Susa has been doing really well on the leash. I had put the harness on her a couple times in the house before finally jumping into the leash on her first visit to the vet. She was really good besides destroying my shirt at the sight of people, cars and especially a weed whacker. She sat in the waiting room and watched the other animals go by, not even flinching when a huge hyper dog went by. We don’t have a cat carrier but who needs them anyway when you have a leash cat! I’ve always wanted a cat that would walk on a leash. Shes got the leash part down, and she doesn’t struggle with it or freak out at all.. but the walking has actually yet to be seen.
Chena is as always adorable and unconventional. I got her into the habit of climbing on tables and walking on concrete walls in Argentina during walks at the park. Though once she went to jump onto a wall, unleashed, that had a 12 foot drop onto concrete on the other side. Now I make sure to keep a close eye. I guess I got into the habit of wanting dogs comfortable with height having had a wolf hybrid as a kid that would climb trees and a boston terrier as a teen who would walk up and over cars while we walked and balance on my wood fence. Plus I’ve always wanted to be in the circus (my own of course) so strange animals is kind of my thing.
New Orleans jumped right into summer. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago that we were using a wool blanket and keeping Chena close at night. Now almost without warning it’s over 80 every day, often with 80% humidity or worse. Today is nice though, bearable and the air isn’t as thick as it has been. The billboards on the freeway reflect the weather clearly. They were up the first hot day as if the billboard hangers were just waiting around a corner. One with a picture of Louisiana and the word “hot” next to it and a bottle of Tabasco that says “hotter”; Billboards for beverages “give HEAT the COLD shoulder”, ac repair, roach infestation… We had our first taste of a that a couple days ago when a 2.5 inch roach was hanging out on the counter while I played with Susa on the floor. Susa nearly went feral trying to help us catch it. It got under our couch and ran like lightning across the floor – straight for our bedroom. I’ve never seen a bug run so fast, or anyhing really. If it made it into the bedroom the chances of finding it amung dirty clothes, shoes and a multitude or gaps worsened our chances of catching it. As soon as it entered the bedroom I was committed to sleeping on a bunk bed. I grabbed Susa with the intention of letting her do what she so badly wanted to do, murder the bastard, but the roach paused just inside the door long enough for Ross to get a sneak attack and squish the hell out of it. Roaches are probably my least favorite bug on the planet so I spent the next 2 days convinced every black spot on the wall or brush on my arm was a roach. After living in Argentina wth roaches twice as big, I knew that havig a cat would be my savior as it was there. Instead of coming home to dead birds or mice, on the 11th floor with a massive balcony, I would return from a night out with friends to dead or mostly dead giant Roaches and my cat Gata proudly sitting next to them. I hope that’s not the case in the trailer with Susa but at least we have a cat for when it is the case. It was my own fault for the roaches in Argentina really because I kept my cat box on the balcony and therefore had to leave the door open. It worked out for everyone anyway because I never once saw one alive (inside at least).
With all the time not moving so much, I’ve started making some more time for crafts. Trying not to spend every waking hour at the computer though I certainly have enough work, projects and photography to occupy me for years. I bought pewter trays for necklaces and tons of jewelry stuff, though still having trouble perfecting the drying process of the epoxy on the trays, I can use my own photos or drawings in each. I also made a hideous little felt monster of which I hope to improve on soon but I mostly don’t have time till the weekend.
Susa and Chena suffer much from the heat and my crafts. Susa is often in trouble when my craft things are out because she cant keep her paws off them and Chena is forced to lay on the floor while I use the couch. When the AC is not on they pretty much just rest and wait for it to come back on. Once in a while the AC throws a switch so we don’t push it too hard. Yesterday the power got shut off outside because of a short or excess power usage (no idea what caused that except the AC) and we had to flip a switch at the source. Hopefully the AC holds out for us, this weather is mostly too much to bear alone, especially when we’re trying to work all week.
