Sara, I am loving the stories about Pumpkin integrating with the rest of the household.

Yay flea!

I think I am in love with Pumpkin!

I think the key to Facebook is to be OK with missing things-- I log on once a day, read the featured posts and move on.

I'm glad Pumpkin is getting along with the other cats.

Dean has turned into a little maniac or something. I heard a ruckus and looked over expecting to see "play fighting". Nope, Maddie was trying to get away from Dean and Dean had her by the hind leg. She finally pulled her leg free and Dean spat out a mouth full of her fur. Dean is currently in time out in the bedroom.

Habitat for Humanity was rehabbing a house on my block today. I was wondering why there were a ton of cars on my quiet street this afternoon, so I went over (thought it might be a garage sale) and found out. I was all "I live down there, if you guys need anything! I'll make you coffee!"

They didn't take me up on it, but were so happy and complimented me profusely on being so neighborly. I got a warm fuzzy!

Aww, Erin, go you.

And go you sarameg, for the patrolling and the cat rescuing.

For all y'all who end up with a sink full of dirty dishes, may I recommend you get a Pumpkin? She is determined to drink out of the sink, and since I don't want any kitty-digestive-drama, means I can't really leave anything in there (not that I do much, I am a compulsive dish washer.)

What I find amusing is that while Pumpkin is a kitten still, with kitten-weirdness, Loki is still the craziest and weirdest cat in the house. He is such a trip.

Hrm, I just pulled the mandated-reporter card on my former hs chem teacher. She would have been on in NM. I like her a lot, but uhg. And even beyond that... I just don't understand why, having heard a rumor of criminal behavior, or especially actually witnessing abuse, people just don't report it to the appropriate authorities to sort it out (and I'm not talking an institution administration.) I mean, I know the reasons. I just think they are morally and civically bankrupt.

So what are people's thoughts on pet insurance? I've never had a pet that has belonged to me medical-expense-wise, and it all sounds mighty spendy, which is fine, but not until I'm actually able to afford it, so I'm just wondering. Has anyone had, used, liked it? Why, yes, I want a rescue kitty as soon as I can realistically afford to care for one.

Habitat for Humanity was rehabbing a house on my block today.

Aw, this makes me happy to read. I love HFH generally, but my grandparents were the ones who started the HFH chapter in your fair city, Erin! So I like to read about what they're doing today.

Jen, I've never had pet insurance, and I have two cats, FWIW. I've been lucky and haven't had to pay out too much for vet visits over the years, but it's certainly worth looking into. I don't even know what the rates might be.

Also, yay for you moving to Philly! And yay flea for your library job!

I wish I had pet insurance for Mister Kitty. Though he was probably too old when I got him. Many thousands of dollars have been spent on him in the decade or so I've had him. I'm afraid to add it up, pretty sure it would exceed 10K. OTOH, Devi's only had one major illness that ran $1K, the rest is maintenance. And her urpy tummy food. Loki and Pumpkin have just been fixing, shots and chips. Which add up, but I could have done them cheaper at the ASPCA, it's just I trust my vet more and figure I can afford to finance their pro-bono work at ASPCA and other such orgs.

But...I don't know.

We've got pet insurance for Shadow, to cover his shots and future tooth issues and the side effects of his quest to prove he's still the roughest, toughest kitty in these here parts. It's something like $20 a month, and it covers his shots completely. If he's going to keep hanging out with the neighborhood skunks every summer, rather important.

ION, Hubby has saved an Iraqi's life.

When he was manager of Dragon's Keep, he advised a young man without a plan for his life that perhaps the military would be a good fit for him. He ran into that young man today at the mall. Said young man is now a First Sergeant and is recently back from Baghdad. He mentioned a piece of advice Hubby had given him, that just because someone's holding a gun doesn't mean that someone is being threatening with a gun.

He and his squad were on guard at a post in Baghdad, when a local and his car were stopped and searched at a checkpoint. The First Sergeant looked away for a moment, and when he looked back the local had a pistol out and aimed in the general direction of the FS's head and the squad had brought up their weapons. The FS then realized that the pistol wasn't pointed at him but to the side, away from everyone. So instead of ordering anyone to shoot, he yelled for the interpreter.

Turns out the local was showing off a fancy presentation pistol from Saddam Hussein to someone and he wanted to sell it for the princely price of $15. Once that transaction was done, the local was asked what else he had, and he cheerfully went to his already-searched car, opened the trunk, lifted the spare tire and the rack of tools, and showed off a selection of weapons.

After all the trading was done, the First Sergeant told the interpreter to tell the local that waving pistols at the American troops was not a good marketing strategy and he should mention he had stuff for sale first.

Hubby doesn't remember telling this guy anything about which direction weapons are pointing, but he'll accept the attribution.