Laura

Happy New Year ('s Eve)

2026-01-01T04:43:12Z

I'm not planning to stay up until midnight local, so I will share this wish now. May 2026 be good to all of us.

I have celebrated by changing my default profile picture to a photo my youngest took of me earlier in December.

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The Friday Five: misc

2025-11-07T17:51:32Z

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/145281.html

1. What’s harder to live without, chocolate or alcohol?

I was about to say chocolate, because I cannot stand the taste of alcohol. But honestly, while I love chocolate and would like to have it, rubbing alcohol is actually useful for its purpose, so I might have to go with that. (In the end, absent disinfection needs, both can be done without. As far as food, I vastly prefer chocolate. But.)

2. Does the colour yellow remind you of anything?

Daffodils, the sun, and not much else.

3. Who most annoyed you last week?

Me. Look, forgetting to do things and scrambling to catch up isn't fun.

4. Do you have a cutesy romantic nickname for your partner (or previous partners)?

That is between me and him. I do have cutesy (but not romantic, obvs) nicknames for the kids. And I will not share them either, because they would be rightfully annoyed.

Kala and Maria, however, are "kitchen kitten" or "chaos kitten" or "mighty huntress" (Kala only) or "sili-cat" / "silly cat", among many other things. (They are not kittens. They are still kittens. Chaos kittens go zooming through the halls and then launch, still at running speed, to the top of the cat stand.)

5. What is your favourite Stephen King movie?

This one's easy. I don't like horror in general, but I do like _Firestarter_ which...walks a line, a little bit, at least in movie form. Mostly I'm not a Stephen King fan, but that movie I do enjoy, on occasion.

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I am vexed at this vaccine. Or rather, trying to get it.

2025-10-24T21:42:16Z

Walk into my local CVS with an appointment reserved for RSV vaccine. Get ignored for 25 minutes due to confusion (I think) on the part of the pharmacist not realizing I was there despite having checked in and the tech having told him I was there. Get told my appointment was canceled because I don't qualify for the RSV vaccine.

I blink at him. "I'm over 50; I have conditions that make me vulnerable; my doctor told me to get it."

He says I have to be over 60 for that to count. Which, you know, does not match what the CDC's page says even now.... https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/vaccines/index.html

At any rate, he says I have to have a prescription. So I go home and send a message to my doctor, who sends in a prescription. I schedule an appointment. I get a text message that my appointment was canceled. I immediately rebook for that Saturday (having had a Monday appointment).

I go in anyway to ask what's up. I get told they do not have the vaccine in stock. (I wonder whether, if they'd had it in stock, they'd have given it to me the first time....) At this point I say I will wait and see and if they still don't have it Saturday will try elsewhere.

I should have just canceled that and scheduled elsewhere, because of course they still didn't have it, but the weekend got hectic. I could try to find somewhere to get it THIS weekend, but Scott will be out of town for a business trip for three days this week and I don't want to be dragging from a vaccine.

So, my current plan is to find some place with it in stock and schedule for next Saturday, after he's back.

I am reminding myself that this is NOT a seasonal vaccine and is currently considered a once-and-done vaccine, but geez, I'd just like to get it done so it's not hovering on my "to do someday soon-ish" list.

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The Friday Five: Near

2025-10-24T17:29:46Z

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/144788.html

1. What do you see when you are looking out of the window closest to you?

Rain, hedges, neighbor's house, our car, sidewalk, street, vans from some construction group or other (neighbor next to us, not the house I can see across the way, is remodeling something-or-other).

2. Who was the last person coming into your room?

My oldest, on break from online school, to hang with me and the cats for a bit.

3. What is the most predominant colour around you?

If I count the generic walls and blinds and such, white. Otherwise, brown - a fair amount of natural wood and similar colorway art in the office.

4. What is right behind you?

Scott's personal computer and desk and all. Wait, no, RIGHT behind me is the air conditioner which helps keep a small room with many computers from overheating them (or us) in the summer. It's off for the season but I haven't put it away yet.

