We have a mustard problem. Is there a twelve step program for that?

I'm tired, Internet.  I tried to sleep in this morning but I couldn't.  Apparently with or without an alarm I get up at the same time every day now.  In theory I could just turn off the alarm but I assume if I did that I would immediately start oversleeping on work days.

So I got up and tried another of my AlpineAir meals this morning.  Strawberry honey granola with milk.  This one was actually quite good, but I'm not convinced it's worth the expense and the weight of the packaging to carry it.  Maybe if I'm in a serious cereal mood on the trail.

I went and walked and jogged around the park today.  Gotta start getting in shape for Run Amuck.  Not to mention some backpacking trips.  Unfortunately I can't really train for both at once.  I don't think I can jog with a full backpack.  Too bouncy.

While I was there I finally went down the trail I always wonder about.  FYI (Tara) it does come out at the intersection of Kenilworth, Good Luck, and Paint Branch.  No more wondering required.  It had quite a few downed trees on it.  I'd say it doesn't see a lot of maintenance.  Not that the rest of the park is that much better.  I'm glad we took the horses out on it before this winter's blowdowns.  It isn't passable for horses now without extensive backtracking and bushwhacking. 

We performed a refrigerator winnowing yesterday.  We now have far fewer condiments.  Many of them were jars with years-old contents.  Gross.  Some of them were just things we tried, didn't like, and just stuck back in the fridge.  Also, I keep telling JD we have a mustard problem but I think he really viscerally got it after sitting on the floor looking at the shelf full of different mustards.  And that doesn't count the unopened ones in the pantry.  The thing about mustard is it's delicious in small quantities.  We don't go through it very fast.  But we keep seeing more that looks good and we buy it.  It's a problem.

This evening I'm watching Olli and Nazca.  Olli has figured out that you can play catch by yourself if you throw the mouse up in the air.  Nazca is more of a grappler.  The two of them are growling and rucking the carpets and generally making a mess.  They're hazardous to walk around.  I opened the fridge to put leftovers in and I nearly shut Olli in, as he had raced in during the three seconds the door was open.  Dory on the other hand is sitting quietly.  I think she's planning something.

This can wait until after you're done cheering on a bunch of millionaires you've never met

Andy and Trouble's (may he rest in peace) annual license renewals came in on Saturday.  I filled out the forms (one with the "deceased" box checked) and at the same time printed out forms for Dory, Olli, and Nazca.  So I sent back six forms, four rabies certificates, three spay or neuter certificates, and a check.  That is one full envelope.  I weighed it and added extra postage.

While downloading the new forms for the kittenball, I noticed on the county's website that if you have over five domesticated animals at home and you're not a breeder or rescue, you have to get a hobbyist license.  We are *this close* to being crazy cat people.  Between the cats and the dog we have five.  And I've been thinking about getting a puppy.  Ruh roh.

While JD and I were sitting in the dining room this evening, we started hearing a faint regular beeping.  Turns out the carbon monoxide detector I bought back in 2003 has finally quit working.  I think 8 years isn't too bad for a detector, especially since it was an early to market unit.  I went on Amazon and found a replacement that also detects explosive gas.  And it costs ten bucks less than the original unit.  Win!  Now we won't die of bad air OR a massive explosion.  Cool!

I understand that the vast majority of the country is watching the Superbowl this evening.  Luckily for me, I am not married to a pro football enthusiast, so the Superbowl can remain on the fringes of my consciousness.  (However, during college football season I have to vacate the house regularly so he can wear his team colors and shout at the tv.  So it's not all good.)  We are having a standard quiet evening.  Dinner [1], conversation, an episode of the X-Files later [2], and a spot of tea.  I couldn't be happier.



[1] Chicken Tikka with onions and potatoes, and veggie samosas with mango lime chutney.  To die for.

[2] JD had never seen season 1.  I saw it a long time ago, obviously.  It's available on Netflix now.

Dory Day Afternoon

Today was Dory Day, according to Dory.  She discovered the pointer, i.e. the fascinating moving thing on the computer screen.  She hopped up on my lap and kept struggling to get onto the desk until I finally let her get up next to the screen.  She patted the arrow a few times and I hope decided it's not that interesting.

