Sunset: The calm before the storm

Holy moly! We’re supposed to have a very big and nasty storm hitting tonight. We should be ok as long as the ceiling doesn’t cave in. The landlords fixed the problem we had before, but I don’t know how it will hold up with heavy rain and high winds. This is supposed to be the biggest storm we’ve seen in years. The last one left up to three feet of water standing in some intersections and knocked a bunch of trees down.

After dealing with the prior problems some time outdoors became vital.

Clouds over San Francisco. Photo by Rudha-an
Clouds over San Francisco. Photo by Rudha-an

Follow along beyond the fold for the rest of the adventure. 🙂

Continue reading “Sunset: The calm before the storm”

Caturday: We had a flood

San Francisco has finally had some rain. Some? We had rain, flooding, sink holes and more. Sadly, it’s not enough. According to researchers, this is the worst drought in 1200 years. The city had flooding and so did we. We woke up to find rivulets of water running down our south wall from the front window, through the closet and into the kitchen. The rain was washing down between the new construction and our building. The neighbors and the nail salon got it as well. I was not amused. It’s been fixed, but it should NOT have happened. While I tend to avoid saying much online, our building has serious problems. The landlords have finally started fixing some of it, but it’s still awful here. It’s one of the reasons we haven’t posted all that much lately. It’s not that we don’t care about the blog. It’s that we haven’t been able to get out much.

Anyhow, nuff said. It’s time for the pointy eared people to shine.

To start off, this will be the two faces of Titanescu. The first is what we see first thing in the morning when he’s hungry. He stands on us and leans into our faces. It’s not pretty. He’s a tryant.

Feed meh NAO!
Feed meh NAO!

Here’s the other face of our tyrant.

Snuggling with Lastech
Snuggling with Lastech

Now for the other two. 🙂

Miss Jenny is bird watching
Miss Jenny is bird watching
Tito in profile
Tito in profile

Now for the latest episode of Simon’s Cat


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Caturday: The angry pooper

Like a Soviet tank in the streets of Prague, Titanescu has trouble maneuvering in litter boxes shared with the other two cats, especially after “contributions” have already been made.
Or maybe he’s OCD.
We heard familiar sounds yesterday, sounds which play an ominous soundtrack when arranged together, like the Devil’s Galop. Pellets exploding from the litter box and clattering on the hardwood floor like filthy rain.
A body, landing hard on its feet, clawing at the floor, followed by the hollow thump of another landing, this time in the bathtub. The frantic scratching of the enamel.

What on Ceiling Cat’s green Earth?

Rhuda-an made it to the bathroom just in time to watch Titanescu fixing his death stare upon her as he finished dropping the kids off at the pool.
The second he was done, he leapt out of the tub and skittered out furiously towards the kitchen.
Apparently he’d made a first deposit in the litter box, found it crowded and hurled elsewhere, anywhere, to complete his “movement”.
Titanescu’s version of Angry Birds is that if there aren’t enough unsoiled pellets in the box, he will throw himself at the tub to bake his cake.

The tub. Where humans clean themselves. That’s a message…

Note from Rudha-an: The pellets referred to is Feline Pine. I get the pellets as I don’t like the scoopable version.

As much as he practices his death stare, Tito just doesn't have it in him.
As much as he practices his death stare, Tito just doesn’t have it in him.
Miss Jenny is better with the  stinkeye than the death stare
Miss Jenny is better with the stinkeye than the death stare
Titanescu  owns the death stare. He perfected it long ago.
Titanescu owns the death stare. He perfected it long ago.


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Caturday: Kitties are good for your blood pressure

I know kitties are good for the blood pressure. I would have blown my stack and probably had a stroke already if it weren’t for my pointy eared people. 🙂 They’re good for me. They’re good for both of us.

We have gotten close to an inch of rain and while it’s not enough to put even a teeny ding in the drought, it certainly helps keep it from getting worse. I do worry watching the news though. It seems the rest of the country is a mess with all that snow and now rain is coming, meaning the disaster will become even worse. 🙁 I hope all of you are safe for now.

Now it’s time for the pointy eared people to shine.

Tito isn't scared in this pic. He's about race insanely around the apartment creating mayhem
Tito isn’t scared in this pic. He’s about to race insanely around the apartment creating mayhem
Miss Jenny permitted Lastech to take her picture.
Miss Jenny permitted Lastech to take her picture.
Titanescu is practicing his "I fear nothing" look.
Titanescu is perfecting his “I fear nothing” look.

And now for something different. Lastech discovered this little gem. It’s a tribute to the classic French director, Francois Truffaut.


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Caturday: We had more rain

We got another half inch of rain. It was wonderful to listen to it. Hopefully we’ll have more next week. The drought is still terrible, so every fraction of an inch is better than nothing.

Yes, they’re in black & white again. Sometimes it just feels right.

Tito in the window
Tito in the window
Miss Jenny
Miss Jenny
Titanescu posing nicely
Titanescu posing nicely

As a small bonus, we managed to get out of the apartment the other evening. It was just before sunset and while the colors weren’t vivid, it was still beautiful.

Looking out through the Golden Gate by Rudha-an
Looking out through the Golden Gate by Rudha-an

Lastech was playing with a different setting on the phone called “solarize”.

