a few unrelated items

On my brief trip to Maryland for the holidays I had a run in with the police. My "suspicious" activity was pulling into the parking lot of a community park at 6pm and walking around near my car. I was detained for questioning for about 20 minutes by an armed asshole who, when I didn't give meaningful answers to his questions and asked if I was free to go, threatened to arrest me, called for backup, and had me thoroughly frisked.

I found Life of Birds at the library, and, well, I couldn't pass that up. Katsu loves it too. He's been staring like that for 10 minutes.

I found some ground water buffalo in the freezer last time I went to Cumbraes, and, well, I couldn't pass that up. I don't think I could blindly distinguish it from beef by texture or flavour. I won't be offering Katsu any of the spaghetti I'm making.

a few life updates

Not much blogging lately, but here's a few things that are going on in my life:

• I've been spending my work hours writing my thesis, which I'll defend in mid-July. Today I spent the afternoon redoing some statistics that were a bit off, and now I'll have to rethink a section in light of the changes. This section isn't especially important to the thesis as a whole, but it is important to a direction I'd like to take in the future.
• I'll be traveling to my first academic conference and presenting a poster later this month. The poster will focus on the experiment I ran this winter. I've never been to Oregon before.
• I've had all three cats since my ex moved out, but today Hattori goes to live with her. It will be sad to lose him, but we think this is the best possible arrangement for everyone. We'll try it for a few weeks and see how it goes. One potential benefit of his absence is that Horus might be more social once he realizes he doesn't have to hide from Hattori's bullying.
• Softball season is in full, glorious, swing.
• This weekend is the Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair and Dundas Buskerfest!
• I think I'm starting to experience human emotions a few times a week. I kinda like it.

Pictures I like.

This picture was taken at The Phoenix, the graduate student pub on campus at McMaster.



It includes the following noteworthy storylines:

• David (2nd from left), a friend from Ohio, and Bailey (middle), my sister, came up to visit for...
  
• It was taken November 27, 2008, which was American Thanksgiving, and 2 days before my 28th birthday.
• It includes Dan's asymmetrical beard (far left), one of the more amusing results of a decision among the men in my class not to shave for a few months.
• It includes Kira's recent short haircut (2nd from right).
• It was taken by Leo, a visiting grad student from Brazil, who I really ought to have some pictures with.
• It is the only picture I've seen from a very fun night that featured a much larger crowd, including my supervisors, who I really ought to have some pictures with.

Here are other pictures I like.


Hanging with the bride (Kate... on the left), the night before her wedding. Canton, Ohio. October, 2007.


Last day over there: (left to right) Paolo, Ate Lady, Jakob, Ram, JJ, and Jam. Calamba, Laguna, Philippines. November, 2006.


Kira and I, in top shape clearly. Annapolis, MD. Christmas, 2006.


Left to right: Sarah, Dave, Phil's ass, Phil, Phil's hair, Zsaz, Kira. Ada, Ohio. May, 2008.



Left to right: Katsu, Hattori, Horus. Ada, Ohio. March, 2008.

Horus these days

Horus is doing pretty well these days, at least compared to where he started.

He spends a lot of time sleeping up on the perch near the windows.

From Cats Nov 2008

From Cats Nov 2008

When he's not as sleepy he'll dart over to hide under the kitchen table.

From Cats Nov 2008

And when he's feeling frisky and adventurous he might even play with me a little bit.

From Cats Nov 2008

But that gets tiring...

From Cats Nov 2008

He still freaks out if he sees me try to touch him, but if he's distracted I can scratch his back and he likes it until he realizes what is happening. As soon as he sees me touching him he recoils or swipes at me, but I'm convinced that some of the time he deliberately looks away so that he doesn't have to freak out. He'll still act like he's trying to investigate the source of this strange pleasurable sensation, but he'll look in a ridiculous direction, like straight up and from side to side, but not backwards.

Here are the other boys.

Hattori.

From Cats Nov 2008

Katsu.

From Cats Nov 2008

Horus is cracking!

I just scratched the side and top of his head for about 20 seconds before he got scared and ran away.

Cat food warning

Since I love cats and I love his blog, I'll pass along this word of warning for cat owners.

When we first adopted our boys, we did a lot of research and decided on a diet similar to what Hodgkins recommends. My understanding is that much of the cat food industry is basically based on the idea that cats are the same as dogs. They aren't. Dogs are omnivores; cats are obligate carnivores. Their systems aren't meant to ingest large amounts of grain, and health complications result. We're convinced the best diet for our cats would be a raw diet that includes organ meat and ground bone (good for dental health), but for now we use a high quality canned food that is mostly protein and fat. It is a bit more expensive than cheap dry food, but even by cold hard economic reasoning we figure in the long run it will save vet expenses.



