So today’s big event (other than my Doctor’s appointment) was that one of the kittens was spayed. Logically, it was the female one: Cayenne. “Cayenne” — who was adopted in December — is so named because she was born in a Green Pepper greenhouse / barn because her Mother was ferile (and shortly after she was born Mom abandoned the two kids, and a week after we got Cayenne her brother was ‘found’). Now she’s old enough for spaying. We also have boy-cat (“Keith Mewn”; currently moving from my lap to the desk … why is this human TYPING?!?!) who will have his willie whacked some time before the end of the month. We got him in January.

Keith & Cayenne

They’re both young. They defy physics. Actually, they don’t defy it, they ignore it. Usually at 3:00 am. It’s like having a couple of three-year-old children, I think… WAIT! NO! Put that DOWN! HOLD STILL or you’ll garrotte yourself. GET OUT OF THE WAY! STOP THAT! LEAVE THAT ALONE, FER PETE’s SAKE… oh God… just shut up and die peacefully… PEACEFULLY, I SAID!

I just finished re-reading this blog’s entries back to to the new-year. Witty little bits of pithy humour and observation. Very fine. Go there. Read. Be amused and entertained.

When there, you’ll read about how she thinks all males have an ability to know about porn stars. Well, her males do. Her husband, for one, plus her 3-year-old son. She is concerned by this. I know nothing of what she speaks. What is this “porn”, anyway…? [consults OED] pronto… poncho.. poncinella… aha! [reads] …CHRIST ON A BIKE!! That’s disgusti–

I wonder if I can find some on the internet…?

[sees image of someone fisting a chicken]

AAAIIIGHGHGHGGHGHG!!!!!! MY EYES!

[collapses, thereby proving he really has read blog]

She’s also wondering if she can add a count-down timer like I’ve got over there on the right. Thing is, her blog is hosted by WordPress, as opposed to here which is located on a dedicated domain server of my own. What she needs to do is have access to “plug-ins”, and then she may be shown where to up-load the files to their server. Or maybe they have a list of plug-ins to select from. Perhaps the page for the count-down timer has something. I could tell you if I had a WordPress hosted bog… but I don’t. Does anyone out there have ideas?

Granted, she could also try the help thing through the blog, as that will likely be skewed to hosted blog owners / content providers / porn stars / journal maintenance technicians, etc.

Sorry? I said what? Balderdash! I’m an innocent civilian! Maybe some filthy theatricals know about such things, but not me! No no!

I’m still seeking a solicitor in the UK to handle my litigation. Bastards.

I wonder where I can find a live chicken…

While the commentary about the trip hasn’t started yet, we interrupt the possibility of them showing up here with sad news from the house about a family member.

Ms Shaft [#0037] Originally uploaded by I am I.A.M.

This morning, around 7am, Jennifer heard a thump from downstairs. She’d just fed our remaining cat ‘Ms Shaft’ her breakfast at an astonishingly late hour. Jennifer asked me if I ‘had heard that?’, and I grumbled something that sounded like Ancient Mesopotamian.

An hour later she went downstairs to do something laundry-related and discovered Ms Shaft lying on her side in the doorway of the basement bedroom.

She was already dead.

We have no idea what happened, nor was it in any way expected. She was seemingly in the best of health, full of energy and completely able to wake us at 4:00am demanding food because she wanted some and we weren’t immediately attending to her needs.

Admittedly, she wasn’t the brightest of cats. She once got herself into the tool shed next door, but couldn’t figure out how to get back outside; so she howled until she was released. ‘Ms. Daft’ she was commonly re-named.

Jennifer’s at the vets now to see what if anything can be explained about how this passing came to pass.

Added at 9:30am:

Dr. Cavanaugh’s best educated guess is that she suffered a heart-attack, commonly caused by Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. This is the most common cause of death for cats who are fine one minute, and dead the next. While quite common in males, it’s not un-heard of in females’ sudden death.

The other possibility is poisoning through strychnine, commonly used in rat poisons. The cats eat the rats, the poison continues working, the cat dies. Ms Shaft wasn’t successful enough for this to have been a possibility.