Tag: kitties

The benefits of schooling

One of the benefits I’m discovering with my Masters program isn’t related to knowledge learned or an eventual pay increase. The benefit is quality time with my cats.

I like to work on my coursework on my laptop in my library. I can sit in my comfy chair and listen to quiet music while I read my documents, write in the forums, or work on my papers for class. And while I’m sitting in the comfy chair, I often receive visitors of the four-legged variety.

It’s nearly always Linus coming to sleep on me while I work. He’ll start by trying to sit on the laptop, but eventually the two of them (laptop & Linus) will come to an arrangement and he’ll finally curl up and sleep. Meanwhile, I learn new & exciting ways to type one-handed or with both hands but in uncomfortable positions.

Every so often, however, Lucy deigns to join us as well. Normally when she joins us, both Linus and the laptop have to be rearranged until she’s decided where she wants to sleep. Then Linus figures out where he wants to sleep. Finally, I have to figure out a spot to put the laptop.

I don’t mind their joining me one bit. I love having ’em on my lap while I work. Since most of the time I’m reading rather than writing, it’s not all that uncomfortable. And now, when I’m writing, Linus and the laptop have managed to accommodate my typing rather well. (OK, so my right arm is resting on Linus’s back, but he doesn’t seem to mind the movement of it.)

If anyone is interested, I have added a few more entries to my Science Blog related to my class. Feel free to read & comment. (I’m getting tired of deleting spam – I wanna see real people there! Heh!) Eventually, I’ll be working on the final project part of the Informal Science Learning class where I’ll make that blog into an Informal Science Venue itself. So hopefully soon you’ll have a chance to learn some science from me!

Anyhoo, back to scritching Linus and working on my coursework.

Welcoming Visitors

In addition to yesterday being my day to post my Where I Live Day photos, it was my “welcoming friends to my house” day. audioboy and bex77 have been on a road trip from Mass to Ind and stopped at my place on their way back. So I spent the days beforehand cleaning the place (still only a lick & a promise – that’s all I ever seem to do).

They arrived around 11am as they projected and were looking forward to meeting the kitties. However, my kitties are not used to visitors and decided to hide rather than greet the guests. Silly kitties! Still, Lucy was the braver of the two (her weakness is loud noises, not strangers) and at least allowed N & B to look at her and take her photo. They even got to do a small amount of scritching before she hopped away again.

I had suggested lunch at the new pizza place in town and they thought that would be nice. So we walked to the other end of town for lunch. I tried the turkey sub, they shared pizza and a steak sub. They seemed to like the food. I know I did. 🙂 I told Jeff, the owner, that he’s now passed the Massachusetts test. The next big test will be the Chicago test when I bring judiang there later this week.

We got ice cream for the walk back and returned to Chez trinalin. Lucy was pottering about in the bedroom and Linus was sleeping under the comforter on the bed. I showed the lump to N & B and we decided that was the most we’d see of Linus during their visit.

They returned to their car and figured out the easiest way to get back on their way East. I waved goodbye as they headed off then returned to the house to scold the ungrateful kitties. Sure enough, they poked their heads out soon enough as if to say “OK, we’re ready for visitors now!” Silly kitties!

Thanks for coming, N & B! It was lovely having you!

In other news, tomorrow I shall post the answer to my rather abject riddle. So far, one person’s guessed it correctly and two were impressively close. 🙂

How did *he* get into my dream???

The kitties have been especially annoying this morning, doing what they could to try and get me up at 4am. Pretty much 4am to 5am was me spent trying to sleep while Linus kneaded the bed around me. Lucy was being nice and simply sleeping on top of me. I did fall asleep around 5am and only recently awoke (again, Linus kneading the bed). And what was I dreaming about when I awoke?

Well in this dream, elsaf, judiang and I were vacationing together, as we are wont to do. But we get picked up by some security folks when we land at the airport and are driven to some unknown property. When we arrive, it’s an ordinary enough house and no security folks are actually IN the house. Whose house, you ask? Why President Bush’s house, of course. (!!!!) So we’re there and thankfully spend more time with his wife (not sure she looked like the real Mrs Bush) and son (who looked a bit like hergrace‘s youngest only with short hair that’s curlier).

As we did at Steph’s place, we were having a birthday celebration for someone (but I don’t recall who now). Rather than bake her famous cheesecake, Elsa had apparently ordered some pecan dessert thing – all very hoity toity – and had it delivered to the place. Never did get to see what it was (I think it was something in an intricately tiered thing) but I did get to eat ice cream in the dream. And spent most of my time in the dream having to play with the little kid. The final bit in the dream is all of us at the dinner table – including the Prez.

Well, actually, there was something of a follow up to it. When we were heading back home, someone was bragging about their holiday, but I had ’em pipped when I said I got to vacation with the President. He asked what that was like and my response was “Well, I still don’t like him all that much, but his wife and family are pretty nice.”

