My Cats are my CoWorkers

Not having kittens and working from home now that we have moved, I found myself creating a new Facebook Page to amuse myself. Cats generally show up and make a spectacle of themselves and lend themselves to amusing photos and captions.. Like this one.

Skippy has taken on the role of Boss Cat and he quite often takes me to task, like here when he chided me for being late for work.

Fleurp tends to sit there bright eyed like she has something to tell me, so I have labeled her the Office Gossip. She also likes to do a lot of collaboration.

Muffin has been dubbed my tech support because she taught me that the laptop I was given to work on has a touchscreen

and Jack is always inviting me out to eat..

If you would like to check it out, you can click on the link below

My Cats are My CoWorkers

A chair for Fleurp

Momma bought me a new throne to sit on, and I must say I think it makes me look good.

Just pay no attention to Muffin trying to ruin this perfectly good photoshoot I had going on.

~~~~~

Our new living room is much smaller than our old house, and so the sectional we had doesn't fit. We have a love seat and a big comfy chair (Eli's throne) in there now but we could use a new chair or two. We stopped by a Pier One and saw the Addyson Chair and we bought it. I'm contemplating buying a second one and might have if they had it in the store.. but we still have decisions on what we want to do with that room in general, so I haven't bought it yet. We'll see.

Can you guess what this is?

I will tell you that it is cat related. You are free to make a serious guess or a really insane guess (go ahead, tell me you think it is a cruise liner)

The reason I am doing this is not because it is sponsored or anything, but it is to unload on you two items that I don't want to pack up and bring to the new house (you know, I could have spun that so it didn't sound so pathetic, but I'm in "Please, tell me you want this so I don't have to pack it" mode) The first is a book I have a duplicate of

This is a 16-inch necklace - or an 8-inch double bracelet. The blue part is soft and pliable and a bit stretchy. You know you want it 😼

Here are a few more pictures of the item you are guessing on to give you a better idea of what you are looking at.

So, what do you think this is?  I will pick a random comment on this thread and send the book and the necklace off to you.

Spring in Maine (no kittens involved) and my chapple tree

This is my blog and I'll deviate if I want to. 😊

Several years ago when we moved into the house I bought a weeping cherry tree. I have always like weeping trees and cherry blossoms, I figured this would be a good compromise. When it started growing sprouts out of the top of it, I was a little surprised but I let it happen. My husband offered to cut them off to retain the integrity of the cherry stems grafted to the base, but I wanted to see what would happen.

This is what happened.

So far we haven't gotten any fruit on it, but this is the first year the cherry part of the tree really bloomed. I believe the original part of this tree is an apple tree, but we haven't had any of those fruits either, but who knows.. maybe one year I can make a chapple pie!

I really like this tree for a variety of reasons. Bloom, where you are planted, is one, deal with what you have been dealt with is another.

Since I'm focusing on the tree, I thought you'd like to see some of the blossoms up close and since I was walking around outside I took photos of the other flowers in my yard. I was amazed at the number of small bees nestled in the dandelions. Thre are at least seven baby bees in this first photo. Bonus points to anyone who can figure out what the last photo is of.

Happy Birthday Dad

I just wanted to take a moment and wish my dad a very happy birthday. Seventeen years ago we nearly lost him to a blood clot in his liver. He was one of the first people to get a splenopneumopexy as a radical way to correct what was going on.

He and my mother are being 'snowbirds' this year and are headed down to NC to spend some time away from the cold..

Happy Birthday Dad.. have fun!

So I went grocery shopping yesterday

I know, this sounds like a really odd thing to blog about, and even odder since this is a cat blog but hopefully you will begin to understand why I feel so darn strongly about this.

I am new to the phenomenon that is Market Basket.  There is one in NH that I have shopped at in the past, but randomly and I never really did understand what it stood for.  Market Basket, in case you don't know, is a family run business that treated its employees very well.  It also treated its customers very well in the form of low prices and happy employees. This is not cheap to do, and so you 'lose' some profits by doing this... but I also believe you gain some profits by doing this as well. Employees have a pretty low turn over rate so you don't need to invest a lot in training, and customers when treated properly tend to be loyal.

