I’ve heard that online friendships just aren’t real and all kinds of other malarkey. Lastech was an online friend and we’ve been married for twelve years as of today. Our anniversary aside, I lost a friend on March 5th. I found Tricia at a political website. As everyone knows, politics can be vicious. She had a love of cats and she posted what came to be called “The Pootie Diaries”. “Pootie” was the name of someone’s kitty. The name stuck and Tricia became known as The Pootie Queen. Her posts were a safe haven from the political fights. The fights had to be left outside. Inside was a mass of Cheezburger posts and pictures of pets posted in the comments. The posts weren’t limited to cats and included any and all animals. That safe haven provided people with a place to share the joys of their pets and to also share their grief on losing them. When we lost The Boober to lymphoma she did a memorial post for him. She did the same when we lost Kitsy. Her funeral is today, so we are dedicating our Caturday post to The Pootie Queen. I’m sure she was greeted by a throng of critters at the Rainbow Bridge. Orange flowers were her favorites. Rest in peace my friend.
Tricia Wyse Lefevre September 8th, 1970 – March 5th ,2016
As for our anniversary, we celebrated that on Lastech’s day off (Wednesday) We relaxed and grilled some good food and had a glass of champagne. It was good.
Titanescu basking in a sunbeamMiss Jenny: help!Poor Tito looking nervousPepi hoping to hoover something good from the grill.
The pointy-eared people have been gazing out the window wondering if we’re going to need a boat. It has been raining off and on for days. There’s a new storm headed this way as I type. None of us are complaining. California needs the rain desperately and the kitties can watch from inside where it’s warm and dry. Pepi doesn’t care about the rain. She’s happy to walk in it and so am I.
Before I get to our kitties, I want to give an update on Renfield. We mentioned his ataxia in a prior post.
To quote his housemate Nofur:
Went to town to start Captain Darling’s allergy shots today, and then we went shopping for some fresh “crinkle balls” for Renfield! He is still improving and started running today. Which is a bad idea with the occasional falling over, but Renfield is unstoppable. He is still smart enough to use the chair to get on the bed & countertops though.
YES! He’s getting better. We are so happy to see this news. I’m sure he’ll be catching those sky raisins (flies) again soon.
Here is Renfield wearing his black turtleneck and shopping for crinkle balls.
And now, back to our pointy eared people
Tito has the prettiest green eyesMiss JennyEven Titan managed to pose without giving us the stinkeye
Here is the little stinker who had us in a state of near panic last week.
No mom, I’m NOT chewing the blanket.
This is what put her in the ER. It was raining that night and very dark out. I didn’t find it for a day or two. She had hoarked it up at home, but it had already set of the chain of events that led to the veterinary ER.
And now for a unique musical video. I love things like this.
Yes, it’s really a Caturday post…on Caturday, no less. 🙂 Maybe things will start to calm down now. As you know, mom fell and broke her hip. She wound up with ICU psychosis which caused a few problems. Then she finally got home from rehab only to wind up right back in the hospital with an evil case of enteritis. She is back home again and doing better. Lastech’s face is much better now, but in the middle of all that we came down with the dreaded mocos (flu). We survived that and Pepi is fully back to normal after her spay.
In the midst of all this excitement, we ran out of Feliway. That meant that Miss Jenny went into hiding. It has been replaced and we managed pics of everyone except Titanescu. His pic is slightly older and may be a repeat, but there’s not much to be done about it. 🙂
Lastech made a little video of the places we’ve been to in our area. The various places are Lime Ridge, The canal walks, the arboretum, and Redwood Regional Park. The cemetary, wetlands, and shoreline are in Martinez.
Pardon the mess of Pepi’s blankets and toys, but here is a cute vid of her and Tito
Holy crudmosis is the word. Seriously. CRUDMOSIS! dangit! We’ve missed several Caturdays because of the holidays and then life went really goofy on us. Lastech was putting in bunches of overtime and Pepi and I went off to house sit, and then…
In the midst of all that, the crudmosis kicked in. My mom fell and broke her hip. She had gone outside to the porch when she fell down the steps. She landed on the bricks under the roof valley. It was night and it was pouring rain, which meant she was in the path of the heaviest flow off of the roof. It was also very cold and rain was just short of icy. Daddy and a friend rushed to find an umbrella to shelter her until the paramedics showed up. Since they live in the desert and normally get little rain, umbrellas are not a normal household item. While in the hospital, she had surgery, after which she developed a case of delirium. It was more commonly called ICU psychosis in the past, but delirium is the more proper term for it. She finally got past all that and is in rehab. She’s sounding a lot more like her old self.
