Sudokuaholics Anonymous 3

With that, I will go back to reading the news....

Afternoon sudokuland! Weather report, we had a HUGE RAIN over night, a bit of wind, but nothing in the severe catagory. We can still use the rain, for sure. Although creeks and catch ponds that were dry I noticed yesterday have water, again. that is good.

all the storms are just not good for ole Author, been giving me problems lately. mainly at night, keeping me awake, and so I lseep in and miss changeover, bummer.

Yesterday was grocery shopping, and I took Al with me, that is always expensive But I needed the help to get in and out quickly. He took me to lunch, we had veggie burgers, one of the fast food resturants does them, and I think they are YUMMY. I guess anything would be yummy when you have not had a fast food burger in years. Last time I did, it made me sick, not accustomed to that much fat now.

OK, back to read the board, see what has been going on in my absence.

Yackatcha latter!

Can't remember if I posted this on here or not. If it is a bit familiar, feel free to scroll by.

I knew we were in trouble when hubby named him. Then he would come visit every time the door opened, and follow either of us around, matching step for step. Yesterday, Hubby decided he looked skinny, so out came a temp food bowl.

Yep, we now have another CAT! My two kittie girls are tolerating him, barely, with some hissing and swatting and chasing him around. He is putting up with it, just sits there taking the abuse hehe.

His name is Phantom, as in Phantom of the Opera, as he has strange face markings, similar to the mask the phantom of the opera wore. One eye and side of face is white, other is grey with some yellow in it. YEP a tri color male, although not a lot of yellow, enough to qualify. there is yellow scattered through his grey, and there are small patches of a buff/pale yellow on the back of his legs. I would not call his markings Calico, not enough, maybe more torteshell and white? Hubby thinks people who live on the road behind us abandoned him when they moved away.we had seen him around for some time, passing throug, comming to call our girls, but about 2 weeks ago, it seems he took up residence here.

Kitty girls are OK if he keeps out of thier personal space, now about one foot or so. Heck I have even seen them walk up and rub noses, but passing by him, which involves showing him thier back, just not comfortable with that as yet and will first growl, hiss or swat. All three of them seem to feel threatened and are skittish of any noise or movement, even if another cat is not present. Oh well, they will sort it out and hopefully before anyone gets injured seriously. I do not need any vet bills for abcesses, caused by a good scratch or bite that gets infected.

Phantom is an outside cat now, and I hope to keep him outside. Girls would NOT share house with him, they are now fighting enough between the 2 of him, when inside, since he showed up.

OK, I know tri color male cats are very rare. I know the red ( respinsible for the yellop, orange, or buff coloring) and the black ( respinsible for the black and shades of gray) are carried on the X chromosome. I know only one of them can be present on each chromosome. that is why almost all Calico's and tortishell are female, girls are XX, boys are XY, and rarely you find a XXY male. the Tri color males are also steril.

Now, I have a question of cat fancfiers or anyone really good at googeling. Can an XXY male spray, mark his territory? I have not seen this one doing it, have not smelled that odor around , and I an hoping he is not capable. I would like to know. He has not been nutered, all equipment intact.

He is a very sweet cat, seems to crave attention, and will cross the yard "talking" in the sweetest voice when he seeh/hears either one of us come outside. I guess his way of greeting, but sound is more like a mother cat calling her kittens best way I

can describe it.

boy I just barely went over the alloted number of key strokes hehe.

Tee hee MizT. When living in CA our cats adopted a stray. They would meow for food outside the front door and we would put some down, even though it wasn't regular feeding time and we were surprised they were hungry. Spying at them through the window we discovered that they would back away from the dish and watch as a stray climbed down from the tree out front and ate. Eventually this was happening almost every day. A few months later one of our neighbours hired a possum trapping company to catch the possum they were sure was invading their ceiling. Turned out to be our stray (called scaredy cat as he wouldn't let us near him) and he ended up in a shelter. :-(

Ahhh, Suzy, loved the cat story! Our girls are more gracious to kittnes and puppies that come up, they seem to recognize they are babies and need care, and let us feed those till we can adapt them out. I am still amazed to see all 3 of these cats now lying on the small back porch, each in thier own space. They have never shared thier back porch, thier " safe place" as it has gates to keep dogs out, with any other cat.

OK, off to the bank, later,

Argh! It's been snowing to beat the band today. By tomorrow noon we are supposed to have 10-12 inches.

MizT, I googled XXY calico and came across this page: http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/catbreed1/f/FAQ_calicocats.htm

As for him being fertile, while reading a link from the above, I came across this page:
http://vetmedicine.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=vetmedicine&cdn=homeg arden&tm=9&gps=177_921_1072_628&f=10&su=p284.8.150.ip_&tt=12&bt=0&bts=0& amp;zu=http%3A//www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/tricolors.shtml

1 in 3000 tri-colors are male and of these only 1 in 10,000 are fertile. It sounds like the odds are in favor of him being sterile. But, I always think of Murphy's Law. Maybe a visit to the vet could answer that question.

