Our imperfections are what make us perfect. The essence of one's soul, is passion. The essence of One's life is soul. Essentially: live life to the fullest, or something like that.
Since I've let this blog lapse into non-writing status again, there are two components to today's post. (Very long post ahead)! The first is a bit longer, but both of equal importance. Let's start with Kira Kitty.
As everyone knows Mr. K and I have a Siberian Forest cat named Rufio. We had originally got him, not only for companionship, but to show him and start our own cattery; breeding these amazing cats. However, after searching and searching for a suitable wife, or wives" for him we couldn't find any or the plans of this or that cat fell threw and eventually we opted to have him neutered. We've discussed still showing him, but obviously starting our own cattery is no longer an option.
In those plans, we always thought that Rufio would eventually have other feline company. He's quite the social guy and he seemed lonely at night when we had all gone to bed. We tried letting him sleep with us, but since he's still young, only 1.5 years, he is active at night. He would clean himself on the bed, bounce around the room, sit on top of Hermione's crate and try to bat her, climb the dresser, attack the curtains Etc. Basically, we weren't getting any sleep and Sir was banned from the bedroom during sleeping hours. Mr. K and I both felt bad, knowing that he just liked having company. Rufio started letting us know about his disgruntled state by destroying things. He chewed through cell phone adapter cords, Mr. K's fancy headphone cords and many other things. We thought that perhaps it was just naughty kitty behaviour, but when he chewed through the strap of one of my bras not once but twice, we decided it was time to find him a friend. The problem is that Mr. K is allergic to cats. That is why we decided on the Siberian breed in the first place.
In our researching cat breeds the first time around, we read a lot about darker cats (sometimes) producing less of the protein that most people are allergic to. We knew getting another Siberian was out of the question this time around. They are really expensive and really difficult to get a hold of. So, I looked at the local humane society to see if they had any black cats. Statistically speaking, black, or darker, animals are more difficult to adopt out and so I wasn't surprised when I found a few black cats. There was one cat in particular that caught my attention. She was described as "active" and "spicy."
We waited about a week, talking about the pros and cons. We finally decided that we would go meet her and see how allergic Mr. K was to her.
On July 31 we went to our local humane society and asked to see the kitten. There were so many beautiful and sweet cats available, it was just heart breaking. I just had to keep telling myself that we were going to try to save one and some day in the future, I'd be able to help in bigger ways. But, for now, this would have to do.
The worker went into the room and put the two cats already out back into their cage and opened Miss Kitty's door. She sprung happily out and immediately rubbed up against us. Then she was off, enthusiastically scratching the scratching post. It was like she was saying, "look. I know where I'm supposed to scratch. I'll be good. I promise."
The worker left, warning us to make sure that when we left, we snuck out without a black kitten in hot pursuit. Apparently she was quite the escape artist. She would bust out when unsuspecting people were leaving or entering the room and go off to visit the rabbits up for adoption.
We petted her while she scratched and we were both impressed at how she wasn't afraid of us. She purred, further winning us over. She had been found on a walk way in the middle of May and had been in the shelter ever since.
It had said on her bio that she needed to be spayed, but when we went back out to the front desk and told them we wanted her, they told us that she had been spayed three days prior to our arrival. This made us even more convinced.
As we stood petting her while she scratched away at the appropriate scratching object, Mr. K asked me if I wanted her. Of course I did, but I left it up to him.
He told me it was hard to tell because the room was full of cats, but he said that if he petted her and then put his hands near his face he felt fine.
We would have to take her home and see. I vowed to vaccuum every second day if that meant she could stay.
We think she's between 6 and 8 months, but it's hard to tell because she is so tiny. She is technically called a black smoke because her coat is black, but has a silver under coat. Her eyes are gold and she is so sweet. She talks a lot and is quite active; just what we wanted.
Rufio wasn't entirely sure about our decision. He hissed and growled at her the first day, but it hasn't even been a week and they are already kitty battling; friendly kitty battling, that is. They even have started sleeping ear each other, Rufio on the top step and Kira on the one below him.
We're convinced that she is mixed with some kind of purebred cat because her features aren't that of your every day domestic long hair. Her tail is hugely furry and she uses it like a fan to show off. She's a flirt. More impressively, she's not even remotely afraid of the dogs. Otis tried to battle with her like he does with Rufio, but she powder puffed him on the head, flicked her flirty tail and pranced off.
As for her escape artistry, she hasn't tried it yet. (Knock on wood). We're hoping she doesn't want to go outside now because she has so much more room here and more company.
