Finn's settling into the menagerie pretty well. His partial house training was a bit exaggerated, but he learns quickly. At the beginning of the weekend, he had realized that when we go outside, he's supposed to pee, so he would coax out a little something. By yesterday, the volume had increased to the point where it seemed like he was figuring out to hold it until we got outside (inasmuch as he can; I know his puppy muscles aren't quite capable of full control yet, and there are still some messes in the house). Now we have to work on getting him to make the same connection between pooping and outside. Good thing I moved in knowing I would have to replace the carpet. Good thing the carpet is dark blue.
He and Sebastian have become fast friends already. In fact, Finn and I spent a couple of nights on the couch so I could get some sleep, because Thursday night they spent so much time chasing each other and wrestling and running over my face that I didn't rest much. I keep thinking Finn might be playing too rough for the Skittin, but then I see how much of it Sebastian instigates, and how when he runs away from Finn he does this dolphin-like skip so the clumsy puppy can almost keep up. When I take Finn out of my room, Sebastian stands on the dresser by the door with this forlorn look.
The other cats are getting acclimated more slowly, but they've started to venture out and sniff him a little. He thinks this means they want to play. I am hoping eventually they will. Fender decided she was ready to come out of her cabinet (to which she had retreated several days before the advent of the pup; she and Puck had some sort of falling-out), and if Finn wanted to sniff her, well, too bad. She did the classic Fender move of turning around and settling down with her back to him; if she doesn't deign to see you, you don't exist. Kashmir is timid but curious, and Inanna is getting bolder. Even Puck came out briefly Saturday night and woke me up on the couch for some attention.
I had another mishap with the washing machine (long story involving this bright idea to put the washer in the doorway, so it could flood outside, which did not work at all; flooded floors, wet clothes, flooded garage, flooded boxes of books in the garage, me cracking open a fingernail against the back door, me taking the doorknob out of the back door so I could open it, mildew, me being subsequently so tired and annoyed that I accidentally banged my toe against the edge of a wooden crate, splitting it open in two places, and then immediately forgot about it and tracked blood all over the kitchen. Today the toe is swollen enough to hurt when I have a shoe on.). I have fans running but the mildew stench is still strong. When everything is dried out, I am going to pry up the rest of the tiles. I started Friday night around 1 a.m. and quickly realized much of the stink problem in my house is because of standing water and mildew beneath the two layers of floor tiles, and given the raunch of the tiles that I pulled from beneath the stove, I am quite sure the problem pre-dates me. I am hoping the tile removal helps, and the fans help, and I can someday walk into the laundry room without feeling ill.
I am going to see if the Salvation Army will haul the washer away.
I lost more books in this flood. I guess that isn't a bad thing, necessarily; on reflection, I realized I could live without a surprising number of them, and the ones that I can't are mostly salvageable.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Finn
I took the plunge and got a puppy last night.
It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision but also one into which I had put a lot of thought. I've wanted a puppy for ages, and I always felt when the time was right, one would show up on my doorstep. I've rescued or sort of rescued a couple of dogs, but none of them worked (one was too hyper to do well with the cats, but ended up going to a really good home; the owners of the other one showed up a few hours after I found him). When I've seen flyers about dogs needing a home, I've called, but they've always either found homes or gone to good rescues. I've held off going to the Humane Society because I know it will break my heart, even though the animals you actually see have made it to the no-kill level. (They euthanize for almost any problem when animals come in, I've heard, but once they're deemed adoptable, it's no-kill.) I saw this flyer at Starbucks a few weeks ago advertising puppies free to a good home. I almost called, then opted not to. Saturday, there was a flyer showing one puppy free to a good home, and it looked like it came from the same litter. I tore off the phone number, tried to talk myself out of calling, but held onto the number anyway.
Lately when I see people with dogs, I get an ache, a sense of loss, this feeling that there's a tangible absence in my life. I used to feel this way about babies; thankfully, that's passed. (I think getting to play with friends' babies and toddlers has helped a lot! It's like being a grandparent--you get the fun, you get to spoil them, and then you get to hand them back to their parents when they have messy diapers or get cranky.) But with dogs, it's increased to the point of being actually painful.
Yesterday at lunch I went to Mellow Mushroom. There were four or five people sitting outside with their dogs, and usually I stop to pet the dogs and chat with the owners, but instead I felt sad and virtually dove inside. On the way back from lunch, I decided to call the number from Starbucks. I figured enough time had elapsed that someone else had already claimed the puppy. Turned out not to be the case.
He's 10 weeks old. His mother was a rescued German shepherd who gave birth to a litter of eight puppies. They think the father is a black lab and/or border collie. He's partially house-trained and has lived with cats his whole life, so he's very good with them. He wants to play but doesn't push it or get aggressive, and as a result, the cats, while wary, are doing much better than I expected they would this early in the game. They're curious and even getting a little bold about approaching him. He's already bigger than they are, and he has enormous paws, so he's going to be a big guy, I think. And he has already proven waaaay easier to train than they are!
