And when the planet hit the sun...

Caturday

2009-03-14T21:00:47Z

Rasputin doesn't seem to understand that when he looks out the back door and sees a rainy, dreary day, it's actually going to be like that when he gets outside. He meowed at the back door, and even though I explained to him that it was cold and wet outside, he persisted in his meowing. So I relented and we ventured out. Stubbornness kept us out there for five minutes, but then he was back at the door wanting to return inside.

While out there I was reminded of the piles of leaves that have accumulated out there, both on the deck and throughout the yard. I guess the leaf fairy isn't going to come collect them after all. And I don't even own a rake! What a cruel world. And weeds are sprouting in the yard, owing, I imagine, to the recent rains. There's no HOA here, so I guess I'm not obligated to do anything about them. I'm not so worried about the back yard, but my neighbors may care if I let the front yard go to seed. I guess I'll see what they do with their yards, and act accordingly.

Being single has advantages, but it can be lonely and leaves a lot of time to fill. I've been in relationships more or less since I got out of college. I think it is in my best interest to learn how to be single again. Didn't I read somewhere that you won't be happy in a relationship if you aren't happy by yourself first? Or did I dream that? Not that I am ever truly alone, what with the seven cats who are constantly clamoring for my attention. And here is Rasputin now, meowing by the back door again. However, I think he mainly wants attention, because he did not persist very long before wandering off. When he really wants to go outside his meowing is usually more prolonged and accompanied by scratching at the door.

With god as my witness, I will go grocery shopping today. I need fruit, eggs, veggie lunch meat, ketchup, garbage bags, hot dog buns (for the veggie Italian sausages that I recently bought), and probably a few other things I've written down on my list on the fridge. Oh, and a rake, but I don't hold out much hope that Central Market will come through for me there.

I've also been meaning to go see the new Friday the 13th again before it leaves theaters. On my first viewing I had some complaints and they took away from my overall enjoyment. However, and I am moderately embarrassed to admit this, I recently discovered a message forum that is dedicated to the Friday the 13th series. I guess I am not so much ashamed to admit that I discovered the forum, but rather that I read many of the messages there, and even posted some of my own after watching the new movie. You see, once I heard the new movie was coming out, I made it a point to go back and re-watch all of the previous movies. You know, something any reasonable person would do! And in the process of doing this, I happened to do some web searches about the movie, and one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew I was on my third paragraph of my review of the new movie. As you would expect, there was a long thread on the message board about people's first impressions of the new movie. Reading through it, I discovered that many people shared my complaints (the actors/actresses looked too much like models, the nudity seemed forced and excessive, Jason behaved a bit atypically, etc) but later in the thread some other fans mounted a spirited defense of the new movie. By the end of the thread I was convinced that I had completely misjudged a movie which clearly was the Citizen Kane of modern horror cinema. So I want to give it another try, now that I know the things that bothered me. I find that oftentimes I enjoy a movie more on the second viewing, once I've adjusted my expectations. Anyone want to go see it?

Okay, well, it's 4pm and I guess I should shower before I go grocery shopping. I like to shower at least once a week, whether or not I need it.

New kindle

2009-02-10T08:32:58Z

So Amazon is releasing the second generation Kindle, which is their e-book reader. I bought a first generation one for Keri last year, and she loved it. Looks like the new one has longer battery life, a better cellular connection, and a higher quality display, among other things. I'm still on the fence about getting one. The one thing the new one lacks, which I'd like to see, is a color display. But I guess for 99% of the stuff I read, that wouldn't matter. I can only see it mattering for magazines, and for book cover art. For the text of books themselves, color isn't going to matter.

I definitely like the idea of e-books. Having your entire library available wherever you go (you can download the books you don't have actively stored on the device) without paying a monthly fee. Not having to waste paper buy buying actual copies of books or (worse) magazines and newspapers. Plus it's smaller than most books, and lighter. For traveling, it would be great.

That said, there is still allure for me in holding an actual book in my hands.

So I'm torn!

Sorry to solicit, but...

2008-10-23T22:04:21Z

Proposition 2 in California is a measure design to provide more humane treatment for farm animals. I don't want to go into details about how they are currently treated, but suffice it to say that it's intolerable. Of course, humane treatment will slightly impact the bottom line for major agricultural businesses, so they are pouring a lot of money into a campaign to stop this from passing. Any money you can donate to help get this proposition passed would mean a lot to me, and no doubt to the millions of suffering animals. Even $10 would help a lot.

