The renovations keep rolling at my place.
This week they were redoing the bathroom. They stripped the wallpaper, painted it and put in all new fixtures.
Dexter immediately did his “Stranger, danger!” routine and bolted under the bed. I was working from home and on the phone with a client when I heard the distinctive sound of Lucy growling. I put the person on hold and go to bring Lucy into the bedroom (which I thought that she was under the bed with Dexter but she must have slipped out) as I can’t imagine that the guy is enjoying working with a growling cat supervising him.
As I’m picking her up the maintenance guy reaches over to pet her head which she hates even when I do it but a stranger? And one who is intruding in HER bathroom?? And when she’s already all riled?? The impertinence. She was a blur of growling, hissing, teeth and claws.
While I’m trying to restrain her the guy says, “Is she racist?” It was such a random thing to say that I thought he was joking so I said, “No, she’s speciest. As you are not a cat, you are inferior in her mind.”
That was apparently lost in translation as he gave me this really disgusted look and went back to work, never said “bye” or anything but slammed the door when he left. I’m going to guess that he told everyone at the rental office that I’m a card carrying Neo Nazi who trains her cats to attack Hispanic and non-white people.

(this is an older post from Ravelry.   I wanted to add it in here so that I don't lose it.)

 http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/my-knitting-has-cat-hair-in-it/2132786/1-25

Lucy Vs The Maintenance Guy

So as you guys may have deduced from my Cat First World Problems blog, I am having maintenance work done on my apartment building. It is kind of a drag. Looking back it has been going on for a while as it all started with the roofing project from last year. It isn't organized very well--ie you get a notice on your door saying that they are going to spray buildings with stain and to move your car as not to get overspray on it and then it never happens. When you call them to ask exactly when they plan to stain your building as it has been a week and frankly I'm worried about my car as it is in visitor parking way far away, "Oh that is for another building. We'll get to your building next week some time. We just wanted to keep you informed." Ya, that's really not helpful as frankly I parked in visitor parking near the building being sprayed as I thought it was my building that was being sprayed. /sigh

I was working from home when I heard someone outside squeal, then there was a lot of laughter and Lucy came barreling in the room eyes all wide and tail all puffy.

I went out on the patio too investigate and saw that there were people working on my patio. (surprise! I thought that they were done as the note on my door said work was completed on our building). I could see one guy on a ladder and a guy on the ground spotting him. The guy on the ground is still howling with laughter but the guy on the ladder does not look as amused.

As I'm on the patio and they can see me, I jokingly said, “What are y’all scaring my cat for?” as obviously they didn’t intend to scare her, she just isn’t used to seeing people face to face outside her 3rd floor patio. I figured it would be polite conversation and then I could go back inside.

And the guy on the floor almost pees his pants laughing again. The guy on the ladder looks at me all sheepishly and says, “Ma’am, I certainly did not scare your cat. It caught me off guard and I almost fell off the ladder it tried to attack me through the screen…(to the guy on the ground)SHUT UP!! Seriously, shut up man! You’d have been scared too. It was right in my face all teeth and claws!” Which of course makes the guy down at the bottom start howling again. I can hear him saying, “Scared of a little tiny cat? BAHAHAHAHA!”

Turns out that Lucy is not used to seeing people that are 3 stories tall and she didn’t take kindly to it. She must have been sunning herself out there when all of a sudden there was a person which just pissed her off I guess. The poor guy was climbing the ladder and his head was just about cat level when she charged him growling, snarling and hissing at him. The guy was worried that the screen wasn’t going to hold as they are working on my screen so he moved back and almost pulled the ladder off balance trying to move away from the hell cat.

Lucy is back on house arrest as I'd have felt terrible if the guy had fallen 3 stories and been maimed or killed because Lucy was protecting her turf.

