banjo, the one and only, and other ramblings

chris realized a few months ago that his subconscious named our cat after an existing cartoon cat. and when he showed me the youtube video of banjo the woodpile cat, i almost cried. no! we did NOT copy this by naming our cat banjo!! but it seriously creeped me out that he even LOOKS like our banjo. (markings, ear hair and all) *sigh* compare:













well, it doesn't matter. our banjo is way cuter and much more cuddly. he just jumped into my lap (which is sort of rare - he's not one of those "always in your face" cats) for a little snuggle session. *sigh* he really is the best cat ever.

today is my last day of spring break and i feel almost sick. there was so much more i wanted to get done! so much i wanted to see! so much i wanted to accomplish!! oh well. what's done is done. and i wouldn't trade my trip to houston for ANYTHING. chris got up at 5 (which was really 4:50 since his clock is 10 minutes fast...vomit!) to get school stuff finished up. i offered in my fakest, cheeriest voice i could muster "is there anything i can do to help you? no seriously - i'm offering..." when he said "nah" i can't lie, i wasn't too disappointed. i dozed until about 8:30 at which time banjo big my finger so hard he broke the skin (NOT happy about this biting-in-bed habit), went to the grocery store, and have been in the kitchen ever since. baking is my therapy. i made two batches of granola for two lucky recipients (you'll just have to wait to see who you are...), a big batch of pimiento cheese for sandwiches next week, and am about to make another big surprise. if i'm really motivated and continue to pump life support into my once-dying blog, you might get to see a picture of the big surprise...


speaking of bad banjo habits, he keeps jumping on the counter. AAH! he NEVER did this until the last time he spent time at the slatens with that hooligan cat rascal (the cat previously known as jasper) whom i hold solely responsible for this new detestable habit. i canNOT live in a house with a cat that jumps on the counter. we're never around when he gets up there (and i KNOW he's up there when we're gone) and when he hears us coming, he jumps down immediately, so you KNOW he knows he's not supposed to do it. but. (i hate this but.) today i was finishing up the p. cheese, and up he came. right beside me. meowing cutely the whole time. i screamed and yelled "no. no. no. no." so loud my voice echoed in the house and put him on the ground. oooooooh!!! i HATE it. i looked up some stuff about how to stop him from doing it, and there's several things we can do. before i leave today, i'm going to set up a little booby trap of plastic tupperware containers and cups around the edge. that way, if he DOES jump up there, they will come crashing down and scare him without hurting him. we'll see if it works....



oooooh. yesterday i witnessed a most amazing thing. a kildeer bird has laid her eggs directly on gravel, literally inches away from the ccs track. and every time someone comes near her (think track meet) she flips out. i don't think she dive bombs people, but she circles around making distress calls. kildeers will fake a broken wing to lure predators away from their nest, which i think is just AMAZING. anyway, i called the nature center to see if there was anything we could do to relocate the eggs to a safer spot (anywhere near middle school boys are NOT a good environment to lay your eggs...) but they said to just leave her alone. and apparently, right when the chicks hatch, they're in such a state that they can get up and follow her anywhere. AMAZING AGAIN!!! usually the eggs are incubated for a couple of weeks and then they're unable to leave the nest for another couple of weeks. killdeers. amazing.



i was going to post some pics from houston, but my internet is being stupidly slow...maybe later. off to work on my huge giant surprise!!!