Ahh...but I'm consistent.

Again I reiterate how bad I am at keeping blogs up-to-date. But with this entry, at least I'm still fulfilling one(ish) per month now...

Ha!

My still nameless cat and bank card fraud?

Ok, so on the subject of the nameless cat that I had temporarily named "Pepsi" - well, that didn't really stick. She's just too...I dunno, but I cna't seem to make a name that's appropriate for her, and "Star" still sucks.

...and as for the bank card fraud? I tried to buy myself a tortilla press using my debit card in Chinatown, only to have the person who doesn't speak English (and not any other language that I'd understand) turn the terminal around to show me the "collect bank card and call nearest branch" or something to that effect. Huh? Didn't I just use it yesterday? I know I got money in the account (or at least enough to cover $18)...

As it turns out, someone in Quebec was using my card to deposit a cheque for $1000, and then taking out money ($400, $80 and $20). Interesting...

So now I have no debit card for several days until I get into a branch to get a new one issued to me. That should curb some of my spending for a little while...perhaps a good thing?'

I just had to write how annoying it is to not get/spend money on demand. Oh, and I did have enough cash to pay for the tortilla press, so maybe you'll get to see the results soon.

Day 2 - Star turned Pepsi (for now)

7888888888lik

What's that above? That's what Star - my new foster cat - has to contribute to this blog since she doesn't have her own set up yet.

...or more likely, she was crossing my keyboard (as many cats seem to like doing) as I was just getting this started.

Anyways, she's been quite a treat to have sequestered in my other bedroom, and as you can see, she likes to accessorize (albeit that's my camera case) like any girly cat should. The original description I got of her said she was black, but upon further inspection I discovered she's more black/brown like cola - thus I started calling her Pepsi (Star is an okay name, but really not befitting of such a cutie, nor anything I'd call a cat). Not only is she cola coloured, she's got tabby stripes hidden in that black/brown fur, "tuxedo cat" patches of white on her chest and tippy toes, and Siamese characteristics in her ears and face - a true melting pot of kitty geneology.

Sweet sweet temperament, a little clingy at times, and talkative when she's hungry - she's got all the makings of the perfect little buddy...except she tends to express how happy she is by purring loudly and kneading the carpet or the chair you're sitting in. She snores too when she's really tuckered out, but only little kitty snores - nothing too loud.

So now I've got an extra cat. Any takers? Lemme know or give Toronto Cat Rescue a call...

I knew it...

...I did get lazy and let this blog thing slide a bit.  

But now I'm here to admit to a couple things...

1. I cook more for my cats than I do for myself at home.
2. I have crossed into the threshold of becoming "that crazy cat lady" by taking on a foster cat. 

This should be an interesting experiment to say the least...I have to sequester the cat for 2 weeks in the 2nd bedroom for safety's sake, and it'll show me whether or not I have the patience to deal with another cat that's slightly high strung and into hiding like my other 3 are.  Good news though, I do get to use the food and litter as a tax write-off at the end of the year since it is considered a "charitable donation."  Awesome.  Now there's an official reason to become "that crazy cat lady."

Going to pick up my new foster kid today - her name is Star.  I'll post again once I get her settled in (and when I'm not too lazy about posting to this blog).  ;)

More of my vampire cats...

Ok, so I couldn't resist putting up more pictures of my anti-daylight-loving Snuffleupa-cats.  

These are pics of them when they were still young (ok, they're not that old - they're only 2) and a little leaner than they are today (not my doing - I've only had them 6 weeks).   

This is Oscar and Foster...

...and this is the 3 of them together (from left to right): Oscar, Foster and Mercedes.

Just thought I'd share these just in case I never get to see anything but their butts running away from me and the camera...

...but the people on Seseme Street did get to see Snuffleupagus eventually, didn't they?

Enticing, but...

5 minute chocolate cake?  What evil person invented that?

Microwave salespersons, that's who.  You can Google the recipe for it pretty easily (I got mine emailed to me).  

I thought I'd give it a shot since I had nothing else better to do with my time one morning.  While the cake did rise above the rim of the cup (a good 2 inches or so), it did collapse down to what you see below.  I tipped it out onto a plate (very easy, no sticking) and tried a piece.  

