According to her paperwork, it’s Momo’s birthday! Twelve months, the big one-nothing! So let’s all wish a happy birthday to this squeaky little cuddle monster, vicious huntress of moths, and all-around great addition to the household! 🥳🎉🎊
She and Samwise are mostly getting along now, after eight months. We got two Feliway Multicat diffusers, which seems to have helped, unless that was a coincidence. I’d been wary of it, because it sounded too much like expensive nonsense, but I looked it up and they actually did a real study of Multicat and found that it usually works. Whatever the reason, I’ll take it–Samwise is very tolerant now, occasionally even friendly.
As you can see, Momo still hasn’t quite figured out how to carry herself with dignity.
Bonus Samwise below the fold, and some bonus garden pictures.
On the home front, the garden is mostly done for the year, obviously. The summer was brutal for our fruiting plants. The squash never produced a single female flower, and the peppers were underperforming too until the sun died down a little. (Next year I’ll install some shade cloth over the veggie plot.) Which leaves me in the awkward position of trying to ripen the last jalapeño and árbol while it’s, ah, forty degrees out at night. And this bad boy is worth ripening:
For the next week, I’ll be putting them inside Kozy Coats, which are basically cylinders of water that release their heat overnight. They’re intended for tomatoes in the spring but obviously are applicable to any similar situation. I learned this year that peppers are actually perennials–we always treated them like annuals when I was growing up–so I’ll be bringing them inside next week to see if I can overwinter them. I hear they’re much more productive in subsequent years.
We’ve also gotten the second-to-last rose of the year:
They underperformed too. I know that first-year rose transplants can be in for a bit of a shock, but I also suspect the soil is deficient somehow. Iron chlorosis seems to be the most likely bet for what’s affecting them. I’ll do a soil test in the spring and figure out what to do from there. Speaking of the spring, I’m very excited for the irises TaMara gave me to explode and take over this whole corner!
Opposite them, this weekend I’ll be sowing some Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, a native cleome that grows around the neighborhood that I’ve been harvesting seeds for.
My dad’s also offered us as many clumps of Ravenna Grass as we want for the springtime. This is a ridiculous clumping grass with bamboo-like stalks that can grow over seven feet tall. I think we’ll put them out front, on the ‘tree lawn’ between the sidewalk and the curb, which right now is just an elm tree, and some bluegrass that I’d like to slowly get rid of. (This will keep the ravenna the hell away from my foundation.) I’ve always wanted to grow bamboo, and this is the closest thing that can survive in this area, so I’ll take it!
And… that’s what’s up with me. Been working on the video game a lot. Working some at my job, too, though I wish that weren’t true. I hate it so much. Interviewing elsewhere. Got a big important final round next week–wish me luck! And, open thread!
schrodingers_cat
Momo is adorable
Noskilz
Happy Birthday, Momo!
Villago Delenda Est
Happy birthday, Momo! (This is easy for me to do, as my maternal grandmother was “Mo Mo” to all her grandkids.)
Butch
I don’t have neighbors in the usual over-the-back-fence sense since I live in a pretty remote area, but a guy who lives maybe two miles down the road turned 103 last May – still very sharp, out gardening and riding his ATV, and no matter what the time of day (we take him eggs from our chickens) you WILL have a shot of Kessler’s with him. The thing about the one-nothing age above, though, made me think of him because if you mention his age he will quickly point out that he is not 103, he is 103 AND A HALF. He bought his current house when he was 23….
WaterGirl
Happy birthday, Momo! Hi Samwise!
I forget where you are living now. You were NYC for awhile, are you in California?
Major Major Major Major
@Butch: Haha, love it!
@WaterGirl: Denver! Which is how I got irises from TaMara.
SiubhanDuinne
Hippo birdie to MoMo! She’s delightful, and Samwise is, as always, supremely elegant.
Alison Rose
Happy hatching day, Momo!
Chief Oshkosh
@Butch: Smooth as Silk! Obviously it’s working for him. :)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Happy Birthday Momo!
