What's new in my life

Sigh...

May has been an interesting month. I am unable to use my pens right now because I have difficulty holding them. On May 10th I took a fall and managed to fracture my elbow in two places. I also damaged one bone in the same hand, the right one which is my dominant. The other hand might also have a broken bone. On Saturday I go for an MRI to see what the damage is to both hands. So how am I able to type? I have a small bean type pillow that I am resting my hands on. The right hand is in a splint so it is kinda difficult. I keep it in a sling to protect the arm when I am outside.

June has been interesting. I had to take my computer into the shop (apple) because the warranty ended on Tuesday. It is repaired and I received word by email at 2am that it is back from Texas and awaiting my arrival to bring it home. I want to pick it up today but NYC is expecting a monsoon so today is out. Tomorrow is out since I was finally able to convince the landlord that I need the shower and bath water knobs replaced because they have been leaking for two months. So Friday I am getting the wall taken down and everything replaced. Looks like I cannot pick it up until Saturday. The computer needed a new motherboard, possible new hard drive, possible new screen. Hopefully all was replaced so I can get another year out of it.

So what has been fun and games in your life?

I lost my old cat Millie suddenly with kidney failure and because I live next to a farmer's field I decided I needed a cat because I don't want mice in the house. My new kitten is an Exotic and she's cost me my pen money for the next 2 months. My avatar is her mother. Well, she's driving me nuts. She insists on walking on the keyboard so typing E Mails is a no no when she is around. I've got someone looking after her at the moment. I have had to build a mini fortress around the TV stand and she still manages to get to all the electric cables. She is supposed to be a house cat but keeps making a bid for freedom when I let the dogs out. She appears from no where. I nearly decapitated her this morning. Repairing pens is an impossibility and if I leave 1 on the desk she knocks it off. I tried writing a letter and she took the first page and had chewed it before I had managed to retreive it. My tiniest Chin (little dog) Maggie gets her ears boxed daily and she just stands there in a state of shock. If it doesn't calm down soon I am going to open the door. Forgot to tell you about the bites and scratches on my arms, hands and legs because she plays so rough. Don't remember my other kittens being so wild. I have just bought her an activity centre but she still prefers my desk!!!

Finally the summer came to Zurich. But there is still to much business at the the office and nearly no time for pens….

In the middle of a terrible week and between two stupid meetings I needed a break. I found this shady back yard bar on my way back from the building site to the office. Here I made a break from the real world and browsed through the news on fountain pen board (Not that you think I would do this during my meetings! Never!), having a beer - yes, a real beer!

But well. this is not really new in my life.

Get well soon, Pat!

Edited by Christof Z, 13 June 2013 - 08:41 PM.

I lost my old cat Millie suddenly with kidney failure and because I live next to a farmer's field I decided I needed a cat because I don't want mice in the house. My new kitten is an Exotic and she's cost me my pen money for the next 2 months. My avatar is her mother. Well, she's driving me nuts. She insists on walking on the keyboard so typing E Mails is a no no when she is around. I've got someone looking after her at the moment. I have had to build a mini fortress around the TV stand and she still manages to get to all the electric cables. She is supposed to be a house cat but keeps making a bid for freedom when I let the dogs out. She appears from no where. I nearly decapitated her this morning. Repairing pens is an impossibility and if I leave 1 on the desk she knocks it off. I tried writing a letter and she took the first page and had chewed it before I had managed to retreive it. My tiniest Chin (little dog) Maggie gets her ears boxed daily and she just stands there in a state of shock. If it doesn't calm down soon I am going to open the door. Forgot to tell you about the bites and scratches on my arms, hands and legs because she plays so rough. Don't remember my other kittens being so wild. I have just bought her an activity centre but she still prefers my desk!!!

I am sorry that Mille has died. Please accept my best wishes for healing.

