A Tale of Two Kitties

Cats! On the internet! Guys, I think this might turn into a worldwide trend or something.

(Okay, I think I'm funnier than I am. Still, I am talking about cats today.)




This is Tiptoe. She's my mother's cat. My mother would be willing to share her, but Tiptoe is emphatically NOT ON BOARD with that idea.












She did let me pet her in December. I'm pretty sure it was her Christmas gift to me.

This is her usual attitude towards me. That's a pretty extreme zoom. I'm sitting on the far side of the dining room. She's hiding in the hallway by our laundry room. The entire length of the kitchen is between us.





She's not doing well. The vet thinks it's either wet-form FIP (from her symptoms) or congestive heart failure (from blood enzyme levels 15 times the "normal" count). Or possibly both. At this point, the only thing weighing against the FIP diagnosis is that she's still alive. She's a tough kitty.

She originally came into our lives when she wandered up to my mom on our front porch. She was wearing a collar with a rabies tag on it, so my mom brought her in, thinking that we'd track down her people for her.

Turns out the rabies tag was 11 years old (Tiptoe was only about 3 at the time), and for a DOG. While we did originally call her Spare, in a completely vain attempt to prevent my mom from getting too attached, she stuck around. We decided that Spare was a bit unkind, so she was rechristened Tiptoe. She and Lilac (our other cat) (who was here FIRST) (Lilac insists on the second parenthetical), tolerate each other. They are not friends. In fact, Lilac is usually a bit of a brat to Tiptoe. My mother is refusing to acknowledge how ill Tiptoe is, but I think the fact that Lilac hasn't pestered Tiptoe at all in over a week kind of says it all.

The second kitty from the title is Seamus. He's my sister's new cat. Well, new-to-her, as he's about 3 years old and was adopted from Hinsdale Humane Society (where we also got Licorice, my late dog, back in 1983). If you're looking for a pet in the Chicagoland area, they're pretty awesome.

Anyway, this is Seamus. He's much more friendly than either of our cats.












No, seriously. MUCH more friendly. This was the first time he met me, when we were at my sister's house to (belatedly) celebrate her birthday. Which is Seamus' birthday too! They're clearly meant to be.






SO. MUCH. More Friendly. Okay, it's not the most flattering pose for either of us, but spontaneous chin-rubs from a kitty! That hasn't happened to me in years and years. Later that evening he fell asleep in my arms. I could tell because his purring got softer and softer until it finally stopped.



I haven't had contact with an actually FRIENDLY cat in so long that I was practically giddy, and that lasted for hours after we left Seamus. Oh yeah, and my sister. Sorry sis! You're definitely ranking second to your cat at the moment.

In non-feline news, I'm still fundraising for Concern Worldwide through the Live Below the Line challenge. And I'm hanging onto 98th place on the Top 100 Leaderboard for US fundraising. That's good and bad. I mean, it's awesome to be on the leaderboard! But I've only raised $75 so far. And although that's way ahead of my fundraising at this point last year, it's still a little disheartening to think that there are only 97 people in the US who've raised more. It's better than when I was in the top 30 though. I was up there for over a week.

If you'd like to bump me up the leaderboard, you can sponsor me here. My friend Deen is also doing the challenge, and her page is here. She's way ahead of me though: she's #67!

Question 16

Yes, I'm late again. I apologise. It completely slipped my mind yesterday that it was Friday. I finally remembered when I was heading to bed at about 1 a.m., so I guess I can honestly say today.

16) How many companies have I worked for since leaving school?
a) Four
b) Six
c) Seven
d) Eight
e) Ten

I have no knitting photo (again) this week. Instead, let me distract you with a picture of Lilac in her cat bed. She is scrupulous in upholding her reputation as our princess cat, so she will not lie in the bed unless it is placed on the couch.


Yes, it has a padded base and a coordinating pillow on top of that. Princess.

I suppose that I should post a photo of Spare, for equal time and all, but I don't really have one. This is because I don't like her much and she returns the favor. The only time I think she looks at all cute is when she's cuddled into her cat tent -- at the far end of the laundry room (which is at the opposite corner of the house from the room I'm usually in).



Oops, that's Lilac again. She's not a fan of flash photography. :)

Nothing exciting has really happened this week. I ended up ditching my HIT class on Wednesday because I couldn't find parking that was within walking distance (for me), even with my parking permit. Anatomy ... continues to try my patience. The good news is that he handed out practice midterms for us, and I got an 87% on it. Even though I haven't read several of the chapters yet, and we haven't even had lecture on 2 of the organ systems that will be on there. (The midterm is on 10/14.)

I also tried to go to the zoo on Thursday. I used to love going to the zoo. I've been a member (myself or on my parents' membership) since 1979. There were some years when I went about twice a month. Now, with the walking & breathing, I haven't been there in years. I went to their website a couple of months ago and discovered that they now have ECVs (Electronic Convenience Vehicles) available to rent, and I got all excited. Unfortunately, even though I'm under the weight limit, I can't fit into/onto the seat. The handlebars and controls are too close. I wish I'd known that before I got there. It was quite the disappointment.

On a brighter note, I've found another knitting blog that I enjoy. QueerJoe's actually been blogging since 2002, but I have spent large periods of time residing under various rocks, so I never got over there until very recently. I'm in the process of reading all of his archives, and am now up to 11/26/07. I am, perhaps, unreasonably excited by the knowledge that I own the same color of Malabrigo Laceweight Merino that he bought back then. (He knits with the most beautiful color combinations.)

Answer to Question 16: Eight. I'm not going to list them by name in case of future Googling. By description, they're as follows: (1) a department store outlet, (2) an answering service, (3) an office temp company, (4) a steel grating manufacturer, (5) another office temp company, (6) a data entry company, (7) the same office temp company as #5, so it doesn't count towards the total, (8) a real estate title insurance company, (9) #5 AGAIN, and (10) a car dealership. Ten jobs, eight companies.


These questions are coming from my 'How well do you know Beccaie Jamieson?' quiz on Facebook. Thus far, the high scores are 35% among my friends, 40% among my sister's friends, 41% for my mother, with my sister scoring 74%. I'm bringing the questions to my blog in the hopes that some more people will get to know me better.