Right there with you. Work has been so stressful lately since we’re so short-handed lately due to many quitting in such a short amount of time. It feels like the place is going downhill. I’m considering looking into the Post Office as a possibility. Hope you’re interviewing goes well and good luck with the video game!
trollhattan
Mail today from the car dealership has a few service specials, a fifty-buck gift card and other chatty car dealership news, including the detail they now offer service financing.
The actual fvck? Granted, dealer service around here is now well north of $200/hour but a service so expensive you have to take out a loan to have it done, is a sign it’s time for another ride.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Thanks! I’ll definitely be hitting you all up during the Kickstarter :P
Post Office, eh, good career I hear, or it used to be at least.
montanareddog
Momo is kinda Renee Zellweger cute. But Samwise is the Paul Newman of cats.
Lovely that she has settled in and wish her a happy birthday
Butch
@Chief Oshkosh: Not for me when it’s 8:30 a.m. but it’s impossible to say no to him!
laura
Happy Birthday smol tiger🥳 fog pelt boy remains handsome as always. Big ups for the last rose very magenta in keeping with the pantone color of the year. Also, tiger cats and dignity- I’ve never seen that combo.
Mike in NC
Our new vet recommended those Feliway thingies, which I bought but have yet to open.
satby
Happy Birthday to Momo! It looks like you’ve already gotten a bit of new growth on the irises, so that’s promising! Make sure you have them so that at least a bit of the rhizome (that fattest root) is above soil and exposed to sun or they won’t flower. As it is, sometimes they lag for a year and flower in the second when they’re transplanted. That’s going to be a good looking iris bed in a couple of years, lots of room for them to multiply!
eclare
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I tried to insert a clip about working at the post office from the movie Hollywood Shuffle, but the URL was too long. Hilarious movie.
Good luck!
eclare
Happy Birthday Momo! And good luck with your interview next week.
CaseyL
Happy Birthday, Momo! You are lookin’ fine… even if you do “relax” kind of funny (which is normal for cats).
And Samwise is, as always, a handsome and stately fellow.
Yutsano
ももをお誕生日おめでとうございます!!!!
In other news…the application for my dream job in the IRS was just advanced today! No word on any interviews just yet but it’s at the next level!
Baud
Feliz cumpleaños, Señorita Momo!
danielx
With Momo’s looks, who needs dignity?
HumboldtBlue
Happy day day, Momo!
May I now tell you of my cat, Salad? For the past three days, I have been turning over in my mind what I was gonna write about him now that he was GONE. It’s been more than a month since he slept inside, and it was down to the point where he wasn’t coming inside even during the day like he normally does to grab some kibble and the wet food treat he gets in the afternoons.
It’s normal for him in the summer, he likes to stay out, and we have had a very warm summer and so far, an even warmer Fall (it was up to 80 degrees here on the coast yesterday and that NEVER happens).
Now, Salad moved in with me sometime late 2011 early 212 after his momma got sick and battled cancer, and she was no longer around and available, and during those days he knew I was there, he regularly came to the kitchen window with his momma for a chat, but was always very shy with anyone but her.
But he also knew my first cat, Midnight, and now as momma got into the heaviest work of recovery he started following midnight and jumping in the through the kitchen window. He would eat some kibble, lap up some water and the go right back out the window again. Soon, he started sitting on the kitchen chair that leads to the window and over a few weeks stayed inside even at night, remaining solely on the chair in order not to piss off the queen of the house, Midnight.
When momma finally recovered and was back on her feet, it had been a few months. They decided to move from the front apartment next door to a house two blocks away. They took Salad with them, but he was back at my window within 15 minutes and permanently moved in.
With the background complete, let’s come up to the last two weeks. Salad was just not coming in. I would go out in the morning, walk out front and to the house next door and the yellow house next to that and call for him.
Most of the time he would ignore me (and at this point he may have been fed by neighbors, there are a lot of cats in the neighborhood and that includes the crazy cat lady who lives the next block over and halfway up and that’s an entire other story in itself), but usually once or twice a day he would come to my kissing, I would scoop him up, bring him home and make sure he ate and drank some water, and then he would leap right back out the kitchen window to resume his outside time. That’s his thing, he’s friendly with at least one neighbor cat and I think with one of the crazy cat lady’s cats, so whatever. But then he stopped responding and coming back at all.
