31 December, 2010

Out with the old…

It’s New Year’s Eve! And my God, what a year. I started the year living alone on the Manor, insofar as anyone can be alone with three cats and three large dogs, and I’m ending the year with six cats in the house, four chickens out back, and a husband.

This year also marked the start of the cat-rescuing, and to date I’ve managed to place three adults and three kittens! Juniper goes to his new home a couple weeks into the new year, so that will be an auspicious start. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my gentle readers, who linked the kitties all over the place, bought scarves, graciously donated cash, and offered me enormous encouragement. You all have my deepest, deepest gratitude!

I’ve also managed to get myself halfway to an associate’s degree, which is pretty damn cool. I should finish that up this summer, unless I take the summer off again.

And of course, after months and months of dealing with US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department, we managed to get Daniel over here and we got married! Which was very exciting, both because YAY! my beloved and I are no longer separated by an enormous freakin ocean, but because of the friends who were able to drop everything and show up from all corners of the US to attend. We should do it again sometime.

It’s been a pretty good year, in retrospect, no major health problems for the critters, for which I am deeply thankful. The only blot on the whole thing was my worsening chronic pain issues, which my doc feels are probably fibromyalgia. This sucks because it means I will probably never get any better, and I’m having to readjust my ideas of what I can do and what the consequences are likely to be. On the other hand, at the moment I’ve got a med that does help some, even if it doesn’t fix the problem, and the support of my family and my best beloved, so that’s all right.

Tonight we head down to Blackthorn Kennel for mild debauchery and good company. Christine will be there of course, and a couple other friends, and there will be good food and a HUGE pile of dogs. I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year.

Here’s wishing you, gentle readers, all the best in 2011! May your dogs be well-behaved, your cats snuggly, your chickens reliable layers, and may you all prosper!

29 December, 2010

Cat Sports: Synchronized Sleeping

On the left, Aida (a seal-point Siamese) is curled into a ball but about three-quarters upright against the back of the recliner. Next to her on the right, his head touching her butt, is Roo (an orange-and-white Cornish Rex) who is curled into exactly the same position.

Aida and Roo practice for the 2012 Summer Olympics. As you can see, they have their routine down pat, although Roo might get them docked a point for having his elbow on the outside of his knee when Aida has her knee tucked over her elbow.

28 December, 2010

Christmas Roundup!

We did make it down to my parents’ house in Roanoke, all three dogs and Roo in tow. We even made it home, which is even more impressive given the snow that was rolling up the coast. Alas, we cheated and fled ahead of the storm, and then the Manor got maybe an inch. Given how much hit Richmond I am intensely grateful because things could have gone a lot worse!

A good chunk of my haul was books, which explains my horrible neglect of my gentle readers; I have everything from dissections of early Christianity to analysis of the early 19th century Nullification Crisis to fun fiction to read, and I am reading it in advance of classes starting again in three weeks! Meanwhile I am trying a different dose of meds for my chronic pain, hoping to get me more functional, but it’s fighting the record lows here in the Piedmont so I’m still creaking around like a very creaky thing.

The chickens, meanwhile, are back to regular laying, or at least Matilda is. Australorps are supposed to be good winter layers, and she’s certainly doing well on that front. Lorena produces an egg every couple of days, and still nothing from Bebelina and Ayinnanku, who are getting HUGE. Ayinnanku in fact has been asserting herself more, and I think Matilda may find it difficult to hang onto her spot as the Top Hen at this rate. To date we’ve gotten 39 eggs, which means we are down to a mere $20.75/egg after figuring in all costs. Go, little chickens, go!

21 December, 2010

On rescuing cats…

Or any other critter, for that matter.

I’ve been having some discussions recently about it with other people who also “do” rescue, either like I do it, by snagging cats who come to our doors and attempting to find them places to go, or by fostering and volunteering for organized rescue groups. There’s some points of common experience among us, and in questions we get asked by people, so I thought I would do Andrea’s Rules of Rescue just for the hell of it.

1) It’s hard. Sometimes, you will fail. Fosters get sick and die in your care, you fail to trap that last kitten, you have a foster that you cannot place and who does not fit in with your existing household, so you can’t offer the critter refuge. Your confidence will be shaken, your heart will get shattered. You have to be able to forgive yourself.

2) You can’t save them all. This is also a sub-point of #1 up there. You just can’t, and you have to know what your limits are in order to be fair to the critters who are already in your care. Fosters take time and money and effort, things which your pets also require, and since most of us are not independently wealthy, resources are limited. You only have so much time and money and energy you can pour into a rescue before you start short-changing the critters you already have at home, which is not fair to them in the least. You must know your limits, emotional and financial. If taking in a foster means you can’t provide for the critters already there, if it’s going to mean your dog misses needed vet care…don’t. You have an obligation to the beasts who depend on you.

