Rudha-an – Page 23 – jellybeansofdoom.com

April 26, 2013

The last Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day)

In the Netherlands, Koninginnedag is a national celebration to honor the birthday of the Queen. Although Queen Beatrix was born on Jan. 31, she kept the April date in honor of her mother, Juliana. In January, Queen Beatrix announced her abdication on April 30, 2013 in favor of her son. Willem-Alexander will become King of the Netherlands on April 30, 2013. As a result, the celebration in 2014 will be called King’s day.

Why do I write this? Well, our Dutch Windmill was built in 1902 and had fallen into disrepair. In 1980 a campaign to save the windmill began and the Wilhelmina Tulip Gardens were created next to it. The top of our windmill was sent to the Netherlands for restoration. The windmill and the gardens are now a beautiful place to visit in Golden Gate Park. A celebration at the Windmill is held in honor of Koninginnedag. I got lucky to be at the gardens at the right time this year and got to see the tulips before it was too late.

April 22, 2013October 28, 2013

Earth Day 2013

Today is Earth Day and a time to volunteer to clean a park, or the beach or any other favorite place. It’s also a day to teach our children about caring for our beautiful planet and the awful effects of climate change.

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. According to http://www.earthday.org:

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Here’s a film clip from that day. Sorry about the quality.

Lastech and I try to use the lessons of Earth Day all year. When we go hiking, we pick up trash. It’s not only ugly, but it’s harmful to the wildlife. I encourage everyone to do the same. Every little bit helps and Mother Earth is more fragile than she appears.

Miner's Lettuce — Miner’s Lettuce by Lastech

April 6, 2013

Caturday: Grumpy Butt is less grumpy

Howdy my friends. I’m sorry about not posting last week so I’ll get you caught up on the news today. Titanescu has made great strides in adapting to life in our apartment. He’s still a grumpy ole fart, but he no longer growls and hisses at the other two. Instead, he has been cooing and trilling at Tito in order to entice him to play, so now he and Tito are having regular romps complete with cat drifting. Titan and Miss Jenny are now beginning to play a bit as well. He still tends to smack them with a paw when they get too close, but it’s a gentle smack and more out of habit than anything. Tito and Miss Jenny don’t bat an eyelash when he does it. 🙂

They aren’t snuggling together yet, but they get a bit closer every day. Titan seems to be happy and being able to run is good for him. He’s a lot lighter on his feet now.

Of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without some drifting cats.

April 4, 2013

Roger Ebert (1942 – 2013)

Yesterday, this great film critic lost his fight against cancer. I grew up watching this man and it’s because of him that I learned to love great movies. I have no words that can do him justice so please go read this wonderful tribute by Chicago Tribune.

Roger Ebert dead: Film critic had the soul of a poet

File:Chaz Hammel-Smith, Roger Ebert, and Nancy Kwan at the Hawaii International Film Festival in October 2010 — Left to right: Chaz Hammel-Smith, Roger Ebert, and Nancy Kwan at the Hawaii International Film Festival in October 2010

Roger will be greatly missed. Our condolences to his other great love…his wife Chaz Hammel-Smith.

March 28, 2013October 28, 2013

A tree with a drinking problem

It was one of those WTF moments. We sat on a bench on a hill to enjoy the view. Then we looked up. 🙂

I've never heard of a gin swilling tree, but there's a first time for everything — I’ve never heard of a gin swilling tree, but there’s a first time for everything

The bottle wasn’t the only thing in the tree. Lastech spotted this one.

Maybe the tree got drunk and lost the other shoe

March 19, 2013October 28, 2013

Today is brought to you by the number 9

Three squared years ago, Lastech and I tied the knot. Since then we have shared magnificent views and wonderful kitties.

San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge — We have shared beautiful sunrises. Photo by Lastech

There has been plenty of wildlife viewing right here in the City of San Francisco.

This beautiful hawk was sitting about ten feet from the trail and at eye level in Golden Gate Park

Lastech is very patient with me when I’m yelling STOP! Actually, I try to keep it from sounding like impending doom and thus scaring the crap out of him as he’s driving. I’m not always successful. This pic is the result of one of those moments. 🙂

I found this Great Egret at the reservoir in McLaren Park

We have even gone storm watching on Bernal Hill.

The last nine years have been wonderful and I look forward to the next nine.