Then she boinged up into my lap and tried to eat my chili.  I'm trying to get through her impenetrable but cute skull that my food is MY food, but she fears nothing including my wrath.  Starting to wonder if she has a little kitty chemical imbalance.

After dinner I watched an episode of Bones on tv, and Dory and Olli climbed up into my lap and fell asleep piled over my legs.  It was unbearably cute to see them cuddling like that.  Also it was nice and warm.

I tried to distract everybody for a while with the laser toy, but Andy has started to associate the click it makes when I turn it on with the dot moving, so now he looks at me instead of the dot some of the time. He is apparently too smart for his own good.

JD picked up another litter box today to try to stem the flow of poo, and this one came with a flappy door. I kind of wish we had a camera set up in the room so I could watch the kittens figure out what to do with it the first time.  Heh.

I couldn't help beating him, I'm pretty sure

JD is sick today.  (Nothing serious, Mom, don't worry.)  You have no idea how weird this is for us.  JD never gets sick.  And not only is he sick, but he's gimpy.  *I* am usually the gimpy one.  I fall off a horse, or down a mountain, or I throw my back out lifting something ridiculous.  JD is strong like bull.  He doesn't actually notice injuries trying to occur.  In fact he hurt his ankle in his sleep, so we have no idea how it happened.  My theory is I beat him up while we were both unconscious.

Also I am usually the sick one.  It is just bizarre to me to feel perfectly hale, if rotund, while my normally impervious beloved is honking his nose and talking all froggy.  And hogging the nyquil.  I have no idea what to do with him other than feed him and buy more nyquil.  I have no husband nursing experience.

I haven't gone back to reread, but didn't I predict that I would get sick over the holidays?  What with the sick children and the crowding of fellow travelers?  But no, I'm fine.  I almost wish I felt guilty about being all rosy cheeked and bouncy while JD feels like crap, but I am relishing the novelty of it.

In other news, the kittens have forgiven me for being scarce.  I spent this evening with Dory and sometimes Olli on my lap while I rewatched Eclipse with the writer's commentary.  Neither Dory nor Olli could figure out how to get the extended scenes to play.  Me neither, so we're kind of stumped.  But they're just kittens so it's not really fair to expect them to figure out how to use a remote yet.

A good day, all in all.

A good night's sleep made a new woman out of me.  At least until I hauled the kittens to the vet.  Those kitties are getting *heavy*.  And Olli punctured my with one needle-like claw.  They were pronounced healthy but fat by the vet.  No more kitten food, no more free feeding.  They've only been here two weeks!  How could they get fat so fast?

On top of mutilating me, none of the kittens are speaking to me now.  As I feared, they are royally pissed about being taken to the vet.  It'll take a while for them to like me again.  Sigh.  At least they still like JD.

I spent much of my afternoon figuring out how to create new users and assign new tokens in RSA Authentication Manager.  Thrilling, I know.  Had to be done, though.  When and if we actually get the tokens, I won't have time to figure it out.  We'll need to assign the tokens ASAP and get them in the mail to their users.  The old ones expire in two weeks.  (Yikes!)  As I learn more, I am shocked by the crappy interface, support, and platform requirements of the software.  This is what happens when you're basically unchallenged in the marketplace.  Capitalism works best when somebody else is willing to have a go at it too.

I had my heart warmed a little bit recently.  My friend Shannon of Four Pillars Farm recently adopted a horse who she initially thought was a Standardbred.  He looked suspiciously Lipizzanish, so she had his DNA tested.  And he is, in fact, a Lipizzan.  Siglavy Actress I.  He could not have ended up in a better place than with Shannon, a Lipizzan breeder.

It was more of a tummy warming that I had with dinner.  JD suggested we go to Duclaw where I could get the Euphoria nut brown ale, and we could both get dinner.  It was pretty datelike.  We even held hands until food started arriving.  :)  And then after that we spent a ton of money at Petco.  Turns out new kittens need lots of stuff.  And so does an old dog.  She has her own Snuggie which should make her happy on a cold evening on the sofa.