3) You have to be able to let go. Every kitten and every puppy is adorable as hell, seriously. Every cat and every dog is charming. You will fall in love with every single one of your fosters at least a little bit, but since time and money are limited, every animal you keep is one less spot for a foster. Sometimes it’s hard to trust that you’re sending this critter to a good home; maybe they don’t do things exactly how you would. Whatever. Your home has limited spots where you can give adequate care, and there is always going to be another critter who needs you, so if you have a home for that foster where it will be loved, fed, and given good care, even if that family does the care differently than you would, send the critter on with your blessings.

4) It is easier to place kittens and puppies than cats and dogs. It is sad and mercenary, but you have a pretty narrow window of maximum cuteness in which finding a home will be much easier. For instance, I was pretty damn optimistic about placing Juniper. He’s little, he’s adorable, he loves his stuffymouse and he purrs a lot. He has a home lined up. Noodlehead, who is currently in quarantine in my bathroom, has a slightly bleaker outlook: she is a mildly cranky adult cat with very common coloring. Realistically she may never be placed, although I’ll try once I know her FIV/FeLV status. Luckily there is a place for her here, although keeping her may mean I have to cut down on rescue. But still: place ‘em while they’re little.

5) The good: people will surprise you with their compassion and generosity. You will succeed in saving critters and finding them good and loving forever homes. Sometimes these good and loving homes will even drop you a note from time to time and you will get to see the tiny kitten you placed become a 25 pound muscly and good-natured monstrosity of a cat. Take heart from these victories, these little lives snatched back from the jaws of death.

20 December, 2010

My avian empire choogles right along.

The chickens are laying again, incidentally. I know you were all wondering, gentle readers. They stopped for a couple weeks in there after we rearranged their coop and the deep cold bit down hard here in the Piedmont, but we switched them over to grower feed (more calories!) supplemented with oyster shells (for calcium!) and they’ve picked up. They’re also, of course, getting first dibs on all the veggie compost. Arugula was a HUGE hit with them, this morning they’ll get some random mixed veggies that I bought for trashy comfort food prep and we’ll see what they prefer from corn, peas, green beans, and lima beans. If chickens will eat lima beans then they are my new feathery best friends, cause I never have acquired a taste for the things. The new food really has made a difference, though, I thought we were at an egg a week but it looks like we’re getting an egg every 2-3 days, so that’s not bad at all for winter. As of this writing, we’re at 30 eggs total, which brings the cost down to $27.06/egg! Very exciting, we’re well on our way to $20 eggs here.

We also bought plans for the Garden Coop with an eye toward bantams in the spring just for funsies. Well, they will produce little bantam eggs which are just as edible as big eggs, but I’m looking at getting some banties just for the cute factor. Tiny perfect chickens! I have a thing for weird lookin chickens, so we’ll see what I end up with. But Polish bantams and Showgirls are definitely in the running.

Built as specified in the plans, the Garden Coop would run $618 for lumber alone if using treated lumber, but replacing the fancible roof with plywood and asphalt shingles and using plywood for the house exterior, I can get that down to $354. Not a bad reduction, and it makes the project pretty doable. Spring chickens may be a go…

19 December, 2010

Winterthing Cuteness

Juniper is taking celebrating Winterthing very seriously, as you can see. He is practicing waiting for Big Sky Cat, who on Winterthing Eve comes down from the clouds and gives good cats presents. For Winterthing, Juniper would like the other cats to stop looking at his stuffymouse, and also to have a date scheduled to move into a Forever Home where there are no giant dogs who constantly want to sniff his butt.

Juniper, a small black and white kitten with a face that looks oddly like a skull due to a propitious black triangle on his nose, kittyloafs underneath a small wilted artificial Winterthing tree which boasts one round red ornament.

18 December, 2010

Happy Winterthing!

Right, so, some people don’t Do Holidays, and of the people I know who Do Holidays, there are various holidays being celebrated. I have a tendency to be something of a scrooge about Christmas, and it was a few years back when my also-scroogey beloved friend Liz and I began wishing each other a Happy Winterthing.

Winterthing has no specific date, but it happens in winter, and generally in late December. Possibly. It’s hard to pin down a holiday with no specific date. At any rate, my husband is more Christmas-positive than I am, so this year to show willing I have actually put up a Christmas tree. And then I coerced the cats (or at least the cats open to coercion) into behaving adorably near the Christmas tree, so I could take pictures, and end result, gentle readers, is a very special Winterthing Greeting from the Manor of Mixed Blessings to you.

…probably I should never be allowed near PhotoShop, but whatever. Behold!
Roo, an orange and white Cornish Rex cat, and Juniper, a black and white kitten, sit on a shelf next to a small wilted artificial Christmas Tree with one red ornament on it. The text reads 'I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. --William Penn' at the top and 'Happy Winterthing from the Manor of Mixed Blessings' at the bottom.