We did have to teach her that biting isn't nice. She would get so excited that someone was petting her that she'd put her teeth on your hand. After saying "ouch" a couple of times and refraining from petting her, she's stopped biting.
So, our furry family has grown again and I vaccuum for over an hour every second day. But, Mr. K's allergies aren't really bothering him. And, that means she can stay.
As for Her Royal Highness, Princess Hermione Sophia: she's not feeling well. (This is the second part of my post. Did you remember? The first part was quite long).
We had a birthday party for me on Saturday which consisted of brunch with some great people, a romp at the beach with sed wonderful people and then a barbecue at my parents' house with more great people. My parents were at camp, so I brought all of the dogs with us. They had been alone on and off all day and so I thought they would want to come along. Plus, they're my family too. Some time between barbecued hamburgers and cake, something bit Hermione. We don't know what it was, but she yelped and jumped around. We thought nothing of it, but the next day she was not herself. She didn't even want her breakfast. She did drink water though which made me feel better. She was alert, heart rate normal, but she just laid on the chair. At dinner I managed to convinced her to eat some yogurt and cinnamon. I thought her tummy was upset and that was why she wasn't eating.
The next morning she scarfed her breakfast down and drank. She was still just lying on her chair. She would go out if I took her, but she wanted to go right back home. Her tail wagged, but her usual spunk just wasn't there. A friend could see where she had been bitten and said it didn't look infected. She at her supper and drank water all day. Her bathroom breaks were normal.
Today is day three and she's still unhappy. She's in her chair resting again. I checked her heart rate and it's normal. Her nose is wet and cold and she's responsive. It's almost breakfast time here for the dogs, so we'll see what she thinks of eating this morning. As long as she keeps eating, drinking and going to the bathroom I won't worry...well, worry too much. I'll have someone look at the bite again today just to make sure it hasn't become infected. I'm hoping with a little rest and some TLC that she'll be back to normal soon. As much as her high energy can be a bit much sometimes, you never want your dog to change and you worry when they just aren't themselves.
Welcome Kira! And I hope Hermione is feeling better soon, I know how worrisome it can be when our furry friends aren't acting like themselves.
You have stumbled upon the blog where nothing ever stays the same. Our household currently consists of 1 Leader Dog (my husband's), a Cavalier King Charles puppy named Hermione, 2 bunnies (Lola and Hamish) and 2 humans. So, grab a cup of coffee, or your drink of choice, and enjoy the crazy antics of my life. :)
Only two days after the Hail Caesar game with Matt I was back over at Kev's for another HC game. The feel is quite different as the figure size is 1/72 and two very nice armies they are and Kev and Andy have converted HC to conform to hex movement which works quite well overall.
Being as nothing is scared the UgoIgo system has been replaced with a card activation system where each brigade has two activation cards plus a Joker that allows you to choose one brigade to move again. So one turn through the deck can allow you to try to activate one brigade three times and the rest two. This can lead to some tense moments as the run of the cards can add a fair bit of drama as when one division gets activated three times out of say five cards or all your cards come out early and then you have to hold on till the deck gets a shuffle. Last night they played out well creating many a worrying moment though the last two run through's Kev's cards came out in a bunch at the start much to his discomfort.
I forgot the at start pis and after failing to activate a couple of times my Carthaginian cavalry (Numidian light horse and Gaul medium cavalry) finally got going. I was facing superior cavalry so was not planning on leaving the hill with my mediums but threw my lights into javelin range to start peppering my opposing cavalry.
Glenn our commander and owner of our troops plan was to move as far forward and as quickly as possible our light troops and start to pepper the opposing skirmishing and open order troops. Meanwhile our main troops were to remain at the halt.
I had the first success and this was to have a huge impact on my flank as Kev's Gaul cavalry was hit with two rounds of missile fire sending them shaken and retreated disordered. They went back through two other cavalry units disordering both of them. This was to slow Kev down and the Gaul's never got back in the game making the contest that bit more favourable.
View down the table, it's still early with both sides still moving towards each other. Kev was mostly moving one sometimes two moves forward with his infantry which actually played into our plan of keeping our infantry from the pitched battle till as late in the game as possible.
Revenge for Kev, I should have evaded from the charge but not wanting to go off the table I stood. I rolled poor and Kev rolled well (one of the few good rolls for Kev who really did suffer from bad dice all game). The end result was one of my light units broken.
Our skirmishers make contact and start to win the skirmish battle. Aided by my ability to roll 6 on most save throws.
