Animal bits

November 12, 2017November 12, 2017

Kitties, dog, sea lions, flowers and birds

Yes, we have kitties and the dog along with sea lions and more. There’s a bonus arachnid tossed in, but I’ll merely link to it so that my friends who are phobic won’t be triggered by it.

I intended to post sooner, but the world wouldn’t stop for me to get off. I’m still here. 🙂 Despite a couple of trips to the dentist’s office, our last month wasn’t awful. We had a couple of small adventures, the weather is changing, and the sea lions have been posing for Lastech.

First off though we must take care of the stars of this show. The pointy eared people and the floppy eared one need their chance to shine.

Here is Tito perfecting the art of the ‘dead bug’ position

This is our lovely Miss Jenny looking a tad smug

And here it the pissy tyrant Titanescu, looking (don’t tell him) adorable.

This is the goofy Miss Pepi giving us the profile pose.

Yes, as you can see, we managed to get photos of the critters this time. Speaking of critters, Lastech has been getting some nice pics of the sea lions at work. Working graveyard shift can make that a tad tough at times. Still, he got a couple of great ones.

Here’s a closeup of a young male (I think). He wasn’t as close as it looks though.

On some of the docks, they have placed the strips as a deterrent. Those strips don’t go quite all the way to the end.

The strips left room for one sea lion. The docks visible in the background are all set aside for the sea lions. The deterrence is so that people can get to and from their boats safely.

“Wait! Where are you going? I was going to make Espresso..!”

Sunrise was beautiful and the drive home was rainy. The rain has been helping with the fires up North, so it’s a good thing.

After the rain, we went off to Martinez to get some fresh air, cloud watch, and bird watch.

Snowy egret enjoying the sun. You can see the head of a turtle doing to the same at the bottom left side.

Before Halloween, we drove down to the Danville Library for a nature talk. It was all about the nocturnal creatures on Mount Diablo. Trivia bit: The Gray Fox is the only American canid that can climb trees. They have claws like a cat. Anyhow, while there, I got to meet a lovely tarantula named Scarlett O’Hairy. If you click on her name, you can see the pic.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully I won’t take so long until the next post.

February 11, 2017

Caturday: Floods and blinding sunlight

I feel like a vampire. I stepped out into the sunlight and expected to burst into flame at any second. Added to that is the fact that I couldn’t get my eyes open and the sunlight made me sneeze. Yes, I’m one of those who sneeze repeatedly in strong sunlight. I can’t complain too much though. We’re way over our normal rainfall amounts and I needed time to air out the trailer. It reeks of humidity and wet dog. Especially the wet dog part. Ewwwwwwww

Here’s a pic that Lastech took of the Walnut Creek flood channel. The creek is normally only about 12 to 15 feet wide. This isn’t the highest it’s been. It’s been at its highest late at night, so we’ve missed it.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the news coming out of the state with roads washed out and the Oroville Dam spillway FUBAR. It’s a mess out here. We survived fine, but many didn’t. I’m hoping the next round of storms won’t be so messy. Here’s a vid of the problem at the dam for anyone who may have missed it.

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

Miss Pepi watching Titanescu in his sunbeam

The other day I was sitting at the laptop and heard a very loud ruckus in the shrub. It was the sparrows. The male sparrows are wife hunting. There were two of them trying to get her attention. The one on her left started to do his dance, but she wasn’t having it and ran him off. The one on her right was more persistent, but she still wasn’t having it. He wouldn’t go away, so she took matters into her own beak, so to speak. This all happened very fast and I barely got the two pics below. Miss birdy reached out with a claw and grabbed Mr. hotshot by the leg, dangled him upside down, and proceeded to peck the crap out of him.

Mr hotshot managed to get his leg free, but as you can see, she’s dangling him by a feather. Her beak is barely visible at the top.

And don’t come back! She dropped him and his fall was anything but graceful.

Today, the Towhee came to flap and preen on the fence. I love the soft brown and rust tones.

See you next week

September 24, 2016

Caturday: Summer’s last hurrah

Yes, summer is over, but it didn’t let go without a fight. It’s going to be close to 100 for the next several days. I think we will all be happy to see summer go away. The beasties are not fond of the air conditioning. I’m not fond of it either.

Once the weather cools down again, we’ll have a couple of adventures. We are going to visit a different botanical garden in the Berkeley Hills. In the meantime here are the pointy eared people and some birdies.

And now for the birds pics and a couple of not-bird pics.

With luck, we’ll have more variety coming up instead of just birds.

Just for fun, here’s a glamorous kitty

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.

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 18, 2015

Kitties, a dog, a sunset, and a bird

We missed Caturday again. Life gets strange. We’re making up for it this time, with kitties, dog, sunset AND a beautiful bird. Aside from still adjusting to graveyard shifts, we’re prepping for a short move. For whatever reason, to be designated as an RV park (as opposed to a trailer park), no one can stay beyond 6 mos. without moving out for a day (two nights). It’s a bit of a PITA, but our little abode will be towed out to the street behind the park for that time, after which we’ll return for another 6 mos. It’s worth it.

I can’t believe that it’s been almost 6 mos. already. We haven’t killed each other living in such a small space. In fact, we’re adapting well. I’m still getting rid of stuff. I avoid buying anything new (other than food stuffs) without seriously thinking about it first. I’ve done odd things like dump my two pyrex measuring cups and replace them with a plastic 2-cup measuring cup. Enough little things like that and it really lightens the load. I think the only glass or ceramic items we have left are our coffee cups, the Melitta coffee pot, and the cat food dishes. We no longer buy in bulk, except for the canned cat food. Both of us are still MUCH happier than we were before.