Back in June the board at Market Basket fired the people who made the decisions to invest in the employees and where to invest it's profit sharing portfolio. As a result of the firings, seven more executives quit (or were fired depending on your news source). Prior to the firings, they brought in two consultants, Jim Gooch and Felicia Thornton. After the firing they were appointed to be the CEOs. These two people, from what I can tell, were there to 'make the company more profitable' which is more often than not at the expense of the employees..former companies worked at by Jim was Radio Shack and Sears. When this happened, the employees called for a boycott of the store, and most of the customers, myself included, supported them.

I don't know about you, but I am SICK AND TIRED of big business and how they feel they can do anything they want to raise corporate profit and take home more money for the 1% at the expense of the individual. It is very hard to get people to unite and say 'no, this isn't a good thing' because there are always people who are willing and some need to save a penny or two.  Finding real ice cream in your supermarket is harder and harder as cream has become more expensive, they have been substituting with cheaper ingredients and then hiding the fact that it isn't 'ice cream' but a 'frozen dairy desert' in wee little print (or not putting it on the package at all). Soda which used to be made with sugar (from sugar cane) started to become made with HFCS - because corn is subsidized by the government where cane sugar is taxed. A lot of 'sugar' being used actually comes from beets these days.  Packages are getting smaller and smaller and prices are not being reduced. When was the last time you were actually able to buy a half gallon of ice cream at the store?

I fear that all of these changes aren't just hurting us financially but also hurting our health. Have you looked at an ingredient list lately? Have you ever tried to buy something with out HFCS or GMO free? it is darn near impossible at your general grocery store with out going organic at which point you are often looking at an even smaller package and an even higher price point.  We have gotten to the point where what was once 'food' is now at a premium and food like substances (or frankenfood) is the norm.  It is just sad.

So why am I talking about all this when I said I wanted to talk about going grocery shopping? Because this non union store banded together, and as one collective voice said "NO!" They did not like the turn the company was taking and they did something about it. I was having a conversation with a co-worker wondering why they didn't just fire everyone who wasn't working - which is very hard to do when it is everyone, including the people who would do the hiring in the stores.  The employees did a very good job getting the word out to customers asking them not to shop at their stores and asking for their support in this boycott. I too was annoyed that I couldn't shop there because they carry a few products I can not get anywhere else (not to mention a number of products I can buy elsewhere are often several dollars more expensive) but I stood with them in the decision to say this is not acceptable.

Too many times big companies win.. Just look at Fairpoint Communications.  Four months their union has been with out a contract.

This time the 'people' won. They stood up and said let's have a fair work environment, lets go back to what was working and they stuck by their guns despite losing personal income for nearly two months. The company let this thing linger and linger losing nearly 10 million dollars a day since June, which also only set to lower the selling price, and yet they resisted selling to the one person the entire company base was screaming for. You have got to love the dynamics of a family run business

(point of note, I once worked for a different company that was sort of in the same situation. The decedents of the original owner were bickering on how things should be run and as a result one would make wild and unwise spending decisions that ran the company into the ground.  They barely survived but are just a shell of the company they were when I worked for them)

So good for you, the current Market Basket team. I hope you continue to be successful and keep the employee loyalty that you are now known for.

As I was shopping, I saw these coke bottles on the shelf just like this.. it made me smile.  I heard two different announcements by employees thanking shoppers for coming back (and it was PACKED when I was there) and each time the employees whooped it up and did some cat calls (see, I knew I'd get the word cat in this post somehow) and I walked by a half dozen employees having conversations with customers about what just happened, or thanking them for shopping, or where things were going.  The shelves were still not completely full.  Most of the produce was still missing, the meat department was kind of sad, but the people were all very happy.. employees and people alike - and when was the last time you could say that about shopping anywhere let alone grocery shopping.