My evening in pictures

The nearly invisible Nazca blob

My beloved

Our Leader, Andy

Beauty

Trying to confine the thruhike to a corner of the guest room

My stash of gifts, safe from Dory

The little tree on a table - so far safe from kittens

The big tree.  NOT safe from kittens.

Festive no?  And yet homey, with the dinged up paint.

And a bonus video of Dory and Ollie, who wouldn't hold still for pictures

I haul my old bones around

Somehow I didn't have any booze last night, and yet I woke up hungover this morning.  That's talent.

I stayed up way too late rereading "The Graveyard Book" and didn't get to sleep until 1:30.  At 10:47 I rolled over, checked the clock, and realized it was well past morning.  And as I got out of bed, I realized that most of my plans for the day were not going to  happen, because I was feeling old.  Lordy.  So old.

My beloved made me a breakfast burrito, and then I sat around and waited for the blood to start flowing to all my parts again.  When it became obvious that I was going to continue feeling old all day, I put on my shoes and left the house.

I visited Pluto, who contrarily was feeling FANTASTIC.  Like, bucking snorting and farting fantastic.  He galloped up to me, ate his cookies, and when I tried to take off his blanket he took off.  He left me in a hail of dirt clods as he galloped and bucked to the other end of the field.  The next ten minutes went about like that, but I did finally get his blanket off.  I called Sergio and told him I wanted to blanket a lot less this year, and I left Sergio a printout of conditions for blanketing.  Chilly and wet, cold and windy, or very cold.  (With actual temperatures, in the instructions.)  Stinker doesn't need to be coddled as much as Sergio tends to.

It was good to see the horse looking energetic.  I'd say he is fully recovered from his colic last week.  Bonnie was there with Mystery, who looked very sedate.  Being the funny lady she is, she nodded at my (bucking and running) horse and asked if I wanted to ride today.  Ha!  Yeah, I'm not really a rodeo rider.  I'll ride on the days when the horse is NOT insane.  Plus I was in sweatpants, not having planned on riding while I felt like I was 80.

Re:  being 80.  I think my body is working up a response to the flu shot I got earlier this week.  Not a huge one.  Just some aches and swollen glands.  Just enough to make me feel like I was slightly beaten yesterday.  Probably I'll feel fine tomorrow, right on time for it to be too rainy out to do anything.

After my brief farm visit I braved the crowds to buy a few more Christmas presents.  I think I'm mostly done now.  I used up most of the tape this evening, so I'll have to buy more to finish the wrapping.  And Dory shredded the wrapping paper on the first box I wrapped, the little beast.  Presents are now getting stowed behind closed doors until it's time for unwrapping.  A pity.  I love seeing all the presents around the tree before Christmas morning.  But we knew we weren't going to be able to have nice things when we got kittens so no big surprise there.

In which I date myself

This morning I announced to my office (i.e. Marc) that I was going to take it easy.  I was just going to hang out and not do much unless somebody asked me to.  Marc had no problem with that.

Within seconds, somebody asked me to do something.  And then I barely got to sit down for the next several hours.

Everyone agrees I never should have said it out loud.

I did take a break around 3.  I swapped my hiking boots (de rigueur daily wear) for trail runners.  I found them under my desk when we were packing up to move.  Who knew?  They're pretty new looking too.  They squeak, which is probably why I quit wearing them way back when.  Anyway, wearing my new-looking trail runners of squeakiness, I took off for a quick walk-jog.  Mostly a jog actually.  It was very pleasant.  I may have said it before, but I will say it again:  I am so lucky to have found a form of exercise that I like so much.  Why do I like it so much more now than when I ran cross country in high school?  It's a mystery.

JD had plans this evening.  I was invited if I wished to go, but I've been to a car nerd event once before and it was so dull that I am still matte colored.  So I declined.  Instead, I went to see the new Harry Potter movie!  So exciting!  I haven't been to a movie in ages, and I *love* the Harry Potter series.  The movie did not disappoint.  I was spellbound.  (Hee!)  Seriously, it's a long movie, and I didn't notice the time passing.  Okay, I noticed the aches I always get in the movie theater seating, but other than that I was unconscious of time.  Lovely movie.  Can't wait to see the other half.

