Titan

April 11, 2015

Caturday: Sunny day edition

Happy Caturday everyone! It’s a sunny day here. I hope your weather is good where you are. I know there was some awful weather in the Midwest the other day. I miss the rain, but I’ll settle for a sunny day.

The microwave (16 years old) went off the rails and made some really creepy noises. Rather than risk the thing becoming sentient and taking over the world, we chose to pull the plug. Its lonely carcass sits on the porch awaiting a journey to the recycler. We’re not planning on buying a new one.

Today, the pointy eared people have been given another artistic treatment. This time, Lastech used the PaperArtist app on his phone. It’s available for i-Phone and Android.

Now for a bit of fun. Simon’s Cat is back with another episode.

April 4, 2015

Caturday: Rain for Easter?

I’m sorry that we’re not around as much. Life is a case of hurry up and wait. I’m still busily going through stuff and donating or dumping and we still don’t know how long we’ll be in this apartment. At this rate it could be one month or another year (I hope not).

The NWS is predicting rain for Easter. While I don’t want the egg hunts rained out, we desperately need it. Our governor has imposed strict water regulations on us. This is great and much needed. However, he managed to leave agriculture unregulated along with the water bottlers. All the regulations in the world won’t help unless they are included. No matter. Lastech and I are doing our share and cutting every gallon that we can manage. We’re hoping for rain in spite of Easter.

Grace commented in our last post asking about photo editors. I decided to include a couple of links. The one I used last week was BeFunky. I used “underpainting” with a few adjustments. Another one that I like a lot is Pixlr Express. It has some fun settings to work with. Last, but not least is iPiccy. I use this one mostly for adding text to my photos. The text section is easier to work with than on the other two. All three are free to use. You can pay to upgrade and get more options, but I’m content to stick with the free stuff.

Now for the pointy eared people. I didn’t use any of the above programs this week as Lastech got some good shots.

Titanescu with a somewhat relaxed stinkeye

As you know, I’m constantly complaining about the housing crisis here in San Francisco. Every so often some joker posts a funny Craigslist ad in response to it. I’m usually late to the party, but I found this one this morning while I was researching apartment listings. I’m posting the screenshot as the post will wind up being pulled anyway. Have a giggle. Click on the pic for the larger version.

March 28, 2015

Caturday: The artistic version

Ok, it’s not that artistic. However, this is what you do when the pics are substandard or the backgrounds just really suck.

I found it hard to get enthusiastic this week as the the news was just awful. First there’s a plane crash and then Indiana makes their attempt at taking us back to the Jim Crow era. I’m happy to see the blow back on Indiana. Warning to all bigots: I believe in equal rights for EVERYONE. Yep, I mean everyone. If you operate a business in order to serve the public, then you should NOT get to choose which public you serve. I may not be fond of Mayor Lee, but I was happy to see our city announce a boycott. I hope it sends a message to other states trying the same thing.

Ok, now that I’m done ranting, it’s time for the pointy eared people to shine. 🙂

After all that, here’s a vid of some cute owls.

March 21, 2015

Caturday: Moving furniture

The poor kitties. I’m glad we have Feliway. I’ve been moving furniture. Most of the furniture is going away, but I’m doing it in stages. The pointy eared people are not amused. However, they ARE happy that I put the cat tower by the window.

As for Lastech and I, our 11th anniversary was on Thursday. Due to his work hours and my thrashing about the apartment, we snuck out on Wednesday evening to celebrate with some good diner food. I had a burger, fries and a real milkshake. Lastech had a Reuben. Then we went to Sutro Heights Park to walk it off.

That was our week. Now it’s time for the pointy eared people to shine.

Lastech posted this vid on my Facebook wall. I love it so much I have to post it here. There are quite a few versions of this dancing bird out there, but this is my favorite. The Brazilian music is perfect.

March 14, 2015

Caturday: With sheep and a blankie

I’m still working furiously to get rid of all unnecessary “stuff”. However, we succumbed and got the kitties a new blankie that came with a stuffed sheep. The pointy eared people like it. 🙂

Tito with the sheep. He's making biscuits on the new blankie — Tito with the sheep. He’s making biscuits on the new blankie

This is Tito after the excitement hiding in the blanket fort

Miss Jenny testing the blanket and the sheep

Miss Jenny likes it! Do take note of that stinkeye that is attempting a photobomb.

This is Titanescu on the doll bed and he's not giving us the stinkeye...for once. — This is Titanescu on the doll bed and he’s not giving us the stinkeye…for once.

And now, here’s some regrettably vertical video of an adorable husky puppy.

March 7, 2015

Caturday: weirdness

Well, another Caturday has rolled around and the pointy eared people have exhibited weirdness. Ok, they’re cats. Cats always exhibit weirdness. 🙂

Titanescu trying to mix a stinkeye with a hypnotic stare

Now here is a vid from my favorite animal shelter, Best Friends in Kanab, Utah.

