They are going cold chicken!

Cats. Some days the whole thing is a big sigh. We rescue them from the street, work our fingers to the bone to buy them the best cat food, and what do they do? Scratch at the container for crunchies. Then when I put crunchies in the bowl after they've eaten most of their wet food, and take the empty bag out to the bin? They follow the bag.

We've tried a bunch of different kinds of wet food, and lets just say they aren't thrilled with any of it. The vet says a mixture of wet and dry is good. Wet for most of the nutrition, dry for a change of pace and to work on their teeth.

So what to do? Once upon a time we had a big orange cat that got his system all blocked up because we didn't know about some trace ingredients in wet food. He flat out wouldn't eat the food they recommended, and I don't blame him. It smelled bad to human noses too. But the current food smells pretty good. I think they are just being fussy.

So the solution is the same solution. They gave us a recipe to make our own cat food. It worked really well for years, and it was just part of our routine. Other than the grocery clerks raising their eyebrows at the amount of chicken liver we were buying, it was all good. Add some rice, a couple hard boiled eggs, a bit of veg usually carrots, and some vitamin, then blend it all up and let it freeze overnight. The freezing is important. It changes the texture so that it's almost fluffy, rather than wet and sticky.

Sebastian and Nefertiti loved it and chowed down on it. They seemed to (mostly) like the slight variety from slightly different quantities of ingredients from batch to batch. We never measured anything, just did it by eye, and it usually worked out pretty good.

So we made up a batch yesterday. Tomorrow is the big day to find out what they think. This could be good.

A little while ago I got Leibstered again, this time by Terry. This comes around every now and then, always with different questions. I like me a good question. So here we go!

1. Where would your dream vacation be?
All of mine are dream vacations at the time. Then different dreams the next time. Later this year we are going to a little cabin on an island off Nova Scotia. You have to drive on a beach to get there, and it's isolated at high tide. No WiFi at the moment, though they've had it in the past, and might have it again when we get there. I've got two buddies in Nova Scotia I'm looking forward to seeing. The La Havre bakery isn't all that far away, and I'm looking forward to their treats!
I'd love to go to Iceland. Once Linda retires we are thinking about taking a long trip to Australia and New Zealand.

2. What does running or fitness mean to you?
It means I'm not a blob sitting around waiting for disease or old age to catch up to me. They are always stalking us, waiting for us to show a weakness. Then when we're vulnerable, they strike, and slowly eat us. Being fit, however you do it, to whatever level "fit" means for you, is staying ahead. More cynically, it's like the advice for not getting eaten by a bear: go hiking with slower companions.

3. What is the funniest comment you’ve ever had in regards to your running?
That Quasimodo would be proud of me.

4. Name a gift that you’ll never forget.
The gift of acceptance my wife shows every day, putting up with me, in all my whatever you want to call it.

5. What personality trait or quality are you most proud of?
Hmmm. I'm not sure. Generally I just accept them for what they are. I suppose the problem solving is the most useful.

6. Who is the most inspiring person in your life, why?
Various people at various times. For a while Sister Madonna Buder kept me going. I'd think if she could keep going at her age, I could too. My buddy Leaha, coming back from a devastating injury. Running slow, but running. My buddy Katie that coached me to Ironman, she is just such a non-stop dynamo, always positive and SO EXCITED!

7. Are you an animal person, dog or cat?
I've been staff to many cats over my life.

8. What would your dream race be?
Did that already, Ironman Canada, 2010.

9. What is your favorite down time activity if you have absolutely nothing pressing to do?
Depends on my mood. It could be writing or reading. Or just sitting quietly, meditating. I think that most people don't get enough time to sit quietly, listening to their thoughts. Without that you get all jingled and jangled and you don't know if you're coming or going. I think this explains much about our world.

10. Who is your favorite fitness or running celebrity?
I don't really do the celebrity thing.

Those were fun. Last time I did this I nominated some people, and as far as I know, none of them have responded. So if you want to respond, consider yourself tagged. The question is "Who are the 10 most important people in your life, and why?"

The run yesterday. Some gardening last week tightened things up pretty good. Or bad, I guess. No running for more than a week, but I went out yesterday for 3 K, fairly easy. No actual pain, but towards the end I was getting some unhappiness from my knee and hip so I ended it.

I've got a half marathon coming up soon. I'm really not sure about this. Mostly I consider myself tapering, but in order to be tapering you have to have trained. Most people would not call what I've been doing since the beginning of the year "training". There's been zero consistency, for one thing. From what I can tell, I get up to about 10 K ok, then once I get much beyond that I break down and have to take a rest. I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to build even slower through that barrier, keeping track of what I do. Maybe I need to graph or chart it to make sure I build slowly. And we all know I suck at building slowly.

The novel has been coming along in fits and starts. I hosted a character conference and got some insight as to what was going on. I can't help but think my characters have been off doing their thing, and forgetting to tell me about it.

Let's see. One cup of good coffee done during a twitter #coffeechat. A bit of Facebook. This blog done. Linda is getting up. Maybe she will want waffles for breakfast. Time for more coffee. I think I'll be puttering around the house today, tidying up the garage. Maybe I'll find the BBQ.

Here is one of the difficulties in writing in the morning.