I can not tell you how much I hope this impacts all other areas of business. How companies start thinking that maybe loyalty and treating people right is far more important than paying a penny more on it's shares or that their CEO makes a wee bit more than the CEO of the competition. Money is NOT the only sign of success.. and Artie T I am sure would agree with me.

An apology and a clarification

"jamie" commented on my ranting post about Reader's Digest's article on pet secrets. She made some very valid points.  What she failed to realize that my post was a share of an email I wrote - which was written to make a point that people should question the source of their information, and it was NOT a condemnation of RDs, but of Big Food's attempt to influence them.

Reader's Digest did not just pull those two 'secrets' out of thin air.  SOMEONE told them that grains are good and raw food is bad.  I can only assume that they didn't get it from 'Big Pet Food' but from a vet. And that vet probably absolutely believes they aren't in bed with BPF... I've never met or heard of a vet who says "Oh yes, I let BPF dictate what I do as a vet"

When I mentioned that Big Food is doing it's best to dictate what nutritional information gets out there, I do have more than one source of information.  But I did not say this to imply that all RDs are corrupt, or even that most are.  I was making a point that 'Big Food' is trying to influence them. Just as BPF is trying to influence the vets.

You are free to rag on Mercola all you want, but the fact that he has or hasn't studied nutrition is not the point.  The point is that "Big Food" is doing its best to convince the government that their highly processed foods are part of a healthy diet. That we should completely disregard the fact that GMO foods are not long term tested for safety, and the the tests they do have are do say they are safe are bought and paid for by Big Food. There are studies that prove they are harmful, but Big Food does their best to discount them at every turn.  They throw money at government officials to support legislation that prevents GMO labeling, etc.. It does not take someone with an RD or a PHD or even a college degree to see what Big Food is doing - which is what the reference I made said.

Jamie, I do not know your philosophy, or what you promote.  Unfortunately I have not had the best of luck with receiving proper nutritional information for my body. I have gone to several dietitians and RDs for my own health when I started becoming extremely fatigued and cold after losing 70lbs.  I also started gaining weight despite the conventional approach of 'eating healthy', 'eating less', and 'exercising more'.  I had a 500+ calorie deficit every day and yet I gained weight.  I went to my doctor.  I went to an endocrinologist, I went to an RD, I read many blogs and articles by RDs, I went to another doctor, and another RD who told me not to eat pork because it is toxic because pigs do not sweat.  I had one who told me that soy was a good source of protein - even though it is very high in estrogenic compounds and most of it is GMO. And that skim milk is good for me, despite the fact that it has MSG and damaged cholesterol from the skimming process. I had one tell me to drink water till my urine ran clear to make sure I was well hydrated, even though doing so flushed most of the electrolytes out of my body and caused my heart to have PVCs.  I had another tell me to 'drink less' when she learned that I drank the recommended amount of water, but she could not give me a reason for it. I was eating 1500 calories a day and was told if I wanted to lose weight I should consider going lower.  I've seen people being told to go under the 1200 threshold, despite that doing so puts you into starvation mode.  I went gluten free, I removed all of the common allergens from my diet, I did everything 'right' and the only thing that started to help my health was a rejection of almost all current health advice.

Just as I fully believe there are competent vets out there, I fully believe there are competent RDs out there - ones that have not been influenced by Big Food - but since Big Food is working directly with the government to influence what is appropriate nutritional information it can be confusing, I assume for everyone.



Jamie I have no doubt you know a boat load more than I do about how the body deals with food, and I bet you are wealth of knowledge and would be really interesting to have a conversation with. I am sorry you were insulted by my referencing Mercola and his pointing out that Big Food does its best to fund nutritional information that is put out there.

