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      Thursday, July 01, 2010


otherstuff
11:02 AM - 07/01/2010

The topic: So, the clean out is moving along
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with my storage crap coming back to me.  As in “it’s in the extra room!  It’s in the garage!  I can’t move in either of those rooms now!  Arrggh!” Damned economy.

At Mark’s suggestion, I figured I’d set up a Craiglist account.  “For local pickup only”  I set up a new gmail account, then the Craigslist account.  Haven’t put up anything for sale yet, but here is my beginning list.

  • Ping pong table
  • A walker
  • Heat press
  • Steel cage
  • Cardioglide
  • Presentation table

The ping pong table was used one year.  It was the best Sears had.  The walker is one I ordered for my mom.  She died the day it was delivered. I got a new heat press earlier this year, I don’t need the old one. The steel cage was left here by an ex-brother-in-law who had birds. The cardioglide was one of those exercise things we got that we both used for a while, then we moved on to sitting on our asses. The presentation table (I guess that’s what you’d call it), is something I just had to have. But I don’t use it that often and it takes up too much space.

Oh, well, maybe we can make a little money here. That would be nice.

      Saturday, July 03, 2010


catstuff
10:10 AM - 07/03/2010

The topic: We’re taking in another kitty
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I’ll be getting him Monday. 

Vet’s office called yesterday, one of their clients called, she had taken in a cat from a friend who was moving to Texas.  But the cat or her dogs are having some issues and are not getting along.

The cat is seventeen years old. Black. Male, neutered.  Declawed (possibly four paw). May be blind in one eye.  Rescues won’t take him and because of his age, you know damn well the shelters would put him down.

WTF?  What kind of person walks away from a pet who’s been a family member for seventeen fricking years! 

I just felt so bad for this old guy. When Brian got home, I asked him how soft hearted he was feeling. And I told him.

He’s an elderly cat, probably has four years at most.  When we brought Miss and Bobby in, there wasn’t much of a problem with the other cats.  Being mature and all.

So, Brian said “whatever you want to do”.

Brian will need to get the big crate down and we’ll set it up in the family room.  I don’t want this guy wandering around his first week or so here without me right behind him.

And being in the crate will help acclimate him to this house, it’s sounds and smells and the other cats.

You know, sometimes I just hate people.

I called the vet’s office and told Alicia that we’ll take him, we’ll pick him up Monday. She said “do you want him today?”  No, we’ve got a busy weekend planned.  Best to bring him in when I’ll be here most of the day. 

lisaviolet’s cathouse - kitty retirement home


otherstuff
12:40 PM - 07/03/2010

The topic: So, today
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Brian and his bro left early this am heading to Ranchita, to empty the truck that they filled last week, with many of Brian’s tools and equipment he used back in his shop. Today, I am attempting to straighten up the extra room, so that I’ll be able to move around in there again.

I’ve probably got over 100 cds I need to put back up (took them down to copy onto the computer so I could put the tunes in my MP3 players) and some boxes of stuff I’ve gotten over the past year or so from Woot or wherever.  Now that the bags that were full of things from the old Escape are now in the new Escape, I’ve got a little more room to work with. 

Ah, isn’t compressing your possessions fun?

One of the things I found in there was an old JVC camcorder, one that records onto the mini tapes.  I quit using it because there was a problem with it.  Well, I played with it a little and the video it takes is fine, it just doesn’t play back.  Ruins the recording when it does.  I’ve run the tape cleaning head multiple times, but it’s not working.  But the tapes play back fine on the Canon Elura, so as long as I remember (note to self, make a label for the JVc camcorder to not play back on it) to not play back on the JVC and when capturing is needed to do it via the Canon, I should be okay.

Anyway, enough of a break, back to work.  It might sound like a sucky job, but I think it will be fun, finding things I forgot I had.  I love doing that.  *lol*

      Monday, July 05, 2010


otherstuff
08:29 AM - 07/05/2010

The topic: You know that Volkswagen game?
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Where when you see a VW, you call out the color and smack the person standing next to you?

I started doing this a couple of weeks ago.  Brian responded as if I were nuts.  “What are you doing?”  I explain. “I never saw that commercial” he tells me.  Then it’s “we should be doing it with Escapes, anyway, not VWs”. 

So, I started doing it with Escapes, too.  And he’s caught on quickly.

The thing is, I suck at it. *lol*  He’s so much better at determining make/model of any car.  I stand there and try to read what it is.  This morning, on our walk, I called out two Escapes.  They were both Explorers.

He owes me four punches for that.  Good thing he doesn’t hit hard.

