Catz Daze

This is Aria. She likes to be under the covers. And when she's not, she likes to attack feet!

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me..

But woe betide any human subject who wakes her furry butt up!

or not...some are just curious...

But Aria has one MAJOR kitty trait...

and can't help looking into the well, or laundry machine as it were to see if Lassie might have fallen in.

She just HAS to sniff out any possible place a D.O.G. might be.

And her human sister has one very Human trait....throw the cat down the well...

And some get pushed in by a helpful sibling who just can't resist....

HELLO? Any Doggies down here?

until Mom has pity on them and lets their poor, beleaguered, neurotic furry butts free.

 And you thought helping someone recover from surgery was all fun and games,  huh? Work I tell you, it's all work!
from the goddess of puzzling kitties....

passing of a friend and companion...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...I hate being this cliche. EVERYONE blogs about losing their animals. EVERYONE blogs about losing family. I think I did that too...maybe. That one hit much harder, for longer, and still hits on a daily basis so maybe I didn't...I don't really remember right now.  But EVERYONE blogs about their dead pets...I'm going to too...

She was named Shadow. My husband called her Shallow kitty and taught her how to speak on command.

It was very weird. She's been trying to convince him for the last 16, almost 17 years, that he REALLY likes cats better than dogs...REALLY.  No go.  I called her kitty rat, and bitch-trichs, and bitch-kitty, and the black bitch. (You had to be there. LOL) SHE WAS the top of the ALPHA pile in this house and knew it. We  were all her slaves.

When she started going downhill a few years ago the kids convinced me to take in a stray feral cat a friend of theirs had saved. He has a personality and is the most intelligent cat I've ever met. And he ended up outweighing Shadow cat by about double, but he always kowtowed to her Attitude. They somehow thought he was a female originally and called him Lilly. He's been renamed Leon... Or Lee-Lee.

Then 6 months later a little runt of the litter was brought to us by neighbors to try to save. My mom in law saved her. We named her Mystique and she adopted my son.

She doesn't weigh more than a minute and always sneaked around under queen Shadow's radar.

 The dog and the fixed male cat were a whoooole 'nother story. They were ALWAYS on her growl screen.

I think we would have had our Shadow kitty for a few more years, but I let a teenager put the flea treatment on the animals this last time.

We order the same brand for all of them from PetMeds. One size for the little kitty. One size for the bigger cats. And a different one for the dog. I kept the flea treatment for the cats in the bathroom, and the one for the dog in the livingroom. But the teenager hadn't ever gotten out the treatment for the animals before, and I didn't double check the tubes.  You can guess what happened. The little cat got the correct dosage. The bigger cats got the dog flea treatment.  It took me over a week to figure it out. I didn't clue in until I went to get the dosage for the dog and realized that there was only one tube left...there should have been 3.

I'm told that was the beginning of the end for our older cat. The younger male has seemed to shake off any ill effects, but Shadow kitty always was asthmatic and wheezed. That got worse. She got infections. Her feet broke out in open sores and we tried to treat them.

4 months later as things just won't heal for her she was worse and then 8 months later and she had open sores on her back that we were told were cancerous and tumors growing on her sides and the back of her neck. She pulled out her own claws and took out her own eye.

I've never hated the fact that I was poor more in my life as I held my loving friend and watched her suffer this last month. I treated her feet and back and looked into euthanasia and realized that my budget just doesn't stretch that far right now.

I can't even afford a doctor visit for my kid, let alone for my cat. What a way to make you feel like you are one of the absolutely disenfranchised.

I finally decided to bathe her today. She didn't much like baths, but she'd had many of them throughout her life with us. I was hoping being clean would make her feel better; instead I have the guilt of knowing I brought about her final convulsions and seizures that led to her death. At least I was there and holding her...but I wish I'd been comforting her...not making her do something she disliked as her last memory.

My daughter tells me I should take heart, that now she's with our old dog that she used to get into trouble with and she's pushing chocolate donuts off the table so that he can scarf them down when no humans are watchin'.  I can only hope they stay that happy.

from a goddess who misses her kitty...even though she didn't much like anyone...

Pet abuse?

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

What is the impulse that humans have to do cutesy things to their pets around the holidays? And the things they put on themselves are even worse! lol

We followed the trend this year. I couldn't help it, there was an evil genius at work.

I thought my 13 year old cat would be the grumpiest about this, because she likes NOTHING! Instead, she was very sedate about it and just gave me the long suffering look. :)

My daughter's beast Leon however wasn't pleased, but he was tolerant and actually didn't run away. lol









The dog, Shadow, who is normally long suffering and willing to do just about anything, didn't much like dressing up as Santa. I couldn't keep the coat on him. ;)












And last, and the littlest, Mystique, thoroughly hated every minute of the ordeal and let us know it! We actually bought the suit for her!

