relatives...

david is here. it started with him and shaggy waiting for each other in different parts of the airport for a very long time... and since then we've been to the beach/in'n'out burger and the wild animal park/7-eleven for slurpees, as well as some shopping and such. it's been really warm, and we would have gone to sea world today except that david couldn't find his wallet (turns out he had hidden it under a pile of clothes so that hobbes wouldn't eat the leather). so, once the wallet surfaced, we went shopping for baby shower presents for merdy and cousin valerie, who are both having girls a few weeks apart. we found some good ones, and then i found myself loading up on food items and realized how hungry i was. david wanted rolos. he got them, and i got a bird's eye zucchini/squash/noodle mix. it was pretty good, if you're into vegetables. we also made dough for kringla - they're kind of cookie/roll things - super yummy hot with butter on them. the dough has to chill for a while, so i'm bloggin' until i can bake 'em.
so, in other news, it turns out i put my foot in my mouth big time. see, when relatives, etc. ask me when i'm "coming back" to utah, i respond that i will when someone else pays for it. well, i guess i'm more popular than i thought, because i have received word that a plane ticket is being purchased in my name, and that i will be housed/fed at the home of my brother-in-law's parents. so i will be flying out on thursday, going to lagoon (utah's theme park) and going to two baby showers and a birthday party (my grandma rollins - a big fan of shaggy; she practically proposed to him for me, so i do kinda owe her) and a bazillion people's houses, and then flying back on monday. i have mixed feelings on the matter. on one hand, there are going to be many many relatives commenting on how wonderful babies are and when are we going to start popping out some...and shaggy has to work, so he can't go with me. on the other hand, there is betos - therein the best chimichangas i have ever tasted, also these little apple candies that i can't find anywhere besides utah... anyway, i will be sure to comment on the experience.
and the cats... the guy with the kittens is now looking for a foster mom for three of them, since he is going out of town again! and needs someone to bottle feed. i said this is a bad weekend for me, so i'll see if i can find someone who will take them. last i heard, he is taking the kittens on his trip. i reminded him to make sure they're pooping, and to "potty" them if they don't. i'm sure he'll email me about it.
our cats are all good here. due to several mats in his fur, balloon had an encounter with some clippers a few days ago. he now closely resembles a panda, since he has white underfur. someday i will have the digital technology to post pictures...
and - hobbes has made his poster debut in april's house! go hobbes!
and shadow has learned that peeing on our bed is a bad idea. we hope he plans on being a "good boy" rather than a "bad boy", since that enzyme cleaner stuff ain't cheap. so i guess twilight's the only one without big drama, although she does make her own drama what with randomly hitting the boys, then hissing and fleeing...
and it's about that time. i'm sleepy.