I have a feeling you are probably going to be even more bothered by this post clarifying why I believe what I believe, and why I believe it, and for that I am sorry too.  I have been put in a position where I have had to question everything I had ever been told about nutrition in order to function.   I've touched upon this subject on this blog before citing my own health journey to make a point about my cats... My health is still not fully recovered from my two years of 'being healthy' and the nearly two years of trying to figure out why my 'being healthy' was ruining my health.  The simple fact that 90-95% of the people who lose weight regain it should be fact enough that we do not know enough about human health to make many hard and fast claims.

It has been hard hitting my head upon the wall of being told the convention approach is the right way only to find out that it is woefully lacking... be it for my cats or myself. And as such I believe we all need to think for ourselves..

and as always, I am completely open to being wrong.  I still read everything new on nutrition be it for my cats or myself.


and I seriously hope I'm done ranting for a while, because that isn't what this blog is supposed to be about.  Paws crossed kittens show up soon..

Font size

So, I changed the font size because I thought the standard was just a wee bit too small.

Did I go too far?  Too big?  not big enough?  What do you think?  You are the one reading this so please feel free to weigh in..

(the above image is the font slightly smaller.. )

The one where the momma loses the bird instead of giving it to US!!

Momma was late to work as usual. I don't know why she continues to go, we do our best to tell her we want her to stay home with us all the time.  Why just this morning six of us held her down and tried to purr her into submission (that Kit was off busy with the Dad) but some how she thwarted our ministrations and got dressed and left..

What she didn't know, and what we did, was there was a birdie in the garage.  We were SOO hoping that it would fly into one of our mouths (It totally would have been mine! ~Jack) but no.. she shut the door and frantically tried to shoo the bird out the garage door!  THE NERVE! She even went so far as to try to give it directions, like it understands people talk.. she is oh so silly!

The birdie tried to fly into the house, TWICE!, but that stupid door was in the way.. (I'm telling you, it so wanted to be my after breakfast snack! ~Jack) and it flieded up over the garage door so it couldn't make it out. Finally it went to one of the windows tired and exhausted. The momma got a towel and tried to manhandle it out of the garage, but the bird was covered in cobwebs and she wasn't sticking her girly fingers in that mess, so she got another towel to shoo those away too.  She finally picked up the birdie and we all got oh so excited dreaming of chewing on feathers, but she WENT OUTSIDE WITH IT!!

Apparently she felt the need to get rid of the cobwebs wrapped around the birds feet.. we can't disagree with that, who wants to nibble cobwebs?? It really grossed her out, but she put on her big girl panties and pulled remnants of fly carcasses and spider egg sacks off from the birdies feet. We waited so patiently, and we think the birdie knew it was doomed because it was mouth breathing and when she finally unwrapped it from the towel it refused to fly off.  (Someone get the plates!! ~Fleurp) (*drool* ~Skippy)

We waited for it to drop over dead cause we like our food like that.. dead and stuff.  (And ground up and on a silver plate thankyouverymuch ~Muffin) but it just hopped a little and flew TOWARDS THE MOM!  *seven pairs of eyes widen*  and it clung to her shirt.. *shudder*. (I'll save you mom! Just give me the chance!! ~Skippy) We think the mom was as stunned as we were, because all she did was shake the rest of the spider debris out of the towel.  We are SURE she was about to recapture the birdie and bring it to us when *gasp* the darn bird FLEW OFF!  MOUSES!

It flew all the way across the yard and up into the trees.. Stupid slow mom is never gonna catch us another one of those.. all she seems to be able to bring home is more kittens!! (don't forget that yummy stuff in cans she brings us!! ~Muffin) (oh yea ~Everyone else)

OK, Momma is pretty awesome, even if she did lose the bird..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It looks like a small female yellow warbler got stuck in my garage today.  Normally I can just shoo the birds around until they find the great big huge opening in the garage, but this one just couldn't do it.  She kept flying above the door until she finally gave up exhausted and I'm sure stressed quite a bit.  I had a harder time identifying her because she doesn't much look like the male yellow warbler and there are so many different types of warblers I got lost.  I finally found one that looked like her over at a blog that is copyrighted up the wazoo, so I thought I'd link the page with the photo instead in case you were curious.. the second photo looks more like the bird in my garage this morning..

