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March 19, 2016

Caturday: Ode to The Pootie Queen

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.

She loved orange flowers. For Tricia Wyse Lefevre September 8th, 1970 - March 5th ,2016 — 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.

Pepi hoping to hoover something good from the grill.

March 12, 2016

Caturday: Return of the pointy-eared people

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

Even 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. — 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.

March 5, 2016

Caturday: Gone to the dog

No matter how much you watch them, if your dog is the type to eat anything, you may be in for the occasional rough night. Pepita’s a hoover-dog, meaning she’ll ingest virtually anything, given the chance, and a couple days ago now, she ate a piece of blanket she’d torn off. This was bad news. That piece of cloth created a gastric obstruction, which she tried to dislodge as dogs do, by eating grass and drinking lots of water. She managed to hoark up the cloth, but was still in distress.

The grass she ate went nowhere and sat in her gut, compacting in her stomach. We hauled her to the local emergency vet clinic, where she stayed well into the next day. Now as some of you know, Rudha-an is a great dog (and cat) mom, with awesome friends who aren’t just supportive but extremely helpful in dire situations The A-team. From actionable advice to offers of financial assistance, these women were a lot of help getting through this patch. Thanks to many people, but especially Rudha-an, Pepi is now recovering at home. The amount of texts, emails and phone calls to individuals and card companies was even more amazing since Rudha-an is recovering slowly from an ear infection triggered by the flu (it has been a trying month and a half for the crew of the Endurance and friends).

Waiting at the vet's office — In the waiting room

Poor Pepi in the exam room looking a bit scared

That funky mass at the end of the arrow is her stomach full of grass. The black stuff to the right was gas.

And here is just part of what they removed. No wonder she was in distress

While she was gone overnight, even Titanescu seemed to be looking for Pepi, and Tito came to our bed for comfort.
We spent part of the day waiting at the Markham Arboretum in Concord, walking off some tension, hoping to get Pepi out there again soon, but we weren’t sure how the endoscopy would turn out.

Later that afternoon,when the nurse brought her out to come home with us, the look of relief on Pepi’s little worried face and her attempts to leap from the nurse’s arms were worth everything, and we were happy to submit to ten minutes of frantic licking.

This is from yesterday.

The kitties will return next week, provided a piano doesn’t fall out of the sky and land on us.

February 27, 2016February 27, 2016

Caturday: Pulling for Renfield

We’re sitting around worried about a little nakie named Renfield. He’s a housemate to our friend Nofuratu and came down with sudden onset ataxia, which means he’s dizzy and falling over a lot. His humans took him for testing but they still aren’t certain what the cause is. We’re sending all our healing thoughts and lots of love to Renfield and his family.

Titanescu's message for Renfield: оставаться сильным мало одного — Titanescu’s message for Renfield: оставаться сильным мало одного

Renfield, who's talent is catching the elusive sky raisins (flies). He does try to live up to his name. — Renfield, who’s amazing talent is catching the elusive sky raisins (flies). He does try to live up to his name. Photo used by permission

Miss Jenny sharing a sunbeam with Titanescu

Pepita is happy. We got her a new farty sounding hedgehog toy.

As we wait anxiously for news of Renfield, this Caturday rolls on with Titanescu and his “food rules”. After however many years spent in prison, getting food in certain amounts and at fixed times, old “Iron Beans” enjoys his freedom by laying claim to whatever’s edible inside the Endurance.
Which means the dog’s bowl as of late…
Poor Pepi gives him a wide berth, even as he ambles slowly but purposefully towards her dish. He’ll dig in, look up at her, then us, and dig in again. That old gangster would stare down that wall, Mister Reagan…

February 20, 2016February 20, 2016

Caturday: OMG! I actually have a Caturday post

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

It’s beginning to look like spring already

January 21, 2016

Holy crudmosis! At least no one died

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 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 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.

December 21, 2015

Winter rolls on with another birthday

To Julie.

Often enough, we wander into each other’s head, without knocking. One will say out loud something the other is thinking, which, after 15 years is natural.

We do have many references in common, despite our completely different backgrounds,which makes us laugh at the same things and then there’s our “shorthand”, those terms we both adopted after one came up with it, seemingly at random, terms which would have other people scratching their head if we used them in their presence. Our terms.

Rude terms, like “foufoune” (don’t ask)…

But as comfortable as we are walking in and out of each other’s consciousness in slippers, we don’t tend to finish each other’s sentences. In the exact same way that when the world’s stress fractures begin to appear, the other doesn’t try to fix it, it’s the bonding that mends the frayed spots on the fabric of life.

