The Madness Has Begun

Yes, it's that time of year again, Scarborough has begun, and so has my 61-day work week... It's all good, because I don't hate my weekday job, and I LOVE working at the perfumery on the weekends.  This weekend should be interesting, because the owner will not be in town, so my co-worker & I are on our own, which means minimal breaks and virtually no time to run amok. I've always worked a part-time schedule on the weekends, instead of full-time, so we'll see how my system manages that!

 One of my co-workers is umm, militant about her beliefs, and is relatively intolerant of other people's opinions and beliefs.  Last week, another employee asked her about Easter eggs in conjunction with a program she's involved in at her church. Her response was to look directly at me and say "I object to the use of Pagan symbols in relation to Christian holidays". Yeahhh, she's made an assumption about my beliefs, based entirely on the fact that I am part of the Renaissance Festival community. Never mind discussions we've had over the last 18 months about my CHURCH. I refrained from pointing out to her that 1. my beliefs are none of her damned business, 2. My Bibles (I own at least one KJV, a RSV, an NIV, and a Living Bible) ALL include "Judge not, lest ye/you be judged", and 3. I object to Christians believing that they have the right to judge others AND cram their beliefs down everybody's throat.   Hmm, perhaps she thinks I'm a Pagan in the Spring, and a Christian the rest of the year? So yesterday, I noticed that she'd clipped a tract to her wall-mounted inbox entitled something like "Becoming a Christian is as E.A.S.Y  as A.B.C".  Yeah she's a passive-aggressive B!#(H, and her life truly only consists of Work, Church, and living with her parents & 2 dogs. She lives to get a rise out of people, and she's not going to be successful with me.  I have no doubts about where I stand with God, and I also know that on my WORST day, I have an amazing support system of friends and family from diverse walks of life, all of whom love and accept me for who I am, without trying to make me conform to what they think is right.

Last Tuesday, I came home after the storms that were in the area, to find that the mama kitty that's been hanging about (I believe she & her boyfriend were abandoned, as they are way too social and keep trying to get into the house to really be ferals) had delivered 5 kittens. 4 have survived this long, and even on my cranky mornings, seeing them in their box on the porch brings a smile to my face.

On that note, I think it's time to shut down and head for the bed with the kitties.  Sleep is kind of hit or miss these days, and tomorrow's an early morning.

Leonides

My handsome Leo, when Mom brought you home from the shelter, you were but a scrap of fluff, all sweet and tiny. For months you wouldn't eat your breakfast without "pepper" on it, until one day you decided that you didn't need the mineral supplement anymore and refused to eat the breakfast that had it. Oh she had grand plans for you… to have you ride around in the basket on her scooter, snuggle in the bed with her & Mr. Moro. That first week or so, you went along with it, even riding over to her eldest grandson's birthday party on a lovely may Saturday, before you'd even been named. For the record, another grandson, who was 8 at the time declared that we should name you Tigger, like his orange tabby at home. You, sir, however, had other plans. It was your plan to live up to the Leonides name you ended up with.

You became the mighty hunter, bringing through the cat flap all manner of creatures, lizards, snakes, birds, mice, rats, and even a big ole horned toad once. You came into a house with 2 senior cats and one about a year old, and you made your place. You may have been the baby, but you were not content to be babied, you left that position for Mr. Moro. For all your hunting, you were not a fan of strangers, especially men. Whenever someone new came to the house, you hid until one of us could coax you out. You were just not a people cat, or a lap cat. Once Mom was gone, and Mr. Moro, you became a little more snuggly, and once we moved out of that house, and you became strictly a housecat, you suddenly decided that you were a lap cat, and had to be in my face ALL THE DAMNED TIME. Years later, when I spent hours talking and crying with Rhonda about helping her across the rainbow bridge, your sister Bow went merrily about the house, ignoring us, but you stayed close by, as if you were listening to the conversation. As I slept, I suspect that Rhonda gave you specific instructions, because when I returned home from her final trip to the vet, you were the first one there to have snuggle time, and you stayed right in her spot beside me on the bed every night for weeks. When we moved to Weatherford, you didn't like living with a houseful of people, but you eventually adjusted, even welcoming (well, grudgingly at first, but eventually accepting) Mollie and Trinity into our little family. You continued to hunt, whenever possible, by escaping from our room and finding whatever mouse was active and driving you crazy. Your Auntie Erin commented once on the mouse problem, considering that we had a houseful, literally, of cats. I just looked at her and said "well, don't but 2 of them think they are supposed to do anything except look adorable, and they pretty much stay in my bedroom… where there is NOT a mouse problem. You were a good cat, and I am comforted in knowing that you had a good life, a happy life. I know that there were many cats there to greet you this morning as you crossed that bridge. I know you're happy, healthy, and able to hunt and play like you once did. Love, Mamma

Look Outside! It’s Snowing!

