Amanda Frederickson's Blog: Musings - Posts Tagged "cats"
Kittens!
Last weekend my family was surprised by the arrival of two kitten litters! We knew one of the cats was pregnant, but it turned out her daughter was pregnant too. Magic had two little babies that survived and Callie had three.
Talk about a long weekend! After Magic's first little one didn't make it we were all anxious about the rest of the litter. The second and third ones didn't come until morning the next day, but they're both healthy and fluffy. One squeaks a lot, the other is quiet, so my youngest sister named them Phineas and Ferb.
Even though Callie had a litter before, half the family crowded down to the basement to make sure she was all right when she went into labor. Callie decided it was too much crowd, so she picked up her first baby and hid under the basement stairs in a box.
Now both mammas have decided to crowd themselves and all the kittens into the same box. They're an absolutely adorable little furry pile. My mother was talking about moving them to something more spacious, but mother cats are a bit like mother dragons: you let them have what they want! They've staked out their box, and they'll probably stay until the kittens are old enough to roam.
Sadly, my apartment doesn't allow pets that are less than a year old. But that doesn't mean I can't keep my eye on one. *Plotting....*
Talk about a long weekend! After Magic's first little one didn't make it we were all anxious about the rest of the litter. The second and third ones didn't come until morning the next day, but they're both healthy and fluffy. One squeaks a lot, the other is quiet, so my youngest sister named them Phineas and Ferb.
Even though Callie had a litter before, half the family crowded down to the basement to make sure she was all right when she went into labor. Callie decided it was too much crowd, so she picked up her first baby and hid under the basement stairs in a box.
Now both mammas have decided to crowd themselves and all the kittens into the same box. They're an absolutely adorable little furry pile. My mother was talking about moving them to something more spacious, but mother cats are a bit like mother dragons: you let them have what they want! They've staked out their box, and they'll probably stay until the kittens are old enough to roam.
Sadly, my apartment doesn't allow pets that are less than a year old. But that doesn't mean I can't keep my eye on one. *Plotting....*
Cats are a Book's Best Friend
"A catless writer is almost inconceivable." - Barbara Holland
I've missed having my own cat. I just didn't realize it was also affecting my writing.
I've been a voracious reader since I learned how (I mentioned a little of my book obsession in the last post), but in the last few years I've had trouble reading as much as I used to. I thought it was just a factor of life getting more complicated, as it always seems to do, but then life got quieter again and I still had trouble reading. I write more (better?) when I'm reading anything, but even knowing this I've had trouble just sitting still long enough to read (though I've had no trouble sitting still for making chainmail; unfortunately the two don't combine well).
Apparently a content cat in my lap does wonders for my ability to finish a book.
All through middle school and high school my cat was my reading buddy. He was perfectly happy to sit in my lap or on my legs while I devoured books.
Four years ago now, my siblings stopped calling him "fat cat" and started calling him "flat cat" because he lost so much weight. We think he might have developed the feline equivalent of diabetes. In any case, at the ripe old age of seventeen, my tuxedo baby decided to pass away. I lost my best childhood friend.
I posted a few months ago about my family's new kittens. I'm officially stealing one. His name is Pippinpaddle-Opsokopolis the Third, and he's a beautiful, lanky cream tiger. (Ok, you can call him Pippin.) He's Callie's third baby, and already proficient in the Art of Key Slaying and Candy Wrapper Chasing. The other day when I was visiting the House he decided to take a nap in my lap. Of all the kittens, he has the loudest purr.
He's so mine.
It was the first time in a long time that I finished a book (that wasn't a manga) in less than 24 hours.
By the way, on the subject of the kittens: Phineas turned out to be a girl and is already loving her new family, Ferb is a cuddly, fluffy butterball with the same coloring as Pippin (he might come home with me too if I can pull it off, but my youngest sister is begging to keep him), Callie's first baby is also already with her new family and the middle kitten is waiting to be picked up. They got so big so fast!
