Crazy cat lady and basic white girl

Ever since our cat Jenny died this summer, I've felt like there's been a hole in my heart that could only be filled by a cat.

It might not be super masculine to admit this, but I love cats. I love the way cats walk into a room and start purring. I love how they stretch out their front paws and blink as they do so, and they stretch out their back legs behind them. I love the way they knead. I love how they rub their head and neck on everything. They're just adorable.

After Jenny died, I began thinking about what I wanted to do. Since I've wanted to do 30 major things while I was 29, I thought I could wait until my birthday and then get a cat as one of my bucket list items.

I also thought that if I waited to get a cat until the fall, I could get a kitten, and then it would still be a little kitten for when my nephews come visit at Christmastime. (Jenny was not good with children, so they didn't really get to play with her.)

As I thought more about it, though, I thought a kitten wasn't a good idea. Kittens certainly are the most adorable things on the planet. But the problem is that my dad will only let us have a cat if it is declawed. Jenny was declawed as a kitten. I was practically a kitten when she was a kitten. But I can't bring myself to get a cat declawed. I don't care that other people do, but I can't be the one that gets it done to them. (Just like I don't care if people hunt but I can't do it myself.) So I decided the best option was to adopt a cat that was already declawed.

Yesterday we drove down to the Humane Society to pick out a new cat. There were only three they knew of that were declawed. The first cat didn't like humans, so they didn't even let us look at it.

The second one was a black and white two-year-old female named Sky. They said she was super sweet, but she was scared and shy and wouldn't really let us pet her. In that room, the cats were all in individual cages, though they would let some of them out at a time.

Then they took us to see one named Oliver, who was eight years old. The employee told us she thought he was the one with a short tail. In that room, all the cats were living together communally outside of cages. We petted the bobtail cat, but he wasn't super friendly. At that time, we overlooked this cat sitting placidly on a chair.

Will the real Oliver still stand up?

We went back in the cage room to look at Sky again. Our biggest concern with that cat was she had long hair. We've only ever had domestic shorthairs. We were amused by some of the other cats in that room; there was one cat relaxing in a plastic bag.

There was a big grey cat that kept trying to get out of its cage, but there were three signs on the cage saying not to let it out! You could only let it out if you were going to adopt it and there were no other cats out. Some of the other cats would hiss whenever they walked by.

I still wasn't sure about Sky, though, so we went back to look at Oliver. And we learned that the one we thought was Oliver actually had claws. There was another similar cat, with a full-sized tail, that didn't seem to have claws. So we confirmed with the employees that the one sitting calmly on a chair was actually Oliver. He was much more welcoming of us petting him. At one point, two other cats got in a mild fight, and one of them backed underneath Oliver's chair and began hissing and growling at the other cat. Oliver was perfectly serene with the fighting going on literally beneath him. (I think one of those cats was the one that kept randomly attacking my mom's hands unprovoked.) I decided that was the one I wanted.

We learned that Oliver had been turned in when his previous owners had a baby. He had been in the shelter since April! We also learned that he had really just been called "Kitty"; Oliver was what the shelter called him.

So I adopted him. But his name is now Jimmy. Once I was making a vet appointment for Jenny, and they thought I said Jimmy, so I thought Jimmy would be a good name for a boy cat. I still have to get used to calling him that, though.

I feel happy that we were able to finally give him a home after he had been there so long. I don't know why he wasn't adopted before, because he's such an easygoing cat. Maybe because he's eight years old no one wanted him?

He's still a little skittish and getting used to us. But he spent all night on my bed, sometimes headbutting me. He really likes chasing laser lights. I haven't really seen him eating, so I hope he remembers where his food is. He is our third cat and our first boy cat; the others were Dinah (2001-2002) and Jenny (2002-2017).

I'm excited to get to know him better in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. 

***

Time for pumpkinundation roundup, aka Basic White Girl Hour.

 Someone made this pumpkin pie for an FHE activity, but I suspect they bought the crust. It was runnier than most pumpkin pies, but still good. 8/10.

 I got this Bahama Buck's Caramel Apple Shaved Ice on a warmer day this week. It's an apple shaved ice with caramel and some other things on it. I liked it and found it refreshing, but I think that was the apple part more than the caramel part. 7/10.

 When they asked if I wanted my Kneaders cinnamon caramel apple cut, of course I said no! That takes the fun out of it. I like the cinnamon flavor because some of the other flavors get overwhelming with too much stuff on them. 8/10.

 These Nonni's Pumpkin Spice Thin Addictives are from Big Lots. That should tell you something. They're like croutons with the sweetness level of fortune cookies. I wasn't impressed. 3/10.

 This is the third or fourth year I've had these Sunbelt Bakery Pumpkin Spice Chewy Granola Bars. They're not as pumpkiny as some things, but I really like them. 7/10.

 Little Debbie Pumpkin Spice Rolls are disappointing. They have "natural & artificial flavor." That means real spices but not real pumpkin. Really!? Pumpkin rolls, made with real pumpkin, are one of the most basic pumpkin desserts out there! 5/10.

 I had a Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice drink, which is basically warm apple juice with caramel and whipped cream on top. I think it's real juice, but it had that artificial apple flavor you expect in candy, and it was sickeningly sweet. 4/10.

 The Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin was better, though they could have done without the cream cheese--not because it was bad, but because it didn't add anything. 7/10.

 I had a Pumpkin Pie Larabar on a short run this week. I've had better Larabars. 6/10.

 Thomas Pumpkin Spice Bagels are the best store-bought bagels I've found. They have little pockets of what seems to be pumpkin pie filling. 7/10.

 I had Smith's Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts. Is there such a thing as a bad donut? 8/10.

 I thought this Alouette Pumpkin Spice Soft Spreadable Cheese would be disgusting, but it wasn't. It's like cream cheese, though it has a strange cheesy aftertaste. 7/10.

 Not everything from Big Lots is bad, though. I liked these Mother's Farms Pumpkin Seed Tortilla Chips better than the Trader Joe's pumpkin tortilla chips. They're tortilla chips with a hint of sweetness. 7/10.

 I ran to Ensign Peak and then to its base, then ran back home, 10 miles roundtrip. On Ensign Peak I ate my Spiced Pumpkin Pie Clif Bar. It actually hasn't been long since I had one, since I had some leftover from last fall. These are better than you might expect. They have a definite pumpkin and spice flavor. 7/10. I'd probably give it a higher rating if I hadn't been eating it with a somewhat dry mouth.

 This week I should draft my official review for these Nestle Toll House Pumpkin Cobbler Cookies. Is there even such a thing as pumpkin cobbler? These cookies have a sticky pumpkin filling. They're pretty good. 7/10.

I first had these Jet-Puffed Pumpkin Spice Mallows on a groundwater field trip four years ago. They taste like ginger and not much else. 6/10. I'm really disappointed I haven't seen the caramel apple marshmallows this year, because I thought those were the best of the fall-flavored marshmallows.