And with Scott’s help—we managed to get the weight of the marine tank canopy reduced by about 90% which means easy off-on. Feeding is still an adventure—I have to get a short ladder and climb up to drop food in, but that’s not too bad.
OTOH, FINITY made the leap higher than my head in one bound, only to discover we had sawed the top of the canopy out, so it’s hollow. We yelled. FORTUNATELY the top has glass access panels in an otherwise glassed in top—and Finity, roundly cursed at, leapt for the ground, which has to have stung her little feet. I hope she remembers THAT was not successful.
This is the first time I have really been able to access and service my tank in 2 years. I’ve got the water back in balance, the fishes are happy, the glass is clean, or as nearly so as elbow-grease can manage in one go with a strong magnet cleaner and 5/8ths inch glass. Pushing that magnet cleaner is work! But it’s pretty again. I haven’t been able to say that about my tank in 2 years. But the fish and snails have survived, and I now have installed one mushroom rock—actinodiscus mushrooms, purple with greenish iridescence, and capable of reproducing like mad if happy. And they have spread out in evident happiness.
Finity, I hope, now knows the that the tops of both fish tanks are a no-no.
Ow, ow. Darn little cat is still bitey. He thinks he’s playing. Goober and I do not. So far, only a partial night’s timeout in the bathroom has worked, for part of the following day. Yes, trying the advice, since I don’t want to scare him or confuse him or turn him adversarial. Sigh. When he’s calm and resting, when he’s not amped up and playing, he’s fine. Nearly lost my temper with him last night after getting nipped several times, plus him hassling Goober. So I’m trying to wait it out, going he will learn eventually. But dang, it’s taking forever to get through to him about this, his one bad habit. I don’t want to give him away, bt I’m having trouble keeping my patience. Still love him, but he’s driving me nuts when he misbehaves this way, and it’s tough on Goober.
Did you miss chondrite and I suggesting you hiss (speak in cat) and grab Ned by the scruff of the neck, last page? If you don’t have gloves, you could put layers of socks on your hands.
Be careful! Harris County has pegged their alert level. They’re closing bars—in Texas!
Forgot — Ned (name still doesn’t fit him) and Goober had their checkup Thursday, follow-up dose of dewormer, 2nd shots for kitten, repeat with different flea med for the kitten. His 3rd shots are due in a month. Still needs FIV/FeLV test, IIRC. Aside from the Little Nipper bitey problem and therefore hassling Goober, he’s good.
Rain the past few days, and I heard either Mystic or the big black or dark gray cat overnight. Grocery order due today, hoping I get everything.
Next time you see the vet, ask them for ideas about how to break Mr. Fang of his bitey habit.
I used to put my whole hand over their faces and push the head back and down while saying,” R-r-r-owWL!”. As well, I would find them when they were peaceful and do their ears for them, then leave when they presented claws to play. Hissss is for when they attack with claws out of the clear blue yonder.
Heh, the vet’s advice was, she puts her cats in the laundry room at night so she can sleep, and that it sounded like I was doing all I could. — So far, the scruff of the neck, etc., isn’t getting it. Goober has gotten more exasperated and fussy, and attempts to deliver a light but not firm or long enough smackdown, holding him down or batting at him with his paw. How much Goober is OK with it and playing along, or how annoyed he is, is sometimes hard for me to tell. — I’m keeping at it. I keep hoping somehow the kitten will get the message, and that my actions don’t send the wrong message, to fight back instead of stop the bad behavior. :-/ And dang, otherwise, he’s good.
Bad News and Good News and, well, Dang —
My grocery delivery was late, eventually arrived, but it’s a good thing I checked my email and text msgs. Overdrawn. So I called my friend about my investment and the house, and Monday, my bank balance should start to be OK again in time for rent, etc. But that was sooner than I’d expected for things to bottom out. Bad. (I’d told the friend I expected this sooner than he had.) OK for now, but in a few more months, that needs to have produced enough to do so again. Nuts.