On the way home, apprehensive about the state of my house (because I'd left the kittens out while I was away), I distracted myself by totaling the cost of the event.  $12.25 for a ticket.  $6 for popcorn.  $1 for the Zevia soda I smuggled in.  (I feel so guilty!  But they don't offer caffeine free stevia sweetened diet soda at the theater.)  Nearly twenty dollars I spent to take myself out for popcorn and a movie.  That's definitely date-worthy expenditure.  And I must say I'm an excellent date.  I didn't hog the knee room, spill the popcorn, or burp during a quiet scene.  I was wonderful company.

The house was still standing when I got home.  I haven't counted heads yet but there aren't any trails of blood so I'm assuming everybody survived.  Tonight will also be the kittens' first night not locked up while we are sleeping.  Likely it will not be a restful night.  Those kittens can get their rumble on.  They rebound off of the walls and balusters.  It creates a tremendous racket.  How does such a small animal sound so much like an elephant when it runs?

I like me some light

I am enjoying light.  After fifteen years of working in a basement, my office now has a window (which we basically have covered because otherwise it glares on the monitors, but it's there) and is right next to the glass exit of our building.  So I am getting a *lot* more light than I have for my whole adult life.  At least office-in-the-winter-wise.  And I love me some light.  Some people love clouds, or flowers, or rain (I don't get the rain people) but I love light.

This despite being a natural redhead.  I can't survive for long in serious light.  I fry.  But in typical local light, I do quite well for up to 20 minutes at a time.  And during that 20 minutes, I *luxuriate*.  I roll around in light the way horses do in sand.  It feels good all over.  And I keep feeling good after I go back in the dark. 

When I was a kid (and this is not as unrelated as it sounds) my folks used to film Christmas.  My memories of the day start with bright light, because Dad set up a big light to help with the filming.  I think that might have been my favorite part of the day, although who doesn't love getting presents?  And mysterious mythological figures being in your home while you're sleeping?  But I was always a little sad when the light got turned off at the end.  That's how much I love light.  I was sad on Christmas.  After getting presents.

So I have high hopes for this winter, and future winters.  Not working in a basement could mean pretty impressive changes in my life.  Possibly I won't feel the need to eat potatoes and curl up under a blanket.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  (Oh wait, yes there is.)  I feel kind of .. bouncy.  In a well insulated sort of way.

JD is once more making cookies, and kittens are roaming the house.  I wish you all a merry Thursday.  I'm going to toss a fake mouse.

"and a kitten in a fir tree" (sing it with me now!)

I have listened to (and participated in) nonstop bitching about the recent cold weather. We are all spoiled, people!  It was a strangely warm fall and we all got used to it.  So while I totally empathize?  Get used to it!  This is how it is *supposed* to be.  December = cold.  Xmas = cold.[1] [2]

That said, I still didn't go for a walk today.  I need warmer pants.  I did take the stairs up and down from the server room a number of times, in penance.  My beloved is continuing to run in this weather and I admire him for it.  Though possibly you feel warmer when you run.  Maybe I'll try that.

I met up with Kobi for lunch, which was a hoot.  Except the part where I somehow left my wallet at work.  There I was, driving like a maniac on amphetamines, and no license in my pocket!  If you're going to get pulled over you should definitely be carrying a license.  I drove back to work very soberly, after Kobi paid for lunch.  (Argh.)  We are redoing lunch soon, so I can buy the meal in return.  And also for more talking, because most of my conversation consisted of "Om nom nom" and "OMG I can't believe I left my wallet."  So I'm pretty sure there are some more topics we need to cover.

My naturopath will be put off, but I got a flu shot this evening.  (With wallet!  You can do many things if you have a wallet, including having a nice lady stick you with a needle and jam nasty bugs into your arm.  The world is a weird and wonderful place.)  I will be spending time with five underaged family members soon, not to mention hordes of travelers.  Everybody knows that both of those categories are just crawling with disease.  My immune system needs all the help it can get.[3]

In the Daily Kitten Update, I am pleased to announce that all three kittens made it to the main floor today.  Everybody is interacting with everybody.  Andy has not yet gotten a kitten to chase him, but he has gotten very close.  Nazca finally quit whining about his brother and sister abandoning him and crept downstairs.[5]  Oliver and Dory tooks turns pouncing each other and trying to destroy the tree and the curtains. It was *just* how it should be.  I am happy.  You can't imagine how much I look forward to coming home to kittens right now.