By Sunday, I had seen him maybe three times in going on 10 days, maybe even two weeks, and I started to wonder if he was in decline. I made a vet appointment for next Wednesday about 10 days ago, thinking I could corral him and get him a checkup, but there was no sign of him.
Monday goes by, nothing. Tuesday goes by, nothing. Wednesday goes by, nothing. I’m out there at 7 am, 10 am, 2 pm. 5 pm, 8 pm, every day, calling and kissing for him and got nothing, nada, zilch.
So by yesterday I was pretty much resigned to the fact that he may have found a spot to lie down and float away. All I could think was “just come in one more time, buddy,” thinking he can’t leave without one last goodbye. I called my friends who knew him to let them know I felt he was gone, I even called his first momma, in tears, blubbering and snorting to tell her of his fate and my cool neighbor Mary was there to give a hug. I even went to the humane society to look at what cats were up for adoption, I was so convinced he was gone
Cut to scene this morning, about 830. My buddy had just dropped me off at my apartment after we ran an errand together and seeing it was trash day and that I had left food in one last hope to draw him home, I had to bring the empty cans in and clean up the two small plastic bowls I had left out.
At that point, I said to myself to go and give it one more walk around the front of the building and the yellow house next door to his old apartment.
I walked up the sidewalk between the two buildings, feeling mightily sad, getting a frog in my throat, convinced I had seen the last of him, bemoaning the fact I had never been able to say goodbye (li’l Midnight died at my feet on my bedroom floor) and wondering why he never came back at least once for some food and water and maybe some pets before heading over the bridge.
I turn to my left shielding my eyes from the bright morning sun, AND THERE THAT LITTLE MOTHERFUCKER SAT, SITTING ON THE SIDEWALK BETWEEN HID OLD HOUSE AND THE YELLOW HOUSE JUST STARING AT ME. THE SAME GODDAMN SPOT I WENT TO EVERY GODDAMN DAY IN SEARCH OF HIM, AND HE WAS JUST SITTING THERE LIKE THE LORD OF CREATION, STARING AT ME.
He licked his paw, wiped his face and the sauntered over to me squeaking and cawing in his weird way (he never truly learned to meow, it’s more a meow-ack) and I scooped him, alternately cursing at him and loving him and brought him inside for food and water. He ate some food and immediately jumped back out the kitchen window, and I followed him, walking around to the back steps where we sat for 15 minutes as I petted him and told him in a loving way how angry I was with him.
We then went around to the front stoop where we would spend many a sunny afternoon lolling in the warm southern sun, and we spent 40 minutes playing and petting, and he had some kibble and water and cool neighbor Mary came out to say hi and to return the new cat toy I had bought and given to her because I thought he was gone.
So, long story short, I still have a cat, his name in Salad, and he doesn’t give one flying fuck about my feelings, but he surely does love my loving him up, li’l fucker.
JCJ
@Yutsano:
Fingers crossed for you and M**4
I will check with my wife to make sure this is accurate, but I will try:
สุขสันต์วันเกิดโมโมะ (Happy Birthday Momo)
Sure Lurkalot
Happy birthday Momo!
4M, you are leaning in to the trials and tribs of front range gardening. The soil is close to pure clay and the weather changes on a dime. Amend amend amend until your back says “no more”! I have a few friends who reaped -0- tomatoes this season after years of bountiful harvests.
Sooner or later it will be a good time for a Denver/Boulder area meet and greet!
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
I had a service not that long ago that came out to around $2500, and that’s on a Honda. If you have a few expensive things that need replacing at the same time (timing belt and all the hoses) it can add up pretty quickly. I can imagine someone wanting to finance that rather than paying it all at once.
eclare
@HumboldtBlue:
I am very glad this story ended well!
LiminalOwl
Happy birthday, Momo! Hello, Samwise, what a beautiful guy you are!
LiminalOwl
@HumboldtBlue: So glad the story ended well!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
Why do you say used to be?
trollhattan
@Roger Moore: OTOH that’s CC territory. If you’re going to take out a loan to pay for service it implies being on your way to or exceeding five figures.
