Kitten Update

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Long past time for an update on the kitten. My life has been really busy this year if you haven’t noticed. 😛

The kitten has been named Strider after the Lord of the Rings character. He’s this mysterious kitty, with mysterious origins, who was found in our garage and there’s a wooded area near that part of the house.

When we took him to the vet on July 9th he weighed 3.5 pounds. They said it was over twice the weight he was last time. Apparently he was actually about 1.2 pounds when we first found him and brought him in! O_O!!

Strider has since proved himself to be scary smart. We put two barrier gates in the hallway, one on top of the other. It only took him a couple of attempts before figuring out how to get over them. We moved a foam mattress into a hallway and put it on its side. Strider figured out he can climb on top of it, walk around up there, and peer into other rooms from on top of it.

He also loves this puzzle cat toy box we have. It has holes in the top and sides for putting toy balls in it.
wooden puzzle box
He bats them around to fish them out. I put the balls back in, and Strider is after them again.
Strider playing with the puzzle box.

Just today I saw Strider playing with a catnip toy. It’s the first time that a catnip has interested him. So hopefully he’s starting to react to catnip now.

The other cats are still getting used to him. Our oldest cat Kit continues to avoid him completely. Crystal (our 2nd oldest) tolerates him, which is interesting since she too was a feral kitten. Emily, now our middle child, does not like Strider. Emily makes a point of trying to smack Strider from time to time, which is an improvement over hissing and trying to strike. *Sighs.* The youngest, the brothers Kero & Boo, like to watch Strider with keen interest. Once again it’s interesting since they are the only other boys we have. Boo has taking a bit of a liking to Strider. You may recall Boo was the one meowing down the stairs, making Strider cry out in return while he was in the garage. They’ve had an interesting relationship so far. There was a time Strider would instantly come running to Boo the moment he heard Boo meow, or Strider would meow in return. Kero did not like Strider and hissed a lot. He’s become a little bit more tolerant of Strider now, to a point of course.

Strider still gets frightened of things. He’s been getting better. He used to jump or run away when you tossed a toy near him. He was also afraid of the food bag. Strider still runs away and gets startled easily at times. I’m hoping he’ll get up his courage soon.

The other problem is that he still have fleas. The vet gave us some flea treatment, but Strider still scratches. The other cats have started to scratch too. I’m also covered in flea bites on my lower arms and legs. (My husband is unscathed. Lucky.) Strider is due for a re-treatment and we bought flea medication for the other cats. So hopefully this will be finally dealt with soon.

Other than that, Strider likes to meow a lot. I guess that’s what we get for having 3 cats that are part Siamese. Strider probably thinks this much meowing is normal. Heh.

Stowaway!

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So on Friday morning, while I was packing my food for work, I started to hear a repeated meowing. I followed the sound to behind a door that leads to a stairway that goes both to the basement and the garage. I thought one of our cats got caught behind the door. I opened it while pondering how they snuck around us when we got home. No one was there, but the meowing continued. I walked down the stairs and found it was coming from the garage. Even worse a neighborhood cat somehow got stuck in our garage last night!

I walked into the garage and heard the meowing coming from under my car.

“Hi kitty!”
“Meow!”
“Hello kitty!”
“Meow!”
“It’s okay. You can come out.”
“Meow!”

The cat was content to stay put and not come to me. I tried to call my husband who was upstairs on his cell to tell him the news. He didn’t answer. So I walked back upstairs and yelled up the frantic news. Giuliano told me to just open the garage and let it out. (I was worried it didn’t have food or water all night!)

When I got back to the garage, all was silent. I called out and no meow. I opened the garage door, but I didn’t see anyone run out. I left the garage door opened, left the room, and went to finish packing my food. Maybe it needed time alone to feel safe to flee. When I was done packing my food I told my husband to please check the garage again before he left work to make sure the cat was gone. I went back and I looked all around my car. I looked under it. Nothing. I looked over each tire. Nothing. I put my stuff in the car, got in, rolled down the driver’s side window, and did the slowest reverse you have ever seen. No meows. Nothing. It must have got out. (I found out later that my husband forgot to check the garage before he left home for work.)

So I did my day of work, thinking of the poor cat and its poor owner that missed it! I felt so bad. When I got home I peered into the garage before slowly pulling the car in. Nothing. I closed the garage door and walked up the stairs. When I opened the door to the main floor I noticed Emily there. She ran down the stairs and was very interested in the basement door. That didn’t seem like a good sign. I called my husband with the news. We agreed to have him park outside and we’d both look in the garage. We did, and we didn’t find anything. Cat must be gone.

