Pepita

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.

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”

November 28, 2015November 28, 2015

Caturday: Frosty days

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.

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.

And now, for a bit of the Trololo dog herself. Here is Pepi singing to another dog that she spotted.

November 19, 2015

When the feral turns fecal and the PITA grows major…

A riddle in a crap-doodle. Miss Jenny, our feral, decided to take a dump on our bed twice about three weeks ago. Technically, she left it there, but the point is we were scratching our head while pinching our nose.

Cats dislike change and recently, we had been moving the trailer, moving the dog crate and litter box, so these were things to consider.

Right about the same time, Pepita went into heat, so it is entirely possible Jenny decided to mask the dog smells with her own. We’ve been giving Jenny as much attention as we have been able to, in order to reassure her feral little soul. Naturally, Pepita’s timing meant we have to reschedule her trip to the vet to get her spayed. We’ve also purchased dog diapers to alleviate the need for constant laundry washing.

Tired doggie. It was also Pepita's first day in heat and she wasn't liking it at all. — Tired doggie. It was also Pepita’s first day in heat and she wasn’t liking it at all.

They both gave new meaning to the expression ” I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers”. Challenges seldom come in onesies, however, as the Endurance life support systems also went haywire. Water pressure went down to little more than a trickle, just as the furnace plain stopped working. As a temporary measure, the chief engineer cut cardboard inserts to mask the ceiling vents. This netted about ten degrees at night. Further research showed how inefficient and wasteful RV furnaces are, and we’ll be looking at alternatives shortly, before rain storms begin in earnest.

The water pressure issue was easier to identify and resolve. It was due to a clogged filter which was faulty from the factory. We switched to a spare filter which resolved the problem.

Elsewhere, progress: Tito continues to cozy up to Pepita, who herself is deciding that cats aren’t a bad sort after all. Their encounters now involve more gentle slapping, sniffing, licking, biting on the dog’s throat (but gently) and decidedly non-aggressive staring. Pepita is becoming calmer, even as she yearns for “boys”. Ever so slowly, she is finding her place, even as the catonauts themselves are getting accustomed to life aboard the Endurance.

Titanescu remains the curmudgeon from hell and continues to direct his stinkeye and ire at Pepi.

Oh, but those diapers? That lasted about four minutes tops, before she Tasmanian-deviled her way out of that…

Rudha-an here: Given the horrible events of the last week, I thought some joy was in order.

We've had some rain. There's a lovely green haze starting up on our hills — We’ve had some rain. There’s a lovely green haze starting up on our hills

This is how close Lime Ridge is to us. The arrow points at Costco. We live across the street from it (to the right, in the photo). You can't see our park because of the trees. It's less than a mile away, but with a large rail yard in the way, we have to drive a longer distance to get there. — This is how close Lime Ridge is to us. The arrow points at Costco. We live across the street from it (to the right, in the photo). You can’t see our park because of the trees. It’s less than a mile away, but with a large rail yard in the way, we have to drive a longer distance to get there.

And now for the other end of the age spectrum.

October 31, 2015

Caturday: Endurance’s 1st orbital mission

This week the crew of the Endurance spent 36 hours under “flight conditions”: restricted space (trailer slide in) and environmental controls at minimum (running on battery power and partial water tank). The catonauts handled stress fairly well, thanks in large part to Feliway.

All three sought to spend time under covers since their favored “fort”, under the couch was greatly reduced by the trailer slide being pulled in. Traffic noise was also much greater and put them on edge a bit. Pepita required more exercise than usual to take the “edge” off, but the entire crew did very well otherwise. As usual for Tito, he would defer to Titanescu and Jenny, letting them eat first and claim humans’ laps before he would.

Tito also checked regularly on Pepita on his rounds. As for Jenny, unless she went straight for a spot under a tented cover between our knees, she would pace slowly back and forth between the pillows and the wall, purring and rubbing against us. Titan mostly slept through it all…

As time goes on, it seems clearer that they are happier here in the more confined space of the trailer than at the old apartment. And much of that I think has to do with the environment, which is quieter and allows them to enjoy more air moving through, and even more direct sunlight, through the screen door or skylight. They raise their head up to sniff at the breeze and go right back to their nap, apparently very contentedly.

The addition of Pepita to the crew may even have helped in some way. Jenny, in particular, is seen more than she was at the old apartment, where she tended to hide in a cupboard. While she still has some spots where she could hide if she wanted to, she chooses instead to come visit and spent more time with us on the bed.

Rudha-an here: The little move was harder on Pepita than it was on the cats. She was confined to her crate a lot more than usual. We’ve been trying to make up for that. Oh, and a miracle update. Titanescu still likes to go smack poor Pepi for no reason other than she exists. However, Pepi and Tito touched noses yesterday. They’re coming along nicely. Pepita is a tad too exuberant, so I have to keep her on a leash indoors, so that I can control where she goes. She could injure a cat without intending to do so.

Tito was glad to have the trailer back to normal

Miss Jenny still hides under the blankets a bit.

Titanescu sleeping with dad. Note Miss Jenny watching from under the blanket

Yesterday, they trimmed all the mulberry trees. Today we found this.

