October 22, 2007
A Hearty Bordeaux, with Hints of Strawberry and Catfood
I was one of those people--still am sometimes, probably always will be deep down--the type who believes she can say anything she wants to whomever she wants--has the right to say it, in fact, if not also the responsibility, especially if it's "true"--and that so long as my intentions are pure (and sometimes even if they aren't), if anyone is hurt or offended in their interpretation (or misinterpretation) of my words or actions, that's their fault entirely and none of my own. It's the equivalent of saying that if someone doesn't want people to tell her she's ugly, she shouldn't post pictures of her ugly face online. "I'm not being rude, I'm just being honest." We've all heard that one before.
Then, see, I turned fifteen and realized that sometimes it's better to keep certain things to myself if I know it will spare someone else discomfort. After all, I would want them to show the same courtesy to me, especially during a week in which I was admittedly emotionally wobbly. I guess if there are people out there who don't care if they're being accidentally insulting (or intentionally assholey) then that last post is irrelevant. For the rest of us, though, those of us who don't want our good intentions to have ill effects, I think you understood what I was trying to say.
(This kind of reminds me of the time my ninth grade English teacher did something really shitty to embarrass a bunch of my classmates in public and when I called her on it, she sent me to the library for a week for "independent study" and then brought my parents in for a conference to discuss my insubordination. Yes, that'll teach me not to defend those less able to stand up for themselves. Well played, Mrs. Swenson, ya bunt.)
In news I hope we can all appreciate, Simon took me to wine country on Saturday in what I assume was an attempt to tip my humoral balance of wine and whine in favor of the former. As treatments go, sampling my way through reserve reds beats the hell out of leeches and trepanation any day. Here's a good old-fashioned slideshow of our tour through Napa and Sonoma in all its autumnal glory:
And here's a picture of me stumbling around after the equivalent of one glass of wine:
Disclaimer: Any hand placement reminiscent of this is unintentional and should not be interpreted as any kind of a hint. After all, sometimes frequency of urination is just a symptom of too much to drink, and besides, sometimes grabbing one's crotch doesn't have anything at all to do with urination but is rather just a side-effect of your standard everday bad-assery. I am hard core.
So hard core that when I go out in the garden now, I do it with a basket tucked into the crook of my elbow. Sometimes I even skip.
Note the pwecious holiday salt and pepper shakers. Or should I say seasonal salt and pepper shakers, har har har.
And now I have a question for you. If you have two cats who eat different types of food--say, kitten chow and chow for cats who, oops, are suddenly obviously overweight and need to lose a few lbs (she didn't become suddenly overweight; it just became suddenly obvious)--how do you make sure they keep out of each other's bowls short of quitting your job and giving up all your career dreams to be a stay-at-home feline monitoring system?
p.s. If I've emailed you today and you got several copies of the same message, sorry about that. I'm working from home today and my laptop stutters.
Posted by Leah at October 22, 2007 02:50 PMI went to a small mountain university overlooking St. Helena. Your photos bring back memories.
I tell the brutal, honest truth... but I have to watch my back here in Detroit when I do it.
Posted by: Maeko at October 22, 2007 03:54 PMThere is a coworker of mine who is doing the wine tour from San Diego and driving straight up the coast right now for her honeymoon. And now that I've seen your pictures I can see why she chose it. It looks gorgeous.
About the cat problem I'm stumped. Can cats be fed at only a specific dinner time and not have food left out during the day while you are at work? That way you could be there to keep them out of each other's bowls. I'm sure you've thought of that though,I have no idea I've never had a cat.
two cats, different foods = different rooms and enough food for one feeding while you are awake and home. don't give them all their food for the day. you have to split it up for morning, evening and dinner... they will adjust.
ps. i completely understand about the preggo thing. it is exhausting to be asked constantly and to be told, and i MEAN told by people that they expect you pregnant by the end of the year, blah, blah, blah. i feel your pain.
Posted by: jeorg at October 22, 2007 04:37 PMI'm brutally honest at times, a clear mirror is what my mate calls me. The thing is I'm not so great at taking it, which is totally unfair I know. I'm not fair though. I'm a Libra/Scorpio cusp (bday yesterday) so I have this inner battle of just and vengeance all wrapped up in this body, its interesting being me sometimes.