Click here to learn more and donate.

Magnetic Fields

2008-10-14T15:59:16Z

For any fans of the Magnetic Fields in Austin, they're playing tonight at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets are still available when I checked a few minutes ago. Sarah and I are seeing them. It will be my first time seeing them live -- should be fun!

mitcharf @ 2008-09-15T20:31:00

2008-09-16T01:31:45Z

I am officially in my new house, as of this past Friday. I am still in the process of moving everything over from the old house, and cleaning the old house, but all of my furniture is now here, as are the cats. phaballa reclaimed Max on Sunday, so it is just me and the seven cats here. They (other than Rasputin and Wilbur) were skittish at first, but everyone has settled down now. This place really feels like home already.

I owe great thanks to Sarah, my girlfriend, for helping me a lot with the move this weekend. She herself just recently moved to Austin and has had her share of moving drama and stress, but she was happy to help me with my move. I guess I haven't mentioned Sarah in here yet, which I know is shocking given how frequently I update my journal. Those of you who see me regularly will no doubt meet her before too long.

The new house is an older house (built in 1952), and I've needed to do some repair work on it. I've already had most of the house rewired by an electrician, and I am likely going to need to have it repiped by a plumber as well. The seller gave me some money for repairs, but the cost for all of this has already exceeded what he gave me. However, I am still happy with the purchase. I was aware that these repairs would be needed based on the inspection. I really like the house, and spending money on the house doesn't bother me so much, since it will be increasing its value. And it's still such a novelty to actually own the place that I live.

Also, Sarah Palin is a nut.

House stuff!

2008-08-22T06:15:27Z

My offer was accepted for the house I mentioned previously, and we're on schedule for a closing date of August 29th (next Friday). I've never signed so many papers in all of my life, but I'm excited at the prospect of owning my own home. Probably the first week after closing is going to be spent doing some minor repair work, having a dishwasher and garbage disposal installed, and various other things that I'd like to get done before me and the cats move in. I'm hoping those tasks will be completed within the first week of September, so I can spend the next three weeks moving. My lease isn't up until the end of September, so I will have a full month of overlap between the two places.

Oh, speaking of moving! Does anyone have any recommendations for moving companies here in Austin? I've decided to hire movers for the big stuff. I'm sure my friends are heaving a big sigh of relief to learn this. My specific concern was my television. It's sufficiently expensive and unwieldy that I'd like to get it moved professionally by someone who is insured, so that I'm covered in case it gets damaged during the move. I've heard mixed reviews of Unicorn Moving. They're a local company, which is a plus, and their name is obviously a plus. Some folks have been very happy with them, others said they were careless or unprofessional. Have any of you had any experiences with them? Or with other movers around town? My moving job won't be a complicated one -- I'll be moving anything that can fit in my car, so all that will be left for the movers is stuff like furniture, the TV, the foosball table, etc. Anyway, any advice or experiences you can share would be appreciated!

If you're curious, I've posted some pictures of the house. Note that some of them were taken from the outside, through windows, so the quality on those is lacking. But some of them were taken from inside, fear not.

Much quicker than expected

2008-08-09T20:10:09Z

The first house I looked at today was great, and I'm going to make an offer on it. It's comfortably within my price range and the house appears to be in excellent shape. Of course I'll be having it inspected to look for any non-obvious problems.

Even though I really liked the first house, we went ahead and looked at all 5 of the properties I had lined up for today. All they did was really solidify in my mind that I wanted the first one. It's not a perfect house -- ideally I'd maybe have one more room in it. But it has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen. It comes with all major appliances other than a dishwasher, which I'll need to put in. It's in Hyde Park and within walking distances of all the local establishments.

I'm very excited. My realtor is going to send over the paperwork to me today, and the goal is to close just before the end of the month. If we can pull that off, it'll give me a full month to move in, which should make it considerably less hectic, even if it does mean I'm paying on both places at the same time.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nobody else has made an offer on the place. The price was just reduced on Thursday, so if there was an offer, I'm guessing it would have had to happen since then.

