Kitties

I thought I would share some recent pictures of my "babies."

They love to go outside. Calvin immediately starts rolling around in the dirt which is less than ideal.

Hobbes will follow us around asking to play. He loves balled up twist ties and bottlecaps.

For Christmas we purchase a crinkly tube for them to play in. I think Calvin is a little afraid of it. We put one of his wooly balls in there to entice him.

Sometimes we play Monkey in the Middle with Calvin. He jumps really high to catch the ball. This picture is funny because it looks like Calvin is taller than me. It is just an optical illusion, but he did jump pretty high for this one.

Getting settled

The last couple of weeks have been a little bit of a whirlwind. We overcame a long week in the car (with two cats) and made it to California!

Highlights from the car ride:
- the first couple of days with the cats was not too bad. They were too afraid to move. It all went downhill after that. Hobbes was especially annoying since he wanted to explore the driver's area and would not sit still or be quiet. We gave him a whole pill of the sedative one afternoon. We were only supposed to give half. He was out for a few hours and loopy for many more after that. It was quite entertaining once you stopped feeling guilty.

- it was SUPER windy on our drive through Oklahoma and Texas. We got caught in a mini dust storm where visibility left much to be desired.

I am using zero strength to hold this tumbleweed. The wind was doing it all.

- I had super awesome gas mileage on the last couple days of the ride. It was amazing!

- We stayed in some pretty crappy motels. There are no funny or horrifying stories... I just appreciate the finer hotels a little more now. It is just amazing how much of a difference there is. You would think a business would take a little more pride in their product. I guess you get what you pay for.

- We paid $4.99 a gallon for gas one day because I totally wasn't paying attention. We had to stop in the middle of nowhere; I guess they like to take advantage of us stupid drivers. I have to take solice in the fact that we were not the only ones. A couple of ladies pulled up around the same time and were in a similar predicament.

- We saw a ton of wind turbines after we entered California. There were hundreds. It was cool to see.

I'll post again soon about the search for a house and our final decision.

The countdown begins

We finally received our orders for our upcoming move to California! When you're in the military, orders rule your life. You cannot plan anything without them because they tell you when and where you need to be.

We knew the move was coming, but we weren't 100% sure on the time frame. Now we know we'll be moving in about three weeks.

Needless to say, I am just a tad stressed out. Luckily, I do not have to pack and load a truck. Thank you military movers! I have never done this before so I am a little nervous about having other people pack up all my stuff and move it for me. Call me a control freak.

I have started a lovely To-Do list. One of my top priorities is to get some anxiety medicine for my two kitties. They hate riding in the car. This past weekend I went for a little ride with them to start getting them acclimated. Hobbes yelled at me the whole time and was panting. I was told this is a nervous behavior in animals. After being on hold with the vet clinic for what seemed like forever, I was able to make an appointment for next week. It will be nice to cross that off my list.

The biggest unknown is where we are actually going to live once we get to California. I do not have the luxury to visit beforehand, so it may be a last minute scramble to find a place that we like, that is in our budget and that allows pets. I've never moved without knowing our new address beforehand so this is a new thing for me.

Wooly balls

About a year ago, I switched from dryer sheets to wool dryer balls. My cat, Calvin, loves to find the wooly balls that make it out of the dryer after doing laundry. This Christmas, I found some wooly balls with jingle bells inside on Etsy. I thought they would be the perfect present for Calvin. I ordered them and both Calvin and Hobbes thoroughly enjoyed them. They liked them so much that, for the most part, the wooly jingle balls are destroyed. Two of them lost their jingles and all of them I've had to sew up some holes.

I found a tutorial for dryer wool balls so I thought I would give it a shot. I bought some yarn at Michael's and got to work. I used this tutorial at Home for Hire--DIY Wool Dryer Balls. I think I ended up using the same yarn for some of the balls.

So far, both cats seem to enjoy the homemade version. Mine are not as jingly as the ones I bought on Etsy. I may have to experiment with another way of including the jingle bells. The way I did these was to thread 3 bells on a piece of wool string. Then I wrapped wool around the set of bells to make the ball shape. I think some of the wool strands got inside the bells. It must interfere with the jingle. You can tell there is something inside because it makes a slight noise, but not quite what I was hoping for.

I made two sizes--small with bells inside and large like dryer balls. In this picture, Calvin is playing with the large one and the smaller one is sitting nearby.

Kitties & the snow

Last winter was so mild that we barely saw any snow. In December, we finally saw a real snowfall. We took the kitties outside to see what they thought about snow. They did not seem to like it much. Hobbes walked around a little. He didn't seem to appreciate that with each step he took he sunk a little. Calvin stepped out a little and then quickly ran back inside.

Race Day and other random stuff

This past weekend was spent in Columbus so Charles could run in the Columbus Marathon. He felt like he had to redeem himself from his first marathon. We enjoy Columbus except for Ohio State. Being brought up in a household with a Michigan alum makes you dislike anything Ohio State related. I did watch the end of the Michigan game on TV while in Columbus and got to see them win at the last minute. That was awesome!

