AMAZON

Sunday, November 25, 2007

What’s New, Pussycat?

Peter Sellers & Ursula Andress in the film What’s New Pussycat?

Because of the title, What’s New, Pussycat? I suggested to Alex that he write this post. However, he responded that he does not want to write my blog now that he has his own blog! (Selfish cat).

There are several new things in the lives of the feline who owns me and me:

NEW MUSIC THINGIE

You may notice the new thingie at the top of the sidebar of Nick’s Bytes that looks like this:





It plays music when you click on it and I intend to change the music to whatever song happens to be following through my mind at the moment. That may be difficult because, as an old folkie the songs that are often flowing through my mind are stored at the thingie site. Go ahead and click it! You know you want to! (As Alex would say, OK?)

NEW DECK

The house I live in now has a new deck. The young man who purchased it when ABN-AMRO foreclosed and who is now my landlord has torn down the old one and built a completely new one. That is great since, according to him, the old steps structure that gave way and injured my legs (left leg remains swollen and painful, eve after almost four months) wasn’t the half of it. Elements of the deck itself were falling apart and someone could have fallen through its floor at any time. Also, the deck was pulling away from the house and could have collapsed completely! That would not have been nice had someone been hosting a cookout on the deck.

If you look closely at the photo of the deck, you’ll see the furball who lives with me gazing from the deck next door.Yes, Alex has made peace with the little bitty doggie who lives next door.

NEW DOOR

Along with replacing the deck, my landlord has also replaced the back door leading to it. Alex has found the door wonderful for his gazing outside. So have I, for Alex now does not bug me to open the door so that he may go out and play with his cat buddies until after he has spotted them. This means, among other things, that Alex no longer sits in the open doorway deciding whether or not the other cats are playing outside before he prances out.

DSL IS BACK!

AT&T offered me a packaged deal that I couldn’t refuse. (Why does that have me thinking that Ma Bell is like the Godfather?) As of Friday, I now again have a DSL connection. This one, at three megabytes per second, is twice the speed of my old one. Today I read every blog to which I am subscribed and left comments on many of them. It took me only about a third of the time than it would have using the horribly slow dial up connection. And, I didn’t have to sit here and play a computer game or two (Freecell is my favorite) while blogs and sites loaded.


IN ADDITION TO DSL

See the box on top of the DVD/video tape player beneath my TV:

For the first time in more than ten years I have TV that is not limited to what comes in over the airwaves. I obtained Direct TV as part of the AT&T package, which including land line telephone, cell phone, DSL, and Direct TV is costing me $40.00 less than what I was paying for landline and cell phones and dial-up Internet.

The first program I watched on my new TV setup was my alma mater, the University of Kentucky, losing to its arch-rival, the University of Tennessee, 50-52 (yeah, that’s a football score, not basketball) in quadruple overtime. Ouch!

THE CRUSADE IS ON!

Last Tuesday I wrote (again) about the meese—I mean, mouse—that escaped Alex and ended the post with the words: “So, perhaps I will join Alex and Mr. Jinks in the lament: I hate meeses to pieces. Then, again, I may not.” The idea was that I don’t really hate meeses—I mean mice.

In the comments to that blog, phishez_rules wrote:

Mice aren't so bad really. When they're in a box, and they don't run all over your stuff, a pee and poo all over it. They're nice when they sit quietly on the back of your hand and look at you calmly.

In fact, they're damn cute when they do that.

I agree! Mice are cute. Some folks keep them as pets. That is why I have been wavering on whether or not I want Alex to catch (not kill) this specific mouse. That all changed yesterday when, after cooking a hamburger, I opened my bread box and found this:

Evidently the damned meeses have figured out how to get into my bread box and through the plastic wrap on the bun package and nibble (a damned lot) of my hamburger buns. I cannot imagine how they did it, but you see the evidence above.

I am no longer irresolute on whether or not I want Alex to catch that damned mouse. I may even help him in this crusade to rid my kitchen of the unwanted guest! Or, should I say guests?

BLESSINGS

Overall, I feel I have received many blessings this week.

25 comments:

  1. Glad to see you got a new deck, it looks great.
    I switched from AT&T dial-up to AT&T DSL last year and I love it.
    Up until then Comcast was the only game in town and they charged up the kabuzza.
    I might check into their satellite option as well, Comcast cable is quite high.

    As far as the meeses go, if you feel funny about sending them to mouse heaven a live trap is an option.
    It traps them without harming them and then you can release them out into a field.
    We had one in the basement and after a week finally got it.
    tc

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  2. TC: Thanks for the advice! I shall look into getting a live trap. I think Alex is beginning to get bored with mousing. He hasn’t gazed at the stove for a while. Maybe he’s too engrossed watching the Nature Channel on TV.

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  3. oh my I LOVE those deck things you have over there..... it looks great as does the new door.....

    LOL@Alex peeping from your neighbours deck.......

    Hope your Sunday is going great....

    x

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  4. MARMITE TOASTY: Yes, decks are nice, especially for outdoor cookouts and the like. Except, of course when one falls through one or even the steps leading up to it.

