Almost a month ago, we got a second cat. We've been talking about getting one for awhile, to help with Pica's co-dependent tendancies and just to round out our household a little more. We've been having a pretty ok adjustment time, generally. Pica still likes to growl, hiss and swat at Ollie but he now has the chutzpah to chase her back. He was very shy, but he's stopped hiding for the most part. Except that tonight we realized that he's been peeing on the rug directly in front of the litter box. We're pretty sure he doesn't have a uti and that it started sometime while we were away over last weekend. We've been cleaning it (the rug went into the washer and we treated the floor with water, water mixed with hydrogen peroxide and an enzymatic cleaner). Hopefully that will straighten things out. I love the cats, but boy, sometimes they are frustrating creatures!

Embedding courtesy of Dintillion

I miss my family most at birthdays and holidays. This year I am missing my family something fierce and today I started thinking about this commercial for a local bank. It ran for a long, long time although comments on another version of this video say it has been axed now (is this true Mom? Dad?) Apparently it took the guy hours to get these 30 seconds of the cats playing. Thank to youtube, I can still watch it, even all the way across the country. Thank you youtube!

...in New England. We got 4" of snow on Sunday night. Snow and cold is a little abnormal, we trend towards wet, melting, slushy snow that only sticks around a day or so, falling when temperatures are above freezing. Instead, tonight we're sitting at 12 degrees Fahrenheit at 10pm (they keep lowering the predicted low, and these are record breaking lows for us). I can feel the cold air seeping through the big glass doors out to the balcony, curse the late-60's construction of our office building when aluminum was thought to be the best material for door and window frames! They're predicting more snow mixed with rain tomorrow, but also temps above freezing which should start to melt this off so we can get back to normal. Because this happens so infrequently, the city/state just doesn't have the equipment to handle this and it's also too cold for the chemical deicers they favor to work.

Señorita Fluffenstuff was quite distraught by the snow on Monday morning, the blanket of white that covered everything so quickly. She paced back and forth between the balcony and the office window, meowing at the world outside until we buckled her into her harness and leash and took her out on the balcony to sniff and touch the snow. Now? She's okay with it, spending her days curled in a ball on our bed having determined it to be the softest, warmest spot in the house. And me? I got this great shot of her fluffy white toes in the snow:

I think she and I need to have a talk about who the macbook really belongs to. Clearly she disagrees with my assessment that it is mine.

I'm making my own vanilla extract! Based on these instructions and using vanilla beans from this store. In my one quart jar I put in six vanilla beans split in half (I used three Bourbon/Madagascar beans and three Tahitian), 4 ounces of vanilla extract and then filled the jar with Bacardi White Rum. 6 to 8 weeks from now, I'll have vanilla! Just in time for my Christmas baking.

Also, here's a snapshot of the life of this cat owner. She sniffs everything. At least once. The vanilla jar? She sniffed it twice.

Today's Friday Fixation is a new gadget that makes my life a little easier: the Dyson Animal (DC25).

Since our old Eureka has pretty much given up the ghost we decided that the extra money for the Dyson would be money well spent. We ran around town looking for it last Sunday, but unfortunately we could not find the DC25 Animal in town (the DC25 line are the "Ball" line of vacuums.) I wanted the Ball for a variety of reasons:
1. They weigh less than their traditional counterparts.
2. They maneuver more easily, since they can pivot in any direction.
3. They are fancier and cooler than the non-Ball vacuums.

We did end up finding the vacuum locally, at Best Buy (I actually placed my order on-line for in-store pick-up which was an easy and smooth transaction and I recommend it). We went out in a heavy rain on Monday evening to pick it up. It comes needing a little assembly (you need to snap on the handle and connect the brush to the ball, no tools involved) but by the time it was ready to go, it was too late to run it. Tuesday morning I was finally able to run my test, and joy of joys! This vacuum is amazing. I had run the old vacuum on Saturday and when I vacuumed with the Dyson on Tuesday, I swear you'd have thought there was half a cat in the carpet! It also runs more quietly than the old vacuum so the cat is less afraid of it. All-in-all I am very pleased and think it was an investment well made.

She hates it. Hates. It is kind of funny how defeated she looks when I put it on. Lest you think we are mean cat owners, here she is--all happy--with D.

When we got Pica a few months ago, they estimated her birthday to be October 31st so today our sweet girl is officially a two-year old cat. Let's hope she has many many more years left in her!

Join us back here tomorrow to kick off NaBloPoMo.

In related news, it's been so hot here that we decided to seek respite from the oppressive heat in our apartment but felt bad leaving the cat home (it was cool enough that she was not in danger). Instead of leaving her, we harnessed her, hooked on the leash and headed out. We took her carrier in case she freaked out but she took it in stride, sitting on my lap--purring and watching out the windows. We saw several crows, two donkeys and what appeared to be a yearling buck deer. We grabbed coffee via the Starbucks drive through and really surprised the girl working the window. Guess it's not every day you see a cat riding in the car.