Thursday, 19 July 2012

• no, I don't want to title this

  Well, after the rain last night the temperature has gone WAY down, so yay. I think I had something to say but I forgot what it was so here are some words anyway.

  My plan this evening was to go to Petsmart because I wanted to buy a new litter box and also maybe a scratching thing for the cat. Turns out there aren't many Petsmarts in this county, and the nearest one was in a somewhat inconvenient location. Ended up at this other store called Pet Goods instead. Seems like a nice store, but they don't carry Science Diet, so I won't be able to get cat food there when I need it.
  

  Anyway. The litter box I originally bought I thought was a good one. It's a box, right, and you put litter in it, and then there was a grate and underneath you were supposed to put these odor-absorbing pads, which you were then supposed to change every so often. It also came with some litter. Well, it wasn't the clumping kind, it was the big pellet kind. Which I didn't like. So I bought the clumping kind, but that was so fine that it went through the grates and defeated the purpose of the absorbent pads. Oh well.
  

  I did like the litter I've been buying - Arm & Hammer Super Scoop, in case you were wondering. I actually like the smell of it, it's not overly flowery or anything, just enough to block the bad smells. To me it smells like cat litter, so when I walk in the room I immediately know (if I didn't already) "this is where the litter box is." But it's not awful.
  

  Anyway today I bought a new, normal little cat box and I set it up and put the litter in and tossed out the old one and I wondered if Squirt would like it. He went over and used it almost immediately so I guess that means he doesn't hate it. So yay. He's been terribly affectionate lately, meowing at me a lot. So I played with him a bunch yesterday. I also got a scratch mat thing. I had bought him a scratching post and also another pad that you hang on the door but he hasn't seemed interested in clawing anything other than the carpets. So I thought I would get something that went on the ground. It came with a little packet of catnip and you were supposed to sprinkle it on the mat. So I did and then he rubbed his head on it and seemed even more affectionate and then was actually playing with this little toy thing that I got him that he has never shown the slightest interest in before. But he hasn't scratched at it yet. So we'll see.
  

  As I was getting ready to leave I saw that there was a display near the registers of this cat grass stuff, so I got that, too. We'll see what Squirt thinks of it.
  

   

  I was having a discussion via email with Guy #5 today and we were talking about books. Do you read? I think, back in the day, people used to read things and then talk about what books they had read, but now that doesn't seem to happen much. My coworkers are more likely to talk about what they watched on TV than anything they've read. I don't think any of them really read books much.
  

  So here's what I've read lately. First was The Aviary Gate, by Katie Hickman. This is about a woman in the 1500s who was engaged to a merchant but then her ship apparently sank not long before they were supposed to be married. So everyone thought she was dead, but actually she was taken prisoner by the Ottoman Turks before they sank the boat, and somehow ended up in the Sultan's Harem. Meanwhile, her merchant fiance is in Istanbul because he is with the English Ambassador who is trying to impress the Sultan with an organ and thus improve relations. He finds out, somehow, that his woman is inside. Also, in the present day, this woman is researching the story of this woman and trying to find out how the story ends.
  

  The ending was disappointing because there wasn't really an ending. The modern day researching lady wanted to believe that the two got back together but in the end believes that they were not reunited, but the narrative in the past ends before we know for sure. All we do know is that the narrative of the captive lady was written by her friend, who was a nun on the boat that sank and had been sold into the harem at the same time as the lady. But they don't have the ending of the narrative. They do have this thing, called a compendium, with the merchant guy had owned which had a picture of the lady inside. They find the compendium in Istanbul, so they believe that he somehow gave it to the woman and then it remained in Istanbul with her. But the story doesn't end, so we don't know. Grr.
  

   

  Second was The Wolves of Andover, by Kathleen Kent. This is about a woman in 1630s Massachusetts who goes to stay with her cousin and her family while her cousin's husband is away and the woman is pregnant. The main character is seen as a grumpy old maid of 19, and she is too outspoken to make a good wife. There are also two workmen living with the family who will then, after working with the family, be granted some land at the end of a specific period of time. Meanwhile, in England, Charles II has pardoned all the men responsible for his father's beheading (Charles I, on the orders of Oliver Cromwell) except for the judges who signed the execution order and the man who actually swung the axe. They believe the axe-man is hiding in the colonies, so he dispatches a number of nasty, murdering fellows to bring the guy back for execution.
  

  Well, as they make their way across the ocean they meet a lot of covert resistance. They get awfully sick on the boat, and one of their men "mysteriously" washes overboard while he's trying to murder someone (who it turns out it is not murdered but they don't know that). When they arrive, they continue to be ill and one of them dies. The remaining two start trekking north toward where they think the executioner is staying, but are captured by Indians and one of them is killed.
  

  Also, the main character lady starts to fall in love with one of the hired hands. All she knows about him is that he was once a soldier in the king's army, and that he had a wife and son. She keeps trying to find out more about him, and they slowly get better acquainted. This book was pretty slow-moving and there was little action except for the parts with the murdering folks, which were somewhat disturbing as you'd expect them to be. But it wasn't horrible.
  

   

  Anyway, now I am reading a book called The Last Oracle, by James Rollins. It takes place in modern times and so far involves secret government organizations, apparently psychic autistic savants, and an ex-soviet guy who works with those children. So far it's pretty fast-moving and interesting, so I should be done with it in the next few days.
  

  Guy #5 gave me a few ideas of things to read next, and then I plan to start (and maybe finish?) reading Game of Thrones while on vacation. Will likely download that on my Kindle, since it doesn't seem the Library has it (or at least, it's never there when I think to look for it). Are you reading anything interesting?
  

   

  Well, I think that's all I have to report for today. I believe I shall go back to my book now. Have a nice Thursday night and Friday everybody.
  

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