We have had yet another snow day this winter in North Texas. Now, the 3 inches we got Christmas Eve was a great showing for this part of Texas, for sure, but well, we've zinged right past that now. I was all toasty warm this morning when my phone said "Message Received" at about 6:55 this morning. Now, I'd heard someone come downstairs and fix coffee sometime between 6 & 6:30, but I'd managed to go back to sleep. I opened the phone and found this message: Look outside! J, to which I replied "HELL NO woman I don't care what's outside unless it's Ed McMahon with my Publisher's Clearing House prize I've not entered to win!!" that I was all warm & snug in my bed with all the kitties.

 The texting went back and forth for about 15 minutes until I gave up and agreed to go out into the living room & hang with her to let the man sleep a little longer…

My first look outside saw this:

It was too cold to actually venture out for awhile, but when I did brave the cold for the first time, we had about 2.5 inches at around 9:30 this morning. By 11:15 we were up to 3.75 inches, just under 4.5 at noon, 5.5 at 2:30, 7 at 6 pm, and the last time I went out at 9, we were up to 8 inches, with more falling! I quite suspect that tomorrow morning will be a lovely icy mess on the roads!

Our incarnations of the snowperson…

                          The teens, me, and our SnowWench!

Our Highland Snowman


















 

                                   

 Looking at the driveway before anyone went anywhere

I like snow, but I'm pretty sure that by tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to be absolutely OVER IT! I don't do cold, and sure I bitch and moan in the heat of the Texas summers, but I will take those summers over the endless weeks of cold (and snow) that make up winter in points north of the Red River! I have gotten some shots that I absolutely LOVE though!

Our sweet little elf that sits by the driveway!    

     

We clearly need to have class on how to make a snow angel J

  

After dark I went back out to check depth, and just HAD to take some shots in the dark… I'm pretty happy with them though.

Poor SnowWench has lost her head, and started passing out!

Tomorrow will probably yield more photo's, we'll see what we end up with!

Stay warm ya'll!

rough day

Today has been a hard day. I managed to coax all 4 of the kittens into the house with the food, and trap them in. The 3 originals were easy to get into the carrier, but the beautiful tabby boy was NOT having any part of being handled, and tried to get out the closed door, and then made his way into the kitchen and tried to go out the window that he usually sits in. THAT was a mess, he took out my pink ceramic parrot from Campo Verde, and my little elf man that had survived 1 leg/hand amputation & reattachment.

I had planned to clean him up and repaint him, because I do love him, he is older than I am, and spent MANY years sitting in a potted plant at my grandmother’s house, then at Mom’s. He’s now had his leg/hand amputation reamputated, his arm amputated to match that leg/hand, and had his other foot amputated, and chips are everywhere. *sigh* yeah, I think he’s going in the trash with the ceramic parrot. It could have been much worse, the crock from the large crockpot is still on the counter, the butter bell survived, and so did the garlic cellar. I eventually gave up and just opened the door to let him back out, and haven’t seen him since. I cried all the way to HSNT. I know that they stand a better chance there, probably, than at one of the city shelters, and I have a friend who works there, and can help be sure they find homes. The little tuxedo boy and the girl (lynx point) have already been vaccinated and taken to pet adoptions. They are both sweet, handleable kittens. She is much more of a cuddler than he is, but both allow themselves to be picked up and petted without putting up a fight. The grey is personable, but still pretty feral, he’s a flirt, and wants someone to talk to him, but doesn’t want to be touched, and is, of those 3, the mighty hunter… he regularly brought snakes and birds to the porch to show me, and there is a woman in the area who adopts cats to control critters around her barns, and he has a home there. I realize that this is the best option for them, but it was terribly hard for me to give them up, I suspect largely because they’ve been such a little spot of joy in my world lately, when it has seemed otherwise very dark. My situation is forcing me to give up so much, both physical possessions, but also my independence, and my lifestyle, and giving them up is one more thing that I am having to give up. I’m not nearly done packing, but most of what MUST go with me is packed, other than electronics that I’m not going to disconnect until the morning of the move.

