Why you don't have pets

Last year, I noticed that Fuzzy was exploring in the drop ceiling above below the kitchen above the basement bathroom. I placed tons of moth balls in the ceiling to discourage her. I believe she explored it to check on the groundhog and possum that had been living in it last Fall.

That got old.

So did the moth balls.

I found that I had to keep repleniishing them to keep her out of the area.

A month ago, the kitchen light blew as I flicked the on switch.

A week later the laundry light bulb blew and each new light bulb placed into the fixture would pop and never light again.

I went into the basement bathroom and found that the light fixture in there no longer worked. 

I was troubled by this. 

I checked the fuse box or switch box or whatever it is called. Nothing there.

It slipped my mind for a bit as many things do.

Until I spotted a pair of cat ears  from the laudry area in the drop ceiling above the basement shower.

It all made sense to me now.

Using a flashlight, I found many junction boxes hidden by the drop ceiling. No doubt one of those boxes powered the three lights.

I decided to take a more direct approach to keep the cat out of the drop ceilign and out of danger

Yes?

What was that?

You want to know how the cat gets into the drop celing?

She jumps on top of the washer.

From there she jumps onto the laundry shelving.

Then she jumps into the opening left there by the contractors who did not extend the laundry room wall all the way up to the ceiling to permit air flow or some nonsense. If you read my blog back in 2005, you would remember that I hired a company against whom I later filed a BBB complaint.

I am forced to remember it all the time, especially during times like these.

I padded to the garage and pulled out some of the bird netting that I used to keep the birds out of the strawberries. Cut it down square patches and stapled it to openings to keep the cat out of the area until my Step-Dad the electrician would arrive this week for the holiday.

It worked for a few days until she found a weakness.  You can see how she pulled the netting away from the wood on the right side.

Yes?

What did you say?

Oh, you want to know why the cat is so keen to visit the rafters?

it is Raja.
The kitten is tormenting her. Seriously.

The kitten will not giver her a moment's peace. I bought one of the towers thinking that Fuzzy could jump up there and escape the kitten. I didn't consider that the same tower encouraged Raja to claw her way to the top landing so she could visit with Fuzzy. 

Raja can not jump on top of the washer, the laundry shelf or into the rafter. Meaning Fuzzy can escape her constant need for attention. It is the highest, safest spot for her.

Yes, I suppose it is all very funny to you.

I ran  back into the garage and pulled out the chicken wire. I stapled it over the bird netting. 

That proved effective for about two days.

I found this scene last night. 

I called Dad,the all around handyman, who suggested that I find perforated sheet metal, cut it to size, and screw it into the wood. It would look better and keep the cat out. He and my Step-Dad are coming on Saturday to work on sealing off the access for the cat and fix the wiring that the cat damaged. Perhaps, 2 heads are better than one.

Meanwhile, I have stuffed all the opening with excess insulation from the attic, secured with bird netting and chicken wire while still wearing my professional uniform. (skirt, tights, dress, hair in a ball)

This morning I said to the cat "Challenge accepted."

