Caturday: sadness, anger, refugees, and fur kids

Before I get to the kitty pics, I have to speak up.

I’m beyond sad and angry that the country of my birth is refusing refugees again. Yes, again. My country has a very sad history when it comes to refugees and non-white people. Slavery is the first to come to mind as we’re taught about it in school. Once the slaves were freed, it was followed by segregation. In the middle of that, we had the awful Trail of Tears. Native Americans were thought of as “savages” and were treated as such. Later, we didn’t want the Chinese and other Asians coming, so we built Angel Island as place to keep them while trying to refuse them entry.

Now let us fast forward to WWII. Thanks to George Takei, many have learned more about the Japanese Internment camps than might have otherwise. Out of fear that there might be an enemy hiding among them, my country rounded up Japanese men, women, and children and confined them to camps. Most lost everything they had. They lost homes, businesses, and even lives thanks to inadequate medical care. Pssst, they weren’t the only ones we put in camps. We rounded up the Unangans of the Aleutian Islands and put them in camps as well. As for the Jews? If they weren’t already here, tough. We turned away many Jewish refugees and Anne Frank was one of them.

Now we’re refusing Syrian refugees and more because there might be terrorist among them. We’ve banned refugees and people holding Visas from several Middle Eastern countries. Our 9/11 terrorists came from countries that have no restrictions placed on them, so using them as an excuse doesn’t fly with me. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an attempt to start a Muslim registry. I would hope it doesn’t happen, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m a white woman and fairly safe throughout all this. However, my grandparents were immigrants (one from Mexico) and Lastech is an immigrant. I can’t sit still while my friends and neighbors are afraid of the future and I won’t keep my mouth shut. I will do anything and everything I can to help, even if it’s just calling my congress critters.

Ok, that’s my rant. I would say more, but I’m not eloquent. I’m just angry as hell.

Update: A Federal court has granted a nation-wide stay on the ban of Muslims and refugees. It’s only a stay, but it’s a step in the right direction. The fight is just beginning though. In addition to Muslim refugees, Mexicans and my LBGT brothers and sisters also have targets painted on them. 

Now I can get to the pics.

Tito doing “the sexy”.
Miss Jenny getting cheek scritchies
Titanescu looking worried (he’s not)
Miss Pepi: I didn’t lick the street! Honest! (She licks everything)


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Caturday: Pointy eared people stand with women

We stand with women, men, and “those people”. “Those people” being anyone considered different or foreign, women or not. I would have loved to go to the women’s march today. Alas, I’ve a serious tendency to have panic attacks in large crowds, so I watched via the internet as my friend and her wife marched in DC and my heart joined in. To see the huge crowds all over the world made me feel better about my place in it.

Since my last post, we’ve had rain, rain, and more rain. While we’re safe and snug here, there has been a lot of damage. Trees have gone down, roads washed out, and areas flooded. There’s another storm moving in as I type. Lastech took some nice wet weather pics that I’ll add after the fur people have their chance to shine. In keeping with the march colors, I’ve added a bit of pink and purple in solidarity.

Miss Jenny in black & white
Sweet natured Tito
Haughty Titanescu
Pepi in motion

Now for some wet weather and between-storms pics by Lastech

Rainbow and Pier 39
Embarcadero at night
Wet pavement
Rainbow

Bird
Karl the Fog
latex glove floating in water. This is one of my favorite pics by Lastech

We’ll be back next week, provided all goes well. I’m having an adventure in propane as the hoses that hook up to the tanks went bad, followed by the regulator, etc. Parts are ordered. We’ll see how easily it all goes back together. 🙂 Ta ta for now.


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Caturday: We can haz flood?

Yep, mother nature is wreaking havoc and a flood is a very real possibility. We’re fine where we are. However, many of the burn areas are subject to mudslides, and some major rivers are expected to overflow their banks. We may not flood here, but it’s likely elsewhere. In addition to flooding, the winds will be high so I’m sure there will be plenty of trees going down, and yes, we’re safe from those too. Pepi won’t like having to go outside to do her business in horizontal rain. Ugh!

