Ebony & Onyx

We officially have licks and playing together between Obsidian and Midnight! Last night Obsidian was letting Midnight play with his tail and they got pretty close when sitting next to me. Glen thought there might have been actual cuddling this morning on the couch but they jumped up to greet him. When I got home from work they were on the couch about 12” apart, so if it wasn’t 80F inside the house they probably would have snuggled. Hooray!

Yesterday Midnight had his checkup, tests & shots, all clear & healthy except for some nasty ear mites that should clear up in a couple days after meds. He was such a good kitty! I’ve never had any cat let me hold them in the exam room and purr so loudly, even after shots! Since Midnight was still growling when Obsidian would get too close, we didn’t expect any snuggling ear mite transfer, so I opened up the doors last night and let them both roam the house and patio together. Siddy kept trying his best every so often to get closer, but Midnight would swat or growl if Siddy got too close…but when Siddy used the litter box, I cracked up as Midnight ran to the piano to peek down at him doing his business! When I went to bed, Siddy snuggled my legs like always, and Midnight couldn’t see him so jumped almost on top of him, which caused another growl, but Midnight eventually jumped on the nightstand then walked behind my head to my other side and snuggled my shoulder while I fell asleep. He was out on the couch by morning, but today we had our first nose sniff without hissing or growling…that’s progress!

Meet Midnight, our new kitten! This now makes 2 sweet black kitties who showed up at my house without me having to search for them! 😸

Jeff had sent me photos earlier this spring about a black shorthair kitten born in February but we couldn’t adopt a kitten yet with all the wedding & honeymoon chaos. Yesterday they were visiting Audene’s brother again and this 4-month old boy still needed a home, so after a 90-minute drive in a duct-taped cardboard box with holes, he let me pick him up and was purring almost immediately! He has been held by kids a lot so already enjoys hugs and purred on our laps all evening, draped like a boneless kitty. Obsidian doesn’t sit in laps, so now Glen finally knows what it’s like to not be able to get up because of a cat in his lap. 😉

Even though Obsidian is very curious and has gently tried a few times to introduce himself with polite little meows and a slow approach, the kitten still growls when he gets within about 2 ft, but as soon as Siddy backs off a couple inches the kitten will purr again, and kittens are usually more adaptable, so I think we will be okay eventually. Even Onyx growled at Obsidian when he first moved in, but within a week they were snuggling. Since Midnight has been indoor/outdoor, right now we would rather they be separated anyway until tests & shots are done next week, so they have separate food, water & litter sequestered in different rooms so they can both feel safe. Siddy slept with Glen in our bed like normal, and I slept on the couch since this kitty had never yet spent a night alone, let alone away from his mother and littermates. Not the best timing since we have our 2-night camping trip in Napa next weekend, but at least after that we are home until August! Would anyone like to kitten-sit this weekend? 😉

Midnight hasn’t meowed much yet, but it’s been a gurgle meow like in the video…and least he figured out how to play with the toy! Auntie Sheila​ came to visit, and now Midnight has nestled inside Glen’s legs on the couch while they both enjoy a nap… 😴 💤

Last night Glen got Siddy to play with some wire from an electrical project! His hand was out in the open and Siddy still played! Notice all the toys hanging by his food that he is always too scared to play with…Glen thinks maybe he’s an electrical engineer cat. 😉

Obsidian doesn’t play with toys held by humans, so we are trying to convince him to let us to play with him. He enjoys attacking the red dot since he hasn’t figured out where it’s coming from, but we are only using the laser pointer in small doses since we’ve heard about too many animals becoming neurotic with never being able to catch that red dot. I think the wire toy he finally played with at Thanksgiving was left at my parents’ house so we will bring that back our next trip so he can actually catch something!

As I was flattened by a bad winter flu, Ebony had stopped eating & drinking, diagnosis a UTI on top of kidney failure like her brother Onyx. We tried treating the UTI she had in hopes that her kidney numbers could come down, but after 5 days of feeding her tasty tuna, enjoying some sunshine, and snuggling as much as possible, her breathing became labored and her blood level numbers were still so high that I ended her suffering, holding her until the end. Kitties aren’t supposed to get kidney failure at only 10 years old so there was probably something congenital in their family, such a shame. At least I had them in my life as long as I did, but it still breaks my heart to have lost both of them just over a year apart. Obsidian is now an only kitty for a while, and I’m afraid he will be lonely…

Looks like Obsidian found the catnip inside the castle! He’s never that mellow…haha!

Glen went to his house last night and told me not to peek when he came back. After another hour or so was the big reveal…a castle cat tree! Ebony walked in, loved her new present right away, and stayed all night as Queen of the Castle enjoying the catnip, but Obsidian was so wary that he only peeked onto the shelf!

A Kitty Christmas so far, including guarding presents under the tree, “sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy” and Queen of Cookie Mountain. 😸🎅🎄🎁

Ebony is becoming more demanding about hugs, so much that she is climbing up on my shoulders all by herself! When she walks around in front of my face it’s quite difficult to get anything done!

Yesterday as soon as I set the furry fleece super-soft snowflake blanket folded up on the corner of the couch, Ebony claimed it. Obsidian wants some too but he can’t get much more than a pillow’s worth. Ebony slept on the bed last night, but by this morning she was back on the blanket all day and all evening again! Glen keeps asking what is so magical about this blanket?!?