So, my dear psyche, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON?????

BTW, I think I’ve figured out why the kitties were so antsy (pun intended). I went to clean out their automatic feeder to put fresh cat food in it and found that teeny tiny ants had discovered it. ICK! Looks like I shall be buying some ant dots after work today! (The being squicked by ants is pretty much why I haven’t gone back to bed. Ick!)

Happy Birthday, Linus & Lucy!

Although no one is really sure what day Linus & Lucy were born, the vet and I made the decision that June 15th would be their official birthdate. So that means today, my babies are one year old! Wow! The time sure flew!

To celebrate, I bought them cat food today. Heh. I’ll be mixing it with their kitten food until they get used to the new food. They’re currently playing with trash in the living room. I give ’em toys, they prefer to empty out the trash can. Go figure. (Not the kitchen trash, thankfully, just some plastic from my recently purchased Doctor Who toys.)

And, for your amusement, three recent photos of the kitties behind the cut.


Linus checks out the flowerbox
Linus checks out the flowerbox

Linus is in the den looking out at that flowerbox.
Does this bed make me look fat?
Does this bed make me look fat?

Seriously, Lucy isn’t that tubby!
Lucy checks out the flowerbox
Lucy checks out the flowerbox

Lucy looks out over the flowerbox from the dining room.


Finished Bookshelves

I promised pictures of my finished bookshelves, and here they are. I’m still in the process of putting books on the shelves (though my Doctor Who books are on their shelves now), and will post the final photos when I get that done. Yay for books! Yay for kitties who love people who love books!



Books in Waiting
Books in Waiting

My books, patiently waiting for my bookshelves to be built.
Mapped Out Shelves 1
Mapped Out Shelves 1

Blue masking tape helped me to map out where I wanted my shelves. This set actually was flipped when built – the X marked where I wanted to put the sound system.

Completed Shelves 1
Completed Shelves 1

The first set of shelves is done!
Completed Shelves 2
Completed Shelves 2

And the second set – woohoo!
Completed Shelves 3
Completed Shelves 3

Two more sets are done…
Completed Shelves 4
Completed Shelves 4

And the final set of shelves – with room for kitty potty & all…
Linus & Lucy Explore the New Shelves
Linus & Lucy Explore the New Shelves

As soon as the dust settled, Linus (top) and Lucy (bottom) had to check out their new bookshelves.


Winter Storm

Like others in my friend’s list, we were part of the Winter Storm that swept quite an area of the US. Thankfully, since I’m a school teacher, I had yesterday and today off. And I had fun documenting the storm with photos. 🙂

Oh, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out my Valentine’s Day card. Linus and Lucy posed especially for it.

So, yesterday we had lots of snowing going on. I made chicken & rice soup for lunch, but since I put far too much rice in it, I wound up with very nice chicken & rice porridge. Yum! I spent the entire day indoors, except for a couple of minutes when I took some photos from my front porch. In the process of doing that, the kitties got out and Lucy hopped off the porch to investigate this “snow” thing better. I stepped down to coax her back up. And then proceeded to slip and fall onto the porch (into the thin layer of snow which had blown up that far). I now know why they call those things “slippers.” Heh. I’m pretty sure that Lucy was laughing as she hopped back inside the house.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I finished watching season 3 of Open All Hours (and now must order season 4…) I played some City of Heroes. I had leftovers for supper (from Dinner & a Movie). It was a very nice day.

Today I’ve been watching Columbo and trying to get caught up with grading. I’m nearly done with the physics tests, but then I’ve got chemistry tests and physics quizzes to grade. (The lab reports are stacking up too, but they’re on the server at work, so I’ll do them when I’m back in the building.) The folks and I walked up to the Post Office today, so I took some photos along the way. I took a cute photo of them outside their house so dad could send to one of his friend’s in California who’s been complaining about the 60­°F temperatures they’ve been having. Heh. Also took a photo of a neighbor’s house who’s off in Florida for the winter. That way they can remember why they go to Florida every winter. 🙂

Anyhoo, here are some of the photos from Winter Storm 2007:


Here is a shot off the porch during the storm. It’s all misty looking due to all of the snowflakes falling.


This is a similar view after the storm was over.


Lucy went out again some this morning and plopped into the same spot as yesterday. A little more snow in that space than yesterday. Silly kitty.


Getting from my doorway to the street was something. Some of those footprints are DEEP. (Up to my knees in one of ’em!)


My house in all of its glory!


Awwwww, aren’t they cute?


The mound of snow after they plowed out the Post Office parking lot makes for a fun snow mountain for kids!


My street on the walk back.


Dad shoveling the walk… Actually, a neighbor had just plowed through with her snow blower (and it was a chore for her!) and dad’s just following up.


This is a neat icicle that always gets formed in that tree each year. Some years it’s been much bigger. But it’s always pretty.