The house? Not only are things bad on my end, but the seller is in some kind of trouble too, and hasn’t been in contact with my friend, who thinks the man might be sick or having other trouble. We decided yes, things are too iffy on both sides, with no end in sight for the shutdown (renewed here), and so I asked him to apologize for me and withdraw from the deal. (I’ve had no contact with the seller.) My friend hopes to hear from him with a call Monday. Meanwhile, my friend is awaiting results from virus testing. (I don’t know if the rest of his family were tested.) His advice was, yes, withdraw, because he thinks there’s too much chance of a problem on the other guy’s side, plus that I’m not in a position now for the deal to work out. He said he’d be thinking of ways to help my situation.
So…well, I guess with things as they are, it just wasn’t to be. At least not right now. Maybe I can still build up somehow, but I don’t really see how. The investment and a small royalty income are what’s keeping me going. At least the investment is still going OK.
The grocery delivery was left at the doorstep, like the previous two times, with the delivery guy hanging around to make sure I was there, and say the receipt was there. — As with the previous two or three orders, several items were unavailable from the store, so it wasn’t the delivery guy shorting me. But this means I’ll need to extend what I got as much as possible, and to continue to expect things to be out of stock. — And it’s crazy: I would much rather have had the hamburger and two other meat items and the sodas, than, say, the two pints of ice cream or a couple of items I hadn’t deleted. It will all get used, I won’t starve in the month or so before I need to order again, so OK. But it’s a good thing I have extra of some canned chili, etc., and ramen. Wow.
I’m trying to stay positive. But I’m sure discouraged. I had thought I was doing better on spending after giving away the mama cat and kittens, but not enough. I am going to cut down as much as possible, and keep going on fonts and what else I can still do.
I am also going to unpack and get rid of some more things, then repack if items won’t be used for a while. Only awaiting the Amazon Panry delivery right after the 1st, and then I should be OK for a while. But…dang. The cats are fine. Once a deposit can happen, I should be OK for a few months. But this is way too precarious, longer-term, and all I’ve done is delay things, extend the point of no return maybe just enough to keep from reaching it, maybe-maybe. Also, I can reinvest the money I was going to put towards the house, which should help long-term, but not immediately.
The expression, frelled the drannit comes to mind. :-/ Telling myself I will be OK, I’m not quite past that point of no return yet. Note the end of this month will be 3.5 months since we’d supposed to have closed on the house. I hope the seller and my friend both are not going to get sick. I don’t have the virus as far as I know.
I hope you all are doing well. Stay safe and healthy. If the current situation says anything, it is that our country and our world must make changes. Well, my polling location won’t have changed for November, but I need to look it up, as it had changed last time.
God, I could use a hug. I’m so glad I have Goober and the little kitten, Ned. (His name appears to be sticking, even though I don’t feel it fits him.)
I presume you have Amazon Prime. It’ll be a big time suck, but you might want to check out The Expanse on Amazon Video if you haven’t watched it.
I watched the Expanse seasons 1 and.2 before the switch to Amazon, then season 3, and watched season 4 a couple of months ago. I intend to rewatch when I can. Still haven’t read the books, but loved the show.
Looking forward to the Orville season 3 and Stranger Things season 4. I’m in a rewatch of BSG Classic, want to finish wherever I left off in the BSG Reboot (Ron Moore). Recently rewatched Firefly (so good), haven’t rewatched Farscape in a while. Not sure how much of Babylon 5 I’ve ever watched, but episodes here and there.
I dug out my box sets of Space: Above and Beyond -and- Dark Angel (James Cameron). I need to find my copy of SpaceCamp, the ill-timed 1980’s teen movie. Not sure if I still have the “Dot-Hack .// Sign” anime series box set, I hope so. I’ve been wanting to rewatch it.
Farscape is on Prime Video.