I'll post some photos and such once I'm sure the house is within my grasp.

On sale!

2008-08-09T16:22:25Z

Oh, and one other thing I forgot to mention in my last post. If you've read any of my past posts (post 1, post 2) about the Squeezebox streaming music players, you may be interested to know that they're on sale now on Amazon for $229.99. If you love music, I highly recommend this product. It's more expensive than some other streaming music players, but well worth the additional cost. I'm planning on picking up another one for myself while they are on sale.

Various and sundry news items

2008-08-09T08:14:00Z

First, I'm planning on buying a house in the next couple of months. Ideally I'll buy one before my current lease is up at the end of September. If I don't find a suitable house before that time, however, I plan to renew my lease month-to-month. I suppose if my house search looks completely bleak, I could just renew here for a year, but that's the backup plan at this point. It's not that I especially dislike where I am now, but I'd like to move back into Austin proper. I'm hoping to find a house in the Hyde Park area, although houses there certainly cost a lot more than in other parts of Austin. Still, other than having 7 cats, I don't especially need a large house. On Saturday afternoon I am touring several houses that look promising, so I'll see how that goes.

Second, on the mouse front, it is still just Felix, Wilbur, and Dusty who are eating them. But in truth I haven't devoted a lot of time to trying to entice the other cats. Tonight did mark a milestone in their mice eating, however -- it was the first time they ate their mice with no meat snack smeared on them. So at this point those three recognize the mice as food, which is good. I got some advice from a co-op member about how to persuade the reluctant cats to eat the mice. Her suggestion is to cut the mice into small pieces and mix it into their normal food. Then over time make the pieces larger and include less of their normal food, until they are just back to a whole mouse. This is a somewhat gruesome suggestion, but in for a penny... I plan to give it a try this weekend, if my stomach can handle it.

Finally, and probably of the least interest to anyone reading this, I just wanted to vent about the umpires in the local leagues here. Every game I played in this past week had cases where the umpires had the rules wrong. On Sunday night I play in a league in Round Rock. The game situation was runners on first and second base with one out. The batter hit a pop fly to the second baseman. The umpire correctly shouted infield fly while the ball was in the air. The runner on second had started running as soon as the ball was hit, and never looked back -- he rounded third and headed for home. The second baseman made an error and the ball was not caught, but of course the batter was still out due to the infield fly rule. However, not only did the umpire rule the batter out, she also ruled our runner who started on second to be out. She said he needed to tag up. However, this is not the rule -- he only needs to tag up if the ball ends up being caught. The infield fly rule means that runners can advance at their own risk. I immediately argued when she called the runner out, but she was adamant that he was. Oddly, he also thought he should be out. In Round Rock they have an official scorekeeper, and that person was agreeing with me. Eventually the umpire essentially conceded that I was "probably right", but that since we were winning by 12 runs, did it really matter? And it did not, we won 26-3. And I wasn't arguing because I thought it was going to make a difference in the game. I just wasn't aware that a big lead meant the rules were no longer followed. I did apologize to the umpire for arguing, even though I don't think I really said anything rude or inappropriate. I just didn't want to be on her bad side for the rest of the game.

On Tuesday night I had a game down in Austin at 6:30pm, which is the earliest time the games are played. The other team only had 9 players show up -- 5 men and 4 women. A lot of teams end up short players, but for the 6:30 games you usually cannot find subs, because nobody is already out there. Now, the rules say that you cannot play with 8 players, but that 9 is fine. You can be missing one guy or one girl (you can't do something like 6 guys and 3 girls) and still play. But the umpires insisted that you could only play with 9 if it was 5 women and 4 men. Eventually the other team ended up getting the wife of one of the players to stand in right field for them. She refused to bat and so they took an automatic out for her anyway, and she didn't attempt to field anything, so it really pointed out how stupid the umpires were being by insisting that she had to be out there. Quite apart from the fact that they had the rule wrong anyway.