Yeah, the recipe is a little over-hyped.  Maybe I'm a snobby cake connoisseur, but it was a little too rubbery for my liking.  Not that I didn't expect the texture to be a little off, but I was expecting so much more from the email that had "The most dangerous recipe in the world" emblazoned in the body of the text (I think I took that out when I forwarded it).  It's only dangerous if you're super desperate for a chocolate fix, and are locked in your home with no viable alternative than to make this in your microwave.  Blah.

So much for shortcuts on making cake - I like the old skool version that's oven baked.  But I'd encourage anyone to try this at least once, just to see if it's yummy for someone else's tummy.

My Career as "Chef des Chats" is a go...

Ok, short note for the masses...raw food is a hit with the kitties!  I'm not sure if the Bach's flower essences are working, but I think that'll still need more time (and more dosing) to figure out if they work.

Now if only my cats would like me as much as they like their homemade cat food...

Mmm...Beefy Oats...

Ahh - the new adventures in feeding my cats raw foods - the not-so-new wonder drug of the animal (and sometimes human) world.  After reading a couple of books on the subject, I find myself experimenting with the concept to see if my cats will enjoy this attempt at becoming more healthy and natural...sort of like my current eating trends.  Just like my cats, my diet is still interspersed with junk food (for me, it's chips and deep fried foods - for them, it's store bought cat food and Temptations treats) - but at least I'm trying to keep the healthy stuff as pure, local and nutritious as I can make it.  

I've been reading that many pet foods are made from diseased carcasses and odd animal sources (including roadkill) whether it's purchased from the grocery store or from a premium source such as a vet.  I can't prove or disprove that scientifically, but it does make some sense after checking out online sources and the books I've been reading, including Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats.  Today is my first attempt at mixing together a batch of (yuck) Beefy Oats, which contains a couple pounds of beef and several cups of oats to make a squishy batch of food (see picture below). 

Appetizing, isn't it?  Funny, it almost looks like the batches of sausage I made a while back, but it doesn't smell as good.  It smells mostly of the kelp that was part of the "Healthy Powder" which is an essential ingredient of the food.  The ingredients in this recipe are supposed to nutritionally simulate what a cat would eat in the wild - i.e. a mouse or a bird - even the goodies that come along with eating a whole animal: bones, feathers, and stomach contents.  Yuck.  But it does make sense for my little obligate carnivores to dine on this goop. Truth be told, it does smell better than your average can of cat food - not as strong an aroma, and the kelp just makes it smell like the ocean (or that flaky fish food from the pet store).

It's not time to feed the little fur balls yet, so I'll have to report back on how they react to the food.  

For the past 2 days, I have been spiking their water and food with flower essences to help settle them into condo life.  Bach's Rescue Remedy is what I've been using, and I'm going to experiment with Larch, Beech and Water Violet to further calm, de-stress and help socialize the threesome.  They've been living here a month now, and I still can't get them to come out and interact with me one-on-one.  Not that I'm looking to rush the project, but I thought I'd try something new to get them to come out of their shells (or from under my bed in this case).  So far 2 of the 3 cats seem to be a little bolder, are coming out when my reading light is still on, and they've even played with the laser pointer (from a distance of course) that Steve & Tony gave me as a "welcome back to the world of cat ownership" present.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that flower power will work wonders.  

Right now I'm waiting for my dishwasher to finish its cycle - all the plastic containers that I want to freeze raw cat food in are there.  I'm speculating with some certainty that the cats will eat the food I've made for them.  Otherwise, it'd be kind of insulting that even cats won't eat my meal creations.

Signing off,

Chef des Chats

"I'm a ninja cat...I am invisible..."

Just for kicks I had to add this photo:

If I can surmize what he's thinking, I belive it'd be: "If I can't see her, she can't see me...yeah..."

I walked in on Foster playing in the living room after work and he didn't have time to race to the favourite hiding spot. Whadda guy.

More kittie kronicles - the 3 cat pileup...

