Saturday, March 28, 2009

early evening

Houston, we have a problem…

The Houston Zoo unveiled their new arrival today - Toby, the red panda.  He’s so incredibly cute.  So cute that even the other animals at the zoo have to agree:  “When asked about Toby, African wild dogs Blaze and Aries cooed in unison, causing the rest of the pack to join in with sighs of deep affection.  “Have you seen his paws?” gushed Blaze. “Go look at his widdle paws!”

The blog entry from the Houston Press blog, “Hair Balls”, is short, but a nice bit of Saturday happy heart bustin’ (iffen ya have one) supreme sweetness & joy.  Well done, John Seaborn Gray, well done!  Nice photos by several different people, also.

Photo copyright The Houston Zoo

Today is Toby’s debut at the Houston Zoo.  I’m sure he’ll be a big hit, and it can’t hurt to get a nice little write-up from Cute Overload on opening day, too.  Go to the blog link, the zoo link, and to Cute Overload for a bunch of adorable pictures.

Friday, March 20, 2009

late afternoon

Rory Makes It To The Show…and other stuff

Rory (who is now named Vegas and living happily with Leigh-Ann’s brother and sister-in-law), who we found as a stray kitten on our front porch, has made it to the bigs.  She was one of the featured cats on I Can Has Cheezburger.  Someone found her picture on my Flickr site, and perhaps someone else delicately swiped it from them, because her original picture said “Dunno Source” - after Leigh-Ann’s brother found the picture, we informed the site admins of the source and they remedied it immediately, linking both to my Flickr account (that reminds me, I should check my traffic) and to our rescue, Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary, which I thought was nice of them.  Sometimes, Leigh-Ann and I need to share the same happy incident.  So, here’s Rory!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Apparently my blog isn’t cheerful enough for some people’s tastes.  Hmm, is there anywhere here where I told you I was going to be cheerful & entertaining?  This has been my life, for better or worse, and blogs are by nature self-indulgent things, so if you don’t like it here, there are lots of blogs to read.  Even though I like having readers and friends, I write my blog for myself.  I didn’t start writing expecting to be read by anyone.  It’s like a public diary, only I could never stick to writing a diary when I was a kid.  Whether I ever have another reader or not, this blog has served its purpose.  I have made friends here (:::waves:::), I’ve informed people about the ins and outs of having a herniated disk and then having surgery (:::waves to the herniated disk friends I’ve met here:::), I’ve written about my experience with Fibromyalgia (waves to the FMS folks), I’ve written about Tricia Kean’s breasts (waves to Tricia), I’ve written about my stupid annoying bladder problem (thanks Enablex SO much - was cured in a couple of months and could stop the med), I’ve written about pets (waves to the animal lovers), I’ve written about clinical trials (waves to the other human experiments), I’ve written about hockey (welcome American hockey fans, I know you’re a rare breed), I’ve written about fantasy football (we ALL love fantasy football), and on and on.  I can’t make this blog be a place that’s just for you - I have to write about what comes into my head and hope that you either like it or you skip to the next entry, which is what I do when someone writes about something that doesn’t interest me.

I guess my only regret is giving out my blog url so easily.  Strangers and friends are completely different kinds of readers than family members.  I remember when the most offensive thing on my blog was that I said “fuck” a couple of times.  Oh, how some people miss the times of yore.  I can’t help that.  What I can do is tell you that if you’re not interested in what I’m writing about, there’s that big “X” at the upper right of your screen, and it’ll make sure you don’t have to read here.  Despite what’s happened in my life lately, I’m pretty cheerful by nature, as is Leigh-Ann, and we treat people well, which is how we get free things…that we’ve been told that people don’t believe that we get.  We’re never rude to anyone when we go out; we’re friendly even when someone makes a mistake; we’re patient; when we have money, we buy stuff for people (for our favorite Starbucks employees, the vet’s office, the doctors’ offices, strangers online sometimes, etc. - cheap stuff, but we think about how we treat other people); and although we haven’t reaped much financial karma, we have reaped other sorts of rewards.  So, in other words, if I’m complaining here and I’m miserable, I still treat people well, and am usually treated well in exchange, but this is still MY blog.  Generally, if I rant about how miserable I feel, I feel better afterwards for getting if off my chest.  Maybe I’m weird, but I don’t mind at all when other bloggers complain.  Hey, life sometimes sucks…and sometimes it sucks for a looooooooong time. 

