High Holy Mass of Contradictions

I know I shouldn’t have a favorite, but I do. I can’t help it. I mean, just look at her:

More puppies - just waiting to be adopted! - over at Newscoma.

Originally published at Sticky, Sweet, & A Little Overdressed. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at The Bee Hive. Please leave any comments there.

Since lots of folks are searching for it and ending up here anyway…

this is indeed a bee hive, but it’s not the bee hive you’re looking for. Nonetheless, I have taken the trouble to provide you the link to the pictures of those bees making their hive in a jar. At right is my favorite of those pictures. ‘Cause I mean, as a vegan (most of the time), I don’t eat honey. But I mostly don’t eat honey because it’s, like, bee vomit. But if you think of it as kissing and not vomiting, it’s a lot nicer, isn’t it? I think so.

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OK, right off the bat, here's the sucky thought du jour: I can't decide if we should go through with the trip we were planning to Europe. Though I'm in luck if I need to travel, because I've got bags under my eyes that could hold my entire wardrobe. Why? Because we spent the night in a hotel room with all six cats while we fogged the house for fleas.

I cannot properly do justice to the level of annoying this whole flea thing is. And it's not just fleas annoying me. Allow me to whine for a moment.

• I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that it's the hottest August ever on record in Nashville. Even if it's not, it should be. So let's just get that out of the way right now, 'cause the extreme heat sure isn't making anything (or anyone) easier to deal with. 



• Remember the rats? Well, they've apparently nested underneath and in the walls in the back of our house. (One of my coworkers suspects that this is where the fleas are coming from, but I don't know if there's any way to be sure.)
  
  OK, and side note -- this is a bad story. Feel free to skip to the next bullet -- Karsten went out weeks ago and got rid of the junk pile, busted up the old deck, and started digging out the weeds around the house. He hit a nest with tiny wriggling ratlings (it's easier to call them ratlings than "kittens" when your aim is to get rid of them). It was an awful scene and he was devastated at having hurt them but the aim is, after all, to eliminate the population from our property. So as a compromise, whichever babies weren't already killed from the impact of the shovel got carried off to an empty lot a few hundred yards away.
  
  But anyway, even after all that there are still rats in the walls, and we're not sure how we're going to win this one.



• Baby Clyde is doing better, we think. He apparently had a blockage in his digestive tract so when they x-rayed him, his stomach looked totally full even after a day of intense vomiting. Not sure how or why, but the next day's x-rays showed his stomach clear and his lower digestive tract filling up, so the vet was satisfied that things looked to be on the right track. But I'm still nervous because we don't know why he was having trouble in the first place. Which in my mind means it could happen again anytime. But considering I thought he might be dying on Sunday night, I'll be relieved if all we're dealing with is a bad case of indigestion.



• And the fleas! The fleas are driving me nuts. I mean, it's just exactly the kind of thing that really gets to me. I can't take any kind of insect in large quantities. I won't even release ladybugs in the garden 'cause they freak me out en masse, but individually I'll let them crawl all over my hands and arms. A whole mess of bugs I don't like under any circumstances invading my living space? Definitely gonna mess with my mind.



• One of the other cats, Blackberry, has had a long-standing problem with urinating where he shouldn't. We've fought it for a while, but it had been getting worse recently. Took him to the vet and found out he has a pretty serious bladder infection. Uh, OK. Now I feel like a terrible cat person. So we've been giving him pills twice a day for weeks, and if you've never had to give a pill to a skittish cat, well, you just haven't experienced life.



• Between the overages in the house renovation and the flea/rat/vet/hotel expenses, we've depleted our checking account to levels we haven't seen in years. It really sucks and it makes me feel anxious. I think having had the experience of losing nearly everything we owned and getting as close as you can get to bankruptcy without actually filing, I'm having traumatic flashbacks to my anxiety level at that time. Our situation right now in no way resembles our situation then, but it's hard to shake an experience like that.



• Oh, and I'm trying to accomplish about a million things simultaneously in the next few months at work. So there's that, too.

I'm really trying to keep everything in perspective by remembering that we have a house, we have our health, and we're not broke (yet). But the amount of stuff we're having to deal with is enough to make me whimper.

So yeah, I can't decide if we've now spent enough unbudgeted money on all these various problems to mean that we should hold off on our long-awaited vacation. The vacation that coincides with our 10 year anniversary. The vacation we've been trying to take since 1999. The vacation we could really freakin' use right about now.

You see what I'm saying? We've been really looking forward to this. So to put it off, while it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world, would hurt and would suck and and and. Yes, we'd get over it. But it would be a big disappointment.

Anyway, it's not time to decide yet. For one thing, I don't think we're out of the woods with the whole pest control issue, so there may actually be even more money to spend. But also because we still have a little time before we have to make the decision, and I may yet come up with some genius plan to make everything work. Hey, it could happen.

Mais il y a peu de chances. Le sigh.

Our area lost power for a while last night. Turns out it was birds. Weird. ETA: Oh, and I also want to say that people have no freakin' clue how to drive when the power is out. When stoplight intersections have no power, people barrel right through. We had to drive out of the neighborhood to find food, and it was a white-knuckle experience getting through the intersections. Idiots.