During kitty quality time tonight I finally convinced both of them to play! Ebony is an expert at the single paw technique, then she had to get up higher of course, in some of the same tilty-head poses as ten years ago when she was a kitten. You have to understand that Obsidian plays with toys all the time by tossing & batting them on his own, but any toys moved by a human have always made him run away in terror for the past 5 years including just last week…but tonight he played with the wiggly wire toy for a long time! Maybe it didn’t look like a human was involved?

Through last year the kitty treat of choice was shredded cheese when all three would come together for a snack, but ever since Onyx has been gone, Ebony comes running when she hears the cheese drawer but she looks at me funny and never eats the cheese, no matter what the flavor. Glen decided to try tuna, and boy is that AMAZINGLY tasty, and slow-eater Ebony even finishes before Obsidian and horns in on his pile! Since Ebony still shuns Glen and hides if I’m not around, Glen is now the only source of tuna treats as well as their catnip dealer. 😸

I found Ebony snuggled up with some of today’s Halloween purchases…she blends right in! 😉

Cat traps always work on Ebony, no matter the size!

(I can’t believe how much Ebony looks like Onyx here! She got extra fluffy the spring after we lost him.)

Obsidian is Supreme Sneaky Snuggler Siddy! Ebony was there first, so he settled in next to her for quite a while, heads together. Glen didn’t think she was a willing participant, but staying that long either means Siddy is finally wearing her down, or at least Ebony is cold enough that snuggling wins over everything else. 😉

I haven’t created a Christmas photo the past couple years since I thought everyone knew what my year was like due to Facebook and my blogs, plus I couldn’t get decent photos of all three kitties and myself. However even though we are already well past New Years, this year I have major updates to announce, so let’s get started…

Grandma has had a harder year healthwise, so I surprised her in March for a quick weekend to cheer her up in the hospital before she could return home. Her travel is now restricted due to congestive heart failure, so we didn’t do a big trip this summer like our Hawaii cruise in 2014 and the Canadian Rockies in 2015, but I did visit her in July for a few days. She was well enough to thoroughly enjoy her 102nd birthday in November with a party that kept growing larger as she invited more people! We spent Christmas at her house, like the majority of my entire lifetime of Christmases, and we are all thankful she still has all her personality even if her body is “finally starting to wear out” as she put it.

My big trip this year was in June when Glen & I took an ambitious road trip around Spain, seeing 26 Spanish castles in 10 days, even staying overnight in 9 castles! I’m sure you won’t be surprised that I took a TON of photos, over 3300 in fact! You can see select photos and read about the whole trip in the Travels section on britta.com if you like.

After celebrating 16 years working for Equinix, still thankful it pays for my house and other things I enjoy, summer was more fun working on Halloween projects between hosting my annual 4th of July fireworks party and three Cinema Brittahytta backyard movie nights, then by the end of August, Glen and I were officially dating! We first met 9 years ago when he attended my Halloween party with mutual friends, and our friendship has grown closer the past 5 years after he volunteered to help with my Halloween projects, so it is wonderful to have such a strong relationship before adding romance.

My big annual Halloween party went well as the Webmistress hosted a Victorian Halloween at Castle Brittahytta, with a new spider food menu and a front show with original music and over 10,000 spiders crawling over the castle walls and gravestones as the Waltz of the Spiders, but sadly our November was rough, starting with Glen catching an awful flu before we left Grandma’s birthday in Seattle. Thankfully I stayed well to take care of him, but he was miserable for a couple weeks and was only barely well enough to feel human again when I found out my beloved “dog in a cat’s body” Onyx was in end-stage chronic kidney failure at only 9 years old. I gave Onyx one last night of love, then Glen held me as I held Onyx as he left his pain behind. The next day we flew to San Antonio as scheduled to meet some of Glen’s family for a Simon Thanksgiving at Bret’s house, with Frank and Lisa also visiting, and to see my highschool friends Amanda & Anne, which was a really great trip…remember the Alamo! We had turkey #2 as a Peterson Thanksgiving on Friday in Roseville with my parents Diane & Gary and brother Erik, getting my fresh Christmas tree and fresh apple cider at Apple Hill the next day according to tradition…a whirlwind week but grateful we could visit both our families!

Glen & I both caught colds to start December, but thankfully by my Holiday Happy Hour party on the 11th, we were both healthy again, ready to host our friends for Christmas at the Castle while wearing the new red & green tartan dress I made for our fancy Christmas photo, and ready to take on the rest of the holiday season and 2017…starting with an East Asia cruise in February!

We hope everyone enjoyed a happy holiday season, and may you have a fabulous 2017!

– Britta, Glen, Ebony & Obsidian from Brittahytta in Santa Clara, California

I am in shock and devastated. I sure thought I’d have more time with Onyx in my life, but I will forever be thankful that I was blessed with his one-in-a-million personality for 9 full years.

Last night I gave Onyx all the quality time he wanted, cuddling almost all night, because he was in end-stage chronic kidney failure that doctors reassured me there was nothing I could have prevented or caught earlier, but I still feel I failed him. This morning I held him in my arms as he went to sleep forever. I will miss him so much.