Finally on Thursday (in Austin again) there were actually two things. Before our game started, an umpire from another field asked our umpires if a team was allowed to play short 1 girl. And no, it wasn't the same umpire as Tuesday. The umpires on our field did not know, but I told him that it was allowed, and he took my word for it. Anyway, in our game we were the visiting team, meaning that we batted first. The opposing pitcher was really struggling and he walked a few of us. Some other guy showed up and replaced the pitcher. Once we finished batting, we took the field, and they batted. When they got out, they took the field again, and both the original pitcher and the new pitcher were on the field. One of them was pitching, and one was in the outfield. This is an illegal substitution, and I pointed it out to the umpires. Basically, if you sub into a game for someone, then you are taking their spot in the lineup. If they want to come back in, they have to sub in for you. In other words, once you sub in for someone, there is no way you can both be in the lineup at once. Yet the umpire claimed this was fine since they had not both batted yet (which was true -- only one of the two of them had batted). Anyway, we were winning by a fair amount so I didn't push it, and we ended up winning.

In all of these cases I double checked the rule once I got home, and in all cases I had it right. I think what really bothers me about this is that this is really their only purpose for being out there -- to know the rules and to enforce them. When they don't know the rules it just frustrates me. We won all 3 games, so from that point of view it didn't matter. But what if the games had been closer? It could have mattered. We just got lucky that it happened this way. I keep telling myself I need to bring a copy of the rules with me to the field, but I also know that if I asked an umpire to look it up they would just get belligerent.

In the case of the Tuesday game where the other team had to field a reluctant player I did write to the league about it to let them know. They confirmed that I had the rule right, and they were alarmed to learn that someone was forced to play who didn't want to do so. So maybe they'll educate the umpires in that case. I didn't contact the league about the other two cases. I don't want to become known as the guy who always complains to the league. It's just silly that the umpires don't know the rules. They had to take classes and training to be umpires, so how the hell do I know the rules better than they do?

Anyway, I guess I should wander toward bed in the near future so I can be awake during the house tours tomorrow.

mitcharf @ 2008-07-28T18:10:00

2008-07-28T23:10:55Z

When I read articles like this that have quotes like "...people have been generally unaware of what happens to animals on farms," I think they are kind of missing the point. I think people consciously or unconsciously choose not to think about how their food comes to end up on their plate. It's easier not to think about it and enjoy your hamburger.

I'd be vegetarian even if the meat industry was humanely run, but as it is now I don't know how anyone can condone the way these animals are treated. And yet, anyone eating non-free-range meat is implicitly condoning it.

Assorted cat news

2008-07-26T22:01:21Z

No protective mouse cut needed today. I took more photos this morning, but I think my last two posts have really shown all there is to see when it comes to cats eating dead mice.

Felix did not want his extra large mouse this morning, although he happily licked all of the meat snack off it. Matilda also did not want her large mouse. I ended up giving Matilda some meat snack instead, and Felix ended up eating Matilda's mouse. Wilbur and Dusty both ate their extra large mice, and Wilbur also ate Felix's spurned extra large mouse. So, all mice were consumed, all cats were fed, but still only three cats have eaten the mice. I will keep working on Matilda. Even if only those three cats eat them, I can live with that. It'll be a treat for them, and the other cats can just have the raw meat diet.

In other cat news, I recently agreed to house phaballa's cat Max temporarily, as her current living situation is not very cat friendly. The plan is for Max to stay here until around October. Max was brought over here today, and he is fitting in very well so far. For the most part he and the other cats are just giving each other wide berths. There's been a small amount of growling and hissing, but no fighting.

I was given to understand that Max is not an expert at navigating cat furniture, but I have photographic evidence to the contrary:

He seems to be enjoying himself up there. In this shot you can see the Soft Paws he has over his claws:

After I took this shot I went to take a shower. When I returned downstairs, this was the scene:

I'm not sure how the fabric cave ended up on the floor, but Max appears to be intact, so all is well. He seems quite serene up there:

So it's been a cat-tastic day so far. Unfortunately I am watching the Yankees beat the Red Sox right now, but no day is perfect, right?

Mousecapades 2: The Revenge

2008-07-26T04:11:06Z

As before, do not look behind the LJ cut if you do not want to see graphic photos of cats eating (dead) mice!

I had two "large" mice left over from my adventure on Wednesday, stored in a zip lock bag in my refrigerator. This morning before going to work I put two "extra large" mice in a zip lock bag to thaw in the garage during the day. The plan for tonight was to give the two larger mice to Dusty and Wilbur, since they had eaten their mice on Wednesday. The two smaller mice were reserved for Felix and Matilda, the two cats I considered next most likely to eat the mice, and thus the next on my list. Dora, Domino, and Rasputin would have their normal meat snack meal.

