the Prismatic Dragon
a personal journal

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Friday, November 04, 2005

I have a LitterMaid catbox for my two cats.  I originally bought it in April 2005.  It broke just before our Vegas vacation in October.  The scooping mechanism just stopped scooping.

So, I called up the manufacturer, reported the trouble, and they instructed me to send them the battery compartment cover, and part of the power adapter (cut about six inches from where it plugs into the littler box).

I do so, and the replacement arrives on Wednesday.  They just send a whole new unit.  Cool!  A free replacement!

I set it up tonight, and noted that my old one and the “new” one were different colors.  No biggie, I thought.  Who cares what color the box is, right?

It wasn’t until I toted the broken litterbox out to the garage in the cardboard box of the new one and saw the original cardboard box in the garage, that I realized why they were different colors.

My original one was a newer model.  I got an older model to replace my broken one. 
😡

I guess beggars can’t be chosers, but still, it would have been nice if they’d replaced it with the same model rather than one that’s probably been sitting in their warehouse for lord knows how long.  Grr.


Posted by Niki on 11/04 at 03:42 AM
AnimalsRants and complainingPermalink

Here’s a gift for you, mom!  Love, Hobbes

Friday, April 08, 2005

Hobbes barfed on me this morning.

He hopped into my lap while I was sitting at my desk, like he usually does, to cuddle with me.  He dry heaved.  I said, “Oh no you don’t”, and tried push him off, but it was too late.  He heaved a second time, *GAK!*

It wasn’t much, and was mostly liquid.  It happened so fast it was more or less projectile, but splattered mostly on the floor.  A tiny bit of digested food landed on my chair and my pantleg.

MMmm. Thanks, Hobbes.  🙄


Posted by Niki on 04/08 at 03:33 PM
AnimalsPermalink

new toy of torture…

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

I’m on a roll here.. two posts about my cats.  Ha!

Anyway, last night when I went shopping for dinner fixins, I bought an empty spray bottle.  The cats have been getting into trouble recently (they’re four years old this year, what the heck is up with that?), by climbing up on areas they’re not allowed, tearing up some carpet near the bathroom (I can only assume to chase after a twist tie), and trying to sneak into my office and to where they couldn’t go before (since it’s a lot cleaner now than it used to be).

So, I bought the bottle, brought it home and filled it with water.  I used to do this with a water pistol, but eventually the cats (specifically, Fawkes) started to not care if they were sprayed.  Hobbes has always been deathly afraid of water (he will freak if even one tiny drop lands on him), but with Fawkes, it comes and goes.  Sometimes he could care less, other times he runs.

With this newly filled water bottle, all I have to do is point it in the general direction of Hobbes, and he bolts like a bat out of hell.  Fawkes, for now, is running when I spray him with the water.  We’ll see how long this lasts for him.  I kind of home he doesn’t get accustomed to it, and that it doesn’t lose its usefullness with him, because he’s the worst at trying to sneak into my office.

While it’s not exactly fair, I do let Hobbes into my office, because all he wants to do is either sit on my lap, on my chair behind my back, or on the top of the back of the chair.  At least, while I’m in here.  If I’m not in here, he’ll go exploring behind various pieces of furniture.

Fawkes, on the other hand, has ulterior motives when coming in here.  Being that he is obsessed with twist ties, and he knows there are some in here, that is primarily why he tries to sneak in.  If I happen to leave my office door open a crack when Josh calls me into his office to watch a movie trailer, for instance, by the time I return to my office, the door is ajar and Fawkes is on my chair with his neck outstretched toward my desk (sometimes his paws are on the desk) searching for twist ties.  Or, if I happen to be using some wire to create an armature for a sculpture and there are bits of wire laying about, he’ll go for those.  It’s all the same to him.  But as soon as I enter my office if he’s doing that, he runs.  He knows he isn’t allowed in my office, yet he continually tries.

As I’ve been writing this, he’s tried twice to come into my office, and both times I’ve shooed him away with the water bottle.  I have to leave the door open while I’m in here, otherwise I’ll have both cats pawing at the door and whining.

But anyway, I expect to have a little fun with the water bottle, if even for a short time.  I think it may work best if I can catch Fawkes off-guard while he non-chalantly strides into my office like he owns the place.  */water bottle at the ready/*


Posted by Niki on 03/15 at 12:14 PM
Animals • (0) CommentsPermalink

easy to fool…

My cat, that is.

