At least with the visible stuff... I had a buggy, messed up installation of WordPress, and I figured it would be best if I just uninstalled it and started fresh. I guess that's what happens when you upgrade and upgrade and upgrade. After a while things just get left behind and messy. I'm going to be a bit more careful with plugin installation this time, too. Anyway.. for putting up with that, I shall reward you with a picture of Alley Cat "supervising" my work.

A few months ago, I found an Instructables post about a self-filtering water dish for pets. This intrigued me, and I decided to try it for myself. I found the filter at our local pet store, but the bowl was a bit harder to find. I finally located the bowl I was looking for on Amazon, and it arrived today. It was much bigger than I expected. The only problem with this bowl was the lip... we couldn't get the filter to attach properly, or stay up straight. Brian solved this by bending the lip down in one spot, and the filter attached pretty well. I didn't have any shims, so I just stuck the whole thing in the corner so it would prop up the filter. This worked pretty well.  The filter is practically silent, and it's moving a lot of water. Everyone investigated, but seemed afraid of the setup... until Alley decided she liked it. Now that she's tried it, everyone else seems to think it's ok. All in all, I recommend this setup. Karma actually drank out of the dish after the dogs, which she's never done before. I approve.

Just snapped a quick (and sorry, slightly blurry) picture of Alley as she was sunning herself in our "cat window". Enjoy.

Yes, our old lady had to make a trip to the vet. [caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Alley in prison"] [/caption] She had decided that going in the litterbox was not going to be her thing anymore. So, off to the vet to make sure that there's nothing wrong with her. My carpet can't survive her soaking it on a daily basis. Grr. The vet gave her a quick once over, and let me know Alley was going to need to spend the night so they could get a urine sample. Unfortunately, our stubborn cat was holding it, and refusing to give it up. I know how she feels. By morning, still no sample, and I can imagine a mildly annoyed Alley Cat staring down the vet with her "Go ahead, make me" look on her face. Fortunately, our vet is persistent, and "expressed" the urine... in other words, she squeezed the cat so she'd pee. Fun! Alley also spent a lot of time in the litterbox, obviously upset, so there's definitely something not right. Well, the urine tests came back negative, so she's thinking it may be an inflammation or a stone. We're crossing our fingers and hoping for an irritation, because x-rays are expensive. I get to give Alley two pills in the morning, and one at night for the next four days. Prednisone, and an anesthetic so it doesn't hurt when she pees any more. Here's hoping that fixes it. Now I just have to figure out how to survive this. Does anyone have a spare set of chainmail?