And where was Dexter for all of this you ask? Under the bed hiding. LOL

About the picture. That is Lucy's usual look. In another past life she was a knife welding gansta who said, "I'll cut you" a lot. I have yet to take a picture of her where she doesn't look really pissed. If she didn't spend most of her time purring, I'd think that she hated us. (well she does still hate me and the makers of Fancy Feast right now. I don't even think that I was this cranky kicking nicotine)

First World (Cat) Problems

According to the cats they are being kept inhumanely. I have been doing a lot of reading on cat nutrition and having lost 2 cats already to chronic renal failure, I'd like to make sure that it doesn't claim the 2 that I have now--even if they hate me for their very long lives. The main change is that I'm switching them all the way off kibble and onto canned food. Much as I appreciate the fact that Dr. Pierson feels like a raw diet of bunnies etc is the best way to feed my cats, I just can't see myself grinding up bunnies and lamb every morning to feed the cats. It doesn't seem like a very vegetarian friendly way to start my morning. MMMMM...coffee with a side of baby bunny. But I can drop the kibble and feed them canned food. Seemed easy enough. And seemed like the cats would be super happy about it. These are the cats that come running every time I pop the top off a can of tomatoes with a pull off top.

I slowly decreased their kibble until they were getting a little in the morning and some in an interactive toy. Saturday night I ran out. I briefly debated buying a small bag to continue the tiny portion in the morning, but then I thought, "Ugh, Petsmart on a Saturday? It'll be packed with people and kids. Forget it. I quit ciggies cold turkey. The cats can go cold turkey on kibble." Problem solved.

Sunday morning I opened them a can of Fancy Feast. The cats were all "YAY!!! SCORE! Unexpected canned food! nom nom nom" Lucy glanced over at the empty kibble dish but realized she better start eating the canned food before Dexter shoveled it all down. (Dexter does not play when it comes to canned food.)

Sunday night....I opened them a few more cans. Both cats expected canned food as they have been getting cans every night so no eyebrows were raised. Lucy pointed stuck her nose in the empty kibble dish but ran back to the canned food before Dexter ate it all.

Monday morning. Canned food again. Now both cats eat it but you can tell that the excitement isn't there. Personally if you fed me chocolate cake every day I'd still be all "YAY!!! CAKE!!" 2 days into it, but the cats are looking somewhat perturbed. Every time I go to the kitchen to refill my coffee, Lucy runs in and sits at her kibble dish hopefully. (I think, I need to move that thing but never do)

Monday night. Canned food again. Lucy comes to eat. Neither cat are doing the canned food dance. There isn't any excitement at all. And Lucy doesn't do her usual, "Dining room chair, I love you so I shall rub all over you until the food hits my dish" ritual. She just looks kind of pissed that it is Fancy Feast again.

Tuesday morning. The dish is empty so someone has been eating. But when I pop open the canned food no cats come running.

Tuesday night...the shit hits the fan. They have eaten their canned breakfast. Lucy has helpfully knocked the kibble dish off the table along with the electric water fountain which is dying a slow death as the pump is pumping air. (thanks, Lucy!)

Both cats give me this, "WTF??? CANNED FOOD AGAIN???" look and Lucy jumps off the table in disgust. Dexter helpfully tries to scratch it over like he would cover cat shit in his box. And then he wanders over and tries to eat some of the dog's kibble. Now the dog is pretty ill because she'd sell her soul for canned food and she's still eating kibble. (she has a humungous bag of kibble before I move her to canned food) She chases Dexter off her dish. If she can't eat his cat food, she's not sharing the kibble.

Both cats are seriously pissed. I am laughing because we've gone from "YAY!!!! CANNED FOOD!!!" to "WTF?? I HATE YOU AND THIS STINKING FANCY FEAST! FU!!" in less than a week. It brought to mind this video.

While I was chuckling about First World Cat Problems. I noticed that the cats were seriously pissed about something else. And it was yet another first world problem. Dexter has seriously forgotten his time on the streets and Lucy apparently has forgotten that once upon a time she lived in small cage that she had to share with another cat at Petsmart.

So in addition to having to eat canned food every day, they have temporarily they have lost access to my screened in patio as it is currently not completely screened as the owner just stained the whole thing and is replacing all the screens and sketchy boards. (old apartment so the 1960s carpentry is breaking down) Both of them keep going to the back door and screaming at it. I tried explaining that some cats don’t have screened in patios and tonight they are in that demographic, but they are making me bonkers. They know that its nice outside and its kind of stuffy in here because my apartment complex also took the screens off my windows as they are staining the building so I can’t open my windows more than a crack as I’m worried that one of them will fall out if I do.