17 December, 2010

It lives!

Sorry for the long hiatus, a combination of the dreaded FINALS WEEK plus chronic pain problems (which I am finally seeing a doc for, but which are probably not anything curable, just manageable) have kept me from having extra time and energy. But here is an omnibus update!

1) Juniper: still the cutest kitten ever. He’s gotten somewhat less laid-back now that he’s been dewormed. His favorite toy is a brown stuffed mouse we found on clearance at PetCo. He beats it up, he carries it around, he growls and prepares to throw down with other cats who so much as look at his stuffymouse. I’m waiting to hear back from his potential new home, but have high hopes he will be moving on to his Forever Home come January when we get him neutered!

2) Noodlehead: She came inside, as I mentioned! And she is having a good ol time hanging out and being warm and safe in the bathroom. She deeply prefers Daniel to me, though, as my bloody finger will attest. Any guys out there who would like a tabby and white girl of uncommon charm to share the couch with?

3) IT SNOWED YESTERDAY. 3″ of the stuff. The county hasn’t bothered to clear the road, so here I am at home. No one is happy about the snow but Zille. The chickens are DEEPLY disapproving and despite the fact that we did MacGyver a roof onto their pen, they are spending most of the time either on their house or under it (when they’re not eating). Matilda is producing about an egg a week, which has brought our egg cost down to $29.02 per egg. I am able to be this precise because I set up a new and shinier egg cost spreadsheet, which debits the chickens for the cost of their feed and the cost of eggs we have had to buy since their production slowed, but credits them for the market value of cage-free eggs for the ones they have laid.

…yes, I am a dork, why do you ask?

4) Christmas shopping is pretty much done, and next week we get to see our friends Kate and Loiosh when they stop by on their own Holiday Odyssey! And then they will come back through on their way home. We are excited. Incidentally, Kate is having a Christmas Sale! You have four days left to order before Christmas if you see something you like!

5) My quest for The Perfect Leash continues. I just ordered a custom multi-function leash with integrated limited-slip collar from Bold Lead Designs. It will work for both Zille and Beowulf, and if it is half as good as I suspect it will be, then I’ll probably order another one that will fit Tink. Is there anything better than a cool new leash? I think not.

6) Daniel will hopefully have his green card soon, yay!

10 December, 2010

West Coast Kitty needs a place to go!

For those of you who have been looking at Juniper thinking “If only I did not live in California…” well, kitty needs a place to go. Long story short, her owners moved and left her with a relative. Said relative decided it would be just fine to take an indoor domesticated kitty and dump her at a horse farm, ignoring the fact that feral and semi-feral barn kitties have a whole pile of skills that indoor kitties have not developed, like not approaching strangers, not getting under horse hooves, and staying safe from dogs and coyotes.

I have Opinions on this sort of thing.

Anyway, if you have always wanted a snuggly purrbox kitty of your very own, in glossy black, get in touch with that one’s foster mom, yeah? Braxton Bragg says sleek glossy black snuggly kitties make the best pets.

9 December, 2010

How nice of you to join us, or: Noodlehead continues feline tradition of being inconvenient.

Long-time gentle readers may recall that Noodlehead was the fourth adult cat I attempted to bring inside, the one who shook my confidence. I’d successfully brought in and placed three girls, all of whom were easy-peasy, so why would this stripey tabby and white girl be any different?

Hahahahaha.

When I brought Noodlehead into the bathroom, she commenced to attempt to climb the walls to find her way out. I managed to get her toweled and get her back outside, where she regarded me with deep and unpleasant suspicion for the next two weeks before giving birth to a couple stillborn kittens. Sigh.

In the long months since that abortive attempt, though, Noodlehead has been more and more interested in the inside of the house, especially as the weather has gotten colder. She’s also gotten more and more sociable, hanging around while we did chickenstuff and loitering outside the fence to watch us play fetch with Zille and chase with the Dobermans. She’s demanded petting, she’s asked to be picked up and snuggled.

Tonight, she finally walked into the house on her own power, and is now installed in the bathroom with a comfy bed, some wet food, water, and a litter box. Of course, Juniper WAS occupying the bathroom, because Emmaline wants him dead. Juniper is now occupying our bedroom. This is going to cause entertainment at bedtime, as Tink and Roo are accustomed to occupying the bedroom and having the door closed may cause Drama. We’ll figure something out. But at this point, there is officially No Room At The Inn.

I suspect there is little chance of placing Noodlehead, but I may be wrong. She is charming as hell but very much wants things on HER terms, and she is fairly nondescript in looks. The world is full of nondescript tabby-and-white cats with attitude. It may be that we now have five cats. I’m kind of OK with that, although, y’know, if you look at the little stripey face on the right and think to yourself “Self, that is exactly the cat I have been searching for!” then hit me up, yeah? She is going to get vetted and spayed before she goes anywhere, though.

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