In my lap

On My Lap

Projects

I read this in the Sunday Paper 2007: Are we turning the page on reading? By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI BLADE STAFF WRITER Which got me thinking, as we look back on 2007 and consider the year in books, has print finally turned a corner? Two of 2007's biggest publishing events left a wildly divergent picture of the future: On the positive side, the year's unquestionable blockbuster was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - which sold 10 million copies in 24 hours and left wags wagging about how Harry created a generation of readers. On the negative, the National Endowment for the Arts released a study, that America is reading less for pleasure than ever before - particularly young America. But don't feel bad: The French published How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, which became a hit over here, too. (I bought this book for my roommate) What you saw less of this year, thankfully, were bitter polemics - though Stephen Colbert had a huge hit with a parody of one. One could argue, however, that O.J. Simpson's If I Did It, finally released, is bitter and polemical; it's also a hit, having sold more than 100,000 copies since October. That said, so concerned are we that kids are overly obsessed with celebrity and not getting out from behind computers that another hit of 2007, The Dangerous Book for Boys, was more or less a manual for being a child. My favorite book of 2007? They asked me to pick one. Three books come to mind: Alex Ross' The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, an unlikely, engrossing history of classical music and how it shaped rock and hip-hop and how we hear in general; Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End, a moving first novel with a keen understanding of hive mentalities (written in the cultish "We") that, after The Office and Office Space, rescues office novels from the usual satire. And the best: Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a buzzsaw of an immigrant novel that skips from high culture to low, from its hero's family legacy in the Dominican Republic, back to his pitiful life in the States as a fat, virginal, Lord-of-the-Rings loser. Funny and moving, told in a zippy combination of Spanglish, pop-culture shorthand, and literary flourish, Diaz's first book in a decade is so vibrant it's likely to force a reconsideration of the immigrant saga - and America. Contact Christopher Borrelli at: cborrelli@theblade.com What was your favorite read of 2007? On my lap at any given time you will find my belly, having gained quite a bit of weight this year; a ball of yarn; a kitty; or a good book. This Year, I have read or heard. Books 1 through 4 of the Vampire Huntress Series. Books 6 and 7 of the Southern Vampire Series The entire Harry Potter Collection Pornology Right now, I am finishing up two yarn projects. The knitted cape has completely worked my nerves but I am finally down to the last two buttons. The yarn-stash blanket proved to take more time that I had allotted for it. It will be complete this week. Thank god. It is driving me crazy. The wrap has suffered because of the baby blanket. But it will be on my lap today. Happy New Year

Frizzy Hooker Yarn Stash Afghan Blanket Now if I could just finish this one! I B Knitty Great Escape Cape I finally finished the collar and now I need to add the buttons and it is done. Knotted Openwork Shawl Should be getting back to this one this week. Frizzy Reader

Catverbs

I wanted to share with you some of my Catverbs. 1. Kittens are only cute on TV and in Calendars. If you have ever had kittens (plural) in your home you know what I mean. They destroy, whine and are constantly underfoot. Literally, underfoot. You are on watch for scratching, clawing, mewing, pooping, and jumping. You beg all of your friends and most strangers to take them off of your hands. The Animal Shelter is always full. And the only hope is a drive to the country. Stray kittens will always be worse. This year, there have been three sets of kittens in my backyard. One set was caught in May and taken to the animal place for adoption. The second set lost their mom and resisted our efforts to catch them . The two still live behind Lydia and my garages and are about 6 months in age. Fortunately for us, they have been fixed. No yowling or heat screams but there is the poop in my yard that they do for fun while they live on Lydia's porch. Right now, there are three kittens that seem to defy being caught. The animal organization will only take the kittens with their mom. Lydia has put out animal traps for the past three weeks. Once the mom was caught and we only had to catch the kittens. As Nature has decided in her wisdom to make kittens light as a feather; the kittens were too light to trip the latch and trap them inside of the old cage. They leisurely ate the food and went on their way. We seem to keep catching the same cats but not the ones we want. Lydia was able to catch two strays and get them fixed. Since that time, they have found the animal trap to be their personal restaurant. Instead of avoiding the site of their capture they visit it frequently to eat the food left there to attract the mom-stray. If you have lost count, that means there are 6 stray cats in and around my yard. 2. If a cat is permitted to jump on furniture, no one will eat your dish at pot-lucks. I don't mean to gross you out but you will find cat hair on everything you eat if cats are jumping around. I find a good sweeping 30 or so minutes before I cook and locking the cats up gives me piece of mind. Be wary of anyone who asks you about your dish at the office potluck. They will avoid your food for fear of eating cat hair. I would suggest that you bring store bought food or something that you can put together at the office and pretend that it was never in your house. Or you can just say, "I would love to make something for the potluck but I have a cat." 3. If a cat pees in your car, it is time to get a new car. I had heard stories about angry cats that pee in their owner's cars or the cars of their owner's boyfriends. Don't piss off a cat...... I had a cat pee on my futon. I cleaned it probably 12 times. The smell was gone but the memory of the action remained. I eventually sold the frame to a friend and threw the mattress away. When my co-worker's cat pee'd in his car I warned him. Not only would he never get the smell out but his regard for his car would be forever changed. Notwithstanding, how he felt about the cat. He assured me that he would get the smell out. After two months of chemical sprays, he went to the junk yard and purchased a new seat. I warned him that a new seat was not the problem. The car would never be the same. It died a few weeks later. I laughed my tail off. 4. The more money you spend on a cat toy, the less they play with it. My cat has a collection of hair ties that she has hidden somewhere in the house. I estimate that she has 20 or so ties somewhere. The truth of the matter is that anything not nailed down is a cat's toy! Sad isn't it? They will claim anything for their enjoyment. My cat likes to bite plastic bags. If I leave a department store bag of returns on the floor, I will find little round holes from her teeth marks everywhere. I have made for her several yarn balls so that she will leave my working yarn balls alone. Well, those are some of my catverbs. Cats are great creatures. I love them but Kitty will be my last one forever. Do you have any catverbs? Catverb - a saying that reflects a fact about cats