5. What is on today's calendar sheet?

NOTHING. Today is entirely routine. (Which means it includes school for the boys, housework for me, errands to run, and joy of joys - gaming night tonight with the gaming group. But none of those are a calendar entry. They're just life's routine.)

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The Friday Five: DW

2025-10-17T19:14:19Z

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/144587.html

1. How long ago did you join LJ (or DW)?

Oh heck I do not know. I joined Dreamwidth in 2009, but LJ...LJ was before that. My parents were still alive, and in fact also joined LJ. My earliest entry is from September 2005 so I'm going to guess around then, maybe.

2. How did you find out about LJ (or DW)?

A friends-group I was part of on another site moved over there and told me about it. I can't remember which site it was any more, some kind of diary site.

3. If someone introduced you to LJ (or DW), is s/he still on your friends list?

At least some of them still are. I don't know if they still use it, but they're still there!

4. Have you introduced anyone to LJ (or DW)?

I have definitely brought over some other friends in time, some of whom have already moved on (maybe all of whom). I've mentioned it to more people without ever knowing whether they joined.

5. Is your LJ (or DW) public or friends only, and why?

Some posts are personal and are locked to friends-only or even to a subset of friends, either for my own privacy or that of my family/friends. But most of the casual babble (like this) is public. I'm trying to post more often but when I do I'm happy to chat with whoever / about whatever or be seen by anyone who wants to. And some people who know about my journal don't have an account. I doubt they check in much either but if they want to they are welcome to.

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Friday Five: senses

2025-10-03T17:42:38Z

1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?

Not really; more I know. I mean, sometimes I wonder if it's more different than I realize, but I know very well just how different the world can look with and without my glasses - and I had bad vision even as a child and didn't get glasses until five or so; I imagine that affects how I process things visually, somewhat.

2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?

Ones I have to do something about (or actively not-do something about if it's something I normally might respond to). A song I like on infinite loop is fine; "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom." will get old fast. White-noise "rain sounds" are great, a slow and steady drip from the shower is agony.

3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?

Somehow I started by envisioning running my hands over everything, which just seems weird to me. But then I thought about it. I DO use my hands to judge the ripeness of some fruits and vegetables if they otherwise look good; and I do run fingers over fabric if I'm otherwise considering a piece of clothing. So in a few cases, yes, but otherwise no.

4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Are they the only things I can ever smell *when they're present*, or the only things I can smell, which I may smell if they're not? Different answers, though not much different.

Vanilla, cinnamon, and a crisp clear mint if the former. If the latter, sub out the mint for the smell of clean air after a good rain, because sometimes one needs a relaxing non-scent.

5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?

Sweets, especially chocolates. Tea, sometimes (sometimes it's just a warm beverage!). Steak.

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/144035.html

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Back to (as) normal (as we get)

2025-09-25T15:01:20Z

Scott's jury duty didn't sort out as quickly as I hoped, it was a significant trial and they spent three days on jury selection. Which was a bit stressful because I wanted answers. In the end, he was not one of the selected jurors, so our schedule goes back to normal now. For which I am very grateful, the morning routine is easier with two adults on it!

Tomorrow is a day off for everyone. Not sure what we will do with it. Except I will be returning the cans because the drop bin for bags of cans is usually pretty empty in the mornings. Really I should have done it at the beginning of this week, except see the morning routine with only one of us home!

Also tomorrow I get my flu and covid shots. By Monday I should be back at my normal, but it's going to be another "I love vaccinations but I hate the after-effects" weekend, probably.

Worth it.

One of the cats made an odd noise this morning and I was worried they'd been hurt, but investigation just revealed they had found a spider. Poor spider. Generally I don't mind spiders, they are doing good in the world, but I'm not going to rescue them from a hunting cat in their own house either. Presumably it's been eaten by now, that is the usual fate.

Better than the things a friend's cat eats! He's needed surgery before to get bits of foam or plastic out. She's watching him to see if half a noseplug (swimming) comes out safely at the moment I believe...hope he retains his health, but not the noseplug. Yikes.

