So…. I’m way behind the times. I just got around to seeing “The Butterfly Effect”. Overall it was watchable. The ending was traumatic to any “hopeless romantic” but reality for 99.9% of the population of the world since the beginning of time. Except for the fact that they passed by in a crowd. That kind of special karmic sadism is reserved for a special few.
I’ve been thinking about my life and my friendships. I think I lived most of my life making good choices and judgements — having good judgement and doing what I knew was right. I didn’t have any major problems or huge mistakes as some people do. I’ve always believed that you minimize your problems in life if you strive to do what is right and make choices from a good moral viewpoint. Then, when I reached about age 40, I made a couple big mistakes/poor choices. When I did make a poor choice, it had to be a big one. And, it cost me the only life-long true friendship I ever had. I’ve always had a pretty restrictive definition of true friendship. I’ve believed that true friendship was not what people commonly call being friends. What people commonly call “friends”, is what we called “acquaintances”. He and I both had the same viewpoint on friendship. We had talked about the saying of how true friendship was like one soul in two bodies and we thought it applied to our friendship. My father always said, “If you have one true friend in your life, you’re lucky.” I was lucky. We thought we would always be friends; true friends. And we were for 30+ years. I tried to be a true friend to him. Then, I ruined that friendship. We’ve made an effort to maintain the friendship since; but the friendship we’ve had since then is not like the one before. I wanted to fix it completely even though I don’t know that it’s possible. I think he doesn’t really desire to have the friendship, and I don’t blame him. I never would have dreamed I would have been in this place, especially of my own doing. I think I will never forgive myself. I think I will never have a good opinion of myself again.
This adorable little thing is the newest addition to my family. PETA would make me out as evil for doing such a thing. I leave it up to you to decide, but check out my Political Truths Blog for the truth about PETA.
The kitten is becoming more tamed and is liking attention now. She still has a bit of training, but is coming along nicely. The cat… that’s a different story. Yesterday, she let me have it because I had carried the kitten inside to get her food. So, the cat was a couple of feet inside and started growling, and hissing at the kitten in my hand. I reached the other hand out to pet her head and she let me have it. So, then I put the kitten back in the carrier and went to put the cat downstairs as punishment. I had to put on gloves and she “went ballistic” on me. Then the dog tried to get in on the action and I had to grab her head to prevent her from getting involved. I finally got cat with an attitude in the basement and into solitude for awhile.
I had 3 clients tell me (yet again) that I look like I am in my late 20s to 30. It’s a pretty common occurrence, so I guess I look much younger than my years.
I haven’t commented on the kittens for a couple of days. The first caught kitten has now been delivered to the animal shelter where I’m sure he will be adopted quickly. I caught my Bob-Tail Calico. She’s getting tamed down pretty good now. So, I brought her inside for the first time this evening for introductions. The older white cat didn’t like the idea of another cat invading her space. She looked at it, scowled, and sat for a long time looking “through” it. Then, I picked her up and put her beside me on the couch to give her some attention in the presence of the kitten. She hissed once when the kitten was a little too close for her liking. But, overall she did well. The funny thing was when I started to move and the kitten moved. She jumped quickly and ran, as if she had been scared by the little kitten. I haven’t introduced the kitten to the inside dog, yet. One step at a time.
I was standing in my workshop today (which is a partially unfinished top floor of a two-car garage) when I heard a noise outside the door. It sounded like squirrels or chipmunks chattering. I stepped out to see what the noise was about and saw two Red Squirrels (NOT Fox Squirrels) bickering and chasing each other through the maple trees. As I watched, they ran through the trees and all of a sudden they fell about 50-70 feet to the ground with a very *loud* thump! They landed about 15 feet from my dog and were still bickering and standing off, nose to nose with each other. As dog started to rise, they ran back up the same maple tree and proceeded from tree to tree until they went through the pine and then one of them jumped to another maple, onto the roof of the garage and disappeared. This one was moving more slowly now — even more slowly than the initial running after the fall — as if exhausted or possibly stunned. I didn’t see the other one, so I stepped back into my workshop. As I made my way to the other end to work on the client’s computer, I noticed noises inside. As I looked over, the red squirrel climbed onto some boxes, looked at me, chattered, and ran back from where it came. Then it came back up, looked at me again and proceeded toward it’s destination in the corner near some boxes. I walked to the other end of the shop to retrieve something and as I turned toward my work, I heard more noises and saw what I thought was the same squirrel. It headed toward the first destination again, and then I knew it was the second squirrel. They started fighting and were running, chattering, screaming and rolling around. As they made their way toward the garage area knocking things over, it became apparent to me that this was not a minor squabble and wasn’t likely to end soon. So, I guess I’m living in the middle of a squirrel war zone…. a turf battle…. something.
You can learn more about Red Squirrels here:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2581494B
or at the blog title link above.
I trapped one of the kittens today. I discovered that a small (squirrel sized) Hav-A-Hart trap is perfect size for kittens. So, I set up the trap and caught one; the one with the tail. She’s a dark stripe on white color. She has a very expressive face. I think one has already been caught, so that leaves three. Momma cat was concerned, but didn’t get radical on my butt. 🙂 She’s actually very good natured and likes people, but has been afraid so long that she’s going to need to unlearn some negative training.
I worked with it some and I am sure it will tame quickly. I think about two days of proper (understanding and gentle) handling will have a perfectly functional kitten. I think I have someone in mind for a good home. I’m not sure, though.
This is the stray bob-tailed cat that took up residence under my sister’s house to have a litter of kittens. There are 5 kittens — 4 without tails and one with — that are proving extremely difficult to catch. The mama is starting to settle down, but she’s still pretty skittish. She let me hold her the other day and seems to really like the attention, but she has been afraid; presumably because of some mistreatment. I plan to try to catch the kittens. I might adopt one of them. There is one that looks to be the perfect color — bright orange and black calico. She’d be a nice cat, I think.
