.  What sort of omnipotent being would let a kitten go into heart failure?

I guess when I posted about being rewarded for our good karma by winning the iPods after we rescued those two cats from the shelter…I was jumping the gun.  We could’ve bought my iPod Touch for what Bunny cost just yesterday.  I’d gladly give up the iPods for a healthy Bunny.  Oh, and we have to worry about Carlo now too, because it’s genetic, I belive.  We went from being very very happy (we both got paid last week and my parents gave us a Thanksgiving/pre-Hanukkahmas cash giftie, in addition to a bunch of casino giveaway stuff like a ginormous universal remote that anyone can see without their glasses, and drill bits, Tupperware-like containers - we had to fight my brother off to keep the remote) to not being happy at all.  Bunny is no longer panting like she was yesterday, but she’s still listless and doesn’t seem to want to lay down.  As soon as her meds calm down the acute problems, Bunny will be getting an echocardiogram from our regular vet.  Our regular vet, who owns the clinic, has been out on maternity leave for a while.  Yesterday’s vet was the vet that was going to take Spiderman home, but wouldn’t take Greg with him.  We didn’t want the boys separated, so we weren’t really thrilled with her.  She totally redeemed herself yesterday, and she was great.  I don’t know, I guess before she seemed a little less, maybe, empathetic than we would’ve liked.  Perhaps she was saving it for something really important.  She was terrific with Bunny, and with us…as was Jen, the hot tattooed vet tech.  Jen, if you’re reading, hi!  Apparently your hotness made Leigh-Ann cry more.  It doesn’t hurt that the hot vet tech is also a really great tech and very very nice. 

Bunny & Carlo at 8 weeks or so.

Bunny (sniffing TJ) and Carlo at five months or so.