I STILL don’t have the Alcatraz pics up. Today, that will be my mission. Instead of getting rid of stuff today, I’m going to finish sorting photos. In my defense, there are a LOT of photos. I’ll post our favorites and the rest will be put into a couple of slideshows. I’m hoping to have the post up by tomorrow evening at the latest.

February 28, 2015

Caturday: With a bonus sunrise

Yes, it’s Caturday and I’m surprised I even have some pictures to post. Given the fact that we are reducing the amount of “stuff” in the apartment and getting rid of furniture too, it’s hard to get nice pics of the kitties. The bookcases are mostly empty with the books either donated or packed away. I have boxes everywhere. I’m making great headway though. 🙂 I’m going to add some sunrise pics to the mix today as I’m still working on the Alcatraz post.

Soooooooo, since it’s Caturday, here are the pointy eared people. Hopefully none of the these are repeats.

Now for a few sunrise pics. We went out to Aquatic Park and it turned out to be a rather nice morning. I used the Canon and got the vivid orange photos. Lastech used his phone and got the more delicate colors. As before, I really love both.

View of the Transamerica building from a hilltop by Rudha-an

February 20, 2015

Caturday: Out of town

This week, our trail of jellybeans stretched over the water to Alcatraz, and beyond, to Mars and the Moon. Well, as close as we could get that is, the Nasa Ames research center in Mountain View.

The old parade ground on Alcatraz. There are no people permitted there as it's seabird nesting season — The old parade ground on Alcatraz. There are no people permitted there as it’s seabird nesting season

Model of the milky way at the Nasa Ames visitor center.

More on these adventures later, as we’ll be spending this Caturday out of town again, this time to look at travel trailers, alternate, mobile ways of reducing our footprint while increasing our reach.

Meanwhile, here are the furry heroes once more…

Titanescu using Tito as a pillow. Tito didn't mind. — Titanescu using Tito as a pillow. Tito didn’t mind.

Titanescu using Miss Jenny as a pillow. She didn't mind either — Titanescu using Miss Jenny as a pillow. She didn’t mind either

And here’s a good vid from Simon’s Cat that I should have posted last week.

February 14, 2015

Caturday: Valentines Day meh

Yes, it’s Valentines Day. For us, it’s just Caturday. Lastech will go to work (12 hr shift) and I’ll thrash my way through the kitchen getting rid of more “stuff”. Oh, but we did well this week: we hauled a very large load to Goodwill and I’ll have another large load soon. The food processor and bread machine went away. I prefer to make my bread by hand anyway. 🙂

Tito is being his usual enthusiastic love bug while Jenny has been coming out of her shell a bit more. As to Titanescu, despite the rise in temperatures, he spends most of his nights with us, hugging a leg or an arm tightly. We’ve started to nickname him Cuddles. Out of earshot, naturally.

Next week, we will be heading across the Golden Gate to check out trailers, take an early morning trip to Alcatraz, and drive down to Mountain View’s Shoreline bird sanctuary.

Now it’s time for the pointy eared people. We may not be celebrating Valentine’s, but the furkids have some love in their eyes.

Even Titan gave his stinkeye a rest for once.

Just another day at the park…

We were at the park recently and the girls were out

Now for a bit of humor

February 7, 2015

Caturday: Our friends have a birthday!

Our fur friend, Henry Hobson (left) and his littermate Chloe de Chanel (right) are celebrating their 7th birthday today. Henry gave us all a terrible scare last year when he managed to get out of the house. He was missing for days and days and was finally spotted wayyyyyyy up a tree. When he came down, his mom was finally able to coax him out of the bushes and take him home. He was a tad thin and skinned up from the tree, but otherwise he was ok. Now he spends his time indoors with his beloved toy, Mr. Snakels. Henry’s sister Chloe is a real beauty. Note to Henry’s mom: If you click on the photo, it will take you to the full size and you can copy it from there easily. Thank you for letting me play with their pics. 🙂

As for the pointy eared people, their pics have more of a Noir feel about them.

Now for something a bit absurd. Last July we wrote about the rare and elusive Golden Gate Bawk-Bawk in a post titled Cock up at the park. Given that there is a coyote den nearby, we didn’t think they would last long. We were wrong. In July there were two. Now there are four.

I couldn't get all four birds in the frame, but here are two of them — I couldn’t get all four birds in the frame, but here are two of them

Here's a closeup. They are remarkably healthy and roosting in the shrubbery. — Here’s a closeup. They are remarkably healthy and roosting in the shrubbery.

Sadly, I can’t read the word “shrubbery” with hearing the voice of the Knights who say Ni.

Final note: If you scroll down past this post, you will see some sunrise photos from earlier in the week.