Rent is due tomorrow and it’s looking like we’ll be paying for another month. We didn’t want to be stuck here this long but don’t have much choice without a truck. I’m not so sure the people want us here too badly anymore though. There are several long term people here but I get the feeling with the combo of us technically being “stuck” and the Brougham taking up extra space (and looking funky parked out front like a car - or even in the back covered with a tarp), they are starting to get annoyed. I’m paranoid though, especially when it comes to what other people expect of me – so maybe Ross should just talk to them.
We started the day with Apple pie, ice cream and coffee, then headed out. Since the new trailer we’ve rented a car once but mostly use the RV for our around town car. While empty it’s great. We don’t have to worry about our things crashing around and with all the weight gone it actually drives like a pretty decent van. This weekend we finally decided to commit to riding our bikes and went to the great and awesome New Orleans City Park, a park that spans about 60 square blocks with several lakes, rivers and bayous. throughout. We had gone there previously while looking for a dog park I saw from the freeway, a dog park that turned out to be a members only club with a yearly cost. We ended up just going to some great abandoned buildings nearby with a big open field for Chena to run unencumbered by other peoples lame dogs.
After taking Chena for a bike run, the most exercise she’s gotten in months, we went on our own, leaving Chena in the RV in the shade. Since pretty much everything east of central Texas is flat so far, it wasn’t a very challenging ride but it was nice. We rode along StJohn’s Bayou and saw baby ducks, fish jumping like skipping rocks and the worlds ugliest duck-geese-turkey things. Ross forgot his clip-in shoes but it didn’t stop him from some track stands.
I found a new use for my luggage carrier on my bike, poop carrier! Since the park had garbage bins every 3 miles, it was a fun and exciting challenge to see if I could make it to one before the bags hit my tire and exploded. I did, but just barely.
Sunday
Once again, we started the day with apple pie (no ice cream) and coffee.
Since we didn’t get to it Saturday, the plan was to clean and recaulk the roof. We spent a ton on all the supplies the day we got the RV and have been either busy or putting it off every weekend. After I cleaned the house and was midway through 5 loads of laundry, we climbed up on the roof and started scrubbing the areas we needed to recaulk with the gallon of rubber roof cleaning solution we bough. After a couple minutes it was clear to me that there was no way to really clean the areas without cleaning the area around them, and at that point it looked so good clean, I had to clean the whole roof (or try). Ross scrubbed the old sealant and I scrubbed at everything in between. Eventually having to rinse, rescrub and rinse again, making it over a 2 hours aerobic workout – trying to avoid actually getting on my knees and pushing sponges and scrubbing brooms non stop. I intended to start on the Brougham too but by the time I was 2/3 done with the trailer roof I knew my arms or legs would give out on me (and 14 feet up is not the best place for that). While I was scrubbing on the roof, Ross suffered my water heavy endeavor on the side of the trailer struggling with our loose and funky black/grey water outlet. Surrounded by cat shit filled grass (from the tons of strays around here) and at constant risk of touching old poo from the previous trailer owners who never cleaned their tank, he further suffered from my constant splashing and dripping from above.
Roof 1/4 clean.
Roof Half done and the Brougham
Roof 2/3 clean!
After I finished as much as I could muster, I was going to move on to installing a shelf in the pantry but decided since it was 5 and we hadn’t eaten all day I would start up the BBQ and make us some corn on the cob, grilled squash and tofurkey dogs. I hadn’t actually hooked up the grill, to the potentially explosive 20 gallon propane tank, nor had I BBQ’d since I was.. um.. well maybe never, but I learn from watching others so the cooking part I knew I had down. I managed to hook up and even light the BBQ without catching on fire and cooked for 40 mins while Ross finished up the caulking on the roof.
While we ate, in came the clouds and we watched a thunderstorm make its way our way, hoping to hell we could finish our food before we had to put the tarp on the RV. We did! A first even.. Now we sit here not moving much, suffering from the busy day, considering going to the hot tub in the thunderstorm.
I think its a plan.
Beware. by the end of this you”ll know more than you need to about our new cat.
