You know the expression, "It's like herding cats"?
I know what they mean by that now, because I just tried it.
I trade cat-sitting for plant-sitting with my next door neighbor, Tara. When one of us is away, we email the other one and request services, and the tradition has become to leave our keys in a sealed envelope, taped to the front door of the sitter.
I went in to feed and clean the litterbox of Tara's cat, George, today.
George is a very sweet cat. He's dark grey and very soft. And very affectionate. Within 30 seconds of me opening the door, he is flopped on the floor, awaiting petting.
Which is all well and good, except... I'm not a cat person.
I think they're cute, I think they're soft, but I don't understand them. Maybe it's because they act too much like women. (!!!). They are unpredictable. I never want to pick one up because I'm not sure whether it's going to go limp or flip it's head and bite me or scratch me. I didn't grow up with them in my house; I grew up with dogs everywhere (to this day, everyone in my family except me has a dog). Their food stinks way worse than dog food, even the more natural stuff that isn't shaped like Jesus-fish. Their litter stinks: I'd much rather pick up a dog's warm poop outside in a plastic bag and dump it in the next garbage can than have to go mining for clumped litter next to my toilet. Plus (and this is the most important reason), whenever I am around them for more than a few minutes, I start wheezing and can't breathe anymore. I can't even stay at a house where there is a cat, even if the owners promise that the cat "never goes into that room". BS. Fur gets airborne. The most vivid recent example of this was when I stayed with Daniel at his parents' house. It's a nice big, warm house, don't get me wrong, and his parents were really kind and generous to let us stay there, but they have two cats. His mom told us that the cats hadn't been in the bedroom we were staying in, but there was fur pretty much everywhere. I spent the whole time doped up on pills, and I still had major allergy problems. In fact, during my stay, I relegated myself to the one part of the house that had hard floors and the least amount of upholstery in the house: the kitchen. As a result, I generally make a point to ask if people have animals, and if they do, I solve my own problem and get a hotel room.
Anyway, excuse the digression....
So, sometimes George gets out of Tara's condo. It's only happened a couple of times, and it was always out of the front door, which leads to an enclosed hallway. The first time it happened, I was really scared because I thought George would take off sprinting for the Great Beyond, and I'd have to call SPCA or something, and hope to hell he had a chip in him.
George got five feet away from the front door and flopped over and started rolling around on the carpet.
Today, I went out the back door to water Tara's plants. George uncharacteristically made a break for it out the screen door. And he went further than usual. He started eating a clump of what looked like blue Mondo grass from someone's pots. He went and sank down behind the next person over's patio set. I wanted to be done with him, because I had other stuff to do. So what do I do?
Like a dog person, I call him.
Yeah. Because we all know that works with cats. "Here, George..." wasn't cutting it.
I brought out toys, trying to entice him back in. I was worried the grass was something he shouldn't be eating. I didn't know if the lady over there used Round-Up on it, or worse. The crinkly-sounding fish toy wasn't good enough. Neither was me making scratching motions on his corrugated cardboard scratching pad. I wished I had stolen some of Tori's catnip.
Then, I sank lower than ever.
I tried to herd George by pouring water from the watering can behind him, then onto the back part of his body.
I seem to have a niggling feeling of learning somewhere that cats don't like water.
Unlike cows and dogs, however, you can't herd a cat by doing something unpleasant in one direction in order to spur the animal to move opposite to the unpleasant activity. (When I was in college, I used to help a friend move heifers around a pen sometimes. The easiest way to do this is to stand directly in front of the heifer and start waving your arms forward like you're directing an airplane on the tarmac. The cow really doesn't like this, and moves backwards to avoid it. So you just have to steer (haha) the animal in the direction you want it to go... I stopped helping after my friend told me that, the day before, a heifer wanted to play and stuck it's head between her legs and catapaulted her up against a fence.) And you can't put a cat on a leash...at least, not since the homeless guy's cat on a leash that I saw over at the market last week. And, did I mention that I am afraid of picking up cats and manhandling them? (Yes, even if the cat flips over and starts the "Cats and Racks" routine).