Just recently, I wrote a post on a Fibromyalgia board.  It was fairly typical (although I’ve written some posts there just to help other people with info, too) of how I write.  Kind of ranty.  However, it was in an environment where everyone understand exactly how I felt, and I was commended for keeping my sense of humor even under trying circumstances that they’ve all experienced.  I like to think I retain it here, too, but sometimes I don’t feel like I can be amusing.  Nevertheless, this blog is my home, so I’m not going to run off to FMS boards just for understanding.  I sometimes write just to have a history of what happened written down here, so I can go back to it later.  That said, it’s MY home and it makes me feel better to write here, no matter what I write and no matter how depressing it might be.  If you don’t like it, please read something more to your enjoyment, like perhaps a wiki written by Mikey the Humming Mouse from 1999.  I’m sure Mikey and his sea monkey expertise will be thrilled with your readership.  I’ll be happy with those who stay here for enjoyment or education or because they’re pissed off and don’t have a blog to write in or those who are just my friends, no matter what I write.  And frankly, no offense to your sensibilities, but it’s a little difficult to be overly cheerful when you’ve lost your health, your car has been repo’d, you’ve lost your job, and you’re in danger of losing your house.  It’s just a wee bit difficult to stick to “cheery is as cheery does”.

mid-afternoon

What’s up with Tricia Kean?

Suddenly, I’m getting lots and lots of traffic to my blog entries about her breasts.  As far as I know, she hasn’t done anything unusual, but perhaps I’m wrong.  If anyone knows of something new, let me know.  I’m curious. (5 minutes later, after a quick Google News search) Oh wait, I just figured out what is - Tricia Kean played a “news anchor” (an acting stretch) in the new movie, “Race to Witch Mountain”.  For some reason, my blog entries have moved back up in search engines, and the title and snippets are a bit attention-getting.  Phew, luckily Tricia Kean is cool and doesn’t seem to mind the attention, plus she also seems rather fond of her assets and doesn’t mind them getting attention either.  Good for her.  She’s, by far, the nicest stranger I’ve ever written about - although, she’s the only stranger who has ever contacted me after I’d written about them, so the competition isn’t fierce; nevertheless, she was really nice about everything, considering my blog entries rank so highly for her name.  If she’d had a problem with the entries, I would’ve taken them down or hidden them.  The offer still stands.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

terribly early in the morning

Buddy & Wilbur Finally Make It Back Home

The two cats that we lovingly called “The Foster Fats” (they were 26 & 23lbs, I think) have finally made it back to their family after an 8 week spa vacation at Casa Kitty.  Their parents had lost their home to foreclosure and they were moving from motel to motel, while waiting for their tax refund and looking for jobs.  They got one of their refunds, the husband was able to find a job, and they rented an apartment.  They now have their whole family back together, and the cats are a little bit slimmer and have been put on a new diet of wet food with limited portions.  We were glad we could help someone who actually wanted to keep their pets, because our usual contacts are with people who want to give their pets up.  So, we were happy that we had the space to keep them for a bit.  However, Skyler (who is declawed and kind of defenseless) is probably thrilled that they’re gone because they’d started chasing the poor old guy around.  Oh, and we likely found a home for Kevin/Cassidy (he’s going for a name change due to the new owners’ knowing too many Kevins), and he’ll probably be on his way in a couple of weeks.  He’s such a great cat that I know they’ll be really happy with him.  He’s good with dogs (he isn’t afraid of the big dogs and when Cricket tries to chase him, he’s really calm and doesn’t run away) and he’s good with other cats, plus he’s chatty and very friendly with people, too.  It’s hard to believe that he’s the cat that was eating on our front porch for so long.  It’s nice being able to find good homes for cats who have had hard lives.  Kevin deserves to be pampered for the rest of his days..

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

evening

That said, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I’m tired of being angry & disappointed & hurt & whatever else goes along with those sorts of things, so after that last blog entry, you, my public, will (probably) never have to hear about it again.  Yeah, you might hear about some of the consequences (Dodge, out of it), but that will just be an interesting adventure.  Or, at least an adventure, even if it’s not interesting.  However, what I dream about is the picture I just saw in a friend’s Flickr account - a toddler, on the whitest of beaches, with the bluest of waters, in another country.  I want some of that beach with the blue blue water and whitest of sand.  Toddler optional, although he’s cute, so if he wants to come along, he should.  Maybe he should bring his own babysitter, because I don’t think I can keep up with him.

So, Happy St. Patrick’s Day - may you enjoy corned beef and green beer.  I shall just look for corned beef, and you can have my beer.