12:33 AM - 03.09.04
Lunation
The cats all started going crazy at about 9 tonight, dear diary. Ms Ficus started frantically digging and scratching away at a nice piece of wood furniture in my bedroom with the kittens trying to help her. I thought maybe a really stupid field mouse had gotten in the slightly open balcony door. I moved all the knick knacks that had been knocked off in the cats' efforts, thinking that maybe the "something" that was bothering them in some fashion would be flushed out. It didn't seem reasonable that it could be any of the objects on the shelves, because there is nothing changed - with the exception of some casual dusting by yours truly - since Ms Kitty first joined us nearly two years ago.
The kittens and the teen cats were all milling about my bedroom - pacing and acting distressed. Thinking the catnip must have turned or something, I left the room to go work on my timesheet since it is due in the morning - pay is important. Next thing I hear is hissing and spitting. Ms Kitty is fiercely challenging something outside in the backyard or alley. I go to reassure her nothing can get in without my assistance, but she still shows signs of distress. Back to the timesheet, more kibble and litter is needed you know.
A few minutes later with Ms Kitty's teen babies all clustered around the balcony door, suddenly there is howling, spitting and the young kittens are all running for the basement to hide. Next up the furor increases and the older cats turn on each other - three are chasing Miss Kitty - what gives? My youngest grabs his water pistol and starts blasting away into the ruckus. He hadn't witnessed any of what had gone on before, so he was really angry at the teen cats.
I can't blame him, but fear and animals are a very dangerous mix. I can't explain why they turned on their mom - happens in human families too though. When there are unbearable stressors, often it is the strongest (or less often, the weakest) who are singled out for attack by the rest of the family. My guess is that there are coyotes in the area, based on what has been in the newspapers about those critters going wild in the city limits, but I could be wrong about that. Better them than cougars though, but that has also been an issue not that far as the crow flies from here. Don't know. Right now at midnight, all the cats are segregated and we've given them lots of their very favorite food - tuna - to try and settle them a bit. We'll see what happens next.
Oh yes, the work thing. The survival thing human style - coyotes and cougars in human form. The scavengers are even scarier aren't they. This morning Mercury was still not my friend. Turned direct alright, right on top of my natal Pluto in opposition to my natal Mercury. Yuh. Got to work and was supposed to verify that the material we had published in the websoftware had uploaded overnight and was of acceptable quality. Couldn't even log in to my account with them. Called the one tech support number I had available to me, since no one else with any knowledge was in or likely to be for a bit. No answer. Finally got a call back half an hour later. He had to get authorization before he could let me use the software. Fine. Went and did all the little bits and pieces of jobs that had been pending a break in the action. Finished those, then went back to the computer station thinking I might have been logged on in the interim. No deal, but the liaison showed up just then and explained that because of their contractual arrangements, I could only deal with person A. Person A would then determine who in the food chain would deal with whatever was happening. She gave me his phone number and told me my new password/id. Fine. Checked the data and it was ok, but there was a problem with the coding. Called Person A. No, that shouldn't be happening so he'll have to fix it. Until he does I can't publish any other electronic documents in the software. Great. Decided to work on publishing the paper documents piled high all around me instead. That consumed the morning. Popped off for half an hour to the post office to send more information about my Assistant to Elections Canada. They "lost " her banking information and will only accept originals of her documents. Fine.
The afternoon was all stop and go stuff as the brother - who had arrived very late and allowed he had a self induced headache - needed access to the records pc so he could carry out his tasks. Back to doing the odds and ends things. Then the sister wanted to use the workstation - the only one in the company that the one utility is loaded on to for now - the one that won't let us publish e-docs yet. Those social functions with even more liquor available are being hosted so that the staff from the company just taken over can be feted and vetted. Some will be taken in to this company I guess. Glad I don't have to attend - I hate that kind of thing, the smell of liquor reminds me of things to do with my ex and when I can smell it half a floor away all I want to do is get out of there as quickly as I can. Yuck. Anyway, two of the staff from the other company obviously are of interest to this company's management. Hence they needed the official tour of the new and spiffy database we are building. Another hour of work time lost but c'est la vie I guess. I just worked on the analysis side of the equation until the PC was clear agin then stuck my headphones on and published as much as I could with the time left. Everyone else seemed a bit cranky but that could just been a projection of my own frame of mind too. Came home hoping for a break but I guess that wasn't to be. Just the phase of the moon I guess. I did get my timesheet and the report of the bite incident off to my supervisor and the payroll person, roll with the punches. Whatever.
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