Nope. George just sat there, probably a little pissed because part of him was wet from the attempted water-herding, and ate the damn grass like I wasn't even fuming behind him.
After wandering around in a small circle on the shared balcony for a few seconds, I spied a cat looking out from another screen door on our floor. And the screen door was open! And there was a women inside! Hallelujah! She happened to look out of her door, and I begged her to come help me, telling her I wasn't a cat person, and I was just out there watering the plants, and the cat got out, and could she please come pick him up, and oh yeah, I wasn't a cat person.
The lady was awesome. She came out, clucked at me indirectly for pouring a little water on George, and picked him up and put him back inside. Ten seconds and it was done.
It always seems to happen like that for me. Very similar to the time a bumblebee flew into my 8th floor apartment in downtown Seattle, and I made my friend Mark come down from Ballard to get it out. About 30 seconds after he came in, the bumblebee flew out of the window, of it's own accord. (Now, why bumblebees are flying 8 stories up in downtown Seattle is a mystery I won't be solving anytime soon...)
Tomorrow, I'm going to clean out George's litterbox again, and change his water. But I won't be going out of the back door, I can tell you that.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
"Random Pictures"
I didn't want to infringe upon Liz's blogname. :)
Just some more random pictures.
First, my ENTIRE edamame (aka soybean) harvest for the year:
Yep. And I ate them today at lunch. They were tasty! I bought a variety called something like "Beer Bean", I think because they are popular with beer in Japan (?).
Next up..a sunset shot off the ferry, coming into Bremerton on Thursday night last week. Too bad the wake of the boat interrupted the sunset reflection on the water. :)
Just some more random pictures.
First, my ENTIRE edamame (aka soybean) harvest for the year:
Yep. And I ate them today at lunch. They were tasty! I bought a variety called something like "Beer Bean", I think because they are popular with beer in Japan (?).
Next up..a sunset shot off the ferry, coming into Bremerton on Thursday night last week. Too bad the wake of the boat interrupted the sunset reflection on the water. :)
This is a canal (possibly river) in Bremerton. The bridge you see in the background is the Manette bridge, which leads to the deliciousness known as La Fermata. We went up to this bridge to take pictures of Mt. Rainier, which was very visible that day.
Aaron and Joanna's Wedding
I just wanted to post a few pictures here from the wedding we went to last Saturday.
Daniel's (former) shipmate Aaron (until somewhat recently, I knew him simply as "Cook"), and his fiance Joanna, were married at the chapel on the Bangor subase.
Here's a shot of the happy couple walking in to the reception hall on-base. I really liked her dress. :)
Here's a shot of Daniel and some of the other JO's on the San Fransisco... Daniel and the guy on the right apparently did not get the memo about showing up in the dress blues (sad, because I always love seeing him in uniform):
And here we are, in the chapel.
Daniel's (former) shipmate Aaron (until somewhat recently, I knew him simply as "Cook"), and his fiance Joanna, were married at the chapel on the Bangor subase.
Here's a shot of the happy couple walking in to the reception hall on-base. I really liked her dress. :)
Here's a shot of Daniel and some of the other JO's on the San Fransisco... Daniel and the guy on the right apparently did not get the memo about showing up in the dress blues (sad, because I always love seeing him in uniform):
And here we are, in the chapel.
We were messing around, and he said that if we get married, he wants a sheet covering everything, and we're going to have everything in place and ready to go, so the sheet can just be dropped. I said we have to do it Spaceballs-style.
Fitness 10: Small Victories
The gym just installed a giant whiteboard near the doors, where you can write down a goal for the next 6 months.
I wrote down: "Run 400 m [around the block] without stopping", and "dead-lift 150 lb".
We warmed up with a run around the block, carrying medicine balls (the girls had 12 pounders). I felt pregnant, because I had trouble running with the ball on one shoulder, so I carried it in front of my belly... Anyway, I definitely had to walk while carrying that sucker.
We got back, and Fran started writing down people's goals from the whiteboard onto another board. Most people's dealt with pushups; she wrote down "RUN" next to my name.