Little did I know that cats are stackable like Lego.  Take my 'fraidy cats that still are EXTREMELY shy of humans for instance.  In the shot below, you can distinguish 2 of the bodies by the separation of stripes and greyness piled up against the wall:

What you don't see in the above picture is the fact that all three are indeed stacked on top of each other and hiding the third cat.  Poor Foster is the one squashed underneath all of this as evidenced by the picture below of the other side of the ironing board where you can almost see the dividing line between the top cat (Mercedes) and the bottom cat (Foster).  Oscar's head is wedged between the other 2 butts, and may be that sliver of lighter grey shading between the 2 darker bodies if you look carefully.What would cause such a sight?  Just another setback for little Mercedes who decided that life under the washing machine would be much better than being exposed to the light.  So like the true vampire-cat-caver that she is, she refused to come out to drink, eat or use the litter box for almost 2 complete days, and only stirred at night.  Meanwhile, the boys were looking for, and trying to rescue their sister who didn't want to be rescued at all.  Oy.

3 bucks worth of dowelling from Home Depot, and problem solved - I've got a sliding door blocker so that no kitty can re-enter the washing machine area.  

The boys are now becoming more adventurous and starting to take chances on guessing whether I'm truly asleep, or trying to spring a trap on them.  The other night while I had dozed lightly off (did I mention that I'm sleeping in the living room now to get them more accustomed to my presence?) I woke up to see Oscar's white muzzle in the distance staring at me, while a pair of ears and 2 beady eyes were peering over the arm of the couch directly at me.  Very sneaky and cute.  Once I made eye contact they were both off to hide again, but I think there's some mild progress being made.  After speaking to the cats' foster mom, she mentioned that it had taken about 2 months for the boys to come near her voluntarily - and that was forced with harnesses and a leash to tether the kitties to her, ensuring they got used to humans.  Yikes.

So alas, I wait in patience for the day even one of them decides that I may not be entirely vile after all.  The feral part of them is still holding on strongly.

Gawd these little dudes are a loooooooooooot of work.  I'm happy they're here - but still they're a loooooooooooooot of work.  ;)

The Cat Diaries - 1st Week

Ok, no updated pictures for this entry - no cats to be seen after week 1.

That's not entirely true.  I have seen them come out, but we have to play a coy little game where they can come out and stare at me, but if I look at them too long, they'll dive back under the couch.  They're distrusting of me still, and there's nothing but time and patience that can cure that.  

They've been exclusively nocturnal thus far, seeking the cover of the evening shade before venturing out from under the sofa bed where they are literally burrowing presently, but when they do come out they play hard.  

Foster is the ringleader, and the brains behind most of the things the little beasts have gotten into.  The third night when he was feeling a little more intrepid, I awoke to hear a small crashing sound and a sheet of paper floating towards the floor - that was Foster misjudging the height he had to jump to make it on top of my dresser.  However, when he thought I had gone back to sleep, he tried a second time and made it up top - only to be bored in 3 seconds when he discovered there wasn't anything cool to play with up there. Subsequently, he jumped down, headed for my closet door, and started to sl-sl-slide it open and crawl in.  He popped back out a minute later, left my room, and came back with the Oscar and Mercedes (now that I've settled on her name) so that they could all pile into my laundry basket inside.  At least it's all stuff that needed to be washed anyway.

Other discoveries I've made in the morning:

• 2 destroyed catnip toys (must get toys with stronger material than cotton)
• Front closet door open (also where the cat food happens to be right now)
• Fridge magnets skewed oh-so-strangely downward (as if someone had misjudged a jump and slid down the fridge)
• Horrific scratching noises at 3am in the morning - rushing out just in time to see Oscar running out from behind the TV in the living room.  He'd fallen between the TV cabinet and the wall and was scrambling to get back up.  When I looked in the morning light, there was a static-y grey streak of cat hair clinging to the wall and leading straight downward.

Ah yes, the little night owls like to rock n' roll all night, and sleep in every day.

So while they still haven't emerged during the daylight hours (even when I'm not home - I've left wet food out during the day, and it's gone untouched - highly unusual for them), I think I'm making some progress in getting them to trust me.  Foster stares at me from just below the "couch visibility line" - the line of sight where he can just see my face, and as long as I don't look directly at him (pretend to read a book, play with my Blackberry or concentrate on the TV), he'll continue to stare.  Every night he's gotten a little braver and a little closer, but still just below the couch visibility line.