      Tuesday, July 06, 2010


catstuff
03:57 PM - 07/06/2010

The topic: Sebastian is here
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He got here this morning.  He’s in the large dog crate in the family room.  Seems to be relaxing a little, although I haven’t seen him relaxed enough so that he’d sleep.

The woman who brought him gave us $125.00 that his previous owner had given him.  Just in case she decided to put him to sleep.  Dump that horrid decision onto someone else. 

He was in the front seat of her truck and in a cardboard (shudder) pet box (sorry, those are fine for kittens, but not adult cats).  She started to open it up on the driveway so we could see him and both Brian and I, in unison, said “why don’t we wait until we’re in the house?”  Gah! Noob! 

So, we go into the house and I take him from the box and put him in the crate.  He’s like ‘what the hell is this?”  And he cried a little.

Marco was stretched out on the coffee table and she said “he looks like my cat, a tuxedo”.  She told us that her cat has gone missing, she hasn’t seen him for three days. And she told us about the coyotes running through her yard lately.  There are wild rabbits around there. She thinks her cat is “coyote savvy”.  I was cringing inside.  We all know how much I hate coyotes and hate cats running loose where coyotes are known to hang out, I don’t care how savvy you think the cat is.  I hope he comes home soon.

So, she leaves and Sebastian talks to us a little. There’s minimal hissing when the cats come around.

Until Marco walked up to the crate. Lordy, that new cat does not like Marco.  Or maybe he doesn’t like tuxies. 

And he does have a problem with one of his eyes, but it doesn’t look like what went on with KittyMeeze’s, it looks more like what was going on with Bart. 

I’ve called the vet’s and we have an appointment for Sebastian Friday morning.  

He seems like a nice enough kitty, though.

      Wednesday, July 07, 2010


catstuff
08:34 AM - 07/07/2010

The topic: Poor Sebastian
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He went to sleep and woke up in a nightmare.  He’s all growly and hissy this morning. The water I’d put in the crate had been spilled last night and I had to pull out the pad (I put a pee pad under the litterbox and water bowl, for easy cleanup, it sure was). And he hissed and he growled and one time lunged, which startled me and I spilled the dry food all over.  *sigh*

He’s on his second can of Fancy Feast, I mixed it with water to make it lappy and he’s lapping away.  I even got to pet him while he was eating.

The hissing and growling lessened when I cleaned out the litterbox, got all the urine clumps (no poo yet) out of it and put more litter in it.

I also found an unopened Feliway diffuser cartridge, so I got that plugged in to the closest outlet.

I’m going to make this work.

His coat isn’t good. It’s dull and dry. No mats or anything, but it’s not shiny like I’m used to.  Even Jackie, who is a walking mat, has a shiny coat. 

I hope he calms down quickly. I feel so badly for him.

      Friday, July 09, 2010


catstuff
09:41 AM - 07/09/2010

The topic: Sebastian’s first vet visit
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We made it and no one got bit. 

Sebby is actually pretty healthy for a seventeen year old cat.  He does have the issue with the eye, it’s not blind, but there’s some sort of viral thing.  The vet asked if it’s been hurting him long, I said I don’t know, we just got him Tuesday.  The vet then asked “has it been hurting since Tuesday?” 

Anyway, I was given a tube of ointment to put in his eye once a day, and when I’m not so scared of him (I’m sorry, but in my world a growly cat’s wishes are to be respected until I know him or her better and have a better understanding of why the growl) start him on twice a day.

The vet asked “are you keeping this cat?”  I laughed.  “Yeah, we’re like a roach motel for cats.”  There was so discussion of people who abandon their animals. Because they’re moving (I said “who gives up a pet they’ve had for seventeen years?”, the vet said “right, you’ve got a dog now, why can’t you find a place that allows dogs where you’re moving?”) or (the vet said he didn’t mean to disparage women, but…) having a baby.  Back in the old days, woman worked the fields with babies, they did everything with babies, why would today’s babies be any more special?  Why give up your dog or cat because you’re pregnant? It really hit a nerve with him.

And the vet wants to see Sebby next week for a recheck of the eye.

Seb finally did poop a fair amount last night/this morning, it still looks weird to me (dry), but this was better than the previous one he left.  I did find his “magic potion”.  Something that makes him very, very happy. 

Grass. I gave him some yesterday morning and for the first time, he was purring while he chewed.  I had to change out his blankets this morning to clean up the grass regurg, but it made him happy and he even started to let me pet him.

So, we’re making progress.

      Sunday, July 11, 2010


catstuff
08:02 AM - 07/11/2010

The topic: Sebastian is loose
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I opened the crate door this morning and he’s roaming through the house. The other cats don’t seem to be too curious about him, he’s able to do his exploring without much interference.  No other cat posturing.

