despite the deluges of cindy and dennis, things are generally quiet around here right now. really, the only "excitement" has been the return of my aunt flow after 3 months without it and the squabbles of the cats as hitomi starts to get integrated into the household . . . sorta. and the aunt flow thing is more irritating than exciting, especially since i figured i was finally done with it. so far, though, it's just an annoyance, and not being usual nuisance that requires me to be up all night. thank god for small favors. i'd rather deal with low level cramps and backaches than the nightmare i was dealing with before. still, it would have been nice for the whole thing to be over. guess it's just not time yet. or, maybe, menopause isn't quite that easy. :P

as for hitomi, she's finally getting herself settled in. she was pretty stressed out when she got here, a scrawny scaredy-cat. not that i entirely blame her. the trip had to be pretty scary for her, especially since she wasn't allowed to be in the cabin with her mama. but the whole time kitten was here, she pretty much stayed in her carrier (unless kitten took her out) and wouldn't eat anywhere but near or in the crate. i think the thinness had to do with not being able to eat much when she lived in cali. if i remember right, there was pretty tough competition for the food. at any rate, she's finally ranging around the house enough that we took the carrier away. and she's turning into a little piggy, but she's doing some very necessary filling out too, so my only complaint is the amount of cat food she and vagner go through. roro helps, of course, but she's a far more finicky eater than they are.

the ranging out has had the expected results. lots of hissing and growling going on, most of it hitomi. vagner pretty much stays away when the two ladies are glaring at each other. poor little guy, surrounded by pissy females. lol. the situation has resulted in a few funnier incidents. the funniest was with a cricket. hitomi is still a kitten (just under a year old, as i recall) and still likes to play. our cats are older (vagner's 2, i believe, and roro is going on 5), but still playful and definitely "go get the bug" cats (we really have to watch them too, going to get the bug includes more dangerous critters like wasps and spiders). so, the other night i'm working on the machine when i hear this growling. i turn around and the 3 cats are in a triangle formation around this poor cricket, all crouched low and watching it. hitomi wanted in on some cricket action too, but was also aware of the other 2 cats, so was crouched in her point of the triangle watching the cricket, but lifting her head every now and then to growl at the other two cats. the cricket would move, and the triangle would move with it, her growling the whole way. saxy also told me that the other morning, he was playing ball (or mouse, actually, since he tosses these little cat toys mice) and the game got hitomi's attention. roro decided to try to get near hitomi, but she was having none of it. so, roro, tried being sneaky and, when hitomi was distracted by the mouse being thrown, would come up on the side and lift her paw as if to hit hitomi. hitomi would look up and see her and growl, and roro would put her paw down, wait until hitomi was distracted and try again. there's been only one major fight as far as i know, and no one's been hurt.

it's also nice to see roro feeling better. her energy level is going back up, her fur is growing back in, and she's becoming both affectionate and playful again. the flea infestation seems to be under control. the cats are more awake, and we're not getting bitten so much. i'm so glad we found our local petsmart since they carry advantage. i've really never seen a better flea product, and between it and the daily vacuuming, the whole house is so much better off. all the animals seem a lot less miserable. we'll have to give them all another dose this weekend, then we can probably go to a full month between doses.

other than those two things, and a lot of unpredictable weather, we're just spending the last few weeks of summer quietly. i'm working on my site a bit, trying to get whysper's and dreaming's archives cleaned up, and doing quite a bit of reading, writing, and critting for dii. and, right at the moment, a lot of sleeping. i wanted to start getting my schedule worked back around since school starts august 8th and i really hope to be full time then, but my period cut into that. not being at all prepared for it, i couldn't up my dose of iron for the few days beforehand, so i'm more tired than i'm used to being. the kids are playing on the ps2 and the computer, and i'm letting them watch a movie every day. it's hard keeping taz occupied, and he gets pretty stressed when we do, but we're trying.

my pII scores should be coming in soon. i think they said something like the 16th when we finished the test, but i don't know if that's the mailing date or the date we're supposed to have them by. (checking the website, though, the scores should have been mailed 2 days ago, so i should get the suckers any day now.) i'm really hoping that's the date we're supposed to have them by since new teachers are supposed to report on the 25th. that's not a lot of time to get hired, but i'm hoping i can manage it. if the scores come in too much later than that, it'll probably be a real challenge to find a position in time - which is not to say i won't find a position at all. at least one of the teachers i got to know at the school i worked at all may wasn't hired until january. they're short teachers out here and have 5 new schools opening. finding a position, hopefully, won't be that hard, no matter when i do it. most the tapp programs are listed as still enrolling, but most have already started, but i might be able to get into something if i get my scores and get hired pretty quickly. i'll be behind, but i'm good at catching up. and if the timing ends up totally off, i'll just wait for next year.

speaking of waiting, kitten's waiting is done. as of yesterday, she was in san diego, getting ready to go to boot camp. she'll be on a plane to her boot location tomorrow. we're a little concerned about her getting through because she's had a few hip problems recently. granted, they're problems typical of female dancers, but if they're at all serious, they could get her out of the army. as much as i'm not happy about her being in, this was her decision and this is what she wants to do. the training end of it, the job she could qualify for when she gets out (assuming they don't screw her over on that end), sounds pretty damn good, even to me, i just don't trust them as far as i can throw them. i've heard of too many people being screwed over by the military when it comes to this kind of thing, but if it all worked out, it would be a wonderful thing for her. we've let her know, however, that if there are any problems and she ends up being released early for any reason, she's welcome to come here. assuming all's well and she gets through boot, hips and all, we're already planning to go and see her graduation. :)

once more the skies are clouding over. the weather has been pretty unpredictable with what's left of dennis hanging around. the other day i sent jewel to the store while it was still sunny. within an hour, and during the time when i knew she'd be on her way back, the sky clouded over and the next thing we knew it was literally pouring buckets. i watched some kids in the neighbor's yard make a mad dash for the house and just knew jewel was going to be one soaked kid when she came in. fortunately, saxy was just getting home so i sent him off to find her. she came in, soaked through, complaining that what looked like good timing to me wasn't so good to her. she actually enjoyed getting wet. lol

at any rate, time for me to get back to work on those archives before these gray skies open up and force me off-line.