It’s still so hot inside my house that I am melting, so I completely cannot understand how Siddy can be curled up tucked into the cubbyhole while my other kitties are stretched out to cool off! Onyx stayed near me at the computer but Ebony was smart and found the only cross breeze in my house. 😉

All three kitties got their annual checkups this evening, yes all in the same carrier, and clean bills of health for all, even “especially shiny coats.” Onyx caused a racket with the whole staff amazed at him trying to get the door open, and while I was holding Ebony for her temp, he got the door open about 1/2″ inward! I also had never seen Obsidian bury himself under Ebony to hide in the corner of the carrier! At home Ebony won’t let Siddy cuddle with her even on a cold night! 😉

Trapped on the couch by a kitty determined to cuddle on my chest. — with Onyx Peterson.

As a joke, Onyx has his own Facebook page now, and you’ll often see Ebony and Obsidian on there too. 😉

The kitties have had an interesting year with new kitty Obsidian (Siddy for short) becoming a lap & snuggle hog, and throwing a wrench between siblings Ebony & Onyx. The boys are best buds now and will play and cuddle, but Ebony is only just beginning to tolerate Siddy a full year after he moved in. Siddy likes to tease her, but she overreacts, causing crazy loud and sometimes destructive chases through the whole house. Here’s hoping for household harmony in the near future, but at least they were all sharing the sunshine in the window for about 15 minutes while I could run and grab the camera for this photo!

Thankfully I’m overall healthy, but this year I’ve made it through plantar fasciitis heel pain, a broken toe, and a foot sprain so bad I had to wear a fancy removable walking boot cast for 3 weeks and wasn’t fully healed for about 3 months. Then after I had recovered from those, summer Cinema Brittahytta movie nights, and Halloween chaos, I tried implantable contact lens eye surgery in November, which has left me in glasses for a couple months while waiting until I can have LASIK that will hopefully bring me to acceptable vision without external aids. That would be a dream come true since I was 6 years old, so please wish me luck!

We wish everyone a happy holiday season, and may you have a fabulous 2014!

Fluffy kitties and glue-covered hands do not mix! 😉

While I was T-Tapping this morning, Ebony was enjoying the view in the most coveted kitty spot, Siddy slowly jumped up & sniffed her, then calmly went to the other side of the piano…all with no growling or hissing! When he’s calm & slow she lets him sniff her nose, but it’s when he jumps out or chases her that she freaks out, unfortunately sometimes across my face while I’m still in bed, proven by scratches that are still healing. Maybe someday she’ll play with him like Onyx does or even snuggle with them, but I’d settle just for living in peace.

That is Obsidian down by my feet, Onyx stretched out in the middle, and Ebony tucked in by my tummy…with a down comforter we are all cozy together on a cold winter morning!

Almost no room for Siddy tonight! Good thing he’s so tiny. 😉 — with Obsidian and Onyx.

I need to get up off the couch to go to bed but how can I disturb this? I think Siddy found the right family. — with Onyx and Obsidian.

Yes, that is a third kitty you see! I thought two cats was plenty, especially the Dark Duo with all their creative chaos, but this tiny stray boy was persistent, living in my yard since April, meowing for both Ebony & Onyx at the front and back screen doors, but running away when I would come to say hello. I finally started feeding him on the front porch in August, and he was still wary of me but would let me get a little bit closer each feeding. I risked a quick pat on the head one day and he flinched, but the next day I got a stroke from head down the back of his neck, and a lightbulb went on over his head “ooh I LIKE this!” He has been my friend ever since, and he’s especially fond of tummy rubs, surprising when only a month earlier he wouldn’t even let me touch him. Since he came inside in early November he has never wanted to go outside again. I think he knows how good he has it! Onyx gets along with everyone so the boys are buds already, even if five-year-old Onyx doesn’t want to play as much as young Siddy. Ebony is still hissing and growling at Siddy sometimes, but I did catch all three snoozing on the couch last week, so we might eventually have a happy household.

We wish everyone a happy holiday season, and may you have a fabulous 2013!

As soon as it was empty, I walked away, heard it knocked to the floor, came back & saw this.

Uploaded camera photos into the iPad and posted successfully! Now the laptop can stay at home for my Orlando trip! Not sure if I’ll be as loquacious as my other travels only having the iPad onscreen keyboard though… 😉

The birds were having such a party outside the front door that Ebony took a flying leap from the couch corner…it sounded like she almost went straight through the screen door!

She was curled up sleeping on my bed, on the black fake fur throw next to a black fake fur pillow. When I walked in I didn’t see her until her eyes opened. 😉

After hearing running along the roof, the Dark Duo would not leave the patio staring upwards, so I stood on a bench with a flashlight to investigate. Couldn’t see anything, then Cinema Cat strolled to the corner to say hi! Another smaller kitty came to investigate and started running away as I took the pic but you can see its eyes. I’m sure the smaller one is the same one I saw sniffing Ebony through the patio screen door a few weeks ago but ran away after seeing me. They’re still wandering around up there, driving my kitties crazy! — with New Kitty and Cinema.

Ebony found a new comfy spot.

Knowing Ebony’s fetish for jingle bells, stealing them and losing them under furniture, these silver glitter jingle bell spiders aren’t coming anywhere near my house! Haha…

Onyx was quite comfy tonight! I never thought I’d have a kitty who could stretch as far as my long legs!