Once we got a bigger place to hang out, we were finally able to have a cat in our lives again. I think we had the new trailer for a day when I started looking on craigslist for needy cats and within a week, on a routine dog food stop at Pet Smart, we walked in just as they were closing the adoption counter. There were tons of cute cats, mostly adults or sister brother pairs, and one young orange cat. I often say stupid things for no reason so I saw the orange cat and said “I don’t like orange cats, they’re terrors.” What my mind had used to come to that conclusion was that every orange cat I’d ever known was a horrible half wild tom cat (and maybe I’m a bit of a ginger-cat generalist). Since 80% of orange cats are males, because orange is basically the calico of male cats, I assumed the orange cat, although the prettiest one, was a male. I read the card above the cage anyway, and it was a girl! I immediately and illogically changed my mind about her and decided to make a connection. I put my hand to the glass and she put her paw to the glass and it was done. There were several other females that were pretty but I was happy with a young cat, not a kitten, and one not too set in their ways already. All the cats were from the New Orleans Animal Control and had either been dropped off or caught feral, they didn’t have any clue which one she was.
We did all the paperwork and took her to the RV parked out front in a little cardboard cat carrier. She was surprisingly calm, didnt meow, didnt scratch, just quietly worried and hoped for the best. We went back inside to buy some things for her, and $150 later (egads) she was the most spoiled cat in the trailer park. I took her out once during the drive back home to give her some water, she just walked around the RV curios and sniffing everything, then mostly quietly went back into her box (except for the part where her water spilled and she got all wet - didn’t like that).
When we got back to the trailer without any issues or noise. When I opened her box, Chena -lover of all things box, was right over top waiting for the surprise. I knew it might not be the best idea to introduce them that way but I had high hopes. They would have to be best friends eventually, it’s a condition my pets have to endure (within reason). As I’d hoped, the cat didn’t even look at Chena, almost looked right through her while curiously looking around the trailer. After that she made herself right at home. Never once hid or peed on anything, didn’t meow uncontrollably, hiss at us or try to escape. Just laid out in the open or played with her new toys. She spent one night in the bathroom just in case her litter box skills werent perfect and after that shes been with us almost every minute of every day. I even gave her a bath on the second day because she smelled like kennel and pee and she was fairly decent about that, didn’t scratch, just a little worried.
Susa And Chena
As far as her personality, shes very trusting and affectionate but sometimes she would duck from us when she got in trouble, like she thinks we’re going to whack her one, but shes getting used to the idea that we wont be doing that. She has the “I want to trust you so badly and love you unconditionally but some bastard kicked me” syndrome. She came to us with 2 shaved areas. Her belly from being spayed and the side of her back leg. We considered at first, that although strange, maybe it had to do with the spaying but upon closer inspection the hair was longer (more grown out) and there was a 1 inch scar. She may have got cut on a fence, beat up by a raccoon.. who knows. Shes also pretty scared of loud noises, as is Chena but for different reasons. The first time she got scared was by a storage chest closing loudly, she ran from me for several minutes. It was painful that she was so afraid of me but after hours of apology and showing her that what she was scared of wasn’t so bad, shes started to understand. Now when she gets scared she looks at you intently and wide eyed to make sure you give her a sign that you didn’t mean it to scare or hurt her. You have to walk up to her and pet her or pick her up and apologize – If you don’t, she’ll run off and be scared and overall lose trust. Sensitive little kittehs!
It took us a while to name her. We went though all the cliche names for orange cats, and cats in general ans since she nibbled your hand, nose or face while she’s being brushed, we considered Nibbler (from futurama) but decided on a completely different little black monster, Susa Ataris from My Neighbor Totoro. They are soot sprites that hide in the shadows and are said to be good luck – there’s no real connection between them and her personality but it sounded like a cute name and we were sick of having nothing to call her. Within a day she was coming to Susa and it was set.
She’s super curious, what cat isn’t though right. Every time you’re doing something at the counter shes up on hinds mewing at you to know what’s going on. We encourage her curiosity by showing her every single thing she wants to see. Whether its a running tap, sink full of soapy water or jalapeños. After the first 2 times of climbing up my legs, she figured out she could get picked up if she just taps them with her paws. I find that the more you show cats willingly, rather than making things and places forbidden, the sooner they get over it. She walked all over my camera equipment and art supplies twice (on the top bunks), getting hair on everything, then never cared to hang out up there again (save the random kitty freakout and run around the trailer session).