So far the only cat who has gone up to him was Oliver.

      Monday, July 12, 2010


catstuff
10:20 AM - 07/12/2010

The topic: Meet Sebastian!
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There are a few things that I worry about due to the amputation of his front toes. One is falling into the pool. Would he be able to push himself out with his back paws?  I don’t know how much traction he has in his front paws, he’s got nothing there to hang on to the edge with.  One of the reasons we went with the texture in the pool was so cats could climb out. 

And then there was the issue of the steps Brian made in the garage way back when Red lived up there.  I can’t count the times I’ve seen the cats slip and hold on with their front paws and pull themselves up (or fall, which is incredibly frightening to watch). And Miss Elizabeth has been hanging up there the past week, I don’t like it.  I don’t really care for the cats up there, because I do worry about them falling. So, I asked Brian if he could take those steps down. And he did that yesterday. 

The more muscular physical kitties will be able to get up there from the freezer, but I doubt there will be any more racing in the rafters.

I took some pictures of him Saturday and yesterday, here they are.


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otherstuff
10:53 AM - 07/12/2010

The topic: The injury settlement
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AAA called Friday, July 2nd.  The offer was laughable.  It wasn’t even enough to pay for followup with the chiropractor.  The agent told Brian that he would be on vacation last week and that he’d call this week to see if we were ready to settle.

The agent said that four months was what they figure it took soft tissue injuries to heal.  Nothing about my back, how it’s out of alignment because of the seatbelt.  I’ve had three sets of x-rays taken. The last set showed marked improvement, but it still wasn’t straight.  Brian’s afraid of future problems right now, so…...

I think we’re not ready to settle.  Funny, if the settlement offer would have been more reasonable, we probably would have, just to be done with it.

But I think Brian was insulted by the offer. At this point, we’ve got nothing to lose.

      Thursday, July 15, 2010


catstuff
02:38 PM - 07/15/2010

The topic: Sebby update
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Well, the crate is back in storage.  Sebastian has joined the general population. Very little hissing. Most of it comes from me when another cat, say Sagwa, has his nose up Seb’s butt.

Tuesday night I left the door open so that he could explore the house.  He found a new hidey spot in the garage, hissed the heck out of me.  But I was able to get his eye ointment administered with the help of some grass. *lol*  Yesterday, just not confident about the appearance of his eye, I took him back to the vet. It’s doing much better and he’ll get his last dose today.  The vet said to keep it on hand in case of another flare up.

The eye will never be 100%, but it looks a ton better now and it’s not painful for him. The vet said this isn’t a new problem, it’s a problem that started long ago and was never properly resolved.  Remember, the woman who gave him to me told me he was blind in one eye, which is how she got him. He was never properly diagnosed.  No wonder he stayed in a tent at her place, his eye hurt.

But he walks through the house, eating from the feeders and drinking from the fountains.  He was going back into the crate waiting for food and I figured the best way to end that was to remove the crate. After all, he hangs in his hidey spot most of the day.  I know as the days go on, he’ll become more and more comfortable in the house and not jump at the new little sounds.  I like that it’s gone so smoothly and I hope he enjoys the rest of his days in the comfort of our home.

      Friday, July 16, 2010


entertainmentstuff
03:43 PM - 07/16/2010

The topic: Mel Gibson…hmm….
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So, I listen to the recordings.  Can’t help myself, this guy is a train wreck. 

In one of the rants, he goes on about having to sell stuff (paintings, Laker tickets) because he’s broke.  Spent all his money on his little tart. Brian said “did someone hold a gun to his head and make him spend it?  I don’t think so.  He spent it because he wanted to.” 

Man up, Mel. And if she pushes your buttons?  Then don’t give her the opportunity, ya big maroon.

And I couldn’t help but wonder maybe it would help him a little bit if he  sold some of Malibu.

Oh, and his complaints about her implants?  Huh? It would appear he was just fine with how they looked when he thought they were real.

Some people and alcohol just don’t mix.  I know this first hand.

      Saturday, July 17, 2010


catstuff
09:56 AM - 07/17/2010

The topic: What a morning!
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We were told last month that our pet store was having an anniversary sale today.  We were handed a flyer.  Five bucks off of the bag of Felidae we get, limit two per person.  And when you spend a certain amount of money, you get a free gift bag, with $50.00 worth of stuff, choice of cat bag or dog bag.  Limited to the first 250 customers who spent over a certain amount of money. Open at eight, close at seven.

They called that week to let us know that we can each get the two bags with the money off.  So, we’d be getting four bags of food, saving enough to buy another. And our card is full, we could get another bag for nothing. 