I hope everyone had a great New Year. It was quiet here and Lastech had to work. Even so, it wasn’t too crazy even for him. There are far less fireworks to terrorize the fur kids here in Concord, which is nice. Pepi doesn’t get fearful either, thank goodness. She’ll snarl at trash bags and tree stumps, but fireworks are ok. Go figure.

Speaking of the pointy eared people and floppy eared one… We had a cold spell. It was down in the 30s, which isn’t bad considering the temps elsewhere. However, our little trailer wasn’t built for winter, so it gets cold. We have two oil-filled radiators and they are much loved.

Titanescu as a purrito
Miss Jenny and those beautiful blue peepers
Tito on Pepi’s blanket snuggling up to the heater
Pepi dragged her blanket to the heater.

Yes, the heaters are loved.

We’ve managed two trips to Mt. Diablo in the last few weeks. It was in the low 30s and rather nippy both times.

Photo by Lastech
Tree in fog, by Lastech
The bay, by Lastech
Wild turkeys by Rudha-an
Tree by Rudha-an
Turkey vultures by Rudha-an

Here’s a slideshow with the rest of the photos.


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Caturday: Holiday edition 2016

Some of my friends celebrated the solstice, while others are celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas. We want to wish all of you the best and happiest of holidays. Lastech will be working the holidays, but we’ll have a bit of celebration on his days off. I have some Cornish game hens to bbq.

It has been cold (for CA, mind you) and we’ve been getting quite a bit of rain. You won’t hear us complaining about the rain. We haven’t gotten out as much as we like, but that’s because we were both fighting the flu. I caught it back in November and Lastech caught it this month. Mine took forever to go away and then decided to start a secondary infection in my ears and sinuses. I’m hoping that it’s finally going away now. Once my ears open up again, we can go play on Mt. Diablo.

And now, here are the furry ones.

Tito (left) and Titanescu staring into the light. Actually, they were both taking advantage of a bit of a sunbeam. It’s been to cold to have the door open often.
Titanescu looking like he just smelled something bad
Miss Jenny sleeping and ignoring the world
Tito: My god! It’s full of stars
Miss Pepi hoping I drop some food for her to hoover.

I was looking for a vid when I came across this one. I follow Angry Ram and I’m glad to see this update. Angry Ram lives on a mountain in New Zealand and they’ve had some awful earthquakes. And no, it’s not sad. 🙂

Until next time, have a wonderful and safe holiday season

Rudha-an and Lastech


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Caturday: Fear and loathing

Fear and loathing of garbage bags, check. Fear and loathing of hollow tree trunks, check.

Pepi’s fear and loathing…hackles
Fear and loathing…of tree trunks. Go figure

Pepi’s neuroses are her own, just as Titanescu’s taste for water from a dish placed in the tub is his own. He will not drink from the communal bowl, he will have his own dish, and he needs it available whether a human is in the bathroom or not. Maybe especially if a human’s in there.

Titanescu’s empty dish stinkeye

After this latest round of rains, the temperature has dropped to near freezing. Tonight, we sleep in cats. The furrbutts will be clawing to get under covers and fight epic battles for territory in there. In her crate, Pepi will burrow under her blankets with her squeaky chicken toy. At some point, Tito is bound to go apeshit and run all over the furniture, although hopefully not because a turd is chasing him. He and Jenny might fight over real estate at the foot of the bed, but Jenny’ll find a spot to curl up. It’s gonna be so cold, I’d almost wish she’d fart to warm things up.
Meanwhile, Titan will sleep undisturbed. Or else.

Tito on his corner of the bed.
Miss Jenny napping in a warm spot on the bed
Miss Pepi says the answer is 42

Rudha-an here: Lastech and I (but mostly Lastech) managed to get some pretty pics of the colors at the arboretum.