Although I got her the cutest little princess bed, she lays on the hard floor and wont even go into the bedroom except sometimes when we’re sleeping. Good for me because I prefer my clothes stay somewhat hair free before I put them on. When I work she often sits on the breakfast tray beside me and lays her head on my arm. Making it hard for me to type but too adorable to resist. She also likes Jalapeno chips so any time we snack on them she gets her own little crushed chip to snack on.
Susa at work
Susa says hi to Ross
All in all I think we’re pretty lucky people and got the best cat we could have possibly found.
She’s undergoing lessons in fetchology, climbing the walls control (claw control), lick the doggys face and ears and most exciting of all, harness training! Shes going to be even more awesome than she already is!
Moving into the new trailer was a big change – so much more space, so much more comfortable, and easier to work and relax. Part of our relaxation process involves us watching a lot of movies. In the RV we wouldlie on the bed with a monitor set up at the end of the bed hooked up to one of our laptops. With the upgrade in living space we decided to go for an upgrade in our movie-watching experience too.
We started off getting a new TV – a Samsung LN22C350 (we’re pretty much set on Samsung displays). Most of the RV parks we have stayed at have a cable TV hookup, and it’s nice to be able to take advantage of it. We used to use a USB TV Tuner hooked up to the laptop, but being able to watch TV on the couch with a remote control and without having to unhook the laptops and move them over to the TV every time is great.
Watching TV was nice, but we needed a setup for movies. With just the TV we were still stuck with shuffling laptops every time we wanted to sit down an watch a movie, whether it was Netflix, a DVD or a movie file. We thought about all the options – a cheap laptop, building a custom machine, using a games console. We already have a Nintendo Wii, but it’s not really set up to be a media center box – it’s not a hi-def device and it doesn’t play DVDs without a hack (even with the hack it’s pretty awkward to use).
After a lot of thought and reading of forum posts and reviews online, we decided on the Sony PS3. With the PS3 we get a hi definition device which will hook up to our TV via HDMI, a DVD/BluRay player and…a game console. It was a good choice – the PS3 is now set up to do everything we need it to do, though it did take a little more work than just plugging it into the TV.
PS3
When we want to watch a movie now, it’s as simple as turning on the TV, the PS3, then selecting the movie. If we want to watch a NetFlix streaming movie, we just put in the NetFlix CD and the NetFlix movie browser starts up and lets us select the movie we want. If we want to watch a DVD or BluRay – well, we just put in the disc. If we want to watch a movie file, we can browse our media library and select the movie.
PS3 NetFlix Browser
Enabling us to browse our media library and play files from it was a little more challenging to set up. The PS3 can play a lot of movie files from USB hard drives, but not all, and its subtitle support for our Kung Fu movies isn’t great. To fix all of this, we started by creating ourselves a fast wireless home network, buying a Netgear WNRD3300 wireless router. Now, our laptops, the PS3 and the Wii all connect to this fast wireless network. To get all these devices also connected to the Internet, I upgraded the router with the awesome DD-WRT open source firmware and set it up to use its secondary radio transmitter to bridge our local network with the RV park network. This allows us to have a fast, secure network in the trailer connected out to an external network for Internet – all without any network cables.
Browsing for a media server on the PS3
With the network set up and the PS3 able to securely communicate with our laptops over the network, I installed the PS3 Media Server on my laptop and configured it to share everything from my media library. The great thing about the PS3 Media Server is its ability to transcode any movies which are not in a format that the PS3 supports – into a format that it does support. It also performs the same magic for any of our movies which have subtitles.
For a little more nerdy fun, Katya has been playing Final Fantasy VII for the original Playstation on the PS3 and I have been playing the awesome Gargoyle’s Quest for Gameboy using the Visual Boy Advance GX Gameboy emulator running on our Homebrew hacked Wii.
