u/DeltaP42

Was letting my pups out in the yard when i heard the tiniest cries from my neighbors house. I thought it was an injured bird at first so I went over to check it out. I realized it was coming from the egress window, which was about 5-6 feet down. The caps that are supposed to be on top of those exits are never in place, so I regularly walk by and glance to make sure no wildlife has ended up down there (again, it's my neighbor's house, or I'd just fix it myself).

I walked up and wouldn't you know, the Cat Distribution System had made a delivery. We live on the outskirts of town in a subdivision and feral cats are a regular sight, so this wasn't a total shock and he's so very tiny that I knew he had to be feral as well.

Jumped down and grabbed him, held him for a long time outside as he cried. I was trying to give the mom a chance to come back if she was around but no dice. I do think I know his momma cat because I see a cat running around our cluster of houses frequently and she's not anyone's pet.

In any case, I brought him in and isolated him, as we have two dogs and two cats already. He was VERY hostile at first, hissing and posturing. But when I held him he immediately calmed down. Kept him in my home office for the afternoon and evening and we gradually progressed from hissing and bluff-biting to cuddling on my arm and eventually falling asleep on me multiple times.

Put him in a large box with all the essentials as I had dinner and then took him back out and did some more cuddling. Got my first purrs, too, which was a nice little bonus. He's eaten half a can of kitten food and has been going potty so he's starting to feel more like himself I think.

Going to keep acclimating him to humans over the long weekend and then next week my wife (an ultrasound and veterinary technician) will take him in to her vet and get him checked out.

Lots of unknowns at this point, obviously. Does he have anything wrong, will he fully acclimate to people, how will he react to my other cats and especially my dogs, etc. We do have a pretty large home, and no kids, so we have plenty of room but obviously the comfort of our pets and everyone's ability to get along comes first.

All that said, I intend on doing everything in my power to make this new arrival ours for good.

Last year I lost both my mom and dad within 4 months of each other to two different but equally brutal diseases. Two months later I lost my grandma and more recently my uncle. Needless to say, it's been an interesting year as I try to keep moving on.

The 1-year anniversary of my dad's passing just happened a month ago and my mom's is coming up soon. I miss them terribly and have been very down in the dumps.

My mom LOVED cats and always made sure we had a kitty in the house when I was growing up. She knew how much I adored cats as well. Given the timing, and me being desperate for something pleasant to focus on right now, I can't help but think maybe she helped deliver this little guy to me. At least I hope so.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading ❤️

Meet Ulysses.

My brain works in a very specific way and one of the only things that keeps me on track is having a sort of "hub." I always used the whiteboard in my office as that space, but I also work remote, so I wanted something I can just take with me anywhere. Somewhere that held my to-dos, but also photos of my family, fun stuff I like, and anything that made me feel cozy.

Welcome to dorkbord! http://dorkbord.com/

dorkbords are like Google Docs, but highly visual. You have a dorkbord that's just yours. Or you can open it up and let everyone see it. You can share it with just your friends, or you can keep it a secret. Whatever you do on your dorkbord stays there, and you can access it from any browser.

Drag images from anywhere. Copy a YouTube URL and paste it, it turns into a video player. Same with a Twitch stream link. Grab a news link, paste it, it turns into an article card with the plain text of the article like an RSS feed.

Have some text on your clipboard? Paste it onto the board and it automatically decides how large of a sticky note you need for it. Have something in your email you want on the board? Forward it to your board via email (every dorkbord has its own email address).

There's user-to-user messaging, a built-in ambient sound mixer for productivity, on-board clock and Pomodoro timer. 300+ stickers with custom sticker support. It's a productivity tool. It's a mood board. It's a brainstorming tool. It's a desktop-alike. It's a social network. It's whatever you want it to be.

Full-sized browser only for now. You'll understand why when you start playing around with the zoom-in / zoom-out mechanics and such. There's a LOT here that I'm not explaining but it's more fun if you just play with it and see what it can do.

Nowhere near done, but anyone who signs up now and can help test/give feedback will get whatever the paid tier is comped for free once we're out of beta. If anything breaks (it will) I'd love to hear about it!

Koopa finally has a brother!

send a search party

Solo win and lots of props received. Fun one to win!

Bought a really nice standing desk about 10 years ago and have used it every day since. The finish has gradually gotten more and more orange, damaged, and faded with time, so I removed the desk top and went about bringing it back to life.

Low-grit to remove old finish (no chemicals), finished with 240 grit, did a water wipe-down to raise the grain before final sand, 4 coats of clear poly on 3-hour intervals w/ light sanding in between. Ready for another 10 years of service.