If you can get Animal Planet on cable/satellite, a great Saturday night TV show is Jackson Galaxy, My Cat from Hell. He is s cat daddy who tells people how to understand cat and works with them to create a better living environment for them and their cats. The show is terrific and interesting. If you cannot get the show or watch the past episodes (I would truly take the time to hunt past episodes down) google his name and visit every site you can to read about his insights into understanding cat.

I have never owned a cat for more than a few days. i picked up a cat back in 1983 from the ASPCA and the cat became very ill in a few days and they took the cat back to euthanize because he was in such bad shape. They gave me meds to give him and I did at adoption, he had a cold but it turned to pneumonia. Since I am allergic, I have never gotten another cat even though I want one badly.

From Jackson Galaxy I learned to understand cat which has helped me to understand some humans I have met over the years. As he states a cat's life is hunt prey, play with prey, conquer prey, put prey aside then rest and start the cycle all over again. Watching his show demonstrated how some humans act online. Hunt prey, play with prey, conquer prey, become bored with conquered prey then go to the sleep and hunt people to use as chew toys all over again. A friend told me to apply it to people in different professions and I saw how it can easily apply to aggressive sales people and some CEO's and a few brokers I have met over the years.

So for your new cat, you lived with one cat for a while and the difference in personality is making things difficult for you. Please read the stuff that Jackson posts and perhaps you can improve your relationship with the new cat.

Finally the summer came to Zurich. But there is still to much business at the the office and nearly no time for pens….

In the middle of a terrible week and between two stupid meetings I needed a break. I found this shady back yard bar on my way back from the building site to the office. Here I made a break from the real world and browsed through the news on fountain pen board (Not that you think I would do this during my meetings! Never!), having a beer - yes, a real beer!

But well. this is not really new in my life.

Get well soon, Pat!

Thanks for the get well wishes and I want a beer now.

Thanks for that Pat. I will certainly follow your advice. Knowledge is power. It has me so up the wall I forgot to say I hope you are feeling a little better. I only had a wicklow on my finger and couldn't write I was so frustrated. Millie thought she was a dog (I have 4) and couldn't jump or climb like most cats. She never could birds used to laugh at her. She has never hunted or even played at hunting. A very strange but adorable fair ball. She was a Persian with huge blue eyes. Lucy (new kitten) is all cat and play hunts all the time hence the terrorizing of Maggie. I've always had a cat and I'm sure I've had kittens like this before but I was much younger and fitter. I've also never had a cat that was supposed to stay in the house. Millie only went out with me and never out the garden (she couldn't climb the fence) but this 1 could sail over even as a 4 month old kitten and I live on a main road so I can't risk it. Must finish it's back again and will be on keyboard soon. Will keep you posted.

Thanks for that Pat. I will certainly follow your advice. Knowledge is power. It has me so up the wall I forgot to say I hope you are feeling a little better. I only had a wicklow on my finger and couldn't write I was so frustrated. Millie thought she was a dog (I have 4) and couldn't jump or climb like most cats. She never could birds used to laugh at her. She has never hunted or even played at hunting. A very strange but adorable fair ball. She was a Persian with huge blue eyes. Lucy (new kitten) is all cat and play hunts all the time hence the terrorizing of Maggie. I've always had a cat and I'm sure I've had kittens like this before but I was much younger and fitter. I've also never had a cat that was supposed to stay in the house. Millie only went out with me and never out the garden (she couldn't climb the fence) but this 1 could sail over even as a 4 month old kitten and I live on a main road so I can't risk it. Must finish it's back again and will be on keyboard soon. Will keep you posted.

Thanks for the good wishes.

If you are on Facebook you should take the time to friend Jackson Galaxy. I was reading his webpage earlier today and learning so much. He will teach you to speak cat.