Onyx finally consented to a good brushing…now I can almost make a whole new kitty from the extra fluff!

Tracia replied, “And if anyone would actually be able to make a kitty from fluff, it would be you, Britta.” haha!

Sorry Cinema Cat! Movies aren’t every Tuesday this summer…come back next week!

I was at the other end of the house getting ready for the exercycle, then I came out & saw this communion of cats…too cute! He did come around back last week for the Cinema Brittahytta movie night season premiere. I think he expects it now.

Project Weekend 2011 in a chilly & rainy February at Brittahytta included repairing kitty damage and installing a new screen door that my kitties could not defeat…

Repairing the coatrack from kitty damage

Not even 5 minutes after the door install was completed, the Dark Duo investigate their possible escape opportunities. So far they are thwarted…

Onyx was sleeping on my head again this morning!

Server issues are still plaguing gallery, hence the lack of recent posts since the projects need photos…but I risked another server crash to post a single image to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

All of us at Brittahytta posing with the new fireplace mantel!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday season & a fantastic 2010!

Ebony & Onyx “helped” a lot during my major kitchen & flooring remodel in 2009…

I know that Onyx likes avocado, but are you kidding me?!?

I came into the kitchen & saw this…he had pulled the whole bag of avocados off the counter onto the floor, and had already eaten through the woven plastic bag and THROUGH THE SKINS of two avocados! Sheesh! I hope he didn’t eat too much of the rind!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

This does not bode well for me being gone as of Friday, let alone gone all day at work! This was their safe room, and now just as of tonight Onyx has figured out how to open the door! I’m seriously thinking of buying a round doorknob & replacing the lever style before I leave for Christmas!

Ebony & Onyx should be full grown by now since they are now 6 months old, and Onyx is so big I sure hope he is! They are still as cute as can be, and still plenty rambunctious. I heard a bang-crash in the kitchen a few weeks ago, and it was a cookie tin that was stored above the top kitchen cabinets, inches from the ceiling, now on the floor, with Onyx running away down the hall. They are definitely not staying out by themselves all day without me there to check on them! I wonder if I’ll ever be able to feel they would be safe? Even when I’m in & out of the house doing projects, they do things like unroll an entire new roll of paper towels in the kitchen. They were able to bite through a bag of miniature chocolate candy rocks last weekend that I thought was safely put away, and it didn’t look like many were eaten, but Onyx had some diarrhea later poor thing. At least he made it to the litter box! I’m glad it wasn’t worse since I know chocolate is bad for kitties. Ebony probably didn’t like them since she was okay, however you can see below that Onyx is much more gastronomically adventurous than she is! I have also had to take the CatGenie apart several times now since random toys or strings get stuck and don’t allow it to drain properly. I can’t figure out where the kitties find all this assortment of string! I know long strings are bad for cats to eat since they can tangle in their digestive tracts, so I hope they’re just dropping toys into the litter box instead of being processed through the kitties, and I’m on the lookout now taking any long strings away. I am more afraid of them hurting themselves by doing something like that or breaking something that might hurt them than worried for my stuff’s sake. Things have been broken already of course, but thankfully nothing expensive or sentimental…yet? I’m trying to be better about not leaving anything important or dangerous where kitties can find them, but I’m obviously still learning. 😉

I think Onyx understands that he’s too heavy now to try sitting on my neck anymore, but Ebony still tries. She always wants on my lap, more than Onyx now, and if I’m sitting back enough, she’d rather climb up & sit on my chest. I guess my “pillows” are comfier than my lap? 😉 I still have mornings when I wake up with a kitty trapping my shoulder & neck, but Onyx seems to favor my legs now, so I’m trapped on both ends! Isn’t it awful to have to disturb kitties to get out of bed for work? I already have a hard time getting up in the morning, so I don’t need extra disincentive! Ebony is another story, but I also haven’t seen Onyx climb anymore, either my curtains or my bathrobe on the hook behind the door. Perhaps the night I came home and found my bedroom curtain rod on the floor was Onyx’s last attempt? Ebony seems to relish her vertical exercise, and my bathrobes and curtains are both showing the strain with claw marks & loose threads everywhere. I have bought matching replacement curtains for later if she ever stops climbing! I think they need a tall cat tree, but I need to do research on the best buy & best format. The ones I saw at PetSmart weren’t my preferred design for the $150 they cost. Something tall enough like up to the ceiling could go by the same bedroom window, then maybe that would be enough to make the curtain climbing not as attractive.

Cyd & I made a quick stop at BevMo last month, and I happened across this Schwartze Katte Riesling – in a black cat bottle! I had to buy two of course. Cyd was making fun of me buying two, sarcastically saying “of course the cats will know if you only bought one” but I said “_I_ would know I only bought one, and that’s what matters.” One is still unopened, and it’s drinkable but not a $10 riesling in my opinion. At least the bottle is worth it. I couldn’t get Onyx to pose, but Ebony cooperated nicely.