So, we get up early, take showers and go to breakfast and head over to Santee.  We pull into the parking lot.  Brian says “there’s no frikkin’ place to park!”  (It’s a big parking lot, there’s a Best Buy there.)  And the line was long! I mean looooonnnnng!  We got in it about 8:10.  We came home at 9:41.

While we were in line, a closer parking space opened up and Brian moved the car to right out front, it was great. When we got up to the door, we found a large bucket with ice with water bottles, one per customer, a bucket with various bags of chips, one per customer, and a bucket with bags of flavored popcorn.  One per customer. There were many different food manufacturers giving out samples of their wares.  I feel for the outside folks, it’s supposed to be over a hundred today. That water will come in handy.

We finally made it in and they’d upped the limit to five bags per customer!  So, we ended up with ten bags of Felidae (which filled up a second card). And so that we could get two gift bags, we each bought five bags instead of ten at once.  And we got two gift bags. And we got eleven raffle tickets each, so we put them in the bowl for the cat furniture. There’s another raffle every half hour, but you have to be there to win.  No way were we sticking around, it was already pretty darned hot.

You know, this was so well organized I had to ask if they’d done it before. Nope, first time.  They had the whole family working.  There was someone at the door who would only allow people in when someone left, so the store wasn’t crowded. There was a yellow caution tape across one of the aisles, so there was only one way to get into line.  There were two registers going, one for cash and check, the other for credit cards. 

Anyway, we’re home now (well, we’re not, Brian had to take the Mustang to get it smogged…we think it’s sold…yay! Money!).  Mickey already ripped open a bag of treats (sample bag of EVO) in one of the cat bags so I split it up between the cats and put the bags in the extra room, so I can check the cool stuff out later.

And it’s already hot outside. 

I’ve got cats who need to eat (Kirby’s been off his feed the past couple of weeks, he’s in the bathroom now with a can of Fancy Feast; I gave him one earlier and he puked part of it up and didn’t finish - I gave him a quarter Pepcid tab to settle his tummy, he was yowling for food when we walked in the door), Miss E is hungry, Mickey and Benny need some soft food and Oliver wants his.

I need to clean cat pee and puke from the other room and start on laundry.  But that won’t be too hard to do.

Time to relax.

      Sunday, July 18, 2010


otherstuff
11:57 AM - 07/18/2010

The topic: Back in August 07
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I thought it would be swell to catalog all of my CDs.  Well, maybe not all of them, but at least the ones with various artists, so it would be easier for me to find the certain songs I liked when I made compilation CDs (I didn’t own an mp3 player back then).

I found a software that I thought would work, installed it.  I liked it because it would work with a cuecat barcode reader. Remember those? was having an anniversary sale today.  We were handed a flyer.  Five bucks off of the bag of Felidae we get, limit two per person.  And when you spend a certain amount of money, you get a free gift bag, with $50.00 worth of stuff, choice of cat bag or dog bag.  Limited to the first 250 customers who spent over a certain amount of money. Open at eight, close at seven.

They called that week to let us know that we can each get the two bags with the money off.  So, we’d be getting four bags of food, saving enough to buy another. And our card is full, we could get another bag for nothing. 

So, we get up early, take showers and go to breakfast and head over to Santee.  We pull into the parking lot.  Brian says “there’s no frikkin’ place to park!”  (It’s a big parking lot, there’s a Best Buy there.)  And the line was long! I mean looooonnnnng!  We got in it about 8:10.  We came home at 9:41.

While we were in line, a closer parking space opened up and Brian moved the car to right out front, it was great. When we got up to the door, we found a large bucket with ice with water bottles, one per customer, a bucket with various bags of chips, one per customer, and a bucket with bags of flavored popcorn.  One per customer. There were many different food manufacturers giving out samples of their wares.  I feel for the outside folks, it’s supposed to be over a hundred today. That water will come in handy.

We finally made it in and they’d upped the limit to five bags per customer!  So, we ended up with ten bags of Felidae (which filled up a second card). And so that we could get two gift bags, we each bought five bags instead of ten at once.  And we got two gift bags. And we got eleven raffle tickets each, so we put them in the bowl for the cat furniture. There’s another raffle every half hour, but you have to be there to win.  No way were we sticking around, it was already pretty darned hot.

You know, this was so well organized I had to ask if they’d done it before. Nope, first time.  They had the whole family working.  There was someone at the door who would only allow people in when someone left, so the store wasn’t crowded. There was a yellow caution tape across one of the aisles, so there was only one way to get into line.  There were two registers going, one for cash and check, the other for credit cards. 

