A FINAL BDAY GIFT!!!!!

WE GOT A NEW CAR!!!!!

Okay...technically it's not new...it's pre-owned. It's a 2003 Touring Edition PT Cruiser. The official color is "Deep Cranberry" but it looks purkle to me! (MY FAVORITE COLOUR *squee*) It has 43, 276 miles on it. Comes with an 8year/80,000 full warranty. So...if the same thing (gods forbid) happens next year...we're covered! It has power steering, power brakes, power windows, CD AND Cassette player, flod down backseat (essential to cart around my karaoke/DJ equipment) and many other accessories I won't bore you with. It's the Touring Edition so this baby is LOADED!!!! I am so excited!!! I still can't believe this is ours!! It's unreal. Kinda like when we bought the house. It took me months for it to sink in that we weren't renting or house-sitting.

These were taken off the website. I'll be getting real ones sometime this weekend!

Kitty Dilemma!

So, I was up this morning around 6am at the puter in the backroom and i see something on our deck outside. I turn to look and it's the cat from nextdoor pawing at our patio doors and looking generally pitiful outside in the cold. Normally I would have just let him in to get him out of the cold, but we already have a kitten in here with me.

I turn on the news to check the current temp....30 degrees F!!!!! WTF!!!!???!!! Who lets their cat out in that kind of weather?

And just about a half hour ago guess who comes walking up to the backdoor again? yep PTK. pawing at the house trying to get in. I felt so bad. He was like the little match girl peering into a warm house as he stands outside freezing.

So, I can't take him in. What should I do? I was thinking of printing out some articles on the dangers of letting cats outside in this weather (did I mention it's now snowing out there?) and leaving them in an envelope in their mailbox anonymously. I'm kinda scared to do it face to face cuz when I get nervous I cry. any thoughts?

kitty pics

here is bill cosby ... this is the only time he's still enough to take a pic



the kitten we took in last night (who is sleeping on my lap in front of the puter btw...extremely hard to blog with one hand)



and last but not least ... the alpha female of the house (you know, besides me)



i tried to get a pic of salem but since i have no flash and he doesn't stay in the light where i place him all i got was:

How I spent my Saturday!

detailed blog and more pics to come

I am such a sucker

as of this moment we are now a 4 cat household. as i sit here typing our newest temporary addition is laying on my lap, purring contentedly and appears to be trying to suckle on my arm. I originally thought she was licking me, but the slight kneading of her tiny claws on my arm as she was sucking taught me otherwise. She's an adorable baby calico around 3 months I would say. It's too dark now for me to take a pic (my camera's still broken) but she looks something like this:

but with a tabby face. I'm gonna take a pic of her tomorrow so we can make up flyers....i'll share with you then. She has what i originally thought was a decorative collar, now i think it kinda looks like a glow in the dark flea collar (it's green) and she kinda smells like flea powder or something.

The story of how she ended up sitting in my lap goes like this:

Kevin and I went out tonight to run a couple shopping errands. we got back to the house around 9:30-ish. I opened the back car door to get the bags and a little furball shot past me into the backseat. I had never seen this cat before around the house. I tried talking to it to coax it out, which made Kevin wonder who the hell I was talking to. He came over to check and at first freaked out thinking it had been in the car from one of the stops we made. I reassured him that was not the case. That it must be a neighbor's cat.

Once we got her out of the car, she proceeded to follow us up to the front door and tried to walk right into the house. She was so friendly. Even before we saw the collar we figured she had to be lost and not an outdoor cat or a stray at all. I eventually had to pick her up and hold her while Kevin got the bags so she wouldn't sneak in the house. That's when I saw the collar. Like I said, I thought it was decorative so we went to the side of the house to get some light and check for tags or other identifiers. (the front porch light is out...have to change the bulb) We couldn't find anything on her.

I tried having her follow me down the sidewalk a little ways to see if she would head home. No dice. so I led her into the backyard and into the garage. I figured that would at least be some shelter for her until she decided to go home. I came inside, we took care of kitty stuff (litter boxes and feedings) and settled in to watch the football game. That's when we noticed she had jumped up into the window flower box and was watching us. Kaguya and BC examined her for awhile. After about 20 minutes I asked Kevin if it was alright for me to take some food out to her. He agreed and I did. We both knew we really couldn't bring her in. Even tho it was cold, she had a home and we already had 3 kitties in house. And with BC shut up in the backroom (he's been hissing at Kaguya and starting tussles) we didn't want to close off another room to Kaguya and start to freak her out with all the cats.