Current Projects Great Escape Cape Cat Mat Knotted Openwork Shawl

Fear of Itchy Things

I am sitting here very itchy. Whenever I think that I see a flea I imagine that I have bites all over me. I itch. I scratch my skin until it is red.

I guess it is psychosomatic. I think I see a flea then I imagine that I have flea bites all over me. It is horrible. I just took an antihistamine.

I have been experience this fear of fleas well actually it is Acrophobia or fear of the insects that cause itching.

Writing that made me scratch at my legs.

It is something that I manage. I cover my bedding and wash in hot water. I keep flea bombs on hand and anti-itch cream in the bath. I have a hard time with sweaters. I keep imagining that the biting insects have taken up residence in them and I keep putting them on and taking them off.

I am sitting in my office cold because I keep thinking that my fleece jacket it is itchy. (Yes, the AC is still on and I am freezing)

There is a reason why I am on alert for insects that make me itch. The weather has been very kind to fleas and mosquitoes. I allowed a week to pass before I picked tomatoes. I will not weed until the weather cools. I have bites all over my legs from the last time I picked tomatoes and weeded. The gardening chores can wait. There have been two news reports about how aggressive the mosquitoes have been this year.

Then there are the damn stray cats…..

My neighbor and I just can’t get a break. Well, it is really her fault. She leaves her garage door open for the strays, leaves food for them and blankets. It is kinda cute on one hand. On the other, I have a mulch bed that smells so bad that I can’t sit on the porch with the windows open.

Scratching my legs again.

Luckily Paul the Gardener Guy dedicated the first half of Saturday’s show to “Keeping the Kitties Out.” I will try a few of his techniques. It does please me to know that Lydia is having the same smelly problem in her mulch.

Mulch smell aside there is another problem – as there always is – with the kitties.

They like to visit. The strays have taken up residence not only in Lydia’s garage but on her porch as well. I guess the porch was too crowded for the cat that just had kittens because she likes to lie out in front of my stoop.

You are probably thinking, what is the harm in that? As you are thinking that, I am viewing a suspicious looking red dot on my arm.

My cats like to hang out on the porch by the screen door. When all three cats are out it is as if they are gossiping through the screen.

It is weird. If you can imagine. Very weird. Imagine the neighborhood gossip is talking to you through the screen door with a coffee cup in her hand. It is like that.

Friday it got weirder. I was sitting on the couch attempting to finish my latest knitting project and I hear cats growling at each other. I thought that the noise was coming from strays in the street or something. I finally had to get up to shoo the stray cat away. I approached the porch and I can clearly see the stray cat still lying on the stoop. She was watching the housecats carry on like common feral animals. Just hissing and growling at each other as if they were strangers or in heat. Both cats are fixed it so was like watching Barbie and Ken fight.

I tried to separate them as the stray cat continued to watch and one tried to attack me for picking her up. The male cat ran away and the female ran after him throughout the house. Fur flying everywhere.

I looked back at the stray and she seemed very pleased with herself. I couldn’t believe it. This stray cat, a cat without a home, came over to my house and raised cat fur all over the place.

Something needs to be done. She is wrecking my home. And I bet she had fleas which have now jumped through the screen and taken up residence in my house.

Cat People

I offered to give to a friend of mine some of my errant daylilies. I took out the pitchfork and started stabbing into the ground. A cat jumps from out of nowhere. I think nothing of it as I look for more daylilies that are growing unchecked in my lawn.

I stab, tilt and lift daylily after daylily for my frend. Just before my final stab, I see them. The newborn kittens that the cat had left.

Just so you know.

Kittens are only cute on tv and calendars. Kittens in real life are a hassle. They run all over your house, make a lot of noise and a lot of damage. Kittens in your yard are worse. They are feral unless you can catch them and put your scent on them. They live in your yard and then they go into heat and have their own babies.

