This photo screamed B&W.
Interrupted during a snack.
Passed out.
Showing posts with label bill the cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bill the cat. Show all posts
August 10, 2009
July 29, 2009
Proof that Nirvana Played a Show in Austin, 1991
In other news, you might notice that I'm up at 7:17 AM ... that's because Bill woke me up (again) and I decided to just stay up this time. Good news though!! I watched him take a dump and, without ANY help from me, he squatted properly on the toilet seat like he's supposed to do. Huzzah! All four legs on the seat, didn't miss at all, didn't fall in. I could tell afterwards he was confused about covering up his mess, but I took him off the seat before he could investigate any further and foul things up. Much petting, and a treat, followed. He's now passed out on the sofa.
This means training will go so much easier, since I don't have to teach him how to stand on the toilet seat. I just need to slowly decrease the amount of litter in there (it's already pretty low) and then slowly fill it up with water. I'll probably keep a small amount of litter in there for a few weeks to make sure he gets used to it.
w00t!
July 26, 2009
Toilet Training Moves Forward
Because I know you want to hear this --
For the last month or so, Bill had been using his litter box as it sat on top of the toilet seat, w/the lid up. Yesterday I removed that and bought a metal mixing bowl and suspended it (via duct tape -- most indispensible tool ever) in the middle of the toilet and filled it w/some litter. I stayed home all afternoon to hopefully catch Bill when he uses the facilities, because I need to teach him how to squat on the seat w/all four paws. (Being a pet owner is demanding, eh?)
Unfortunately I missed his business-time (and basically wasted an entire afternoon at home), but fortunately I came home from a party to find he peed very properly in the inner bowl and didn't spill a drop. That's an encouraging sign, at least! He apparently made the switch from box to bowl with no problems.
The next step is to fill the bowl with decreasing amounts of litter. But before I do that I want to make sure he knows how to squat. So this might be a month or so of me spending my time at home in front of the bathroom, instead of out in the living room, to catch him on his bathroom run. Nurse, cancel my one o'clock ...
For the last month or so, Bill had been using his litter box as it sat on top of the toilet seat, w/the lid up. Yesterday I removed that and bought a metal mixing bowl and suspended it (via duct tape -- most indispensible tool ever) in the middle of the toilet and filled it w/some litter. I stayed home all afternoon to hopefully catch Bill when he uses the facilities, because I need to teach him how to squat on the seat w/all four paws. (Being a pet owner is demanding, eh?)
Unfortunately I missed his business-time (and basically wasted an entire afternoon at home), but fortunately I came home from a party to find he peed very properly in the inner bowl and didn't spill a drop. That's an encouraging sign, at least! He apparently made the switch from box to bowl with no problems.
The next step is to fill the bowl with decreasing amounts of litter. But before I do that I want to make sure he knows how to squat. So this might be a month or so of me spending my time at home in front of the bathroom, instead of out in the living room, to catch him on his bathroom run. Nurse, cancel my one o'clock ...
June 25, 2009
Cloud Strife, Cat Poop, and College Baseball
I'm downloading Final Fantasy VII for the PS3 right now. That game consumed my life when it came out in ... um ... I guess it was 1998 or so. I remember that it was released for the PC using the GLIDE API, which meant you could only play it in 3D with 3Dfx video cards (luckily I had one). Years later I'd try to reinstall and play it, only to be appalled at the software rendering (I had an ATI video card then -- Direct3D/OpenGL only). Stupid proprietary APIs -- everybody loses. Anyway, I know what I'm doing this weekend :-)
Texas lost to LSU last night ... 11-4. Losses are bad, but they are worse when you give up five runs in an inning on the back of a walk, two HBPs, and an error. That's just sloppy baseball. Maybe it was nerves? Whenever I watch a sidearm left-handed pitcher throw to a left-handed batter, I get nervous because, due to the camera angle over the pitcher's right shoulder, it seems the pitcher is throwing the ball behind the batter and it's going to hit him. And yeah that happened twice last night, haha.