Photo by Lastech
Woodpecker by Lastech
Photo by Lastech
don’t believe in trouble
I don’t believe in pain
I don’t believe there’s nothing left
but running here again
I believe! I believe!
Photo by Lastech
Photo by Rudha-an
Photo by Rudha-an
Photo by Rudha-an

When you can’t wake em, join em


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Caturday: dingle balls, shake it all the way…

Dingle balls, also known as dingle berries, thankfully are not our daily bread, else we’d all go fruitcake. But two instances this past week’s a bit much. First, during our walk through the autumnal glory of the Markham arboretum, Pepi indulged in her ritual pee and poo, in that order. Given that she hoovers anything she can*, I’m surprised she doesn’t ingest the occasional long hair more often.

Anyway, after she was done burying an elf, she began darting and squatting, darting and squatting. On closer inspection, I noticed a broken off turd swinging off her chocolate starfish like Tarzan at the end of his vine (“I COMING, JANE!”). Did we ever mention I’m borderline OCD when it comes to such matters? I went to my happy place, a German pop tune from ’82 playing in a loop somewhere.

Naturally, Rudha-an remained functional, retrieving a paper napkin from the car and proceeded to remove that attacking nugget from Pepi’s butt. That’s what we get for having opposable thumbs, I guess. “Oh. I ate another of your hairs. Take care of it, won’t you, Jeeves?”

Pepita’s s–t eating grin

By the way, not pointing fingers, but I’m bald as a cue-ball.

Later this same week, at oh-dark-whatever, a ruckus. It sounded like furniture crashing. Pepi was in her crate, Jenny and Titan were both on the bed… Even in the fog of sleep I suspected something horrendous, involving crap. Not puke, they do that on the low-low. But Tito has priors when it comes to ingesting and “passing” human hair (“that ain’t no mine..!”). Jenny’s half his age, so perhaps she’ll catch up in time, but there she was brutally awakened on the bed like the rest of us.

Miss Jenny’s what just happened? look

The fracas lasted maybe five seconds, then silence. We didn’t speak, it wasn’t necessary to spell out what we already sensed. As Tito dropped butt burritos in the litter box (which Pepi would treat as a buffet if we let her), the worst “knock-knock” joke played out against his arse. “Bad touch! Bad touch!” And Tito went-a-racing with the stranger-danger tethered to his poop chute until escape velocity threw the turd back near the litter box.

This is how Titanescu laughs. Really

Or so we think. That is where Rudha-an’s forensic exploration located the morsel, but there’s no telling where that thing had been. Tito raced from the box to the dinette, down to the floor, through the kitchen, into the bedroom where he bounced against the wall before running across the bed and back to the rear of the Endurance where the litter box is.

Tito: it’s behind me, isn’t it?

Da-da-da..!
Ich liebe dich nicht, do liebst mich nicht
Da-Da-Da..!
Ye gods.

  • Heard this morning,during Pepi’s early pee walk: “Pepi stop licking the car!?!”

And here’s a kitten being the dingle ball.


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Caturday: Fur people, lights, and a fire

I awoke this Caturday to see news about a tragic and terrible fire in nearby Oakland. At this point there are 9 confirmed dead and approximately 25 missing. If there’s one thing I truly fear, it’s fire. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims as they wait for news.

animated-candle-2-sm

The fur people have been enjoying the windows more these days. The mulberry trees that gave us so much summer shade have been pruned heavily for winter. That makes the windows sunnier to the delight of the pointy eared people who soak up every sunbeam they can find.

I was playing bird sounds (black phoebe) while trying to ID some birds I couldn't see. Tito went to full alert.
I was playing bird sounds (black phoebe) while trying to ID some birds I couldn’t see. Tito went to full alert.
Jenny licking her chops at the thought of birds
Jenny licking her chops at the thought of birds
Titan giving me the I-know-those-aren't-real birds stinkeye.
Titan giving me the I-know-those-aren’t-real birds stinkeye.
Miss Pepi was sleeping and didn't care about the bird sounds.
Miss Pepi was sleeping and didn’t care about the bird sounds.

Our weather has turned rather cold (for us) and the heaters are working hard at night. No rain for a while, but soon we hope. We didn’t make any day trips this last week as other chores got in the way. However, Lastech has been taking a few pics here and there.

