Goes Somer * Goesomer * Gossamer

I decided to venture out of my cooking comfort zone and made a batch of yummy pork tenderloin in redwine vinaigrette with a side of wild rice and mushrooms. Neither recipe was a quick meal, that's for sure; 2 hours to marinade the pork, 1 hour, 15 minutes to bake it. Then there was the prepping of the mushrooms and wild rice which had to be sauteed for 20 min, then that had to be in the oven for an hour and a half (and I could have done with half the bag of rice, not the full, which I think was my only 'mistake' but even that turned out well, so). The payoff was a bevvy of deliciousness. The pork was white all the way through, no pink, but it was so tender it tasted pink--not in the way that cherry cake tastes pink. Nevermind. Ya'll know what I mean. 

Ampersand loved her special bites of pork (tried to convince me she was still starving--I told her she can have more tomorrow night, and the night after, and the night after, so there's no need to eat all of her portion nao). She's working out this whole seating-myself-on-the-human's-lap thing, which is an improvement. The non-stop tail thwacking is a bit annoying, especially when I'm trying to sleep. No one has claimed her yet. It has been about a month. Think I'm gonna order her name tags and assume she's here for the durration, for all intents and purposes.

That's a wrap. All's well that tastes delicious.

O, and here are some Amper photos!

Ampersand has eaten!!!  

I took her back to the vet this afternoon--they wanted to check her again. This time I went home with meds for Amper's tummy and the recommendation to try giving her chicken baby food. She didn't eat anything before I went in to work.

Then, when I got home, I was greeted by Ampersand at the door, crying as per usual. Scooped hard food out to a crying and excited Amper, and when I put it in the dish, she nommed happily. Once she was done, she came out to find me paying bills and is now laying on my laps.

Am relieved she's feeling so much better.

Ampersand is sick. She ate food yesterday morning. That afternoon, she threw up. And again. And again. I gave her a small dinner, but that came up. She threw up until she didn’t have anything but a little bile. Poor baby. I stayed up with her until I was fairly sure she wouldn’t toss up anymore. Let her hide out at the top of the bookshelf. 

Took her in to the vet this morning. They ran tests, did an x-ray. No fever. Nothing definitive. They hydrated her and gave her meds for an upset tummy. When I got her home, she went to the nest I made with an old sweater in her chair at the window and slept there. All Day. Most of the evening.

The vet said she’d be up for nomming bites around now; she suggested a light, bland diet of chicken and rice. Ampersand has been a ravenous eater and really, really, really likes chicken.  

She won’t even take a whiff of the noms. Turns her nose up entirely. I upped the ante to Thai chicken soup, then TUNA.

Ampersand has refused TUNA.

I will try, try again. If she still won’t eat noms in the morning, I’ll call the vet. Maybe get a syringe and if I have to force-feed her, I will.

Poor Amper. 

Ventured into Whole Foods today. Don’t often go in, as it’s expensive and I have a tendency to want ALL THE FOOD. Couple this with the fact I flagrantly ignored the sound advice never to shop hungry, well. We can all see where this is headed.

nepenthe:  Hey, they have actual wild rice! I’ve been looking all over for this. OMG, WINSLEYDALE cheese with CRANBERRIES  in it!!!! That sounds amaz--U HAVE A PRE-PREPARED FOOD SECTION??!!! GYNORMOUS DOUBLE-STUFFED POTATOES! GARLIC BEATS! MUST. . .RESIST. . .PUCHASING MORE. . .*collapses against counter*. . .but am WEAK with HUNGER.

I fear they've learned my weaknesses and will crush my pocket book.

The road to budgeting is lined with strategically placed crackers with lightly melted winsleydale-and-cranberry cheese on whole-wheat crackers.  

And the new name for the kitty is:

&

(Ampersand)


An excellent name that fits & like a glove.

Yesterday was a month from the day Bunny wandered out of the apartment. My poor little girl is probably out somewhere starving. 

*sigh*

So this morning I got an email from a lady saying she wasn't sure, but she might have my little Bunny. I emailed her back asap, saying that no, I hadn't found my little one and am still looking. She phoned me as I was tentatively getting ready for work to set up a meeting. It didn't sound exactly like Bunny, but some things did; all black, short hair, small paws, hungry matched, but 'small' (Bunny's more of an average sized cat) and 'very friendly' didn't. Obviously, I had to go and see for myself. We agreed to meet at the Cheesecake Factory parking lot that isn't too far from my job. 

It was obvious it wasn't my Bunny. Which was a disappointment to us both. Teri, who had the cat, couldn't keep it as the cat hated her dog and her cat hated this cat. She asked if I wanted to play with the cat anyway, which. Hey, play with a cat before work? Why not? The cat came out and OMG, FRIENDLIEST CAT, OMG, TEH CUTE, OMG, RUBS AND PETTING AND U WANT TUMMY RUBS?! I GIVES IT TUMMY RUBS! U ARE SKIN AND BONES, U POOR BABY, I WILL FEED YOU!!!

