Author: Elaine

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August 14, 2007 – Click on image for higher resolution version.

We are kitten sitting for the next two weeks. I am used to the “bring cat to new place and not see it for a week” variety of cat. Sheila (pronounced “Shayla”) is of the “get into everything and be apparently fearless” model. Mia, the Dalmatian, is fascinated by her. Lody, the Collie, wants to know where we put her food and litter box. Both dogs have obviously been nailed by a cat during a formative stage. It was hysterical to watch two dogs, the smaller of which is forty pounds, ooze out of the way of a three pound adolescent cat.

Changes

Last week, I expanded my hours slightly at the part-time job I started in June.  I am now working 24 hours a week, six hours a day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I like having one less commute a week, as well as a chance to ride Lily on Wednesdays.  This time of year it is difficult to plan on riding in the afternoon, since thunderstorms are likely to occur about the time I get off from work. 

Scarcity of Blood Donors

I was shocked the other day to read the other day that only 38% of Americans could give blood if they wanted to. The CBS article Number Of Americans Eligible To Give Blood Overestimated By 60 Percent  explains why.  When I started donating in college, I think they asked potential donors about seven questions, including about how the donor was feeling that day.  I think there were several dozen questions that I answered to today before I donated.  Without working at a place with a regular visit by a blood bank, I hadn’t donated in four or five years.  With my new job, I now drive past a hospital with a blood bank four days a week, so I decided to schedule an appointment there.  I am pleased to report that the juice and chocolate chip cookies were very good.

Dog Tricks

The little Yorkie at I Do Dog Tricks obeys me much better than my dogs do. And right now there is a mare (Magic) screaming because I took her Best Friend Forever (Sassy) home this morning. I hope she quits by the time I go to bed. Updated 8/2 to add Magic seems to have adjusted to just being turned out with Rags. And it makes feeding time go more easily, since they both get the same amount of horse chow.

Five Years Ago

Five years ago today I started a web log called “Coffee and Oranges.” Blog software was still quite primitive or seemed difficult to install on a web host, so I created my own using a handful of Perl scripts. In July of 2003, I volunteered to be a beta tester of the new TypePad service and started a web log called “Five Acres with a View.” I decided to install Movable Type when the beta was over a few weeks later and kept the name of my TypePad blog which seemed more appropriate than a Wallace Stevens quote. I moved to WordPress when forced to stop running Movable Type by my web host in May 2004. I have been running some version of self-hosted WordPress since then.

If my web log was a child, it would be old enough for kindergarten in the fall. Where do the years go?