Tonight I started with Dusty and Wilbur, again due to how well they did previously. I locked up the rest of the cats (except for Raspo, who knows how to comport himself like a gentleman) and put the two extra large mice on plates for Wilbur and Dusty:

The photo doesn't really make it clear, but these are maybe twice as large as the large mice. When I first placed my order for the mice I was going to get only extra large mice, but the woman who was organizing the order convinced me that it would be wiser to get a mixture of larges and extra larges, in case the cats balked at one. That was good advice, I think, given the difficulties I had on Wednesday getting the cats to try the mice.

Anyway, Wilbur and Dusty gave basically a repeat performance of Wednesday. When the mice were presented "naked" (aka with no meat snack smeared on them), they just played with them. Once I put some of their regular food on the mice, they recognized them as food, and chowed down. Here is photographic evidence of the playing, and the subsequent devouring...

Dusty was the mouse champ, eating his mouse several minutes faster than Wilbur. In fact, Wilbur would probably have taken even longer, but Dusty was casting longing looks at his mouse. Wilbur had to growl at Dusty a few times, with the half-eaten mouse hanging out of his mouth. In the end, both of them finished their larger mice completely.

After wiping down the kitchen, I gave Dora, Domino, and Rasputin their normal meat snack. That done, I unleashed Felix and Matilda. This time with the mice, I didn't even both presenting them without meat snack on them. In fact, I tried to smear them with some really bloody/juicy parts of the meat snack, to try and really let the meat smell and taste marinate into the mouse.

Matilda was still not interested. She did go back to her mouse a couple of times, but she never even licked it. Dora did make a grab for it, though. Dora licked it a couple of times and then suddenly picked it up and bolted for the kitchen entrance. I lunged and was just able to stop her before she had escaped into the rest of the house with a dead mouse dripping with meat snack. You can imagine my relief.

Meanwhile, Felix was eating his mouse! And once he finished his mouse, he ate Matilda's neglected mouse. From time to time while eating the mouse he would drop it and lick the remaining meat snack off his plate, or look around to see if there was meat snack to be had, but he always went back to his mouse in the end. Ultimately he finished both mice, leaving no remains.

So now I've had 3 cats eat mice. I did not feed Matilda her meat snack after she spurned her mouse. And I put out three extra large mice to thaw, and one large mouse. The plan for the morning is to offer the 3 larger mice to Wilbur, Dusty, and Felix. Matilda will be offered the smaller mouse. Hopefully after skipping a meal she will be more inclined to eat her mouse. She watched Felix eat his tonight, and hers, so hopefully that will inspire her.

More details to come tomorrow (or whenever I get around to posting them).

Mousecapades

2008-07-24T22:08:32Z

Last night was mouse night, and my previous predictions about which cats would eat the mice were incorrect!

Do not follow the LJ cut unless you are prepared to see pictures of dead mice being eaten! You have been warned!

I got the e-mail that the mice had been delivered early yesterday afternoon. During a lull at work I drove over to pick them up, and brought them back to my house. Here are pictures of the bags of dead mice in my freezer in the garage.

There were actually two more bags deeper in the freezer, for a total of four bags. I ordered two bags of large mice, and two bags of extra-large mice. Before heading back to work I selected six large mice and put them in a zip lock bag in the garage to thaw. I chose to only thaw six of them because I was pretty sure that Rasputin was not going to be interested in the mice.

I got home for the evening after running and racquetball at the gym. I was excited to make the experiment! Initially, my biggest concern was trying to keep the cats in the kitchen while they ate their mice. In the past, when eating chicken wings, some cats would become protective of their wing, growling at the other cats while they held the wing in their mouth. They would often try to escape out of the kitchen so they could, I presume, devour their prey in a more secluded setting, free from the prying eyes of other cats. Nevermind that every cat had their own chicken wing, this was apparently still a concern for some of them.

