Sammy the dog tester

So Sammy is not afraid of anything. There has never been a dog that makes him scared. At most he will wonder off as if uninterested. As a result, the animal handlers use him to test whether dogs are cat-friendly or unfriendly. I love to watch the dogs being paraded under his nose while people try and convince him to move and provoke the dogs. Most dogs take one sniff and know this is not a cat to trifle with. Actually, most people do the same.

more puppy

Freddie has graduated! He is now adoptable. This is him under my desk last week, drooling on my knee. There has already been a family who is interested. Now that he has come out of his shell he loves to run around the room like a maniac and then play-bow at you. Tooooo cute!

Whoah!!

So this morning when I was shaking out our rugs on the back steps, I heard a Toktok. When I craned my neck around the back of the house there was the biggest woodpecker I have ever seen. I wasn't even sure if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. His body was big and he had the hugest fire-engine red mohawk. My first thought was that it was the Ivory billed and I had made a wonderful scientific discovery, but immediately dismissed it. I called K out and he said it was the pilleated. Which did not reduce my wonder at all. SO big! He is the size of a crow. Oh, also, he is a she.

The other photo is of a little downy munching on our suet. It is funny to watch the downy's get to the suet. They land on the crook and then sort of slide down the pole till they hit the suet box, on which they sort of hop into position. We are going to take pity on them on hang a new suet in the tree.

Freddie

Freddie is the rescue dog I told you about, the one in the men's bathroom as you can so clearly see. I had the pleasure of his company today as he has been upgraded from the loo. He is socialised enough to be allowed to hide under someone's desk. Initially that was the ED but I asked for his company and was granted. He is so scared of humans and loud noises that he just needs to be somewhere where he will meet humans but still feel safe. poor baby.

Sammy

So this is Sammy, he is nasty looking. And going to be more nasty looking as all his hair falls out when he eats the other cats' food. He is diabetic and he doesn't know it but he loves to eat. He'll even eat your sandwhich if you leave it unattended. Even though he is mean and slightly gross, I feel affection for him. Maybe it's cos I naturally love all orange cats.

A few observations from my first day

There is a creature for every office. It is a very smart office space as they recently had the entire facility rebuilt and it is very Posh. But it is covered in Cat hair. Sammy lives in the Building directors office. He is a large 18 yr old, ginger bully. He lives to push my office mate around. Her name is Violet and she is a fat little siamese. Alley lives in the Executive Directors office and she is very shy and pretends not to mind when Sammy doodoos in her litterbox. I suspect that you will be hearing a great deal about these three characters. In the men's bathroom is a 10 month old beagle who is being socialised. Which means the bathroom door is open but barred so that he can get used to people going past and talking to him. Talking to him and even scratching ears is encouraged. This makes me glad. In the broom closet are two cats who are also being socialised. They are less cute. Even though they are cats. I know, very surprising, coming from me.

The worst thing about my day was the discovery that there is no kettle. None. People just heat their tea water in the microwave. Heathens. My first job as "development assistant" will be to raise funds for a kettle. freakin' coffee drinkers, the lot of them. There are THREE coffee machines.

The best thing about my day was beginning to navigate my way around the donor database. I always enjoy learning new programs and this one is delightfully complicated. Despite the complexity I am confident that I will get the hang of it quite quickly and will soon be able to pull reports detailing all kinds of details!

Ooh, I will share an office with the other person who will be at my level but has not come on board yet. It has a window that opens and I will actually get sunlight! Yay! An upgrade from my previous corporate office. It's a big office and I have a big swivel chair and all the filing cabinets in the room are mine, MINE!

Another triumph of the day was to walk past all those sweet little kitties in the adoption center and not take one home! Another Yay!

Ok, now I really must go and unwind or I will never sleep, and getting up for unemployment was a lot later than getting up for employment. I have now been awake for 14 hours IN A ROW! Impressive.

The view from my bed.

While talking to R on Sunday I saw three different woodies, a few Carolina Chickadees, two bright Cardinals chasing each other and lots of singing House Finches. I didn't even have to get out from under the covers for all that. What heaven.

Cat Flap resolved

Yay! I no longer have the urge to respond when I hear bells at the back door. K is my kero and the cat flap is once again functional. Even the cats are happier. Henry now gets to play his favourite game: sit-at-the-flap-and-stop-my-sister-from-getting-in. Meanie!

a fish on a bicycle.