Anyway, we’re home now (well, we’re not, Brian had to take the Mustang to get it smogged…we think it’s sold…yay! Money!).  Mickey already ripped open a bag of treats (sample bag of EVO) in one of the cat bags so I split it up between the cats and put the bags in the extra room, so I can check the cool stuff out later.

And it’s already hot outside. 

I’ve got cats who need to eat (Kirby’s been off his feed the past couple of weeks, he’s in the bathroom now with a can of Fancy Feast; I gave him one earlier and he puked part of it up and didn’t finish - I gave him a quarter Pepcid tab to settle his tummy, he was yowling for food when we walked in the door), Miss E is hungry, Mickey and Benny need some soft food and Oliver wants his.

I need to clean cat pee and puke from the other room and start on laundry.  But that won’t be too hard to do.

Time to relax.

      Monday, July 19, 2010


otherstuff
08:01 AM - 07/19/2010

The topic: Now, that’s odd.
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We’ve got some plastic cutlery that we’ve had for about a million years.  A couple of months ago, I pulled one of the pieces out of the box and used it to fluff up KittyMeeze’s food during the day (he flattens it out as he eats, it’s easier to eat fluffed). I just left it out there, it makes it easier and less messy than using our fingers.

Two days ago, the plastic knife went missing.  I looked all over. Asked Brian if he’d done anything with it. Nope.

So, I got out another piece yesterday. This time it was a fork that I pulled out.  Used it a couple of times.

This morning, it’s gone. We both looked all over.

I think some raccoon comes in here at night to eat (but there’s no food) and is taking our plastic cutlery.

I wonder if it’s gonna teach the kid to eat like a hoomin.

      Saturday, July 24, 2010


otherstuff
07:46 AM - 07/24/2010

The topic: So we had the car up for sale
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It was on eBay.  The last day of the auction, last week, Tuesday or Wednesday, we get a nibble. The guy comes out, checks out the car, it’s his dream car, he wants it. He needs to talk it over with his wife.

The asking price was $10,000.00.  Monday, he says “how about $8,500.00?”  Brian said “how about $9,500.00?”  The guy said “how about $9,000.00?”  Brian thought it over for a day. We need the space (remember, Brian’s closing his rented shop and bringing everything home; we never drive the car anymore, but it’s still registered and insured).  Okay. Sold.

He calls the guy.  Tells him.  This was Tuesday. The buyer said “I need a day to get the money from the bank.”  Then it was “I have a meeting at three Friday, let’s get this done before then.” 

He doesn’t call yesterday until late in the afternoon.  He told Brian that it’s just not coming together for him, and if he’s having so much trouble getting out here to get the car, he figures that it’s just not meant to be.

So, a week and a half wasted.

What a flake.

      Saturday, July 31, 2010


otherstuff
10:51 AM - 07/31/2010

The topic: It feels like the fog is lifting
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Since my mom crashed, my life has been in some sort of fog.  You know that Claritin commercial where the person with allergies is fuzzy?  That’s how I’ve felt all this time.

First there was the anger with my mother.  Anger for what she did to me or anger for what she did to herself?  Maybe some of both?  Then there was the couple of years Brian was in a bad mood. That sucked. And let’s not forget the car accident.  That certainly wasn’t a positive thing in my life, for sure. And the insurance company certainly didn’t help there. These past few years have just not been complete. Like I was just calling my life in, not actually living it.

Anyway, it feels like things are finally changing. It’s nice.


otherstuff
11:20 AM - 07/31/2010

The topic: So, we sleep in a little this morning
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I rolled out of bed (seriously, I can’t slide out, too many cats in the way) around 6:30.  There are a couple of cats in the window looking out at something, very interested in what they’re looking at.

I look out, too.  With the parking situation, one of Brian’s trucks in is the middle of the yard, right in front of the bedroom window.  I see nothing. Cats are still interested.  My eyes are gazing out across the truck, trying to figure out what is holding their interest.  I ask out loud “what are you guys loo…COYOTE!” as I see it on the bank.  Brian jumps out of bed, starts putting his shorts on. He asked where it was. “On the bank.”  It was sniffing around the juniper where KittyMeeze used to spend his nights (he recently moved to the fenced yard next door for nighttime, comes back here at breakfast).  Brian runs out the door, starts clapping his hands and telling the coyote to “git, go on, get out of here..”  He watches as it runs up the street.

No sign of Kitty, but I wasn’t nervous at all.  A couple of hours later he shows up for breakfast. 

I want to tell the coyote “dude, if you go up the street and to the top of the hill, there’s a huge vacant area with millions of bunnies, just waiting for you. I promise. We see them all the time when we go walking, go check it out. Stay off of my street.”

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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