Glenn broke one skirmish element and started to pick on the light infantry covering the pike facing our right hand division.
I kept moving my light cavalry back into javelin range, Kev would charge them and remove them from the front but I kept bringing them straight back and whilst Kev was rallying off some of the pips from his Kontos armed heavies I was always able to keep some hits on them. Whilst my cavalry remained on the hill they would be difficult to shift but Kev was not able to do enough damage on my lights and Gaul's to get a better chance of winning the melee.
My biggest set back was one light infantry unit becoming shaken and disordered but overall our light infantry and skirmishes were getting the best of the early battle and driving the Seleucid skirmish line away from the troops allowing us to start working on the main battle line,
Glenn had a couple of great results and Kev had no luck that saw his pike blocks becoming disordered which set them in place for awhile and of course the casualties were starting to creep up. However our decision to remain near our starting locations meant that Kev would be able to get his house in order though by this point he only had his bow skirmishers left to mask his pike and they were unable to hold back our missile troops.
Kev's view was somewhat different to ours. The cavalry choke point does look tougher for him with a long trip behind the woods to get at our rear. Success would have meant I would be forced to move two to three units to block a route into my rear which may have weakened me enough for a drive on my infantry division. Failure would have really stretched his defence as I would have more space to exploit the victory.
In the centre evidence of the skirmish battle with most of his missile troops pushed back and disordered. The scythed chariot waiting for a chance to be unmasked and charge hard into my Gaul infantry but the battle lines were remaining tight.
Not many casualties but the disorder was stopping forward movement which in turn slowed down his advance in the centre. This of course gives us yet more time to keep up the missile fire.
I finally lose a second light cavalry unit which in turn allows Kev to start hammering my left hand medium cavalry unit though I was able to rally some off whilst keeping the Kontos armed cavalry under a similar number of casualties so that Kev was not confident of winning the combat.
Finally the pike close on my 2nd division but Kev's own skirmishers left in forward positions were now in his way. More time, more missile fire and just past my division the fire from Glenn finally separated a medium infantry unit from it's supports.
Just to the right of the round commander base is the rear support of Glenn's first charge, the target has not a single support whilst Glenn got rear and one flank support but his other flank being disordered are unable to help. Not that he needed it as he smashed the unit again aided by our run of good dice whilst Kev remained staunch despite terrible dice, not managing to do more than dint the attacking unit slightly.
The Iberian Celt's remain fast on the hill but once they started to move they would surge over the empty space to confront the now thinning battle line.
Energised by his previous success Glenn threw in a heavy punch in the centre with both flanks and rear support against a unit that had taken just two pips of damage. This time he would have help, a unit of Celt's and two elephants. The bad news is that all three of these supports only give two dice each whilst Glenn not only had more dice in the attack but also was one pip better on his to hits and saves. To add insult to injury he threw his general in as well (my suggestion). The loss was bad, real bad with a difference of 6 casualties the only way the loser could save themselves from breaking was boxcars! The result of course WAS double six and their reward was to be pushed back disordered with his supports. Happy for us it was the expected result that of Kev being pushed back as failed to get even one hit!
Before Kev could do anything to try and rescue the situation, Glenn gets another activation and not even double six could save him as the unit was shattered and then all three supports failed their tests to leave a big hole and broken division. Worse still his follow up was to turn to his flank and smash into the nearest pike phalanx flank.
Whilst he was not able to get my light infantry in to support his charge he still had rear and one flank support. This was a repeat of what happened to me a couple of weeks before so I knew exactly what was to follow. The only consolation for Kev was that it was not supported by any other unit and sure enough it was broken leaving a second division close to being broken and facing attacks on both flanks.
Positions at the end of the game down the line. It looks like their is still two lines facing off against each other but just past the pikes in the centre is a gap in the Seleucid line filled by our troops ready to turn towards the flanks and drive along the lines as well as burst into the rear.
Hats off to Kev has he did take a pounding that was made possible by lousy missile shots on his part that when they did get through were past far more often than deserved and then the mother of bad rolls in close combat but took it on the chin and battled on.
Not that is was all down to Kev's dice, that just made it a sure thing. Glenn had a good opening plan and despite a slight wobble early when he wanted to move forward stuck to it. All that said it was Glenn's taking advantage of that isolated units position with a quick and nasty attack that then allowed the follow on attack and the sudden collapse.
A very nice report with beautiful pictures, elephants and chariot are most impressive, as well as the cavalry charges...
The hexes board pieces are from Kallistra but the flocking of them was done by Kev and Andy. Shows how good they can look
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