Whine and Cheese

I have noticed that Milo the Cat (TM) is incredibly excited to see me when I get home. I think he's starved for attention and gets lonely when I'm not here. So I had planned to get another cat at some point. Murphy had Maggie and I know it made a significant difference in his stress level when I adopted her. So I have been looking to adopt another cat at some point.

The search has been tiresome. I have often read online that black cats are often the last ones adopted, due to superstition or to volume, I'm not sure, but I had made my mind up to adopt a black cat or kitten. In addition, I thought a female would be a better fit so Milo wouldn't feel threatened by another male cat.

A co-worker volunteers at a local cat organization and has been on the lookout for a black female kitten for me. Well, this past week, she had found one. The rescue named her "Skylar" (gag!) and I put in an application to adopt her and was approved. While I went to my hometown this weekend, the shelter was open today and I could stop in see if she'd be a good match once I drove back. So, she seemed to be a good match, so I adopted her today. Meet the renamed Boo (short for "Boo Boo Kitty" if you know the reference from 1970s TV).


Boo the Kitty
Boo's story is very interesting. In the photo, you can see her left ear is clipped. She was captured from a feral colony by the this organization. She had been fixed and her ear clipped and she was slated to be returned to the colony. When they took her to be released, she refused to leave the trap. Apparently, she knew a good thing when she saw it and had become very acclimated and socialized. So she was put up for adoption instead.

So far, I'm keeping her in my home office and not letting her roam the house. She met Milo and the two of them seem to get along. They are currently chasing each other around my drafting table. I need to but some screening to block off the laundry room from the crawlspace. I really don't want to chase Boo in there like I did Milo. After a couple of days, I'll turn Boo loose in the rest of the house.

My household just got a lot more animated.

Milo the Cat (TM) seems to be settling in quite well.

For the last week, he's been out of the storage space for the most part. He still goes in there to relax I think when I'm gone to work or out of the house for other reasons. However, when I come home, he quickly puts in an appearance, demanding some attention from me.

It's the kind of kitty I was hoping for really.

Like dr_tectonic had pointed out, he's gone from recluse to loverboy literally overnight. Now he cannot get enough attention. He likes being in my lap, being in the room with me, being in my face when I go to bed, etc.

The only real issue right now is his claws! He kneads me all the time and he's drawing blood in some cases. I need to trim his claws, but I'm gearing up to that to make sure he doesn't freak out. He's also starting to claw furniture and wall paper. So far, he's been good at not doing damage, but I bought some of that deterrent spray to see if I can prevent him from wrecking the couch.

As you can see, he's now the king of the house:

This week has been tiring and busy, so I haven't been in much of a posting mood. Not that I've been in a bad mood, but I'm fairly wiped out at the end of the day.

• Milo the Cat continues his self-imposed, storage-space hiatus. He's almost like a sad kid who didn't want to go to his grandparents' home for the summer. When I am asleep, he does get out. When I'm at home, he stays in the storage space. When I check on him, he just stares at me, keeping his distance. I am getting some faint glimmers of hope. He meowed at me today when I looked in on him an hour ago. Baby steps, I guess.



• I did catch up on my DVR. I've been really enjoying this season of "RuPaul's Drag Race." I thought the Snatch Game episode was a bit of a bore, but the queens are a varied bunch this season. So far, my favorite two are Bob the Drag Queen and Thorgy Thor, both of whom are doing well in the competition. I strongly suspect Bob the Drag Queen will win it.



• The local softball season was supposed to start with a scrimmage this past Tuesday, but the fields were too wet from a couple of rainy days. I was both disappointed and relieved, as work has me so tired I wasn't sure what my game was going to be like.



• On the car front, I found a brown Kia Soul that I really, REALLY like. I test drove a 2014 last weekend, but there is one at Carmax that's a 2015 with fewer miles and less cost, so I'm having it shipped down to Cincinnati from Illinois. I'll give it another test ride when it shows up, but I think I'm wanting it.



• I'm in a bit of a creative slump. I've started writing Issue #20 of my comic, but it's slow going. I guess I'm just not in the mood.



• I am getting the itch to do some hard-core Spring Cleaning, including some purging of the comic books. I tried this once with little success, but I'm starting to buy into the idea of uncluttering those that I really haven't read or wanted to read for some time.



• I burned through some of my earned credit card points this week. I decided to get into my "wish list" and get some DVDs. One that just came available this week is 7500, which I wrote about a while back. It never got a wide-release in the US, which is surprising as it's better than some of the other crap that has been put into theaters of late. I'm watching it as type this up. I have seen the movie as someone posted a subtitled version on YouTube.

Luckily, the weekend is looming and I'm grateful. I'm looking forward to sleeping in and enjoying the warm, sunny weather we're supposed to have.

It's certainly been a busy Saturday.

Last night, I went to dinner with a friend who has recently started a new career at a bank. He deals with mutual funds, retirement accounts, etc., as well as basic banking processes. I asked for his opinion on whether to pay off the mortgage or buy a new car. His response was basically to pay off the house, as I wasn't paying hardly any interest at this point, then get a home equity loan to buy the car. The interest from it would be tax deductible and likely last longer.