Oh, and also?  When I got home tonight?  Cookies!  I smelled them baking right as I came through the front door.  We have lit up trees and kittens and cookies.  It's the *best*.


[1] Before you start complaining about my use of Xmas, please read hear on the historical basis of the word Xmas:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

[2] Not that I haven't had shorts on during the holidays before.  That one year in the 70's it was so dang hot.  It just felt wrong.  Which leads me to believe I would have problems with the Southern hemisphere and holiday timing.

[3] Nonetheless, I'm sure I will be calling in bedridden immediately after the holidays.  With luck I'll make it to New Years first.  Maybe I'll have the flu on a weekend so I don't use any leave time.  I am making big hiking plans for my leave next year.[4]

[4].. but not as big as this year's. Sadly.

[5] He immediately ran back up, of course.

I remember what boredom is

I got bored today.  Can you imagine?  I had forgotten what it was like.

First I let everybody out to interact while I ate breakfast, and nobody exploded or hissed or had a conniption.  Then I drove to work and went to a boring meeting, then coiled cables, then tried to remember what my job is when I'm not being freaking insane.  I can't remember!  It will come back to me I'm certain.  I asked Marc what we do, and he said "Fix things when they break" but surely that can't be right.[3]

It was really too cold to walk, so no walkies for me.  And I don't say that lightly.  It was the sort of cold that makes you hunch until your spine forms a C.  The sort of cold that makes all your exposed surfaces hurt.  It in fact changes your definition of exposed surfaces to include "the areas under my jeans that aren't covered by socks" as well as "my scalp, which is not satisfactorily covered by my hair or my fleece hat."  The wind makes your eyes tear and your cheeks burn, despite the fleece hat and the heavier duty scarf (which superseded last weekend's woefully inadequate thin scarf.)

I did have several warm areas.  Most of my torso, in fact.  I'm still wearing the bulky down jacket I bought at Burlington Coat Factory over a decade ago.  It's seen a lot of wear.  The cuffs have worn through.  There are permanent stains on the front from carrying buckets up against my chest as I fed the horses in the winter.[1]  The zipper has no zipper pull and hence can't really be used.[4]  The velcro at the wrists became mostly ornamental years ago, so I can't keep the wind out.  But nevertheless it's the warmest coat I own, and I got it out of the closet for this weather.

It's not even that cold.  It was 25 when I left the house the morning.  But when that wind whips up to 35 mph or so, it feels like death is hunting you on an icicle.  It is very good weather for staying inside.  I feel bad for my horse.  I hope he's not suffering.[2]

And all the other horses too, of course.  I hope they're not suffering either.

I know you are wondering, so I will tell you:  the Great Kitten Integration of 2010 is going well.  Even Nazca has ventured most of the way down the stairs.  I let everybody out when I got home shortly before 7 tonight, and there has been a variety of nose sniffing and tail sniffing and thundering up and down stairs.  But no yowling or mean faces.  It seems that peace may be coming.  Not that I'm holding my breath.

And that has been my day.  Boredom, cold, and kittens.  Excuse me while I go lather myself in Bag Balm.  It will not solve boredom or cold (or kittens) but it might make the skin stop trying to leave my body.  Could somebody please tell my parts that the stress is over and we can go back to normal now?

[1] Molasses and oil stains do not come out.

[2] Not that I went to check on him or anything.

[3] At any rate, I had several moments when nobody was emailing or calling or knocking, and I actually sighed from boredom.  Also I checked Wikipedia for interesting articles.

[4] I have four snaps to use instead of, though formerly in addition to, the zipper.

My kitten-enhanced long weekend comes to a close

Today was a big day of exploration.  For the kittens, anyway.  Dory woke me up at six by scraping her cone against the door of her room and mewing.  So I got up and we went out and explored.  After a brief runin with Andy, (during which no violence occurred), she decided that was enough exploration of the first level and went back upstairs.