I know what you mean about his greeting you and Al. There's a cat (Figaro) up the street that calls to us when we walk our dog. As soon as Figaro sees us, he starts to call out and head towards us. We always stop and wait for him. He plops down on the sidewalk, the dog noses his belly, we pet Figaro and everyone is happy.

Well, off to make spaghetti for dinner. Catch you all later.

SA3ers

brrr Becky..
was worried about you yesterday Morn Tricia. didnt see your light on !
Also hello to Suzy, Ruby, Stella, Bean, Gail, Mama, Cous (vdV), Julie, Rena, Brenda, Mary, June, Dino, Cyndi, Jenni (we miss you)...
and anybody else who I may have missed and who visits SA3

I knew there was someone I would miss..

Hello Lynda

Gail, I'll be there for the "S Lobster" day! Yum!

Brenda, I don't know if he's left yet for NYC. I had to drive 6 hours today to pick up Brendan from college (not far from NYC). We're currently having storms roll through. The temp in NYC is usually warmer than here and they don't have any snow. With the storms, it's chilly (40-50F) and raining in NYC. But yesterday was sunny and in the 60's.

Hello everyone! Haven't had a chance to drop in the last couple of days. Heading off to an early bed since I'm tired from the long drive. It started raining just before I got there and rained all the way home. Still raining here, not sure if it will changeover to snow. Everything is flooded though because of all the snow melting and the rain.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend! Enjoy and take care!

Good Evening, SA3! I hope everyone is well! It's nice to see those of you who have been able to visit here in the last couple of pages. It seems as if we're all so much busier when the last-to-post competition was running. It seems so long ago! I hope all of you have a wonderful day/night!

Hi Ruby,Julie,Stella,Rolanda, Becky, Tricia, Suzy and anyone else who pops in. I do not always get time to catch up on all the posts but realised I had not see anything from Rena lately. Had a quick check back and i think last post was about 27 Feb. Hope everything is OK and she is just extra busy.

Cyndi, Happy Anniversary

Hi everybody...how many regulars are there on this page..does anybody know?
Here goes...
Gail, MizT, Dino, Suzy, Ruby, Stella, Lynda, June, Brenda, Rolanda, Mama, Julie, Rena, Mary, Cyndi, Becky, vdV, Jenni, Rena, Orianne......in no particular order....21 including moi.....
who have I forgotten???
Night all...

A DUSTING OF SNOW

This time, we got just what was forecast, a dusting of snow. it is clinging to the short grassy areas only, kind of mottled looking in places. rooftops, car tops steps and ramp have some snow, and along edges of the deck.

Scooter wanted out for her morning ritual, stopped in doorway when the cold air hit her nose. but I was taking food out to Phantom, an outside kitty needs more food in cold weather to generate heat and keep warm, and by time I came back to door Scooter decided to go out. BUT she remembered the snow from this year, does not like to step in it, so stood and surveyed the situation. Hummm, if I just jump to the AC central unit as usual, there is that cold white stuff on there, nope, not an option. white stuff on my steps and the ramp, what is a kitty to do? Deck to ground where long wild flowers grow, no snow, but a bit high, Well, if I carefully lean out, climb part way sown and put my front paws on the side of the deck, not as far, I think I can, I think I can, JUMP!

Now, she did not think this through completely, just how will she get back inside without stepping on that cold wet white stuff?? It was funny, watching her tread her way across the part of the grass with snow, step, look, step, look, choosing careful foot placement, shoot, sometimes the snow free spots were only as big as a kitty foot hehehe, wish I had a video camera.

Coffee pot is on, the real thing and the virtual pot both this morning. so I am typing without caffien, keep that in mind as you read, please.

Maen to sudokuland!

Off to have my coffee and look at my snow once again fore it is gone today. Snow twice in one year, even little dustings like we got are unusual here.

what a difference a day makes, woke yesterday morning to temp of 50*F, and today it is 32*F. We will not see 50 today!

everyone.

MizT, your kitty would have a heck of a time here. It's 9:40 am and we've had 18 inches of snow and is supposed to continue until noon with dustings until 4 pm.

So glad that I went to the grocery yesterday morning before this all started.

Well, better go out and help hubby with the driveway. He runs the snowblower and I follow up with the shovel.

BECKY, all our snow is GONE, been gone since right after I posted about it. sun came out, it melted and it is gone gone, even north side of buildings. Even Phantom would step on the snow and then shake a foot and step again, funny to watch these fur babies reaction to something new.