Babylon 5 isn’t available on Prime any more, and it’s (I think) not worth paying $1-$2 per ep. Warner Brothers may stream it on their own service, but I’ve seen statements that they aren’t going to clean it up, so it’s NTSC (old TV) cropped to fit; lousy 480i quality.
Unfortunately, since B5 is a novel for TV, the only thing that makes sense is watching the 88(?) eps of the first 4 seasons in order; watching a random ep is like reading a random page or two from a book. (They thought they might not get a 5th season, so the 5th is kind of a hodgepodge.) A sad fate for a good show.
Virtual hugs to you, BCS. It’s a tough time to get through, these days, and you’ve got extra challenges on top of everyone else’s. Hang in there. You’re not alone.
In my opinion season 5 of B5 is not worth watching,
Yeah S5 was all messed up, although some of the episodes are solid (as best I remember, it’s been a while ! ). They though S4 would be the last before cancellation, and had to “finish” the storyline up as best they could. But all in all, a great series.
My favorite ep of S5 was the one with the two maintenance guys breaking the 4th wall, with asides to the audience and general bemusement about what the main characters were doing.
Wow I don’t recall that — any idea which episode it was?
Ep 4; “A View from the Gallery”
I would say S5 as a whole is worth watching once. If you’re going to use a free trial or buy a month of WB’s streaming service to watch B5, might as well see S5. Crusade, the sequel, is less attractive since all you get is setup. The B5 movies, except the pilot, feel like forty-some minute eps stretched too thin, and aren’t really necessary; except maybe the pre-quel one, whose name I forget.
All the seasons follow the same pattern. Resolve the cliffhanger from the previous season (or the pilot movie). Ponderously establish each main character from scratch, which gets old. Mix stand-alone episodes, some of which are very good, with “arc” episodes that advance the novel-for-TV. End on a cliff-hanger, or 422/522, “Sleeping in the Light”.
The series was shot in high def (1920×1080, IIRC), but it was reduced to NTSC, and the CGI was only rendered in NTSC resolution. In the mid-1990s, they were pushing their “render farm” to its limits, but S4 possibly still has the largest space battle scenes ever. All that WB has ever broadcast or put on discs is the NTSC version (or maybe the slightly better PAL).
J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) is a good writer if a little uneven at times. As an executive producer, he was brilliant, meticulously minimizing set construction and re-setup costs, making B5 on schedule and on budget for far less than the simultaneously made DS9, whose setting and story continuity suspiciously resembled B5’s (though a pale copy).
(BTW, I think I forgot to include Lost in Space (the recent Netflix incarnation) among those I’m looking forward to returning.)
The Little Nipper has been vacillating between OK and naughty and extra-touchy behavior, hassling Goober, nipping me more strongly. This despite “ow!” “no!” and “no biting,” holding him down at the scruff of the neck, an occasional hiss from me, much complaining and some holding down from Goober.
He kitten earned himself a timeout in the bathroom tonight, about 10 min., then another still ongoing, because he had returned to hassling Goober minutes after being let out. I found him on Goober’s back attempting a play-fight / dominance, nibble-nibble-nibble at Goober’s neck or collar (with bell).
My patience with him is about worn out after this morning, when he pounced on the bed and on me. He’s bored and lonely for play and attention with other kittens, I think, and Goober just isn’t the type to get ticked off and deliver the smackdown or other discipline.
I have tried about everything and it’s not working that I can tell. He’s fine when he’s in the mood to sleep or cuddle. When he wants to play, which is almost all the time he’s awake, he STILL has not gotten the idea that nibbling / nipping / bitey behavior is Not Done with your playmates or elders, guardians, etc. (Goober and I being his only contacts.)
I have been finding myself on the verge of wanting to give up and give him away, and my temper has been too frayed too often, when I’ve ben exasperated enough or nipped enough to hold him down, for instance. I don’t like seeing this in myself brought on by his constant misbehavior. At this point, I’m no longer sure if I’m somehow to blame or if it’s just been a string of misbehaving, poorly socialized stray cats. (Mystic being the exception, and much missed lately.)