Harry Potter & more

It's been 8.5 weeks that I've been unemployed. It sucks, big time, but I continue to soldier on. In an effort to conserve funds, I'm trying very hard not to go anywhere that I don't absolutely HAVE to go. My job search has been a daily task, searching Monster, CareerBuilder, Constructionjobs, HotJobs, WorkInTexas, and any other job board I can find that has listings in my area. I've had one interview, but never heard anything back from them, despite the fact that I have left a message and sent an email to follow up. I think that's the MOST frustrating thing, not getting any feedback. I have submitted between 3 and 10 resumes EVERY WEEK, and I've gotten 1 stupid interview. It's not as if I'm not well qualified for the positions I'm applying for. Granted, the one for which I interviewed, I suspect they really wanted someone with more specific contract administration experience. I am registered for a 3 day seminar week after next through TWC, perhaps that will help me figure out what I'm not doing as well as I could.

Tuesday afternoon I was utterly & completely tired of being in my house. The thought did cross my mind to head out to one of the dozens of midnight showings of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, but then I remembered how crazy crowds make me, and I decided that I would give it a couple of days and let the initial furor that seems to always accompany the releases. Yesterday wasn't terribly bad, NCIS had an all day marathon, so there was at least something that kept me entertained while I was puttering around the house and checking job boards. I made a small grocery run to pick up a few things so I could have a decent meal last night and tonite, and I decided that I would try to hit one of the matinees today, in the hopes that since it is a weekday, and the theater had it on 8 screens, I might manage to see it without 500 other people packed into the theatre like sardines. SCORE! I got there technically in time for the very next showing, but as it was 5 minutes to showtime and I wanted a little popcorn, a drink, and a trip to the ladies room before I settled in for 2.5 hours, I elected to get a ticket for the following show. That showing was in one of the smaller theatres, but I don't think I missed anything seeing it on a smaller screen. There were 2 people already in the theatre when I got there, and after that a grand total of 5 more adults and a 6 year old came in as well. I was a bit concerned about the child, but she did very well, only talking a couple of times, and one of those was during the previews. What an awesome movie! I'm really thinking I need to re-read the books, and actually, watch the rest of the movies again. *a little side note, last weekend I watched the marathon on whatever channel it was, of several of the other movies. Call me stupid a dork, but it wasn't until Harry's first transport by Flue Powder, when instead of Diagon Alley, he said Diagonally that I caught the play on words! ::headdesk:: Obviously even when I read the books I didn't catch it, but I am going to blame that on the fact that before I read any of the books, I saw HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban, which hooked me, and I borrowed all of my #1 Boy's books and brought them home with me to read. I devoured them so quickly that I just must have skimmed over a lot of stuff! I don't know what it is about Snape, but as long as Alan Rickman is in that costume, he makes the girlybits quite happy! I'm not sure what it says about me that I get all hot and bothered by an evil one, and I've not seen him in anything else that makes me wanna just knock him over and have my wicked way with him, but whooeeeee! Maybe it's the hair… I LOVES me some long hair. Not that Jason Isaacs ever did it for me, even with all that hair as Lucious Malfoy, but then he was purely evil, and there was something just, umm, FREAKY about that bleached out white hair.

My little outside kitties are doing well. The kittens will come and eat if I'm sitting on the step, and they'll come up on the patio when I'm sitting out there. Mind you, they don't get within touching distance on the patio, but they don't run and hide where I can't see them. They will go under the deck, where they can see me, and I can see them, and I'm ok with that. This weekend I'm going to get my friend's trap and try to get mama trapped so I can have her spayed before she gets knocked up again! I have determined that the little creamy one with the points is a girl, and the little grey one is a boy. The tuxedo I can't tell for sure, but I'm leaning toward boy.

I think that's about it for tonite. I need to get better about this blogging thing, and perhaps with a little more work, I can manage that. I should really be doing more organizing of the stuff at my house. I think tomorrow I'm tackling the media room and getting stuff re-sorted so that when I get the storage room cleaned out I can put stuff that goes in there away.