another day off

yep, another day when i'm free to sit on my butt and do nothing, while the rest of the world participates in the rat race. it's almost nice to have absolutely nothing going on - for the first hour or two. i'm re-watching the first season of alias (again). and i caught some cannibal: the musical, before a mungo nap. it's ridiculously hot and humid for san diego. yes i do realize that there are many areas hotter and muggier, but that doesn't mean i'm used to it. anyway:
i had an adventure a few nights ago - a guy who calls me weekly about his cat has upgraded to daily since she had nine kittens (yes i said nine). he needs advice and directions and whatnot for supplemental feedings. so i had him go to his local vet for supplies and formula and such. then he calls because he and his wife are going out of town for the weekend and can i swing by and do some bottle-feeding. well, being a sucker for babies, i said of course, even though the dude lives in oceanside, which takes a good half hour to drive to. so he left me a hidden key and said they'd be leaving friday evening. i decided to go by late friday night to scope out the situation and decide how often i would need to/want to be feeding. so i find the place, find the key, put it in the lock, and ... nothing. it won't turn. i wiggle it, twist harder, all that stuff. no go. so i walk around the house and try the back door. the key won't even go in this one. so i try the front again. i'm there for at least 15 minutes trying, and thinking this is so stupid, i did not drive all the way out here in the middle of the night to get locked out... when a car pulls up, and a lady i don't know gets out of it with the guy whose house this is. i approached the guy, introduced myself (we've only met over the phone through the feral cat coalition) and handed him the key. then the woman asks what i am doing at their house this late. it turns out she is his wife i've never met, and who he DID NOT TELL HE HAD ASKED ME TO COME BY!!! that's right, she had no idea that some stranger was going to have a key to her house to come in and feed kittens. i'm glad now that the key didn't work because then she would have found me in her house instead of just on the porch. i tried to help the guy out and not let her see the key and play it like i was "just stopping by to see if i could help" but, i'm not sure how well it worked at that time of night, especially considering what i was wearing (i already said it's been hot lately). i left with the distinct feeling that the dude is in a whole lot of trouble. so now he only calls me every other day, leaves a message and then when i call back he says, oh everything's fine thanks for asking, gotta go... and then yesterday i got a message that says "every time you call back, my wife is standing right there, and i can't really talk"!!!!!
and i wonder if this is a happy marriage!! i mean, i'm not sleeping with him, i'm just trying to make sure kittens don't die from malnourishment, but this sneaking around is stupid.
i mean, he was asking someone from a legitimate cat care organization for advice on how to feed kittens. nothing wrong with that... sigh
so, more adventures - ummmm, nothing lately really beats that... marie callendar's dinners are on sale... enthralling news...
oh, and it's baby season. everyone i know and their dog (and cat) who is in a situation to have a baby, is having a baby. i even got an email from an ex from years ago - yep, he and his wife are expecting. my sister is, my sister-in-law is, a friend here, a friend from washington, a guy at my work just became a dad last week, on and on. and then the inevitable "so, when are you two going to start having kids?" not "are you"... "when are you"...
the fact is, i'm starting to feel like it's not ethical to add more people to the world when so many are starving/neglected/abused, etc. i would rather adopt, or not have any kids and use the time i would have spent on say, three kids, to do some non-profit stuff to help lots of kids in need. maybe instead of a feral cat foundation i should do an abortion-alternative thing, where we can take care of teenagers who didn't know and adults who were too stupid to use birth control, and then find adoptive families for the kids. it would be like a baby shelter. i wonder if there is a group anywhere that does that? - doctors the birth moms and screens adoptive families for the kids? of course, some would argue that something like that would encourage people to make bad decisions (these are the same people who say kids should learn abstinence only), but i doubt any woman who really thinks about it would want to go the whole fattening up and then practically having her insides ripped out thing, unless she actually wanted a baby, regardless of any medical care that might be offered. so that's a thought.
anyway, my sister is having a girl. they had (per april) been calling the kid "lance corporal" - that way he has rank without ever having to go to basic training. but now it has been changed to l.c. or "elsie". i suggested "marzipan" (strongbad's girlfriend - and if you don't know who strongbad is, go to homestarrunner.com and play...) and my aaron maintains that "human torch" is not a gender-specific name. of course, he also recommends "Ptera" (short for pteradactyl) or "Ty" (tyranosaurus rex).
oh yes, and we had our first cat-peed-on-a-matress adventure the other day. it's amazing that this has never happened to me before, but anyway, i highly recommend Out brand Pet Stain and Odor Remover, because it does, in fact, remove both the stain and the odor. the matress is currently drying after the last treatment (it smelled fine, but i sprayed it down one more time, just to be sure). and then we won't have to sleep on the futon anymore - by the way, thank you jane, i had no idea we would be this grateful for your futon so soon! it's quite comfortable, so now i won't feel bad if guests need a place to sleep.
speaking of which, my brother will be here in a week to visit and go to the beach and such. of course, his plane ticket coincides with inventory at work, so i have been informed that i won't be able to have all four days off that i requested, but which two of the four are most important to me?... this is more than a one time thing. i am slowly learning that "vacation hours" are something to accumulate on one's paystub, but never actually make use of.
and i think i'm done for today.