On the show he tells you a slow closing of the eyes, a slow blink is I love you in cat talk. One of my neighbors has three cats. One of them came out of the bedroom when I was visiting about 3 weeks ago and he is the trouble maker as she calls him. He destroyed the couch and she had to gate off the living room. He looked at me and I gave him the slow blinks. He climbed up on a table and started to become curious and returned the slow blinks to me. I took off my glasses as Jackson does to let the cat smell the ear piece and the cat gave it a whiff, then started smelling it more and then jumped down and started to rub against me. She said the cat never comes out and talks to anyone not even her sister who is in the apartment a few times a week. I came back a few days later and he ran out of the room rub against me and then jumped on the table and batted my arm as if he wanted me to hold him. I couldn't because of the arm but he wanted me to hold him she said. And she never saw him do it. I spoke enough cat for him that he wanted to play with me.

Get well quickly, Pat!

Get well quickly, Pat!

thank you so much

Pat I tried blinking at her but I just got my nose scratched (again) but I have followed your advice and ordered a Jackson book but it's coming from the US so won't be here until July. I don't think Lucy can talk yet (except NO) so I have a bit of time. I know she is just playful and will calm down I just have to be patient. This morning I gave her breakfast and thought I would have a few minutes to get on with sorting my Parker 51's out cos I need to sell some. I was writing a list of all the pens to compare with my data base to see if I had listed them all. I was using my Emerald Pearl Vac with 9ct wide band uncapped when she leapt on the desk. I just managed to catch the cap it before it landed on the floor. So that was the end of pen sorting have to hope she gets tired soon so I can continue. I am not a regular on facebook but I do have an account so I will look for Jackson and see if he has kitten tips.

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Thanks for that Pat. I will certainly follow your advice. Knowledge is power. It has me so up the wall I forgot to say I hope you are feeling a little better. I only had a wicklow on my finger and couldn't write I was so frustrated. Millie thought she was a dog (I have 4) and couldn't jump or climb like most cats. She never could birds used to laugh at her. She has never hunted or even played at hunting. A very strange but adorable fair ball. She was a Persian with huge blue eyes. Lucy (new kitten) is all cat and play hunts all the time hence the terrorizing of Maggie. I've always had a cat and I'm sure I've had kittens like this before but I was much younger and fitter. I've also never had a cat that was supposed to stay in the house. Millie only went out with me and never out the garden (she couldn't climb the fence) but this 1 could sail over even as a 4 month old kitten and I live on a main road so I can't risk it. Must finish it's back again and will be on keyboard soon. Will keep you posted.

Thanks for the good wishes.

If you are on Facebook you should take the time to friend Jackson Galaxy. I was reading his webpage earlier today and learning so much. He will teach you to speak cat.

On the show he tells you a slow closing of the eyes, a slow blink is I love you in cat talk. One of my neighbors has three cats. One of them came out of the bedroom when I was visiting about 3 weeks ago and he is the trouble maker as she calls him. He destroyed the couch and she had to gate off the living room. He looked at me and I gave him the slow blinks. He climbed up on a table and started to become curious and returned the slow blinks to me. I took off my glasses as Jackson does to let the cat smell the ear piece and the cat gave it a whiff, then started smelling it more and then jumped down and started to rub against me. She said the cat never comes out and talks to anyone not even her sister who is in the apartment a few times a week. I came back a few days later and he ran out of the room rub against me and then jumped on the table and batted my arm as if he wanted me to hold him. I couldn't because of the arm but he wanted me to hold him she said. And she never saw him do it. I spoke enough cat for him that he wanted to play with me.

I BEEN knowin' dat! Used to do it with all my cats (after observing them for a while). I might give this Galaxy guy a look!
Feel better. Thanks for the heads-up about an interesting show.

The way you teach a cat to play with its claws retracted is that you react audibly (ow!) when the cat hurts you and your turn your back to the cat and stop playing immediately. The game ends straight away. That's precisely how the kitten's mother will teach it. The kitten will learn quite quickly.