My neighbor Linda and I were trying to stop this problem. She has had kittens living in her garage for a year now.

So I went to the Human society and got a cat trap.

Seriously. We set it out and waited. While we waited we discovered three more kittens behind her yard bringing the total to 6. After we caught the mom cat we gathered the kittens and took them to the society.

Reload No More Strays

This is a post from another journal of mine. I thought that i would finally update my LiveJournal with this relevation

I thought that iw Okay, some of you do not know that i live by myself. Well, had this great roommate who is also a great friend that lived with me until April. I miss her a lot. I got used to having someone around. Someone to talk to. Someone to help out with the crazy high utility bills. I thought that it would be easy to find someone else to live with me. I was wrong. All I have found are strays. And let me tell you taking in a stray is always a bad move.



Strays

Some Definitions

“Stray” means any animal that does not appear, upon reasonable inquiry, to have an owner/guardian

Homeless person is an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence

For some stray animals “follow them home” for me stray humans do the same and I have a heck of a time getting them housetrained or to leave.

I had a cat that was an adopted stray GEEZ that was a nightmare. She pooed everywhere but in her litter box. She chose the bath mat, any corner with accumulated dust, an empty room. I secretly hoped that my roommate would take the cat for a drive. If she did it then I could be free of my unmitigated desire to get rid of her without actually doing it and dealing with related guilt. I kept shooting mental commands at my roommate to take the cat, take her away. I finally left open the door to a room with a broken window. Wheh. Finally, I have admitted it. Now the speculation about what happened to the cat can end. I did it. I shut her in a room with a window open and hoped she would free herself. I blocked out the memory of what i had done and actually accused my roommate of doing something sinister to the cat. I tell people know that she ran away.

My first human stray was Armondoma (-oma means tumor). And a stray he was. No possession just a few bags of clothes, a clock radio, cell phone, space heater and george foreman grill. I guess by homeless people standards he was better off than most. I didn’t pick him for a stray right away because he had family in the area. My mistake. The fact that he obsessed over Mariah Carey, hung out at his job for hours on his days off and recorded ten hours of soap operas and videos everyday didn’t register as a loser. Even when he slept with the light on because he was afraid of the dark- I didn't see it coming. No, it wasn't until i found myself hiding from him at night becuase he would trap me in the kitchen. He had this fantasy that the 19 year old that he worked with and was in a 3-year relationship with his girlfriend was really gay. The girlfriend, whom he hated, had done something to him. The two had been friends since Andy was 17, Drea started working there and now they are a couple. Of course, Armondoma and the guy's relationship would never be the same as long as Armonda had a crush on Andy. I couldn't take it. I finally told the Drea that Armondoma was trying to convince me and everyone else that she had turned a gay man to straight. It made a lot of sense to her because she had no idea why Armondoma was so hostile to her. The Andy, 19 year old boyfriend, finally had to complain to management that he was being sexually harassed by a 36 year old man. All three of them worked at the movie theaters. Ever see the MAD tv skit about ushers? Yeah, it really is like that.

The worst kind of stray is a family friend or a relative. After I cut Armondoma out of my house I asked my relative Imakronikliar (Im-A-Kro-nic-Li-ar) stay with me. Imakronikliar had me going, talking about making a change and just needing some help to get there. I was so happy to have that tumor removed that I didn’t see that Imakronikliar a mouth disease, liarosis. After about two months, I found myself just as unhappy as I had been living with the tumor. Once, I had yelled at ImaKronicLiar for canceling one of my favorite shows on the DVR. I yelled at ImaKronicLiar often, long and loud. It really didn’t matter what was done to irritate me, it didn’t matter if I overreacted. Hell, it didn’t matter if I was wrong. I changed the locks on my doors one lock at a time. Just imagine. You arrive home. There are two locks on the door and for no apparent reason, one lock does not turn with your key. I am sure it was bewildering and upsetting to never know when or where I would strike next. I am sure Imakronikliar got the picture. GET the HELL OUT. When he finally left he had pissed me off so bad, i gave his clothes to Goodwill. Imagine the attendant starting at me as i handed to her very expensive men's clothing. i know what she wanted to ask me. Yet, i would not say.