I’m going to let him out of the bathroom and hope he can stay free the rest of the night. I can’t seem to get across to him not to bite / nibble, that it’s not acceptable with friends or loved ones, or in general not the way to greet or invite play with anyone. He’s smart enough, he’s mostly well-behaved enough, he isn’t too hungry, he gets attention, his hearing and eyesight are fine as far as I can tell Nearly any other tie I’ve taken in a kitten (long before my previous two cats), they had always had some time with their siblings and mama to dissuade them of biting. All my cats except one have been good about not biting / nipping. The one, Smokey, I had said I gave away because he was getting aggressive and peeing / spraying etc., after living here , and given away last year.
So I am unsure if somehow I’m at fault or if it’s because recent cats have been strays from around the complex. (Goober of course came with me from my old house, as did Smokey.) Only one of Peppercorn’s kittens seemed to have behavior problems, and herself. And Mystic was fine.
I keep telling myself not to give up or lose my cool with the new kitten, Ned aka Little Nipper. But this keeps going on, I’ve had him over 2 months now, he’s over a quarter of a year old and moving into early adolescence. I’m about ready to call it quits, to say I can’t deal with this anymore and it’s unfair to Goober, and give away the kitten. But dang it, I took him in at 4 to 5 weeks old. Why can’t I get him out of this bad habit and why can’t Goober’s behavior also get the kitten out of it? Dang, I’m discouraged. I want tis little guy to learn better, to outgrow the bad behavior, and stay. He’s charming and can be so sweet. He’s smart and quirky and funny He should be a great little housecat. I thought he was going to be. Yet either he won’t learn or I am not doing it right to teach him. And my temper these days is not patient enough, after several misbehaving cats, plus my own, whatever is going on with me these days.
The neighbors’ kids, en masse, had a minor meltdown this evening, outside. Cabin fever and being out to play on their own, I think is what did it. Didn’t help while I was dealing with the kitten.
Take care, everyone. No news on if money will be in before it’s due or still within the grace period. I think I’m going to have a bad hiccup there for a few days, and hope I can weather it. I have been avoiding / displacement today, watching video, listening to podcasts, attempting to write (ideas but no good writing produced). Take care, everyone. I’m trying to stay positive and tell myself it’ll turn out all right and I’ll weather this and have a livable future and income. Somehow. I just don’t know how yet. Also no word if the friend reached the seller. So…dang it. Bad day here. I hope you all are doing better.
Ben, I think you need to accept that you are a one kitty household, at least until you get your housing situation solved. With all your good intentions more than one kitty sounds like too much stress for kitten, you, and Goober.
Hurrah! Have I mentioned previously that son Caleb has found the leak in the pond? It’s under the filter system and is completely repairable. Meanwhile the filter is being set up in another spot temporarily.
We drained the pool to give it a good cleaning. I haven’t been satisfied with the way it looks for a couple of years now.
Of course , now that we are really getting down to work we are having a rainy period. This after weeks of sun with no clouds in the sky.
I am getting my stamina back post surgery. I work for a few hours then rest, or at least sit in my studio.
Toes crossed I didn’t go too far over ten lines. We’ll see, grasshopper…….we’ll see…..
As Goober ages, it might be that he is becoming even less resilient and able to deal with young feline shenanigans. Appreciate the old fellow and let him finish in peace; in a few years when you’re ready, perhaps get 2 young cats and let them grow up together, which should reduce the infighting.
Agreed that you mistimed the overhaul of your pond, but oh my we needed this rain in coastal New England after the major dry spell/moderate drought—we got 5 inches in the past three days! I had left out an empty watering bucket after spending a hour+ hosing and hauling water for my garden; after the initial, 40 minute thunderstorm/deluge, it had 2″ in it and has steadily increased with the more moderate rains after that.
Good to hear that you’re feeling better, Smartcat.
@smartcat – Glad you are recovering. Keep on taking it easier than you think it needs. Glad Caleb is there to help out.