Just before I went house sitting, Lastech developed a rash on his face. It was getting better by the time I got home again. Then it got worse. A LOT worse. He got home from work on Sunday morning and his face was swelling, so we called the doc. He was in the doc’s office for less than 5 minutes. They walked us straight over to the ER. They kept him until noon on Monday, pushing meds through IV and orally. Between the dermatologist and Lastech, they were able to figure out the cause and treat it, so it’s healing nicely now. Oh and they also put him on meds for diabetes. Holy crudmosis all over again.
Last, but not least. Pepita went in for her spay yesterday. She did fine and will not have to cope with being in heat ever again. Our sanity (and hers) are saved for the moment. Sanity is subject to change at any moment.
While I don’t have any good pics of our beasties at the moment, I did take pics of my friend’s fur babies. 🙂
This is Zsu Zsu. She is modeling her new raincoat. She absolutely hates the rain. What a sweetie.This is Ranger. Once he got used to me, he turned into a purring, head bonking lover.This is Sparkie. She’s also a sweetie. She’s got long fluffy hair.This is Booda. Supposedly, he hates everyone. He and I had quite a discussion about that, as you can see. He was so funny. He would hiss at me and change it to a meow in mid-hiss. He’s got magnificent whiskers.
This song sort of sums up the last couple of weeks.
Yes, the critters are much more happy. Last week we got a small oil-filled radiator. It helped a lot, but we needed a second one. It arrived on Friday. It’s a bigger one and we moved the small one to the bathroom. Happy happy joy joy!
Titanescu: I lubs you heater and you shall be mine!
I would yell bah humbug! but we made a wee nod to the season.
Now for the happy critters.
Tito: Who me? I didn’t make that messMiss Jenny is warm and happyTitanescu basking in warmer days
As for Pepi, she’s happy to have more heat too. That’s much better than being IN heat, which is over, thankfully. I should add that the wiley little rascal figured out how to do a Houdini and escape the harness. Oh joy. I don’t like it, but we’re using a Martingale collar now, when we walk. If she escapes while at Lime Ridge, it’s not so bad. However, we live right next to a very busy street. We’re being very careful as being part Dachshund, she could suffer damage to the trachea.
Yep, we’re having frosty days. Living in San Francisco, it rarely got that cold. Now that we’re thirty miles away, we get frosty days. It’s nowhere near as bad as other places, but it’s going to take getting used to. It doesn’t help that the furnace crapped out on us in the middle of it. We’re getting a portable oil-filled radiator and it should arrive on Tuesday. Lucky for us, the trailer warms up nicely as soon as the sun comes up. In the meantime, the kitties spend their time pretending to be moles and hiding under the blankets. At night, Pepita’s crate is covered with a double layer of blankets and a couple of hot water bottles.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Lastech had to work, so we didn’t do anything special. We’ll make up for it later.
Tito imitating a moleMiss JennyTitanescu and Lastech
Ask you can see from the next two pics, Pepita and Tito are getting along rather well. Pepi remains on a leash indoors as I don’t want her chasing the cats.
Nom Nom NomEvidently, Pepita has a flavor
And now, for a bit of the Trololo dog herself. Here is Pepi singing to another dog that she spotted.
I’m going batty. Pepita is in heat, as you know. She’s past the icky stage and into the “gimme boys” stage. In her frustration, she managed to completely destroy her dog bed. It was NOT an expensive dog bed, thank goodness. Now she’s reduced to a few throw blankets. 🙂 Taking her for walks is an endeavor. We need to keep her away from other dogs as much as possible. We found a spot where we can see other dogs from a good distance and manage to avoid them. We won’t go back until Monday though as the weekend means far too many dogs. In the meantime, she constantly begs to go out. I’ll be batty, but I’ll live.
The kitties aren’t suffering all that much. Titanescu is being his normal cantankerous self. Tito has decided that he really likes Pepi. They aren’t quite snuggling yet, but that’s only because Pepi is a tad excitable. She’s learning. Miss Jenny hasn’t pooped on the bed recently, thank goodness.
Tito watching over everythingMiss Jenny and her beautiful blue peepersThis is an older photo of Titanescu. That’s because he’s burrowed under the blankets, making picture-taking difficult.Goofy Pepita on her walk yesterday.
