disgusting, despicable behavior (not mine)

First off, let me apologize for my post yesterday. I was being a nattering nabob of negativity, as my dad would say, and though I cannot change the fact that I occasionally have such feelings, I don't really need to subject others to them. I have not deleted the post yet, though. I haven't decided if I will. A part of me wants to delete it to make it easier to pretend that my life is all sunshine and rainbows (Did I forget to tell you about the butterfly who landed on my head last week?). But another part of me wants to keep it up as a reminder of what will happen when I let my passing insecurities get the better of me. We'll see which part of me is the stronger part.

Now let me get to the topic of this post. I have an acquaintance who I am about ready to beat over the head with a sledgehammer (figuratively speaking, of course). He has a litter of kittens living under his deck. If you're on my e-mail list, you may have received an e-mail from me yesterday about adopting said kittens. If anyone out there in the void would like to adopt a kitten, I implore you to do so, because if you don't, these kittens are likely to die under this guy's deck. All because of his deplorable laziness, ignorance, indifference and apathy. That's a lot of nouns.

If I was in the position that the guy is in, I would do everything in my power to make sure that these cats are taken care of. Here are the things he's done: 1) he called Animal Control and some shelters in the area and nobody will come to pick them up - he'd have to deliver them himself, so 2) he attempted ONCE to gather them up into a carrier, but failed, so he gave up. His solution? Tell his neighbors to stop feeding them, and close his blinds so he doesn't have to look at them anymore. In essence, he feels that if he doesn't see it, the problem doesn't exist. I came up with many other suggestions, like canvassing the neighborhood to see if anyone wanted to adopt a kitten, or posting a picture on a website saying "free to a good home" or something along those lines. Apparently all of those ideas are too much work. TOO MUCH WORK MY ASS. I asked him point blank if he'd rather have these cats die under his deck than to take a few minutes out of his day to try and find homes for them. He told me, "I wouldn't let that bother me." Are you freaking kidding me? He just admitted to not having a conscience.

Admittedly, I am a sentimental person. I like dogs and cats because they're cute. I feel bad when I see dead animals on the side of the road. The couple of times that I've hit things with my car I've actually had to pull over because I was crying. When we put my dog to sleep, I literally cried all day to the point of exhaustion, and a good portion of the following week. Animals in need make me sad. I understand that these cats may not die just because he isn't finding homes for them. Perhaps their mother will be able to take care of them and teach them to find food themselves. I also understand that strays and their litters often fall by the wayside if they aren't fortunate enough to be noticed by a caring human. So my point is that if this situation had befallen me, if I was the person who had the opportunity to do something good for a litter of kittens so they would not have to endure the harshness of the outside world, I WOULD DO EVERYTHING I COULD. I am not above knocking on peoples' doors. I am not above putting up signs in my neighborhood that say "Free kittens to anyone who can catch them!" I am not above sending out mass e-mails to my friends asking if they wouldn't like a little furry friend in their home. And it infuriates me that there are people out there who feel they are.

kitty update

Well, the kitty had her surgery last Friday, and she seems to be doing well. The roomie brought her back home on Saturday, and she had a new green cast on her arm (leg?) and brand new shaved spots. Her injured arm was shaved all the way to her shoulder, the wrist-area on her other arm was shaved (presumably for an IV), and the previously shaved patch on her side had been re-shaved in order to give her a new pain-reliever patch. Needless to say, she looks a little funny. And she's kinda out of it. We're keeping her in the roomie's large walk-in closet until the vet gives us the okay to let her roam about the apartment again. She's supposed to stay in there for 10 weeks! Not fun for poor kitty. But as a human will stay still and limit movement if you tell them to, a kitty will not, so she must be penned up. Giving her pills is not a fun activity, but it has to be done twice a day. The roommate has enlisted my help for this a couple of times, and we've gotten it done, but not before feeling like animal abusers somehow. Forcing open the mouth of a cat and inducing swallowing is not something I'd like to ever become GOOD AT, but it'll probably happen before this is all over and done with. Yuck.

But yes, she is doing well, and hopefully soon she'll be back to her old kitty ways ... perhaps thinner and a little healthier? Well, thinner anyway. Which will actually be healthier since she's kind of a fatty to begin with. But a cute fatty. :)

kitty post

The kitty cat belonging to my roommate has not been so good lately. We think she was trying to jump from the edge of the bathtub to the bathroom counter, like she frequently does, and missed the mark. She somehow tumbled to the ground and injured her front paw. She hasn't been putting any weight on it for a week, and she might actually have to have surgery!! Scariness! But we've been giving her a lot of love to distract her from her pain. :) Cosequently, she has been getting a bit spoiled. The following is an interaction from this morning.