Funny though, from the foster mom's description of the cats, I would've thought I'd see more of Oscar, and less of Mercedes.  Quite the opposite.  Foster's supposed to be the most normally social of the threesome, Oscar is like the "second banana," preferring to let another cat go first, then following in its footsteps, and Mercedes is the quiet and reserved one. Oscar's totally keeping to himself, and Mercedes will follow Foster around and is out much more than Oscar.  

I'm still discovering who they are, but at least I've finally settled on names that I like.  I'm also looking into supplementing their diet with more natural (raw) foods.  Aye-ya (Chinese expression of...uh...you'd have to hear it to understand its context I guess) - the more I read about food and nutrition (for both humans and animals), the more I wish I hadn't.  So homeopathic/natural foods for cats.  Who would've thought there'd be sooooooo many books on the subject?  Ok, so the books are biased against the pet food industry - it is a somewhat unregulated business, and you really don't want to know what goes into pet food that has already been banned or deemed unusable for humans (let alone animals).  Ick.  I wish I could go back to being ignorant of what I put into my cats.  Too late now...my food explorations shall now include my new fuzzy adoptees to a certain degree.

I may have more to write once they experience the housekeeper tomorrow.  Until then we'll see if Foster comes even closer to me tonight to play the I-see-you-but-you-can't-see-me game...

And then there were three...

Ok, so while I had told myself that I'd wait a year until I got another cat, I realized that I was okay with getting another now, about 5 months after my little Skeeter passed away.

Toronto Cat Rescue is the organization I adopted the threesome from. Their original names are Joey, Jake and Penelope. I'm not a fan of those names in particular, so I've decided to rename them. I've only figured out 2 of the 3 names thus far though - Joey will become "Foster" (very appropriate), Jake will become "Oscar" (I love this name), and Penelope will be...well...I haven't decided, but it may turn out to be "Blakely" or "Mercedes." We'll see if either of those stick. That's the nice thing about cats. They so rarely come when they're called, you don't really have to worry about naming them. The dark blob below is Foster.
This one is Oscar:
And this one is...Blakely/Mercedes/I'm not sure yet.
The pictures above are the last time I actually saw them. Ever since Tuesday, they've been hiding inside my couch as illustrated by the lumps on the side under the coverlet in the picture below:
Thus far, they've only come out at night, and are still very distrusting of me (after all, I did kidnap them out of their comfy home). But when they do come out at night, it makes me think that I've adopted night owls, not cats. The amount of crashing, shifting and snooping around that they do as a pack makes me think they're not as shy as they let on...I've woken up to cats falling off the dresser, 3 cats playing in my closet in the laundry hamper, my toothbrush on the ground, one torn up catnip toy, and a whole lotta scampering from behind the TV. Good thing I fall back asleep pretty easily...

Here's hoping they mellow out sooner than later.

It's been a while, hasn't it? Breadmaking 101.

I knew I'd get lazy with the blogging thing...but here's a little look at the results of my experience at McCall's Bread Making course:

An all day workshop with nothing to do but mix, shape and bake bread. The following pics are the results of the full day of baking (which I did give away several loaves to the family, and dumped a couple off at work, but I still had a lot of bread leftover after that).

I don't know if you can tell from the pic above or not, but the braided thing is supposed to be an alligator/crocodile, the loaf is an onion bread (with a collapsed top - you can't tell from the pic, but the guy put it on the top shelf of the oven, and while it was rising/baking, it hit the roof and collapsed :( to give me a square-ish loaf), there's brioche, and regular ol' buns.

This pic has (clockwise from the top) cheddar herb loaves, country bread and egg bread. While not the prettiest creations, they were all reeeeeeeeeally tasty. I have to say, the course was excellent, I just wish it didn't take all day! My attention span started to wane after a few hours (the workshop was from 9:30am to almost 5pm).

So am I better at baking bread? Marginally, but I'm still having trouble with the sloppy ciabatta dough. Gah!