In light of this, I had already decided that I wasn't going to feed all of the cats simultaneously -- I figured wrangling that many cats would be much too difficult. Instead I chose the four cats that I thought would devour their mice quickly, reasoning that I could just stand guard at the edge of the kitchen while they wolfed the mice down. I locked up Dora and Domino in another room, and went to the kitchen with Felix, Matilda, Wilbur, and Dusty. Rasputin also came, because he never causes any problems anyway. I figured I'd show him a mouse to see what he thought.

I went out to to the garage and arranged mice on the cats' food plates.

Why five? So that Raspo would have one to check out while the other four were eating. I figured I'd just give his to Dora or Domino, since I suspected the most he would do is sniff it.

Here is a closeup of one of the mice!

I should mention at this point that while I wasn't feeling particularly squeamish about the mice, it was making me sad seeing the dead mice. I felt bad for them. Yes, I was feeling sorry that these mice had to die. I also escort spiders out of the house! I am what I am. Anyway...

I brought the mice inside and presented them to the cats. I was quite surprised to see that Felix and Matilda had no interest in theirs. Matilda barely glanced at hers, while Felix sniffed his briefly and then meowed for food. Rasputin, as I expected, sniffed his and walked away. Wilbur and Dusty, however, immediately picked up their mice.

Dusty tried to escape with his mouse.

Stymied, Dusty pondered his next move.

I was encouraged, but it quickly became clear that Dusty and Wilbur were just playing with their mice, and not actually eating them. They'd carry them, drop them, paw them, throw them in the air, and then pounce on them. I waited for a while, but no eating was taking place.

I picked up the mice and considered my next move. Since Wilbur and Dusty were the only ones who showed any interest, I decided to focus on them, and I secluded Felix and Matilda in another room. So now it was just me, Wilbur, Dusty, and Raspo in the kitchen. One idea I'd heard about was to rub some of their normal food on the mouse, to help them recognize it as food. So I got out their meat snack and smeared some on each mouse. I put the mice back on the floor and that did the trick! Dusty and Wilbur began to voraciously consume their mice.

Dusty and Wilbur polished off their mice entirely, including head, paws, and tail. Oddly, Dusty's mouse left behind a smear of blood on the floor, while Wilbur's area was considerably cleaner. However, I cleaned the floor, locked up Wilbur and Dusty, and then let Felix and Matilda out. I tried the meat trick with them. Matilda was still not interested. Felix began to lick and paw at his mouse, but it eventually became clear that he was just eating the meat snack that was on the mouse, and leaving the mouse itself intact.

At this point I was a little discouraged, but it occurred to me that maybe the problem was that this mouse did not resemble anything Felix or Matilda had ever eaten before. With the chicken wings, it was still just meat and bones. I got the bright (and gross) idea that I should cut open the mice a little bit, so that the cats could see the innards and therefore be tempted. This may be the grossest thing I've done for the cats. I made an incision along the stomachs of the two mice, and in a complicated surgical procedure I even managed to stuff the mice with a little of the cats' meat snack. I was confident this would do the trick.

Wrong! Matilda, again, had no interest. Felix inspected his, licked it very briefly, but then gave up.

However, in a surprise move, Rasputin was interested in Matilda's mouse! He ambled over and began chowing down. He even did a little tearing, pulling some of the mouse innards out.

When Rasputin was done, he hadn't really tried to eat much of the mouse itself. He ate all of the meat, and some amount of the guts. But a lot of mouse was left...

I decided to give Dora and Domino a crack at these two mice. I locked up Felix and Matilda (after feeding them some meat snack, since they obviously were not going to be dining on mice that evening) and released Dora and Domino. I re-stuffed the two mice with some meat snack, but other than a little playing and carrying around, they did not take a great interest in their mice. Dora did eat the meat snack off her mouse, though. In the end she was very reluctant to let me take hers, but she wasn't eating it.

I fed Dora and Domino some meat snack, and decided that I would feed the two spurned mice to Dusty and Wilbur. I added some meat snack to them, released Dusty and Wilbur, and watched them devour their second mice of the night. Dusty was kind enough to eat his over a plate this time.

Needless to say, Dusty and Wilbur were the only cats who didn't need to be given meat snack last night, since they dined handsomely on mice.

Once dinner was done, I scrubbed down the kitchen. I had two uneaten mice, but I hadn't put any meat on them or otherwise molested them, so I put them back in a zip lock bag and put them in the refrigerator. My plan is to feed them on Friday night.