Forward to Saturday morning. For some reason my biological clock thought sleeping in was giving me an extra hour. I woke at 6:15am. Thanks I grumbled to myself. I listed to some music on my iPod as I started to plan out my day. As I did I swore I heard Emily meow. I lifted off my headphones, but didn’t hear anything. I didn’t see her down the upstairs hallway either. Now worried I decided to check downstairs. I paused in front of the door that led downstairs. I swore I heard meowing but at this point it could have been my imagination getting away from me. I slowly turned the knob. It was definitely meowing. The same meowing. Now I’m in a full panic. The poor cat’s been in there since Thursday evening! I run yelling to my husband Giuliano again and having him get up and help me find the cat. Meanwhile I grabbed some food and water for the poor thing.

When we got down the stairs and turned the knob, I heard something scamper away. Again the meowing came from under my car. Giuliano looked under it with a flashlight. We didn’t see anything. Worried now I asked him to open the hood, hearing in the past that cats like to hide there. I didn’t check it Friday morning and now I feared I took the cat for a ride! He popped it and I lifted it up. He looked around with the flashlight and we saw a tiny bundle of gray. A kitten! Oh my God. It was under the hood. Giuliano reached for it but it ran away to the other side of the garage. I went over there, got a bit of a hold on the kitten but it ran away. We tried to get it there, but it went back under the car’s hood. Then it ran to the back of the car over the muffler. Back and forth. This was a losing battle. Any grip Giuliano got on it, it got away.

At that point I suggested getting Emily down there. She was interested in the cat the previous day. Maybe she’d help us find it. She didn’t really help. Our cat Boo did. Every time Boo cried behind the closed main door for us, the kitten mewed back in return. Finally we chased it to the stairs. My husband ran after it, shutting the door behind him. Emily was on the stairs and “pointed” out the kitten to Giuliano. He finally got it, but was scratched and bitten in the process. I grabbed the small cat carrier and Giuliano put the kitten in it. We brought the carrier and kitten upstairs.

Some of our cats went to see the visitor. And yes some of them hissed. Others ignored the kitten like it didn’t exist. Kero just stared and stood like a statue from a safe distance.

We waited for the vet’s office to open at 9am. While we waited Giuliano went and got some cat’s milk we had and a dropper. He fed the kitty and it lapped it up! Yay! A good sign.

At about 9 we left and told the story to the vet’s office. I told them my nickname for the kitten: Little Mousie. Cause well the kitten’s gray and it ran around everywhere hiding like a mouse! So they put down Mousie on the kitten’s papers. Heh. I swear it’s a nickname only! The vet says the kitten is 6 weeks old, a good age, about 2 pounds, and a boy! He got his first shot and was tested for leukemia and feline AIDS. The test was negative. But they didn’t get a fecal sample to test for anything else, so until then we have to keep him apart from our other cats. They gave us some flea medicine and gave him a sample of some canned food. Boy did he eat! I’ve never seen a cat so hungry. The vet plopped the can in the carrier with the kitten and he ate and ate like crazy. More good news!

So we took him back home. He’s been shaking a lot. He’s still very scared of everything he’s been through. He has no idea what humans are. He likes to hide and meow, probably hoping his mom will find him. Poor thing!

We have to keep an eye on him. If he gets sick, we have to take him to the vet. Giuliano was bitten, as was a tech assistant at the vets office (probably when they drew blood). So we’re hoping the kitten doesn’t have anything that can pass to people.

We’ve been giving the little kitten a lot of love. We also set aside one of our bathrooms for him. A bed, a box, a litter box, food, water, and a place to safely explore. If we let him into the house we’d never find him!


So here’s the thing I need from my visitors. This kitty needs a name! One major stipulation, the name can’t start with a K sound. We already have a few cats with names that sound like that. Japanese names are welcome since he hid under my Subaru. (In romaji please. And not Neko. I’d rather not name a cat “cat” in Japanese. Not Subaru either. ;P ) We don’t have anything to offer other than our thanks, and a scared but sweet boy to carry the name you picked.

Nook Color – Think I’ll Pass

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So on May 25th I used a $25 off Nook Color coupon to purchase a Nook Color. I figured, what the heck I’ll try it out. I asked about the return policy before I purchased it so I would know my time limit for deciding I was keeping it. (It’s 14 days.) Of course I also got a screen protector, a cover, and an extra year warranty. I was reassured by some sales associates that I would love it.

And I had such hopes..

The problem started when the Nook Color was, well, started. There’s an introductory video showing you how to use the Nook Color. The video stuttered and it soon was obvious that the audio and video were no longer in sync. Uh, that’s not a good sign. I shrugged it off as maybe it’s because the Nook Color was starting up for the first time and was busy loading things.

