Pestilence is Here. Where Are The Other Three?
Apparently my insect-destroying powers are quite variable. We are still contending with fleas. However, the Natures' Chemistry stuff has been applied to the couch and ealdthryth's closet (where Kiera most often hides). I've vaccumed nearly every day. And every day, there is enough hair in the Rainbow to equate to a small kitten.
We bought some Sentry Natural Defense (some sort of essential oil-based product) only to discover many people claim it caused their cats' hair to fall out and to burn them. However, that was with the older formulation that had cinnamon oil and thyme oil in it. Considering that one of the essential oil informational sites indicates those two oils cause skin irritation problems for kitties, it is no wonder. Unfortunately, the new formulation still has peppermint oil in it, and that one is at the top of the list for oils that irritate cats. The folks at Sargents/Sentry obviously did NOT do their homework and should definitely be abused for that failure. Yes, the stuff will kill and drive off the fleas, but at the expense of de-furring your kitties? On the other hand, do you want to put a man-made pesticide on your pet?
Sigh
Late in the evening, ealdthryth filled a bowl with cereal for herself, and noticed a minor infestation of tiny ants meandering around our sink vainly searching for food. Considering that the pest control folks had come by and done their work about a month ago, I found this situation rather vexing. Without ant-killing spray handy, I consulted the 'Net for a natural defense/ant pesticide. Expecting to see herbal remedies such as pennyroyal and paprika, I was pleasantly surprised to find that a 2:2:1 mixture of water, alcohol, and dish soap would kill ants that it was sprayed on and repel the rest. I went in search of the ingredients, only to be frustrated to find that we only had about a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol left in the house. But it was enough to do the job (as the ant attack had just begun). By 1am, there were no ants coming in (at least not from their original attack point), and I saw no evidence of additional intrusions when I left this morning. Yay!
Friday was interesting in a roaming wildlife sort of way. As I pulled onto the easement that qualifies as a driveway, I spotted a wild turkey roaming around in the neighbor's yard. It darted away when it heard the crunch of gravel under the tires. But that's not all! A couple months back, while mowing, I found a large snake in the yard. I'm not sure if it has spawned, but I found a small snake in my driveway when I came home. It was black with thin white stripes. Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Rather than running around hysterically trying to kill it with a shovel or garden hoe, I simply stomped on the ground behind it. It shot away very quickly--which is precisely what I wanted. Unfortunately, it wriggled under the truck. Bleh.
Steampunk For the Win
In yet another serendipitous moment, I picked up the latest offering of Girl Genius this week and read it Sunday. Unbeknownst to me, it was announced on Sunday that Phil, Kaja, and Cheyenne won a Hugo Award for that particular issue (Chapel of Bones). I was very amused to note that some of the LJ fan-base that have posted pictures of themselves seem to have depicted as characters in this issue. It may be a coincidence, but looking back at many years' worth of Phil's work, it wouldn't surprise me....Heh.
In other news, I got ealdthryth to do a little clothes shopping, and we found a steampunk-appropriate skirt and some socks for her. With the right blouse and some accessories, she's all set.
Want a Kitten Fu
Ignatius got a birthday card from PetSmart. A month late, but he still got one. Since we wanted to pick up some flea-killing stuff anyway, we headed to PetSmart. Many adorable cats from F.U.R. were available (a pair ten-year olds were there because their family moved away and couldn't take them?!?!), and C.C.A. had set up shop with several torties, a Maine coon, and a tail-less tortie mama with 3 palm-sized kittens. Ky-oot Overload I felt so badly for the pair of 10-year olds. They are very pretty cats, affectionate, and they've been abandoned twice. 8^(
ealdthryth resisted the inevitable You know you want more kitties.... AElfgifu is unlikely to tolerate another adult cat moving into the house, but she just might accept kittens. Four is enough for us to handle at the moment. Any more than that, and we may become the crazy cat couple.
After we got home (late), our cats hid from us. The vaccuming of the closet and the vaccuming of the library gave them few places to hide. I did eventually find them ensconced on the kitchen chairs, peeking out from under the tablecloth. Thus discovered, they got groomed yet again. I was amazed that ealdthryth was able to collect Kiera, but not terribly surprised that Kiera managed to get away from her easily.
MMMM! Plush kitty endorphins!
Simulation
This weekend was a tax-free weekend--well at least for back-to-school supplies. It wasn't the sole reason for us actually leaving our house, but it was additional incentive. Things weren't nearly as crowded as expected (which for us was a huge bonus). We'd been eyeing some shelves and cabinets that were billed as closet organizers (no relation to community organizers), and found a couple pieces that had been reduced to 50% in price. Unable to resist the deal, we bought them with the intent of replacing the old Chinese Chippendale sofa table with a storage center of some sort. Unfortunately(?) there weren't enough modular units to do what we wanted, so after dinner, we drove 30 miles to another store and bought the remaining pieces we "needed" to complete the plan. I see hours of furniture assembly in my near future.