Charles did very well at his marathon and has decided not to run anymore marathons. (Yea!) I got up bright and early to find a good spot to see him towards the finish line. At least I thought it was a good spot... I didn't even see him. I was hugely disappointed.

On anther topic...last week Charles looked out of our front window and saw a cute little orange kitten. He was worried that it was lost, so he brought it inside. I was curious how our cats would react to another cat in the house. Calvin did not like it at all! He sat under the couch and hissed at the orange cat anytime it came anywhere near him. Hobbes was a little friendlier, but very cautious near the cat. It was funny to watch them.

Luckily the kitten had a tag for a 24 hour watch service. They finally got in touch with the owner who only lives on the next street over. They were very grateful that we found their cat.

Lastly, I ordered shoes for the wedding (see previous post). They arrived today. I picked the pair I was leaning towards, but I just don't like them as much in person. The shape of the shoe reminds me of an old lady and the color is not as red as in the picture. Looks like I'll be returning those and searching for something different. I'll probably just go with flats since that is going to be way more comfortable.

Blessings Monday

Today's Blessings Monday is dedicated to my furry children--Calvin and Hobbes. No, I do not have hairy kids...I am talking about my kitties! They are going to be one year old this weekend.

About a year ago, I finally convinced Charles that we should adopt a kitten and we found the two most precious ones at Petsmart. They are brothers and I couldn't imagine life without them. (I always thought people were a little strange when they talked about their pets that way, but I totally understand it now.)

They provide hours of entertainment for us and are very cuddly and curious. I just love them to pieces!

Kitty treats--2nd edition

Our first batch of kitty treats is almost gone, so it was time to make some more. They loved the last ones, but I had another recipe that I wanted to try out. The ones I made today are called Turkey Treats and are super easy to make.

Turkey Treats
Ingredients
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 small boiled and mashed sweet potato
1 teaspoon grated cheese (I used a mixture of Parmesan, Cheddar and Mozzarella)
1 beaten egg

Mix all the ingredients together. Scoop by half teaspoon (I actually did an overflowing 1/4 teaspoon) onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (I remembered this time!). Bake for 7-10 minutes at 350 degrees, until they are brown and firm, but not crunchy. According to the recipe, they freeze well.

It hasn't been treat time yet, so I'm not sure how the kitties will like them, but they smelled delicious to me.

Calvin and Hobbes playing with a bottlecap

* This post was shared on the following Link Parties:

Under the Table and Dreaming
Embellishing Life 
C.R.A.F.T.

Homemade treats

My friend Jenilyn makes homemade baby food for her daughter which made me think that I could make homemade kitty treats. And after you look at the ingredients on store-bought kitty treats, they are actually pretty disgusting. I made two recipes out of 4 that I settled on after Googling kitty treat recipes. One the kitties liked and the other they just nibbled at, so I consider that a failure.
The treats they liked are called Savory Cheese Treats. Here's what you'll need:
- 3/4 cup white flour
- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 5 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (I used sour cream)
- 1/4 cup cornmeal (I used yellow cornmeal...I don't know if it matters)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine cheeses and yogurt. Add flour and cornmeal. (I wasn't paying attention to the directions and measured the flour in the bowl first, so I just threw everything in at the same time). If needed, add a small amount of water to create a nice dough. (I had to add 4 Tablespoons of water to achieve a "nice dough").

Knead dough into a ball and roll to 1/4 inch. (I did this in small sections because I rolled it out on my cutting board and there wasn't enough space to do all the dough at once).

Cut into inch-sized pieces (I cut mine into smaller pieces) and place on a greased cookie sheet. (Don't skip the grease! I did and it was annoying to get the treats off the pan)

Bake for 25 minutes. (Since I made the pieces smaller, I baked for 20 minutes).

The second recipe had tuna and my house still smells like tuna. Yuck! The kitties didn't like these so much. Charles actually tried one and he said they just tasted like cornmeal. They were very hard. Here's the recipe, in case you want to try it for yourself.

Cat Crackers
- 6oz undrained tuna
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Measure all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly with your hands. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into treat sized pieces. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes (I baked them for 15 minutes). Let cool.

Each recipe makes a good amount of treats, so you should be set for a little while. I'm storing mine in the fridge. This morning when I gave them a cheese treat, I poured a bit of chicken stock on them to soften them up a little to make it easy to chew. They are used to soft treats. They really enjoyed them.

* This post was shared on the following Link Parties:

Someday Crafts--Whatever Goes Wednesday
Reasons to Skip the Housework
Ginger Snap Crafts

Updates

Kitties:

Hobbes is feeling much better. He was the first to be sick and about a week later Calvin got the Upper Respiratory Infection. I first took Hobbes to a local vet that was recommended to me by someone at Petsmart the night we adopted them. They gave me one type of antibiotic that had to be administered twice a day. We tried to shoot it into his mouth with the syringe, but that was hugely unsuccessful. So we just mixed it in with some wet food and he ate it all up. 