Mr or Mrs Crow singing the song of their people

Now for a bit of Halloween fun

This is just funny. It’s also a brilliant way to get pets adopted. 🙂

October 11, 2015

Caturday lost

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" moment — Tito milking the “cute” moment

As 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." — As 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

October 9, 2015October 9, 2015

Lime Ridge Open Space

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 one up and carries it for a short while, then drops it to pick up another one. She'll go through a dozen sticks on one walk — 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 walk

Mapache! We found this carving along side the trail

The contrail over the ridge was interesting too

The cloud between the contrail and the ridge looks like bird or butterfly wings

Looking West from the top of the ridge. This is only a mile from home

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. 🙂

October 3, 2015

Caturday: Furbutts, rain and walks

Happy Caturday everyone. This week has been interesting. The furbutts are not yet integrated and suffered a mild setback of sorts. We had a bit of rain and we’re getting out for better walks thanks to Pepita.

Well about that furbutt integration setback… Miss Pepita was worn out from a long walk, so she was in her crate and minding her business. Tito decided he wanted to play and threw his paws around Titanescu in an attempt to wrestle. Did he smack Tito and tell him to fark off? Nope. The little tyrant wrenched free and marched over very calmly to Pepi’s crate and smacked her on the nose. He’s an a$$hole, after all. He didn’t use claws, but he upset her. The other two are getting closer and closer to her. This episode set them back a bit as she’s more nervous now.

We got a bit of rain this week. It wasn’t much, but it was so nice, we took the dog for a walk at Lime Ridge. It’s a hilly ridge that runs from the base of Mt. Diablo all the way out to where we are. It’s been too warm and sunny to walk there much. With the clouds and rain, it was great. The weather is starting to cool, so we’ll head out there more often. The walks are great as it lets Pepi use up a lot of energy and it gives the pointy eared people a break. It’s not hurting me either as I seem to be shrinking. It’s a combo of better food (more veggies and salad) and more exercise.

Latech and Pepita in the rain with Mt. Diablo in the background. Distances are deceiving. It's only 5 miles to the road up the mountain. — Latech and Pepita with Mt. Diablo in the background. Distances are deceiving. It’s only 5 miles to the road up the mountain.

While not a real clear pic, we found a Great Blue Heron hunting bugs and gophers.

This is the same trail the next day. The clouds were beautiful

Here are the pointy eared people. I managed to get some pics, but needed to tweak them a bit artistically to make them presentable. 🙂

Miss Jenny keeping dad's side of the bed warm — Miss Jenny keeping dad’s side of the bed warm

Titanescu looking like his normal stink-eyed-tyranical self.

Pepita with a stick on the Lime Ridge trail

And now for a delightfully happy bird and dog

September 26, 2015

Caturday: Miss Pepitonescu

They are slowly, very slowly becoming ONE: Miss Pepitonescu, the sixteen legged wonder.

I suspected Tito wants to be Pepita’s boyfriend, but the little stunt he pulled earlier this week was a surprise. At some point in the afternoon, we let Pepita out of her crate to go for a walk. Out came Tito who must have sneaked inside when we left the gate open during the previous walk…

Tito shortly after his release from the cage of doom

Rudha-an here: Tito was stuck in the crate with Pepi for at least an hour. LOL Poor kitty. There was no bloodshed, of course. I suspect that there was a lot of licking though.

As for Titan, he’s being Titan by rubbing against the crate, causing Pepita to growl and bark at him. Naturally, he hisses at her when she does, but not in caps like before.

Overall however, there’s much less barking and hissing going on. So to recap, Titan and Jenny spend as much time on the bed with us as they like and for Jenny that means actually more time than ever before. The environment is healthier for all of them: they can lay in the sunshine coming through the screen door or through the skylight and feel air moving through their fur. Titan in particular absolutely loves this.

Pepita is coming along, remaining quiet for hours now between bouts of puppyness…She’s a very sweet little creature and I think Tito, as usual, sensed it first among the other cats.

The human crew is still exhausted from all the extra exercise, walkies at all hours with Pepita, adapting to my working nights again and all the unbearably cute and draining puppy love we’re getting.
Woof.

Rudha-an again: Pepi has not yet had an accident inside the trailer. She’s very good. She spends time in the crate, but she also spends a LOT more time out of it. I still keep her on a leash indoors, but that’s so that she doesn’t try to chase the kitties. today, we left her in the crate and made our first foray away together without her. We sat outside to listen. She cried a bit, but settled down quickly. When we got home, she was napping peacefully.

And now, “Jules and Jim” with two cats and a snail.

September 19, 2015

Caturday: Kits, a dog and a singing fish

Yes, today we have the kitties, the new doggie and yes, even a singing fish. LOL

Things are moving along in lives of cats and dogs. It will take a while, but I’m teaching Pepita to be nice to the kitties. It’s slow, but she’s learning. The kitties are showing less and less fear of her. Titanescu has already smacked her a couple of times. No claws as near as I can tell. She’s a tad skeered of him. We got a bit of rain this week. We didn’t get much here, but it rained on the fires which is good. Now we’re having another heatwave. Lastech is also adjusting to graveyard shift, so that’s a joy. I don’t mind the shift. It just takes a bit of adjustment is all.

Tito is still looking annoyed about his diet

And of course, the dog. The most amazing thing is that in the two weeks she has been here, she hasn’t peed or poopied inside the trailer…knock on wood. She also has a much better harness.

Pepita says it's HER froggie toy — Pepita says it’s HER froggie toy

And now for that singing fish