Jack, night three

I’m running out of ways to blog about Jack, so he may not get a daily blog after all.  But in the meantime, how about taking some scripture out of context…

(We’ll get to that shortly.)

So Jack is still hesitant to leave his friendly confines, whether they be underneath the downstairs futon or underneath our bed.  However, once the girls are tucked in for bed last night, Jack made tentative treks around the house.  He’s got the litter box and food locations down well, and he made himself available for snuggling.  Then after Ordinary Spouse and I went to bed, he really started exploring.  He woke us up a few times with some quiet calling (we’re wondering if he’s missing his playmates), and a few times he decided to just hop up and join us on the bed.  (Hey – doesn’t Hebrews say something about keeping the marriage bed undefiled?)  When morning came, he retreated again to his hideout underneath.

When we checked his food bowl this morning, we found that he had collected a rubber band and a hair scrunchy there.  I’m not sure what that means, but I’m glad that he didn’t bring us any dead mice.

Ordinary Mommy is sensing some sadness on the part of Middle Daughter, who had been hoping for a more friendly pet.  Hopefully, that will just be a matter of time.  We’re thinking of getting some catnip toys that MD can use to get Jack in a more playful mood.

I think that’s all for today.

Now playing… 31 July 2009

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Ok – this time I’m not even making any pretense at reviewing the album.  Just go listen to Sound Opinions^* or watch the video below.  And if you’d like, here are the wikipedia articles for Neko Case and Middle Cyclone.

* As a bonus, if you listen to Sound Opinions show, you can hear Greg and Jim review U2’s latest album, No Line on the Horizon.  And if you support NPR, you can get warm and fuzzy feelings inside.

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Jack’s second night

What – does Jack get a blog entry every day?

Anyway…  Jack spent most of yesterday under the downstairs futon, but was content to be approached there.  Middle Daughter especially took to the task of befriending Jack and climbed right behind the futon with him.  She was singing love songs and putting on puppet shows, and Jack didn’t seem to mind.  He also let everyone reach under and pet him.  However, he still seemed uncertain about the spontaneous, unpredictable, and potentially loud nature of little humans when they’re out in the middle of the room, and so he didn’t seem anxious to leave his kingdom.

However, after the girls were asleep, Ordinary Spouse pulled him out and petted him, and he completely adored that.  She did report that when Jack heard me walking upstairs, he got very tense.  When he could see me, though, things were fine.  Eventually, OS put him down so that she could do some work.  Jack returned to his cozy place, but after a while emerged from there again – the first time he’s done that with humans in the same room.  Then he heard the washing machine start spinning in the other room, and decided that under the futon was safer.

He stayed there until after we were in bed, but sometime in the middle of the night, he went exploring again.  He devoured a bowl of food and eventually went to sleep under our bed.  This morning, he returned to his futon.  The girls said that he started to come out once, but scampered back in when he saw them.  Well – small steps, I guess.

Kitty litter!

Ha, ha!  I’ve never thought about kitty litter before.  And now that Jack has arrived, I’m looking over the kitty litter bag and finding that some of this just strikes me as funny or interesting.  Those of you who are thinking that I’m strange can call me “Crazy Horse” and write about it in your own blog.  Potty humor is alive and well in my house.

So, what’s up with the kitty litter?

I’ve already mentioned how our kitty litter is “flushable”, but that the state of California doesn’t recommend this.  That one makes me laugh.

I also mentioned that our kitty litter is “natural”.  Have you ever wondered what kitty litter is made of?  Not me – I always assumed it was some high tech polymer.  Turns out that it’s really just ground corn.  That’s right, Jack poops in high tech corn meal.  Who knew?

(Apparently, the alternative is some clay-derived substance, which may release silica dust.  Not in my house.)

According to the bag, “cats may paw or even taste any new litter product.”  Well, since it’s natural, we don’t have to worry about that.

And for those of you who are organically-minded people, our particular brand of litter “is not a food product and does not meet ‘organically grown’ certification requirements.  However, it is derived from natural organic matter.”

Beyond all of that, there are the comments on the packaging about how it’s made with a “patented process”, how it’s been tested in “real litter boxes with real cats”, and how we’ll be completely satisfied.  If L.L.Bean made cat litter, this would be it.

Now I’m going to go look at our toilet paper again.

For the record – the weather of July 2009

Just wanted to get this into writing…  We haven’t had a single 90 deg F high here in the SW Chicago ‘burbs this month.  Not one for the whole month of July.  And if you’re wondering how rare that is, Tom Skilling says that it has happened only seven times (including this year) since 1871.

In fact, take a look at these “official” readings from the nearest airport, which is less than 10 miles from our house:

(Average high temperature is the blue line.  Actual readings are dark green.  Forecasted temperatures are bright green.)

Except for a few days at the end of June, this summer hasn’t even made it above 85 deg F.

I’m likin’ it.

