Friday, January 13, 2006

Pits and bieces

It was, of course, inevitable that at some point I would receive a postage-due notice and have to stand in line at the post office counter in order to pay my two cents and retrieve my rejection slip. I'm just amused by the fact that it happened on Friday the 13th. All was not lost, however, as I bought some new 39-cent stamps while I was at it, and they have a WONDERFUL new set of stamps that are animal illustrations from children's books. These are the best stamps ever. Even when I get rejection slips I will smile because they will have Wilbur or Curious George on them. I just hope the Very Hungry Caterpillar doesn't eat all my manuscripts.

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My little baby kitten weighs NINE pounds now. I guess I only think of him as a little bitty kitten still because I always see him next to the Wooly Mammoth Bear, who has actually lost a little over a pound and is now down to 17 pounds 13 ounces. (At least a pound of that is fluff.)

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Why does this make me think of C. Dale?

(Found at http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/2006/01/love_is_a_force.html)

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Back (in an actual-factual-substantial-post type fashion) soon. Cough, cough.

11 comments:

hd said...

I love the children's book animal stamps as well, but I'm very sad that the Muppet stamps didn't have a long life. Something about putting Kermit and the Professor and Beaker on an envelope just made me want to send things to people. :o)

early hours of sky said...

shit I missed beaker stamps...

I turned the book ones down, I know it was wrong but I'm a bug and lizard girl.

Artichoke Heart said...

My P.O. had cruelly tantalizing advertisements for the children's book stamps and the bugs and lizards et al., that led me down a rosy path of hopeful longing, only to discover that all they had were flags or bluebirds. Needless to say, I felt completely jerked around and was very disconsolate over the whole thing!

Anne Haines said...

I haven't seen the bug and lizard ones -- maybe the clerk was about to show them to me (he said he had a couple of different ones when I asked if there were any good commemoratives) but as soon as I saw the children's book animals I started jumping up and down and squealing like a little kid so he didn't bother showing me any more. :) I get unreasonably excited about postage sometimes...

LKD said...

NINE pounds??? How old is your kitten? Geez, and here I was all excited because Bob finally made it to five pounds. Bob's 4 going on 5 months. He gets neutered and declawed (front claws only) at month's end, thank god. I swear those things are tiny ginzu knives.

Lotus is beautiful. A beautiful cat and a beautiful name for a cat.

Anne Haines said...

Hee. Laurel, Lotus is almost 10 months old, so he's really fairly close to full-grown now. I'm guessing he will top out at around 12 pounds or so, which is relatively average.

Are you required to declaw by your landlord? If not, and if nail-trimming and training aren't working, please consider "Soft Paws" -- little vinyl caps that fit over the claws. Unless Bob is extremely skittish you should be able to apply them at home, and that way you don't have to have the first joint of each of his toes amputated (which is what declawing is). You can get more information at the company's website, http://www.softpaws.com.

I promise not to get on my "declawing is cruel and usually unnecessary" soapbox after this, but did want to make sure you were aware that there is an alternative.

C. Dale said...

Anne, the Ernie and Bert Brokeback poster is a beautiful thing. I so need to know where you found it!

Anne Haines said...

C.Dale, I knew you'd like it. *grin* I found it on this page:
http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/2006/01/love_is_a_force.html

I got the link from someone on my Livejournal friends list (her original post is friends-only so I can't link to it here).

C. Dale said...

Bert and Ernie are the best. As Cowboys, even!

LKD said...

I've had folks get on that soapbox, Anne, so I don't blame you if you do so here. God knows I've had vegans freak out all over me when I've admitted to loving lamb. (smile) Elmo was declawed when he was a kitten and he's a perfectly happy, normal well-adjusted cat who can climb trees and kill things even sans front claws. My childhood pet, an incredible damned cat named Cocoa who was a Siamese Burmese mix with green eyes and coffee colored fur and maybe the most intelligent cat I've ever been in the presence of was declawed and also was normal, happy, well-adjusted and like Elmo, could climb trees and kill things. Hell, Cocoa used to chase dogs, big dogs, out of the yard.

So, hey, yeah, I know there's an alternative but since I've had no bad experiences with declawing, I'll stick with it. God knows I've gone round and round with folks about the whole indoor/outdoor issue as well as the neuter/spay issue. Some folks choose to let the cats outdoors. Some folks choose not to fix their cats. Me, I prefer to keep my cats indoors unless they're on a line or leash (Elmo walks like a little dog on a leash) and I think it's the kindest and most responsible thing any pet owner can do when they spay or neuter their dog or cat....but hey, everyone kinda does their own thing, ya know? Hell, I live 2 doors down from a guy who keeps a big beautiful friendly DEBARKED (which freaks me out) Mastiff tied out in his backyard to a damned doghouse. In the rain, in the snow, in the subzero weather. Day and night. They never let that poor animal in. And I guess they think that's perfectly normal and okay.

Sigh.

Does Indiana require rabies vaccines for all animals? Even though Elmo doesn't roam, is never loose outside, he had to have one, and Bob will too.

LKD said...

Oh, btw, I "tagged" you....