The Golden Gate Bridge by Lastech
The Golden Gate Bridge by Lastech


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Caturday: Black and white

We survived the week with no further damage to car but I almost had a coronary Thursday evening though when a nasty puff of smoke from a house fire came through the window. I have lived with paranoia ever since a plumber with a blow torch blew a gas line a few doors down. This fire was only about a half block away, but no danger to us. There didn’t appear to be any injuries, thank goodness.

Now it’s time for the pointy eared people to shine. I should mention that a month has gone by without seeing a single flea. Titanescu is becoming a snuggle monster once again: snuggle and don’t move, or else… I think we won that war. The kitties are relieved.

Wonderful Tito
Wonderful Tito
Feisty Titanescu
Feisty Titanescu
Nervous Jenny
Nervous Jenny

Hooray! Simon’s Cat has a new episode.


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Caturday: a fangtastic week

As everyone now knows, the Giants won the World Series. The Royals put up a good fight though, making this championship all the more enjoyable. Of course, as a result of the win, our city wound up in the news for the fires and other mayhem…sigh. It was only a few idiots, but the rest of the world has no way of knowing that it wasn’t the whole city. The pointy eared people didn’t appreciate any of it either, as the fireworks sent them into deep hiding. That was Wednesday.

Yesterday, Lastech woke up to move the car (for street cleaning) and discovered that some miscreants (pranksters?) had slashed two of our tires. Joy! Lucky for us, our favorite shop down the street got new tires put on and the guys didn’t even charge labor. I think they felt bad, so we dropped off apple strudels for them later. It was done in time so that I could watch the Parade of Champions on tv. While rain fell heavily, people were overjoyed, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey were both there and thrilled about it.

Anyhow, The fur people did ok except for the fireworks. They even managed to give me their best evil looks for the occasion. Ok, mostly evil.

Tito looking a bit ghostly and mysterious
Tito looking a bit ghostly and mysterious
Titanescu has perfected the evil stink-eye
Titanescu has perfected the evil stink-eye
Miss Jenny is doing her Freddy Kruger imitation.
Miss Jenny is doing her Freddy Kruger imitation.

In spite of all the headaches, the sunset yesterday was beautiful

Sunset by Lastech
Sunset by Lastech

Here’s a great Halloween video starring Shorty


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Caturday: OMG it’s raining!

Ok, it WAS raining at 0500 hours. It was a most wonderful sound. We’re supposed to get more, but I’ll believe it when I see it. It wasn’t enough rain, but any rain is better than no rain. This drought is taking a terrible toll on the state.

Note: I got a wild hair and decided to change the way the blog displays. It’s a work in progress, so have patience.

Now it’s time for the fur people to shine

Tito takes his napping seriously
Tito takes his napping seriously
Miss Jenny speaks
Miss Jenny speaks
Titan trying to decide if a slap is in order.
Titan trying to decide if a slap is in order.

Lastech took this pic the other day.

Clouds over the city
Clouds over the city

For something on the weird side, here’s a bit of “The Tale of the Crack Fox” from the Mighty Boosh. It’s only the first couple of minutes of the episode.


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Caturday: Giants and Royals and cats oh my

It appears that the Giants are in the World Series once again. That’s 3 times in 5 years. It’s the first time in 29 years that the Kansas City Royals have even been part of the post season. While I will root for the home team, I won’t cry if the Royals win. It would be well deserved. In either case, I just hope that the local morons don’t use it as an excuse to light fires and destroy things. Those who do are a blight on the community.

As for the pointy eared people, they don’t care about the World Series. They DO object to the celebratory gunfire and fireworks though.

Tito makes me sleepy just looking at him
Tito makes me sleepy just looking at him
Miss Jenny and her lovely blue peepers
Miss Jenny and her lovely blue peepers
Titan is looking quite regal
Titan is looking quite regal
Titan sharing the doll bed with Miss Jenny
Titan sharing the doll bed with Miss Jenny

And now it’s time for the latest Simon’s Cat video.


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Caturday: We would rather live in Shirley Jackson’s Hill House

If any of you are familiar with Shirley Jackson’s book The Haunting of Hill House, or the 1963 movie The Haunting, you’ll know what I’m referring to. The constant hammering from 7 am to 8 pm every day is awful. Hill House would be much more quiet by comparison. The pointy eared people have PTSD and we’re not far behind.

In light of all that, this their time to shine. This week, I decided to give them an artful tweak.

Tito catching a ray of sunshine
Tito soaking up sunshine
Miss Jenny and her doll bed
Miss Jenny and her doll bed
Titanescu is ever watchful
Titanescu is ever watchful

Here’s the construction update.

Behold the Tower of Babble...or Rabble.
Behold the Tower of Babble…or Rabble.
As you can see, the room we live in is on the left. The source of our misery is on the right. Hill House has NOTHING on this mess.
As you can see, the room we live in is on the left. The source of our misery is on the right. Hill House has NOTHING on this mess.

So that I don’t end this on a sour note, he’s a mega dose of “Squee” from the ever wonderful Ze Frank. I can live with the fact that it’s a Friskies ad.


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