Since the majority of today will most likely be spent remodeling the house that Jani & his family are selling (I think they’re sticking me in painting duty), I decided to get in the swing of things by revamping the site a little bit. As much as I loved the black-based one, I’m at an age where the cutesy trinkets just feel like too much so I scrapped all the unnecessary crapanoodle off the sidebar and made a very simplistic, almost mature (I said almost) layout. I guess it’s a definite sign of aging when one chooses convenient over flashy. *sigh* As you are bound to notice, should I choose to scribble this entry into a ramblatudous one, I haven’t slept much tonight which is our running theme this month so far. It’s not that I’m not tired — Hell, I’m exhausted — it’s just that I’m not sleepy and going to bed would just result in frustration and fatigued whining. Of course, common sense states that I’m forced to go sleep within the next half hour if I’m seriously going to spend all day painting walls. I mean, fatigued effort is cool if one is looking for a more bohemian look, but I really don’t think that’s what is expected. Sleep. I need it. Give me it. Not sure if it would help with the exhaustion, since despite occasional napping and a full night’s rest here and there, I’m still wandering around in a semi-zombiefied state, but I’d like to at least take a shot at it, see where it leads me. Even if the end result is just a 1/10 increase on my energy bar, I’d love to have it. Shame my brain disagrees. I suppose, if all these aforementioned plans go up Santa’s imaginary hairy ass, I’ll be clicking “take it easy” on my job performance bar and hope folks will cut me some slack. The wonderful gaping hole in my armpit has been misbehaving for a while now and we don’t have the time to go see a Doctor until next week, so I’m probably going to take things at a leisurely pace.
On that note, I really hate asking people to let me have less to do than others in any given project. I want to make the same effort as everyone else. I suppose in a lot of ways I’m never going to accept the fact that I am somewhat faulty and while others run their bodies on a well-oiled system, I’m the rusty back-up plan people use only when nothing else is available. I will continue to try putting in the same hours and subsequently I will continue paying a high price for my good effort. Once a Cleric, always a Cleric — high WIS & INT don’t help one bit in a melee fight… and so far that’s all my life’s been, a huge big battle meant for the plate armored and here I am, a clothie with a whopping 2 allocated for STA and a permanent Curse of Weakness debuff, standing there with pee trickling down my leg, clutching my makeshift staff in horror as the events unfold without much input from Yours Truly. Who shoved me in this instance without a tank to keep aggro off my flabby butt?! Anyway. The sooner the renovations are done, the better, as the house sales can start then and we can put this project behind us and move onto the next (which would be a ladder-bed for me & an outdoor enclosure for the petsies).
Speaking of the petsies… I am in desperate need of three cat carriers. I’ve been looking at pet supply store websites and I found one that carries a nice model, a Pet Cargo Cabrio. Does anyone who happens to be reading this have any experience with said carrier or similar ones? It looks luxurious and easy to use but are plastic carriers overall a good investment? At almost 50€/carrier, I’d really not like to discover that they break apart when you breathe in their general direction. I’d also like to know if carriers like that are safe when traveling in a car — in the odd chance that there’s a crash, the cat can’t fly out of the box, right? It won’t open on its own, right? Is there a way to somehow ease the wobbliness of the carrier, since Rosa gets very carsick? And since we’re on the subject of la furry ones, I am having all my cats chipped and perhaps tattooed — neither is a painful procedure, right? The last thing I want is to cause my cats any pain. :(
On that note, I think I need to hop skip to bed. Gnai moonkins. Behave!
June 4th, 2010 at 15:35
which one of ur cats is that (in the pix)? nelli? looks small for nelli.. rosa?
so how did the renovations go?
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Jonna Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 21:54
It’s Rosa. :) Nelli still isn’t too friendly as far as humans go, she sleeps in the basket above the fireplace.
The renovations went well, thank you for asking. I’m pondering if I should blog about it. :)
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June 4th, 2010 at 19:42
Our ‘cat carrier’ that we use for Lume & Skunkki cost us 35e, a similar, a bit larger one would have been 45e.
As a previous owner of two cats, I propose you should go for a model that has a door that comes off entirelly = has individual lock-systems on each side.
I do not warm up to that ‘open roof’ design, it doesn’t look sturdy enough. Looks like it can easily break. And that plastic window? It is going to end up scratched and is going to look -bad- after a few times in use. Also cats do not care if their carriage has doors do the Flying Delorean.
My mother still uses our old traditional large cat carrier, that we used for Rollo, with her jackrussel terrier. And we bought that when I was five-years old. Used often for the time period of 8 years before putting it in storage.
A traditional one is also extremely easy to maintain in a good ‘mint’ condition.
For the floor of the carrier, I highly recommend a door-mat.
Rollo & Karvinen both had the habbit of vommiting, pissing and pooing in the carrier while traveling by car (I guess you know how sweet that all smells, and that it was a blessing to arrive at the destination). The mat is easy to wash, and brush loose fur off.
Also carriers should be strapped in place when the car is on the move. Like people, the cats will fly around if not strapped if a car-crash happens.
And what comes to the chipping & tattooing ofc I can imagine the latter one hurts more. Karvinen got tattooed when I adopted him, but it was done when he was asleep because of his balls-off operation.