In the worst case, I can just feed the mice to Dusty and Wilbur every two or three days, to supplement their diets. But I am still holding out hope that the others cats can be trained. One tactic I've used when switching food in the past is just making sure the cat is hungry. I may attempt that this weekend. I can offer mice on Friday evening, and if they decline to eat them, I will let them skip the meal and offer the mice again on Saturday morning. It doesn't hurt the cats to skip a meal, and often it is a good way to convince them to eat something that may be unfamiliar. I may not try that tactic with Rasputin since he is a little older and set in his ways, and he has health issues. But the other cats are all young, spry, healthy, and there's no reason they shouldn't like the mice.

I'm also going to try the extra large mice on Dusty and Wilbur on Friday, I think. They seem game.

Okay, well, that's my dead mouse adventure so far. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, apart from being sad about the dead mice. Oh, and cutting them open. It didn't make me sick, but I am pretty sure it's the grossest thing I've done for the cats. Oh well, the things I do for love!

Also...

2008-07-23T02:08:31Z

I have become hopelessly addicted to three Facebook word games: Scrabulous (aka Facebook Scrabble), Scramble (aka Facebook Boggle), and Text Twirl (aka Facebook...anagrams? Word Whomp?).

Dead mice

2008-07-23T02:00:42Z

I've been feeding my cats a raw meat diet for a few years now. Keri and I started this originally because Felix has a strange condition which conventional veterinarians were unable to successfully treat (unless success is measured by the number of times Felix got sick or ended up in the emergency hospital). This eventually led us to try a homeopathic treatment (Dr. Will Falconer specifically). Keri has always been interested in eastern medicine, and we both figured that it couldn't do any more harm than what the conventional treatments had been doing. I'll admit I was leery when Felix was given treatments such as sulfur crystals and arsenic crystals. However, whether it was these treatments, or just the absence of the barrage of medicines he had been given, he began doing much better. One of the conditions that Dr. Falconer sets with his clients is that they read through his web page and follow his advice about such things as vaccinations (should be given as infrequently as possible and only if that cat has a reasonable risk of being exposed to the thing they are being vaccinated for) and diet. He advocated a raw meat diet that simulated what a cat would eat in the wild. Not necessarily the exact types of things they'd eat in the wild, but a diet made up of raw meat, some veggies (which would have been in the stomachs of their prey), and some supplements to make sure they get the nutrients they need. The recipe I am currently using is raw turkey, mixed animal organs (at one time we just used livers), salmon oil (previously we used cod liver oil), and veggies. Originally we bought the meat products from Whole Foods, but as it was rather expensive, we ended up finding a raw meat co-op here in Austin (the Austin Raw Feeders' Coop). The coop is a bunch of local folks who prepare raw meat diets for their pets, and combine to make bulk orders from organic meat suppliers. Most of the folks in the co-op prepare these diets for their dogs, but there are cat people as well.

ANYWAY, all of that is background for the fact that a couple of weeks ago someone posted to the coop mailing list that they were considering switching their cats to a whole prey diet. Not a simulated whole prey diet, which is what I've been doing, but giving her cats actual entire animals. She had found a company (RodentPro) which sells intact (but dead) mice, rats, guinea pigs, and chicks for this purpose. She wanted to know if anyone else in the coop wanted to go in with her for an order, since there were certain bulk discounts. If enough people are interested, it may become a regular order for the coop. Anyway, I was intrigued. I'd had a conversation with one of my vets (yes, *one* of my vets -- tell me about it) about a study that showed that one of the healthiest things you could feed your cats is a steady supply of mice. I guess that's not really so surprising. So I decided to give it a try. I placed an order for a bunch of mice and they arrive tomorrow. I know that at least four of my cats (Rasputin, Matilda, Wilbur, and Dusty) will love the mice. Two of my cats (Dora and Domino) may need some persuading. And Rasputin is somewhat set in his ways, so I am not optimistic that he's going to devour any of the mice.

