Chihuahuas and kitties disapprove

    We are tending toward going vegetarian, possibly even vegan. I'm not sure why on Tamara's part; I'm not absolutely sure why on my part. We just are. Dogs and cats tend to want to steal human food. We warn them: you aren't going to like this! Tamara's senior chihuahua Lucy gave a taste to her vegan pasta last night (complete with dairy-free soy-free gluten-free Beyond Beef); Lucy was not best pleased.
    Since I put onions in everything, which cats cannot eat, the change doesn't make much difference on the feline end. This is probably lucky. Dogs are generalists like us. Cats are obligate predators. So nice people who try to make cats into vegetarians are making a mistake. This means that we might go vegan some day, but our dogs and cats are not likely to. No doubt the bunnies have mixed feelings.
    Ms. Amelia has commanded OUTSIDE. As she is dowager empress of Olympia, I have complied. (The fact that it's supposed to rain from midnight on for about 24 hours might also have some bearing.) So for the first time I can remember, I'm out on the porch typing this while I maintain feline surveillance. I'm glad I have reached a stopping point anyway, as a jail break appears to be being contemplated as I type. Uh oh!

C'mon, Dollar Tree!

    For decades, I've been looking for Tastykake fruit pies down here. They are a favorite in Philadelphia, also said to be available in New Jersey and South Florida, but not in between. There are many Tastykake products available in supermarkets here, but never the fruit pies.
    The other day in Dollar Tree, I found them. Mind you, it's years since I ate gluten, or high-fructose corn syrup, so it was more of a nostalgia rush to see them again. They're in bags these days instead of cartons, but I won't be sampling them to see if there's a difference. The problem was that I was in Dollar Tree looking for the previously mentioned fuller's earth kitty litter, and I couldn't find any.
    That was the moment when I was going to change the litter boxes. When I couldn't find the stuff I wanted at Dollar Tree, I just stayed with the stuff I've been using. Then the next Dollar Tree I looked in had the kitty litter but not the Tastykake pies. Really, I was just curious; I wasn't going to cheat with them! I was actually looking at this point for some kind of welcome mat or front door runner to prevent Amelia from destroying the carpet around the front door. At Family Dollar, I found the mat and I also found more fuller's earth kitty litter, also for $1.
    The point of all this whiffling is that I find it odd that inventory varies so much from store to store at Dollar Tree. Not shocking or anything; inventory varies somewhat from store to store at Publix, too. And also, it does finally appear that if I decide to change my kitty litter, I will have a steady supply of the cheap stuff. Now I just have to decide.

Charlotte adventure, card edition

    I can tell you now (could probably tell you before, but showed discretion) that we went to Charlotte because one of Tamara's rabbits was dying, that it takes a vet with special training to put a rabbit to sleep, and that the closest one on Saturday afternoon was in Charlotte. It was a sad, sad day, and Tamara is still sad to lose Grace, but we made do. One has to eat, so we determined at least to eat well, and as I said ate at a wonderful Colombian rotisserie chicken place called Pio Pio. However, by that evening, I found that my debit card had stayed at Pio Pio. By the time I learned this, they were closed. Next morning, I talked to the bank, and they recommended cancelling my cards (I had a duplicate, with which I bought gas when I found out that card #1 was missing) and they would send a new one. Bank lady confirmed that there had been no transactions other than the ones I had made, though. I made an ATM run and then the deed was done.
    Since then, we ate the leftovers, which were if anything even better than at the restaurant. Thus we are definitely absolutely going back, if not sooner then when we see Steely Dan and Steve Winwood in July. But I suspect we'll pay in cash...

