If I seem completely kooky you probably don't know who Disturbed is- and if you don't, don't worry about it. The song those words are from isn't exactly a melody for conservative ears... in defense of myself I've only ever heard the clean version but it's creepy.
So, I'm sick. Like laying on the couch half my face dripping liquid the other half stuffed up, coughing when I'm not sneezing, sneezing when I'm not coughing, and body aches from The Bad Place; not to mention my very suave, manly voice.
It's my firm belief my students are trying to take me down. They are so sick of learning about ecology they must have engaged in some bacteria warfare against me. Students-1, Mrs. Atkins- 0. That's okay. My sub plans included a worksheet, 2 chapters of reading from the textbook (we NEVER use the textbook, I'm very hands on and technology oriented) including answering the questions at the end of each section in both chapters, and turning it ALL IN FOR A GRADE! Students-1, Mrs. Atkins- SHABAM!
That's right. So, I figured I'd take this time to fill you all in on some newness- we got another cat!
I know, I know- you're thinking 'What about your post just a few weeks ago??' Well, this decision was made with our brains as well as our hearts.
You see, Maverick our cat has this love of paper products. Cardboard, especially. He also adores electrical cords. Chewing on paper and electrical cords:
Despicable Me... gets me every time!!
Seriously, though. What cat does that?! When I first started noticing his chewing on things, I thought it was like dogs/puppies- they lose their baby teeth and chew to help things move along. But now that he's an adult cat it's gotten out of control. Thankfully the cords he's chewed weren't plugged in at the time. When Kina and Penny left and found new homes it got even worse. One morning I googled it- turns out cats chew when bored/lonely. It could also be a vitamin deficiency, but he's extremely healthy.
So, we sat down and talked out our options. We could've found him another home, but Scooby our dog gets really bad separation anxiety when completely by himself. So that's a no. Or we could've taken everything chewable out of reach. Of a cat. Not really happening- they are clever and sneaky little boogers! So we landed on the option we chose- get another cat.
This seemed very logical. If you don't know much about cats, know this- they are very independent and easy to care for. Our felines LOVE attention and snuggling, but only on their terms. They always use the litter box and never make messes. They just hang around, occasionally going cray-zay over dangling toys. Maverick only meows when he's hungry or lonely. Off to PetSmart we went!
We got there and were still kind of on the fence. We toyed with the idea of buying him something that would move that he could chase and maybe he wouldn't be so bored. (Get it? toyed... baha!) But then we saw some very nice older ladies packing up some sweet kitties that did not get adopted during their adoption extravaganza- insert dagger into heart. Poor cats that didn't get chosen. :( So I dragged Josh over and spotted her... I didn't know she was a 'her' at first. She's an orange tabby. I think that's right. The lady we spoke with was very sweet even though it was time for the store to close and for her to pack up and go home. She let us into a little room to interact with the little mandarin colored kitty. She told us that even though most orange cats are males, this one happened to be female. I was already smitten! In that little room she warmed up to us and played with us and climbed around and even laid down and took a little nap!! We filled out the papers and she went home with us that night. :)
It's been a week and introductions have gone great! We made a mistake the first night and let Maverick and Milly (her new name!) see each other face to face. Josh was holding Maverick as he freaked out and got scratched up pretty good. Mav apologized with lots of rubbing and purring later. Now, though, they coexist very well! They are well on their way to making friends. And the chewing has stopped- completely!!! Yay!!! There's just one hang up- Mav's gotta get neutered. Milly's spayed so there's no chance of kittens, but Mav's little accessories could cause some territory/macho issues we don't want to come up. We're just not telling him yet. Shhh.
Without further ado:
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| Resting between fishy chasing |
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| So quick |
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| She loves chasing toys |
If any of this makes no sense, I blame the Tylenol Severe Cold. And the cough drops. And my achy, smushy brain feeling self. I'll be back soon when PASS testing is over and I'm not under a biochemical attack. :)
Until next time,
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