The next thing I noticed was that my Nook Color didn’t have an apps icon on the bottom menu like the one in the store did. I dug through the Nook Color over and over, in and out of various menus looking for it. After some research online I came to find out that my Nook Color didn’t have the most recent software update on it, the one that allows the apps. . . . No one at the store told me about this and that I would have to install it. So manual install/upgrade it is to the OS.

Okay so that was solved. Annoying but solved.

Next was searching for apps. Now there weren’t that many, so I could easily pull up a list of all of them. I could even sort by price and see the free ones appear on top. The problem came up when I tried looking for particular apps and kinds of apps. First there was no Dropbox app, even though Barnes and Noble mentions it by name. “Conveniently ACCESS files remotely from your Google® Docs, Dropbox, Box, Huddleâ„¢, SugarSync, and MobileMeâ„¢ account.” I had noticed that in the store and the sales associate had no idea what Dropbox even was. I basically confirmed it again and guessed I’d have to access my Dropbox by the browser. Though the lack of app for the Nook Color was annoying, especially since the app exists for Android tablets already.

Then I tried looking for a Twitter app. At the time there wasn’t any. Unfortunately the search looks in all of Barnes & Noble’s store. Which means I got a lot of results on ebooks about Twitter. Nothing for the app. And this is a big drawback. Search for any app and you also get ebook results. There was a way to access categories, but it doesn’t limit your search to those categories. It just opens that category and lists everything in it on the screen. So looking for a Twitter app, then going to the App category just brought up the list of all current Nook Color apps again.

So onward to the browser.

And here’s where the next big drawbacks lie. When you scroll down a long web page, the URL bar disappears. The URL bar stays at the top of the page as if it was some sort of image banner. So when you want to go to another website, you have to scroll your screen all the way back up to access the URL bar. Next strike against it: The back icon is only on the URL bar. There is no icon or menu option for it on the bottom. So when you want to go back a page, again you have to scroll your way back to the top of the web page you are currently on. So if you’re reading a long news article, or long forum posts, you have to scroll alll the way back to the top. The URL bar should stay locked on top so you can always access it at any time, especially if there’s a back button only available there. How this was missed I do not know.

Next. The processor is slow. I loaded up a video on Twitcasting and again it stuttered just like the opening Nook Color video. The video could not keep up with the audio at all. It was awful.

It had a few Nook only options like sharing a passage on Twitter & Facebook, or seeing my Nook Friends’ books. However the only other person I know of that has a Nook (1st gen) is my husband. So the Nook Friends thing is not a useful feature for me, and certainly not for this price. Anything else: highlighting stuff, looking up words, I can do on the Android Nook app.

The one good thing about the Nook Color, it felt right in my hands. It was just the right size to hold and the right size to type on it in portrait mode. Typing in landscape mode wasn’t too bad either. Before now I felt bigger size of tablet would be better. I couldn’t imagine having a 7 inch tablet. But here it was just the right size. I was surprised.

So after all these issues I decided to see what was out there for a Wi-Fi Android tablet to do some comparison. Meaning was it worthwhile to keep the Nook Color, maybe make it a full tablet, or just get a real tablet. After all with the cost for everything I was over halfway there. ($224 Nook Color price with coupon + $30 for cover + $25 for screen protector + I think $52 for extra warranty = $331 + tax.) I ended up finding the HTC Flyer, a 7 inch Wi-Fi only Android tablet, and tested that out at a Best Buy store.

In the end I returned the Nook Color on Memorial Day weekend and got a Flyer. I didn’t even have the Nook Color for a week.

This experience surprised me in every way. I fully expected to love the Nook Color. Instead I was disappointed. I was even able to put it down and leave it at home (for my husband to play with), and I didn’t miss it. I didn’t want to really pick it back up again. It had its issues and that took the enjoyment out of it.

Wisdom Teeth Removal: Day 6

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Tuesday..

I get up by my alarm, take my ibuprofen, check work email, and plop back into bed. So much for getting up earlier. The next time I get up is because I’m due to take my antibiotic. Time to grab some food.

I begin to think about expanding my limited food choices with cottage cheese. I worry that I’m not getting enough calcium and protein in my diet. I’ve started to get a few muscle spasms, and I hope that doesn’t mean I’m low on potassium.

After being up and about the house for a while I decide to try to go out to grocery shop for food supplies. When I get in my car I note I need gas too. So both it is. When I get out at the grocery store I notice in my rear view mirror that in daylight my bruises look much worse. I mentally whimper, feel that self-conscious mood again, hang my head down, and try to avoid eye contact. I maneuver around the store making pains to avoid people and especially children. Last thing I want to do is scare them with my looks. I grab what I need to. A couple of women meet my eyes and smile. I smile back though I don’t feel happy at all. Even smiling too much hurts thanks to the big bruise on my left. No one says anything to me. I’m not sure if I like that or not. It is a bit comforting that I don’t have to explain why I look this way. I just hope people aren’t getting the wrong ideas.

