caturday

July 23, 2017July 23, 2017

Kitty cats, goofy mutt, and a sunset

Maybe it’s goofy cats, mutt and a sunset. Meh, they’re all goofy. Even the sunset was pretty, but with clouds going in some pretty goofy directions. I imagine my friend Dennis (aka Weatherdude) could explain them well.

Everything is going well, though it’s a bit too warm to get out as much as we would like. I’m finally really getting the hang of using my Instant Pot and rarely bother with recipes anymore except to get ideas. Last night we had stew, which would normally take hours. It took an hour and that included prep time. Being able to brown the meat and sauté the vegetables in the same pan is wonderful and I have fewer dishes to wash later. 🙂 It’s also insulated well enough that I can cook without adding to the heat in our little trailer. Win win

The pointy eared people have been any goofier than usual except that in this trailer, there is NO SNOOZE BUTTON! That’s right. No snoozing here. My alarm goes off and Tito lands in the middle of my chest and starts bonking madly. He weighs about 20 lbs, so he can’t be ignored. It can be a tad painful at times, but it’s hard to get annoyed with such a happy lovey guy.

About three seconds after getting this pic, Tito woke up and with a loud MEE! and a bunch of chirrups. He wakes up happy

The lovely Miss Jenny ignores the alarm. She doesn’t care and will keep right on sleeping…unless she’s hungry and then she’ll give me a baleful look and try to look sad.

Titanescu doesn’t care about the alarm either unless he’s hungry and then he’s more likely to stick a claw in my eye or nostril.

Part of Tito’s morning exhuberance is because he wants me to get up and let his girlfriend out of her crate. Seriously. It’s part of his routine.

One nice thing about living in the East Bay. We can see the sunsets more often. In the city we had buildings in the way. These are from last night.

In this one you can see that the air currents were taking the clouds in goofy directions

That’s it for this week. This should have been Caturday, but I forgot what day of the week I was on until it was too late. It’s just as well as that sunset was last night. See ya!

July 15, 2017July 15, 2017

Caturday: OMG! We’re finally back

We didn’t exactly go anywhere, but my hard drive (replaced in February) decided to die again. This wasn’t a matter of just slowing down. That’s a memory issue. Nope. This was a I’m-gonna-quit-working-now sort of problem. In fact, the last time I tried to turn on the laptop, I got a message that it was attempting to repair the drive. Ten hours later it was still trying. I decided that whatever killed the first drive was probably what killed the second and so I replaced the entire laptop. Thank goodness for cloud backup.

I mentioned Backblaze after I replaced the hard drive in February. Well, I got to put it to the test. Once I had my new laptop, I downloaded my restoration files. It took me three different unzip apps to get it done right, but I got my most important files back. It’s well worth the $5 a month I pay. If you don’t backup your files to the cloud, you should. Especially if you have photos and whatnot. Ok, nuff said. We’re back and running with gas again.

Now it’s time for the furkids to shine.

Miss Jenny peeping out from under the sheet

We’re always going on about what a tyrant the old guy is with his resting stinkeye and lightning fast paws. Well, you might get the wrong impression when it comes to his size. This is a photo of Titanescu and Miss Jenny. Miss Jenny is a normal sized kitty 10-12 lbs. Titanescu is (as mentioned a while back) 3 lbs of “F&%K YOU”.

We must not forget Pepi either.

And this is just a lounging kitty we found behind the Polish deli/grocery

Kitty was trying to stay cool in the shade. Lastech guided me out of the parking space so that I didn’t hit that one or the others that were there.

While the job isn’t always fun, Lastech never gets tired of the view. Here’s a little vid he made and it’s all pics he took while working.

We plan on being back next week provided we don’t melt first. 🙂

June 24, 2017

Caturday: Fog! and Titanescu’s quest for world domination

Yes, the heatwave is finally over for us and Karl the Fog has returned. We’re all very happy about that. Our little air conditioner just never caught a break. No worries. We’re back to normal now. Well, mostly normal. I caught Titanescu attempting to execute his plot of world domination.

That’s the fog. Now onward to Titanescu’s delusions of grandeur.

Titanescu plotting world domination. Or maybe he just wants to smack poor Pepi.

Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s world domination. We know he has an evil streak and he beats up on poor Pepi every chance he gets. I had been in a group chat visiting with my Canadian friends when I stepped away from the laptop to grab a cup of coffee. When I returned, I found him typing this.

Sweet Flying Spaghetti Monster! Is he Satan?

It got worse. That was his first comment. This was his second. Now I’m torn between being terrified and giggling my a$$ off.

OMG! Its binary! Were doomed, I tell you.

Well, he IS a tyrant, after all.

As for the others, they don’t take him seriously at all.

June 18, 2017

Summer came early and Pepi has enemies

The Calendar says that summer begins at 9:24 PM PDT. It’s a lie. It’s a horrible lie. Summer began yesterday. Our high was supposed to be 95 (35 c) but it wasn’t. The official high was 100 (38 c). Blech! Today is supposed to be 106 (41 c). Will it be hotter? Who the heck knows? It’s supposed be like this until after next weekend. Yes, summer is definitely here already.