I can't wait until Pippin is big enough to bring home.
I've missed having my own cat. I just didn't realize it was also affecting my writing.
I've been a voracious reader since I learned how (I mentioned a little of my book obsession in the last post), but in the last few years I've had trouble reading as much as I used to. I thought it was just a factor of life getting more complicated, as it always seems to do, but then life got quieter again and I still had trouble reading. I write more (better?) when I'm reading anything, but even knowing this I've had trouble just sitting still long enough to read (though I've had no trouble sitting still for making chainmail; unfortunately the two don't combine well).
Apparently a content cat in my lap does wonders for my ability to finish a book.
All through middle school and high school my cat was my reading buddy. He was perfectly happy to sit in my lap or on my legs while I devoured books.
Four years ago now, my siblings stopped calling him "fat cat" and started calling him "flat cat" because he lost so much weight. We think he might have developed the feline equivalent of diabetes. In any case, at the ripe old age of seventeen, my tuxedo baby decided to pass away. I lost my best childhood friend.
I posted a few months ago about my family's new kittens. I'm officially stealing one. His name is Pippinpaddle-Opsokopolis the Third, and he's a beautiful, lanky cream tiger. (Ok, you can call him Pippin.) He's Callie's third baby, and already proficient in the Art of Key Slaying and Candy Wrapper Chasing. The other day when I was visiting the House he decided to take a nap in my lap. Of all the kittens, he has the loudest purr.
He's so mine.
It was the first time in a long time that I finished a book (that wasn't a manga) in less than 24 hours.
By the way, on the subject of the kittens: Phineas turned out to be a girl and is already loving her new family, Ferb is a cuddly, fluffy butterball with the same coloring as Pippin (he might come home with me too if I can pull it off, but my youngest sister is begging to keep him), Callie's first baby is also already with her new family and the middle kitten is waiting to be picked up. They got so big so fast!
I can't wait until Pippin is big enough to bring home.
Farewell and Good Riddance 2013
Well, 2013 kinda sucked. Especially toward the end with my landlord raising the rent while refusing to do maintenance, AND roping us into another month because we didn't turn in our notice during Thanksgiving (when they were closed).
It could have been worse. There was no kitchen fire and no incompetent "recovery" company that stole our stuff (2010), and I did get a lot of writing done, but no goals were actually met. It feels like most everyone around me had an overall lousy year too.
It wasn't entirely a loss though. I started this blog, I published some short stories, started a Facebook author page, and even though all three of the manuscripts I wanted to finish... aren't, all of them made significant progress and I have half drafts of Rose and Blood Queen under my belt. Rose gets to wait her turn until the other Gatewalkers are finished, but Blood Queen is still making slow progress. (Though well meaning, I think my ambitious plan to write three manuscripts at once instead of one at a time was ultimately more than I could chew. Lesson learned. One project at a time. Maybe two? Heh.) Oh, and remember that contest I mentioned waaaaaay back at the end of July? Its deadline was December 31st. I got it written, finished, revised, and submitted with time to spare. By time to spare I mean about three hours, but I wanted to give it one last go-over (and still felt crazy nervous hitting the "submit" button). HA! Take that 2013. One mission accomplished.
I did also manage, between the lovely crazy stress that ended up piled on these last two months, to learn some down and dirty tricks for writing around life, which I fully intend to apply in 2014, especially in packing/moving through January.
Oh, and I got a cat. He's an adorable monster. I seriously missed having a cat. ^_^
For 2014, one goal: read more.
It could have been worse. There was no kitchen fire and no incompetent "recovery" company that stole our stuff (2010), and I did get a lot of writing done, but no goals were actually met. It feels like most everyone around me had an overall lousy year too.
