h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Caltech cat update. It seems that the cats in my dorm have recently figured out how to get into my room at night. I'm home on winter break now, but during finals week, two of the last three days I was on campus, I was woken up by Chaucer climbing on my bed and walking on me until I got up--it seems he wanted the bed whether I was done with it or not.

R. Daneel Olivaw: "Caltech cat update. It seems that the cats in my dorm have recently figured out how to get into my room at night. I'm home on winter break now, but during finals week, two of the last three days I was on campus, I was woken up by Chaucer climbing on my bed and walking on me until I got up--it seems he wanted the bed whether I was done with it or not."

Chaucer (and you, of course!) are at CalTech?!?!

Geez, I go there all the time for lectures, and whatnot. Are there currently any stray kittens out and about there? My friend and I were checking out the mutant crawfish in the Lily pond between Ramo Aud., and Dabney Lounge on the Walk -- would *swear* I heard kittens crying in the bushes by the little pond East of there. My friend refused to let me go look for them, as I can't afford to take on any more strays, being on the cusp of strayhood myself.

SC

Mutant crayfish?

You didn't see RDO's cat photos, SC? I'm pretty sure I mentioned at the time that they were taken at CalTech. This one is Chaucer, the previous three are Snowden.

http://public.fotki.com/azahar/gatitos/chaucer_on_nick_s_bed.html

Sunny always walks all over Noggin and me in the mornings - in his case it's because he wants us to get up and feed him.


az

I did see the photos, and I think I even commented on them; just didn't know it was CalTech.

SC

I wouldn't be surprised if you did hear kittens in the bushes there. There is a fairly large population of semi-feral cats on campus. I say semi-feral, because apparently campus security is feeding them. And the dorms (well, the north houses, not Avery or Marks/Braun) have cats living in them. I think the south houses did before they started renovating them, too. I'm a freshman, though, so I wasn't there last year and can't be sure.

I haven't actually seen any kittens anywhere, but there are definately adult cats wandering around campus. I'm not entirely sure of whether they're strays or just considered outdoor cats but "belonging to" security--if you want to adopt one you probably should check with campus security first to make sure it really is a stray. But I'm pretty sure they're being fed officially, at least, because there were signs up around Throop pond a month or two ago telling "The kind person who's been leaving cat food" something to the effect that the cats were being fed and talk to security if they wanted to help.

I hope Chaucer doesn't want me to feed him, because I don't have any cat food in my dorm. I do have a couple of cans of tuna, actually. But feeding him might upset those who are actually officially supposed to be, anyway,--I don't want him to get overweight.

No, I wouldn't recommend feeding Chaucer, or he'll move in with all his cat 'toys'!

I wouldn't have just grabbed a cat (or kitten). I'm familiar with the dorm-cat concept, as a few friends of mine have been denizens of one dorm or other. (Glad to hear the southern ones were renovated -- they were in desparate need at least 10 years ago; decades of Senior Ditch Day and students moving in and out will do that to a building! )

What worried me about the kittens is that the mothers train them from birth not to cry out, so they don't attract preditors or male adult cats. These kittens I heard sounded more than a week or two old, and by then, they should be silent when Mom's not there. If she is there, they shouldn't be crying. I was concerned something could have happened to the mother -- there's that parking area next to Ramo, all of 50 feet from the bushes next to the pond, for instance. Glad to know the grounds staff do keep an eye on them.

I hope everyone is having a brilliant Christmas or Hanukah or Eid or had a great Winter Solstice (let's see, who'm I forgetting? Oh yeah, Bountiful Kwanzaa, too!)

SC

az: "Mutant crayfish? "

Yes, mutant crayfish. Crayfish are supposed to be brown, to blend in with the bottom of the pond. These are about 2-3 inches long, and a dark cobalt BLUE! I've joked for years that that pond is where they release the experiments!

Interesting pond; it also has bull frogs and huge bullfrog tadpoles swimming around the lily pads in the spring and summer (polliwogs? someone will know, I'm sure). Also, some small fish, up to about 2 inches, to eat any stray mosquito larvae. Spring and summer also bring hovering dragonflies and pond skimmer bugs, and ... All in all, pretty and one of my favorite places on campus.

SC

Unfortunately, the renovation is present tense, not past--they fenced them off and started working on them over the summer and apparently don't expect them to be done by the beginning of next school year. They have the South House people living in temporary trailers north of Avery and the Holliston Parking Garage. From what I've heard from my friends in Blacker and Dabney, those trailers are not very good--ant infestation and they're just too small--the doubles are about the size of the Blacker single I stayed in during preFrosh weekend last year.

I don't know much about cats--I didn't realize that it was unusual to hear them crying. I hope nothing happened to the mother and that the kittens are all right.

Happy December, everyone!