In spite of that, we did managed to take Pepi to the park this week. It was warm, but nice. However, as you may remember from before, Pepi has enemies. These are serious enemies and she feels it’s her duty to get her hackles up and warn them off.

Pepi catching a treat. We were working with her to get her over the fear of her newest enemy

And what is her enemy this time?

Yes, the enemy is landscaping rocks. Go figure. Silly dog

The pointy eared people have no enemies. Correction. They have an enemy that shows up outside at night. It’s a feral kitty that comes out at dusk. If Titanescu sees it, he will growl and snarl. When that happens, I have to quickly close the blinds as he’ll pick a fight with any critter at hand, whether it’s Miss Jenny, Tito, or poor Pepi and he loves to smack Pepi.

Titanescu. As Lastech says, he’s 3 lbs (yes, he’s very small) of EFF YOU!

Thank heavens the other two are lot more calm about things.

Lastech took a few pics of the flowers at the pier. He caught them at sunrise.

P.S. As I didn’t get this up as soon as I had planned, here’s the official high for the day.

To leave on a happy note, here’s a condor visiting the man who saved him.

June 10, 2017

Caturday: Fur butts, docks, and an Instant Pot

When we moved into the trailer, I got rid of all my appliances. I didn’t need a food processor, the blender or even the coffee maker since we use a decanter. Actually, I just had no room and they were all rather heavy. However, I also had friends with an Instant Pot and they rather loved it, so this got me interested. I made a trade for one, trading a TV (too big for the trailer) for my new best kitchen friend the Instant Pot.

This thing is perfect for living in a travel trailer. It requires a minimal amount of food prep, and after that it’s almost strictly switch on and forget. No more back and forth in close quarters, attempting to clear a few inches of work space where inches are at a premium, with a furry crew eager to investigate, if not trip you up… So far, I’ve cooked a chicken, bean soup, a veggie mix and more. Oh, and I chucked the crock pot as this new thing slow cooks too. Given that Lastech has type II diabetes, we’re having to eat healthier. The pot is greatly simplifying things. I started by following recipes while I learned my way around this thing and frankly having fun with it. I’m branching out on my own now. Stew is on the menu this week. 🙂

Now it’s time for the fur butts to have their moment in the limelight. They have all been very busy napping as it’s such serious business. If I’m lucky, I catch them with their eyes open.

Titanescu. If there were more of him, it would be a Murder of Cats

I think Pepi was watching Titanescu. He likes to show her who’s boss, so he makes her nervous.

Now for a few pics by Lastech. I was going through his photos and I really liked these for various reasons. These were taken at night and very early morning.

That’s it for this week. See ya later

June 4, 2017

The Gardens at Heather Farm and the Fur Kids

Our weather has finally become a bit more normal. For a while it got up to the 90’s, then down to the 50’s, and then hot again. Now it’s settled into warm, at times breezy. Since the weather finally cooperated, we set the Endurance’s life support systems to stand by for the crew and headed off to the Gardens at Heather Farm. As I had hoped, the roses were blooming madly. The last time we were there, the roses were just beginning to put out buds.

Mystery bug. I’m not sure if this is a Mexican bean beetle or something else. Photo by Lastech

There are more pics, but now it’s time for the fur kids to shine.

Now for the rest of the Heather Farm pics. There aren’t a lot, but I put them in a slideshow to make it easier. There are non rose pics along with a couple of critters.

[Show picture list]

May 20, 2017

Caturday: Botanical garden at Tilden Regional Park

I wanted to post this last week, but power outages and other assorted things got in the way. We managed a return trip to the botanical garden at Tilden Regional Park. I’m really glad we got there when we did as we had lovely cool fog hugging the hilltops and everything was still very green. We’ve experienced a heatwave or two since then and the hills are already turning to their summer tan. It’s still beautiful, but I already miss the green color.

First though, it’s time for the pointy-eared people and the floppy-eared one to shine.

When we went off to the botanical garden, the hills were still bright green and we had a bit of fog.

View looking back over San Pablo Reservoir (foreground) and the Briones Reservoir, just visible above and beyond it.

The botanical garden preserves and exhibits the native plants of California. According the park website:

Notable among the many specimens that have been brought in from all corners of the state are representatives of nearly all the state’s conifers and oaks, and probably the most complete collections of California manzanitas to be found anywhere. There are also extensive collections of California native bunchgrasses, bulbs, aquatic plants, and representatives of about 300 taxa that are classified in the California Native Plant Society’s landmark study, “Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California.”

I must inject a quick note. After that trip, we found a beer that got our attention, so we tried it. It was made by a local brewery called Fort Point Beer Company. It was called “Manzanita”.

This beer was amazing and was the perfect beverage to go with grilling.

Anyhow, back to the botanical garden… There were plenty of things to see. We even saw a beautiful butterfly.

