Miscellany

When I said "Basta Ya, lady, that's enough" - it just seemed appropriate. Basta Ya was her full name, "That's Enough!" is the translation. It was given her as a kitten when she was hyperactive. She was a great huntress in her middle years. But 21 years, as sorry as I was to see her go, are a good long run for a cat. That is, in the end, enough - in a very different way than we first said it to/of her.

We will almost certainly get another cat. Babe is being very cuddly and affectionate, she always is, but even moreso. I think she needs a companion, when we're at work, and I like cats. As my allergies are behaving (in general, they're being brats this week), I think this would be good. So Friday we take Babe into the vet. Kitty needs a diet, but she also needs to be tested for the nasty diseases like feline leukemia. They were indoor-outdoor cats. I didn't worry about them exposing each other - they'd lived together four years in the same conditions. But if she has anything, I want to know, so I can choose a cat with the same disease, rather than a healthy one. I doubt she does, and I'm hoping it's all good, but I want to know first. That will take until next Friday...and then it isn't long until our GenCon weekend. So, probably Babe will be an only cat for a month or so before we start seriously looking into finding her a friend. The local no-kill shelter is my source of preference, in particular because I'm hoping they'll let me foster the chosen cat for a few weeks to be sure they get on, before adopting. I don't want to take a cat in and then find they need to go back, and not have a place for them. I doubt it will happen, but....

The Harry & David fruit shipment this month is peaches. I will be so glad when this fruit thing ends. They have a habit of showing up the day after I buy fruit! There's a Harry & David store a half hour away, or I can order online, if I want to get specific stuff when I choose. Not that these aren't good. They are good. They are just - here when they feel like it. So today I find a recipe and make something with peaches in. Probably cobbler. We'll see.

I no move. As I type this paragraph, Babe has her head on my shoe, paws wrapped around it. And her back half sprawled over one of my bare feet. I no move. It would disturb the cat. (She's gonna be disappointed when I have to go deal with laundry, or cooking, or something, isn't she?)

Yesterday, my order from Sidhe Creations came in. More perfume oils. (I encountered the woman who does this via BPAL decanting, so was interested to see what she came up with.) They smell nice in the sample vials. I do not know if they smell nice on, except for one that I tried. My allergies are acting up something fierce. I think it's the heat, the time of year, the fact that we have a flowering plant in the house right now, all that.

I was so sad to sleep in/wake late this morning. For two weeks, I have not slept in because I have been up at six even on weekends, to give Basta her medicine. I am not sorry that I get to sleep, but waking late, on a weekend even, hurt. It will stop hurting in time, probably fairly soon, since that pattern was only the last two weeks.

The friend who cat-sat while we were on vacation brought by a card, and a catnip plant, as a memorial for Basta. So...as a memorial for my sweet lady, we will encourage the remaining cat to tear the house apart? *laughing* Seriously, it was very cool and oddly appropriate and I think Babe will appreciate it. I just find it faintly humorous. Which is good; something to laugh at is good.

I was out at my parents' house on Friday, and I saw one of the 'kittens' (not any more!) from last year, at least, I assume he was. He came up on the back porch (outside), but fled when I went out - too wild to approach. A tan-brown-black tabby, elegant, not too lean. He looks like he's been eating okay, so the lack of food in their/our barn has done him no harm. The prospects for a wild cat out there aren't that good, but I wish that one (and any others) the best of luck. Not much else I can really do for them....

Suddenly I need to figure out what I'm reading next. No more Harry Potter; the sequel to The Assassin King isn't out; etc. Bah, humbug.

Mom almost never posted, over at pheontoo, but she read. Rarely did she even comment. Her userpic was an image of Basta. (Semagic says userpic is not a word. That's funny. I think I'll tell it that it is, though.)

And now I post this, disturb the cat who is still on my foot, and go get stuff done around the house.