sacha chua living an awesome life

The stereotype of an entrepreneur is someone who obsesses about business at all hours of the day. It’s good for me to be able to relax and enjoy hobbies, though. It preserves that feeling of an abundance of time, which makes it easier and less stressful to make good decisions and to keep my values in mind. Hobbies also give me a way to refresh myself.

This is a picture I took at sunset in High Park. I like the muted colours and the blurriness of the sun just visible through the trees in the distance.

Many houses are slated for demolition along Bloor Street, to be replaced by a tall condominium building that spans the entire block. I took the picture on the left because the hole in the window looked like a cat sitting on the sill and looking out, as cats often do. On the right, you can see a tree fort behind the construction fence.

Ah, cats. =)

Not much in the garden to take pictures of yet, but maybe the seeds I planted will germinate soon. This year, we’re looking forward to growing more bitter melons (ampalaya), basil, snow peas, lettuce, spinach, blueberries, and nasturtiums. (Edible gardens for the win!)

It’s a quiet weekend, my favourite kind.

We were going to be away for a week and a half, so we needed to make plans for our three cats. In the past, J- had done a little cat-sitting for us. I’d also asked a friend before, but that was for a weekend. With our cats occasionally throwing up or pooing outside the litter box when they’re upset, I didn’t want to inflict that on friends, even if I was happy to pay market rates. We wanted to make sure the cats were watched over and played with during the day, so we decided to give cat boarding a try.

Boarding cats is more expensive than hiring a cat sitter. We felt anxious about having someone else come into our house while we’re away, though, so we considered the difference a worthwhile premium for peace of mind – no litterbox accidents or throw-ups to worry about, and no worrying about stuff missing either. We also liked the ability to specify instructions like feeding Neko small, frequent meals – if you give her a lot of food in one go, she sometimes rushes and then throws up.

There was a small risk that the cats would pick up colds, ticks, or fleas from other cats, but we decided we could deal with that.

After calling up a few cat boarding places, we settled on Lonesome Kitty, a nearby cat boarding place. I checked out the location, and it seemed fine. The resident cats looked bright and alert, and none of them were obviously scratching themselves. We decided that it would be better to board there than with a veterinarian because vet offices tend to be busy (and occasionally full of sick animals!), so we e-mailed our confirmation. On the day before our flight, we dropped the cats off along with enough cat food for their stay.

After we got back, Luke and Leia sought attention more often than usual, and Neko had a cold. (The poor dear.) The cats were okay, though, and life returned to normal a week or so after we got back.

The cost of boarding three cats worked out to around $32 per day. A cat sitter would have cost around $23 per day. Lonesome Kitty has since then raised its prices to $36 for three cats / day.

2011-09-25 Sun 09:06

Neko and Leia have taken to meowing us awake in the morning. When I stumble out of bed and pour some cat food into their bowls, they sniff, eat a few pieces, then wander off. Not hungry, then. They just want us up and out of bed. So I pick them up and cuddle them a bit, and then they go off to nap.

One day, W- had an idea. We got revenge on the kitties by meowing at them while they were napping. The morning meows stopped for a while. Now they’re back again.

I guess sometimes aloof kitties just want company.

Some cats love high places. With a little planning, it’s easy to give kitty a great view. Here are Luke and Leia hanging out on top of the new cabinets we installed in the kitchen:

We’ve left enough space for them to stand up and walk around on those cabinets. How did they get up there? Easy. They jump on the chest freezer, then up and across a series of shelves, then down to the pantry, and then up to the cabinet. I’ll see about posting a video sometime. It’s a system similar to this one.

There are a lot of pet-related furniture hacks. We haven’t done anything nearly as serious – mostly just ready-made parts arranged to let the cats climb up and over our heads. Oh, except for the cat perch that we made using lumber, sisal rope, and leftover carpet.

Even without any special arrangements, cats will often find some way to amuse themselves. One of our cats loves hanging out on top of our laundry sorter, which is a covered set of three compartments with a canopy like that of a four-poster bed. I don’t know why it has a canopy. Maybe the designer has a cat who also likes high places.