Everyone started doing pushups, and I tried doing some on a bar that was two rungs down from where I normally do pushups (I use the barbell stand and the women's bar, and do pushups at an angle). That was...extremely difficult, although I managed to do two pushups.
I then set up another barbell stand, but this time the bar was only one rung lower than I am used to... and presto! I could do pushups again. It is amazing how much a 2" difference in bar height makes.
We did pushups for about 5 or 10 minutes, then Fran came over and asked me how I felt. I started to answer, and she said, "Just kidding. It was a trick question. Go run."
So I did. I looked up at the sky, and counted inhales and exhales to a count of four, and checked out this gorgeous espaliered apple tree with bright red apples on it (a result, I am guessing, of the sun's warmth radiating off of the brick wall the tree is trellised against). I kept my head up, and counted to four more times than I can remember. I ran slowly, barely picking my feet up.... and I did it! I was pretty damn impressed with myself. Fran met me coming around the corner of the last side (there is sort of a hypotenusal shortcut you can take to get back to the gym entrance), and she said, "I knew you could do it."
The funniest part is that I called my dad to tell him (for those that don't know, my dad and sister are avid runners. In fact, my dad has the classic runner's body - tall, thin, and so inflexible he can't even get close to touching his toes; I remember him doing the 5 and 10k "fun runs" all the time when I was little - he turns 65 this year, and he still runs a few miles, a few times a week. My sister ran the San Diego marathon a few years back...she is also thin, but not tall, and she is more flexible, but that is from a lifetime of ballet and gymnastics). Anyway...sorry for that digression... As I was saying, I called my dad to tell him, and the following ensued:
"Dad, guess what? I wrote my goal down of running around the block without stopping-"
"And you broke it today."
Oh yes. My parents know me well. :)
***
Then we did a ton more running and I was starting to get frustrated because, well, it was a lot. I have to remind myself that, surprisingly, there are things that I am crappy at, even when I put a lot of effort into them... This was never the case with music or science, etc. My learning curve with most things is extremely quick, especially if I am interested in the subject. Exercise, however, involves not only the mind, but the body, which is sometimes a less willing participant than I would like. :)
***
A Note:
As far as weight is concerned, I haven't weighed myself recently. Well, I did, and I gained a couple of pounds. So I am going to think positive and assume I am gaining muscle, because my clothes fit roughly the same. I have the feeling that, as foreseen by Dave, I will start to see "real changes" in my body towards the end of the year.
I wrote down: "Run 400 m [around the block] without stopping", and "dead-lift 150 lb".
We warmed up with a run around the block, carrying medicine balls (the girls had 12 pounders). I felt pregnant, because I had trouble running with the ball on one shoulder, so I carried it in front of my belly... Anyway, I definitely had to walk while carrying that sucker.
We got back, and Fran started writing down people's goals from the whiteboard onto another board. Most people's dealt with pushups; she wrote down "RUN" next to my name.
Everyone started doing pushups, and I tried doing some on a bar that was two rungs down from where I normally do pushups (I use the barbell stand and the women's bar, and do pushups at an angle). That was...extremely difficult, although I managed to do two pushups.
I then set up another barbell stand, but this time the bar was only one rung lower than I am used to... and presto! I could do pushups again. It is amazing how much a 2" difference in bar height makes.
We did pushups for about 5 or 10 minutes, then Fran came over and asked me how I felt. I started to answer, and she said, "Just kidding. It was a trick question. Go run."
So I did. I looked up at the sky, and counted inhales and exhales to a count of four, and checked out this gorgeous espaliered apple tree with bright red apples on it (a result, I am guessing, of the sun's warmth radiating off of the brick wall the tree is trellised against). I kept my head up, and counted to four more times than I can remember. I ran slowly, barely picking my feet up.... and I did it! I was pretty damn impressed with myself. Fran met me coming around the corner of the last side (there is sort of a hypotenusal shortcut you can take to get back to the gym entrance), and she said, "I knew you could do it."