Inspired by our success, we did a bit of clothes shopping. Considering that I shop for clothes once every couple of years, this actually was a big deal, and, I am happy to say, a moderate success. So we did our patriotic duty by stimulating the economy this weekend.
We bought some Sentry Natural Defense (some sort of essential oil-based product) only to discover many people claim it caused their cats' hair to fall out and to burn them. However, that was with the older formulation that had cinnamon oil and thyme oil in it. Considering that one of the essential oil informational sites indicates those two oils cause skin irritation problems for kitties, it is no wonder. Unfortunately, the new formulation still has peppermint oil in it, and that one is at the top of the list for oils that irritate cats. The folks at Sargents/Sentry obviously did NOT do their homework and should definitely be abused for that failure. Yes, the stuff will kill and drive off the fleas, but at the expense of de-furring your kitties? On the other hand, do you want to put a man-made pesticide on your pet?
Sigh
Late in the evening, ealdthryth filled a bowl with cereal for herself, and noticed a minor infestation of tiny ants meandering around our sink vainly searching for food. Considering that the pest control folks had come by and done their work about a month ago, I found this situation rather vexing. Without ant-killing spray handy, I consulted the 'Net for a natural defense/ant pesticide. Expecting to see herbal remedies such as pennyroyal and paprika, I was pleasantly surprised to find that a 2:2:1 mixture of water, alcohol, and dish soap would kill ants that it was sprayed on and repel the rest. I went in search of the ingredients, only to be frustrated to find that we only had about a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol left in the house. But it was enough to do the job (as the ant attack had just begun). By 1am, there were no ants coming in (at least not from their original attack point), and I saw no evidence of additional intrusions when I left this morning. Yay!
Friday was interesting in a roaming wildlife sort of way. As I pulled onto the easement that qualifies as a driveway, I spotted a wild turkey roaming around in the neighbor's yard. It darted away when it heard the crunch of gravel under the tires. But that's not all! A couple months back, while mowing, I found a large snake in the yard. I'm not sure if it has spawned, but I found a small snake in my driveway when I came home. It was black with thin white stripes. Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Rather than running around hysterically trying to kill it with a shovel or garden hoe, I simply stomped on the ground behind it. It shot away very quickly--which is precisely what I wanted. Unfortunately, it wriggled under the truck. Bleh.
Steampunk For the Win
In yet another serendipitous moment, I picked up the latest offering of Girl Genius this week and read it Sunday. Unbeknownst to me, it was announced on Sunday that Phil, Kaja, and Cheyenne won a Hugo Award for that particular issue (Chapel of Bones). I was very amused to note that some of the LJ fan-base that have posted pictures of themselves seem to have depicted as characters in this issue. It may be a coincidence, but looking back at many years' worth of Phil's work, it wouldn't surprise me....Heh.
In other news, I got ealdthryth to do a little clothes shopping, and we found a steampunk-appropriate skirt and some socks for her. With the right blouse and some accessories, she's all set.
Want a Kitten Fu
Ignatius got a birthday card from PetSmart. A month late, but he still got one. Since we wanted to pick up some flea-killing stuff anyway, we headed to PetSmart. Many adorable cats from F.U.R. were available (a pair ten-year olds were there because their family moved away and couldn't take them?!?!), and C.C.A. had set up shop with several torties, a Maine coon, and a tail-less tortie mama with 3 palm-sized kittens. Ky-oot Overload I felt so badly for the pair of 10-year olds. They are very pretty cats, affectionate, and they've been abandoned twice. 8^(
ealdthryth resisted the inevitable You know you want more kitties.... AElfgifu is unlikely to tolerate another adult cat moving into the house, but she just might accept kittens. Four is enough for us to handle at the moment. Any more than that, and we may become the crazy cat couple.
After we got home (late), our cats hid from us. The vaccuming of the closet and the vaccuming of the library gave them few places to hide. I did eventually find them ensconced on the kitchen chairs, peeking out from under the tablecloth. Thus discovered, they got groomed yet again. I was amazed that ealdthryth was able to collect Kiera, but not terribly surprised that Kiera managed to get away from her easily.
MMMM! Plush kitty endorphins!
Simulation
This weekend was a tax-free weekend--well at least for back-to-school supplies. It wasn't the sole reason for us actually leaving our house, but it was additional incentive. Things weren't nearly as crowded as expected (which for us was a huge bonus). We'd been eyeing some shelves and cabinets that were billed as closet organizers (no relation to community organizers), and found a couple pieces that had been reduced to 50% in price. Unable to resist the deal, we bought them with the intent of replacing the old Chinese Chippendale sofa table with a storage center of some sort. Unfortunately(?) there weren't enough modular units to do what we wanted, so after dinner, we drove 30 miles to another store and bought the remaining pieces we "needed" to complete the plan. I see hours of furniture assembly in my near future.
Inspired by our success, we did a bit of clothes shopping. Considering that I shop for clothes once every couple of years, this actually was a big deal, and, I am happy to say, a moderate success. So we did our patriotic duty by stimulating the economy this weekend.