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This online programming course is not impressing me.

2025-09-22T19:25:11Z

Oh, it's not my course. Oldest is doing it for high school credit. So far either it omitted or he missed a simple but key step in setup. Given he's a high-schooler, I'd normally chalk that up to reading the instructions too fast.

Except it also had him copy/paste an imperfect program about ages, which he did, and build it until he cleared all the errors, which he did. And then claimed it would output his name and address. Which, fortunately for my sanity, it was not able to do without those having been input to it.

What the heck....

Yes, I will send an email to the school later. Getting the lesson name and info to let the online coordinator know about it will mean using his chromebook, which he needs to use to do other schoolwork. That is hopefully not attempting to make a psychic computer.

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I'd like to order a resupply of sorts, please.

2025-09-21T22:14:18Z

I am tired and out of them. But I know why: I got the second dose of the shingles vaccine yesterday. On the plus side, the local reaction isn't as bad this go-round as it was for the first. On the minus side, the tired factor is at least as bad, maybe worse. But it will pass soon, and I'd far rather be tired for a few days than get shingles.

We will see how much chaos this week does or doesn't bring. I've kept it fairly light on appointments, because Scott is going in for jury duty tomorrow. After tomorrow we'll know if he gets seated and hopefully know more of whether that means I'm soloing school drop-off/pick-up or not the rest of the week. It is doable, but not fun. The busiest piece of the morning starts about 8 am, so if he is at jury duty he won't be helping with that. (The middle school starts at 9:15 am. Whee.)

At least the various decisions on the covid vaccine are all sorted out and we can get them scheduled now, and insurance should cover them. It was uncertain there for a bit, and I'm just as glad to have a clear answer.

The cats remain adorable. It has taken some effort to get Kala to stop trying to nap on our oldest's chromebook while he's doing online school, but she seems to settle for curling up behind it now.

Other than cats on keyboard, so far the school year is going well. And as always the school staff / teachers / etc. here are great. Possibly a little strained this year with the budget cuts, which is not ideal; I hope they're not running toward burnout.

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Friday Five

2025-09-12T15:52:32Z

1. What is your favourite fruit?

Marionberries, although blueberries are a close second.

2. What is the last book you read?

Regent's Mate by Glynn Stewart. Love that series.

3. Do you like any of your school photos?

As photos of me? Not terribly. As memories and reminders of the time? Sure.

4. Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker?

Wh -- what?

5. What was the last film you watched?

Unless watching over my son's shoulder as he does instructional videos for online school counts, that would be Five Nights At Freddy's. Also with my son, as it happens.

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Friday Five: Food

2025-08-08T19:55:43Z

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/141995.html

1. What is one food (or meal) you used to hate but now love?

Brussel sprouts! Things I did not expect to learn to like...but prepared crisp in the oven, I quite enjoy them.

2. If you had to give up one of your favorite foods (or meals) for good, what would it be, and why?

Cheese. I'm already a good part of the way there thanks to significant lactose intolerance plus a tetchy gut, and much as I hate to give it up entirely, it would probably be good for me to do so, between that and the saturated fat content.

3. Which food seems like it should be healthy and isn't, and do you eat it? Why?

Most muffins. The amount of salt, sugar, and fat in some of them is such that I might as well eat a candy bar - although muffins are better for fiber, and fruits/veg if you pick the right one. I still eat them, but sparingly. If I make my own - which requires me to be less lazy - then I can do better for salt/fat, and sugar is less of a problem for me anyway. But sometimes I just have store-bought.

4. If you were an item of food, personified, what would you be and why?

A human being, same as I am now. One who hopes, despite being edible, that no one is put in the position of the Donner party ever again.

5. You've seen tomatoes and pies used for this purpose ... now think of a more inventive item of food one could throw at someone. What is it and why would throwing it at someone be hilarious?

If you're being good-spirited, showering someone with popcorn and leaving them with it all in their hair and clothes would be funny.