Question

I have a post I want to do that has about 30 images that goes with it.

So..

all in one or should I split it up?
Should I save it for a weekend?

or has bandwith so improved at this point that I really don't need to consider it anymore and 30 images is nothing??

Oh.. My.. Goodness...

I was going through the shows my Tivo recorded and smiled when I saw Bewitched hidden among the other shows.  My Tivo does weird things every once in a while, pulling up shows I haven't seen in a long long time.  Sometimes I can't help myself and watch them.

This time it was the episode "The Warlock and the Gray Flannel Suit" (if you are interested you can see it there) and 20 minutes into it (or 14:30 into it in the video linked above) I saw and heard this..

Alonzo (the hippy): Here are some words that sing..
Mr. Cushman (the client): Flurpity Flurp?

Of course the reaction is "Those aren't even words! as for singing, they only hiccup a little"  lol.. (although Alonzo goes on to say/sing "it's the seductive sound of bare feet on a carpet")  (fun fact, Alonzo is also "Doc" from the Love Boat)

Imagine my shock at hearing Fleurp.. ok fine Flurp on Bewitched! I must have seen this episode in the past, as "Panda's Wedding" sounds familiar enough, and a few of the other bits rang a bell in the back of my mind.. but for my mind to hang on to this seems just so odd..

I always assumed I came up with Fleurp because I had recently fostered another kitten that I wanted to name Fleur as in the Fleur-de-lis and while that didn't happen (she ended up going to a different foster home) I didn't want to reuse the name..

So might it have been some part of this added to that? or pure inspiration as I was driving (I remember the exact spot in the road where it popped into my head as I was driving to get her from the shelter)

For Allie

So I saw on Facebook that Allie wants to win a pink make over from GloGirly Designs..

I thought I'd enter and if I won I'd make Allie's fondest wish come true.. to get more entries I had to make a blog post..

So here it is.

but what ever you do, DO NOT go over and enter the contest  because seriously, the more entries, the less chance Allie has of winning..

Cause this poor deprived kitteh so needs a pink make over

"Who Let the Dogs Out" BlogPaws edition

I was at the BlogPaws website the other day and saw a contest that had to do with watching the TV show "Who Let the Dogs Out" and their episode highlighting BlogPaws.

To enter this contest I have to answer three questions:

1. Tell us what you like the most about the show "Who Let The Dogs Out" in general.
2. If you've never heard of BlogPaws before, tell us what you learned about BlogPaws, from watching the episode. If you know about BlogPaws, tell us what you liked the most about the segment.
3. Tell us what you'd LIKE to learn at BlogPaws 2013.

Well, lets see.

1. I love that they highlighted BlogPaws.  I am going this year for the first time and I'm a little nervous about it all.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, why be nervous right?  Just a whole bunch of cat and dog people.. yeah, well, I'm a total introvert and since I can't bring my cat with me.. (I am so going to miss them!) I still fear I will have nothing to say.. (I know, right!  I can blog all day long, but I tend to be tongue tied in person)
2. I liked people admitting that they like being among their fellow bloggers, especially when Lisa from @ZoeyTheBooger said that it was the one place she could be where she wasn't the crazy dog person - I can totally relate to that.  (I also was quite amused to see JaneA from paws-and-effect.com and then seeing her a few minutes later on my local news)
3. I guess I'm hoping to learn how to network better.  I've been blogging for 10 years and I have some wonderful followers, but I'm still very small.

I am really glad I ran into this contest, even if I don't win (which I so hope I do) because it was so nice to see the episode.  

A giveaway for bloggers

I just got an email from Sean over at PetMOZ telling me of a cool giveaway they are doing for a KindleHD.  Feel free to check it out at Petmoz.com/giveaway/

Pumpkin Festival

This past weekend my husband and I went up to LLBean in Freeport to enjoy Camp Sunshine's Pumpkin Festival.

We have been to the Keene, NH Pumpkin Fest and this one was much smaller than that one, but it was also much less crowded.. which was nice.  We could have shown up earlier for the whoopie pie eating contest, but we preferred to show up a little later to see the lighting of the pumpkins.  They actually light them all with candles instead of battery operated things or glow sticks, so the smell of the flames on the pumpkins and scents of the candles were interesting..

This one was HUGE!!

There was a little pumpkin cannibalism going on.. 

Meow

and a lot of kitty pumpkins

nom nom nom

There were a few casualties..