day off

so i finally, finally have the day off work, and everyone else and their dog is working today, so i'm bored. i slept in until 9, had some ice cream for breakfast (chocolate sensation - very nice) and now i'm bloggin'.
yesterday was a very long day. we got up really freakin' early to go to an interfaith kitchen to make breakfast for homeless people. at least, that's what i thought would happen. so many volunteers showed up, they had some of us make brown bag lunches for the homeless as well. i bagged apricots, cheese sandwiches, and potato chips, while some other people bagged cookies and stuffed the whole ensemble into the brown bags. this happens every morning - what with that and the decent climate, it might not be so bad to be homeless out here... of course, i would miss showers, and a bed and such.
so after the breakfast, i worked all day. i'm training the new lynda, who, it turns out, is also an animal freak. yay! the more the merrier! after work, i drove out to carlsbad to join shaggy and michael for some barbequeing and fireworks. of course, they weren't actually at michael's house when i got there, but they arrived soon after on their bicycles (they had gone down to a concert at the oceanside pier). in the meantime i was able to play with the roommate's cat, monty. he's pretty social, and he drinks out of their decorative little rock fountain, which i find adorable.
so we walked down to the beach and it was still warm-ish (6pm) so i got some bodysurfing in, which was lots of fun, even though the water was all dirty from the red tide. and then we went back to michael's, and watched him assemble his new grill. by the time we had eaten, it was quite dark, and there were loud popping noises coming from outside. so we hightailed it back to the beach, fought our way through crowds coming the opposite direction (one would hope that would have given us a clue) and then arrived at the beach as the last few people were lighting their roman candles. so we missed the big show, but it was really cool to see lights on the waves - they were reflecting this awesome glowing blue color.
and, for the record, michael had a good idea (after 3 beers, no less). so now the boys are in a contest to see who can get the most signatures from me that they had good ideas... i wonder if shaggy will win, considering he lives with me, and we see michael maybe once a week...
and so ended the 4th for me.

aminimals

this morning i went to the fund for animals wildlife rehabilitation center in ramona. i go there most weekends to volunteer, and generally have severe allergies if i forget to take drugs first (lately advil allergy-sinus has been working well - i recommend it). today i remembered, and was able to pet many kitties (small and large) without my face becoming a runny watermelon, which was nice. one of the small kitties (ptolemy) had a blood clot scare last week, and he is still recovering. the poor guy is on three medications, and his back legs are pretty limp, so he has a tough time getting around. a couple of us sat with him and just gave him lots of love and petting for quite a while. it was sad because it feels like he won't be around much longer. the cattery up there is full of geriatrics - not a single cat in there is under 10 years old, and so we lose one every so often, and it is hard every time, because they are all such good kitties and they all deserve real homes instead of, basically, a big cage. not to knock the fund's cattery - it is by far the coolest cattery i have ever seen. there are indoor, outdoor, and patio sections, all with furniture, toys, etc. it's the best that could be done without actually being a home with people in it. but the day wasn't all sadness. sheba, the resident mountain lion, was in a friendly mood, and talked to me in chirps and purrs and followed me around for a while, which is always flattering. she just finished shedding her "winter" fur, so she is incredibly sleek and smooth and shiny. and so soft! so i got to spend some time with her, and then whiskey, my turkey buddy, did the flirting dance - he thinks he's a human, thus he thinks if he's flirty enough he might have a shot at me... it's adorable. he's been fighting with the peacocks lately, and getting the worst of it, so his poor feathers are kind of pecked up. and in further adventures, a baby skunk stamped out little threats at me while i was scooping up its poop. i gave it an egg, and hightailed it out of there. i do not want to smell like skunk spray. and betty, the bantam rooster now has a girlfriend named wilma. it is so cute - she follows him around and practically worships the ground he walks on. i think the fact that he is not scared of people impresses her. the poor girl is scared silly of us. all in all, i crammed a lot into those 2 1/2 hours. then i sped back home in time for aaron to take the car to work, and spent the rest of the day bored with a headache and lots of it on the phone. hence my house is much cleaner than it was, since the headache made me not want to go anywhere, and people kept calling me so i couldn't sleep. i did get some fun news though. my buddy tasha is having a baby in november, and she just found out she's having a boy! yay for tasha! and my relatives have just arrived in utah for their summerly conglomoration (which i am not altogether sorry to miss). and i may be able to join fourth of july festivities at the beach out here after all, since plans have been shifted to accomodate my having to work 8-5 that day. thanks to those involved in the planning... what a day. and lots of excedrin. usually it makes more of a difference than it has today. i can only imagine what is happening to my liver... sigh. well, i shall go attempt to nap. ciao for now!