Cat bath!

All three of our cats are normally very fastidious with their bathroom habits. Loki and Neko never ever go outside the litterbox. However, Martini is a little pickier and she does not like using a box that one of the other two cats has recently used… and if it’s not to her liking, she poops on the rug instead. This is a little irritating but totally manageable. Poop is easy to pick up and get rid of, and a spritz of Lysol and a light scrub brushing over the area takes care of the problem. Pee, however, is another story. Only once before has Martini ever peed outside the litterbox, and that was about eight years ago when we switched the cat litter to the crystal style granules — which we loved but the cats hated, and Martini let us know in no uncertain terms by squatting on the rug next to the box while I was scooping it out and peeing right in front of me. Yes ma’am, message received, we’re switching back to clay litter. A few nights ago she decided again that she didn’t want to use the litterbox that one of her siblings had recently used, but this time instead of just pooping on the rug, she peed on a piece of plastic sheeting that we had accidentally left lying on the rug. Cardinal rule #1 for cat owners: Don’t ever leave plastic sheeting lying around; it is an irrestistible cat pee magnet. Oopsie. Luckily for us, the pee was contained within a little pool on the plastic and did not make its way to the rug. We were actually downstairs watching television at the time this happened, and only discovered it when Martini waltzed by and we caught the distinct odor of cat pee. It […]

Read MoreCat bath!

Octopi on TED

Cephalopods can be masters of disguise, and this video is proof. The whole video is fascinating but just wait till you see the octopus at about 4:15 into the movie. You’ll find yourself rewinding and watching it over and over.…

Read MoreOctopi on TED

Belize: Day One

We almost didn’t make it to Belize, as a matter of fact. Late on Friday the 12th, Kat called to tell me that our noon flight the next day had been canceled due to a possible impending winter storm in Dallas. The temperature was still well above freezing, and it wasn’t expected to drop below that point until late Saturday night, by which time we would have been in Belize already. I suspect that it was canceled, not because we’d have to fly through any icy weather to get to our destination, but instead because of OTHER flights from other northern places having to be rescheduled and the airport being one big clusterfuck of stranded travellers. I imagine that they cancelled a whole bunch of flights that weren’t full or that weren’t considered “essential.” What are the odds of only the 2nd day of frozen precipitation that we have had in Dallas this season, happening on the same day that we are supposed to fly out on vacation? Pretty good odds, apparently. American Airlines gave us the option of getting our money back, or rescheduling our flight for Sunday or Monday. Sunday and Monday’s forecast was looking to be about the same as Saturday, and we didn’t want to risk having to wait until Tuesday or later to get to Belize, especially since we’d already paid for our hotel, nonrefundable. (We found out later that the cold icy weather lasted all week long, culminating in a citywide shutdown on Wednesday.) Kat and I talked until well after midnight via IM, trying to come up with a plan. We decided to get our money back from AA and to book a flight on Continental instead… out of Houston. Our flight time was 1:40 p.m., which meant that we’d have to start […]

Read MoreBelize: Day One

Get my monthly newsletter!

I'll email you once a month with the latest stuff I've been going on about!