Because they are making me crabby with all the bitching and screaming, I put the vacuum next to the back door. Anytime they get too vociferous, I turn it on so they run into the bedroom. I know that its kind of mean and it is probably making the guy downstairs kind of nuts but he’s kind of loud most of the time so I don’t feel THAT bad and the constant mewing is getting old. LOL

Right before I went to bed, I saw Lucy sitting by the back door glaring at the me and looking back at the patio. I went to pet her and she waited for me to pick her up, got right in my face, hissed at me and then jumped down to continue her screened patio vigil.

I feel so loved. And if they don't suffocate me in my sleep, I'm going to have to decide how long I want these ingrates to live. Perhaps kicking it a few years early might be the ticket for both of them. Then I can get nicer cats and feed them canned food all the time and let them live longer. LOL

Update to my knitting queue blog.

My knitting queue might exceed my life expectancy

I probably should stop going to Ravelry and finding new and exciting things that I want to knit.

I currently have the yarn and need to make:

Revontuli-(almost thru chart 2)
Coronet cabled hat from Knitty
Cabled gloves (this are going to be torture-fingering wool and size 1 needles...I should have them finished by next year this time LOL) this yarn might be reappropriated to another project.
Calorimetry headband

So far, I have made:
Cabled scarf-decided not to do this right now--used the yarn to make a Boneyard Shawl
1 more mitten (1/2 way done the second one) done
Citron Shawl-done
Traveling Woman Shawl-done
Felted Slippers-done
Ruffled scarf
Fingerless gloves as seen on Doctor Who
Clapotis
Brambles beret I love this hat! I am SO going to make another soon. :)
Knitted dalek
2 felted bags which I use all the time.

Day Three

I woke up to the pitter patter of work boots on my ceiling again today.

I have to re-classify Dexter as the brave cat, as he is currently sitting in the middle of the living room glaring at the ceiling. He came out and mewed at me to let me know he was not especially happy about it, but he has adapted to the thought that having 20 men stomping on the ceiling, yelling and running power tools is going to be a permanent thing. Lucy is not there yet. She's under the bed.

I have 1 hour before I have to log into the phones. Right now the noise isn't terrible. They are scraping the shingles off the front of the building. But after they get the old off then the hammering starts so I will have to play it by ear about what to do workwise.

But I am so proud of Dexter for being so brave.

Savannah was not quite as brave about the whole thing. To go potty, we had to go under a tarp and then walk over another tarp. She did okay going out as she had to go do her business but coming back in was a struggle, I caught her just before she'd managed to pull her head out of her collar and make a run for it. She's done that to me too many times in the past, so I was waiting for it and grabbed her collar to stop her from being Houdini. LOL As I'm in my PJs still, I wasn't up for a game of chase Savannah around the lake while people yell, "There is a leash law in Wake County. Leash your dog!"

Day Two of Roofing Project

I went to bed early in preparation of the 8am wake up call. That being said, they didn't show up until 10am, so I am in a chipper mood today. I got plenty of sleep and I was prepared to wake up to the sound of cats growling, people stomping on the roof and singing. Hopefully, crazy screaming neighbor got a good night sleep as well so I won't have to hear her outside losing it over the noise. (the funny thing to me is that she doesn't live on the top floor so the noise wouldn't be as bad)

I haven't seen either cat since the roofers showed up. The "pitter patter" of boots on the ceiling apparently sent them into hiding again. I'm just thankful that this time Lucy isn't running around growling. That was getting really irritating. It is bad enough that Savannah has to touch me at all times but having Lucy streak through the place all snarls and growls was too much. (and I learned--no picking her up when she is that worked up. And even though it was tempting to give her a little shimmy to see if I could get her to cat yodel, I decided against it.)



So day 2 so far is going well.