It seems like most veterinarians don't know much about these dietary concerns, which isn't too surprising since they sell the mass-produced dry food in their lobbies. So you might never have even heard about this issue. Do some research and make good decisions for your cats!



update:
Kira posted about our food decisions as we were going through it. That post was before we fully figured things out, and we've been using Innova Evo for a long time now. We're considering another switch in the near future.

Cat pictures

Katsu, Hattori, and Horus (from left to right). This was a pause in the middle of a massive three-way fight. Hattori is on his back because Katsu is about to pounce on him. Hattori will throw him off, and Katsu will retreat to the kitchen, strategically leaving Horus in between himself and Hattori. So Hattori will attack Horus, who will run frightened into the back room and hide under the bed.



He climbed up here today for the first time, and he's spent most of the day up there. For him to climb so high is a huge deal. He spent the first month mostly sneaking around the house in a low crouch when he dared leave his hiding spots, and we were so excited when he started to walk in an upright position. So now exploring vertical space seems like such a major breakthrough. If I were to walk further into that room, he'd definitely jump down and hide under the bed though.




The other day he came out to the main room and took a nap with me sitting a few feet away. That he's willing to lower his guard around us is big. He's started climbing that structure he's sleeping under here as well. Usually he gets near the top, then gets scared and runs away.




This picture was taken about a year ago. It is a nice contrast to the next one.




Hattori has lost a lot of weight, and Katsu has grown so much. But they still love looking out the windows and I spared you the sight of my ugly feet.




Katsu the pillow.

now: Horus

So we wanted to give him a badass Japanese name like Lord Katsumoto or Hattori Hanzo, but we'd been calling him "Horace" for so long that we were finding it difficult to call him anything else, even a name like Wallace that sounded similar. We solved that problem when we discovered Horus, the Egyptian sky or sun god. If any feline ever looked like the sun, it is this guy. And it has been pointed out that Horus was a pagan archetype for Jesus, with numerous similar life events. So we're set with that name now.

He's been making lots of progress lately. He's spending more and more time out from his hiding places (see picture), letting us come a bit closer before he gets scared, playing with toys, eating treats from our hands, and letting us rub his neck and back while he eats. He still runs away though if you make a sudden movement, or loom near him, or make a loud noise. In a few more weeks maybe he'll be napping on my lap.

We haven't seen any more strays near our house since we brought Horus in. We see lots of them all around town though, so I'm guessing that maybe when the weather warms up they'll start to expand into new territory.

The new guy

Horace got a clean bill of health from the vet, and so at least for now he's living with us. He spent the first few days closed off in our spare bedroom, but we introduced him to the other cats and they all get along so the whole house is open now. I haven't captured it on camera yet, but he does this very cute submissive routine with them where he rolls onto his back and reaches out to them with his front paws.

He is still quite afraid of people, running away in terror if we come near him, but he seems to forget his fear at meal times so we think he's making progress. His body language is slowly becoming more confident and while he spends almost all of his time hiding, he's spending more time in the hiding spots closer to people. When he was confined, we were able to scratch his head and neck a bit, but now that he has open space, he just runs away if we reach towards him, so we've stopped trying to initiate contact. We figure he'll see the other boys enjoying it and eventually come give it a try.

Now that he's part of the family, we've considered changing his name. "Horace" sounds too much like "Hattori" and isn't even a Japanese character from a movie. The problem is that we've been calling him Horace ever since we first saw him running around outside back in August, so it is really hard to change direction. We tried switching to "Wallace," figuring it would be easier to switch to a name that sounded similar to what we've been calling him, and that it could be a tribute to Alfred Wallace. (Or Rasheed.) But the best I've been able to do is call him "Horace Wallace" which is unbearable.

In summary, he meows when he uses the litter box, which is convenient as an early warning stink alarm.

Poor Horace

Horace has been in our bathroom for a week now and we're disappointed with his slow progress. He's very afraid of people, and doesn't seem to be warming up much to us. I found an excellent essay about what is involved in taming an adult feral cat, and we now realize it is going to be a lot harder than with the younger kitten we tamed in December. Cats need positive exposure to humans at a young age, otherwise they tend to be extremely distrustful of people.