OH, I am sooo glad I do not have to go out and shovel snow! Did it once in my life, well, several times that one blizzard of the century back in 91, but that was enough for me, and all I was shoveling was a 2 foot wide path to the wood pile!! my rolling garden cart was 2 foot wide and that is how I brought in firewood, cause of course we lost electricity and had NO HEAT other than the fireplace. No snow boots, but luckily the snow was not wet and sloppy. could brush it off fore it melted.

I guess there are prices we pay for wherever we live, some uirk of mother nature we must deal with. Here it is storms and tornado warnings and inland hurricanes. AND heat and humidity really high in summer. You got cold and snow. CA has earth quakes, always something.

BECKY, what part of Ohio? if you druther, can send private message, but i was wondering. I have a Quilting Buddy in Gnadenhutten, and she said county near was a class 1 emergency, NOONE on road except emergency personel. Just wondering if you are close to that. my QB did not get that much, but a good 6 inches and maybe 4 more forecast for today.

Hello, all! Mucho rain yesterday. Whistling winds for today. Crowing hens tomorrow!

Hi Ruby.

MizT, I live in a suburb of Columbus (Franklin Co.). I'm very familiar with Gnaddenhutton (Stark Co.). I grew up in Millersburg, which is the county seat of Holmes. Holmes butts up against Stark to the west.

We're also under a Level 1 snow emergency. I started shoveling our driveway yesterday before hubby got home. You couldn't tell where the sides of the road were and wanted to give him a "guesstimate" of where to pull in. He used the snowblower to finish it and the sidewalk off.

Today we did our driveway, 2 neighbors' driveways and sidewalks, and, 2 other neighbors' sidewalks. It's still snowing, but we're not doing anymore today. It's still snowing.

We normally don't get this much snow at once. Most of the time I can get our driveway and sidewalk done in about an hour (if it gets done at all).

That should have been Level 3. They changed it around a couple of years ago. Level 1 - drive with care; Level 2 - drive only when necessary; Level 3 - only emergency vehicles, if caught driving you may be arrested.

I wouldnt be driving Becky, if I was you..

brrr

Hi Rolanda.

Nope, no driving for me. Don't feel like spending the night in the pokey.

Still hot and humid there?

still warmish.. nights are finally getting cooler.
Heating up to 36C on Tuesday, but on the whole days are getting cooler.high 20's, low 30's
quite a nice looking day outside today..
Have my friend from NSW and her tribe coming for BBQ dinner this eve.
she is over for her neice's wedding yesterday.

Sounds like fun. What all are you having? We had left over roast chicken with all the trimmings.

I can't believe that just 4 days ago our high for the day was 71 F (22 C).

just the usual salads and meat. Potato Salad (#1 son requested the Dutch one), Lettuce tomato, capsicum salad, coleslaw. and will male Fruit Salad for sweets..

All of it sounds tasty. Can't wait to put in my veggie garden so that we can have good tomatoes.

I'm quickly loosing steam. Think it's beddy bye time for me. Hope you have a good time tonight.

Catch you later.

Hi all, don't like the sound of all that snow, far too cold. MizT I thought all cats sprayed, we have had several females that did if a stray had been around. One cat used to stand on her front paws and climb backwards up a tree to get higher than where the dog had been. Territorial I suppose. If it is that cold outside why don't you give your kittys a commode! They would much prefer that to getting their paws cold.

Hi, Everyone! I'm just passing through. Our daylight savings time begins tomorrow morning, so I'm headed off to bed, as we have an early start. I hope everyone has a wonderful day/night! Sleep well!

Lynda, my kitties have an indoor litter box, but they are nature girls, rather do it in the woods. Now, Screech will come inside to go to the litter box if she cannot find dry sandy material for covering, she is picky, but she is going to go outside and look first.

Becky, I had found the same page as you did about calicos and tricolors. I did follow some of the links and I did find out, steril or not, Male tricolor can still spray. the vet writing the article said have them neutered to prevent spraying and agression. So now I know. Thaks for the help .

Yes Julie, SPRING FORWARD tonight.

Someone was saying Aussie does not change till the 21st or so, was that Rolanda? We changed much later, 3 weeks later, till this last year. Moved spring 3 weeks early and fall one week later, giving us another month of saving daylight.

I do wonder which way our site clock will move and what date? might depend more on where the server is located than what GATH is doing.

MizT..
our seasons change on the 1st of the month..
Autumn (Fall) 1st March, Winter 1st June, Spring 1st September, Summer 1st December..
Daylight Savings ends here in Western Australia at 2.00am Sunday 30th March.
in the Eastern States it ends a week later I believe.

What a glorious day we have had. We got up reasonably early (for my tribe anyway!) and hit the road. We went to one town for it's market, had a leisurely stroll around that then drove onto another town for lunch. Lovely food, fabulous ambiance and a noice white wine to go with it. Then we took the looong way home through the scenic route and here we are!
It's a hard life, but somebody's got to do it!