If you're upset but still want the funny end of upset, a raw egg would be messy and funny, but also really annoying to the target.

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Just felt like saying this

2025-02-23T05:39:01Z

I can so carry a tune in a bucket. Sheet music doesn’t take up that much space, just have to bend it to fit.

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Happy Thanksgiving

2024-11-28T20:09:36Z

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it today, and happy Thursday to those who don't.

And for anyone who is having a rough time of whatever type, I send caring and hope it gets better in whatever way it can.

Meanwhile, I share a brief and silly story to brighten your day. We are having Thanksgiving dinner at home, and I don't normally cook a Thanksgiving dinner - let alone a full turkey. But as I was able to get a free one at the store while buying what I would have anyway, I am in fact cooking a whole turkey. Plus miscellaneous sides and so on, though at this stage there's very little left to be done other than application of heat and some mixing for some of them.

But! I was planning out tucking the roasting pan and the sheet pan the rolls will be on back in the oven to cool (so they won't be on the counter when I need that counter space!) later on. At the same time I was getting a kid some microwave pasta because it's hours yet until the feast and he was hungry now.

So I put on the oven gloves to take the bowl from the microwave (four minutes makes for a very hot glass bowl, and I prefer not to burn my hands), moved it to the hot pad I'd set out, turned back to close the microwave door, and - because I'd been thinking about returning things to the oven which is right next to the microwave - very nearly took the gloves off and tucked them in the microwave.

I'd have had a right hard time finding THOSE when I next needed them! Fortunately they are back where they are supposed to be, so I don't have to use a clumsier oven mitt to get the turkey out later, only to find what I needed a bit after when I microwave the peas.

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Friday Five, a day late

2024-11-23T22:20:34Z

1. What is your favorite childhood memory?

Hard to say. There are many good ones. Time with my parents and the cats at home is definitely up there, but picking one is not easy.

2. If you could be reincarnated as anything besides human, who would you want to be?

A cat. Preferably a pampered housecat, but even as a feral, I think it would be interesting.

3. If you had to start your life all over, what are three things you would change?

I would write down more things in the moment to help jog my memory later (which I nevertheless still don't do often enough). I would spend more time just talking to my parents. And I'd try to be more courageous about changing jobs more often, rather than staying as long as I did. That has worked well for me but meant I've gotten to do fewer different things than if I'd moved on more often.

4. If you had to forget everything in your life, except one thing, what would it be?

There's no good answer to this. I mean, if I remember my self but nothing else, does that drag along all the how-I-became this way? I think the best answer would be "my family" just because it's pretty broad and I wouldn't want to forget them, but then that implies forgetting non-family friends which just no....

5. Do you have a lucky charm?

Nope. Sometimes we have them for a bit when the boys beg and I'm feeling like a sucker, but otherwise, nope. (No, I don't have one the way the question means it, but how could I pass up a chance to make it about the cereal anyway?)

Questions post

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Yeah, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet

2024-11-17T17:50:01Z

And I complain about Christmas music this early. But tonight is the member preview night for ZooLights, so we are going - hopefully it will not end up being ironically more crowded as all the zoo members in the metro area have the same idea.

I think next year I may suggest we skip ZooLights and look for some other event to do - they exist! - because the drive through option that was added with Covid is now gone and the boys really preferred that. I *like* walking through, but honestly, I would have preferred driving through as well. So since I know we have some lights areas that ARE for driving through, clearly that is a better choice. (For lights: I still support the Oregon Zoo, I'll just find other ways to give them money than ZooLights.)

Forecast says we are going to get rained on, but not as heavily as if we'd gone later in the week.

I need to go get the trash and recycling down later today, pickup is tomorrow early, and I need to grocery shop, pack a lunch for Ian, etc.

Which list of things at least worked to get me to stop procrastinating on writing another post! I'm trying to rebuild the habit of posting here, and if I build it on the back of procrastinating household chores, I have at least still achieved it.