December 16, 2015

Mount Diablo: rock of Doom

They say Mount Diablo got its name from a WTF moment in local lore, dating back from the early 19th century. In 1805, a small contingent of Spanish troops encircled a group of Native Americans, who managed to disappear without a trace using their evidently superior knowledge of the land. It’s only natural that the people who brought us the Inquisition decided the Devil was at play, and so they named the place Monte del Diablo, which some translate as Thicket of the Devil. Later, monte was mistakenly translated as mount and thus the mountain gained its current name.

As the crow flies, we now live about five miles or so from Mount Diablo, which makes it a semi-regular destination for us. On weekdays, when most folks are at work, the drive to the top is fairly relaxed and fun. I say fairly relaxed because you still have to pay close attention to other traffic, bicyclists in particular, especially near blind curves. As well, along some stretches, the road drops off abruptly, which causes fearful drivers to wander across the median dangerously.

The fun comes from spotting wildlife and the play of light on distant hills, which offers quite a spectacle on overcast and stormy days. On the drive to the top, there are many spots where to pull over and take in the sights, some with tables, benches and grills, even. From there, it is easy to see how much concealment the terrain offers wildlife or the unfortunate injured hiker at times. As close to “civilization” as Mount Diablo is, and as unimposing its elevation may appear at 3849 feet, the park’s 20.000 acres is deceptively smooth and tranquil. But just as Mount Tamalpais and its potentially treacherous Cascade Falls trail has risks, so does Diablo. And this is due in large part to both traffic and complacency.

Some of the photos in this blog post were taken as a storm system was moving through the area, giving you a sense of the textures the park offers and why it has become one of our favorites. It never fails to remind me of “Picnic at Hanging Rock”…

December 14, 2015

Rainy days are here again and Pepi gets her licks in

Rudha-an here: Yes, rainy days are back! We had a doozy on Sunday with heavy rain and wind. It didn’t last long, but it was good. Thanks to the rain, we’re having to take Pepi for her walks along the canal instead of on Lime Ridge (too muddy). We don’t mind and she doesn’t either. These rainy days are turning the ridge green again.

The canal trail runs parallel to Lime Ridge. With all the rain, it has been to muddy to walk there. The canal trail is paved. — The canal trail runs parallel to Lime Ridge and is paved.

And now, back to Lastech

As we learned during our semi-annual “move out”, the feline crew of the Endurance doesn’t cotton to being in a moving vehicle. Titanescu is disturbed the least, while Jenny will remain in hiding, or crap on the bed. Tito is somewhere in between, but doesn’t like it either. Some catonauts…

On the plus side, they’re all doing rather well in our collective cramped quarters, with Tito continuing to socialize Pepita, Titanescu lazing his days away in bed, and Jenny occasionally romping with Tito for some needed exercise. Pepi is still too rambunctious and puppy-rough to be completely let loose just yet.

Tough though he is, Titanescu’s getting frail in his old age, and Jenny is still a bit freaked out by the yipping yodeler. Two things will help in the near future: getting Pepi spayed and following that with more training and gradual socialization with other dogs, which we can’t really allow for the time being. Pepi is shedding her puppy fat, what with her being about four months older than when we found her, and getting some outdoor exercise. The parks and open spaces are so exciting! So many scents to read! She has no issues riding in the car, although she gets squirmy when she needs to go take care of business, or if there’s a lot of movement outside, from pedestrians to birds and anything in between.

Jenny’s fur is now soft as Tito’s, which feels like silk. Looking at photos of her as a kitten, it’s amazing how her colors changed. From almost completely white to mottled gray/brown, sable and black. Poor old Titanescu’s fur clumps, so he just pulls at them and spits them out…

Miss Jenny posing with a new refrigerator magnet that we got from our friend Nofuratu The Naked Cat.

Pepi playing tug of war with the strap we used to extend her leash. She spends time outside with us when we're grilling. It's long enough for her to explore the porch. — Pepi playing tug of war with the strap we used to extend her leash. She spends time outside with us when we’re grilling. It’s long enough for her to explore the porch.

Here’s a little vid that Google+ made from pics of the nearby arboretum

As for Pepita,she welcomes me from work every morning with a frantic tongue bath which sounds, well, really NOT SAFE FOR WORK. Be warned. But laugh…

Continue reading “Rainy days are here again and Pepi gets her licks in”

December 6, 2015

Happy critters, or We haz heat!

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 mess — Tito: Who me? I didn’t make that mess

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.

Who can resist Pepita's smile? — Who can resist Pepita’s smile?

I’ve heard of catfish, but a fishcat?

Hooray for Canada! We need to do this everywhere!