Spouse had a timing belt go kablooie while out of town and after the tow and paying a shop for the top-endecctomy to ascertain piston and valve health, learned it would be about $5k for a full repair and the exam bill was already $2k. As the car Blue Booked around $5k and had 120k on the clock, she took the guy’s offer of calling it even and taking title, after which he completed the repairs and sold the thing. No idea for how much, but it didn’t pencil out on our end so we spent that balance on a downpayment instead.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
For you and me, yes. There are plenty of people who need cars but who don’t have credit cards, or don’t have ones that can pay for a 4 digit expense.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@HumboldtBlue: I’m so glad that story had a happy ending.
cain
@HumboldtBlue:
lol – glad he’s back. :) Truly part of the “fuck your feelings” crowd!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
interesting, I wonder if that comes from the manufacturer. Remember the GM CEO who allegedly said something like, “we’re a bank that manufactures cars on the side”.
Did you note the rate?
geg6
I ❤️ Momo! Happy birthday, sweet girl! 🎂
sab
@Mike in NC: We have five cats. The jumpiest one gets really nasty when the feliway runs dry. We plug in a new one and in a couple of hours she’s back to normal.
Butch
@sab: We have a problem because two of our four rescues that used to be best buds now can’t stand the sight of each other. Feliway didn’t do a thing to resolve the problem. Maybe I should try again.
sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There is a lot of two tier workers now.They all seem to be part-timers now with weird erratic schedules. The only people with the good and pay good old-fashioned benefits are the mechanics
ETA Overheard that eavesdropping on a fiftyish postal worker at my haordresser.
pacem appellant
We can tell when we run out of Feliway as Karina the cat gets more skittish. Like now. We have some coming in the mail soon. For our cat, anyway, the stuff works.
raven
@Roger Moore: Make sure to do a water pump when you have it cracked.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: Great story.
My favorite part:
I can hear the love!
Major Major Major Major
@HumboldtBlue: yay!!
Major Major Major Major
@Sure Lurkalot: I amended exactly as recommended by the garden center, but I think I still ran into the iron problem. Or something. The rose that was hardest hit perked right up after a very long watering, I’d read that that can dispel whatever salts are causing issues.
We’re more sand than clay on this lot, possibly because it’s recent construction.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@sab:
I think I’ve heard that too, but I’ve read that many are converted to career after a few years and most are reappointed after each 360 day term is up
MazeDancer
Happy B-day, MoMo!
Feliway works. The downside is figuring out when can use it. Windows open? Stuff goes out the window Windows closed – want to be running the air filters..
So, don’t get to use it as often as would like.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major:
Also remember the saying about new plants: the first year, they sleep; the second year, they creep; the third year, they leap!
mrmoshpotato
Happy Birthday, Momo! And Samwise, you regal beast as always!
sab
@sab: Somebody didn’t bother to proofread.
Trivia Man
Milkweed question – I have about 6 pods I’d like to spread around the yard. Best way? Should I loosen some dirt so they nestle in? Spread the seeds just before it rains so the fluffy part doesn’t fly away? Spread after it rains so the ground is soft?
Major Major Major Major
@eclare: so they say!
Betty
Momo looks like a sweetheart, and Samwise is an elegant gentleman.
laura
@Trivia Man: 6 pods of seeds is A Lot! Our potted milkweeds generates about 2 dozen volunteers in the backyard. Strew before the rain in my opinion. I’ve got a paper sack with about 6 or 7 pods and I’m going to make seed balls with some clay/dirt and give them away. You just put a couple few seeds in each one.
Spanish Moss
Wishing you luck!
Glidwrith
@Mike in NC: They definitely brought peace to the kitty household.
Trivia Man
@laura: thanks
ive asked, nobody I know has any interest in milkweed, sad to say
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Years ago our Siamese mix cat went missing for 3 months. Since we lived in a rural area, I was sure she was dead. One day when I was outside, she cried to me from under a bush in the front yard. She was very skittish but I was able to pick her up, cuddle her to my chest, and take her inside. I can only assume she was hunting on her own all that time (summer) since all the surrounding houses had dogs and she loathed dogs. There were plenty of open fields where she could hunt. Still can’t believe she didn’t get eaten by something. Must have found herself a safe bolt-hole. Was very glad she came home.