squeakity squeak squeakin

Pipsqueak came to us Wednesday evening while we were relaxing under our pergola. We heard her making noise on Saturday, but couldn't find her. Now, on Wednesday we heard the same muffled, raw, squeaky meow. We coerced her into our yard only to discover that she was indeed an abandoned kitten who was famished and covered in fleas. We immediately felt sympathy for her. We brought out some dry cat food and water and she scarfed it down quickly.

We tried to guess her age, but it was very hard. We assumed under 8 weeks and maybe around 6 or younger, but we had no idea. She needed a bath badly. We knew a flea bath would kill a young kitten so thanks to Google we found out we could use lemon dish soap and lots of water to kill the fleas. So, we did. She complained at first, but then gave up. We ended up giving her 2 lemon flea baths on Wednesday. We decided to take her to animal control the following morning.

Seth and I met at animal control on Thursday to say our goodbyes. It was very sad, but needed to be done because we already have 3 cats and I have allergies. However, the vet assistant said that she was only about 4, maybe 5 weeks old and weighed 0.8 lbs and at that age (under 8 weeks and under 2 lbs.) they euthanize them. What? Our mouths dropped in surprise, but only for a second because we realized we would get to keep her, if only for a little while. Now we temporarily have a 4th cat to love.

We've named her Pipsqueak. It's often shortened to squeak or pip or some variation like squeaky, squeak, squeaker, squeakin (reference from Emperor's New Groove). Thursday afternoon I picked up some kitten chow, cat milk and a flea comb. When I got home I gave her another lemon flea bath using the flea comb. I then proceeded to flea comb her for 2 whole hours. She loves the flea comb and fell right to sleep after she was dry. Yes, she was asleep in my lap for nearly 2 hours while I combed her. It worked out quite well because she let me maneuver her little body so I could reach every mm. After 2 hours of flea combing and 3 baths I felt we had finally rid her of fleas. We then felt safe to bring her into the house. As a precaution we are treating our cats with flea medicine, but she is no longer scratching, biting or itching.

She has slept very well lately and loves to play. She likes to sleep in whatever bed we make for her. She is the best little kitty ever! Our 3 adult cats don't know what to think. She follows Buddy around and wants to play with him. Buddy is massive in size compared to her. Twix and Misty (aka "the girls") don't like her so we have to watch them. Right now she is sleeping and purring in her bed and perks up whenever we say her name. She has consumed all our time since Wednesday and we need to find a good home for her soon before we get in too deep. I was trying to fill out school applications, but Squeakers is a BIG, rather small in size, distraction.

Next week we leave for Minnesota and are taking her with us. Hopefully one of my in-laws will take her. Or, if anyone wants a kitten locally your welcome to come take a look at her. She will win you over.

Better Songs

This week's theme is songs that I don't particularly care for but didn't realize had the potential to be redone in a rather humorous fashion. Witness:

• Cletus Take the Reel
  
• These Are the Things You Don't Say to Your Wife
  

(By the way, this Tim Hawkins fellow is freaking hilarious, you should check out some of his other stuff. And for those of you that caught the implication, suffice it to say I aggressively dislike "Jesus Take the Wheel.")

- Seth

Slow-Mo Dove

Seems lately people have begun taking music videos for popular 80's songs and dubbing them with lyrics that point out what is literally happening in the video. The reason this is interesting, of course, is because it's freaking hilarious. These two are the best I've found so far:

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Taylor
Take On Me by A-Ha

Just in case watching them gets you all nostalgic, here are links to the original versions.

Total Eclipse of the Heart (original)
Take on Me (original)

Outer Banks

Our 8th Anniversary. We drove to the Outer Banks and camped in Cape Hatteras. We did everything we wanted to do - which consisted of relaxing on the beach, reading and more relaxing. Seth made an awesome beach fire one night. We did make it out to Buxton to see and climb the tallest brick lighthouse.



Seth inside the lighthouse about half-way up.


Me inside the lighthouse about half way up.


The door/entrance to the lighthouse.


The door/entrance to the lighthouse.



Me at the top!


View from the lighthouse.


View from the lighthouse.


View from the lighthouse.


Tallest brick lighthouse. 250+ steps to get to the top.


Our campsite was amongst the sand dunes. It was cool!

