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Saturday, January 27, 2018

My last cat


One can hope a four day old feral kitten, rescued from a parking lot in Pittsburgh, might have the grace to never mess up. But, that would be discounting the fact the kitten in question was feral and a long hair who now takes immense pride in appearance. And yes, it’s Toby, and yes, he is my responsibility because I made myself responsible, and no, you don’t need to see his picture again.

Yesterday I heard him depositing a hair ball, and I was not in good time to intervene and put him in a place I don’t care about hair balls. So, I removed the hair ball and associated stomach slime from my quilt, sighed, and put the quilt in the washer. It's hanging out on the kitchen table, drying.


That’s its third trip to the washer in three years I’ve lived here, so about average for upkeep. But the middle of winter and pouring rain outdoors is over the top. I don’t put quilts in the dryer and I get stomach acid off them as soon as possible. In short, we will be using the new TV trays tonight, and maybe tomorrow, too.


In other breaking news, my bookcase arrived, to be assembled by my personal assembler. I mostly kept my mouth shut, and completely gave up on telling her there is more force behind the hammer when a solid surface is under the object being pounded. We did score one mighty fine rubber mallet as part of the assembly tools included.


Laura’s Dutch oven arrived (box on Windsor chair), as did new tee-shirts. She is wearing hers already, but it has to be a lot warmer outside for me to go out in a short sleeve shirt the cold air can seep through.


Well, that’s my news, and at least it’s less depressing than any news feed. Have a nice weekend.


39 comments:

  1. My cat deposited a hairball on my afghan this morning, little early to be shedding out.

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  2. Hari OM
    Hmmm - couldn't do a spot-clean on the offending patch??? Loving Laura's teeshirt - would love to see the whole message, but I get the drift!!! I wear skivvies and thermals under my tees. Not only do I get to wear my fave graphics, but I get to wear layers = warm! Now looking forward to hearing about the first meal from the new casserole (yes, that's what we call them here!) &*> YAM xx

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  3. After 35+ years of cats, I know that incipient hacking sound well and have been known to spring from a sound sleep to grab the paper towels and cat.

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  4. I remember those unmistakeable sounds in the middle of the night ... I also remember never taking a step at night without first turning on a light. Cats....love 'em and hate 'em. Nice to have a 'personal assembler'. Wish I had one.

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  5. No human is illegal? Hmm. I can think of one or two who ought to be...

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  6. You are raising an extremely capable young woman, Joanne. She never fails to amaze me. Neither do you!

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  7. Ah yes, cats and hairballs. The one I miss; he other, I don't.

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  8. There's a delicate art to hairball placement which escapes humans.

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  9. Long-haired cats are beautiful, but the owners of those coats, and the owners of the owners of those coats, suffer as a result!

    Wonderful messages on both T-shirts.

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  10. It was almost like Christmas at your house. Gifts all around. I will never understand why animals choose the most intimate human places to deposit hairballs and other things from inside their bodies.

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  11. I may be fast asleep but the sound of a dog vomiting somewhere in the house will have me up and about in instants...

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  12. Yowch! I've never see what a regurgitated hairball is like... which is good. I'm glad your quilt survived OK. Yay for the new bookcase.

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  13. Oh that sound.......it will wake me from a dead sleep. Often I'll find the offending thing walking around. But yeah, she does manage to do it on my bed once a month or so. Gag

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  14. I thought I needed a rubber mallet a while ago when ex-2 was putting together the shelves for my shed, but he made do with a regular hammer and a towel wrapped around a block of two-by-four. Your new bookcase looks lovely. I LOVE Laura's t-shirt and would happily wear one of those around here. Amazon website? Think Geek?

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  15. P.S. I've been feeding a dry food to Lola and previously to Angel that specifically aids the digestion to prevent hairballs. Fussy Cat brand, grain free, chicken and turkey with cranberry variety, the packet says "improved digestion and hairball control" and it works. The other packet I buy, also Fussy Cat and grain free is the salmon, whitefish and olive oil variety, for "skin and coat conditioning". I mix both packets together in a big plastic container with a tight lid so Lola (and previously Angel) got a bit of both with each serving.

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    1. He only eats one expensive brand recommended. I've never had the heart to enforce the "well, when you get hungry you'll eat" policy. I bought three varieties of hair ball treats. Two he refused out of hand. The third he puked. So, to hell with it.

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  16. You sound to have had a good week Joanne (apart from that hair ball of course.)

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  17. Have a nice weekend Joanne, here is the first day of a new week.I like this post.

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  18. Do you use vinegar? my Barney rarely spits up he must do it out of doors and yet he cleans himself constantly but is a shorthair.

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  19. spoke too soon, Barney was going to throw up and I opened the door and he didn't make it, he threw up right at the edge of the door so I had to leave the door open to clean it up; maybe he's reading your blog too.

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  20. I clear up a lot of sick from four. Clear it up, rub it down, and that is usually it.

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  21. Those are nice shirts and yes, you can wear them outside here in Hawaii. LOL.

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  22. my cat generally has the good grace to hack up hairballs on the floor. I can never decide which is worse, picking up one that's still warm or one that's cold. some people, and I include myself in that, must learn through experience. and love the t-shirts.

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  23. Hope you don't have wooden (topped) dining chairs. Wouldn't the dampness be bad for them? Sorry you had to go through all that bother. One more reason I don't have cats. (biggest reason is they give me asthma.)

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    1. The chairs are pressboard; the table top enamel--1920's kitchen table. Still grand! The quilt was dry this morning and is back on my bed.

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  24. I love it when my husband comes to me and says, "The cat threw up in the living room." And then sits down to read the paper!

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    1. I've always had a rule: Whoever finds it cleans it up. Works pretty well.

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  25. I love the t-shirt Laura is wearing in the photo where she serves as assembly woman.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I need some tee shirt selfies one of these days. We have a pretty cool lot of them.

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  26. I agree with everything except not needing to see a picture of Toby. Don't we always need to see more pictures of Toby?

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    1. He's so vain, he'll think this song is about him, won't he, won't he...

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  27. the trials of living with (and working for?) a cat...miss them

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  28. I, too, know that sound well. And I always wonder if it's my fault for not brushing them enough.

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  29. Lovely quilt, furballs are the worse.
    Merle...........

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  30. So good that Laura built up the book case.
    And yes: very good strategy when another person does something for us: keeping our mouth shut (except in case of danger or being asked :-)

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  31. My son's cat sprayed/pee'd on furniture and throws. That smell seems to last a life-time. Glad those weren't on a treasure, like your quilt.

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  32. With 3 cats in the house, we know the sound of hacking up a hairball well. Most of the time it’s on the floor... but when the cat is sleeping with you on the bed in the middle of the night when it happens, I never knew I could still move that fast... luckily it usually takes 3 hacks before they get it up.
    Love the t-shirts!

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