Merry Yule from a puzzled goddess

Immune systems are nice...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

I wish I had one. I'm about a month into my yearly 3 to 4 months of cold, flu, and general malaise. I really should have gotten those flu and pneumonia shots this year. I think they cut the time I was sick last year by about half.

I run constantly to not even stay afloat. Crap. All of us have so much going on that none of us are getting enough sleep.

I'm playing musical bed with my animals every time I do try to sleep so I've almost reached the point of giving up. My old, grumpy kitty is fine. She lays in my arms now like my kids used to do when they were babies. ;) It is a nice feeling. (Of course, they never had quite that much fur!)

The dear husband's dog on the other hand ( I don't claim him. I won't, he craps on my floors when he's mad and he gets WAY too friendly to the kitten and to visitor's legs! It's embarrassing!) this animal thinks that he needs to sleep ON mom's legs. ALL night! I end up waking up with back spasms and a sciatica and half of my body numb cuz my muscles have just taken too much abuse already to put up with his, admittedly slight, weight added to it.

My sleep doctor says that all animals should be kicked out of the bed. (Try telling that to a 13 year old b@tch cat with claws. I'll stand back while you explain it to her, repeatedly!) I think I'd miss our furry friends, but then I missed cuddling with the kids and "morning snuggles," once they got old enough to be on and about their day when they grew up. I do have to admit that I'm lucky enough to get snuggles and hugs from them when they come home from school and I'm napping. I know they are just trying to put off the evil moment when they have to start homework and their chores, but I delude myself into believing they like the contact. ;D

Enough whiney BS from today. We're all alive, in debt, and dreading the thought of a 15 year old boy with a learner's permit...ouch!

Can I sign up to skip his birthday this year?




Excuse the disjointed ramblings. My posts are not nearly as well thought out as they should be.


from a puzzled goddess watching the time scream by at warp speed

Canine interruptus and kitty time bombs...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Okay, we all love our pets and the give us such WONDERFUL attention; it's not that I'm trying to bang on them or anything (hmmm, I take that back. I bang on my family, why not my pets?)

Anyway, we managed to get the kids gone for a few days last week and dh and I were getting... very... friendly... when the dog, Shadow, decided to peek his head over the edge of the bed and find out what was going on. That whole wet beard and whiskers on the arm thing and little eyes staring at you with the, "hey, mom, can I play too? " look was just a mood killer. R got to put him out of the room. Then we listened to him whimper and scratch on the door for the next hour. (Now I know why my sleep doctor suggests all animals stay OFF the bed *grin*)

But of course, this is the same dog who will leave you a present pile in the living room, right in front of the TV, if you are gone more than 5 minutes and he doesn't think you should have been. And his most endearing habit is the way he greets strangers with licks and a leg hump.

"My, what a CUTE dog." I've heard more than once as they try and disconnect him from their leg. :)

The kitten, Mystique, or as my DH says, Ms Sneakiness or affectionately 'Tique is just too busy investigatin' all this and that to be too much of a pain in the posterior. When she's not leaving Tique bombs in the corner of my closet or tipping over the family pictures on her way to the window. She's just trying to convince us of what a goddess she is and have us bow down and worship. Which of course, we gladly do. You can't see her byootiful blue eyes here, but they are incredible....and her little white feet that just make you convinced that if somebody got into sumthin' it COULDN'T be her! She's the one that some neighbors found in their woodpile in December of last year, just a few days old. We think she was probably the runt and it was touch and go when my mom-in-law nursed her back to health. She was a raggedy kitty for awhile too!


But the Leon kitty is our best mouser. The only one better in the family at catching mice is my son! LOL (no joke!) But Leelee, as we like to call him, can stalk with the best of them. When he isn't sucking up the attention from my daughter or begging me in that demanding cater-wall of his to play laser mouse with him. Hmmpt!

He was also a feral cat who was rescued by some friends...his EXTREME friendliness bears this out! LOL Not!

With his trips to the litter box he's been known to clear a room in less than 20 seconds...(he and my dh are competing for the fastest time, I swear!)

And the last edition to our current managerie is the queen b*tch of them all. And she has earned that title in the 13 years she has graced us with her presence. Those gray whiskers she earned!

You'd never know she started life as a barn cat with the airs she puts on! She has definitely come up in station since her kitten hood. Starting out by teething on the fingers of my custom grey leather gauntlets and helping the puppy maneuver the 18 count box of CHOCOLATE Dunkin' Donuts off the table, she's just gone on to bigger and better since then. Dh has MANY nicknames for this one! Shallow kitty, Shadow brat, black b*tch, kitty rat...you name it and she's probably earned it!

She REALLY is hatin' all the additions to the family and is letting us know. The hissing and spitting would be a clue even if she wasn't hiding in our bedroom and leaving us presents in odd places. (no, that ISN'T stuffing coming out of the bottom of my shoe! Luckily, I looked down BEFORE I put my foot in it! or we would have had 'flying kitty'!) At least she could have said, "sorry."

blessings from a puzzled goddess enjoying her managerie

The wind up mommy is winding down...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

As this summer is coming to a close and I look outside my air conditioned comfort at the sweltering big blue room, I can't help but think of all the other things in my life that are coming to a close, or closed.