The funniest part is that I called my dad to tell him (for those that don't know, my dad and sister are avid runners. In fact, my dad has the classic runner's body - tall, thin, and so inflexible he can't even get close to touching his toes; I remember him doing the 5 and 10k "fun runs" all the time when I was little - he turns 65 this year, and he still runs a few miles, a few times a week. My sister ran the San Diego marathon a few years back...she is also thin, but not tall, and she is more flexible, but that is from a lifetime of ballet and gymnastics). Anyway...sorry for that digression... As I was saying, I called my dad to tell him, and the following ensued:
"Dad, guess what? I wrote my goal down of running around the block without stopping-"
"And you broke it today."
Oh yes. My parents know me well. :)
***
Then we did a ton more running and I was starting to get frustrated because, well, it was a lot. I have to remind myself that, surprisingly, there are things that I am crappy at, even when I put a lot of effort into them... This was never the case with music or science, etc. My learning curve with most things is extremely quick, especially if I am interested in the subject. Exercise, however, involves not only the mind, but the body, which is sometimes a less willing participant than I would like. :)
***
A Note:
As far as weight is concerned, I haven't weighed myself recently. Well, I did, and I gained a couple of pounds. So I am going to think positive and assume I am gaining muscle, because my clothes fit roughly the same. I have the feeling that, as foreseen by Dave, I will start to see "real changes" in my body towards the end of the year.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Knitting Pr0n
Have you seeeeeen this stuff? I feel it my duty as an enabler to link to this stuff:
- Twist Collective. It's a new online knitting magazine by Kate Gilbert (designer of the Bird in Hand mittens). She's got an A-List cast of designers in the magazine, too (HeLLO, Cookie A. and Norah Gaughan?!). This is a bit different in concept: the articles are free to read, but you pay for the patterns you want; this ensures that the pattern designers get paid fairly. Sounds good to me! I tried to hold out, but in the end I bought Wisteria and Bonnie. (The 8 skeins of Malabrigo worsted in "Cuarzo" are going to the Wisteria. Incidentally, I got an email today from WEBS Customer Service, letting me know that 6 of the skeins were of one dye lot, and 2 of another, so they could either send the mixed lots, or backorder and wait to send me all 8 skeins from the same dyelot. I really appreciated their informing me of that!)
- Blue Moon Fiber Arts just changed out their colors, and included several new lovelies as well as the holiday colors. Plus there are lots of guy-friendly colors. Gor-Geous! I want it all... There seems to be a lot of brown influencing the color choices this season; very interesting. PLUS they launched their Spirits line of yarns; these are the polar opposites to the Ravens - white yarn barely tinged with color. My credit card is lurching away from me as fast as it can... (seriously, though. I'm going to pay off the Malabrigo and probably do damage in September with a BMFA order, although this time I'll try to not make it arrive 2 days before OFFF).
- The Loopy Ewe is supposed to be refreshing their Lime&Violet yarn soon. Why? Because L&V just came out with this Intention Yarn. It's such a marketing ploy, but it's totally working on me, and I want some. The idea is that they hand-dye the yarn, and then they write a word on the skein (such as "LOVE" or "COURAGE", etc.) in dye. You know what the word is because you ordered that particular colorway, but it only shows itself as little occasional dots of color on the yarn. The dots of color are there to remind you to focus on that intention (!) whilst you knit - perfect for a gift for a loved one, or even something like a Prayer Shawl.
- Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival is COMING... I would like to go with Liz again, but since she hasn't answered my emails in several weeks, I am guessing I'll have to make a contingency plan? Maybe my friend Jen will want to go... :) My friend Kim was going to come up, but flights are expensive... Hopefully she and Aaron will move up to Portland and then I can just go stay there for the weekend and we can drive over to Clackamas! :)
- Twist Collective. It's a new online knitting magazine by Kate Gilbert (designer of the Bird in Hand mittens). She's got an A-List cast of designers in the magazine, too (HeLLO, Cookie A. and Norah Gaughan?!). This is a bit different in concept: the articles are free to read, but you pay for the patterns you want; this ensures that the pattern designers get paid fairly. Sounds good to me! I tried to hold out, but in the end I bought Wisteria and Bonnie. (The 8 skeins of Malabrigo worsted in "Cuarzo" are going to the Wisteria. Incidentally, I got an email today from WEBS Customer Service, letting me know that 6 of the skeins were of one dye lot, and 2 of another, so they could either send the mixed lots, or backorder and wait to send me all 8 skeins from the same dyelot. I really appreciated their informing me of that!)