So. Uh. Now I have a cat.

I know, I know!!! I was complaining before that I didn't like how whenever I said, "I've lost my cat" that other people take that to mean I /want/ a cat and be all, "I have this cat; why don't you take it". Because I don't want YOUR cat. I want MY cat. And I still do. I'll still be driving out to the shelters tomorrow (groans). I'm still out looking for Bunny. Will go out biking on Friday around the neighborhood. Hand out more fliers. As for this cat, I will try to find its home and human, if it has one. If/when I find Bunny, if they don't get along, obviously, I'll find this little one a new, happy home. But this poor little one deserves a home.

Awwwww. And now its cuddled up next to me, purring with a tummy full of tuna, crunchies and greenies. What a good cat. Once Mythbusters is done, I'm going Bunny Hunting again. Monday I'm taking the cat in to the vet to be checked up on, get shots and work out whether or not I've got a boy or a girl. 

So now the cat needs a name. It's most likely a girl, but it could be a neutered boy. At only a year or two old it's hard to tell. But if anyone has name suggestions for an affectionate little all-black cat with gold eyes, by all means: comment.

Last night I put food and the camera out at 10 and within minutes, I had the cat come in and nom the food.

Tonight, I've had the food and camera out at 10, but it's been an hour and the cat is still a no show. Am super tired, cat. Eat your food so I can go to bed.

Midnight update: cat, no show. WTF? Am tired, going to bed. 

I have hatched a dastardly scheme to trap my cat inside the house without some complicated trap:

I'm going to put out food every night at 10 PM without fail. Crunchies will sit at the doorway. Tuna, turkey and more delectable noms will sit inside the apartment. I will keep moving the noms further inside the room every day. Meanwhile, I've set up one of the book shelves near the door and draped sewing cloth over it. I'll let her get used to the sight of it. Get used to everything. Then, later on, when she's gotten used to getting quite a ways in--so far that if I push the door shut, she's not going to have enough time to turn and run out, well. That's what I'll do. Hide behind the bookshelf being quiet for however long it takes one night, wait for her  to come in, wait to her her set into the soft noms, then SHUT THE DOOR. 

I think this plan could work. I'll only have one shot at it, so I'm going to get her to come in quite a ways. It'll take time. Still. I'd rather do it this way than with the trap. And I might have Bunny home for my birthday *sigh*.

I got a lot of writing done today. Am proud of that. A lot of work to go, but that's WriMo for you. Got about 2670 words done today. A good start, but I can do a bit more before I call it a night.

And here I go. Night.

Positive ID on Black Cat nomming food out of dish in my doorway: Bunny.

She came by while I was watching Dexter tonight, looked right at me, saw me and turned and ran back out into the wilds.

That settles it: cat trap. There is no escape.

I'm tired. I'll work out who I can borrow a cat trap off tomorrow and see if I can't catch a black cat for Halloween. 

I've always been so cautious about IDing the black cats I see at night because it's HARD to see a black cat at night and I've gotten close enough to one to see it was not Bunny before. I'm second-guessing those cat sightings.  At 1:30 AM there was a rushed knocking at my door. The guys from across the way with the dog were knocking and I rushed over, threw the door open and they were all, "Is that your cat?"

To the left of my door is a  three and a half foot metal fence. Then there's rocks, maybe 4 yards, leading to a 3 ft retaining wall at the parking lot. Sitting on the wall was an all-black cat. I said I thought it was my cat, and the guys quietly went back into their place as not to frighten her away. I sat down by the food dish. If I wanted to catch her, I'd have to walk around the building and risk her running off, disappearing. I'd have to try coaxing her over. So I sat down, shook her food, moved the feather toy and wondered why I wasn't seeing her eyes being all glowy and why I couldn't get a good check on her face and that was when I realized the cat wasn't even looking my way. It was still looking into the parking lot, not at me. I couldn't get a good ID, not without a face. But the body just seemed too small. Obviously, Bunny probably has lost weight on her excursion. Still. This one looked too lythe for Bunny's boxy, rectangular body and round head. And not look at me? At the sound of her food dish? At the sound of me calling her? At the sight/sound of her favorite toy?

It probably was the same cat returning to the same area (my area) all three times last night. But was it /really/ Bunny? or the stray black cat who is, in fact, younger and smaller than Bunny, tho similar enough for me to have mistaken the two before, but corrected my suspicions upon closer inspection.

No idea anymore.

It eventually darted off. I grabbed my flashlight and took off after it. Did a pretty good job of tracking it (it ran through 2 of those metal fences; clearly this cat has some experience in dodging humans by using them. 

Lost track of the cat on the other side of the complex. Bummer.