Ebony & Schwartze Katte Riesling

‘inappropriate urination’ progress

Now that I finally have 4 days and over 100 miles of driving fine in the Briata again – the transmission fluid was low, so they think it was an air bubble in the fluid since no leaks they could find – I realize it’s been awhile for kitty updates. Ebony & Onyx are still as cute as can be, growing larger every day, and getting more adventurous about jumping, including booting up the kitchen iMac! They have started it up so many times now that I honestly think they’ve figured out if they step in the right place, the screen lights up & starts moving & making noise! They are certainly fascinated enough by my laptop and even the TV. Anything that moves is fair game of course, whether real or onscreen. Even the hammers inside the piano have been attacked while I’m playing! I have been trying to discourage improper behaviors with a loud, long, low-pitched NOOO which at least gets their attention at the time. Since last night & Sunday night it was a game of “who can jump on the counter first?” they will definitely not yet be allowed free rein in the house while I’m gone at work!

Not all these below are adventures specific to the kittens, but I wouldn’t have the CatGenie if I didn’t have Ebony & Onyx, so you can read them all if you’d like. There are also more kitty photos starting on page 13 of their gallery album. This one is from when I pulled out a kitchen drawer to reorganize it, and they climbed in to nap on the extra towels and black cat potholders.

Can you find all three black cats?

Onyx is unafraid of spinning

Ebony & Onyx both must have had growthspurts when I was away for Christmas, since not only did they eat more food in 7 days than they had in 2 weeks for a month previous, but they were definitely larger when I got home! Ebony has been catching up to Onyx, even though she is still smaller. She has quite the round belly though! Onyx had already started looking like a teenager before I left, but Ebony looks more like a grown up cat now than a kitten. I missed them a lot, but they don’t seem to have forgotten me, and they’ve let me sleep in three mornings now, so I guess they’ve forgiven me for being gone so long. I’m back to work tomorrow so no more sleeping in for me anyway.

When we were having an afternoon of Christmas baking & fudge-making, Kaelyn brought a sparkly aqua scarf to give to the kitties. They played with it a little that day, but since I left so soon I didn’t have the chance until now to play with them with it…boy do they like that! Extra bonus for me that it matches their collars! 😉 They have also discovered for some reason the fringe on the decorative blankets must be tasty, since they look like they’re eating spaghetti when they’re chewing on them…heehee…

I’m guessing I’ve had the first kitten-induced casualty though, since I had heard a big THUNK the night I came home and let them out to play, but I didn’t notice anything was missing until the next day. My Deadly Nightshade canister that Jen gave me had been knocked down behind the fridge, cracking the lid into several pieces. I pulled out the fridge & rescued the pieces plus all the utensils that had been living in the canister, and yesterday I spent awhile with Super Glue getting the lid back together. It’s not pretty but if that’s the worst they do I’ll be surprised & very lucky. 😉

Ebony loves the sparkly scarf…

..and so does Onyx. They take turns very well!

Ebony, the blanket fringe is NOT spaghetti!

Now Onyx thinks it’s spaghetti too!!

Of course there are even more cute photos starting here.

Now since it’s a nice sunny day, I’ll be taking a long walk to a friend’s house this afternoon to get myself some New Years luck by eating homemade black-eyed peas, greens & cornbread! The dieting will start tomorrow instead since I’ve unfortunately gained almost 10 lbs since Halloween…ugh… 😛

Happy Holidays from Ebony, Onyx & Britta!!

The KittenCam is working, but either we had an earthquake to shake it, or the kittens pulled the power cord enough to knock it sideways, so you can’t see the scratching post anymore and your neck gets sore trying to watch…haha!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas today!

Finally time to post from I-5 driving through Oregon in my parents’ new RV, ~100 miles south of Portland, still on our way to Seattle for family Christmas. My parents have a Verizon aircard USB modem that works okay but not super-fancy. I did try to set up a local Airport network from my MacBookPro so we could all share the connection, but I must not be doing something right since they could all join the network I made but not get online through it, so instead we just pass around the USB modem and take turns being online. My dad has become addicted to the Internet since he reitred in October…he gets the dirtiest jokes I’ve ever seen from his friends! haha…

Onyx & Ebony in their Christmas collars – they kept them on my whole party last Saturday night as guests came in shifts to meet the kitties…who were friendly! Maybe they’ll be my party kitties?

A typical morning for me now – kitties everywhere! Challenging to use the sink & get my makeup on!

Ebony LOVES jingle bells! She kept stealing those ornaments off the tree & playing with them around the whole house for the entire evening!

Giant thanks to Cyd who is checking on the kittens every day for me while I’m away. I hope they don’t forget me! I even set up the wifi webcam in my bedroom to be able to check on my kitties, which worked the first night, so my parents & I got to see them cuddling together comfy on the down comforter, but by Friday afternoon it had stopped working. I suspect the kitties stepped on the power switch on the power strip or were wild enough to unplug the webcam power…oh well! The ride is too bumpy for any detailed Photoshop work, so I still have yet to do my Christmas e-card with my kitties. That will be done when we’ve stopped so I can still send it out by Christmas Eve.

Last night as we were in the RV campground outside Roseburg, OR, my mom & I played Scrabble. I stayed about 20 points ahead the entire game, getting lucky with being able to put down 2 letters for 15 points several times, but she was able to use up all her letters before me so she caught up a little. Final score has been forgotten but was something like 261 to 250? This is the first game I’ve ever played where only a single letter was left! Check out the board!