The kitties are happier too. In spite of adding a dog to the mix, they have adapted and learned to relax a lot more than before. Even though trailer walls are anything but soundproof, it’s much more quiet here. They like that. Speaking of kitties, here they are. Miss Jenny’s pics are a short series. They aren’t perfect photos, but we thought they were funny.

Tito: Yes, I'm slowly shredding the window dressings. Is it a problem? — Tito: Yes, I’m slowly shredding the window dressings. Is it a problem?

Miss Jenny

Noooooo, you don't say — Noooooo, you don’t say

Titanescu: Hungry eyes. I would say evil eyes, but he wasn't on nip at the time. — Titanescu: Hungry eyes. I would say evil eyes, but he wasn’t on nip at the time.

Miss Pepita: Gimme the cookie! Gimme the cookie!

After sleeping and listening to some rain off and on, we went off to watch the sunset last night.

While watching the sunset, we saw a pair of birds hunting. They were not as large as the hawks I’m used to watching and their color was different. However, they are incredibly beautiful and manage a very graceful hover before diving on their prey. I didn’t know what they were so I asked some friends on FB and was told that they were White-tailed Kites.

I went off to find a vid that would show the beautiful hovering and found two videos by a local documentary maker named Alex Burke. Both were filmed in the East Bay hills and are a joy to watch. Both vids end with the Kite eating its kill, so if that bothers you just avoid the very end. 🙂

September 17, 2015

Every puddle a book, every turd a story

The Whizzers of Oz…
Puddles and turds, oh my…

Such explorers dogs are… Every time the red heads leave the Endurance for a walk, Pepita dashes out, reading the neighborhood nose to ground. Someone aptly coined the expression “reading the newspaper” and that’s exactly what she does.

Hmmm. A middle-aged shepherd mix with a diet slightly too high on protein, suffering from abandonment anxiety and an imperceptible limp in the right hind leg, stopped right here 6 days ago. His owner feeds him table scraps at times, real refried beans mashed in bacon grease, not the canned stuff. But the dog food itself is mostly dried stuff, from a poorly sealed bag making it too soft.

All this and more from a desiccated turd on a sun burnt patch of grass. Sherlock Holmes got nothing on this hound. Much like people have done on the Internet, dogs who never see one another communicate without really interacting, but absolutely need their olfactory landscape like we do good books and foods.

At the Lime Ridge open space, Pepita stopped dead in her tracks. Could it be? This patch of dead grass around this fire hydrant..! Oh the rich, full characters, their histories,diets and desires! The stories may well be familiar, but they offer all the comfort and affection of a certain edition of “the Count of Monte Cristo” with just a touch of excitement.

You must remember this,
Louis Armstrong was misinformed,
A piss is more than just a piss…

July 27, 2014

Cock up at the park

Given the construction, we avoid leaving the kitties alone when the workers are doing their thing. Instead, we left very early and went to the park at sunrise. The last time we were there, we got to watch ducks, geese and robins. This time, it was very quiet.

Not a cloud in the sky as Karl The Fog was on a short vacaion. Photo by Lastech

Even with no clouds, the colors were pretty

Since a couple of ducks were the only wildlife we found at Stow Lake, we wandered off to another lake for a walk.

It had been a very quiet morning, all things considered. While slighty disappointed that we didn’t see more wildlife, we were very happy with the sunrise and eucalyptus and lack of other humans. In other words, it was peaceful. It didn’t last. Our peace and quiet was abruptly shattered.

We headed off around the next curve in the trail and came face to face with the rare and elusive Golden Gate Bawk-Bawk.

Here you see them investigating the noms that some human left for them — Here you can see them investigating the noms that some human left for them

This Bawk-Bawk has paused long enough to pose for me — This Bawk-Bawk stopped long enough to pose for me

Abandoning the noms left by humans, they can be seen scratching in the grass

Our very quiet morning turned into a rare event and will be much remembered. As we left, the Bawk-Bawks were safely roosting in the nearby shrubbery.

July 1, 2014

Duck, duck, goose, goose, goose!

Here are just a few ducks and geese I’ve found at Golden Gate Park. 🙂

June 27, 2014June 28, 2014

Spellbinding

The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever ~Jacques Cousteau~

Once in a while I like to take a stroll in the cold sea water. Earlier today, the water at Baker beach was a nice warm 59 degrees and the air temperature, a balmy 67. Karl The Fog was draping the Golden Gate Bridge in a lovely shade of gray. To put it bluntly, it was a very beautiful time by the shore.

Only a wee bit of the Golden Gate Bridge is visible

I thought the weather was great and I wore a short sleeved t-shirt. However, it was cool enough that you could tell the tourists from the locals.

I watched a seagull wading in the surf and then flapping away.

Then my phone went off. I usually turn it off when I’m out, but I forgot. Then I realized it was Lastech who was watching from the parking lot up above. I answered to hear him giving me a “fins in the water” alert. The bottlenose dolphins were out romping.

It was amazing to watch them. I wish I had been faster with the camera, but I did better than the last time. 🙂

Now for some bonus pics. We were on our way home and we stopped at a red light. We were right next to the freeway. I saw movement to my right and saw a hawk land on the ground just on the other side of the chain link fence. It was less than ten feet away.

To be honest, I never know what I’m going to see when we go out. I’m always amazed. 🙂