I got to watch this live the other day. It was this same camera view too. This is part of the old span of the Bay Bridge that has been replaced. They created a water cushion that you can see surrounding the pier. It just looks like a donut of foamy water. It was there to prevent debris from going all over the bay. You can see at the very end, that it worked very well. 🙂
Thank to our friend Dani showing us this vid, I’ve decided it’s now our theme song. 🙂
We missed Caturday again. Life gets strange. We’re making up for it this time, with kitties, dog, sunset AND a beautiful bird. Aside from still adjusting to graveyard shifts, we’re prepping for a short move. For whatever reason, to be designated as an RV park (as opposed to a trailer park), no one can stay beyond 6 mos. without moving out for a day (two nights). It’s a bit of a PITA, but our little abode will be towed out to the street behind the park for that time, after which we’ll return for another 6 mos. It’s worth it.
I can’t believe that it’s been almost 6 mos. already. We haven’t killed each other living in such a small space. In fact, we’re adapting well. I’m still getting rid of stuff. I avoid buying anything new (other than food stuffs) without seriously thinking about it first. I’ve done odd things like dump my two pyrex measuring cups and replace them with a plastic 2-cup measuring cup. Enough little things like that and it really lightens the load. I think the only glass or ceramic items we have left are our coffee cups, the Melitta coffee pot, and the cat food dishes. We no longer buy in bulk, except for the canned cat food. Both of us are still MUCH happier than we were before.
The kitties are happier too. In spite of adding a dog to the mix, they have adapted and learned to relax a lot more than before. Even though trailer walls are anything but soundproof, it’s much more quiet here. They like that. Speaking of kitties, here they are. Miss Jenny’s pics are a short series. They aren’t perfect photos, but we thought they were funny.
Tito: Yes, I’m slowly shredding the window dressings. Is it a problem?
Miss Jenny Hmmm?
What?Noooooo, you don’t sayHAHAHAHAHA!Thath thillyTitanescu: Hungry eyes. I would say evil eyes, but he wasn’t on nip at the time.Miss Pepita: Gimme the cookie! Gimme the cookie!
After sleeping and listening to some rain off and on, we went off to watch the sunset last night.
The nearby hills were aglowBeautiful color
While watching the sunset, we saw a pair of birds hunting. They were not as large as the hawks I’m used to watching and their color was different. However, they are incredibly beautiful and manage a very graceful hover before diving on their prey. I didn’t know what they were so I asked some friends on FB and was told that they were White-tailed Kites.
White-tailed Kite
I went off to find a vid that would show the beautiful hovering and found two videos by a local documentary maker named Alex Burke. Both were filmed in the East Bay hills and are a joy to watch. Both vids end with the Kite eating its kill, so if that bothers you just avoid the very end. 🙂
Caturday got away from us. Lastech pulled a 12 hour graveyard shift followed by hauling Pepita to the Contra Costa Animal Shelter to get her shots and license. She’s legal now. However, after standing in line for a couple of hours, we were pooped when we got home and we slept for the rest of the day.
So now for the news. Pepita is now ours, and we, hers! We can take her places where she can safely interact with other doggies. As for Titanescu, as Lastech posted, he purrs! It’s a silent purr, but if you lay your hand on his neck or head, you can feel the faint flutter. I’m thrilled as today was the first time I got to experience this. Tito and Pepi have played a bit of slappy paws. Pepi is a tad too exuberant though. She’ll calm down eventually. Tito kind of likes her, I think.
Tito milking the “cute” momentBeautiful Miss JennyAs Pepita “yips and yaps and yodels” Titanescu mutters to Tito “собака мудак” (dog is asshole), To which Tito replies suavely: “you might well think so, dear Marshal, but I couldn’t possibly comment.”Pepita making friends in the line at the shelter.
And now for the original (and best) Francis Urqhart of House of Cards
I’ve posted a couple of photos from the Lime Ridge Open Space, but they didn’t really show enough. Here are a few more photos to give a better scale. This ridge runs from the base of Mt. Diablo (about 5 miles away) to less than a mile from our place. As close as it is, we don’t walk there as there’s no rail crossing nearby. As a result, we drive to the parking lot about two miles away. The trails are used by runners and dog walkers as well as anyone wanting a bit of fresh air. In the summer and fall, the grass is brown and there are cracks in the ground here and there. Given the drought, it’s worse than usual. I’m hoping I’ll have some pretty green pics come spring. 🙂
Pepita aka Stick Dog. She picks up one and carries it for a short while, then drops it to pick up another one. She’ll go through a dozen sticks on one walkSome of the trails run behind housesMapache! We found this carving along side the trailJust a tree on the ridgeThe contrail over the ridge was interesting tooThe cloud between the contrail and the ridge looks like bird or butterfly wingsLooking back at Mt. DiabloView from the trailLooking West from the top of the ridge. This is only a mile from homeAnother view from the topHeading back down.
That hike covered a bit over two miles. It’s good for the dog and even better for me. I’m finally losing some weight and in the right way. 🙂