Now I have to go do those delayed household things, though. Alas.

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Stop emailing me about my old car

2024-11-12T05:29:57Z

The dealership is still emailing me to get the Corolla serviced. Except it needed repairs that would cost more than it would be worth after. (No accident, just age. That was a 2003 Corolla.) So we traded it in for another vehicle.

AT THAT SAME DEALERSHIP.

And I’ve already told the service department once, too, the first time this came up. I am not getting service for that car. I do not have that car. What does it take for you to actually remove that car from my record??? 🤣

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I swear I still exist

2024-11-11T19:50:27Z

...though I surely don't post like it. October was lovely and I got a lot of things done around the house and taking care of family health. The numbers are working out for me to just stay home, not go job searching. This doesn't preclude my jumping all over a job if someone points it out and it sounds fun/fascinating/interesting/whatever, but the bar is definitely high there, for now. The work itself would have to be worth the time given up to it, not just acceptable in return for money.

Handy, since our youngest has been home sick from school since Halloween with a nasty cough and fever. Negative for flu, negative for covid, negative for patience. Two doctor's appointments this week (the first was 'probably viral, he should get over it, come back if it is not gone by Friday'; the second was Friday). He's on high-powered antibiotics for it now so we will see how that does.

So far either none of the rest of us have caught whatever it is, or we recovered from it easily. (I *think* I may have actually caught it last weekend? But if so, it didn't last a day for me. Maybe I was just having a bad day; who knows?)

I need to find my cute reusable advent calendars and prep them (I need to start finding them now because I am not sure where I last put them away!) - the boys expect one, and I've been buying pre-made ones the past several years, but that costs more and is less personalized, and this year I have time. So that'll be fun.

Maria (tuxedo cat) managed to get some kind of bacterial or fungal infection on her right front paw, so the vet removed all the fur between her paw-pad and toes on the underside and she's been getting an anti-almost-everything cream 2-3 times a day. About half the times I put it on it's uncomfortable for her, and she growls very seriously - the warning rumble of a cat who is about to shred you if you don't stop. For the entire time I'm putting it on. Without following through on the threat. She really is a fairly well behaved cat.

However, it may or may not do the trick - the ointment - because she's SUPPOSED to be in a cone to keep her from licking it off. It took her two hours to figure out how to remove the cone the first time. Second time she did it in under fifteen minutes and it took us until the next day to find it. So I bought one of those orange-shaped donut cone substitutes. Very cute, off in less than half an hour. So I gave up and I cuddle and pet her for a while after most doses (sometimes she leaves too rapidly) to distract her and hopefully keep it on long enough. Statistically I can get her to be petted for longer than the cone or cone-substitute would stay on.

If I call the vet and they want to see her again to check it, I'm gonna say "I told you so" to the cat. And then I may just order this, because it has me giggling a LOT and I don't think she could take it off:

https://www.amazon.com/EMUST-Recovery-Breathable-Adjustable-Alternative/dp/B0CQX832HN/

Sadly the one with the green body suit, which is more accurate and cuter IMO, does not come in a size other than large, and Maria is not large for a cat.

It's finally rainy. I know the state of the world isn't what I want it to be, including climate and weather systems, but it finally feels like a proper fall here all the same.

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Apple, and Kittens

2022-12-09T16:01:08Z

So we lost our Apple cat earlier this year, to cancer. (She was 16 or 17.) I miss her so much, and I wish I'd had a crystal ball to do a little better by her. But we did our best.

We have two six-month-old kittens now, Kala and Maria, adopted from Cat Adoption Team. They and Ray are still at a bit of a standoff - he is very hissy at them when he sees them, so they are mostly living in the upstairs bonus room (and playing chase/raceway above our heads every morning, quite happily), which is also where Scott works from home, so they get lots and lots of people time if they want it. Fortunately only some of their people time interrupts his workday, or we'd have to rethink that arrangement.