We let her stay in with her brothers today and that went well.  We hope that they follow her example and come out and look around a little more.

This evening I removed Dory's cone.  The vet's office said it needed to be on two more days.  It's been three days and two nights.  So good enough, right?  I hope.  I guess we'll see over the next couple of days.

We're trying to slowly reintegrate the household.  This evening I cracked the kitty room door open and went downstairs to watch tv.  All of them, even Nazca, at least came out and looked down the stairs.  Beauty and Andy wanted to go upstairs but I decided the arm's length view from different floors was probably for the best tonight.  They got to wander around for an hour before we called it a night, and all are now sequestered back in the kitty room.  Shew.

I felt pretty tired after my early wakeup so I took a nap this morning.  It was awesome.  I haven't had a nap in so long!  I've tried, but haven't been able to fall asleep.  So I was thrilled to drift off.  Napping time feels so much more intense than regular sleeping time, don't you think?  It's the "screwing around when you have work to do" factor.  If you have nothing to do, just sitting around is boring.  But if you're supposed to be busy, sitting around is *the best ever*.  Hence the awesomeness of napping.

My long weekend of not stressing or seriously exercising has felt nice and lazy, but I'll be happy to get back to work tomorrow.  I'm starting to get kind of achy from the sitting around.  I mean, I haven't just been sitting around, there's been walking and carrying and stuff.  But not several miles worth, you know what I mean?

Kitteh!

I intended to get a lot done today but what I did was fawn over kittens.  You guys, Dory is so cute!  And smart.  And hilarious.  And cute.

For the boys, we decided that Blue Collar is Oliver, and Green Collar is Nazca.  Oliver is much more adventurous.  Nazca has yet to come out from behind the dresser when there are observers. 

I'm going to go play with them again, so here are several thousand word's worth of pictures:

Oliver

Dory in the cone of shame

Dory is not as huge as she looks

That black blur is Olli AND Nazca

Dory and JD's legs

Dory

I accidentally got three kittens today

JD and I talked it over, and we were definite.  I was going to apply to adopt the two kittens.  So in the morning I trundled over to the vet's office with two crates, and asked for an application.  They said there was already an application in, so it wasn't definite.  I didn't think that was the end of the world, because if the kittens got good homes then great!

 But I was still going to fill out an application.

Somebody else came out and I said I wanted to adopt the kittens, and she said "All three?"  What?  Three?  There are only two in crate.  I looked twice.

Turns out a third was in back after having been spayed.  The boys kept taking her Elizabethan collar off so they were separated.  But she needed a home too.

I called JD.  "JD, there are three."  (pause)  "Three?"  You had to be there .  His voice was hilarious.  It was like I had just told him I was having triplets.  In the end he left it up to me to make the decision, but if I wanted to bring them all home it was okay with him.  Both of us felt that two months was too long to have been waiting for a home.

They brought number three out from the back.  She had on the cone collar and she had stitches in her tummy.  And she was adorable.  I fell in love immediately.

So the other application?  Was us.  When I called to ask about the kittens last night?  Yeah, they just kind of penciled us in.  The first person I saw just didn't recognize me in my hat when I walked in.  So they figured out I was *that* person, and all was well.  I never did fill out an actual application. 

Also?  Four of the vet staff did a spontaneous dance when I said I'd take them all.

The two boys are currently hiding, terrified, behind a dresser in my camping gear room.  The girl is in the guest room.  She is not terrified.  She is fun and interesting and interested and all things good.  I claim her as mine.

She gets her collar off on Sunday, then she can go back in with the boys.  And around then we should be able to start slowly introducing the kittens to Andy, Beauty, and our ginormous (to a kitten) house.  Yay for new kitteny chaos in the household!

No names until we know them better, and no pictures until they come out of hiding and/or stop moving so fast.  Girl kitten is out and about but I can't quite get her to hold still for a picture.  The boys are too squished for real pictures, plus it's just dang hard to photograph a black cat.  Perhaps tomorrow.