I know some of you are probably tired of snow and/or photos of snow, but for those of you who aren’t, I hope you enjoyed my pictorial journal. 🙂

Why don’t cats get bedhead and other musings…

Today, Saturday the 13th, has been a nice lazy day. Indeed, around 2ish I had a sinus headache and decided to go take a nap. When I got to the bed, the kitties had anticipated Nap Time and were already snoozing on the bed. As soon as I got in bed, they both moved to be closer to me. Awwww.

Anyhoo, we discovered that the bed had become something of a black hole because none of us could escape for over 2 hours. No matter, we all had nice sleeps. And I don’t think they were ready for getting up, but they did anyway.

It was as I was getting up that I realized that I had bedhead but the kittens didn’t. They never get it. Even Leo, with his long fur, never got bedhead. Lucky cats! And it’s not like they ever have to go out in public and embarrass themselves with bedhead. (Well, I wasn’t going out either, so it was all moot today.)

So, have you ever had a time when two of your “fandoms” overlapped in interesting ways? There are times when City of Heroes and Doctor Who overlap. Sometimes it’s just me. “So who looks at a Vortex Core Leonis and says ‘this could be more sonic?'” I ponder every time I see a Sonic Vortex Core Leonis. And I want to say “Are you my mummy?” every time I see Terrance Dobbs in City of Villains.

However, yesterday I had the option to rescue the Hand of Omega. (Or rather, Hand of 0mega – a zero instead of an o.) And since there have been times when I’ve been asked to beat up Davros (or was that kidnap?) I think someone in CoH/CoV might have a passing knowledge of Doctor Who.

I ended up not taking the mission, however, because I hate fighting the Circle of Thorns. In hindsight, I wish I had if only to see if the Hand of 0mega looked like a big black coffin… 😉

Busy Weekend

This has been a good weekend. I got some stuff done that needed doing and had a nice time with my kitties, which also needs doing. 🙂

Friday we had our staff Xmas lunch. The superintendent had it catered and staff brought in desserts. The shredded chicken was good (as probably was the shredded beef, but I didn’t get that) and the deserts were – wow, let’s just say I had a sugar high that day. That evening, we had a small gathering at BW3s for the first time in ages. I enjoyed the chicken wings and the conversation. Oh, the amaretto sour was good too. 🙂

Saturday, I had a dentist’s appointment which put me in Troy around lunchtime. What better time to check out the new Japanese place? I stopped at Staples on the way to the dentist for some Xmas gift supplies. Was told I had boring teeth by my hygienist (I’ve had her as my hygienist for, like, ever). Had a wonderful sushi meal at the new Japanese place. They have hibachi there was well. Wonder if I can convince the family that we should all go there for lunch one day when the girls are here. 🙂

After a short stop in Walmart for breakfast items, I drove to the Piqua Mall. I needed to get bags for my vacuum cleaner at Sears and thought I’d look through the mall. I was pleased to see there were many folks shopping there. And it was fun looking at the N-scale train they had on display from the Dayton N-scale club. They even had a train’s eye view playing as the train went around the track. I, of course, watched it go the entire distance.

I popped into Home Depot to see if they had the type of wood I want for my bookshelves (Lowe’s ran out last time I got some) and they do, for the same price. I didn’t buy any since I didn’t have dad and his truck to help, but I did buy one of those cardboard tubes used for cement molds. I intend to make a Cat Jungle Gym at some point and needed it for the curved platforms for sitting. Dunno when I’ll make it (most likely with dad’s help) but I will.

The final stop was Meijer where I got the last of my Xmas gifts and some supplies. Then I went home to hang with the kitties. We worked on a Christmas gift for awhile and played and cleaned and stuff. And today, more of the same. I discovered that I have enough underwear to last til Tuesday, so I’ll do laundry then. Heh. I even got to read Linus a book (that I bought when several teachers and I went shopping on Monday). He didn’t look at the pictures, cute though they were, but he did listen. Or maybe he was sleeping? With a cat, who can tell? 🙂

For the most part, I’m done with my holiday shopping. Waiting for a couple of orders to arrive and still have one to finish. However, I won’t be wrapping presents until Christmas morning probably. The closer I get to the actual days of presents opening, the less chance there is for the kitties to unwrap them all.

Picture Time

It has been awhile since I’ve displayed photos of my kittens, so I think I should remedy that.


Lucy sitting pretty.


It’s a little out of season, but here is Lucy with her good friend, pumpkin.


I discovered the kittens have a different meaning for “boxing.” That’s Linus in the box.


Lucy & Linus wait for mommy to come home. (Well, not in this photo, but they have been known to keep watch when I’m away.)


It’s nice of the kittens to help with the household chores, but I don’t think they quite understand the dishwasher yet.


Linus makes sure the Christmas tree tastes right.


The tree is decorated – but they’ve already taken care of the bottom row for me. And if you look close, you can see one of the little ones underneath the tree.