The store feels awfully warm to me and it’s already very hot outside. I’m not sure if that’s because of what I’m going through or not. I’ve been warned on the paperwork to stay out of the sun and heat. Yeah that’s not hard to do when you’re already Irish and turn into a cooked lobster when you sit under the sun for too long. I quicken my pace. A cashier leads me to the self check out. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to do it but what the heck. It’s the only verbal acknowledgement I get. Once I’m outside the heat hits me again and I make a quick beeline to my car.

Next I get gas for the car. But of course I don’t just get it without feeling self-conscious again. I pick the pump with no one on my left and the pump between me and eye contact of the person at my right. Again I keep my head down and avoid contact.

I get home, unpack, and cool down in the house again. Later my husband takes me out for the rest of the supplies I need to get at a couple of other grocery stores. It is still really hot outside. I have to walk further to get in the store and I feel my cheeks begin to burn from the heat. We get what we need and again no one says anything to me nor my husband. Next grocery store same thing. My cheeks burn, I feel warm after being in the store for a while, no one says anything. My husband thinks the trauma to my face like the bruising is probably causing the discomfort feeling in the sun for my cheeks. This isn’t going to be a good week. I’m suddenly heat sensitive like crazy apparently.

After we get home I unpack my stuff again. Later in the day I prepare for returning to work. I’m really not looking forward to being out and about now between the bruises and the heat. I’m wishing I had some cloth to put over my head and wrap around my cheeks to protect them. It might also hide the bruises from a casual glance. I still get tired out during the day and I’m not sure if I’ll have the energy to do a full day of work. Though leaving early is pointless as the midday heat will fry me. It’s supposed to storm tomorrow so hopefully that’ll bring down the temperatures to something I can tolerate better right now. Well here goes nothing. Back out in the public eye and looking all the worse in that daylight sun.

Wisdom Teeth Removal: Day 5

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Monday..

Thanks to lack of decent wholesome sleep via my prescription pain meds, I was unable to even attempt to return to work.

I’m still having pain brushing even as gentle as I can be around the left side of my mouth with the bottom left being the worst. So I called the office when I was more awake in the afternoon about it. They said day 3-4 is the worst so it’s normal. Well technically this is day 5, but I have no energy to discuss it. I was reassured that they’ll go over how everything is going on my Thursday afternoon appointment.

Meanwhile I’ve sworn off lortab. It’s just ibuprofen now. I’m doing my best to manage through the pain. It’s mostly tolerable. I get headaches, especially on the side of my head. I’m assuming that’s due to pain from the jaw. I know I’ve clenched my teeth a few times. I may even be grinding in my sleep with all the stress. The bruise on the left side of my face is almost always hurting me and the ibuprofen isn’t helping with that. The bruise as spread out both up my cheek and down to my neck. So it’s quite painful over a large area. My sinuses on my left side along with my left ear hurt too.

I had to pick up some sneakers I had to special order. Turns out I have really wide feet. So I get dressed to go out. I wear my Fruits Basket shirt of Kyo that says “Fits of Fury.” If I’m bruised to heck, might as well poke fun at it. I get a bit motion sick on the ride there. *sighs* I’ve been having nausea every time I lie down to sleep and when I wake up, along with stomach pains. I can’t figure if it’s the pain meds or the antibiotic or both. Anyway I get to the shoe store and I’m very self conscious about my looks. I keep my eyes down, ask for the shoes, get them, and leave. When I get back home I get back into my pjs. So much for my romp outside.

More light scratching of the bruised areas going on. I weigh myself and I’ve lost about 7 pounds since the last time I checked. That’s not good. I worry my exhaustion is a sign I’m not getting enough calories in me. One heck of a diet, just don’t eat anything solid. I have to keep pressing on though. I’m not sure how well this is healing up and if it doesn’t go well my molars may be in trouble.

I look forward to bed without weird nightmares. I actually have a hard time drifting off to sleep. I suppose my body is used to the medication helping with that. My stomach begins to hurt again which doesn’t help either. Sleep comes and I do have a bad dream, but at least it kind of made sense. That’s an improvement. It was an extension of my worries of when I ride the train again into work.

I decide to take Tuesday off of work as well. My energy reserves are just non-existent. I need another day’s rest and more time off that damn lortab under my belt. Plus I’ll need the day to see if I can manage getting around by myself again.

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