Seventeen! [cats]

Today is Emma's seventeenth birthday!

I don't actually know when she was born, but it was sometime around right now. At that time back in 2004, I was an Assistant Coach for a junior rowing program in Arizona. One day, one of the rowers showed up and said, "Does anyone want a KITTEN?!?!?!"

Apparently they had picked up a stray cat, but before they could spay her, one of the neighbor's cats knocked her up.

That was when I realized that yes, I DID want a kitten, and furthermore, I was finally at a point in life where I could probably manage one.

My parents were kind enough to not act too annoyed by this, because I really should have taken in Kimberly at that time.

In any case, here's a picture of Emma from yesterday, when I put on her vest harness for practice. It makes her move in a very wobbly fashion, which is just interesting because it's a different reaction compared to the strap-style harness.



I also dug up some adorable photos of Emma as a kitten, for fun.

With her mom, at 2 weeks old:


So teeny:


Also wobbly:



I chose her out of the litter because she was the most vocal.




Shortly after I brought her home:




What a charmer. She is still very vocal. I am grateful for every moment I have with her now, especially after the scares last summer. She won't live forever, but she has been present for so many big experiences in my life over the past 17 years that I will miss her deeply when she's gone.

It also still kind of blows me away that she has lived to be 17.

So, tell me... [Dear Lazywebs]

...if you were going to be out of the house for 2 months but wanted to make the space available to 2 undergraduate students, what would you do to prepare the space?

Factoring in that undergraduate students often have never lived independently on their own before.

I am thinking checklists and things they might need to know about (taking out trash/recycling, how to operate the mini washing machine, good dishwashing habits, things to avoid breaking, keeping the toilet clean).

Right now, the thought of having to move a whole bunch of stuff and put it out of reach is exhausting because that's on top of prepping my lab space here for undergrad researchers and getting ready to do field work. Oh, and gearing up to lead National Learn to Row Day on Saturday.

(I am reminded of asking the Texan undergrad neighbors to cat sit; technically they did feed Emma, but the litterbox was a SIGHT when I got back and it's a testament to Emma being a good kitty that things weren't in a worse state when I got home)

Helga at Work and Oh, Bother

Today I FINALLY got to do some lab cleaning and organizing. That included some cleaning and organizing of things I haven't been able to touch since before the start of the pandemic. We were basically locked out of our labs last summer, and then once classes started up again I had to pour energy into them instead.

There's still more to be done to prepare the lab for my summer research students, but it is a relief to feel some sense of progress on this front.

You know how happy I was yesterday about finally changing out my phone's battery?

Well.

Long story short, I have ordered another new battery. I think I bought the first replacement off of FleaBay and it appears to be resistant to the notion of charging up again. In other words, my phone is currently dead and failing to charge up again.

I also suspect that my credit union might be trying to get in touch with me, as I couldn't access my credit card statement online just now (status comes up ominously as "Currently Unavailable").

So I might need to try and put the old, partly deformed battery back in. (partly deformed from trying to pry it free from where it was glued in place) Yeah, THAT doesn't sound dodgy at all, does it?

So, don't bother trying to call me right now.

Cell phones are overrated. Smart-o-phones especially.