Himself's 'Puddims'

He was joking when he called her that. This is Miss Thang. I'll get a picture of Little Bit on here as soon as she stops long enough for my camera to focus on her.

One of those weeks...

Little Princess has been the cause of more than a little concern in the Mini Manor. She would 'sleep' and get so relaxed that she would fall from where ever she was 'sleeping'. At first this was the cause of much giggling in the Mini Manor, but when she did it on my lap, I noticed that she was twitching like she was dreaming. Not too concerned, I moved her a little, and she felt boneless. Totally limp and not responsive at all. Himself was sitting next to me and he and I both were a little scared that we had just lost our oldest 'child'.

After a few days, I realized that she wasn't actually sleeping, nor was she eating. I tried different kinds of food, and finally found one that didn't make her throw up.

Little Princess is allergic to wheat.

The only food we've found that doesn't have wheat in it is pretty expensive, but we're more than willing to spend the money to keep her healthy. To get some of the weight back on her that she lost not eating, we have her on a soft food diet with crunchies as a constant.

Now that she's eating, she's actually sleeping (snoring too), and now that she's sleeping, she's a little more active. She used to just lay there and let the other cats run over her, now she fights back a little.

The other 'highlight' of my week was horseback riding. Normally this is an actual highlight, but not this time. In the long time I've been riding (on and off for about 10 years or so), I have never fallen off. I've come close, clinging to the side of the horse like a little blond bug, but I've never actually fallen off.

Until last weekend. I fell off 'Fraidy Horse...

Twice.

Because the first time wasn't good enough I guess. Granted, the first time was pretty much all my fault. I was trying to get my foot in the stirrup, and my toe kept pushing into his side. He was trained to respond to every signal his rider gave him, so he kept leaping forward. I say leaping because I kept trying to stop him long enough to get my foot in the stirrup, but every time I attempted this, I nudged him with my toe again. I finally threw myself out of the saddle because I knew I would never get my balance back.

The rest of the ride went without too many more hitches. 'Fraidy Horse likes to lead, but I wasn't used to neck reining. Every time I tried to turn him, he would stop. We eventually got the hang of each other (he got used to me and the field we were riding in, I got used to him thinking everything was going to eat him), and started up a hill towards the other horses. The owner noticed that a fence was coming apart, and the horse in that pen was freaking out because horses were in the field where she wanted to be. I led the way towards the fence, and the horse in the pen started making 'Fraidy Horse nervous (pretty much everything makes him slightly nervous.).

I almost had him calm when he first started tensing up.

Then he started dancing around a little, which made me tense up, which scared him more, which scared me more. Eventually I became the loud scary thing that he was trying to get away from. He was so scared that he would be in trouble he started responding to every command I gave him to the extreme. Every time I told him 'whoa', he would stop so hard he almost sat down. This tossed me forward which gave him slack in the reins, which would make him think I wanted him to go forward. Eventually I just looked for a soft place to land because I had lost my stirrup and was sliding off to one side anyway.

When I finally picked my now battered body off the ground, 'Fraidy Horse was so sorry he was no problem to catch, and while I was waiting for the owner to fix the fence and for my legs to stop shaking, he kept his nose on my arm as if to ask me for forgiveness.

The falls were totally not his fault, I just haven't been riding for a really long time, and none of the horses were as responsive as 'Fraidy Horse. He really is the coolest horse I've ridden in a long time.

Thankfully the rest of the week as been pretty normal for all of us here at the Mini Manor. Himself is working a lot, I've been recovering from the falls and working, and the girls are all as normal as three deranged cats can be.

M

It's Spring!

Have some snow! Seriously, once March 21st hit we've been pounded with snow, hail, sleet, rain, a little sun, some more snow, more rain, hail...

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year, mainly because it means summer is right around the corner, and summer means RENN FAIRES!!!! Not only that, but it means that I can buy and wear sunscreen (I can wear sunscreen in the winter too, but it tends to make people stare). Sunscreen is one of my favorite scents, and I enjoy my annual search for the perfectly smelling sunscreen.

And now for the updates: Himself will be finishing his meat-cutting class this quarter (this is the shortest quarter too, only 9 weeks instead of 16)! This will mean that he'll go from apprentice to journeyman and get a pay raise!

Baby Kitty is now known as Little Bit, since she's not really a baby anymore. She's as cute as ever and isn't against using her cuteness as a weapon of mass distraction. She and Miss Thang love sleeping with each other, and she's taken up the hobby of leaping up as high as she can on the bed and landing on the nearest unsuspecting body relaxing on the same bed.

Miss Thang is pretty much always sleeping or bathing. She's washed herself so much, she's slightly bald from the middle of her body back to her tail. Himself and I both think she looks kind of like a lion. She's been trying to show Little Princess that she's boss, but Little Princess isn't listening.

Speaking of Little Princess, she's pretty much always sleeping or trying to be a big brave kitty and reclaim her bedroom territory from the much smaller, but much meaner girls.

I've been working a little more, but still not as often as I like. Lots of training and review stuff that I know for the most part, but in my line of work, review never hurts. I might even take a rigging class that the Union does every summer that will allow me to make over $30 an hour for usually several hours per call. It may not be this summer, since I already have plans on taking a 93 mile hike with a small group of people, work, going to the renn faires, and various other summertime activities that Himself and I have planned. I'll probably do the class next summer when I'm a little more comfortable with being in high places with really heavy counterweights.

Himself and I are still looking for a house, but we've been talking about renting for another year so we can make our apartment our home and enjoy it a little. Our noisy neighbors aren't quite as bad as they had been (Himself thinks maybe they killed each other, and that's why they've been so pleasant to live next door to).

Well, that's about it. I was having some issues with Blogger for a little while, but I think it's resolved now. That will probably mean more posts a little more often.

M