Trying to find out how long cats are in heat is Very Frustrating.

Source #1: "Though a cat's heat cycle is between 15 - 22 days, it's hard to tell how long it lasts sometimes because they can come out of heat and go right back into heat again."

Source #2: "Cats are "induced ovulators", which means that their bodies attempt to stay in estrus until they mate. This stimulates ovulation which ends the heat cycle. If they are not bred, they may go out of heat in as short a time as few days or stay in heat for a variable length of time. Some cats appear to almost stay in heat continuously. I believe that the average length of time in heat is probably between 3 and 7 days and that the average time between cycles is just under 3 weeks."

Source #3: "Unfortunately, once a female cat goes into heat, she will do so again and again (as often as every two weeks) until she is either: a) pregnant or b) spayed. It *is* extremely uncomfortable for her and will get worse rather than better."

Source #4: "Cats enter heat about every 6 months. They can go on and on for weeks, until stimulated to ovulate (mated). if mated, pregnant or not, the symptoms will stop."

Source #5: "The length of time of the estrus, and the frequency of the estrus cycles depends upon many factors, such as geographic and environmental factors, (temperature and the number of daylight hours), her age and overall health, and her genetic background. Once a queen goes into heat or estrus, she may stay in heat for several days, to 2-3 weeks. Some queens, once they are sexually mature and enter estrus, do not come out of heat unless and until they are either bred to a full male cat, or spayed. The majority of queens will cycle in and out of estrus during the prime breeding season (roughly December through August), returning back into heat approximately every other week."

So basically, either (a) she should have been out of heat by now, (b) she should be going out of heat any second now if she's been in it since the day I got dumped, or (c) she'll be in heat the entire summer!

ARGH!

The good news is that Jasmine seems to be going out of heat once again- she's left me alone for a couple of hours now. Yay!

Oh, and uh, look what I did. Dare I say it, but it made me feel a whole lot better about uh, being sexually harassed all the time at home.

Craft Center classes are starting up next month, and I found four or so that are fairly cheap (i.e. lower than $60 or so, plus I can get a bit of an alumni discount) to take next quarter.

* Continuing glass beadmaking- one Saturday.

* Bead loom- one Thursday night.

* Tubular peyote beading- Thursday nights from 5:15-7:15 starting the week after bead loom.

* Beginning crochet- Monday nights 5:15-7:15.

(And as an alternate class, should something not work out, beginning knitting costs a little more, but is offered later Monday nights and on early Wednesdays.)

Which leaves me Tuesdays free for beading classes at the beading store should I elect to take any, and Wednesday nights free to go out with Jess and do writing/gossip stuff.

But.

I want to try to get in as a volunteer at the Craft Center this quarter. Which from what I've heard, is dicey at best because they offer half-off discounts and free lab usage to volunteers (and free classes if you volunteer long enough), so it's a too-many-people, draw-names-out-of-a-hat situation. So it's doubtful if I'll get in anyway, especially being a newbie without priority. Denise tried to get in one time and told me this stuff, and it made it difficult since she didn't have a whole lot of available hours to work anyway.

But if I do get in, timing is a problem. If you can't work during the day (which I can't), you have to do a regular 5-hour shift at night for the entire quarter, and possibly the occasional weekend shift. Depending on the weekend, a weekend shift isn't too bad (4 1/2 hours), so that's not an issue as long as it's not a family-stuff-going-on weekend. But they still want to schedule you for a regular weekday night 5 hour shift, no changing, no swapping, must be there every ____day night from when I get off work till 10. I'm not thrilled at being there till 10, but from what I've seen the volunteers mostly spend the time goofing off and snacking and you could probably work on your own stuff while you're there anyway. Not bad.

But I am not totally thrilled with trying to figure out what night(s) I'd have free to do this. Tuesdays would be ideal in April, but not in May or June (there are no classes offered at the store in April that I haven't taken before), so that's out. If I take classes Mondays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays, that automatically rules those out. Fortunately they determine schedules before class signups begin, so at least I'd know what night was taken before I signed up. I suppose I could throw myself into the "Mondays free" and "Wednesdays free" pools and see if I get picked for either and then base my class signups accordingly. At least I could meet Jess later if need be.

Still, it's a pain.

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