Originally published at The Bee Hive. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve just seen the cutest bird ever. (I tried to get a picture, but it was all a blur.) That is all.

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Originally published at The Bee Hive. Please leave any comments there.

As luck would have it, I needed a feel-good moment today, and my coworker Mic just happened to send this link around. He took this video of a baby panda in the Atlanta zoo, and it is soooo cute, your eyes will sting with the unbearably fuzzy cuteness of it.

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As luck would have it, I needed a feel-good moment today, and my coworker Mic just happened to send this link around. He took this video of a baby panda in the Atlanta zoo, and it is soooo cute, your eyes will sting with the unbearably fuzzy cuteness of it.

The bird is free! He (she? How do you sex a chick, anyway? No, wait, smartasses - don't answer that.) must have made his way out of the wall overnight. He was sitting on the floor in the basement this morning, so I wrapped him in a towel and took him outside where he hobbled into a patch of vinca. I have no idea if he's injured or just can't fly yet, and no idea if he'll survive outdoors, but at least now he's where he should have been all along.

And I can stop being upset about the poor thing.

A bird nest must have fallen from one of our eaves down into the wall near the front door. We can hear a bird trapped in the wall chirping repeatedly for help. I ache for that bird. We keep going back and forth about whether to rip the wall open to try to get the bird out, but my guess is that he or she is injured from the fall and wouldn't survive at this point anyway.

But it's grisly and it breaks my heart.

Holy furballs, this is one painfully adorable puppy. And someone actually abandoned him or her. Make it right, people! Someone please come forward and give this cutie a home.

Some controversy has been caused in the local blogosphere (historians, take note! I believe that was my first use of that word in this space) by the public declaration of veganism by Brittney Gilbert, who writes for Nashville Is Talking. A response appeared in Tiny Cat Pants, prompting dozens of comments, and various other references appeared in other blogs.

I like Brittney -- she's a good dude -- and since I've been alternately vegan and lacto-vegetarian (or just veg*n for short -- meaning any variant) for the past 10+ years, I thought I might weigh in with a few comments.

( More about veg*nism and my own participation after the cut )

Yes, I realize how ridiculous our choices are to many of you. It's fun to make fun of us. My friends and coworkers do it all the time. ("Let's go to the steakhouse for lunch today, Kate!" Ha ha.) Odd how few people consider it appropriate to make fun of other lifestyle choices or beliefs. But I've got a thick skin and I don't mind it. Not everyone does, and I actually met someone once who said she used to be vegetarian but she couldn't handle the social awkwardness. Whether you think it's silly or not, isn't that a bit unfortunate?

I can't tell you how many times I've had people point at my shoes and ask if they're leather. They're not, but what's the idea? Is there a vegan lifestyle police force I don't know about?

Some veg*ns are pompous holier-than-thou jerks, some are judgmental of non-veg*ns, some are looking for opportunities to make meat-eaters feel bad about their diets. But a lot of us are not. A lot of us are trying to make the world a kinder, gentler place, and our actions are not an indictment of your actions, even if you choose to interpret them as such. Our actions have nothing to do with you.

Speaking for myself, I can say that I know of at least 6 people who've become vegan or vegetarian citing my indirect influence, and that flatters me. But I don't set out to convince anyone to stop eating meat, let alone cheese (it's amusing to me that I hear from people so often "I could give up meat but never cheese!"). On the other hand, I would love to convince people to stop participating in a process that marginalizes both the farmer and the farm animal, but that goes well beyond where we decide to go for lunch together.

Okapi, okapi, okapi! How I love thee, okapi.

Just look at this bay-bee okapi, born at the Brookfield Zoo in the west suburbs of Chicago:

Adorable!

Sorry, I’ve been meaning to post an update on the animal art auction and have been too swamped. Or lazy. But swamped makes me sound more important, I think, so I’ve been swamped.

Anyway, we won a painting! And not just any painting: a meerkat painting!

Karsten loves meerkats. All along, I was hoping we’d find a good painting done by meerkats. But the first few we saw were kind of disappointing. Cute, of course — it’s impossible to imagine meerkats painting without being nearly cuted to death — but each of the surfaces had very little pigment on it, so there wasn’t much to be cuted by.

But then we saw this one, and we both agreed it was wonderful. And the colors in it even complement the shabby chic aesthetic we’re going for in the bedroom. So we bid on it and guarded it throughout the evening, and we won it! For a lean $52 (the auction sheet stated its value at $90ish, and just for the frame and matte I’d say that’s about right).

So if you click through to the rest of the pictures on flickr, you’ll be able to see more of the animal art that was up for auction. It was really a fun evening. If it happens again and you’re local, you don’t want to miss it.

Originally published at Sticky, Sweet, & A Little Overdressed. You can comment here or there.

Sorry, I've been meaning to post an update on the animal art auction and have been too swamped. Or lazy. But swamped makes me sound more important, I think, so I've been swamped.

Anyway, we won a painting! And not just any painting: a meerkat painting!