Beleive me I do cry out. It's no fun having bleedibg hands and legs. When I first got her I put her in a large dog crate until I was sure the 4 dogs had accepted her and wouldn't bite her. It soon became apparent that it's the dogs who need protecting. Last week she was biting me so I put her in the cage and told her she could stay in there until she played more calmly. I let her out after a short time and she was quite well behaved. I decided to dispense with the cage when I bought the activity centre cos it has a bed off the ground so I have no naughty corner now. She refuses to sleep in the activity centre and gets in the Chihuahua's bed. She is a very clever kitten and only attacks me and the 2 Chin's because she has decided we are 'soft touches'. She shows my grumpy Shih Tzu a lot of respect. She can be really loving at times so I am sure if I am firm she will settle down I have had cat's for 40 years and they have all ended up fitting in so I won't let Lucy beat me.

I just wonder whether the problem is that the kitteh is an Exotic. It sounds like wildcat behavior.

If she's young it's also just about being a kitten and not knowing.

My sweet boy (just lost him to kidney disease in November) started out ROUGH. Kittens just don't know their own sharp claws, and those claws are sharper than as adults I swear. A couple things helped:

1. I got him a soft, stuffed dog toy about his size, it became the kitten he wrestled with and bit the crap out of instead of ME. When he got really playful I'd grab the stuffy and "attack" him with the stuffy. He'd get his wrestle out on IT.
2. If he did go after my feet or hands I'd made a pained meow (Ow doesn't mean anything to kittens, but mewling cries do) and make whatever he'd grabbed go TOTALLY limp. He'd stop and look at me curiously and let go, but took staying limp for a little bit.
3. Time. By the time he was a year old he'd gotten a WHOLE lot better, and by the time he was a mature 3 or 4 he only wrestled with me if I started it and was then very careful and gentle. He'd be wrapped around my arm so hard I could pick him up by lifting my arm but I'd have no scratches.

Patience! Fortunately he was pretty dog like, total klutz that he was he didn't jump, didn't get on stuff.

I think we need kitten pictures!

I just wonder whether the problem is that the kitteh is an Exotic. It sounds like wildcat behavior.

Looking at the kitten's mother in the avatar, it appears to be the actual breed called, I believe, Exotic Shorthair - at least in the USA. People use the term "Exotics" for hybrid cats which are bred from wild species, such as Savannas, Bengals, and others - but I don't think that is what Widget means with her kitten.

The emphasis was supposed to be on turning your back on the kitten and stopping the play right there. That is what sends the message.

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I just wonder whether the problem is that the kitteh is an Exotic. It sounds like wildcat behavior.

Looking at the kitten's mother in the avatar, it appears to be the actual breed called, I believe, Exotic Shorthair - at least in the USA. People use the term "Exotics" for hybrid cats which are bred from wild species, such as Savannas, Bengals, and others - but I don't think that is what Widget means with her kitten.

Thanks for the clarification. I do believe the Savannas and such can be a handful.

Thanks for the clarification. I do believe the Savannas and such can be a handful.

From what I have heard about them, that is certainly true. They are gorgeous, though!

Pat I tried blinking at her but I just got my nose scratched (again) but I have followed your advice and ordered a Jackson book but it's coming from the US so won't be here until July. I don't think Lucy can talk yet (except NO) so I have a bit of time. I know she is just playful and will calm down I just have to be patient. This morning I gave her breakfast and thought I would have a few minutes to get on with sorting my Parker 51's out cos I need to sell some. I was writing a list of all the pens to compare with my data base to see if I had listed them all. I was using my Emerald Pearl Vac with 9ct wide band uncapped when she leapt on the desk. I just managed to catch the cap it before it landed on the floor. So that was the end of pen sorting have to hope she gets tired soon so I can continue. I am not a regular on facebook but I do have an account so I will look for Jackson and see if he has kitten tips.

good luck with the book
meantime if you can look at his blog, read the stuff he has posted in newspaper articles
read him on fb
and love the cat

grin