NOLA and the newt

We had a good trip to New Orleans this weekend. We were only there for the weekend but still had fun. Got into New Orleans around 1 am and checked into Hotel Monteleone. Saturday we walked down Royal Street and looked in several stores and then walked around Jackson Square and Decatur Street. I made our group go in a few more stores :) I'll walk around and look at tacky souvenirs if they have the air conditioning going. We had lunch at Acme Oyster House (I had a burger) and took a swim in the rooftop pool at the hotel. After naps we all headed down to meet at the Carousal Bar before going to eat at La Bayou on Bourbon street. We were too late to snag a balcony table but I enjoyed my vegetarian pasta while the others dined on alligator (tastes like chicken?) and shrimp. After dinner we had a fun time at the Pat O's piano bar. I believe we only heard them say they couldn't play Metallica. haha.

Kinsey had a bit of excitement Friday afternoon (though she didn't make the trip to NOLA). All of the sudden she was going crazy chasing something near the door to the patio. She chased a lizard (possibly a newt) under the couch where I was sitting. After standing on the couch and making a panicked call to Jason at work, I managed to move the couch enough where the lizard ran out from under it. With Kinsey in full pursuit the lizard (that had no tail) ran into the bathroom. I put a trash can on top of it but unfortunately my trash can was not designed for lizard trapping. The curves edges on the waste basket allowed the lizard to escape and hide under the baseboard. Eventually after a call to Dad, and Kinsey had stopped watching the portion of the baseboard where the lizard disappeared, a shaken lizard appeared on the bathroom floor. I tried scooping him into the waste basket with a newspaper but he didn't seem to understand I was helping him even though I was yelling that at him. I finally got the lizard in the waste basket and the waste basket and lizard were promptly put out the front door. Kinsey was upset and kept meowing since she no longer had her "friend" to chase.

Excerpts from Amy’s Diary

Alarm. Kinsey poked me in the face with her paw because I didn’t get up fast enough. Fed Kinsey. Showered, got ready for work. Taxes.Taxes.Lunch.Taxes.Taxes. Came home, thwarted Kinsey’s escape attempt. Dinner. Watched NCIS. Wondered why Kinsey looked like she was glaring at me. Threw toys and fetched them myself. Facebook.Kinsey jumped out and ran into my leg from across the room. Again. Sleep.

Excerpts from Kinsey’s Diary

Day 997 in captivity. My captor continues to leave for a good portion of the day and returns and sits on the couch and watches what a NCIS, whatever that means. It clearly doesn’t mean cleaning the kitchen. I’ve made several more escape attempts but in my latest, I was thwarted by a large white dog that was foolishly standing with its captors in the street and wasn’t even making a run for it. It was still satisfying to have my captor and her accomplice chase after me with an audience. Now she insists on taking me out in that embarrassing harness. I’ve been studying Houdini and I will find a way to defeat it. Again this morning my breakfast was late and my meowing went unheeded. I had to take matters into my own paw. I tried weaving around her feet as she walked in an effort to show my frustration but it was unsuccessful. I was told I was a good girl and I heard the word “cute”. My breakfast tasted fishy. My captor had me kill a centipede again the other night. I don’t understand why she’s not afraid of me and my ray gun but she’s afraid of a bug. There has been mention of a gathering of my captor and her accomplices this weekend. She has trained the accomplices not to let me escape but there’s always a chance one will leave the door open. I usually have to spend my time at these gatherings perched atop my tower. For some reason at these gatherings everyone tries to hold me. For most of the evening my captor continued to throw ridiculous worm looking things at me. I pretend to go after them but when she isn’t looking I shove them under the stove or furniture where she can’t find them. Now she’s getting ready for bed. I like to wait until she turns out the lights and then jump out at her from as many different places as possible. One day this will work. One day.

#taxseason

Spent considerable time removing part of a staple from finger with tweezers. #taxseason
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Christmas Eve Eve

Pic is of a creepy Santa in a store.
The real (live) Santa came to visit saturday morning. On a firetruck. With its siren going. At 8:30 am. Kinsey was not impressed.

Because they are predicting snow flurries this weekend, Kinsey aka "Gary Dobbs", decided to escape last night. She ran all the way to the end of the building almost to the street. She is fast. She was captured and returned to ruling her kingdom inside the apartment.

Sometimes I feel like somebody's watching me....

One of my roommates for the first part of the trip stares a bit. Luckily he is only awake during the day. haha. Had a great time so far. Took a driving tour of the city and saw lots of cool places. Flight here was unevenful and was ontime. Heard that Kinsey attempted an escape in my absence but she was quickly detained. More later...

I have a new pet!

Finally making some progress with the unpacking. There are bowls in the dishwasher now so I won't have to eat cereal off a plate again this week! Kinsey decided to help with unpacking by hiding underneath all the packing paper in this box. As usual when I turn on the camera she stops whatever she's doing. Today she crawled up in the pantry while I was working in the kitchen and she looked like a baby giraffe with her legs all crazy standing on the shelf. Camera went on; Kinsey got down. Kinsey went to the vet today and got her annual rabies shot and exam. They had to sedate her so she doesn't know what happened but she's still pretty mad. She's healthy except one of her kidneys is twice as large as the other which is troubling the vet. But so far no action is needed since she's only 2. I went to the gym several times this week and am still very sore. But I think its going to be very helpful. The personal trainer is really good. She's working muscles I didn't even know I had! I also met with the nutritionist who will be really helpful as well.

I have a new pet! We named him George...

Right after I saw him, his throat puffed up and turned red. But like, Kinsey by the time I turned on my camera, that had stopped. I also have wasps and bumble bees but those aren't as cute to take a picture of...