Cartoon Comedy

For your viewing pleasure.

First, a good one for any kindred gym rats: I Did It!

Also, check out these animations by Don Hertzfeldt, because they're awesome:

• Rejected
  
• The Animation Show
  

and my personal favorite, Billy's Balloon

Enjoy.

- Seth

Ah, Mr. Giraffe

(taken from here)

- Seth

Alaska 09

"It's like selling your soul to the devil"

That's what I heard several times on Friday during my PA orientation from professors and students. I already knew I wouldn't have a life for the next 26 months, but I didn't expect everyone to tell us we'd be selling our souls and to tell our families goodbye. I guess they are right. After all I will be taking 131 credits during the next 26 months. It'll be intense to say the least. I like a challenge so bring it!!!!

On another note, I stumbled upon this poem and thought I'd share it cause I like it.

Life's Journey

You are the earth, and I the sea,
You hold and nurture me
While I play restless in your arms.
The sun warms and lifts me from your gentle touch,
Into the vast oceans of the universe,
Where I dart and fly in my human race with time and space,
Until in the light I blend,
Misty eyed with nature I transcend,
Like a raindrop drifting in the wind,
Then touching softly your arms again,
Knowing now life never ends,
Feeling now the peace within.

Copyright (c), Joy Light, 1992

Los Vampiros

In honor of the recent release of Twilight on DVD, I thought I'd share this guy's humorous alternate version of a screenplay for the film. Having seen the film (and having effectively read the books by proxy), I think it could have worked.

- Seth

Fascinating

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to present this video of a turtle humping a shoe.

That is all.

- Seth

Announcement, Announcement, A-N-N-O-U-N-C-E-M-E-N-T

Announcements, announcements, announcements!

A horrible way to die, a horrible way to die,
A horrible way to start the day,
A horrible way to die.

Announcements, announcements, announcements!

A terrible death to die,
A terrible death to die,
A terrible death to be talked to death
A terrible death to die.

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness,
Birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness,
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness,
Waiting for our news.

Just reminiscing about when I was in girl scouts. I completely hated it, but for some reason loved this song. We also held hands (criss-crossed) in a circle and then at the end of the song we'd lift up our hands and would twirl out of the circle while uncrossing our hands. That was cool. But, without further delay the announcement is.... (drum roll, please).... I'm starting PA school in May!!! I got my official acceptance letter in the mail earlier this month.

Gym Etiquette

I recently had a bad experience at the gym. By bad I mean I was working out my upper body, don't be jealous, and this guy next to me, who also happened to use all the equipment before me, smelled horrible. It was more than the normal gym sweat. It was like a weeks worth of sweat in the same clothes that a rat died in. It was unacceptable on all levels and others noticed it as well. He didn't even disinfect the equipment when he was done. I was disgusted, but he never looked my way to see my evil glare. So I had to disinfect all the equipment prior to using it. And even after doing so it still smelled. I almost left, but decided to tough it out. And then later in the day I came across this article Gym Etiquette and oh how true it is. However, I differ slightly in regards to the clothing issues.

I just want to workout and not be distracted by some rancid smell of the person next to me. Maybe next time I'll bring him the disinfectant spray and towel.

Profanity Abounds!

And hilarity ensues! Many of you probably know of Billy Mays, the guy who does all those infomercials selling random stuff. Somebody found a way to derive comedic value from these commercials by adding his own voice over. The two below are my favorites. Warning: profanity. Hilarious profanity.

Mighty Putty
Never Scrub

For those of you who abhor profanity or Billy Mays, perhaps you will instead enjoy this profanity- and Billy Mays-free video of kittens on a roomba.

- Seth

food?

Baltimore Restaurant Week is just around the corner. It's Jan. 23 through Feb. 1. I just wanted everyone to know. We went last year with some friends and it was totally worth it. We tried Ruth's Chris and absolutely loved it. A great way to try a nice restaurant without hurting your wallet. If anyone is interested in going let us know.

There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

I just read this article and thought it was absolutely amazing. So, I decided to share it. I actually had to fight back some tears. I guess I'm a softy when it comes to these type of things. Just the idea that people would go out of there way to make someone feel loved and to give them hope. We should do this more often. Aren't we called to do it?

ESPN Article