Final Scrabble board – a Peterson family milestone to have only one letter left!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

UPDATE 10:30pm: the KittenCam is now working again! Thanks Cyd! 😀

Britta with the Head Elf & Santa

Last week the same day The Choral Project sang at Google HQ plus free lunch was the annual face painting by Britta at my company party, with my silly Ms Santa miniskirt outfit that I hear was inspected by the guys in the crowd while I ran up to claim my raffle prize…haha! Then yardwork in the chilly sun, two evening parties, a nice homemade Sunday luncheon, The Golden Compass, and 5 hours standing over a warm stove making 12 dozen krumkake was my weekend. Add to that my furnace stopped working late Saturday night, so I was actually appreciating the warm stove in my cold house! Thankfully I was right on the renewal date of my home warranty that I’ve now paid for year 3 up through next December, so what would have been a $400 emergency service to replace the gas valve was a $55 fee for me…plus the renewal fee of $456 of course, but if something else breaks I’ll be ahead. My water heater drain valve seems to be leaking a little but still working so far, so you never know what might happen!

Kittens comfy on their Christmas stockings

Poor wet Ebony!

More kitten tales of course…

…and his name is Onyx! 😮

Last Wednesday my parents’ neighbor came by to see the kittens, and she has experience with puppies & kittens and how difficult it can be to tell the difference when they’re young…lo & behold Onyx had little extra “parts” appearing that were not there when I took him home the week earlier! He was as smooth underneath as Ebony back then! Well, there’s a surprise! Onyx still works as a boy name at least, but I feel bad about calling him “little girl” for a whole week, plus the rhinestone collar he’s wearing. He’s growing faster than Ebony and he was larger in the first place, but that also explains the size difference and his more rowdy tendencies, including climbing straight up the flagstone gossamer walls Monday night! He is still the Purr Machine you can hear across the room, and he’s still more cuddly than Ebony, even though Ebony has her very sweet moments, often concerning licking my hair or staring intently into my eyes, and usually follows suit with the cuddling once Onyx settles in.

New photos are here! If I ever get the chance to edit, I’ve taken about 2 hours of funny video per my mom’s request to save their kittenhood for posterity, so I might post those on YouTube later.

Photo shoot attempt with silly paper cars from Mel’s Diner as Onyx attacks Ebony from below

P.S. Tivo status is that everything is working now with the replacement unit except it can’t negotiate the phone call regardless of any forum post ideas I have tried. Next step I guess is to see if I can use the ethernet cable and make the daily schedule call via my home network…which would require running a cable from my living room to my office which is no small hassle right now. I think I’ll be thankful the writers strike is taking new shows off the air for awhile! heh…

I’ve tried edit more before posting cute kitty photos, so here’s *only* 35 more since Thursday evening…including kitty toys on tile their first night in the main house, my first lap cuddles on Friday night, both kitties contently listening to me play the piano Saturday night, and even Ebony walking along the keys, standing on the low register (for artistic effect?) before she continued along the keyboard! The first I heard her play was the highest “F, A, A” on her climb up to the top, but she doesn’t stay long enough for any soundfiles though…darn! 😉

Ahhh…first kitty cuddles…even if it was mostly on my neck! 😉

Ebony “plays” the VISIBLE piano

Ebony, Onyx & I will be driving later tonight to my parents’ house, where except for the traditional BBQ turkey that is my dad’s job, I will be doing the cooking this year, since my mom finally came home from the hospital on Sunday after her heart procedure last Tuesday, but she isn’t allowed to lift anything for awhile yet.

I am thankful for family & friends who supported me through a bad October, having a much better November, with new loving & fun kitties who allow me to enjoy my fond memories of Kylie without getting so sad that she’s now gone, my whiplash almost gone, my Briata staying fixed, and my mom doing well after surgery! Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

wins!

It’s even funnier knowing this is Ebony, named after the traditional wood for black piano keys…

Happy Friday!

Yeah I took over a hundred photos since yesterday afternoon, but I only posted 68! hehe…that’s why they’re in a gallery album so no one is forced to look at all of the photos…but they are SOOO cute!

KITTIES! 😀

Since all the bathroom prep work got done this weekend as planned, plus my online Humane Society research resulted in that I’d probably not be able to take kitties home the same day anyway, I decided to go look today at lunchtime at the Peninsula Humane Society. My co-worker volunteers there and last week had found the most adorable litter of black kittens on the website. With my completed application in hand, I went looking. I saw 4 from the same litter, 2 boys & 2 girls, in the same cage, with one rambunctious boy having his own party while two were snuggled together so tightly I coudln’t even see what they looked like, let alone if they were girls or boys. I chose the two girls’ info tags and waited about 20 minutes for them to bring them to a room for me. Adorable! Not only had they just woken out of a comfy sleep, but it took them a minute to get used to the room, but then the larger one was immediately into everything with a spirit threatening to outgrow the room. The smaller one who seemed more gentle was just biding her time, since I saw the gleam in her eye watching the other one until she finally pounced across the room! I was laughing aloud they were having so much fun playing with each other! I was able to pick each one up individually and cuddle each to my chest and they didn’t fight, so that’s good too. Full of spirit and curiosity but still gentle enough to cuddle is exactly what I want in my life! I was thinking over the weekend of names for matching black kitties, so I was prepared with names I liked, but I had to meet them before deciding. Ebony is definitely the slightly smaller one who so far seems more graceful, but still full of spirit and mischief. Onyx is bold for sure. I think the names suit them but have enough dignity for when they grow up.

