I use shampoo maybe once per month, usually only when necessary to remove products such as bleach/dye. Just rinsing it with water is usually enough, but when my hair starts feeling more greasy (maybe once per week), I just use conditioner to help loosen up the dirt. If you’re curious, look up “cowashing” and “no poo” for more information.

My cat likes to scratch on this weird vinyl/fake leather chair that I have. I’ve tried covering it in tape, and he still scratches it. One day, I realized that whenever he scratches it, he almost immediately turns to look at me, so I started to wonder if he might be doing it for attention. On top of that, as soon as I tell him “no”, he usually walks over to me, looking for attention. It took a lot of patience, but since the chair was already ruined, I decided to try just totally ignoring him whenever he scratched the chair, and giving him positive attention when he scratched on his post. Somehow, it actually worked!

Another suggestion would be to put a scratching post as close as possible to the couch corners as possible, and when you do catch her scratching the couch, very calmly reposition her to the post. Praise her for using the post, completely ignore her for scratching the couch.

I know you mentioned that she has a cat tree nearby, but the geometry of the couch might be giving her a better stretch, she may like the material better, and/or she may be looking for a way to better claim the couch as part of her territory, as a scratching is also an important way that they leave their sent on things.

https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/blogs/news/how-to-stop-your-cats-from-scratching-furniture

Ugh! I’m so sorry, that’s so frustrating! I’m dealing with something kinda similar, and I can’t help but feel like they’re just trying to set me up to “fail”. I’ve been on dextroamphetamine XR for over 10 years, and with my current doctor for 4 years. I recently got a phone call saying that I’ll have to provide a urine sample before they authorize any more refills. When I asked why, all they would say is “it’s policy.”

I’m also in a state with legal recreational marijuana and partake intermittently (probably similar amount as you), and have been very honest with my doctor about that. Additionally, I end up skipping doses sometimes when the side effects (jaw clenching/pain) outweigh the benefits, which is another thing that I’ve discussed with my doctor.

I was planning to switch insurance plans (and therefore doctors) in the new year, so this just gave me one more reason to follow through with that plan.

Whoa! Checking out street view, I’m so impressed by the bike/scooter shares all being parked relatively neatly in designated areas at either end of the block where they aren’t blocking the pedestrian paths!

Sorry, lol, that was definitely not my intention! I’ve definitely heard about the “no tattoos” thing before, especially for those following Judaism, but I’d never read the relevant text before, so it definitely surprised me. I may have to ask my sister about it, since that’s definitely her area of study.

Reading through various translations, the first part seems to say "don’t cut/gash your body in honor/memory/mourning of the dead, but most of the translations leave it somewhat ambiguous (at least to me) as to whether it means “don’t tattoo yourself in honor/memory/mourning of the dead” or just, “don’t tattoo yourself at all”. Also, it sounds as though cutting/gashing yourself for other reasons is isn’t breaking any rules.

Figured out how to DM you.

Edit: figured out how to DM OP

1. I do often wear them with nothing playing, but even that impacts my situational awareness, which is even more impacted if I put music on.
2. I don’t want to be listening to music, a podcast, etc., right now, I just want to hear the low, white noise of the environment. This is especially applicable when out in nature.

I’m pretty sure we have blackberry jam, but I’m not much of a jam person, so I can’t say so from personal experience. Although if we have the berries, I can’t see why we wouldn’t also have the jam. Looks like blackcurrants is probably what you were thinking of, although they’re technically available in the US now.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant_production_in_the_United_States

That sounds quite terrifying! I’m in a pretty urban environment, so I don’t think there’s any bears hanging out on my usual routes, only coyotes, but I will keep that in mind whenever I venture out of the city.

We absolutely have blackberries. In my neck of the woods, there’s apparently 2 species of blackberries, one of which is highly invasive. I was going for walks about a month ago, specifically routed to pass by as many wild blackberries as possible, and they were very delicious!

That’s actually something that varies from country to country.

the American style places commas and periods inside the quotation marks, even if they are not in the original material. British style (more sensibly) places unquoted periods and commas outside the quotation marks. For all other punctuation, the British and American styles are in agreement: unless the punctuation is part of the quoted material, it goes outside the quotation marks.

https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/british-versus-american-style.html

If she’s not spayed, there is a very high chance that she will find a way outdoors, and pregnancy is very draining on their bodies. They generally have quite a few kittens because so many of them don’t survive. My most recent foster momma came to me practically skin & bones, and we lost 2 out of 5 kittens. Kittens are super fragile, and you can do everything right, but still lose them. And if they do survive, the shelters are already overflowing with homeless cats, so many get euthanized purely due to lack of space.

So, that’s what makes all of his complaints even crazier! I’ve heard multiple stories about cats that wouldn’t even use a box after it’s been used once, or at least very high standards for cleanliness!

For mine, I have multiple different boxes for them, but they each have their own preferences. I have tried waiting until the box that my oldest prefers is so gross that he’s no longer using it, a d has moved to a different box, but even then, he gets crazy mad at me for touching it. I’ve tried sprinkling some used litter in the new box for him, so that it still smells like him, and he still gets very angry!

One of the boxes that he gets angry about me cleaning is automatic, but it’s a "PetSafe ScoopFree Crystal Classic", not a Litter Robot, so it only scoops solid waste to one side. The Litter Robots were too tall for the space I had previously, and as long as my current box works, I just can’t justify something a few hundred bucks on adding another box.

I foster, so I get to see a wide variety of illnesses and learn about their early symptoms, many of which are diarrhea or other abnormal poops. My foster fail had an intussusception, likely caused by irritable bowel disease/syndrome (IBD/IBS). As much as I would absolutely love to spend waaaaay less time thinking about/looking at poop, I just don’t see any practical way around it without putting the health of my cats at risk.

One of mine legitimately gets angry when I scoop his poop, and even more upset when I do a full litter change. I have to wait until he’s napping so that I can get at least part way through the process before he comes to yell at me. If I’m not fast enough, he’ll even nip at my feet and/or (soft paw) swat at me.

This is more targeted to other people than you, but was the post right next to the couch? One of the smaller details that people often overlook is that scratching leaves their scent behind and says “I live here”, so they will often want to scratch in socially significant parts of the house. So, if the only acceptable scratching surfaces are hidden away from the rooms you actually hang out in, they’re probably going to find something else to scratch on.

Unfortunately, the same logic is sometimes behind litter box issues too.

Awesome! A friend of mine recently found a whole litter of abandoned kittens, so I was trying to help them find some low cost options, and everything around here was booked months out too.

What an adorable little standard issue cat! Looks a lot like my princess.

Please be sure to get her spayed ASAP, if she’s not already. They can go into their first heat as early as 4 months old, and will become desperate to get outside!