I miss my parents. Having them gone feels like navigating through life without a net and no sense of balance. But did I ever appreciate them when they were around? Not really. And that makes me sad.

It has the benefit of making me want to stay in contact with the rest of my family; no matter how far away. But it's hard most times to know what to say. How do you get beyond the, "How you doin', " when every day is unrelenting pain. I don't have anything to say. I wanted YOU to distract me.

That's probably what I'm missing. My major distractions. They're visiting friends for 4 or 5 days and I've kept myself busy the entire time they've been gone. Until today. I don't know why I miss their little presences so much. Crap, half the time I can't pull them off their computers to join in a real world conversation. But it's probably that other half I miss. When they're giving mom sh*t and won't take my grumpy attitude without trying to kid or tickle me out of it. Kinda remind me of their dad that way.


They'll be back at school in a few days and I'll have my days to myself again. Just me and the houseful of animals that want constant rotating attention....but they don't tickle me, or giggle in their sleep, or come cuddle with me and talk about all kinds of serious stuff...just because they can. :)

Some of this introspection probably comes from the activity of the last few days, which have been trips down memory lane to college. I saw joanalita and we reminisced and I've been thinking a lot about other college buds that I don't see too often.

One who's in that hot country over across the ocean sharing his expertise; his wife who I'll get to see tomorrow with all the attendant craziness of their annual August gathering (that's the month, not anything snooty).

I'll get to see M and her husband J and their little one who's growing up on my computer screen through pictures his mommy sends. My husband and Baldric will spend the evening one-upping each other and majorly enjoying it and my husband will probably protest and say that HE's Baldric now!

All this introspection I blame on R and K, cuz if I hadn't been going through old pictures for the last 3 days to make a slideshow I wouldn't feel so weepy. But the pictures were cool.

I got to remember the Moody Blues, and Alan Parsons and walking around a silent town in the middle of the night. Dancing and feeling like we owned the floor and a gun behind my husband's back as he married me.

Watching all the kids grow up and change from those cuddly babies to individuals with feelings and thoughts and opinions (definitely opinions, they're our kids!)

So in my missing people mood today I'm going to try and remember that my kids' babyhood, toddler, and pre-teen years are done and it's time to bring out some different parenting skills and ramp it all up since HIGH SCHOOL IS COMING!

(Their mascot is the pirate....obviously!)

Blessings and many happy hours winding down from a puzzled goddess.

Visitation by a goddess...

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...

Is it just me, or does everyone else also wait until the DAY AFTER they have company to clean house? Thought not. Just me. Oh, well.

I received a visitation yesterday by a friendly goddess. Not THE goddess, just A goddess. The goddess of Everything! LOL It's unbelievable how long it's been. If it had been up to me, we would probably have lost touch long ago as I have with most of my high school/college friends. But joanalita stays in intermittent touch and always seemed to track me down. And she sent out the cutest emails about what was going on with her life and family! Made me start remembering to connect with mine now that I don't always see them 5 or 6 times a year!

But I was very thankful that she graciously ignored the effects of a teenaged male (who lives in front of the mirror) has on my bathroom and sailed right along! Tho' it's always fun explaining to people that I have one of those toilets that has a handle you pull UP on the top of a tank. LOL Takes everybody a minute the first time they use it...and that's not to include the backwardly plumbed water in the sink! It's all fun.

She was nice enough not to peek at the awful garage from some dark circle of DIS as I had to take the dog in and out multiple times. (He's not very smart about the puppy dog thing and I'm not into cleaning up messes on the floor.) I'm just glad he didn't mortify me by greating her by humping her leg, but he seems to reserve that for my baby brother-in-law and for one of the boys friends. :)

And we only reminisced for about 45 minutes total during the whole 5 hour visit. We had all those lo many 15 years to catch up on! We had so many kid stories to swap and all those little family things that we hadn't shared :)

But she did remind me that we'd actually been on a college bowl team our freshman year (we were the TWO lone girls! most of the contestants didn't even realize that you could HAVE girls on the team *grin*) I think the guys we played with were Mikey and Bruce, but I barely remember back to being on the team! (lost in that alcoholic and mononucleosis haze) She says we made it to the semi finals! Woot! I don't even remember. Except that we were on the team to answer all the literature, geography, history type questions. LOL If my kids knew that they'd get a definite hoot out of that! They've HAD my help with social studies!

I still don't remember the strip poker story and there's NO way I believe it!

And I also remember her ragging on me to quit smoking...then 10 days into it offering to go buy me a pack of smokes! LOL YES, I AM the bitch! ROFL This one's for you!

from a puzzled goddess