When I brough the food out she jumped down and practically attacked the bowl. And about 10 minutes after I came back inside she went right back up to the flower box and curled up to fall asleep.

Around 11pm Kevin made the executive decision to bring her in. It was getting deathly cold outside and she wasn't showing any signs of leaving our flower box. So we got the litter box we had stored outside (which we were going to bring out anyway for the new cats...they are POOPY!!!) and set up the back puter room (where I am now) for her. I went outside and picked her up to bring her in. She was so cold and shivering. I honestly don't think she would have lasted if she had to stay outside.

And so....here we are with a 4th cat. It's only temporary tho. Like I said, I'm taking her pic tomorrow and making up a flyer. Kevin's going to get them posted around town and I'm also going to post in some of the local yahoo groups I belong to. I'm sure whoever she belongs to is a nervous wreck tonight. I know I would be.

Kitty Update

Well, it's been 2 whole days (and a couple hours) since the new cats arrived here at the house. I must say things are going rather well.

As I already admitted, I goofed up and didn't seperate them from Kaguya immediately upon their arrival. BC made himself at home while Salem hid. Eventually, after a couple hisses from Kaguya, and some sound advince from Connie and Chicken, I did set them up in the back room. Well, I set BC up in the back room.

Turns out Salem was hiding in the puter room in a small Yaffa block cubby filled with neopets plushies. It made a nice little bed for him and was blocked partially in front by a box so she was well hidden from view. Wasn't until he came out to use Kaguya's litter box (which is currently set in the puter room...much to my dismay...she has a tendenciy not to cover her poo which makes it smell oh so lovely back here ... but I digress...) that I finally saw him and managed to snag him and corral him into the other back room with BC.

I went in about once an hour to play with BC and make sure they had food and water. (Until I went to work that night...then it was Kevin's duty to check in on them) Salem was a no show kitty. That's fine tho. My friend had told me that he hid around his house for a few days when he first got him.

Yesterday when I went in the room Salem finally came out. After much persuading I was able to get him to let me pet him and he wanted some serious loving after that. So with Salem rubbing on my lap and BC perched on my shoulder (think parrot ... it's frigging hilarious!) we hung out for about an hour and I gave them treats and stuff. It went well.

I let BC out for a few yesterday down in the basement. Kaguya was still hissing a bit, so I put him back in the room after only about 15 minutes. I didn't want them to start getting aggressive with each other.

And today I just got done following Kaguya and BC around the house together for about an hour. It was rather amusing. Kaguya follwed BC everywhere he went. She even figured out that if she hid behind the doors in the basement leading to the laundry room she could surprise him. So when he walked thru she pounced. It was a plyful pounce more than anything. There were no hisses or growls or claws from either of them. The funny part was after a couple surprise pounces from Kaguya onto BC he was very careful about going around corners. I wish I had something to record them to share. Good stuff.

But then BC growled at Kaguya and I gently reminded him that it was her house and picked him up and put him in the back room with Salem again. I know he hates it, but I can't have him being aggressive to her. It's her house, they're just borders for now.

All in all it seems to be going well. I've heard tell that it could take a week or so for them to become acclimated to each other. We'll see. I'm giving 2 weeks. If it's not better by then we'll have to work something out with my friend. I really hope it doesn't come to that tho. I don't think he has anyone else to help him take care of them.

Spirit of Detroit isn't Tiger ready ... Yet

Tiger Fever: Troy Co. Readies Spirit of Detroit Jersey

By Brandon Truttling
Web produced by Seth Myers
October 18, 2006

Who wears 300 square feet of polyester? With the World Series right around the corner, it has to be the Spirit of Detroit. A Troy company was at work on the statue’s Detroit Tigers jersey Wednesday.

The Meteor Group will spend 6 to 7 hours printing the material that will make up the jersey. Sometime Friday morning, it will dress the Spirit of Detroit statue that sits outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building in downtown Detroit.

Dave Kotcher of the Meteor Group said the Spirit’s new shirts will measure about 10 feet across and is approximately 13 feet long. It is made from a 100% polyester material.

"It will wear outside beautifully," Kotcher said of the giant garment.

He said nearly all of the employees at the Troy company will have a hand in the production of the jersey.

"All the associates here really get into it," Kotcher said.

The jersey will be printed Wednesday. When that process is complete, the old-English "D" will be stitched on to the oversized shirt.

Story Here