k8's Cats: The Two Week Update

Sophie and Plum seem to be adjusting well, despite having multiple reasons to see life with me as traumatic. I'll get to the trauma soon, but first I submit a photographic representation of my cats' growing friendship. They were never unfriendly with each other, but they kept a respectful distance the first couple of days.


Then they got closer.


And by Tuesday of the first week we had togetherness! I am pleased.


Now for the trauma. After only spending three days with me, they had the dreaded surgery and overnight visit at the vet's. Getting there was bad enough. Now, I knew that Sophie didn't like the cardboard box-like carrier that we got at the shelter, but I thought that my cat carrier would be ok. I was wrong. I couldn't get her into the carrier. Her claws made four holes in the shirt I was wearing (thankfully just a tee shirt) and I had claw marks up and down my forearms. Needless to say, this was traumatic for me, too. I still had the carrier boxes from the shelter, so I tried to get her in one of those. It worked, but she was not happy. Plum went into the carrier easily. Note: At this point in time I only had one carrier, but I figured it would be ok for this short trip.

On the drive to the vet's office, Sophie attacked her box carrier. Halfway there, I glanced back at her and saw her head sticking through a hole she made in the box. I managed to push her head back inside and push the cardboard back into place. I had to do this four times before we arrived. I was not pleased. I also figured that this cat would hate me after this little adventure. While they were at the clinic, I decided that I needed to get another cat carrier ASAP, and it needed to be a top-loader. I got one, and it is much easier to get her into it.

So, I brought them home the next day and naturally they were both tired. Thankfully, they've forgiven me. Here I am at the bottom of the cat pile:


So, things went well over the first weekend and into the next week. But, as we all know this was also a holiday week and I had a lot of baking and cooking to do. So, Wednesday morning the kitties went back into their carriers and we drove to my parents' house. I can only imagine what they thought they were in for. We stayed there through Friday and they did fairly well, but they met a lot of loud new people and a Chewbacca:


It was a crazy few days. Yesterday, once I got Sophie in her carrier (which is much easier with the top-loading carrier), Plum walked into her carrier on her own and waited for me to close it. Amazingly, they still like me after all of this chaos. I think this second trip was actually very important in that they had a car trip and cat carrier experience that didn't end at the vet's office. As an added bonus, they had a chance to hang out at my parents' while I was there. If I have job interviews, my parents will be cat sitting, so this was a good experience for them.

However, I plan for the next few weeks to be much more stable.

Thanksgiving Preparations

As I mentioned in a previous post, my control of the thanksgiving menu is more tenuous than I was initially led to believe. All of those people who want little-to-no responsibility seem to have the most to say about the menu.

For example:

My brother insisted that we have to have Stove Top Stuffing. I told him that wasn't happening, but I would be happy to make a homemade cornbread stuffing. His suggestion was not taken well. And he really did mean he wanted that stuff in the box. I have standards.

After being told that I should make the rosemary fennel beef tenderloin roast I made last year, my mother later decided that there should be a turkey, too. It's tradition and some people will expect it. I compromised on this one. I'm not roasting a whole turkey. Instead, I had a boneless butterflied whole turkey breast ordered so that I could make a rolled roast. Some people might lament the lack of a regal roasted whole bird, but I'm going for easier prep and easier cleanup later on. Plus, it will be much easier to carve. And yes, we are having the beef too.

My mother, who doesn't care for mashed potatoes, suggested we not have them, but there is a very loud pro-mashed potato contingent in the family. I like them, but I was planning to do a wild rice dish. The potatoes won, but I don't have to do them so I've decided I don't care.

Pumpkin bread. Everyone wants it and I'm happy to make it. Not a problem, right. Well, some people don't like nuts in their bread (not allergies, just don't like them) and some want the nuts in the bread. I will be making it both ways.

Brother-in-law-to-be is not an adventurous eater. I have been instructed to not make anything "weird." I hope there is enough variety in the offerings to not leave anyone unhappy.