    I believe Alex was afraid that I was going to call him home and he wasn’t yet reading to give up his cattin’ around. He did scratch on the front door about half an hour later, demanded to be fed and snuggled, and is again asleep about five feet from me.

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  5. Nick: Great looking deck, and by the way you and I have the same exact model of Televisions. Cheers!!

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  6. The only way I like mice is when they are outdoors where they belong.
    Mateo caught one the other day in the house and tried to play with it and it didn't work to well as the mouse died. Mateo felt bad about that, so I quickly threw the corpse away.

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  7. It is wonderful that all is going better for you than it was a fews months ago. How is your leg?

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  8. You must remove the mice, Sir, they nibble at food and spread disease. The link below explains how to build a humane trap.

    http://www.smithsax.btinternet.co.uk/

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  9. love the New Deck and esp. love the New Door!!! Woohoo! It's the little things that makes us happy..

    I think alex needs to get on his j.o.b. and get rid of you meese problem!!!

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  10. Sounds like your living environment has undergone many changes - and all for the better. I am entirely jealous of your DSL, as I am still on dial-up and it took 5 minutes to pull your blog up and coment - hope you appreciate the effort ;)

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  11. MATT-MAN: Yes, it is a good looking deck. And, most importantly, sturdy! How old is your TV that is like mine? The one I own I purchased about 5 o6 six years ago; my technology wise acquaintances tell me that I need a new one. But since mine works fine, I resist that advice.


    NINA: We both agree on where mice should live. The problem is convincing the mice. I believe that Alex, like Mateo, didn’t in tend to kills the mouse he killed. Perhaps it is just their instinct that drives them to “play” with the meeses.


    EX-LOUISVILLE GUY: Thank you; there have been many blessings arrive in my life the past several weeks. My leg, unfortunately, is no better. The swelling has gone down quite a bit, but the pain and numbness remain.


    GORILLA BANANA: I agree, the messes must go outside where they can live as nature intended. Thank you for the link to the humane trap. I shall check it out this evening.


    BETH: Yes, little things happening in my life these days are quite positive. Alex, too, likes the door. I’m not sure about the deck because he spends more time on the deck next door playing with the little bitty dog than he does on our deck.

    ENOLA: I appreciate greatly the time it took your dial-up connection to load my blog. Over the past 8 or so months that I have used dial-up I gained a great respect for all folks who have the patience to use it. If I were using dial-up at the moment, I probably wouldn’t have the time to write these comments on the comments. Rather, I’d still be reading other folks blogs and commenting on them.

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  12. If you happen to catch any Fighting Illini games, let me know if they actually win a game. I won't wait. :P

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  13. tht music thingy is neat i like the songs

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  14. You have a lot going on over there.

    The best way I have found for mice is with the little white traps with peanut butter in top of them.

    Mouse will be back on the menu.

    ~Oswegan

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  15. It is about time you had a week filled with blessings, Rev Saint. May they continue to roll in.

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  16. please tell AT&T we would welcome them to SA any day :) bargain!!

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  17. Hi Nick ~~ I am so glad that things are improving for you at last, with that great new deck and the door is
    really nice. About time, things changed for you. Now if that leg would just heal, things would be good. Thanks for viviting Renie for her Birthday, she has had a hard life and has written some nice stories. Your words for her were really nice. Take care, and look after yourself.
    Regards, Merle.

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  18. Nick,

    Looks and sounds like you got one great landlord there! It appears things are looking up... New deck, door, and DSL... What else is on your wish list?

    Later
    Lou

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  19. COURTNEY: Well, the Illini best Northwestern a week ago and I understand their coach has been chosen to coach in the College All Star game in Hawaii in January. That’s pretty good.

    JODY: Yes, it can be fun. I plan to change the song playing on the sidebar each day.

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  20. OSWEGAN: Mice like peanut butter? I hope the buggers don’t find away to open my jar.

    AZSONOFAGUN: Thank you, Rev. Rex. Same blessing to you.

    SWEETASS: You may choose to take that back if AT&T (Ma Bell) ever decides to do business in South Africa!

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  21. MERLE: Thank you. Regarding my leg, Tasha puts lotion on it the two days a week she is here. Although the swelling has gone down, the skin remains hard and dry, totally the opposite of the other leg, which is normal. I pray the medical people come up with a diagnosis and treatment soon.

    LOU: Yes, he’s a neat kid—younger than my sons. He was here today with some electricians doing stuff I never would have considered doing to this house.

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  22. Visiting your blog is always like delving into a treasure trove, Nick.

    There's so much to see, so much to chuckle at ...

    Even the ID 10 T errors we are all prone to!!

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  23. How great that you have a new deck and door there. Better for both you and Alex. Love the Monday jokes, too.
    ;-)

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  24. DAVID: Thank you!

    SQUIRL: Thank you, on both counts!

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  25. came to read the jokes and continued here. This is really an upbeat post.

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