Off to go work on my Saroyen Scarf. And for those of you following at home, you are correct. That wasn't on the original list of projects that I must finish. This is the danger of Ravelry and local yarn shops. Carol from Shuttles, Needles and Hooks had beautiful superwash Malabrigo in stock. It sells fast so I had to buy some. (LOL--yes, I acknowledge that I am powerless to resist) And then because I had purty yarn, I had to make something with it.

Next on the list is Traveling Woman as I have some amazing Malabrigo sock yarn that I bought from Downtown Knits.

LOL And thanks to the folks at Ravelry, most specifically the ones that hang out in the cat hair in my knitting group, I am now all paranoid about shingle dust falling out of all my vents, and fans. Last night I was turning the oven fan on and off to make sure that any food I prepared would not get seasoned with shingles.

It is going to be a LONG weekend

I need a Xanax!!

Anyone got a couple that they can spare???

I woke up this morning to the sound of Lucy growling. She was running from room to room growling up a storm. While I was processing Lucy growling, I ended up with a 45lb cattle dog trying to sit on my head. And then I hear it--footsteps on the roof. Santa? Nope, Santa does not whistle and yell to his reindeer in Spanish. Must be the roofers. /sigh

Now I’m not too terribly unhappy that they are redoing my roof as it leaked during heavy rain storms and I did know that they were going to be working on my roof. Just the notice said that they’d be doing it Monday morning. There was no mention of 8am Saturday morning. I have to keep reminding myself that this really is a good thing as I work from home and every weekend day that they do this is a day that I won’t potentially have to take a vacation day due to noise. (I work on the phone all day so I’d figured on taking at least one day of vacation)

So it has now been 2 hours of roofing. I’ve finally had enough coffee to be coherent and Lucy is STILL running around the place growling. Savannah is glued to me. I watched her squeeze her 45lb dog body into a tiny spot between my computer chair, the wall and my foot. And Dexter? LOL. For once, he’s the good cat. Upon the threat of danger, he did what he always does--hide.

I found him and was laughing at his hiding spot. I saw a suspicious lump under my covers and put my hand under the covers to pet him, but this time he flashed back to his kitten days and burrowed under the fitted sheet and mattress pad. (I wish that I’d seen him do it as it must have been a squeeze as at 17lbs he is not a tiny kitteh)

So now, I need either prescription drugs to make it to sundown when the roofing ends or I need to drink more coffee and find a nice quiet place to hide. I’m thinking about crashing at a LYS for a few hours and letting the critters fend for themselves.

Oh fabulous! Now they have a truck that beeps when it backs up. LOL. Sorry pets, I’m taking a shower and heading out to a LYS.

Edited to add that now the roofers have started singing! And one of them is whistling in harmony. That made up my mind. As there are no margaritas served at my place, I cannot enjoy the impromptu Mariachi performance. I'm out of here!

What really made me laugh was the neighbor who went outside and then stood out there screaming at them to STFU. She was really losing it. (guessing she didn't have margaritas either). I had visions of being that person talking to the news crew. "Well, she really was a quiet neighbor--all up to the point that she started using the roofers for sniper target practice. Who knew?"

Edited to add that at 5:36pm it is finally quiet again. I haven't seen either cat yet, but I figure by about 10pm Dexter should get brave enough to come out to use the facilites and eat some canned food. Savannah and I went for a walk around the lake and casually asked one of the guys if they'd be here tomorrow. Bright and early at 8am again tomorrow apparently. The guy did say that they expected to finish up tomorrow so that is a good thing. I won't have to burn any vacation time for this at least. And as I was typing this, Lucy came out and did a quick inspection of the living room. She looks a little perturbed but at least she's stopped growling and made it through the day without stroking out over the people on the roof.

Edited again to say that Dexter came out of hiding a lot sooner than I thought. I was opening a can of food for Lucy the Brave Explorer when all of a sudden Dexter appeared. And when I say he appeared it really did seem like he fell from the sky. He literally vaulted over Lucy to be first in the kitchen. Apparently hiding under the covers from ceiling monsters really works up an appetite. He promptly scarfed down a plate of food and then went to the dog bed and went to sleep. (apparently hiding under bed covers is tiring as well)

Ravelry thread here if anyone wants to read it. :)