It wasn't entirely a loss though. I started this blog, I published some short stories, started a Facebook author page, and even though all three of the manuscripts I wanted to finish... aren't, all of them made significant progress and I have half drafts of Rose and Blood Queen under my belt. Rose gets to wait her turn until the other Gatewalkers are finished, but Blood Queen is still making slow progress. (Though well meaning, I think my ambitious plan to write three manuscripts at once instead of one at a time was ultimately more than I could chew. Lesson learned. One project at a time. Maybe two? Heh.) Oh, and remember that contest I mentioned waaaaaay back at the end of July? Its deadline was December 31st. I got it written, finished, revised, and submitted with time to spare. By time to spare I mean about three hours, but I wanted to give it one last go-over (and still felt crazy nervous hitting the "submit" button). HA! Take that 2013. One mission accomplished.
I did also manage, between the lovely crazy stress that ended up piled on these last two months, to learn some down and dirty tricks for writing around life, which I fully intend to apply in 2014, especially in packing/moving through January.
Oh, and I got a cat. He's an adorable monster. I seriously missed having a cat. ^_^
For 2014, one goal: read more.
Keystone and Lord of the Rings
I am now officially a resident of the Keystone state. How funny is that? And I think my cat has a vendetta against my Lord of the Rings posters.
Pippin (my cat) has discovered that the sounds of rattling posters will wake me up in the middle of the night. He has now completely destroyed my map of middle earth and has moved on to my Two Towers poster. He hasn't touched I, Robot, Tangled, my dragon poster, my unicorn poster, Star Wars, or any of the others (yes, I have a lot of posters, and finally have the wall space to put them up). I had to finally kick him out of my room or the bottom edge of my Two Towers poster would have been shredded. This seems to be the equivalent of his brother's obsession with knocking over unattended glasses. Which means that no amount of discouraging him will actually work. Sigh.
Maybe I'll just have to resort to framing them.
Pippin (my cat) has discovered that the sounds of rattling posters will wake me up in the middle of the night. He has now completely destroyed my map of middle earth and has moved on to my Two Towers poster. He hasn't touched I, Robot, Tangled, my dragon poster, my unicorn poster, Star Wars, or any of the others (yes, I have a lot of posters, and finally have the wall space to put them up). I had to finally kick him out of my room or the bottom edge of my Two Towers poster would have been shredded. This seems to be the equivalent of his brother's obsession with knocking over unattended glasses. Which means that no amount of discouraging him will actually work. Sigh.
Maybe I'll just have to resort to framing them.
Updates
First of all, thank you everyone who entered Keystone’s giveaway and congratulations to the two winners! The signed copies of Keystone will be in the mail soon.
For those who are wondering how my kitty is doing, Pippin is feeling much better. The vet did put him on a stronger antibiotic, which he loathed as only a cat can loathe, but it did the trick. For the moment he’s also on the special urinary health food, which he also loathes but finally caved in to eating. His poor little patches where they shaved him for his IVs and such are starting to get some fuzz back so he’s not quite so pitiful-looking.
The heat has made for some very lazy cats, but I can tell Pippin is feeling more himself because he’s not cuddling so much anymore (sigh) and is back to chewing my toes in the mornings (with a vengeance). His newest favorite trick is jumping onto my headboard, knocking everything down onto my head (in Jamie’s memory, no doubt) and then leaping full force onto my stomach.
The joys of owning a cat. :p
For those who are wondering how my kitty is doing, Pippin is feeling much better. The vet did put him on a stronger antibiotic, which he loathed as only a cat can loathe, but it did the trick. For the moment he’s also on the special urinary health food, which he also loathes but finally caved in to eating. His poor little patches where they shaved him for his IVs and such are starting to get some fuzz back so he’s not quite so pitiful-looking.
The heat has made for some very lazy cats, but I can tell Pippin is feeling more himself because he’s not cuddling so much anymore (sigh) and is back to chewing my toes in the mornings (with a vengeance). His newest favorite trick is jumping onto my headboard, knocking everything down onto my head (in Jamie’s memory, no doubt) and then leaping full force onto my stomach.
The joys of owning a cat. :p
