Chloe's New Adventure (which she would rather avoid)

 

Chloe (AKA Little Girl) is going to the vet today to get spayed. Right now she's in the cat carrier and very unhappy. I doubt the surgery is going to make her much happier. 

Chloe is about 8 months old at this point, and just as much a devil as she was as a youngster. She still bites my toes to wake me up, and she crawls up on my clothes rack to hide. I can't see her getting any calmer as a grownup cat.

I worry a little about putting any cat through surgery, but I also wholeheartedly believe in spaying and neutering cats. There are too many kittens and cats in shelters (as Chloe was an unwanted kitten at the Humane Society). There are too many feral cats out there having kittens. 

So Chloe will go to the vet's, and then she will come home groggy and disoriented and not very happy with us. And we will shower her with love.

Now What?

I've accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish and experienced everything I needed to experience by self-publishing the book. 

I wanted to have a "book-signing" party. I wanted a listing on Amazon. I wanted to sign books, even if it was just among my friends. These are all shallow goals vs making big sales, but I'm pretty sure that Amazon is so glutted that making sales is a pipe dream anyhow.

If I'd have known it was this easy to settle that howling need, I'd have done this sooner.

What are my stretch goals? I don't know right now. I've been too busy with writing for NaNo and grading to think about it. It's going to be something about advertising, though. I need to make that into a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) goal.

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A Convalescing Chloe

 

 

 Sorry I'm running late today, but I had to take Chloe to the vet for what ended up being an infected cat bite on her foot. Despite our efforts to keep the other cats quarantined from little Chloe, Me-Me keeps barging in, and occasionally they get in a scrap.

Chloe is sitting next to me today -- no, she's not sitting. She's making an immense effort to stand, which isn't happening because she's wobbly from the sedation she's gone through to get her abscess drained. 

So right now (blesssedly I have a work-at-home day) I am supervising the wobbly little monster. She isn't feeling much like being petted; she's laying on the bed next to me trying to escape ... somewhere. I'm not sure she knows where, because I don't think she can see straight yet. She sort of stands up, wobbles, and falls over. She's scared of me but doesn't mind curling up next to me. I feel so bad for her!

There are worse things than trying to get your work done next to a wobbly cat.

Life with Chloe

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, we acquired a 8-week-old kitten who we named Chloe. This is a recent picture of Chloe:

Ok, that wasn't such a good picture of her.  How about this?

Ok, so she doesn't pose well for pictures.

Chloe is a mixture of sweet and spicy -- she curls up with me at night, right before springing over me and attacking my foot. Her acceleration rate far surpasses mine, and she can jump eight inches straight in the air. She licks my face, then nips my nose.

I'm her favorite, but only because she's quarantining in my room until we can acquaint her with the other cats. So I am the source of food and pettings. 

Yes, the other cats are jealous -- not so much of the cat, but because they want kitten food too. Given the extra calorie punch of kitten kibble, of course the cats want to eat the kitten food. When one (usually Me-Me) finds their way in, I have to hide the food dish until they leave.

Me-Me and Chloe stalk each other. Today I watched Me-Me sneak up to Chloe until she had Chloe literally pinned up against her cardboard carrier. Then, as Me-Me walked off, Chloe started stalking her. 

Someday Chloe will be a full grown cat, without so many of the charming kitten antics. But I'm sure she will be as magnificent and quirky as she was as a kitten.