KITTENS & Other Ramblings

A few days ago, noticed a mama cat in my back yard with a couple of kittens. Now, if you ask me, there's not much that's cuter than tiny little kittens romping, so of course I had to grab my camera. I took a few shots from inside the house, but being the cat person that I am, I just HAD to go outside. As long as I stayed on the patio, they eyed me warily, but didn't run to hide.

When I started to get a little closer, 2 of the kittens got inside some cinderblocks that are stacked on the platform at the back of my small shed, while the 3rd went to the side of the shed that's at the back of the yard, where it butts up near the fence. Mama went over to the corner behind the big shed. When I put my camera above the cinderblocks, the little grey kitten got quite ferocious, as I heard the tiniest little HISS coming from that opening.

Headed for safety You can't see us. Can you?? I'm sooo sleeeepy

Yesterday on my way home from running a few errands, I picked up some kitten chow, and when I went out to put it where they could get to it, Mama did lots of hissing, and stayed between the babies and me, but by the time I was back inside the house, she was gobbling down the food. Pretty soon the Tuxedo joined her, and in a few minutes, here came Grey. I never saw Creamy eating that day, other than nursing. Before they left the dish, they'd eaten every bite, and Mama had turned the dish over to make sure it was empty. This morning that scenario was repeated.

Naptime! Look at those little black toe pads!

This evening, I took out a different bowl, that is better suited to feeding and watering kittens. I saw everybody eat some, including Creamy, and there's still a pretty good bit left in the bowl. Perhaps Mama's decided that I won't take away what doesn't get eaten. They've moved from between the sheds to under the pool deck, which is closer to the food, and the kittens can get to the food without having to go across any of the open lawn, so I'm guessing that maybe she feels more secure there.

I have emailed Feral Friends and am hoping to work with them to trap all 4, socialize the kittens, have everybody spayed/neutered, and adopt out everyone who is deemed adoptable. I have a friend interested in Creamy, and another interested in Tuxedo, which just leaves Mama & Grey. I suspect, based on how quickly Mama seems to have accepted my presence, that she's a first generation feral, and I think she's not more than a year old, so perhaps she can be socialized (separately from her kittens) and be adopted as well, but we shall have to wait and see.

Tomorrow may be traumatic for everybody, as my landlord is coming to pump water off the cover of the pool, and in the evening I have friends coming over for a cookout. Hot as it is, though, I suspect that the only time there will be very many outside will be while we are actually cooking, and the 3 or 4 smokers will be in and out, I'm sure, but we are all animal people, and most of us familiar with ferals so I think we'll be able to ignore them and Mama won't freak out or anything.

My morning was a busy one, as I had to be in Arlington at 11 for a sorority meeting. It was my last meeting for awhile, as I've decided that I need to take a leave of absence. Beta Sigma Phi has been good for me, and frankly is largely the reason that I am the person that I am today. In 1990, when I pledged, I was 23, introverted, and had some self esteem issues. Seriously, when we were told to think about which offices we might be interested in, the following went through my head: "OK, President is out because I'm not pretty enough. Vice President is out because, well, that entails calling people I don't know and inviting them to a meeting NOT! Treasurer is out because I'm a math moron" I decided that I could be a pretty good secretary, whether it be Recording or Corresponding. Every time I had to call roll and read the minutes, I shook like a leaf, and was pretty sure my voice sounded all shaky. When it was my turn to lead the program, I thought I might faint. I spent a little over a year in that chapter before I moved away. It was several months before I found another chapter, but that is the chapter in which I blossomed. I think perhaps part of it was that I was the only chapter member (aside from our 2 Advisors) that had experienced Beta Sigma Phi from the standpoint of a member, rather than a legacy, as well as being the oldest (by a year or two) in the chapter, so the ladies looked to me for leadership. By the time I left that chapter several years later, my absolute favorite office to hold (and I'd held all of them by then) was Vice President, because I believed in the organization and what it stands for, and I loved being able to share it. I was not involved for several years, partially because of the circumstances under which I left, and partially because I had enough other stuff going on that I didn't feel I could devote the time that I felt I should. A few years ago notified International that I thought I would like to be involved again, and they put me on the transferee list that is sent to chapters in the area. I received calls from a couple of chapters in town and visited both. The first one I knew one of the ladies, because we'd been next door neighbors when I was living with Mom, and after she died, while I was still in her house. Unfortunately, at that time, she was the youngest in that chapter, and she was 15 years or so older than I am. The other chapter I visited had a wide age range, and I discovered that one of the ladies also enjoys Scarborough Faire. I joined that chapter and enjoyed it very much for several years. Like all groups of women, we had our fair share of drama and issues. Over the years, it seemed to escalate and I started feeling that most people were going along with what one or two wanted just to keep the peace. A few people transferred to another chapter in the area that they felt would better meet their needs, for whatever reasons. I stuck it out, probably longer than I should have, but last year, when I moved to my current house, I found myself about 15 miles from my nearest sorority sister, and easily an hour from the one who is the farthest from me. Gradually it became a chore for me to make it to meetings, and eventually, I was having to choose between making a meeting and getting up and making it to work the next day. My Leave of Absence is not a full and complete departure from the chapter, but rather a hiatus. I think that if I elect not to become active after a year's leave, I become a Member at Large. We'll see how I feel in 6 months or a year.