So let me introduce to you Ebony & Onyx! They are 2 month old sisters, medium hair black cats with beautiful pumpkin orange eyes! They will be spayed on Wednesday at the Peninsula Humane Society in San Mateo then I will take them home that evening. I can’t wait! Now I have to go around kittyproofing my house better before they come home! Just my purse on the floor got attacked immediately by Onyx so no more of that for awhile! 😉

My new kitties Onyx & Ebony!

Of course these will never replace Kylie…they are just the next generation…

Thank you so much to everyone for all your nice words. It is very helpful to know I have such kind & supportive friends. Our conductor called as soon as he heard about Kylie, saying he understands if I couldn’t make choir rehearsal, which made me very thankful, since all the sympathy would have had me bawling worse, and if we sang anything remotely sad I would have lost it entirely. My work team sent a giant bouquet of lilies with a sympathy card which was very sweet but made me cry again, then Nathania & Kevin left a beautiful cheery-colored bouquet with a nice card on my porch too. I spent my evening doing laundry, cleaning all the rugs and cushions Kylie used, reorganizing leftover food that was still good, and cleaning the fancy litter box thoroughly, so it all will be out of my sight for awhile to let me grieve, but all clean for a new kitty eventually. Yesterday when I’d walk past the uneaten food from Sunday night I’d just start crying again so it took me awhile to get the gumption to clean it up so I wouldn’t react like that anymore. I keep thinking I hear her cries for help still in another room, like ghost meows. My plan was to get all kitty stuff cleaned & put away, then watch Chuck & Heroes to get my mind off the day’s events so I could sleep, but I wasn’t letting myself until I finished cleaning the litter box, and that was the hardest since that was the last thing, and it required taking it apart and unhooking from the water supply. By the time I started watching Chuck, eating a couple pumpkin pasties & leftover pastry brie for dinner with a big glass of homemade cider, I fell asleep halfway through the show so I just went to bed around 1am. I slept well thank goodness but my eyes are still puffy. A couple emails this morning had me crying a bit again, and now my boss just wanted details of what happened so my eyes were leaking by the end again, but at least not the racking sobs of yesterday.

I’ve been feeling guilty about trying to celebrate Halloween, but today I’ve decided I’m going to try to enjoy it because I know Kylie appreciated & loved my quirks along with me. It was always obvious to everyone that I was her favorite person. The last several years she was even participating in the parties by being social and cooperating with the holiday costumes, so I think she would approve of me celebrating my favorite holiday. If I didn’t like Halloween so much I wouldn’t have been wanting a black cat in the first place, then my roommate wouldn’t have told me he saw a black stray cat on Memorial Day 1996, so I have always considered Halloween “our” holiday and Kylie was my favorite Halloween accessory. I am wearing my new black cat earrings today in her honor, but I’m still not sure if I’ll wear my whole devil costume to work tomorrow. Maybe resurrecting the Webmistress outfit is another option since I haven’t worn it many years now. We’ll see how I feel & how early I can get up in the morning.

Thanks again everyone.

Requiem for Kylie

The vet called back & said the bloodwork from last week was fine, no diabetes or other issue, except for high thyroid levels, which would explain the excessive drinking and pressure in the eyes. To confirm they needed more blood, and then I’ll need to go to a specialist next week. I took Kylie in for another blood sample as soon as I was off the phone with the vet, and thankfully she didn’t yowl so that must have been better than last week. That is all I can possibly do for her today, since they wouldn’t prescribe anything for her until the next blood test results are back.

Since there’s nothing else I can really do for her now except give her cuddles, which is difficult when she wants to hide away from the light, I will keep her comfy and safely away from party guests tomorrow, then get her to the specialist ASAP next week. There are 3 treatments: lifelong medication, surgical removal of the thyroid (riskier since intrustive surgery), and best chance is radio-iodine chemotherapy, which is a week stay at the hospital then she’d be fine. The chemo only works in some cats, though, so the specialist has to determine if she’s a good candidate. At least I know there are treatments, and we are well on the way to knowing what it is & how to fix it. It’s still a little hard to be as enthused about the party as usual, but I have done all I can do for her today, which is really the best I can do for her right now.

Melanie was vacuuming for me while I was at the vet, which was even better for keeping Kylie calm since she hates that, and Kael was helping with Batato Chips too. Their afternoon timing was impeccable for keeping party prep going while I zoomed over to the vet. I am VERY thankful for helpers this year!