I just found out that there will be a couple more people coming. I am now re-evaluating my sides (in term of amounts) and my dessert line-up.

Names!

The kitties now have names!

My brown mackerel tabby is named Sophie. She reminds me of the character with that name in Howl's Moving Castle.


My grey cat is named Plum, which is short for Plummer - as in Mary Wright Plummer, the second female president of the American Library Association.

Cats

I just got a pair. They don't have names yet, but I'm working on it.

This one is about 1 or 2 years old (best estimate by the shelter folks and the vet they use).


And this one is about 9 months old.

My Dewey Decimal Number

For my Blog's name:

Harmonia's Necklace's
Dewey Decimal Section:

700
The arts; fine & decorative arts

Harmonia's Necklace = 81835491945312135 = 818+354+919+453+121+35 = 2700


Class:
700 Arts & Recreation

Contains:
Architecture, drawing, painting, music, sports.

What it says about you:
You're creative and fun, and you're good at motivating the people around you. You're attracted to things that are visually interesting. Other people might not always understand your taste or style, but it's yours.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

For me:

Katy xxxxxxxx's
Dewey Decimal Section:

397 [Unassigned]

Katy xxxxxxxx = 110595108584 = 110+595+108+584 = 1397


Class:
300
Social Sciences

Contains:
Books on politics, economics, education and the law.

What it says about you:
You are good at understanding people and finding the systems that work for them. You like having established reasoning behind your decisions. You consider it very important for your friends to always have your back.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

As Day Turned To Dusk

I started and participated in this conversation online at friendfeed:

You posted a message

“I just watched the teenage boys a couple houses down pour gasoline on a pile of leaves that were already on fire. There was a tiny booming noise before the fire burst outwards. And they just added more leaves and did it again!”

3 hours ago - Comment - Like - Hide - More

Ladybug Heather, ♣genieyclo♣, MikeAmundsen and Morton Fox liked this

These are the same guys that accidentally sent a firework through my yard on the Fourth of July and set a bush on fire. I am watching very closely and thinking about the fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink. - You (edit | delete)

And we just had the biggest boom and flare up of all! They are getting bolder. - You (edit | delete)

If I were you, I'd be calling the police before one of them gets hurt or the fire gets out of control. Kids who play with fire are often into even worse things or will be eventually. - Jill is a librarian

As tempting as that is, they are doing it in their fire pit which is right on the edge of the lake. The wind is blowing towards the lake, so I'm not as concerned as I would be if it weren't. They are staying near it and I see they have buckets by the lake (they usually douse embers with lake water). - You (edit | delete)

Okay. At least they're not just burning a pile in a random spot. - Jill is a librarian

Oh no! They are using the pit. They're just having fun while they do it. - You (edit | delete)

these kinds of things rarely end well. - MikeAmundsen

Mike - That's why I'm keeping an eye on what they're up to! - You (edit | delete)

Somebody is about to burn their little asses up. - Derrick

heh, If it was me, I'd bring another can for the hell of it :) - ♣genieyclo♣

Maybe after they hurt each other playing sword-fight with their rakes. - You (edit | delete)

Haha. We used to do that with piles of leaves and lighter fluid. - Rochelle

OMG - they have a seemingly never-ending supply of leaves! They do yard work for about 4 households and I think they've been stockpiling! - You (edit | delete)

Sounds very.... teenage boy. - Ladybug Heather

Oh dear! I think they've added a leaf blower to the mix. Sparks are flying out over the lake! - You (edit | delete)

A Few Random Ramblings

• Last Thursday I attended a benefit dinner and auction for the animal shelter. While there, I witnessed a man putting sweet'n low in his red wine. That man was my doctor when I was a minor. He is also one of my parents' friends. I am still horrified.
  
• One of my forearms still hurts from my leaf raking extravaganza on Friday.
  