- Blue Moon Fiber Arts just changed out their colors, and included several new lovelies as well as the holiday colors. Plus there are lots of guy-friendly colors. Gor-Geous! I want it all... There seems to be a lot of brown influencing the color choices this season; very interesting. PLUS they launched their Spirits line of yarns; these are the polar opposites to the Ravens - white yarn barely tinged with color. My credit card is lurching away from me as fast as it can... (seriously, though. I'm going to pay off the Malabrigo and probably do damage in September with a BMFA order, although this time I'll try to not make it arrive 2 days before OFFF).
- The Loopy Ewe is supposed to be refreshing their Lime&Violet yarn soon. Why? Because L&V just came out with this Intention Yarn. It's such a marketing ploy, but it's totally working on me, and I want some. The idea is that they hand-dye the yarn, and then they write a word on the skein (such as "LOVE" or "COURAGE", etc.) in dye. You know what the word is because you ordered that particular colorway, but it only shows itself as little occasional dots of color on the yarn. The dots of color are there to remind you to focus on that intention (!) whilst you knit - perfect for a gift for a loved one, or even something like a Prayer Shawl.
- Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival is COMING... I would like to go with Liz again, but since she hasn't answered my emails in several weeks, I am guessing I'll have to make a contingency plan? Maybe my friend Jen will want to go... :) My friend Kim was going to come up, but flights are expensive... Hopefully she and Aaron will move up to Portland and then I can just go stay there for the weekend and we can drive over to Clackamas! :)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Sunday, Lovely Sunday
I forget how awesome it is to get to sleep in... We finally got to experience that this morning - let me tell you, it's been a while since that happened! :) Although, for me "sleeping in" means I got up around 6:45 AM, looked at the clock, sat up, laid back down, got back up at 7:30 AM, went to the bathroom, took an allergy pill, put in eye drops, laid back down and finally arose at 8:40 AM, wherein I grabbed Ye Olde iPode and did a little knitting. This morning, I chose to work on my "Branching Out" scarf, this time in a silvery-gray Honey Lane Farms light worsted weight alpaca yarn. It's got kind of a halo. I'm hoping it will soften up some more after I wash it and block it.
I think Daniel finally woke up around 11. During this time, I also crawled back into bed for a little while and felt the fan wafting air over me and stared at the sun peeking through the bamboo blinds.
We lazed around for a little while, then we meandered off to the Farmer's Market. I got a quart of worm-compost tea, a couple of yellow peaches, some Saturn white peaches (the "donut" ones), and a Walla-Walla sweet onion the size of a softball. Daniel also got some white Saturn peaches, and then we stopped for lunch at the Hi-Life, aka the Firehouse grill. Then we came home and watched a DVD of a Discovery channel show my mom had taped for me. (I just visited the website; it's quite enthralling).
***
Have a gratuitous Tomato shot:
It's been a few days since that picture was taken, so the tomato has grown.
Yesterday, I did some gardening, basically trimming off yellowing leaves, deadheading, general cleaning up and tidying of the pots. I also cut off the remaining tomato flowers. I want the plant to stop trying to get pollinated and concentrate on ripening the tomatoes that are currently on it! I don't want 3 lb of fried green tomatoes to look forward to at the end of the season. :)
***
That's all I got for now! Tomorrow I have to go to work back in Renton, in a new building that is incredibly densified, at least by company standards. I can't wait to be closer than ever to smelly old engineers.
I think Daniel finally woke up around 11. During this time, I also crawled back into bed for a little while and felt the fan wafting air over me and stared at the sun peeking through the bamboo blinds.
We lazed around for a little while, then we meandered off to the Farmer's Market. I got a quart of worm-compost tea, a couple of yellow peaches, some Saturn white peaches (the "donut" ones), and a Walla-Walla sweet onion the size of a softball. Daniel also got some white Saturn peaches, and then we stopped for lunch at the Hi-Life, aka the Firehouse grill. Then we came home and watched a DVD of a Discovery channel show my mom had taped for me. (I just visited the website; it's quite enthralling).