Right now I'm planning on just supplementing the raw meat diet with the mice. For one thing, I suspect that feeding them the mice is going to be a messy and time consuming affair. In the past they've eaten raw chicken wings -- it took them a long time to finish them, and left the kitchen floor looking like an abattoir. The cats were also more possessive about their wings, which led to one or two chases around the house after a cat with a chicken wing in their mouth. But those experiences have left me confident that as long as I leave enough time, and only feed a few cats at a time, I should be able to pull it off. The thought of watching them devour the mice makes me a little squeamish, but in a way I prefer to seeing the animal that they are eating -- why should it make me feel any better that their food has been ground up beyond recognition before I receive it? I became vegetarian myself because I knew I wouldn't want to kill an animal in order to eat it, and I was only eating meat because I could conveniently ignore the fact that an animal had to die in order to provide me the meat. I know that cats cannot really be healthy as vegetarians, so I have chosen to feed them meat, and I kind of feel like I should really confront the fact that animals have to die to feed my cats. But whatever, I know that's probably just me being weird.

So tomorrow night, assuming I can thaw out the mice quickly enough, my cats will be dining on mice. I've promised Keri I will take pictures for her. I may post select shots on here, but I promise I'll put them behind a cut so that they will not be thrust upon the unwilling.

I know, I know, I never post and now I do and it's all about dead mice. Oh well, what're ya gonna do?

mitcharf @ 2008-07-21T01:44:00

2008-07-21T06:45:35Z

It's weird being single after not being single for so long.

Seven cats is a lot of cats to pet on your own!

News

2008-06-14T22:27:10Z

Keri and I are broken up. We decided a week ago, but it was kind of on its way for a while before that. It's amicable, not one of those drama filled things. She is in the process of moving into her own place. Not sure what to say about it. I'm not happy about it, but it's the right decision.

mitcharf @ 2008-04-22T15:35:00

2008-04-22T20:37:10Z

Reading things like this always leave me angry. How can there be anyone out there who thinks this sort of thing is okay? It is appalling.

mitcharf @ 2008-04-11T16:56:00

2008-04-11T21:58:00Z

I completely agree with this:
Good article on how humans treat animals

Squeezebox on sale

2007-10-24T15:14:55Z

I've written two previous entries (link 1, link 2) on the Squeezebox streaming music player. I own three, and it's some of the best money I've ever spent.

Anyway, they're on sale right now, in case anyone is interested. They're still more expensive than some streaming music players, but well worth the cost in terms of audio quality, versatility, and excellent customer support.

mitcharf @ 2006-11-17T02:05:00

2006-11-17T07:05:19Z

Keri is out of town, and I have rented horror movies. Tonight I watched "Camp Slaughter" and "Resident Evil: Apocalypse". I ended up fast-forwarding through both. Quite a disappointment, even for cheesy horror.

I have remaining:
The Ordeal (actually some French title, which I forget)
Slither

And two non-horror that I do not think Keri would like:
The Aristocrats
Fever Pitch

Although she is not back until Sunday, so I may need to rent more.

Suggestions?

mitcharf @ 2006-11-02T10:57:00

2006-11-02T15:57:51Z

Everyone be sure to vote! Early voting runs through this week. Vote early, vote often!

mitcharf @ 2006-10-11T10:35:00

2006-10-11T15:35:24Z

Play The Sentence Game.

mitcharf @ 2006-05-12T21:52:00

2006-05-13T02:55:30Z

Keri's out of town for the weekend again. Time for a trip to the video store for horror movies that she has no interest in watching. The last few times I've been there the same clerk has been working, and I can't help but wonder if has noticed that I come in every month or so, late at night, and rent several hororr movies, and then return them usually within 24 hours. It seems like it would be cause for concern for a woman working alone at a videostore at night, but I guess it's countered by the fact that I appear quite unthreatening. Except maybe when I've gone a few months without shaving or a haircut.

Anyway.

When the cat's away...

2006-03-20T05:06:07Z

So with Keri out of town for a couple of days, I'm left to my own devices. So naturally I rent a bunch of horror movies and watch them with the cats. Today we watched Dog Soldiers, Undead, The Locals, and Martin. Plus one more movie from the following: Sleepaway Camp, An American Werewolf in London, and The Shunned House (supposedly based on a Lovecraft story, although every movie which makes such a claim is assured to be the worst kind of cheesy horror with no relation to Lovecraft whatsoever -- yet still I rent them). I'll watch the remaining two tomorrow night, after the final game of the World Baseball Classic.

Man, I'm living the good life. Time to open a grape soda and get back to the movies!