The toilet training of the cat is going quite well. I was at the stage where the litter box was raised up high on a series of stacked books. That worked nicely until the books got above the level of the toilet -- then the stack became too flimsy to hold Bill, who apparently is a violent pooper. (Great mental image, ya'll!) Nah, actually it's a cat's instinct to cover up his mess, so after he pinches a loaf he will scoop litter over it to cover it up. When he does this, he rocks the litter box back and forth, so because the books are a) stacked high and b) not sturdy, the litter box sometimes falls over. This is bad because it scares him and teaches him that pooping = scariness, which we certainly don't want. Can you imagine if every time you went to cop a squat, someone jumped out and scared you? I imagine that's what this is like for him.
Instead of finding a more sturdy base, I accelerated his training by putting the litter box on top of the toilet seat (the lid is up), which, now that I write it out, is actually finding a more sturdy base :-) He can now jump from the side of the bath tub right into the box and go about his business. I came home from work yesterday and found some pee in there, which means he can get up there and take a leak by himself. Wonderful!
I'm going to leave this like it is for the next couple of days. Since I have off work on July 2nd-4th, I think that on July 1st I'll switch him to a metal bowl inside the toilet. I'm waiting for my off days because I need to be around to teach him how to squat over the bowl and to prevent him from tracking poo all over the house. I don't mind chilling by the bathroom all day as long as I've got Wifi :-)
Exciting times! I'll share pictures when I'm done :-)
The toilet training of the cat is going quite well. I was at the stage where the litter box was raised up high on a series of stacked books. That worked nicely until the books got above the level of the toilet -- then the stack became too flimsy to hold Bill, who apparently is a violent pooper. (Great mental image, ya'll!) Nah, actually it's a cat's instinct to cover up his mess, so after he pinches a loaf he will scoop litter over it to cover it up. When he does this, he rocks the litter box back and forth, so because the books are a) stacked high and b) not sturdy, the litter box sometimes falls over. This is bad because it scares him and teaches him that pooping = scariness, which we certainly don't want. Can you imagine if every time you went to cop a squat, someone jumped out and scared you? I imagine that's what this is like for him.
Instead of finding a more sturdy base, I accelerated his training by putting the litter box on top of the toilet seat (the lid is up), which, now that I write it out, is actually finding a more sturdy base :-) He can now jump from the side of the bath tub right into the box and go about his business. I came home from work yesterday and found some pee in there, which means he can get up there and take a leak by himself. Wonderful!
I'm going to leave this like it is for the next couple of days. Since I have off work on July 2nd-4th, I think that on July 1st I'll switch him to a metal bowl inside the toilet. I'm waiting for my off days because I need to be around to teach him how to squat over the bowl and to prevent him from tracking poo all over the house. I don't mind chilling by the bathroom all day as long as I've got Wifi :-)
Exciting times! I'll share pictures when I'm done :-)
May 25, 2009
Bill the Cat Arrives
Take a gander at my new cat. I adopted him today from some friends of mine; their daughter brought him back from NYC (adopted from the ASPCA) but they can't keep him, and neither can she. I've been thinking about getting a cat in my new place, and so Bill (that's his name -- I might rename him, though) packed up all his gear and moved in with me a few hours ago.
He's a year old and he's really chill. He's been meowing a lot this evening, but I think that's just because he misses his former owner(s). Hopefully he'll take a shine to me soon enough. He's pretty friendly already though :-)
Speaking of the name Bill, I'm aware that there is a much more famous Bill the Cat. This one and him are no relation though; I'm pretty sure that my friends' daughter, who named him, doesn't read Outlander (neither do I). That's part of the reason I'm thinking about a rename. I've always wanted a pet named "Osgood." Ooh, or "Hobbes!" But I'll kick it around in my head for a few weeks. Actually, now that I'm used to calling him Bill, other names seem weird. So he might not get re-named after all.
Anyway, here are some pics of the man himself:
More here.
He's a year old and he's really chill. He's been meowing a lot this evening, but I think that's just because he misses his former owner(s). Hopefully he'll take a shine to me soon enough. He's pretty friendly already though :-)
Speaking of the name Bill, I'm aware that there is a much more famous Bill the Cat. This one and him are no relation though; I'm pretty sure that my friends' daughter, who named him, doesn't read Outlander (neither do I). That's part of the reason I'm thinking about a rename. I've always wanted a pet named "Osgood." Ooh, or "Hobbes!" But I'll kick it around in my head for a few weeks. Actually, now that I'm used to calling him Bill, other names seem weird. So he might not get re-named after all.
Anyway, here are some pics of the man himself:
More here.
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