• There are now more leaves to be raked.
  
• Yesterday afternoon I was informed that I will be in charge of the food and planning for Thanksgiving.
• Only, I don't have complete control as I've been instructed to prepare the beef tenderloin dish I made last year. Okay, but last year I was only cooking for four people. This year there will be at least twelve. I'm not sure how well I can keep up with timing and sequencing if I am preparing for that many people.
  
• Two hours after I was given the news, my sister asked me what she should bring. I haven't had time to think properly about food choices and options yet, let alone decided what she should bring. This item must be chosen with care. Much like our mother, there are some things she can cook well, but cooking isn't necessarily her thing. She once inadvertently made blue hash browns.
  
• While I can make a decent pecan pie, I really want to perfect a killer pecan pie - preferably one that involves bourbon. This is my personal goal for this holiday season.
• I need to find a birthday present for my niece by Saturday. She wants clothes. I am horrified by many of the clothes out there for girls her age (she will be 12). Fortunately this is November - winter clothing presents less of a problem.
• I haven't been in a bookstore since May.
  
• My brain hurts.
  

Yesterday I Built A Wall

Seriously folks, you might not be able to tell from the photo, but that pile of leaves reaches my mid-thigh at its lowest points (fwiw, I'm 5' 5 1/2"). There are NO trees on the property. With the exception of some leaves from a few bushes, those leaves all came from neighbors' trees. I am not happy with the wind's decision to blow them into my yard.


You can probably also see that I didn't do a very thorough job of raking. There are still leaves scattered across the yard. The pile/wall could have been bigger!

Before I began the task, my father had suggested that I gather the leaves in *a* bag and take them to their place (the parents) and put them on the burn pile. I suspect that if these leaves were all in one jumbo pile rather than my pile/wall, that they would take up more space than the actual size of my car. There isn't leaf pick-up around here. Since I am outside the city limits and burning leaves is allowed here, I suspect that the assumption is that everyone burns them. Thing is, I don't have a fire pit or incinerator like everyone else around here seems to have. Not that I like burning leaves, but this is way more than a person could mulch and leave on the ground.

I am not pleased. And, I still hurt. Plus, there are more leaves on the ground that I haven't gotten to yet. Then there are the gutters! Not happy!!

Don't Forget To Vote

Early Voting - The Halloween Edition

As some of you know, I voted on Halloween. This is the candy that was meant for the trick-or-treaters who never arrived at my door.


Anyway, I made my way to the courthouse around 2:00,




home of the County Clerk's office and the only place to vote early in-person in the county.




There were exactly two voting machines. I had the pleasure of waiting 1 1/2 hours. This is 1/4 of the line.


I would have taken more pictures, but I got a little embarrassed when everyone turned as the flash went off. The wait was a pain. I brought reading material since I had been warned before I went. As it turned out, I didn't read because it was so overly warm that I had to use my book to fan myself.

But, as bad as the wait was for me, it was much worse for several elderly people who came in to vote. As you might imagine, they couldn't stand for that long - at least not in anything remotely like comfort. There were a couple benches and chairs in the hallways, but they didn't span the entirety of the line. As it turned out, people in line were very kind and held their places, calling them closer when their place in line was near another place to sit. I was really upset that there wasn't some sort of on-site accommodations for these visibly frail people. I don't blame the people at the Clerk's office - they had their hands full and were doing their best to keep things moving smoothly. It just upset me. I'm glad that people who came to vote were kind even as they were frustrated by the wait and the heat.

It actually had its funny moments. If you didn't already know, in Indiana voters have to show a government photo I.D to vote. So of course we were making voter fraud jokes while waiting in line. You know, saying that since it is Halloween that maybe we should have dressed up like Mickey Mouse to vote. I suppose you had to be bored and overheated to find that funny, but it made the experience a little more tolerable.

Finally, a little after 3:30 I voted and was released from the courthouse.