Yes, I realize it’s another cat pic when I just posted about the new cats. I didn’t have a good recent picture of Squirrel and needed some subject with which to try out the new camera.

And, yes, that is a kitchen cupboard. I don’t use that one for anything else–it’s above the fridge and I can’t reach it very well. It’s her favorite high place.

Cleanup editing was in Paint.net because I couldn’t get Paint Shop Pro X to take its serial number right. When I get PSP working right I’ll probably take another try at it; I’m not fond of Paint.net so far.

I’ve known for a while that I have abnormally good high-pitch simple-sound hearing.  I can hear that high-pitched sound that TVs and computer monitors make, that goes right through walls and doors even if their speakers’ sounds don’t.  Once, when helping close up the office for the night when I was tutoring back at Chemeketa, I heard that and knew there was still a computer on in back and everyone thought I was crazy until they found I was right.  Many times, during my year in the dorms, standing outside the door, I couldn’t hear what my roommates were watching, but I knew they had the TV on.

So, it didn’t surprise me that I can hear all the sounds on this page: http://journal.plasticmind.com/ears/mosquito-tone-or-how-to-tell-youre-a-youngun/.  I’ll admit that 18 kHz is really faint, and it helped to turn an ear toward the speaker–it’s the kind of sound that I would barely hear but then it would drive me crazy and I’d have to track it down.  I checked whether I was really hearing the sound or just the pops and the rest was in my head, by starting a different pitch first, then starting the one I was testing, and seeing if I heard sound or just quiet after the obnoxious sound of them bouncing off each other ended.

Readers?

Thomas and I picked up a couple of cats today.  Nothing happened to Squirrel or Panther (except the addition of roommates); we’d just been talking about getting “our cat” and stopped by the adoption center at Petsmart last night, where not cat but cats just absolutely stole our hearts.

(I’d already told Thomas he’d have to pick because I’d want them all.  He did well by narrowing it down to two.)

We haven’t taken any pictures yet but here are their pictures from the shelter.

This is Ginger:

And this is Dora:

Panther isn’t thrilled with the idea–there was some hissing and swatting; Panther started it, the new ones were like “oh, you’re a cat too”–but she’s adapting.  I haven’t gotten Squirrel’s feedback yet because she’s still in her favorite cave (under the bathroom sink).  Ginger’s favorite cave seems to be the fireplace, but right now she’s in a living room window, taking it all in.  Dora’s bouncing around like she owns the place.  Panther has retreated to under the kitchen sink to think it over.

Just a reminder: kitten season is coming up.  Have your pets spayed or neutered, or at least isolated from the opposite sex, and if you’re interested in adding furry family members, see your local shelter.

In case anyone wants to know about basic population modeling, here’s a Flash version of a presentation I just did for school.  (Note to any other WGU math students who may find this: contains spoilers, and thou shalt not copy.)

modeling project presentation

No roommates with more legs than my cats. DIE BUGS DIE!!!

(Apartment-provided pest control came through today.)