Yesterday, this great film critic lost his fight against cancer. I grew up watching this man and it’s because of him that I learned to love great movies. I have no words that can do him justice so please go read this wonderful tribute by Chicago Tribune.
Roger Ebert dead: Film critic had the soul of a poet
Roger will be greatly missed. Our condolences to his other great love…his wife Chaz Hammel-Smith.
It was one of those WTF moments. We sat on a bench on a hill to enjoy the view. Then we looked up. 🙂
The bottle wasn’t the only thing in the tree. Lastech spotted this one.
Three squared years ago, Lastech and I tied the knot. Since then we have shared magnificent views and wonderful kitties.
There has been plenty of wildlife viewing right here in the City of San Francisco.
Lastech is very patient with me when I’m yelling STOP! Actually, I try to keep it from sounding like impending doom and thus scaring the crap out of him as he’s driving. I’m not always successful. This pic is the result of one of those moments. 🙂
We have even gone storm watching on Bernal Hill.
The last nine years have been wonderful and I look forward to the next nine.
Today, we hope 2013 will be a turning point for marriage equality.
paraclete [ˈpærəˌkliːt]
n a mediator or advocate
Tito is a paraclete. Notice the small ‘p’. The capitalized version has a religious definition.
Tito was a dear when our first kitty was sick with lymphoma. He was much younger, but he tempered his play knowing that The Boober didn’t have the stamina.
Later, he greeted Kitsy enthusiastically without a hiss.
He did the same with Miss Jenny.
He has really shown off his ability to be a paraclete with the adoption of Titanus Grumpicus. Titan is a grumpy senior kitty who spent far too long in the shelter and had to endure two failed adoptions. He came to live with us one month ago today.
Enter Tito, the paraclete.
Tito has really worked at making friends with Titan. Titan would hiss, spit and swat (no claws though). Tito would just carry on without a twitch. Since it’s taking Titan longer to adjust to Miss Jenny, Tito tends to place himself between them in order to avert any animosity.
Last night, Tito managed to coax Titan into a short game of tag. It was impressive. This morning, for the first time, Tito and Titan sniffed noses. Titan finally remembered to hiss, but Tito just did his kitty version of a shrug and went off to nap.
Tito deserves as much credit as we do (if not more) for helping Titan to adjust to his new home. Don’t get the impression that Tito is an angelic kitty or something. He’s far from it. However, he knows when his paraclete skills are needed and uses them well.
I wanted to post this yesterday, but I was too pooped to type. I spent the day at the fire department taking part in a disaster operations class for some volunteer work I do. The class was fun and I managed to stay awake though I hadn’t had any sleep in over 24 hours. Once I got home and sat on the bed, I melted. So today you have it. Hopefully, next Caturday will go up as planned.
Tito is adjusting well to the new tyrant. He pushes things with Titan a bit, but not in an aggressive manner. He walks up to him and doesn’t let a hiss deter him. As a result, Titan hissing a lot less. Tito is a beautiful little soul.
Miss Jenny is more careful around Titan. I think she got her feelings hurt when he smacked her nose a while back. She’s not scared or aggressive. She’s just more careful to give him space.
Mr. Titanescu or Titan of the White Whisker has made plenty of progress this last week. We leave the door to his room open unless we’re both going to be out. He’s exploring the apartment more and more. He’s finally beginning to explore our bedroom and the place where the other two hang out most.
This morning he did something amazing. He played. He was in the hall and did one of the quick 180s and dashed into the kitchen. Tito followed. He then dashed into his room at top speed followed by Tito. He did that twice and only at the very end did he remember to hiss at Tito. Tito just looked at him and sauntered away calmly. I swear I saw Tito smiling.
We also discovered that Titan has a bad drug habit.
I was lucky and got some pics of the tulips at Pier 39 before they were gone.
Fist things first. We want to congratulate our friend StateOfGrace for her adoption of Pearl, a bengal mix and Mabel, a beautiful black kitty. We know those two furbabies are very lucky and have a wonderful human who will love them, forever. Hugs and head bonks from the JBoD family.
Now… I’m beginning to get cranky. I want my rain and/or fog darnit! There’s too much sunshine. It’s hard to take pics that aren’t over exposed or suffering from terminal purple fringe. Oh well. We managed to escape and Lastech got a few nice pics in spite of the sunshine. These were taken around Lands End and Sutro Baths. It provided me with some much needed exercise as there were lots of stairs to deal with.
As for that white whiskered tyrant named Titan… He’s coming along. He’s still a hissing spitting old fart. Today we opened the door to his room and left it open for a while. He hissed at Tito. Tito was unfazed and ignored it while exploring Titan’s room. Jenny was napping elsewhere. 🙂
Another Caturday rolls around and life is beginning to smooth out a bit. Titan is still in his safe room but he’s adjusting well. We’re getting him started on kitty introductions. The day before yesterday, he saw Tito at the door (across the room) and he hissed. Yesterday, Tito was allowed to spend about 2 minutes exploring the room while Titan watched from the bed. He didn’t hiss. This morning, I cracked open the door and Titan came over and stopped about two feet away from Tito. He hissed once, but didn’t run away. He studied Tito for a moment and went back to his human pillow (aka Lastech). We’re advancing slowly. 🙂
As for the theme of today’s photos…
And now for something completely different. WARNING!! Cute overdose is imminent!
My apologies to everyone. We just haven’t been able to update the blog the way we like. Hopefully, we’ll do better in the future. Yesterday afternoon and this morning, we managed to for a walk out at Lands End and we came across two beautiful birds. Yesterday, we were down at Sutro Baths when we came across a Great Blue Heron.
This morning, we went back to Lands End, but took another trail. I hadn’t gone far when I spied this little hummingbird.
And now for the basement kitty update. Titan of the White Whisker is doing just fine. For the first two days, he did the senior cat’s version of “get off my lawn!!!”. But he’s much happier now. No more growling. He’s eating well and he’s very happy to see us. I think that by the weekend, he may be ready to sniff noses (very carefully) with Tito. If there’s no hissing, we’ll let them meet up a bit closer. We won’t try to go too fast though. Tito and Miss Jenny are no longer giving us the stink eye. 🙂
There is a new addition to the JBoD household. Recently, we found ourselves looking at our local shelters online. We weren’t in a hurry, but we wanted a rescue kitty. Last weekend, Lastech found one. His name was Titan and his picture showed him sporting a pair of bat wings. It was adorable.
Yesterday, we went to visit him. He’s ten years old and, born without a tail, he sports a very cute little nubbin instead. 🙂 From what we know of his story, he was adopted and returned to the shelter twice. The second time, it appears that he wasn’t introduced to the household properly and he was scared and hiding most of the time. Poor baby. We’ll take our time and introduce him slowly. We have a safe room all set up. There’s a futon, so Lastech and I can take turns staying with him. He and the other kitties can sniff at each other with a door between them for a while.
These are pics I took at the shelter when we met him.
These pics were all taken yesterday.
Oh yes, about Tito and Miss Jenny? Well, we came home with the smell of strange cat on our persons. Tito and Miss Jenny were not amused.
Today we brought him home. He’s currently hiding under the futon and I figure he’s nervous enough without me chasing him around with the camera. I’ll let him settle a bit before I do that. I would do anything if I could remove the trauma that any animal feels when they meet a new environment. All I can do is be patient and quiet. 🙂 He’s worth it.