Kitty is laying on the floor in my bedroom as I get ready for work. (I don't usually have her in there, but she was especially wanting of attention today, so I figured what the hay.) It is time for me to go, so I stand by my bedroom door.

Me: Come on kitty, you gotta get out of my room now so I can close the door.

Cat: (still sitting) Meow.

Me: Yes.

Cat: (still sitting) Meow.

Me: Yes!

Cat: (still sitting) Meow!

Me: Yes! Now come on!

Cat: (finally getting up and SLOWLY moving towards the door) Mrrrrrrrroooowwrrrooowrrrooooowwwwwww.

She was totally giving me lip, and then when I MADE her get up and get out of my room, she complained and whined and grumbled and dragged her feet the entire way. And to top it off, she stopped right at the entryway, so I had to start closing the door and literally use it to push her out of the room.

Such a teenager.

the little things, second installment

2) My Roommate's Cat
Bully, as she is more commonly known, is a funny cat. And I'm not even a cat person. She does some things that never cease to amuse me, such as these: a) she loves to be in the bathroom with me when I am getting ready in the morning. Her favorite thing to do is to jump up on the counter and stand right in front of me, meowing into my face and making it nearly impossible for me to brush my teeth without physically removing her from the counter. Or, what happens more often, is that I will turn on the other faucet just a trickle, so she can go play in that sink, thus distracting her from distracting me and making me late for work. b) her method of jumping onto said bathroom counter is to first jump onto the edge of the bathtup, and then onto the counter. If I close the shower curtain and block her route to the counter, she gets TOTALLY CONFUSED. c) when she misses the counter entirely. Recently, she tried to jump up there and her back legs must have slipped out from under her. She ended up hanging off the edge of the sink by her front paws, struggling in vain to get her (fat) body up where it wanted to be. It didn't work. I held onto her as she finally let go and slid down to the floor. d) her wide variety of meows. Seriously, this cat is ALWAYS talking. I don't know what the hell she's saying, but she sure likes the sound of her own voice. My favorite version is the loud maniacal meow that comes from down the hall when I'm in the living room, followed by the cat running into the room as if she's being chased by the devil himself. Who knows, maybe she is! e) she loves to chase bugs! f) her unconditional love of the ugliest rug in the apartment. If it were up to me, the thing would be chucked out the window and/or burned (the rug, not the cat), but she loves the thing so much, I can't bear to get rid of it ... plus it's not mine to get rid of. g) the fact that she is scared to death of everyone other than my roommate and myself. She runs into his bedroom when she hears someone ring the buzzer. There's a million other things that this cat does that make me laugh, but I am having a brain fart right now and this is all I can think of. More to follow perhaps.

3) The phrase "brain fart."
Especially when it's used by older, "grown-up" type people. At work.

2 funny things ...

Okay, I have two funny anecdotes to share today. One that randomly popped into my head yesterday and one that just happened last evening. Let's start with the latter ...

Yesterday I got home from work and was squatting down to do something when my roommate's cat comes up and starts to use me as a scratching post like cats tend to do (don't worry, she's declawed, so it's more like a massage than actual scratching). She happens to be behind me, so she's pawing away at my lower back, and since I was in this odd squatting position, the waistband of my pants was sticking out a little and her paws kept catching it. Apparently she decided that this game was more fun than just scratching my back, so she kept on pulling at the waistband of my pants! The cat was trying to undress me! She just kept doing it!! It had to be one of the oddest things ever and I cracked up for about 5 minutes.** And sadly, this was more action than I had gotten in a long time.

And story #2 ...

One of my old managers at a previous job, we'll call her Pam, told me this story once about a time she was redecorating her daughter's bedroom when she was little. The daughter made a crown out of a leftover piece of wallpaper and gave it to Pam to wear while they worked. Well, later that day, Pam had to go to the grocery store, and didn't realize that she was still wearing the wallpaper crown. Walking through the store, she kept wondering why people were giving her funny looks! She finally realized why when she saw a particular father and daughter's interaction. The small daughter pointed at Pam and whispered something to the father that she couldn't hear, to which the father replied, "I don't know, honey. Maybe she's a queen."

:)
Heidi

** I do realize that this story would have been much more entertaining had the cat ended up ripping my pants and I had to explain the ridiculous story of what happened to someone, or if someone had walked in and seen what was going on and got the wrong idea, or something along those lines. But that's not what happened, so cut me some slack here. I personally found it hillarious.