After running through every name I could think of, I settled on Finn. I am looking forward to taking him places, to having opportunities to socialize with other pet people. My cats don't like leaving the house, so I've never been able to take them to Petsmart or anywhere else, which is fine, but I've always had that wistful feeling. Plus, there are many activities for dogs and their people in Savannah that I've always wanted to attend, and now I can. I didn't get him to help boost my social life, but I'm hoping that's a side benefit. Finn and I went to Petsmart right after I got him, and these little girls with a Maltese puppy stopped to exchange puppy names and coo over him.
Most of my friends and acquaintances heartily disapprove. Dogs are expensive and need more attention than cats. I already have what most people consider to be too many pets. My sister-in-law, who got a dog in July and adores him, was thrilled, however--can't wait to see pictures, hopes I can bring him home at Christmas (I'm looking into fares already), is totally excited about it. This is one of the many reasons my sister-in-law rocks.
And really--I feel like it's a good time to do this. My friends are wise (perhaps wiser than me) and have valid points of view and concerns, but in the end I have to do what won't leave me with regrets...and I've regretted not having a dog for years....
It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision but also one into which I had put a lot of thought. I've wanted a puppy for ages, and I always felt when the time was right, one would show up on my doorstep. I've rescued or sort of rescued a couple of dogs, but none of them worked (one was too hyper to do well with the cats, but ended up going to a really good home; the owners of the other one showed up a few hours after I found him). When I've seen flyers about dogs needing a home, I've called, but they've always either found homes or gone to good rescues. I've held off going to the Humane Society because I know it will break my heart, even though the animals you actually see have made it to the no-kill level. (They euthanize for almost any problem when animals come in, I've heard, but once they're deemed adoptable, it's no-kill.) I saw this flyer at Starbucks a few weeks ago advertising puppies free to a good home. I almost called, then opted not to. Saturday, there was a flyer showing one puppy free to a good home, and it looked like it came from the same litter. I tore off the phone number, tried to talk myself out of calling, but held onto the number anyway.
Lately when I see people with dogs, I get an ache, a sense of loss, this feeling that there's a tangible absence in my life. I used to feel this way about babies; thankfully, that's passed. (I think getting to play with friends' babies and toddlers has helped a lot! It's like being a grandparent--you get the fun, you get to spoil them, and then you get to hand them back to their parents when they have messy diapers or get cranky.) But with dogs, it's increased to the point of being actually painful.
Yesterday at lunch I went to Mellow Mushroom. There were four or five people sitting outside with their dogs, and usually I stop to pet the dogs and chat with the owners, but instead I felt sad and virtually dove inside. On the way back from lunch, I decided to call the number from Starbucks. I figured enough time had elapsed that someone else had already claimed the puppy. Turned out not to be the case.
He's 10 weeks old. His mother was a rescued German shepherd who gave birth to a litter of eight puppies. They think the father is a black lab and/or border collie. He's partially house-trained and has lived with cats his whole life, so he's very good with them. He wants to play but doesn't push it or get aggressive, and as a result, the cats, while wary, are doing much better than I expected they would this early in the game. They're curious and even getting a little bold about approaching him. He's already bigger than they are, and he has enormous paws, so he's going to be a big guy, I think. And he has already proven waaaay easier to train than they are!
After running through every name I could think of, I settled on Finn. I am looking forward to taking him places, to having opportunities to socialize with other pet people. My cats don't like leaving the house, so I've never been able to take them to Petsmart or anywhere else, which is fine, but I've always had that wistful feeling. Plus, there are many activities for dogs and their people in Savannah that I've always wanted to attend, and now I can. I didn't get him to help boost my social life, but I'm hoping that's a side benefit. Finn and I went to Petsmart right after I got him, and these little girls with a Maltese puppy stopped to exchange puppy names and coo over him.
Most of my friends and acquaintances heartily disapprove. Dogs are expensive and need more attention than cats. I already have what most people consider to be too many pets. My sister-in-law, who got a dog in July and adores him, was thrilled, however--can't wait to see pictures, hopes I can bring him home at Christmas (I'm looking into fares already), is totally excited about it. This is one of the many reasons my sister-in-law rocks.
And really--I feel like it's a good time to do this. My friends are wise (perhaps wiser than me) and have valid points of view and concerns, but in the end I have to do what won't leave me with regrets...and I've regretted not having a dog for years....