Jack’s first night

Observations from Jack’s first night:

• The three pieces of cat food left right at the top of the stairs were gone, so Jack at least made it that far.
• The litter box was used.  That is a very important point.
• Kitty litter likes to roam.
• Jack’s food has displaced my oatmeal.  I guess I know where I rank.

The girls are now watching him while he hides behind our TV entertainment center.

Jack in his new home

Well, we’ve brought Jack home.  We made the trip to pick him up tonight, and he immediately figured out that something was up.  Half an hour later, we found him.  After his person caught up with him, we did introductions, gave Jack a little time to calm down, and then convinced him to come home with us.  We had  to trade kitty carriers, though, because Jack didn’t care for ours.

So we got home, and Ordinary Spouse gave Jack some TLC to soothe him after the trip.  Then we introduced Jack to his litter box^* – need to take care of the important stuff first!  Then we gave him some space.  After a while, Youngest Daughter squealed that he had taken cover under our futon.  And  now, two hours later, he is still there, defining his new kingdom.

* And what a litter box it is!  It is stocked with “World’s Best Cat Litter” which, according to the package is “safe, natural, clumpable scoopable, and flushable”.  However, the package also notes that “the state of California encourages the disposal of cat feces in trash and discourages flushing cat feces in toilets or disposing of them in drains.”  Who knows – maybe that’s what got California into the shape it’s in now.  Good thing we don’t live there.

I decided to celebrate the occassion with some Trader Joe’s Cat Cookies and some blogging.  Jack wasn’t impressed.

Refi reflections

Ordinary Spouse and I finalized our home refinance this morning.  We dropped our rate from 6% to 5%, which was pretty nice, but not quite as nice as it could have been.  Since home prices have fallen, the equity that we have in our home has also fallen below 20%, and so we have to keep PMI.  That’s not so bad.  What is bad is that PMI premiums have increased 2.5 times since we started paying them five years ago.  That increase wipes out a nice portion of the savings from reducing our rate.  Oh, well.

Anyway, we walked into the office of the title company this morning, and I was wishing I had some note paper so that I could record the funny or crazy things that come along with all of the legalese that goes into a mortgage.

• Our mortgage and associated documents ran for about 90 pages.  According to the person we worked with, this is unusually long.  Our wrists are tired.
• There were even blank pages that we had to sign and initial.  At one point, I muttered to myself, “I hereby acknowledge that have read and understood this ‘X’.”
• At one point, Ordinary Spouse was reading over how the mortgage company handles our personal information: “We may share your information with friends, friends of friends, or everyone…”  (She just joined Facebook.)
• Some pages were signed in quadruplicate.  (I’ve never used the word ‘quadruplicate’ before.)
• We had to sign every page of the amortization schedule.  As if we’ll still be in this house when we reach retirement…

So now that we’re saving money on the house, we’ll be able to feed Jack.

(Just kidding!  Just kidding!  Jack’s food supply has never been in question!)

The first three rules of Jack

All conversation around our supper table tonight was about Jack.  Ordinary Mommy laid out the first three rules:

1. Jack never, ever goes outside – even if you’re holding him.
2. Jack only eats cat food.
3. Don’t play dress up with Jack.

In other news, my Ordinary Family has purchased cat food and a carrier to get Jack here.  The family Webkinz have tested the carrier, and they approve.  Also, it appears that Ordinary Spouse will be as diligent with cat food as she is with human food and worm food.  The first ingredient in this food is meat, not corn meal.

Jack

Well, we’re getting a cat.

I’m not entirely sure how this happened, except that I have three young girls who want a pet.  Three young princesses, who look at me with sweet eyes and say, “Daddy, can we get a pet?”  And who check books out of the library about pets.  And who visit pet stores and look longingly at pets.

Ok – I do know how this happened.  They just wore me down.

And so I have slipped into character as the sweet, old curmudgeonly father whom the daughters dote over.^*  I even had a nickname for the new cat (which shall not be mentioned here or anywhere, because it horrified one of my cat-loving friends).  I have also predicted that in an ironic twist, the cat will like me best.

* Here is how I imagine a typical conversation between my character and one of my daughters:

Daughter:  Aaaah, isn’t he sweet?
Me:  Dumb cat.
Daughter:  Silly daddy.  You don’t mean that.  See, he likes you.

So – let’s give this feline a name, instead of calling it “the cat”.  The cat is Jack.  He is two years old and is described as being docile and, well, umm… orange.  According to Jack’s vet, orange cats are frequently docile, so I guess Jack fits the bill.  (Actually, according to Jack’s owner, Jack goes beyond docile – so far beyond docile that his current nickname is “bag-of-bones”.  Since I’m sure my cat-loving friend will not care for that name, either, we’ll need to come up with another.)

Anyway, Jack’s owner (who goes to our church) is moving and needed to find Jack a home.  And since I could read the writing on the wall (it was going to be Jack or a guinea pig), I asked Ordinary Spouse and Mommy whether we should consider adopting Jack.  A few phone calls later, we’re parents of another two-year old.

I’m sure that Jack will provide lots of blog fodder, so stay tuned.