Animal bits

August 17, 2011October 30, 2013

It’s JBoD’s Birthday!

One year ago today, we made our first post, Welcome to JBoD. The blog has been a work-in-progress ever since.

For those who may not know, jellybeansofdoom is named after our kitties and their jellybeans, that come with claws attached.

These beans belong to a very sweet natured, but very paranoid kitty named Tito. Tito is a domestic shorthair and we found him (as a kitten) at the SFSPCA. It was love at first sight.

Tito's baby picture — Tito’s baby picture

These beans, on the other hand, belong to the class clown named Kitsune. Kitsune is fearless to the point of lunacy. We would find him hanging from the chandelier if we had one.

Kitsune, also called Kitsy or Mazuzu Whang? has no baby picture as he was an adult when we brought him home. His wrinkly breed is called Sphynx.

Of course, none of this would have happened without the bestest kitty on the planet. We lost him to lymphoma a couple of years ago, but he is still a part of our lives.

A friend made this for us. It’s so very true.

August 16, 2011October 29, 2013

Calling Alfred Hitchcock

We were driving around Stow Lake at Golden Gate Park looking for wildlife when we found it. I was hollering “whoa” and Lastech was muttering something about a gagglef@&k of birds. 🙂

Of course, the Mary Poppins song “Feed the Birds” came to mind, but Hitchcock memories overruled. At least we weren’t at Bodega Bay for this one.

August 15, 2011October 18, 2013

Summer Fog, Naked Ladies and Big Birds

Fog — Bernalwood from Twin Peaks hiding in the fog

It is summer in San Francisco, meaning lots of fog and cool temperatures. We returned to Twin Peaks to check out the view and this is what we saw.

Later, we went to McLaren Park to visit the duck pond. That’s when I saw the naked ladies. No, not the porn variety. The flower variety. 🙂 They are popping up all over the city and providing a wonderful splash of color against the summer browns and golds that prevail at this time of year.

Also at the duck pond…

I don’t want to forget the big birds. I could hear the hawk having a conversation of sorts with another one that I couldn’t locate. The crow was just being a crow and posed nicely for me.

August 9, 2011August 9, 2011

Owl’d tales of San Francisco

Yesterday I posted an owl photo I took at the Palace of Fine Arts. We returned this morning before The City woke up and this time I managed to catch two barn owls with my camera.

August 5, 2011October 30, 2013

Friday Night Cat Blogging with Lastech

Time for the boys to shine.

This is the city. I carry a badge. Okay, a holographic access badge, and I work nights. Many of my ‘encounters’ involve wildlife, raccoons, skunks, possums and feral cats, beasties whom I’ve grown fond of…

I love my job. At night, ‘laser eyes’ stare back at me as I throw scraps of food at them. I never knew raccoons ate yogurt, but there you go. My apologies, I digress…
The area I work in covers about 10 square miles, and my favorite corner is ruled by a black cat I call Mack, as in Mack The Knife. Mackie Messer.

Mack the Knife before the Jack the raccoon

I have no idea how old Mackie is, that mildly scruffy black cat with his entourage: Pirate Jenny, another black cat which I assume is female, Jack, a young raccoon who backs down every time Mack stares at him, and Paulie, the nervous skunk.

Mack the Knife facing raccoon — Mack the Knife facing Jack the raccoon

Yes, I feed them, but not in such a way as to make them dependent on my visits. I do enjoy the look of recognition from Mackie and respect the pecking order he has created.The shots show Mackie alone, then approached by Jack, and finally Mackie alone after Jack backed off, as I dispensed food….

Curious about Mackie..? here is the original video from “Three penny opera”.

Here is the Pirate Jenny song as done by Marianne Faithfull. The original is great, but this is also well done.

August 2, 2011October 29, 2013

Tuesday Anniversary, Birthday, and Humor

Two years ago today, Lastech and I made an important decision. We quit smoking. I had wanted to quit, but Lastech wasn’t there yet and I wasn’t going to bug him. I brought home a book from the library. It was called The Easy Way To Stop Smoking by Allen Carr, and it was a short and easy read. Lastech started reading it while I was cooking. I read it the next day. The day after that, we had our last smoke. We have had two years of freedom and no intention of ever lighting up again. 🙂 Hooray for us. If you wish to read the book, your library will probably have it. Most of them do. The price at Amazon is fairly cheap, as hardcovers go (see link). While the method in the book is cold turkey, it doesn’t matter. It’s a very good read even with nic replacement. In the end, it doesn’t matter how you quit.

I wouldn’t remember the day we quit smoking except that the day before (August 1st) was my mom’s birthday. She is now an octogenarian. Happy birthday to mom!