He just hides in a cubby in the bathroom and generally seems miserable. He does eat the food we give him, use a litter box, and move around the bathroom when we aren't there. He'll let us rub his head sometimes, but rarely seems to enjoy it; he obviously just wants us to leave him alone. He doesn't seem to mind if we're in the room, but when we look directly at him or move near him, that's when he shrinks away or even hisses. If we try to move things around in his cubby, he panics.

We're taking him to the vet soon, which should be an ordeal. If he's healthy enough, we're going to keep him for a while and try to socialize him. We'll get him neutered and immunized and then give him some space. We'll keep hanging out where he can watch us, but stop pushing him to accept our physical contact and let him adapt at his own pace over several months. Eventually he'll meet our cats. Apparently feral cats learn a lot about how to interact with human from watching housecats, so it will be nice if we can find a safe way for that to happen.

Temperatures here have been in single digits at night and in the teens and 20s during the daytime, so I know he's better off being scared but warm and well fed in our bathroom than hungry and freezing out there.

YES!

We just got this guy to come inside and now he's chilling in the bathroom. He was really hard to get to come near us, but I think winter and loneliness have caught up to him. He's been crying at our door the last few nights. We call him Horace, after another cat we know that he reminds us of. In a few days we'll take him to the shelter (hopefully after cutting off that thing matted into his hair). Hopefully he's not sick...

Cat Rescue Updates

Kira has the story.

We were very sad to learn that "Big Boy" had contagious feline leukemia and was killed. That disease is contagious and he would have required an unrealistic level of care, so I'm reluctantly conceding that euthanasia was probably justified in his case. I really liked that guy though, and he would have made an awesome pet if someone had taken care of him before he got sick.

The good news is that 3 of the 4 other cats we've taken in have now been adopted, including the fraidy cat. The last one left is the one I thought was most likely to be adopted, the adorable little kitten. We're pretty sure that both of those guys were Big Boy's sons, so he has left quite a legacy.

assortments

I jogged around the neighborhood in shorts today. In Ohio. In January.

I'm sending off my 4th and final graduate application today. I have no idea if I'll get in to any of these programs.

I haven't eaten meat in 4 days.

I haven't seen a stray cat near my house since I've been back from Maryland. They must know we're the people who disappear felines.

xmas trip recap

Well we're back from our whirlwind tour of Maryland. We put 1600 miles on the car (I'm thinking about buying carbon offsets - any suggestions anyone?), slept in 8 different places (some more comfortable than others), had some good meals and some bad ones, had some good times and some bad ones, and despite enjoying our trip, we're both quite glad to be home.

As for possible topics for blogging in the near future:

• I read a lot of Chomsky on the trip, and imagine I'll be blogging about it. I also landed a handful of books as gifts, and they'll be showing up too.
• I won my fantasy football league, which was worth $320. Perhaps I'll share my secrets to paying a month's rent with your fantasy sports prowess. (Teaser: Step One is to move to rural Ohio.)
• We encountered all kinds of family drama, which at first I thought I shouldn't really write about. But then I realized that I'm only aware of one family member reading my blog with any regularity, so what's the difference right? And in a way that inattention is related to the drama, so there's all kinds of opportunity for the self-conscious meta-analysis on which this blog was founded.
• The cats traveled with us, and spent an exciting evening with an energetic 8 week old mini-beagle. An overload of cuteness was the inevitable outcome. Also, the puppy pooped in the litter box.
• We saw I Am Legend and The Golden Compass. I'd cautiously recommend both and might elaborate in a future post.
• I've submitted 3 of the 4 grad school applications I'll be completing (the last is due by January 15), and might share some thoughts on that subject.
• My friends are really starting to reproduce. I hung out with two infants and a pregnant woman. This feels like some kind of life passage. (I myself have no plans for reproduction in my near future. Maybe if we get one part-time job between the two of us...)

That's all I got for now. If you're part of my immense audience the is here for the kinds of powerful political insights I usually generously provide, I'd suggest clicking on some of the blog articles linked to in my sidebar or here.

hope for the fraidy cats

The cute little guy who was hanging around our door has been living in our bathroom for the last 24 hours. We got him in the house, and he hated it at first, but he's made huge progress. He went from being terrified of us to seeking out and loving our affection. We have a vet appointment for him tomorrow to make sure he's healthy and free of diseases and parasites, and we'll get him fixed soon too. We're still not sure if we want to keep him or just socialize him and then find another home for him. He's not going to be interacting directly with our cats until we know it is safe.

Meanwhile the shelter I built intended for him has another occupant, and two other interested parties. There have been some fights over the rights to sleep in it. So we built another one that isn't quite as good, and we're not sure if anyone is taking that one or not. One of those three cats, the dominant one, seems extremely friendly to humans, so we're definitely planning to take him to the shelter.