I have learned that this stage in life somethings just aren't worth getting upset about, and I've learned to choose my battles well. One thing I have learned about this crazy Internet is that it's REALLY hard to read the true intentions of someone just from their words, there's no hand movements, no inflection of voice--just sentences.
Love the wine country, I live right in the heart of it myself in a Sacramento bedroom community. You should drive to Lodi or Clarksburg it's beautiful on the Delta and the people are SO friendly.
Posted by: Michele at October 22, 2007 05:02 PMI think I'm the same way--I can SO dish it out, but I can also get seriously bent out of shape when it comes back at me. I'm extra careful on the internet for exactly the reason you said: tone is so hard to capture in the absence of voices and hand gestures and facial expressions; it's safer just to assume the best of people and, when in doubt, keep my iffy comments to myself. I'd bet that most people blog for validation, not to be attacked and criticized; I try to keep that in mind.
Posted by: Leah at October 22, 2007 05:07 PMAt the risk of repeating myself, I so hear you on the pregnancy badgering.
About the cats, the only thing I've got is if the more mature (read: pudgy) cat isn't able to get up onto counters and things and the kitten is agile enough to get up there then you could feed the kitten high and the mature cat low. Other than that feeding them at specific times with a timed and supervised window before you pick up the food seems like the only choice. I've never not let a cat feed at its own whim but I hear it's actually better for them in the long run.
Posted by: Kizz at October 22, 2007 05:14 PMSadly(?), there's no place both cats can't get to. Looks like we're going to be stuck with a feeding schedule, which sucks because I can barely keep myself fed on time some days.
Posted by: Leah at October 22, 2007 05:23 PMI have two dogs. One is a puppy and one is a four year old, eats everything off the counter (including an entire lemon meringue pie) and all of the puppy food. I actually emailed the dog food company and got a reply. (We feed Diamond Brand dog food and I think they also do cat food.) Her suggestion was to actually feed senior food to both because it has the necessary proteins but a lot less fats. Now we feed it to both and their weights have stabilized.
I have no idea if this is an alternative for kitties but it sure made sense for my dogs. And, yes, I checked the facts in ingredients and was surprised to find that the only difference between senior and puppy was the fat. Weird, huh?
Good luck.
I grew up in Napa... your photos made me homesick.
:)
Can you put one cat in a bathroom to eat? We had to do that with our cats when the one with IBS had to go on the special duck and green pea diet (gah, I know). They weren't very pleased, but they got used to it.
Posted by: Dotty at October 22, 2007 08:16 PMWe feed our cats in the morning and night, because one is a bit special needs and slow and the other is a nimble wily gutsy pig who can gobble down both his and his step sister's meal in 5 seconds flat.
It doesn't have to be exactly the same time every day, just on waking up in the morning, and at tea time in the evening. If we're late home? They will actually wait for us to get home before eating.
A friend suggested that we separate our cats totally during the day, but I wanted the cats to bond (the whole point of having two). We ended up just putting the food down for short periods and keeping an eye on them.
I'd be leery of feeding a kitten senior food, their little bodies need special stuff to grow up right.
It was such a happy day in our house when both cats and both dogs were on the same foods.
Posted by: Brandi at October 23, 2007 05:27 AMI wonder if automatic feeders with a timer would work for your cats. Maybe there are some good/affordable ones available.
Posted by: Green Eyes at October 23, 2007 06:30 AMActually, nothing beats a good trepaning. That's why I don't bother to grow hair on that part of my head. Makes things neater.
Hope your solution works as well...
Ooops.
Two Ns in trepanning.
Obviously, I'm past due.
Posted by: iamnot at October 23, 2007 09:57 AMI love the colours in your slideshow, and I totally get what you're saying about the hands on the crotch being badass.
Sometimes I pose like that even when I don't have wine in my system, just to remind people that I can be badass when sober too....
Posted by: Leaf, probably... at October 23, 2007 04:06 PMIncredible pictures. I wish I could offer up something more about the cat dilemma, but I've only ever had one pet at a time (I have an only-child obsession, apparently).
Posted by: Jennie at October 24, 2007 08:42 AMWell, don't know about cats since I just have the one and she can access her food all day. The dogs, however, are fed once daily according to how much they should be getting for their weight/energy levels.
Posted by: beck at October 26, 2007 12:44 PM