Today, we hope 2013 will be a turning point for marriage equality.

Flag in The Castro — We look forward to being able to wish EVERYONE a happy anniversary.

March 16, 2013

The paraclete called Tito

paraclete [ˈpærəˌkliːt]

n a mediator or advocate

Tito is a paraclete. Notice the small ‘p’. The capitalized version has a religious definition.

Tito was a dear when our first kitty was sick with lymphoma. He was much younger, but he tempered his play knowing that The Boober didn’t have the stamina.

Kitten Tito and The Boober in the salad bowl

Later, he greeted Kitsy enthusiastically without a hiss.

Tito and Kitsy catching rays on the futon

He did the same with Miss Jenny.

He has really shown off his ability to be a paraclete with the adoption of Titanus Grumpicus. Titan is a grumpy senior kitty who spent far too long in the shelter and had to endure two failed adoptions. He came to live with us one month ago today.

Enter Tito, the paraclete.

Tito has really worked at making friends with Titan. Titan would hiss, spit and swat (no claws though). Tito would just carry on without a twitch. Since it’s taking Titan longer to adjust to Miss Jenny, Tito tends to place himself between them in order to avert any animosity.

Last night, Tito managed to coax Titan into a short game of tag. It was impressive. This morning, for the first time, Tito and Titan sniffed noses. Titan finally remembered to hiss, but Tito just did his kitty version of a shrug and went off to nap.

Tito deserves as much credit as we do (if not more) for helping Titan to adjust to his new home. Don’t get the impression that Tito is an angelic kitty or something. He’s far from it. However, he knows when his paraclete skills are needed and uses them well.

March 10, 2013

Sunday cat update with pics

I wanted to post this yesterday, but I was too pooped to type. I spent the day at the fire department taking part in a disaster operations class for some volunteer work I do. The class was fun and I managed to stay awake though I hadn’t had any sleep in over 24 hours. Once I got home and sat on the bed, I melted. So today you have it. Hopefully, next Caturday will go up as planned.

Tito is adjusting well to the new tyrant. He pushes things with Titan a bit, but not in an aggressive manner. He walks up to him and doesn’t let a hiss deter him. As a result, Titan hissing a lot less. Tito is a beautiful little soul.

Miss Jenny is more careful around Titan. I think she got her feelings hurt when he smacked her nose a while back. She’s not scared or aggressive. She’s just more careful to give him space.

Mr. Titanescu or Titan of the White Whisker has made plenty of progress this last week. We leave the door to his room open unless we’re both going to be out. He’s exploring the apartment more and more. He’s finally beginning to explore our bedroom and the place where the other two hang out most.

This morning he did something amazing. He played. He was in the hall and did one of the quick 180s and dashed into the kitchen. Tito followed. He then dashed into his room at top speed followed by Tito. He did that twice and only at the very end did he remember to hiss at Tito. Tito just looked at him and sauntered away calmly. I swear I saw Tito smiling.

We also discovered that Titan has a bad drug habit.

March 4, 2013October 28, 2013

Tulips

I was lucky and got some pics of the tulips at Pier 39 before they were gone.

February 27, 2013

Beach, Stairs, and a Tyrant named Titan

Fist things first. We want to congratulate our friend StateOfGrace for her adoption of Pearl, a bengal mix and Mabel, a beautiful black kitty. We know those two furbabies are very lucky and have a wonderful human who will love them, forever. Hugs and head bonks from the JBoD family.

Now… I’m beginning to get cranky. I want my rain and/or fog darnit! There’s too much sunshine. It’s hard to take pics that aren’t over exposed or suffering from terminal purple fringe. Oh well. We managed to escape and Lastech got a few nice pics in spite of the sunshine. These were taken around Lands End and Sutro Baths. It provided me with some much needed exercise as there were lots of stairs to deal with.

Pretty purple flower at Mile Rock Beach by Lastech

Stairs near Sutro Bath — That’s a lot of stairs. This is just one of the ones we climbed. There were many more. Photo by Lastech

A Great Blue Heron (left), a seagull and seal rocks from Sutro Baths, by Lastech

As for that white whiskered tyrant named Titan… He’s coming along. He’s still a hissing spitting old fart. Today we opened the door to his room and left it open for a while. He hissed at Tito. Tito was unfazed and ignored it while exploring Titan’s room. Jenny was napping elsewhere. 🙂