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Jonna Reply:
June 4th, 2010 at 19:56
Yeah, I wasn’t happy about the fancy design either, but it’s pretty much the only decent-looking one that I’ve stumbled upon so far online. I haven’t even properly looked at actual stores because the ones on display are either way too big (and I don’t plan to get a group carrier, no way — our cats get along in general, but they don’t get along so amazingly well in the car) or they look like they’re more suitable for carrying guinea pigs than cats. The perk of the one I put on display is that it has a built-in sewer system, which I have no clue as to how it works, but apparently all the spilled water and any possible urine will go into a container underneath the box. Again, how that works with actual padding in the box, I have no idea.
And obviously the carriers have to be strapped in, but there are models that, when shook suddenly, like during an impact, will open because of a bad lock-up system and I don’t want to be in a car crash AND worry about loose cats, or potentially cats splattered on the windshield from being shot out of the carriers. :/
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June 5th, 2010 at 03:24
Love the new look! Painting isn’t all that bad once you get into the swing of things (so I hear…;)
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Jonna Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 11:27
Thank you! I wanted a cute, but uncrowded one, so I settled for a simplistic header-sidebar. Can you call it a sidebar when it’s up there? Header… navigation? XD
Oh, the painting part itself was okay and fun, but *preparing* the walls was horrid. There was a layer of prep paste on the walls and I had to go over the ENTIRETY of walls with a sandpaper-thingy, so my arms were killed dead. Plus, I had to stay upright for seven hours, my princess ass is only used to sitting all day. It was traumatizing for my body (let’s ignore it was probably good for me). :P
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June 5th, 2010 at 11:29
Adorable!
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Jonna Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 11:32
Thankiiie~!
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June 5th, 2010 at 14:00
Ahhh wat een cutie! I read your blog often but I don’t response allot.
I like your theme, home mode or ..?
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Jonna Reply:
June 5th, 2010 at 16:13
Thank you. I made the theme myself using the base template of three or four different layouts with a LOT of weird and probably “wrong” CSS. :D
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June 5th, 2010 at 19:15
Love the new theme but then again I loved the last one as well. You need to take it easy and not overexert yourself. Your health and well being is more important.
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Jonna Reply:
June 6th, 2010 at 00:20
The last one was a tad cluttered and all the black made it dreary. I took the colors for this one off a pic of ice cream! :P
Aye, but I tend to be overly active when I’m manic, since when I’m depressed I can barely get out of bed.
I don’t feel mentally worn out… but physically? Hell yeah.
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June 5th, 2010 at 22:40
GASP! GASP!! GASSSSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!
/stealsyourPS2
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Jonna Reply:
June 6th, 2010 at 00:20
OMG NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
I paid good money for that PS2! o.O
Then my bunny ate one of the controllers from one end of the cord to the other, so now I have one pink and one gray controller.
And it’s modded.
YOU NO CAN HAS ;_______; IS MINE!
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June 8th, 2010 at 04:01
I recall you’ve asked about this before, and I recommended the ‘bag’ type carriers, those soft textile ones. Such as this, http://www.petcarriers.com/pet-carriers/classic-pet-carriers/hotpinkjeepcarrier.cfm. They tend to be cheaper than the plastic ones, and can take more damage without breaking apart, such as freezing temperatures, where plastic ones would probably break. The one I have is huge and works well for 3 cats. With the newest kitty I’ll be using a small traditional plastic carrier as well, as they don’t really fit in the big carrier at the same time. Some months ago they had really cute textile carriers on sale at Stockmann, I think the sale price was about 35 euros for a cat-sized carrier, though Stockmann tends to be a bit more expensive than other stores. I almost bought one :o
Try Musti&Mirri, they usually have a large selection and reasonable prices, I bought my carrier there as well.
And as for the chipping and tattooing your cats, I have my newest cat chipped and it seems to be the preferred choice of cat breeders. Tattooing the old fashioned way. Sure you can read the info without any special equipment, but I’ve heard the text most likely becomes unreadable with time, as the ink spreads within the skin, just like it does on people. The smaller the text, the smudgier it will become. So I’d say you should go for the chip, it’s easier, faster and much less painful, with no need for healing either. Also, cats, like humans, can be allergic to tattoo ink, though it’s rare. Besides the tattoo on a cat’s ear looks ugly :( They prolly tattoo it with black, but I’ve seen pictures (many in my lifetime, and pixels too) where the color has turned green. So, to chip or to fuglify?
Also, wall of text at 4 am. I am made of win.
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Jonna Reply:
June 8th, 2010 at 11:55
Yay for wall of text. :D
The problem I mostly have with carriers is the fragility of the plastic ones and I’m afraid that the soft textile ones are difficult to clean, since, like I said, Rosa gets really carsick (which includes vomiting + diarrhea both) and Luca pees often. I’ll be heading for Musti & Mirri once I get some money, ask around a bit. The problem is, in an enclosed space, Luca starts picking on the other two, and the overall size chart of the cats varies. Rosa is “kitukasvuinen” and has balance issues while Luca is a giant who prefers to spend all car trips sleeping on his side which makes his presence extremely wide and Nelli is like a really thick worm in shape and she likes to move around during trips so they can’t be put in similar carriers, they all need different models. I don’t intend to go to Stockmann, I always get stared at there. XD
*noddle* I think I’ll settle for just the chip, although the tattoo would be a visible reminder for people not to steal my cats. The problem with non-maatiainen is that people tend to steal them if they catch them in the wild. :/
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