We also got a new ceiling fan for the living room. We're afraid the old one has a short. One light keeps blowing bulbs, and it also makes a ticking sound on low.

What else? Oh, we got a fancy schmancy stainless steel step trash can for the kitchen that we've been coveting. It has a plastic liner with a handle that comes out. I think it's too fancy for our kitchen, but it'll look better once we re-do it. We'll probably replace the cabinet hardware with a brushed silver, anyway. And the vinyl, dishwasher, stove, backsplash...oh, and painting over the nicotine stained ceiling and grease splattered walls. The previous owners were so cleanly.

I looked at some colors for the back bedroom and our bedroom. I'll probably change my mind 20 times before any paint is put on the walls, anyway. If I ask Jeff's opinion about anything, he just shrugs. He said he didn't care, whatever I wanted. Lucky for him I don't like pastels and flowers and frou-frou.

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What a way to start the week. I ran over a cat this morning. I am traumatized by this kind of thing, even seeing an animal near the road freaks me out. I wasn't speeding, it was dark, and it just darted out in front of me. There was no way I could swerve to miss it, and it was too close to miss if I had slammed on the brakes. I feel awful. I turned around and pointed my headlights at it, and got out to look. It's eyes were open, but it was not breathing. It's back legs were in an unnatural position. I think it had a collar, but I just couldn't go up to it. I mainly wanted to see if it was injured but alive. If so, I'd have taken it somewhere. On the way to work I thought that I should have moved it out of the road at least, or looked at the tag to see where it's family lived. I hope it didn't get run over any more. I just think of if it belonged to a child and they came out to wait on the school bus and saw it. I know how I would have reacted.

I know there was nothing I could have done about it. I go from feeling sad and terrible about it to getting pissed. What the hell was this cat doing outside at 6:00 in the morning? It probably had been out all night. OK, I know there's an old mindset that animals should be outside. Dogs, maybe. If they have shelter and whatnot. You can (mostly) keep them in a fence. You cannot fence a cat. That's why mine are inside. There's too much harm that can come to them outside. I had a cat as a child that was poisoned, but survived. If Dad could have gotten him out of the neighbor's basement, he would have shot him. Oh, and the kitten Dad ran over as he was leaving to go to AL. He wouldn't allow me to keep animals in the house.

Just as the image of that dog being hit in front of me years ago plays over and over in my mind, I'll always have the image of that cat with its eyes open in the headlights of my car. Dammit, I'm getting pissed again.

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We went to the Humane Society and the "pound" yesterday. At the Humane Society, Jeff saw one adult female he liked. She was a black and white pit bull, and had had puppies recently. She was very calm and did not bark. She seemed a bit timid, though, maybe not too trusting of humans. I'm sure there'a a reason for that.

At the pound, we saw a one year old male pit/boxer mix. He was white with brndle patches. He never barked. He was calm like Thor was, and just wagged his tail and didn't make a fuss like the other dogs were. They were closing just as we were looking for someone to put him on a leash so we could take him to a room ro check him out. Apparently they make no exceptions. I'm not sure if Jeff has decided to go back Tuesday to get him or not.

We looked at the cats and kittens before we went in, and we both petted many of them. He said this one did not react to the cat smell as some of the dogs did. That's a good sign. It kind of worries me to get an adult, because I can't trust them as I would a puppy - as I (completely) trusted Thor. I guess it would take time to get to know each other, and for trust to be built on both sides. Though, it is a good thing that Jeff has decided not to rule out any dogs based on gender, color, or even age. He's still leaning toward a dog as young as possible, though. Because Thor was only 8, Jeff wants to make sure to "have as much time with them as possible."

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