***
Have a gratuitous Tomato shot:
It's been a few days since that picture was taken, so the tomato has grown.Yesterday, I did some gardening, basically trimming off yellowing leaves, deadheading, general cleaning up and tidying of the pots. I also cut off the remaining tomato flowers. I want the plant to stop trying to get pollinated and concentrate on ripening the tomatoes that are currently on it! I don't want 3 lb of fried green tomatoes to look forward to at the end of the season. :)
***
That's all I got for now! Tomorrow I have to go to work back in Renton, in a new building that is incredibly densified, at least by company standards. I can't wait to be closer than ever to smelly old engineers.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Fitness 9: Callouses & The Park
Yesterday (Thurs) was the final session for the week at CF (for me, anyway).
Since Dave and Scott (another trainer) were installing some stuff in the gym, Fran told us to each grab two kettle bells and we headed outdoors for the park.
Warming up was a run around the park, then we did some kettle bell swings in a shaded concrete area. More running, push-ups on wooden bleachers, kettle bell cleans, pull-ups on the jungle gyms, and Fran showed the stronger people how to skin-the-cat on the bars. She also showed us how to pike up onto a lower bar (jump so your pubic bone hits the bar, basically, and then you can pike your body and force yourself away in what looks like a swing).
More running, and then we walked back to the gym. Fran wanted everyone to do walking lunges all the way back (about 4 blocks). I think I made it a block, maybe a block and a half, doing that. My knees aren't up to that yet, even though my kettle bells were only 8 kg each.
Something I haven't experienced in a long time (since actual gymnastics) was the feeling that my callouses at the bases of my fingers (from weight lifting or doing stuff like holding broomsticks, bars, etc.) wanted to rip off. I think part of the problem was that they were getting moist and soft (this is another good reason to use chalk on your hands), and they were actually white in the middles. Oh well. They are still kind of sore, but they are at least dried out now. I can't wait for my Man Hands (hah). Actually, I probably use too much lotion on my hands at work for that to fully occur. ( I have a pet peeve that soaps dry out my hands too much).
Onward! I am excited about this weekend. Daniel is coming to Seattle tomorrow morning, and I don't have pilates on Sunday, so we get to sleep in! :) It's sort of sad when you get older and really look forward to the prospect of sleeping in on a Sunday... :) (now, to get him to enjoy coffee... :) )
Since Dave and Scott (another trainer) were installing some stuff in the gym, Fran told us to each grab two kettle bells and we headed outdoors for the park.
Warming up was a run around the park, then we did some kettle bell swings in a shaded concrete area. More running, push-ups on wooden bleachers, kettle bell cleans, pull-ups on the jungle gyms, and Fran showed the stronger people how to skin-the-cat on the bars. She also showed us how to pike up onto a lower bar (jump so your pubic bone hits the bar, basically, and then you can pike your body and force yourself away in what looks like a swing).
More running, and then we walked back to the gym. Fran wanted everyone to do walking lunges all the way back (about 4 blocks). I think I made it a block, maybe a block and a half, doing that. My knees aren't up to that yet, even though my kettle bells were only 8 kg each.
Something I haven't experienced in a long time (since actual gymnastics) was the feeling that my callouses at the bases of my fingers (from weight lifting or doing stuff like holding broomsticks, bars, etc.) wanted to rip off. I think part of the problem was that they were getting moist and soft (this is another good reason to use chalk on your hands), and they were actually white in the middles. Oh well. They are still kind of sore, but they are at least dried out now. I can't wait for my Man Hands (hah). Actually, I probably use too much lotion on my hands at work for that to fully occur. ( I have a pet peeve that soaps dry out my hands too much).
Onward! I am excited about this weekend. Daniel is coming to Seattle tomorrow morning, and I don't have pilates on Sunday, so we get to sleep in! :) It's sort of sad when you get older and really look forward to the prospect of sleeping in on a Sunday... :) (now, to get him to enjoy coffee... :) )
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