10/7/03

Well, we’ve had to seperate Sophie from her babies. She’s doing things like un-litter box training them. Is she a freak or what? When they get into the box to use the bathroom she meows at them and drags them out of the litter box. I read on all the kitten raising pages that once the kittens started eating solid foods their waste would taste yucky. Mom wouldn’t want to clean them up anymore and eat their waste so she’d let them just use the box. Not Sophie. All the kittens are eating solid food now, the hard food even. They’re also drinking water from a bowl. So that’s it, we’re officially weaning them. We’ll let Sophie be around them a little in the evenings but all day while we’re at work and all night she’s going to be locked away from them. The kittens are starting to show more of a need for independence. They’re starting to hiss at Sophie and poof all up. They run from her when she tries to pick them up. They’re ready for some time away from mom. They’re progressing quickly. I’ve got to get some more pictures taken tonight.

I’ve got to clean fish tanks tonight. Ugh, too much to do. Murphy passed away a couple days ago. He had this strange illness. When I looked it up I found out that no one really knows how to cure it. They said sometime’s it clears up on it’s own, sometimes it turns out to be fatal. I medicated Murphy and he started looking better so I was optimistic, after a few days though he took a turn for the worse. Sunday morning I woke up and he was gone. I’m definitely not putting a new fish in his tank for a long while. I don’t know how contagious that illness is. I’m down to 5 fish, hubby still has his one. I have Larry, I’ve had him for nearly 2 years now, same amount of time as hubby has had his fish Moe. I’ve had Clyde about a year, and I have three other’s I’ve had for a few months. Arthur, Marvin and Amos. 2 years is about the average lifespan for a captive betta but I’m hoping we’ll get lucky with Larry and Moe, they were the first bettas we ever got. My grandma got me into this hobby. Last time we went to Oklahoma she had this fish on her coffee table. I was really surprised when she told me what it was, a betta. I had to have one, and that’s how I got my Larry. 🙂

I hate traveling in between seasons. I’m not sure what clothes to take with me on the trip. I guess a combination of short and long sleeves and a jacket. I guess it doesn’t matter too much, I’ll be doing laundry at the hotel anyway. I can’t stand cigarette smoke and my mom and step-dad are heavy smokers so I’ll be tossing a load in the wash every night we visit her anyway. That reminds me, I need to pick up some allergy medicine. Last time we went to Oklahoma I ended up missing work the week we got back from the way my body reacted to the smoke. There’s a lot more smoking down there than there is up here. I didn’t feel great most of the trip and ended up with bronchitis after we got back. Needless to say I felt pretty shitty missing a week of work right after vacation, my boss understood though, afterall I sounded REALLY sick.

By the way, if anyone is interested we have a webcam set up on the kittens. It’s only on while we’re at work so it’ll only work until about 3:30pm EST. I turn it off when I get home cuz no one needs to see me sitting in there in my PJ’s. 🙂 It’s at the following URL: http://dreamstages.thebbs.org:81/