Karsten loves meerkats. All along, I was hoping we'd find a good painting done by meerkats. But the first few we saw were kind of disappointing. Cute, of course -- it's impossible to imagine meerkats painting without being nearly cuted to death -- but each of the surfaces had very little pigment on it, so there wasn't much to be cuted by.

But then we saw this one, and we both agreed it was wonderful. And the colors in it even complement the shabby chic aesthetic we're going for in the bedroom. So we bid on it and guarded it throughout the evening, and we won it! For a lean $52 (the auction sheet stated its value at $90ish, and just for the frame and matte I'd say that's about right).

So if you click through to the rest of the pictures on flickr, you'll be able to see more of the animal art that was up for auction. It was really a fun evening. If it happens again and you're local, you don't want to miss it.

We've been looking forward to this for weeks. If we start putting big sheets of paper on the floor of our house with piles of tempera paints for the cats to walk through, well, don't say I didn't warn you here first.

I love these "adventure socials" the Nashville Zoo has been doing. Well, actually, we haven't been able to make it to any so far this year, but I love the concept. We did go the Valentine's event, though, which wasn't officially part of this event series, but it was similar and it was excellent. Anyway, they're doing another social this Friday, but true to form, we won't be able to make that one either.

However, I just registered us for the August and September events: "Mardi Grassmere" and "Safari Swizzle." It's in the calendar. We're scheduling other events around these.

So who's going to be partying with us, besides the alligators and elephants?

As in, we have them. I mean, what's the point of living with six cats (including one ninja kitten) if rats aren't afraid to come near our house?

Not that the cats can actually get to them. The rats have only made it into the walls in a few spots. But it's so weird -- I can actually hear them thumping and squeaking in the walls.

We think there are only a few. Karsten already trapped one a few days ago and more traps are going out today. I'm pretty sure the bird seed all around the house is attracting them, but whatever -- we're not going to stop feeding birds just because a few rats decided to crash the party. Get ready for the snap trap, suckers.

From today's City Paper:

Ostriches dance for hours to attract their mate. Pythons intertwine like tightly braided hair. Male camels belch to excite a female. These and more mating rituals will be told at Kiss and Tail — a special Valentine’s event for grownups at the Nashville Zoo[...]. Ron Magill from the Miami Metrozoo will use a slide show to talk about the entertaining and often hilarious mating habits of animals. Kiss and Tail will run one night only on Feb. 14 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Nashville Zoo and is open to individuals 18 and older. [...]

I can't think of a more perfect way to celebrate the holiday that is all about mating rituals. :-)

Originally published at The Bee Hive. Please leave any comments there.

She’s here! She’s finally here!

Hot off the presses, here are some pictures of Bopper, the newest addition to our kitty family.

It wasn’t easy meeting five cats, some of whom are more than four times your size!
http://www.honeybowtie.com/kate/kitties/images/bopper_faceoff_10042004.jpg

But how could anyone resist Her Royal Cuteness?
http://www.honeybowtie.com/kate/kitties/images/bopper_fromabove_10042004.jpg

After many hours, everyone kept their distance, but Bopper was still very curious.
http://www.honeybowtie.com/kate/kitties/images/bopper_profile_10042004.jpg

Now she’s finally relaxing after a long, scary day of meeting five huge cats:
http://www.honeybowtie.com/kate/kitties/images/bopper_relaxing_10042004.jpg

Edit: Here’s another one, too adorable not to share:
http://www.honeybowtie.com/kate/kitties/images/bopper_ninjapose_10042004.jpg

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I'm counting yesterday as the start of my vacation 'cause that makes it seem longer.

Spent a lazy morning organizing my MP3s. I deleted a bunch I never listen to and swapped in some new workout music onto my Clie.

Went out for lunch at Cafe Coco. Disappointing. Greasy. Pricey. Small portions. (I only ever eat small portions, but I like to take home leftovers.) But we sat outside and that was nice.

Next stop: The Great Escape outlet and the main store. Finally found The Thorns CD and for only $3.99! Also picked up some super-cheap DVDs and a book on how various songwriters got inspired to write certain songs. I love books like that.

Quick trip to the zoo for Ice Day! Many of the animals got frozen treats appropriate to their diet, such as bloodsicles for tigers and fishsicles for otters. (The otter looked as eager for the treat as Karsten was to see the otter eat it.) Karsten's favorite animals there are the meerkats and mine are the clouded leopards -- and neither of them seemed to have been given any icy treats that we could see, so that was kind of a bummer.

Picked up our holds at the library, some goodies at Kroger, and then swung by Big Lots for some English muffins. Karsten noticed that they had the Kellogg's Strawberry Mini-Wheats with the AAdvantage miles again, so we bought all 25 boxes of them. I felt like Adam Sandler's character in Punch-Drunk Love buying all the yogurts or whatever... but it really makes a lot of sense when you break down the cost per mile. And you're getting all that tasty cereal, to boot!

Cooked up some homemade pizza for dinner and watched "Nicholas Nickleby," which was OK, but not fantastic.

And now I'm posting this update while munching on Strawberry Mini-Wheats. I have enough of them to eat them all the time. :-)