Too bad about the trailers! I imagine that the houses aren't only being renovated, but enlarged; guess that would take a while.

The facilities people on campus seem to be very much in evidence; they will have noticed what's going on, if the kittens were crying for long.

Year before last, one of the ferals in my neighborhood chose to have her kittens in the bushes at the corner of my apartment building. Had the devil of a time, trying to make sure the mother and kittens had some food, without scaring mom away. Those kittens were so eerily quiet -- a friend of mine works for Pet Rescue and he's the one who told me why they were "quiet" kittens.

SC

Blue crayfish: http://www.shoarns.com/CrayfishGallery.html
http://members.aon.at/crayfish-hatchery/aablau2.jpg
http://www.sdafs.org/nongame/images/crayfish.jpg
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=crayfish+blue&btnG=Search

Red crayfish: http://www.crayfishshop.com/images/crayfish2.jpg

Thanks, Mudhooks!

The closest one of the bunch is the one labeled "electric blue" crayfish. The body in the image is slightly too blue and not dark enough, and the pinchers on the ones at CalTech are pinkish, not blue at all.

It says in the blurbs that those crayfish are from the eastern United States. How the heck did they end up in a manmade concrete rectangular pool, some 15'x45'x 2.5'(-ish) on the CalTech campus, in Southern California? Maybe they *were* let loose from the labs, which if memory serves, are fairly close by?



Hi az, how're the boys behaving this week? Hopefully, all is orderly and peaceful in Chez az and Nog. Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo (I think?)! I've already fed the TT their Christmas dinner - a can of very fancy canned cat food, split between them (since they're both getting, shall we say, rotund-er lately).

SC

Aha! I've always wondered about the blue lobsters they have in the window of a restaurant near here, so since there are blue crayfish I guess blue lobsters aren't so weird after all. Though I found out the other day that I incorrectly thought langostas were lobsters. Turns out they are a lobsterlike thing but with no front claws (don't know what they're called in English, nor can I now remember what lobsters are called in Spanish . . . starts with a 'b'. . .).

Re: the boys. Sunny left a rather annoying 'gift' on the bed Christmas Eve - a bit of both, so to speak. And Azar has discovered that he prefers chess to scrabble (the chess pieces roll around on the floor better).

It's been raining the past two days - perfect excuse to stay in and watch tons of dvd's. In fact, we are about to be really decadent and stay in bed with our morning and watch one on the laptop.


az

Az... 'Bogavante', I think, and I've no idea what that word's doing kicking about in the back of my mind.

That sounds right, Ivan. Very impressed.

s to check it in the dictionary . . .


az

Oddly, bogavante not only means lobster but also 'first rower', as in a boat.

Does anyone know what lobsters without claws are called in English? Are they called langostas in English too?


az

az: "Does anyone know what lobsters without claws are called in English? Are they called langostas in English too?"

I know that the restaurants call them "langostino", as to what they really are, I have no clue. I thought they might be a form of shrimp like critter?

Sorry to hear about Sunny's lapse. Have you checked with Maria to see if it might be related to age/health? I have a feeling that adding the liquid component might be because of the smell of the shower curtain? (I'm just shooting in the dark here -- but my cats get weird about new smells).

SC

Langouste is the same as Spiny Lobster or Rock Lobster

Langoustine is the same as Scampi, Dublin Bay Prawn, Norway Lobster.
http://www.foodsubs.com/Shelfish.html#Dublin%20Bay%20prawn

Hmmm, perhaps I should correct this Wikipedia entry? Or at least the photo.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langosta_(crust%C3%A1ceo)

Langostinos are a type of large prawn here, smaller ones are called gambas. There's so many different types of lobster/prawn looking shellfish here that I have never seen elsewhere so I have no idea what they'd be called in English.


Re: Sunny's lapse. 'A bit of both' didn't mean he had peed on the bed, just the usual vomiting and then, curiously, two bits of poo. Given that it wasn't a 'full load' so to speak makes us think it is a behaviour problem. But we still don't know what sets him off.

This week we are planning to junk our old sofa and - at least for awhile - replace it with a large cutting table (for the biz) so we won't have a sofa for at least a few months. I hope this won't result in extra 'bed incidents' as the sofa is one of Sunny's favourite places to hang out, but there's just not enough room for both the sofa and cutting table. Maybe we'll keep at least one of the cushions and leave it under the table.


az

"Maybe we'll keep at least one of the cushions and leave it under the table."

Good idea! It will be a big change but still leave him with something familiar.

I had "two bits" on the bed this morning, including the one stuck to Rocket's rear (he's a long hair, and looks somewhat like an unmade bed, at times). I try to keep his "pantaloons" trimmed, so stuff doesn't occasionally stick, but I guess he was overdue...

SC