Further perils to gluten-free living

    Of course, I've blogged about this already, so the "further" is unnecessary, but it had a nice rhythm. "Unexpected" had one syllable too many and anyway the fact that I've blogged about it before makes that word not terribly applicable either. This is about licking envelopes. There's usually gluten in the envelope glue, so celiacs aren't supposed to lick them. As most billing parties provide return envelopes and often there's even coding preprinted on them which supposedly speeds them on their way, I generally just use them, moistening the flap with a damp paper towel.
    However, sometimes there is no envelope and if I have to go buy some, I prefer the self-closing kind with the strip of paper you pull off of the glue. I bought some at Staples a while back (and whined, moaned and blogged about it) and today, having finally run out of those, tried out Office Depot. The latter didn't have any small packages of envelopes (I don't use many) but what they did have was a sale. So I could have gotten 50 envelopes for $17, 45 for $10, or 100 for $7. As I recall, the expensive ones were the non-security type and the cheaper ones were the security type. Go figure. So although 100 envelopes is likely to be a lifetime supply for me, I went for the latter. I know that this is nothing earth-shattering. I was just bewildered by the crazy array of prices. And pleased to be able to make it work for me.

Sucking up to the General Assembly, permanently

    Almost twenty years ago, I was volunteering for the Center for Environmental Policy at the Institute of Public Affairs of the University of South Carolina. (Whew!) This was located in a university building called Carolina Plaza, which had previously been a high-rise motel called the Carolina Inn. For a year there, the SC General Assembly (legislature) were there with us, as the State House was being renovated, complete with turning the green copper dome shiny again, however briefly. (Just don't ask.)
    There was a certain irony in this, because Carolina Inn was home to a bar where many sleazy political deals were, uh, consummated. Regardless, the Department of Transportation, or possibly the city, decided that they didn't want any unhappy legislators, so they retimed the light at Pendleton and Assembly to turn red for Assembly a LOT, allowing pedestrians to cross often.
    Carolina Plaza is long gone, the pols have gone back to their natural home, and that light still turns red for no reason, traffic calming or traffic-related, all the time. This includes this Easter morning before 8 in the morning. They could of course have just put in a button allowing pedestrians to request a crossing; we had that technology in the '90s. But no; politicians can't wait that long. Well, it IS called Assembly Street, I guess. I'll just have to develop patience against annoyances I can't control or figure a better route. But it IS awfully annoying.

Some things work out

    For sad reasons that I'm not going to mention, we suddenly had to go to Charlotte. I didn't know how long I would be gone nor when I'd be able to feed the cats. Normally, I feed them four times a day, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. This was noonish, hours before either afternoon feeding. I solved this by giving them all their afternoon food at once, and solved the problem of Harry tending to eat it all by leading him outside with his food first, leaving Amelia inside with her food. They ate it all and neither seems to have suffered any ill effects.
    After the sad part, we found ourselves in a major city with a wealth of interesting restaurants to choose from and more appetite than we expected. We went to a Latin place, seemingly Colombian, specializing in rotisserie. It is called Pio Pio and we highly recommend the chicken. Also the jalapeno sauce. Not that there was anything wrong with anything else, but those two things were insane. Chicken tender beyond belief. So even though the reasons were sad, we had about as nice a time as you can have under the circumstances. Cats have been rewarded for being relatively good with an extra small can of cat food.

Them allergies

    Hmmmmmm. As I spend less time here and more time at Tamara's, my allergies are clearing up. My nearly stopped up right ear mysteriously opened up without resort to peroxide or other remedy. My breathing is a little touch and go, but I think that may be because I keep going on long walks without remembering to bring my water. In other words, I'm just a little dehydrated.
    Now Tamara has three bunnies and two chihuahuas. If my allergy were to animal dander in general, it would probably be worse over at her place. That it isn't suggests either that I'm specifically allergic to cat dander or to the darn darn darn kitty litter. I think it got better when I switched from the clay kitty litter to the sawdust one, but not a lot. I'm still planning to try the fuller's earth litter. I hope that will improve things. At some point, I'll definitely be living some place larger, which will help more.
    What it all means, of course, is that a person with common sense would give up the kitties, but I have never been that person. I love the rotten stinkies. Long ago, somebody told me that if I was allergic, I was crazy to shorten my life living with cats. I don't mind being that kind of crazy. Also know how to buy Benadryl.