Back to party prep now…thanks for the good thoughts for Kylie…

I’m waiting for the vet I saw last week to call me back. I think her “good” eye is less able to dilate as of around midnight, and she was washing both eyes so much last night her front paws & head were all scraggly. At least she’s giving the washing a rest as of this morning. Now today she’s been drinking water for about a minute straight about every half hour and is just letting it hang out of her mouth. That is not normal. My poor kitty…

The party will still happen, just might be less & less I get done before tomorrow night…

Yesterday she was fine, but this morning Kylie’s right eye was fully dilated & non-responsive to any light. I can’t tell if she can see out of it since her other eye is thankfully fine. The rest of her face was okay, ears, whiskers & such, and she can walk fine, but who knows if something worse could be wrong with her, so after I got to work after the chiropractor, I called the vet but the only appointment they had was today at 1pm or wait until Monday. So that meant I basically turned around to drive home & am now working from home the rest of the afternoon…thank goodness again for a nice boss! She said “Isn’t this enough stuff going wrong for you yet?” I agreed…

Kylie has also been sneezing with what sounds like nasal congestion for about a month now, not getting better but not getting worse, so I asked them about that. I also think she might be drinking more water, but I don’t think her weight has significantly changed. Hard to tell about the water since in previous places her water dish wasn’t as visible to me every night. She has never had any major problems in the 11.5 years I’ve had her, but she has had her basic checkup & shots every December. An interesting cottonball dropping & throwing test to see which eye was responding was kinda funny, even Kylie was intrigued at the beginning, but was inconclusive. Her weight was pretty much the same as last checkup, but they recommended bloodwork & urine sample, liquid antibiotics by syringe into the mouth for the congestion (yeah right!), and wanted to check her eyes thoroughly, so they took her into the back and wouldn’t let me with her. Boy that was heartbreaking to listen to her, knowing that was her meow and that she was in pain, and that I wasn’t there to comfort her… They weren’t able to get the urine sample by needle they were hoping for, so we’ll wait on that and only try again if the bloodwork comes back with something warranting further testing. Even the same fluoroscein testing for any corneal abrasions that I get from my eye dr every year, but all was clear for that, plus no foreign objects in the eye.

What they did find was the pressure in the bad eye is through the roof, which is glaucoma. The pressure in the good eye is completely normal, but without knowing the cause of the glaucoma, we don’t know if it’ll spread to the other eye. It could be caused by a trauma, which I have no other evidence of that anything happened to her yesterday, some other underlying cause, or an infection, so they’ve prescribed an ointment for me to smear on her eye twice daily to see if that helps. If no progress, depending on the bloodwork too, they need to refer me to a specialist for anything further on the glaucoma. Just under $400 later, we left, and I’ve given her the first attempt at the oral antibiotics, got most of it down but with a big fight, so she’s under my bed now, with no way I can try the eye ointment until later. I has asked if I could put the antibiotics in her wet food, and that’s okay as long as she eats it all at once. I think that’s going to be the better plan or I’ll just have a kitty who hates me.

I just want my kitty to be comfy & happy. I’ve been a wreck today trying to figure out what I might have done wrong to cause this, which I know is silly because she’s at least 13 years old, so things are bound to happen, but I also don’t like being reminded that she won’t be around forever. All that plus having to hear her meow in pain at the top of her lungs through the door & down the hall had me demolishing a tissue, trying to hide from anyone seeing silly me crying. *sigh*

For those of you who don’t know, because of her unrelenting tendencies to eliminate order wherever possible, knocking over CDs, pulling books out of bookshelves, clearing tables on a whim, for years I have nicknamed Kylie the Kitty “the Force of Entropy Embodied.” Last night, Kylie decided to bat my iPod off the table, where it landed smack on the tile floor. I tried turning it on, heard a nasty pop from inside, then horrible ugly grinding noises. Its disk is now dead and I have no iPod, let alone a pretty hand-painted teal 3G one that works with the accessories I have. ARGH! This is the most expensive thing she’s ever broken…and don’t even try to tell me “get an iPhone”…I’m not in the mood, thanks…

Now I’ll try to move on from how steam was coming out of my ears last night & have a better day…hope you all do too!

10 years ago this weekend was when my roommate found a black cat with green eyes meowing loudly & hiding from the rain in the parking lot near our apartment in Sacramento. My pet rat Gypsy had died a few months before, and my roommate knew I wanted a black cat with green eyes, so we both went back, armed with towels & deli meat in the drizzle. I coaxed her out from some bushes, picked her up in the towel & carried her across the street back to the apartment, getting gouged on my neck in the process – she still doesn’t like being held! She had no tags or collar & we never saw any lost cat signs around the area. She tried sleeping on top of my head that first night – the only time she’s ever done that. She did have to stay at my parents’ house for a year while I lived in San Jose & then in the UK, but otherwise, Kylie the Kitty has been my longest live-in relationship. 😉

I refuse to believe that she could be 12 or 13, or even 15, since she is still plenty spritely as she tears around the house, getting into everything just on principle. I call her Entropy Embodied, since that seems to be her calling…knocking down orderly piles of CDs, pulling books off bookshelves, tearing any & all paper to shreds, just because. She still talks more than any cat I’ve ever met, but I still don’t speak Cat fluently…you think I’d have caught on by now!

Kylie does have her own web page that is sadly out of date, so here are some more recent photos of her behind the link. No gray hairs yet, except for her one white whisker she has always had…

Happy Kylieversary!

Kylie the Kitty had quite a weekend, and I feel really badly about it. My parents had to put their 18-year-old cat Shady and 15-year-old black lab Jente to sleep in early January, leaving the 13-year-old sweet teddy-bear mutt Cody & the still-puppy-wild 6-year-old yellow lab Tule as the only animals. My mom would like to get another cat, but since we know Tule is such a wild one, my mom requested I bring Kylie when I visited this past weekend as a “test” since at least we knew Kylie can hold her own against other animals from her various growling and pouncing performances when she lived there for a year in 1997.

Well, Tule was even worse than we ever expected!