Monday, October 15, 2007
Skittin adventures
Sebastian "Skittin" "Velcro Kitty" pulled a new one yesterday. So far, he'd been the only cat to actually climb on me while I was in the tub (several of them have put out tentative paws, as if to see if there's enough of me above water for them to perch on, but he's the only one to actually decide he could fit). So yesterday I'm in the shower, shaving my legs, and suddenly there's Sebastian in the far end of the tub! He stared at me for a minute while I laughed, and then he realized he was getting wet, so he tried to leap BACKWARDS out of the tub. It didn't work, and he sort of twirled around frantically trying to get a grip on the wet bottom of the tub. He figured out pretty quickly that if he slipped between the shower liner and the edge of the tub, he wouldn't get wet, and from there it took him about two seconds to jump out. He spent the rest of my shower on his usual perch, the toilet lid, squeaking at me whenever I peeked out to check on him.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
days have elapsed
so whiny, whiny me. after all that angst, i got a promotion that i wasn't expecting, at least not right now, and it came with a nice raise.
jury duty turned out to be a breeze: an hour of orientation, more than hour of waiting, during which i got through half a tim dorsey novel (and decided i am definitely a fan of serge a. storms), then a few minutes during which the judge told us that the leverage of our presence as prospective jurors enabled him to settle the FIVE felony cases on the docket without any of them needing to go to trial. so thanks for coming in, here's your ten bucks, wish it was more, go home and have a good rest of the day.
amanda and i went on a road trip a couple weekends ago, to jax (where they have a borders) and st. augustine, because she hadn't been there yet. we hit the jackpot at borders: they were having an educators weekend, and when we walked in, a woman immediately asked us if we were teachers. we told her we work at a college; she said that counted. as a result, when we showed our IDs at checkout, we got 25% off everything. it may be the only time i have ever walked into a bookstore and spent LESS than i budgeted, but i still got 14 books (though let's be honest--i would have spent a lot more if i hadn't taken the precaution of leaving the debit card at home and taking cash instead). i am a glutton. i actually feel sated on book buying, for the moment. amanda liked st. augustine, which i expected she would. we walked around the old spanish fort, took photos, went up and down st. george street, and walked past flagler college. we also got hit on by pirates ("ahoy, ladies! i've lost me booty!").
now i have another sinus infection--i seem to catch a cold, fever or sinus infection every other week lately--and i've been having odd dreams. last night, for example, i dreamt i took my cats on vacation with me to my grandmother's, and lost them all. then i found puck again, in some complicated scenario involving a restaurant on one of the squares.
speaking of the cats, i love them all, and they're all unique, but some of them are really unique: puck, kashmir, and now sebastian. maybe because he was separated from his mom too young, sebastian is velcro kitty. it's mostly endearing, although his tendency to snuggle the second my alarm goes off doesn't help me in my quest to get to work on time. it's awesome for a sick person, however. last night he parked his little butt on the pillow by my ear and flopped across my neck, resting his face against mine. you know how heat can feel really good on swollen sinuses? imagine heat with soft kitten fur and a nice, rumbly purr against your cheek.
jury duty turned out to be a breeze: an hour of orientation, more than hour of waiting, during which i got through half a tim dorsey novel (and decided i am definitely a fan of serge a. storms), then a few minutes during which the judge told us that the leverage of our presence as prospective jurors enabled him to settle the FIVE felony cases on the docket without any of them needing to go to trial. so thanks for coming in, here's your ten bucks, wish it was more, go home and have a good rest of the day.
amanda and i went on a road trip a couple weekends ago, to jax (where they have a borders) and st. augustine, because she hadn't been there yet. we hit the jackpot at borders: they were having an educators weekend, and when we walked in, a woman immediately asked us if we were teachers. we told her we work at a college; she said that counted. as a result, when we showed our IDs at checkout, we got 25% off everything. it may be the only time i have ever walked into a bookstore and spent LESS than i budgeted, but i still got 14 books (though let's be honest--i would have spent a lot more if i hadn't taken the precaution of leaving the debit card at home and taking cash instead). i am a glutton. i actually feel sated on book buying, for the moment. amanda liked st. augustine, which i expected she would. we walked around the old spanish fort, took photos, went up and down st. george street, and walked past flagler college. we also got hit on by pirates ("ahoy, ladies! i've lost me booty!").
now i have another sinus infection--i seem to catch a cold, fever or sinus infection every other week lately--and i've been having odd dreams. last night, for example, i dreamt i took my cats on vacation with me to my grandmother's, and lost them all. then i found puck again, in some complicated scenario involving a restaurant on one of the squares.
speaking of the cats, i love them all, and they're all unique, but some of them are really unique: puck, kashmir, and now sebastian. maybe because he was separated from his mom too young, sebastian is velcro kitty. it's mostly endearing, although his tendency to snuggle the second my alarm goes off doesn't help me in my quest to get to work on time. it's awesome for a sick person, however. last night he parked his little butt on the pillow by my ear and flopped across my neck, resting his face against mine. you know how heat can feel really good on swollen sinuses? imagine heat with soft kitten fur and a nice, rumbly purr against your cheek.
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