In regards to the shelter, we've learned that the two adult female cats we've taken there have both been adopted, and the baby kitten is still too young to give out, but he's likely to be adopted as well. So we're getting pretty confident that any friendly cat we take there will end up in a home. We're just reluctant to take in a cat that is scared of people, but the guy in the bathroom is teaching us that there's hope even for the fraidy cats.

I feel pretty good about helping these poor things. It is damn cold out there. As long as there are friendly ones on the stoop, we'll be trying to get them into a better situation.

more stray cats

It has started to get very cold here, and a few nights ago a tiny kitten and his mother showed up on our doorstep. We put out one of our cat carriers with a warm blanket in it, and they slept there. The next morning we took both of them to the shelter.

I'm reluctant to take an animal from its home area and put it in a cage somewhere, especially at a shelter that does kill some of its animals, but in their case I think it made sense. The kitten was still young and cute and could likely still get used to people, so he seems very likely to be adopted. The mother is healthy-looking and attractive, and she was somewhat open to human touch. Plus she looked like she might be pregnant again. The shelter says they have a very good adoption rate, so I think it was the right thing to do in their case.

Now there's another cat outside our door. We had seen it hanging around with those other two, and we suspect it is an older kitten from the same mother. This guy is somewhat afraid of people, and does not like being inside at all. I don't quite know what to do with him (or her), because his extra wildness seems to make it less adoptable and thus more likely to get killed. But it is getting really cold outside, and he clearly wants something from us. He looks well-fed, so he must be getting food from somewhere.

My best idea is maybe to put together some kind of more permanent shelter for him, but I don't really want to start feeding him. I'd kind of like to get him fixed and immunized too. But I'm kind of averse to spending so much time and money on this guy, for fear that soon I'd be doing it for more of them.

Ugh.

Jesus approves of torturing cats

As long as it makes a musical sound


This makes Hattori so mad:

6 years later, 10 points dumber

I took the GREs yesterday. That lasted about 3.5 hours and by the end my brain hurt. It was like running a mental marathon when I hadn't seriously trained in over 5 years. You get most of your score instantly, and I got 640 on the verbal and 800 on the quantitative (they're scored like SATs). My expired 2001 scores were 650 and 800, so at least I'm consistent. I expect these results to make me very competitive for any of the programs to which I'll be applying.

For reading this, you are rewarded with a picture of dust-covered Katsumoto.

In which I try to help a poor creature

There are lots of stray cats running around our new neighborhood. The woman who used to live next door would put food out for them, so they used to congregate right by our house. After she moved (about a week after we moved in), most of them moved on and seem to have found some other food source. Someone else probably puts food out, although I did watch one little kitten catch a small bird. We still see them around, and they all look fairly healthy.

Except that one tiny cat was different than all the others. This one never really moved on when the others did. It just stayed in this area, and seemed to get skinnier and skinnier. One hot day I broke down and gave it some water. After a few more days of it crying outside our window I couldn't help giving it some food.

I felt bad about it though, because feeding a stray cat ultimately just creates more stray cats. I couldn't tell if it was a male or female, but we've already seen a pregnant female running around, meaning soon there should be some homeless kittens. I gave food to the starving cat out of sympathy, but if I give it enough food it will just compound the starving cat problem.

This one was different in another way though. All the others are somewhat afraid of people, and will run away if you get too close, but this one really seemed to like people. It made me think that this one didn't really know how to fend for itself and needed a person taking care of it. I wasn't just going to adopt a feral cat off the street though. The whole thing bothered me and I didn't know what to do. I kind of just wished it would go away, but every day it'd show up and cry outside our door. It even would try to come inside when we went in and out, and we had to chase it away.

So yesterday I put some food in a crate and caught the poor little thing. We found a humane society 30 miles away and took it down there. They'll spay her (turns out she's a female, I never lifted her skirt to find out) and give her vet care if she has any diseases or parasites or anything, and give her a chance to get adopted. They said she seems friendly compared to many other stray cats that get brought in, so hopefully someone will take her. They also said they think she's full grown, which surprised me because she's so small. I know she was severely undernourished but figured she was still pretty young. She seemed very happy about the food they gave her.

The only problem now is that they sometimes do have to kill cats at that shelter. They said they give every cat a good chance to get adopted, and at the moment they had a lot of room. This little cat seemed very nice, so hopefully someone will take her. We're thinking about going back to see her after they get her all fixed up. If she's nice, maybe we'll take her.

pictures

Moving into the new place. Lots of cat pictures.