Smartcat, glad to hear you are doing OK!
The Little Nipper has behaved himself just slightly better after his timeouts yesterday, and my patience is a little better. Goober is somehow putting up with it. I am giving the little guy a chance, still. For now. His 3rd and final shots are due in a month. Between now and then, I think I should have my answer on whether I will keep him or give him away.
The friend didn’t get back to me Monday or Tuesday, so I presume a transfer is still underway, or worse, not yet started. My rent auto-payment will bounce tomorrow. 🙁 I’ve scheduled a payment next week, in hopes it’ll be fine by then, but I’m going to call the friend in the morning and see if we can straighten things out. Until the money situation is resolved for the next while, I can’t get a cab anyway, if I were to take the kitten to a shelter. As long as apt. rent and utilities and storage space fee go through before the grace period, I should be OK.
The kitten behaved himself well enough for a nap in my arms this afternoon with no nipping, but is still not free of it otherwise. Sigh. — I am surprised Goober hasn’t hauled off and really walloped the kitten. Bless him for being so sweet-natured and long-suffering.
Outside, I just heard a cat, but I don’t think that was Mystic.
For now, Ned the Little Nipper and Gober are with me. I won’t give up Goober, of course, and I’m trying to give him more attention and buffer him. Also trying to give the kitten attention and play time, which he wants desperately. Today reminded me he is still very much a kitten and looks up to me as the guy who saved him. He just can’t seem to get it that nipping is not acceptable. Still trying. Oh, the timeouts in the bathroom, much woeful, mournful meowing. But it might have made an impression this past time, I hope. I also tried something direct but not too advisable: I (lightly) pinched his nose and mouth closed after he’d nipped. I was afraid I could hurt him if I was too hard, or make him want to retaliate. He’s still little, just beginning to be all legs on the verge of kitten adolescence. It seemed to get it across, but I don’t want to do that often, for fear of him lashing out now or when older. So, still working on the issue.
Nuts, housing and income. I am telling myself not to panic or be too scared or depressed, that it will be OK, delayed until after the money goes through, and hopefully I can make enough progress before it next becomes a problem.
I am likely to watch two or three episodes of something tonight and spend time with the cats. I am anxious about things and hope it’ll be OK.
@Ben, please email me ASAP.
This is my first visit here since my last post on 21st June, at some point I’m going to have to scroll back to May the 5th to see how much I’ve missed. I’m currently off this week using some of my holiday up, I’m repainting the hallway which has been waiting since I fell into the wall that time (God’s, I can’t remember when that was now !!!) , it’s also my mother’s 88th birthday on Thursday so hoping I get it all cleared up by then. I was clearing up last night so mum could get to bed, Skye was outside (our dog) time was about eleven (ish), Skye started barking like a lunatic, so I had to ho Chase her. Now, she’s around the side of the house, it’s pitch black there at night. do I borrowed mums bedside torch to go see what she’s up to. Dragged her away from a Hedgehog, “hello little hedgehog”, “I don’t know how you get through the gate or fence. You take care now”. She sat by the door wanting to get back outside, damn fool girl, your just gonna hurt yourself. I kept her in for another hour, before going out to take the bin out to the kerb for collection in the morning. Naturally the hedgehog is gone by then.
Hedgehog; squee! We have no such critters here. We certainly have large snails they might enjoy.
Around our house, the only thing we can expect is the occasional ‘gift’ (usually half a rat) from the Three Stooges. Last week was a dead mouse left next to the doormat 😛
I’ve never seen a hedgehog, or porcupine. Our Irish Wolfhounds got into them so badly once that they had to go to vet hospital. I am not sure if they learned from the experience.
Winter, our little pup, protects us from squirrels and chipmunks with vigor!
I’ve only seen pictures of both. But I was given some small porcupine quills, and I can report that they are nasty to handle. Barbed. (Like opuntia spines. Don’t mass with chollas and prickly pears.)