A couple of years ago, one of my sorority sisters introduced me the the International Wenches Guild and a whole new group of friends that have become very much like family to me. Now, if not for Beta Sigma Phi, I would not only have the confidence that I have, but I would not have found the IWG. Since I became a wench, I have again blossomed, and have really come to fully appreciate myself and all of my quirks.

that's enough random musing I think for tonite. Tomorrow's a busy day

The End of a Season

Last week I posted about the end of faire, and you know, well, the funk didn't REALLY set in until today. This weekend was Texas Scottish Festival in Arlington. For many of the rennies in the area, myself included, it marks the true end of our Spring Faire season. Often, TSF, which is held beginning the first Friday of June, is the weekend immediately after Scarby closes on Memorial Day. The last couple of years, we've had a weekend to rest in between, which is especially good for the traveling entertainers and vendors who participate in Scarby and TSF both, because they have a weekend in between, instead of getting home (in many cases close to midnight) on Memorial Day Monday, then having to turn around on Friday and come right back again. It occurred to me last night, that there are several people that I've seen a great deal of over the past, ohhh, 3 months, and I (and my cats, to be completely honest) have become accustomed to seeing them every week, or every other week. If I'm able to find work and get things arranged, AND they participate in Dickens on the Strand in December, I will see them again in 6 months. Yeah, that's a REALLY long dry spell. Especially considering that last year, I only had to wait 4 months, then 2 months, then 3 months. Yeah, I'm pretty spoiled to seeing them regularly and I'm going to miss them terribly over the next few months. It's possible that I might see one of them when I go to Sterling next month, but that's kind of a 'cross our fingers and hope we can work it out' sort of situation. I'm pretty sure that there is a meltdown coming in the next several days, so we'll see what happens, right? My weekend began Friday night with my youngest nephew's high school graduation. If I wasn't so puffed up with pride over their accomplishments, I'd be jealous of his and his older brother's brains! Stevie graduated 7th in his class with multiple honors. Yeah, I was really happy to be in the 3rd quarter of my class, I could NEVER have made 7th, and certainly not Valedictorian like his brother did. I was running late, which made the Queen of Early that's inside me absolutely NUTS like nobody's business, but I was NOT the last to arrive! After graduation we went to dinner, and then back to the house, where I gave Stevie my old laptop. I suppose it speaks volumes as to my addiction to my laptop that once I spilled the water on the old one and I couldn't get it to work within a day, I went and replaced it. Now, in my defense, I HAD already been considering upgrading to increase the size of my hard drive, because in a year and a half I'd filled up like 70% of the old one, so it wasn't a totally spur of the moment purchase. Stevie really felt like between all the geeks that live in their house, he could get it up and running again. Yeah, he was in business practically before I got home that night! He's replacing the keyboard module or somesuch thing that I've no clue about, but hey, the computer was revived, he's got a great tool for when he starts college in the fall, and I'm quite happy that despite my unemployment (which DID come AFTER the 'demise' of the laptop) I was able to give him something awesome for graduation. At any rate, it's been a busy weekend, I've either got a low grade fever or a mild sunburn (sunblock nazi FAIL), and I've gotten through today on about 5 hours of sleep, so I think it's off to bed for me. Tomorrow is a trip to Weatherford so my NY sister can meet the awesomeness that is Our Molly (my & tom's sweet little short-legged deaf kitty who lives at Erin's), Thumbelina (Erin's short-legged hairless kitty-a bambino), Blondie (Erin's other Sphynx) and the other kitties that live there.