K and I both loved the juxtaposition of the Guinness in an old POM glass. It's such a healthy seeming juice, and I know certain people will claim the same of guinness, but that just seems like a stretch. ; >

repeat tragedies

We keep finding ladybirds all over the house. I don't know where they come from but it is like they come inside to die. We find them crawling up the walls and across the ceiling. Each time we find one, we rescue it and put it on our only plant. A Bonsai, which was a housewarming from S&B. It is then only a matter of 12 or so hours before I have to scoop the little carcass up and dispose of it permanently. Our dustbin has become a ladybird graveyard. It just makes me so sad to see each tiny one that didn't make it. Putting them outside doesn't help either. I think they just freeze out there. I am looking forward to real spring when we can let them outside and know they will actually survive.

All Quiet on the Western Front

It has been really quiet here the last few days. I basically do the same thing each day which includes dishes, cooking and sweeping. Oh and reading. Which is really the only thing I have to talk about. I have started re-reading the whole Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. It is just excellent junk reading and I am working my way through it quite quickly.

I am also reading a book called 'The Pink Carnation'. It's loosely based on the timeless 'Scarlet Pimpernel' and has a taint of 'literature' only because the woman writing it is a Harvard student studying the time. Not sure any of it is actually based on the French Revolution but it is also excellent escapism.

What is not escapsim is Margaret Atwood's 'Bluebeard's egg'. Short stories from the heart. I really can't read more than one story a day as she leaves you with a disturbed mind for a while after each story. Really excellent writing though, as much because the content stays with you as because of her prose.

That's it from me. Will save the rest of my books for another day in case the next few days are as still as the last.

The Human Cat Flap

That's me. We haven't rigged up our usual window-box-cat-flap yet as the box is too big or too small or too something that needs to be fixed with wood and a saw. This means that the cats must exit and enter via the back door. It's too cold to just leave the door open a little and this is where I come in. We hung some bells on the outside so the cats can let me know when they want to come in. I let them out, I sit down. Five minutes later, one of them is too cold and rings the bell. I get up and let him/her in. I sit down. five minutes later the other one wants in, I get up... you see the pattern. I do this all morning till I get sick of them and make them come in permanently. WHY you ask, would I do this tedious task? How much have these animals got me wrapped around their little paws. Well... you clean the litterboxes twice a day and see if you don't rather let the little eating/pooing/peeing/crying things outside instead.

Lovely Sunday

We are having one of those excellent Sundays. Lazy and still productive. Perhaps slow is a better word. I called home and had a chat, by which time K had made croisants for breakfast and a big fat cup of tea. Then he fiddled with the blender to see if he could fix it and I played some online scrabble and cleaned up the house a little. Now we are both just sitting at the comps being geeks. All I plan to do for the rest of the day is watch some Roswell and maybe do the grocery shopping. What a wonderful life!

More birds

We think that the bluebird may actually live in our backyard, now that we see him or his mate almost every day. We also could not resist this image of the Turkey Buzzards (Vultures) sitting in a tree waiting for something yummy and dead to come along.

another lucky discovery

Discovered a really deliscious salad dressing last night. 1/3 olive oil, 1/3 balsamic vinegar and 1/3 POM original pomegranate juice and some fresh ground black pepper. It's excellent on a Waldorf salad. Just another reason to have POM in your fridge. Yay.

You won't believe it!

We had ANOTHER power outage! It went out around 9:30 last night and didn't come back on till 6am! It wasn't as cold last night as the last time, thank goodness, but it was still wretched. I just can't believe that in this first world place we could be without electricity twice in a few weeks. On the other hand, it does give us a great excuse for eating all the ice-cream in the freezer.

eina.

Last night we played squash and then fiddled around on the gym machines after. I was on a high from winning a game against K for the first time in... well pretty much since the first game I played with him ever. It was also his first game ever. In order to win last night's game it required K to be daydreaming and me running around the court like a fly in a window. My gym machine of choice is what has fondly been called the gynecological machine. It's the one where you put your knees against it and strengthen your inner thighs or outer. This morning I am paying for my enthusiasm. I can barely walk and if anything falls today it is staying on the floor cos I can't bend. I am going to try and get to the pool when it opens to try and work out the kinks but K may have to carry me there.

Yikes!

There is currently a tornado warning on for C'ville. Which translates to sheets and sheets of torrential rain. K and I did our groceries and when we came out of the store it was starting to pour. By the time we got home, and got out of the car it was like walking into a shower! We actually had to change our clothes when we made it into the house. cray-zy! mmm think I will now go online and research what one is supposed to do in a Tornado or to prepare for one? Hopefully it is make pasta for dinner and watch CSI.