Speaking of cat hacks, this video from Japan Probe (via Cute Overload) makes me think about breaking out the LEGO Mindstorms kit we have. 

legocat jpnprobe by peakfloods

Our cats are sweet and amusing, and they make us laugh much more often than they mess up. =)

I have a soft spot for cats. Our cats are all indoor cats, never allowed out except on a leash. There are a number of neighborhood cats who turn up on our deck for food or company. Some of them are definitely housecats let loose to run outdoors. Others, we’re less sure about. Housecat or stray? It can be hard to tell. We feed them some food, set out water, pet them if they’re amenable. Sometimes they even get dishes of warm milk.

Of the cats who visit us, we think one cat is either stray or somewhat neglected. Mr. Fluffers (as J- has named him) is a collarless gray tuxedo medium-hair domestic cat and a regular visitor. Medium-hair cats need a lot of brushing to keep their coats unmatted, and Mr. Fluffers obviously hadn’t been brushed in a while. W- combed away many of the mats in his fur, and even trimmed the most stubborn ones. But if Mr. Fluffers is a stray or neglected cat, it would be good to have that situation sorted out.

We’ve been thinking of taking Mr. Fluffers to the vet or to Animal services to have him scanned for a microchip, but we need to think through the decision tree first.

• If Mr. Fluffers has a microchip
  • If the registered owners are reachable
    • Hooray! Cat reunion, or at least clarity on the situation
  • If the registered owners are not reachale
    • See decision tree for no-microchip case.
• If Mr. Fluffers does not have a microchip
  • Take him to Animal Services as a lost pet?
    • Owners who lost him may not claim him there, considering impounding fee
  • Check for spay/neuter and then release him back into the neighbourhood?

For Mr. Fluffers and other potentially stray cats, I’m tempted to try the first step of attaching a safety collar with a tag that says: Not a stray cat? Please call us at XXX-XXX-XXXX… =)

2011-04-10 Sun 11:18

We have three cats, which works out just right. Three laps, three cats, and two of them can play with each other if the third one’s hissy. So when it came time for their annual checkups, I figured I’d see what I could negotiate.

The vet had an appointment slot open for a checkup, so I scheduled one. While I was on the phone with the receptionist, I asked if I could bring two cats. “Yes, you can,” the receptionist said. So I asked if I could bring three. All right by them. Okay! No multi-pet discount, though. (I had to check. ;) )

We rounded up the cats, put them into their carriers, and put the carriers into the car. Leia and Neko were quiet, but Luke was doing his scared-cat meow. He’s usually the most easy-going of the three, but I guess he’s not used to travelling. At the vet, we shuffled the cats into the lobby and settled in for the wait.

The vet saw us after about fifteen minutes. We decided to put Luke up first, as he was the most likely to behave. It was a straightforward examination for him – a cat in beautiful health, although with some tartar building up on his teeth. Luke didn’t give the vet any trouble when it came to the vaccine shots.

Leia went next. She got all huffy when the vet was prodding her, but didn’t make a big issue of the vaccine.

Neko turned out to have gained two pounds in the year that she’s been in Canada (when this is about 28% of your previous weight, that’s something!). She’s a little more than half Luke’s size and will probably never get to that weight, but she’s been filling out nicely – going from a square to a trapezoid, we joke. Neko’s been snoring and making strange noises while breathing in, but the vet didn’t find anything obviously wrong with her, so he said it might just be a respiratory virus she picked up that’s not life-threatening. Okay.

Now time for Neko’s shots. The vet called in an assistant with thick work gloves that went past his wrists. “Just to make sure,” he said. We laughed knowingly, as we went through similar precautions whenever grooming Neko’s claws: leather gloves and long sleeves for W-, although I could generally get away with handling Neko with bare hands.

On the way home, with the three cats lined up on the back seat, I turned to W- and asked, “Do you feel like a soccer dad yet?”

Total time going to the vet and back: 2 hours. Definitely worth bringing the cats together.

One of the best things about drawing is that you can draw things that don’t exist. Somehow your world splits into all these different possibilities. Even if you can’t quite capture what you hold in your mind, it’s there. Your rough sketches remind you.

And so: pirate kitties.

Drawing things you can’t see turns out to be surprisingly fun.