Fawkes lets us know when he’s hungry.  Unfortunately his bowl could be half full, and he’d still complain he needs food.

So, we decided to start fooling him.  We pick up the bowl, carry it over to where the food is stored, dig into food with the scoop, and act like we’re dumping more food into the dish.  Shake the dish a bit to “fluff” the food, and then set the food back on the floor.

He’s fallen for it at least twice.

Well, I never did claim he was very intelligent.


Posted by Niki on 03/15 at 10:41 AM
Animals • (0) CommentsPermalink

little visitor…

Saturday, December 11, 2004

We arrived safely in Orlando yesterday afternoon.

Today we chose to go to Animal Kingdom first.  Before leaving the park at around noon, we stopped at one of the restaurants there and had barbeque chicken sandwiches.

While we sat & ate, a couple of very brave squirrels scampered around our feet.  Literally.  In between our feet, around and around…



One of them got so close that Josh, who was wearing shorts, felt it brush against his leg.

Hell, we think it even tried to climb his leg!  :wow:  Josh says he felt two little paws touch his leg, freaking him out a little.. We were laughing our asses off.

Josh was saying the squirrels had less fear in them than our own cats do… When we stomp our foot in the general direction of our cats, they usually bolt.  These squirrels though, they barely batted an eye when we stomped at them.

There were also a couple of mallard duck pairs wandering about looking for food, as well as an Ibis crane (I think that’s what it is)... I’ll try to post some more photos of those later, but I just had to put one up of one of the squirrels before we head to bed…


Posted by Niki on 12/11 at 11:07 PM
Animals • (0) CommentsPermalink

the best $10 we’ve ever spent…

Monday, June 28, 2004

This:

laser pointer


image


We’re getting a kick out of watching the cats try to chase it.

The best part is fixing the light on one of their paws… then they see it, and try to lift their paw to shake it off…

And we can get them to chase it in a circle.  Ha!!

Friggin hilarious!


Posted by Niki on 06/28 at 02:13 AM
Animals • (2) CommentsPermalink

kitties like yarn…

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

If I wasn’t in such a foul mood this morning, I may have actually found this a little humorous.  Who knows, maybe you will.

I was sitting here at my computer, with a newly started knitted blanket in my lap, reading some of Mac’s entries from this morning.  I suddenly felt a tugging at the knitting, but at first didn’t think anything of it.

The tugging got a little harder so I turned around, only to see one of my cats with the strand of yarn in his mouth.  The little shit was pulling the yarn out of my office, but since the skein is still way too heavy, he was merely unravelling it.  Little putz!  He was halfway down the hallway before I was able to get it loose from him.

Good thing acrylic is washable.  Icky kitty spittle.  Puey.  😕


Posted by Niki on 06/22 at 10:58 AM
AnimalsKnitting Stuff • (1) CommentsPermalink

strange animals

Monday, November 03, 2003
One of our cats has developed an odd phobia..

and it's not the cat we would have expected this sort of thing from.

Now that it's cooled off in Phoenix, we've shut off our A/C and have taken to opening the windows in our house, and leaving them open, all day (as long as we're home), and most of the night (while we're awake). While we sleep, we'll leave one or two windows open.
Posted by Niki on 11/03 at 04:15 PM
Animals • (3) CommentsPermalink

there is one small problem with cleaning my kitchen…

Thursday, September 11, 2003
It gives my cats the idea that they now have permission to get on the counter tops (usually while we're sleeping) and roam around, 'cause there's nothing to impede them anymore (i.e. clutter).

I made the mistake of leaving a microwave bacon cooker on the counter after I made myself some bacon & eggs last night for dinner.

How'd that bacon grease taste, fellas? Mmmm..

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go wash the bacon cooker.
Posted by Niki on 09/11 at 03:19 PM
Animals • (0) CommentsPermalink

not for the faint of heart…

Saturday, August 09, 2003
So as I was getting ready for work, I gathered my things (keys, purse, soda) and opened the door to the garage, looked down, and froze in my tracks.

WARNING: If you are squeemish about bugs in general, or have a fear of spiders or scorpions, do not click the links to view the images. You have been warned!
Posted by Niki on 08/09 at 12:46 PM
Animals • (1) CommentsPermalink

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