Starling and clouds
Starling and clouds
Lights
Lights
Clouds
Clouds
Pier after the rain. I love the colors
Pier after the rain. I love the colors
Lights on the Embarcadero
Lights on the Embarcadero
Christmas poo?
Christmas poo?

See ya next week


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Sunday with kitties, the arboretum and Diablo

… Enough with my brains, we have more rain this week! We started with an excursion to the top of Mount Diablo Monday to watch clouds go by. We now finish it with another system moving through, giving everything a good soak. The hills and island have returned to a beautiful green and the Force is strong with the Galindo creek running through Markham arboretum.

View from Diablo looking South
View from Diablo looking South
The hills are turning green again
The hills are turning green again

We’ve really been regular Stormtroopers, hiking our butts off (and Pepita’s).

Markham Arboretum is turning green again (the grass at any rate)
Markham Arboretum is turning green again (the grass at any rate)
Looks like fall in the arboretum
Looks like fall in the arboretum
Galindo Creek is flowing again
Galindo Creek is flowing again

A couple days ago, Rudha-an had a Mexican stand off with Titanescu after he slapped miss Jenny, who walked too close. Danger close.. Rudha-an had her hand up ready to shield Jenny, which Titanescu took as a threat. Did he move, of course not. He raised his paw, waiving it a bit, ready to hit anything that moved.

When he realized it wasn’t anything serious (we were giggling) he finally settled down.

But he was still serious as a heart attack.

Titanescu looking intense, as usual
Titanescu looking intense, as usual
Miss Jenny
Miss Jenny
Tito!
Tito!
Miss Pepi in her bed
Miss Pepi in her bed

With luck, we’ll get out again this week.


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Rainy days, Sunday, and a missed Caturday

Yes, I missed Caturday. On a happy note, it’s rainy. The pointy eared people have been glued to the windows watching the drops fall. My favorite weather is rainy weather, so I’m thrilled. Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll take a run up Mt. Diablo.

Before I post the cloud pics, I better let the stars of the show have the spotlight.

Tito wondering why I'm pointing a clicky thing (camera) at him.
Tito wondering why I’m pointing a clicky thing (camera) at him.
Miss Jenny watching the rain
Miss Jenny watching the rain
Titanescu looking positively angelic in his sleep. No worries, it won't last long.
Titanescu looking positively angelic in his sleep. No worries, it won’t last long.
Pepi looking ever hopeful for noms.
Pepi looking ever hopeful for noms.

Before the rain arrived, we went out to see the birds. However, the clouds were far more interesting. It was very late afternoon and the sun had dropped behind the hills. That made the sky a pretty darker blue.

20161115_162248

20161115_162319

Clouds reflected in water
Clouds reflected in water

20161115_162714

20161115_163327

20161115_164836

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That was our week in a nutshell. Hopefully we’ll have more for next week.


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Caturday: With a seizure and rotten brain update

I won’t discuss the election as I cannot come close to being polite. On the other hand, I can provide an update to Lastech’s rotten brain and seizure episode. Last Monday we went off to Kaiser where he had an EEG and an MRI. Lastech said that during the EEG they worked really hard trying to trigger a seizure but were unsuccessful. From there, he went off to have his MRI. Both tests came out negative. The EEG showed normal activity and the MRI showed nothing but the original injury. His brain is still rotten, but apparently it wasn’t the culprit. The most likely cause was very low blood sugar. His diabetes med works by increasing his production of insulin. This can cause a drop in blood glucose levels. Getting too low can trigger a seizure. Lastech will now check his blood sugar far more often and will also increase his carb intake as he had cut it too much.

I think that was pretty good news. Now it’s time for the pointy eared people and the floppy eared one to shine.

Tito snoozing
Tito snoozing
Miss Jenny on her perch
Miss Jenny on her perch
Titanescu on the lower perch
Titanescu on the lower perch
Pepi and the sad chicken
Pepi and the sad chicken

Along with the awful election, the world has lost yet another treasure. Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet, singer and song writer passed away at 82 yrs of age. He will be greatly missed.

Here is a piece of music from his final album.

And here is my favorite cover of his wonderful song, Hallelujah.


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