The Musician's Musings

Well, we broke down... The boys are almost 14 years old, and poor Henry was miserable when Tiger was seqestered in our bathroom for the better part of four weeks while his neck wound healed. So, we popped in our local Animal Rescue League, and looked around, but couldn't find one we liked.

We found two.

They are securely wedged behind our washer and dryer down in the basement. Currently, their names are Isis and Falcor. We may rename them, but we also think that those are pretty cool names to start. They are gray tortiseshells, two years old, kinda small, and female littermates. Yes, the female animals now outnumber the males at Chez Strobel, by the score of 7 to 4. They are sweet, sweet kitties. Isis has alopecia, and currently her rear end and haunches are shaven. She seems to be doing better, and hopefully in a secure home her condition will improve more quickly. Falcor is very protective of her sister. When we had both cats in the petting room, Falcor spent much of the time licking and sniffing Isis. It was very sweet to see that dynamic between the two of them, and it lent to their desirability to us, frankly.

We think they'll be good additions to the household. They're young-ish, not kittens but still playful, and should deal well with the business of the house once they're ready to surface.

Pictures have been taken but need to be uploaded, and will be forthcoming.

Yay, kitties!!!

Tiger did fine through the operation, but the vet wanted to keep him an extra night because he's really sleepy, and they can administer more pain medication if he needs it. We really appreciate their concern, but could've told them that he's sleepy much of the time, at least 12 hours a day. We're ready for him to be home. Hopefully early tomorrow, or whenever the vet says we can take him home.

I'm back from the 1st Wilkinsburg Black History Month Extravaganza. I directed the "Wilkinsburg Chamber Singers," a spiffy way of saying there were only 7 girls who volunteered. I must say that despite 3 or 4 being sick, it sounded nice. They definitely saved their best performance for tonight, but their projection still needs work.

The rest of the program was nice. Many kids read poems, there was the World Drumming Ensemble joined by two wonderful African drummers from I-forget-where, but they were great, a dance troupe taught by one of the associate teachers (in-house sub) complete with traditional garb, and they were great too. Unfortunately, it wasn't that well attended, but it was the first one. Maybe next year's will be better. I'm glad I stayed. A lot of kids put in a lot of effort, and many of them I have in one class or another.

This was a change in attitude from earlier today/this week. Not that I would've paid money to get out of doing this, but with the pressure in class and the frustrations I have every day, I had no happy enthusiasm. I wanted them to do a good job, to be sure, but it just felt fruitless. Again, they did well tonight, and I also had some pleasant comraderie with of the kids. I can't tell you how much a little bit of that means to me. It's like I'm talking with different kids with some of them. Nice to see now, frustrating again once they turn back into stand-offish don't-wanna-do-nuthins come Monday.

Many, many thanks to warrewyk for staying at the house so fiannaharpar could go do scribble at ariannawyn's tonight. And many thanks to my dear sweet wife for leaving some smiley fries for me to supplement my dinner tonight. :-D You are the best, sweetie.

On a completely different note, I just recently got attention-attacked by our cat Tiger, something which never happens. He jumped in my lap to get scritches. Only Henry jumps in laps, but Tiger seems desperate. Of course, it's his own damn fault as he never visits us in bed, whereas Henry gets all the pettins cuz he's there. Hmph. Crazy cat.

I wish everyone a good weekend. Pooky's getting her hair cut tomorrow, finally, and I'm sure she'll be cuter than ever.

Ok folks, this is about an awkward a sign-off as you'll get, so why try harder?

So I'm literally in a game of cat and mouse at the moment, as Hank is perched on the desk and using the mouse as a pillow or interfering with my mousy manipulation.

Today's already started out better than the past couple. It's cooler! That's making a huge difference. Our daughter was hysterical on the drive in this morning, stayed in a good mood all the way through and was even well-behaved. That always helps. I stopped and got diapers and shirts for Die Pookie-müffin, socks for me (so I can throw out the holey rags now), and a couple of other things. I finished all the yard work that I'm gonna do this go-round, and have my list of schtuff-to-do. It includes laundry. Lots of it, too. Better get started on that.

It is sooooooo hard to get motivated to do anything when you have a content purring kitty in your lap. Seriously.