I put the rest in a slideshow

[Show picture list]

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017

Caturday: Cranky sea lions and more power issues

Yes, we wound up with more power issues. This time it wasn’t with us or the park. It was the neighbor. Helpless people annoy me and I have issues with them. I don’t mean helpless in the disabled way. I mean helpless as in clueless and with no desire to GET a clue. Our neighbor had her move-out-move-back-in thing. It was her third and she still wasn’t ready when the tow arrived. She doesn’t know how to unhook the stinky slinky, raise the stabilizers, or turn off the propane. In a year and a half, she’s learned nothing and has made no effort to learn. She’s probably in her 50s and she didn’t want to live with her kids after her husband passed. I think a trailer was a mistake for her.

She was being towed back in when I left to pick up Lastech at the station. When we got home, there was no power. Lucky for us, the heatwave had been the prior week, so it was cooler and survivable. It took me a bit to check on the trailer and make sure we hadn’t blown a circuit breaker. I suspected the issue could be with the power inverter, but I really hoped it wasn’t. Then I walked over to check the meter box. Oh my. My meter and two of the neighbors were off, but the neighbor lady’s was on. I noticed that part of the electrical box cover was on the ground. Hmmmmmmm. When I opened the box, I discovered that three of the four circuit breakers had been shut off. The neighbor lady had hers on. I flipped the other three back on and all was well.

I finally pieced it all together. She came home and deployed one of her two slide-outs. The second one didn’t work. She went out to the electrical box to flip switches, not understanding that slide-outs work on battery power. If she had learned anything about her trailer she would know that. Either she needed to let the battery charge up or it was bad. A repair guy came to work on it and got it running. I like my neighbor, but she needs to get a clue, and soon. Had she shut off our power during the heatwave, it could have killed the pointy-eared people and the floppy-eared one. Can you tell I now have issues with my neighbor? I’m not giving her a bad time about it. I think the park management has already done that. Instead, I’ll just be paranoid every time we have to leave home when it’s hot out.

Speaking of the fur kids…

Tito and Jenny saw something

It wasn’t exactly a giant mosquito, but they thought it was. It was a crane fly.

For those who don’t have them, they’re about an inch long or so.

Titanescu didn’t care. He fears nothing. Especially when he’s asleep and using Miss Jenny as a pillow.

As for Miss Pepi, she and Tito had a little love fest.

Oh, and about the sea lions. They’re cranky. Very cranky. Especially when surrounded by the harem and offspring. The have their own docks at the pier, but they haul out wherever they like. With males weighing in just short of 800 lbs, they’re mostly left alone. Lastech had to patrol the dock.

Yep, Lastech skeedaddled right on out of there.

Here’s a bull (knobby forehead) watching over his family

One last thing. No picture sadly, but last evening I was sitting next to my window when a very large bird dove into the shrub about 3 feet away. One of the wings actually brushed the window on the way by. It was a hawk. I figure he/she was after the sparrows that sleep in the shrub. It was amazing though. Tito had a “WTF wazzat?” look on his face.

See ya next week if WWIII doesn’t start.

April 29, 2017

Caturday: Clouds, wind and fur people

Yes everyone, we’re back. I was going to post last weekend until I remembered that we had to do our semi-annual move-out-move-back-in thing. At least the weather was nice. Lastech took last week off so that he could help and have a bit of extra time off to boot. After we were back in place, we took a day trip up Diablo to go cloud watching.

First it’s time for the fur kids to shine.

Miss Pepi the dumpster dog (where she was found)

I never get tired of watching clouds. The rainy season is pretty much over, so I enjoy any clouds that appear. This week, the heat has arrived and the hills will start turning back to their summer tan. It’s also dry and windy and that will accelerate the process.

As you can see, the hills are still green. It won’t last long now.

The turkeys were out too. It’s fun to be driving along with the window open and suddenly hear a chorus of gobbling bursting out of the tall grasses. Turkey gobbles always make me smile.

Here’s the slideshow for the rest of the photos.

[Show picture list]

We made another trip last week to the Tilden Botanic Garden. This is just one of many pics. I’ll save those for next week. 🙂

April 15, 2017

Caturday: Maniacal beeping and a melted outlet

Hello world. Last week was interesting. I was puttering when I heard a loud beeping. I looked around and saw nothing. Awhile later, I heard it again. Aha! The microwave. I reset it and went about my business. It was beeping again. It even beeped at 4 am. I finally flipped the breaker that controlled it and the beeping stopped. Then the modem kept turning off, followed by the power shutting off at 5:30 am. As soon as the sun was up, I went outside to check on things. I was quite startled to find that our 30 amp plug and the outlet it was attached to had burned and melted. Evidently melting shore power outlets is not that uncommon. The manager managed to get the electricians in to fix things up.

Melted 30 amp shore power outlet. It was stinky

Needless to say, the timing for these things is never good. Oh well, the Endurance is powered up again. Now it’s time for the pointy-eared people and the floppy-eared one to shine.

Lastech managed to get a couple of fun pics from the pier and a sunrise

Sea lion getting ready to join the others

We plan on being back next week, provided WW III hasn’t started. Happy Easter to all who celebrate it.