Then I took them both to the on base vet. Since our neighborhood is considered an “Air Force Installation”, the kitties had to be micro chipped and registered on base. That vet gave me some eye ointment for Hobbes that also had to be given twice a day. That didn’t happen. It took both of us to administer it which only happened in the evening and he absolutely hated it. 

Then Calvin started sneezing a lot and had watery eyes (which were the first symptoms we noticed with Hobbes). And Hobbes didn’t seem to be getting any better. So a few days later I took Hobbes back to the original vet. He gave me a stronger antibiotic and some other kind of medicine. The new antibiotic didn’t mix well with the food; Hobbes wouldn’t eat it, at least. So we had to go back to injecting it in his mouth. The first few days he absolutely hated it. But surprisingly after a few days he was very good about it. We got to use the first antibiotic for Calvin, so it wasn’t a big waste of money. 

As I said, they both seem to be feeling much better, so hopefully we’ve made it through our first test as pet owners. 

Missing Caterpillar:

We had a good suggestion to look either under the fridge or the dryer. However, the brown caterpillar was in neither spot. We found the caterpillar under the recliner. Charles had already looked there and didn't see it. But then he sat in the chair and reclined, so maybe it shifted or fell out of up inside the chair, so we're back to three caterpillars. But the kitties definitely prefer the gray caterpillar for some reason. And they don't play with the little mice toys at all. I don't know why.

Greyhound:

On Thursday, we met with the Dayton area representative of Greyhound Adoption of Greater Cincinnati. We met at her house and were introduced to her five Greyhounds. They immediately liked us (or at least Charles). They loved Charles! She said that was a very good sign and that she felt very comfortable going through the rest of the adoption process just because they liked us so much. We sat and chatted with her about Greyhounds. I learned some interesting things about them and dogs in general. For example, I learned that they can get an auto-immune disease that causes their toenails to fall off. One of her Greyhounds has it. It sounds very unpleasant. She put my training fears to rest. They are much easier to train than Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies makes it seem. 

So the next step for the process is to get a fence. Both of our neighbors have fences, so it’s just a matter of connecting the dots. But we have to submit a drawing to Maintenance and wait for them to approve it. It could take up to 3 weeks and then we have to get the fence installed. I’m not sure how to install a fence, so I’m probably going to try to convince Charles to have someone do it for us. It will cost more, but at least we’ll know it’s installed correctly. The reason the fence is necessary is because Greyhounds are sight-hounds. If they get loose they won’t be able to find their way home like other dogs can. And they can run up to 45mph, so they can get pretty far in a short amount of time. It would be impossible to run after them. 

The lady has a dog in mind for us; it is in a foster home with a cat and it apparently ignores the cat. So once the fence situation is all worked out, she is going to bring the dog to our house and see how we do together. And then it could be ours.

The case of the missing caterpillar

To entertain the kitties, we purchased a three pack of caterpillar toys--one grey, one wine-colored and one brown. I think they have catnip inside them to really keep the cats interested. Calvin, our more rambunctious kitten, took a liking to the caterpillar toys. However, the brown one has gone missing. Charles and I have searched in every logical (and a few illogical) places that it could have gone to. The kitties liked hanging out under the couch the first few days we had them, so we looked under there. Calvin likes to go behind some books on the bottom shelf of the bookcase, so we looked behind the books. We looked upstairs in case he carried it up there during the middle of the night. We looked under and behind the chair. We've basically looked everywhere. The caterpillar must have come to live and scurried away. Or Calvin ate it. We're not really sure. The other two caterpillars are still with us, so we may have to enter them into witness protection so they don't meet the same fate of Mr. Brown.

Babies!

On Saturday, we were out running errands and we decided to go to Petsmart. We love going there occasionally to see what kitties they have for adoption. We saw two little black brother kittens that were super cute. We left Petsmart and went about our day. Later that evening, we went out to dinner for date night and afterward decided to go back to Petsmart to see if they were still there. It took a little convincing. Charles is very deliberative and likes to take his time making decisions. When we went back they were still there. We walked in the little room where the cages were and they immediately meowed at us like they remembered who we were. Charles' deal was get both of them or neither. He didn't want to separate the brothers. And I could not argue with that.

It's a very easy process to adopt a kitten that is being housed at Petsmart. I wasn't sure what to expect. All we did was fill out some paperwork and that was it. After going through the cat section getting some kitty necessities, we checked out and brought them home.

They are so precious and tiny. We have named them Calvin and Hobbes, after Charles' favorite comic strip characters. Calvin is very adventurous, but a little jumpy when startled. Hobbes is very cuddly, but we think he is sick or has allergies. His eyes have been very watery and itchy. He has also been sneezing a lot. He loves to sit with me and sleep on me. He'll meow and that's his way of telling me that he's ready to cuddle.

Since they are both black, they are hard to tell apart in the pictures. Right now it's easy for us to distinguish them apart because of Hobbes' watery eyes. Hopefully they'll both grow into some unique features to make it a little easier.