With Twitter in a mess, I'm going to try to be more here, as well as on Mastodon and Instagram and Facebook. But let's be honest, I wasn't on Twitter a *ton*, so this is not going to free up a whole lot of my attention, and it's the holidays.

I did, though, want to share kitten picture: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl7GVpmPYtQ/

There are a few others over there if you want, but that one is so far the very most adorable of the bunch.

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Microfic

2021-08-12T02:59:56Z

"So, Grandpa, how did you live through the pandemic in the 20's?"

"Well, you see, me and some friends started a game - drink a shot whenever the advice changed significantly."

"...okay, but how did you survive?"

"Mostly, we were too drunk to go out."

(Cross-posted to my Twitter here.)

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Trying to post here more.

2021-08-08T22:40:05Z

Not that my life is very exciting lately, but that's a GOOD thing. After breaking my knee in December and all the stuff that followed, boring is good.

I'm working (going into the office now, but wfh is supported - office is optional and masks in the office are required whenever not in your own office by yourself). I'm arranging the usual bunch of before-school checkups and appointments for the boys. At least right now, they theoretically have school - and mandatory masks - starting in September. I'm waiting to see what happens with that and with the numbers.

Only our youngest isn't fully vaccinated; he's too young for the current approvals. Of course, vaccinated is still pretty vulnerable to delta and sharing it with others, even if not to severe disease. I don't like this pandemic or the way we've dealt with it so far. :P Darnit. :P

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Clam Chowder

2019-12-01T05:22:41Z

Speaking of clam chowder, this recipe gets lazier every time I make it, to good effect so far. Here is the current incarnation:

New England Clam Chowder
( Serves 6 to 8 )

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Thanksgiving

2019-12-01T05:16:41Z

I hope that everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a good one. I did. We hung out at home until time to go up to our aunt and uncle's for Thanksgiving dinner - ran a little later than I intended, but still made it in time. As always, good company and good food. I love these visits!

There are rather more small children among the group than before - they were very loud and excited and happy - but in good ways. It was awesome.

The drive isn't short, but it isn't super-long or hard either, and I'm glad we can make it each time that we do.

As for Black Friday, I got half-price socks, so I'm good. (I also had to go into Costco that day, because Ian wanted my homemade clam chowder and I needed clams. Fortunately, while Costco was semi-mobbed, the grocery section was mostly empty. No BF deals there, but they had the clams I wanted, so it works well.)

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Hah, the package only had a small odyssey.

2019-12-01T05:13:15Z

But why a $14 rock kit (for a kid's birthday) got shipped second-day-air, signature required, I couldn't say. I could ask, but I'm not sure I want to know! I got it before I needed to have it, and it's undamaged; it just had to be left at a UPS pickup point so I could go sign for it, since I wasn't home when they first tried on Wednesday. (Yes, this means they sent it second-day air and it took me five days to get it...requiring a signature is not helpful in delivery speed. Especially if it's on something inexpensive, where I don't expect that!)

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Normally, while we may be batty, we don't have bats

2019-11-21T19:25:45Z

Well, this morning had a little minor excitement. We got up to find a bat sleeping on the ceiling of our downstairs hallway.

It has now been trapped and released. And no, I'm not worried about rabies: the professionals weren't, the cats have had their shots, and everyone was sleeping with bedroom doors closed and saw the bat only when we got up. And it was asleep on the ceiling the whole time.

...I don't even really have a suitable tag for this. And I hopefully don't need one. This should be a fairly unique topic for me, I would hope!

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Our cats are cats. :)

2019-11-20T00:18:25Z

It's weird - I think of Apple and Ray as fairly young. But they're 13 and 12 respectively, this year. I had to do the math - I almost made them a year younger even when trying to be realistic.

They're in good health, and seem to be planning on staying that way, provided you don't pay attention to the way each of them shreds their people. (Ray does it affectionately, Apple does it when off-balance. Or, Clawful Good and Clawful Neutral.)

We have a new brown blanket (a larger version of a smaller brown blanket I got and love!) in the guest bedroom. Ray adores it.

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