So this morning, I showered and dressed and headed to my bank. The Assistant VP gave me an estimated pay off amount. However, when it came to the interest rate on the proposed loan to buy the car, the rate was 3.24 to 6%, a variable rate. I thought that was too freakin' high considering. Of course, it would be toward the lower end if I opened a home equity line of credit for half the value of my home. Ugh...

I left and went to lunch, determined that I should at least test drive some cars. My Toyota Corolla is still doing well and it's been a good car, but I'm craving something different. It's nine years old and has over 164,000 miles on it.

So I drove up to Carmax in Northern Cincinnati and met a very handsome, young salesperson named Jeff. Jeff is probably in his late 20's, has wavy brown hair and beard, lean otterish build, and the most amazing deep blue eyes I've ever seen on a man. Seriously, he is a good looking feller. So Jeff talked me into letting them give me an estimate on my car and then we test drove a couple cars on the lot. I drove a Nissan Rogue (with some nice bells and whistles) and a Nissan Ultima (which was unimpressive). I looked at a Camry and was very interested in a Ford Escape (until I saw the Consumer Reports ratings -- yikes). Overall, I just wasn't ready to buy, but I have a few more that I'd like to drive, like a Kia Soul because I'm curious and it's fairly well-rated.

So, I'm back home and a bit tired. While I haven't made any big decisions, it's been a good information-gathering day. Ideally, I'd like to see about being in a new car by next week. Since my bank won't give me a decent loan rate, I'm not sure if the house will get paid off at this time, as I may buy the car outright to avoid the loan.

As for the cat, I think the name "Milo" is going to stick. At this point though, he's still hunkered down in the storage space. I moved some boxes so I could get a better look at him, but still have yet to crawl in after him. I'm trying to be patient. I think he is exploring a bit at night, though he seems to be walking gingerly (no pun intended) so I can't hear him.

Well, the phantom cat in the house is exploring more and more. I got up this morning to find he had found the catnip again, scattered it around the living room, and vanished again. If I didn't know there was a cat in the house, I would think the place was haunted. So at 5:30 AM, I was vacuuming the living room and then getting ready for work.

I put out more food, checked on him via the flashlight, and then left for work. When I got home, I opened the door and caught a fleeting blur of him running down the stairs from the living room to get back to the laundry room. So he's coming out and looking around during the day. Good signs I think.

More names have surfaced in the cat-naming game. One co-worker suggested "Skeeter." Two co-workers like "Milo." I thought of "Hobo" to go along with his history of being a stray, then thought of "Mojo" in keeping with the M-names. I wish I knew more of his personality because I think that would help pinpoint a direction to go with names.

Each day seems to bring a little progress, so we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I was searching more local pet shelters last weekend and still found nothing I felt was a match. I went to a Petsmart where there was a very sweet little female cat that I strongly considered, but yet I hesitated. She was shy and friendly, but aloof. She reminded me seriously of Maggie, so I was hesitant to adopt her for fear it was for the wrong reason (i.e. a Maggie replacement). I left, but emailed the charity during the week to inquire about her, but was told that she had been adopted by a young female college student. I was happy she found a home.

Today, after work, I decided to stop by the animal shelter down the road from my house. I'm not sure what I was looking for. I just felt that I needed a sign of sorts to know that a particular cat was for me. And I hadn't felt that yet. The animal shelter is set-up nicely with a room just for cat adoptions, full of nice cages segmented so the litter and food are in separate "rooms" for each cat. I particularly loved this poster on the wall. It has a nice bearded daddy bear and a ginger cat, two of my favorite things.

I went into the cat area and was drawn immediately to a 2-year-old male orange tabby named "Sly." No one was looking at him. There were other people there, but they were more interested in the few kittens, or one of the female cats on the other side of the room.

When I opened his cage, he was sleeping in the corner. He sleepily looked up at me. I carefully reached in and scratched him behind the ear and he started purring. He is a handsome feller, but still wasn't sold on the idea of him yet.

He carefully climbed down from his perch and stretch his back while I pet his back.

He was purring up a storm. He then got up on his hind legs, put his paws on my chest, and rubbed his face across my beard.

That was the sign I was looking for.

He did it a couple more times and seems like a genuinely sweet cat. According to his file, he was a stray and the vet estimated his age to be about two years old. He's healthy, with soft fur, and very personable, so he's not been a stray long.

I put him back in the cage, noticing that his fuzzy nuts were still intact, so I assumed he was a relatively new arrival. I filled out an application and was approved. They micro-chipped him and told me that they would have him fixed on Monday and I could pick him up on Monday afternoon.

As for names, I'm debating. Usually I pick an "M" name for the kitties, but based on his dark brown/orange colors, I'm leaning towards naming him "Copper" (like a penny). Being a chemist, I think it might be a fun name. Much better than "Sly."