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March 16, 2013

The paraclete called Tito

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.

Kitten Tito and The Boober in the salad bowl

Later, he greeted Kitsy enthusiastically without a hiss.

Tito and Kitsy catching rays on the futon

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.

March 13, 2013

Midnight Movie Madness “Karate -Robo Zaborgar”: a boy and his bike

“Karate-Robo Zaborgar” – (114 mns, Japan, 2011 – NR)

As the saying goes, ‘first I was like OMG, then I LOL’d’… On this side of the ring, the good guys: Daimon and his motorcycle , the titular Zaborgar thingamajig. The Zaborgar thing transforms into a robot which fights bad guys and bad robots alike with karate. It’s also made from Daimon’s dead brother’s DNA, extracted and mechanized by Daimon’s Nobel Prize winning scientist dad.

If this wasn’t enough baggage, while training in karate years ago, Daimon witnessed the death of his father, who had been captured by the evil Sigma organization, trolling about in the sky aboard what looks like – well, a gigantic ass.

Thankfully, Daimon was spared the spectacle of his father’s humiliation (his word) at the hands of Dr. Akunomiya’s cyborg henchmen, who inflicted titty-twisters on the venerable scientist, before he leaped off the giant ass in the sky and got nuked in mid-air by a laser blast, exploding above Daimon’s karate class… Did I mention the professor used to breast-feed his sons..?

I know. At this point you might think an aspirin is in order but perhaps a stiff drink is more apropos. We still have to discuss the bad guys, the Samurai robot and the Diarrhea robot. That’s right: the Diarrhea robot, an ant spewing acid from both ends. As for Samurai robot, he has giant lips designed to kiss politicians on the mouth, stealing their DNA. Their karate skills are no match for Zaborgar, but Miss Cyborg and her missile-launching bra is another matter. Why, she even manages to steal Daimon’s heart (not literally)…

With Daimon’s loyalty tested by corrupt politicians he’s sworn to protect and his heart divided between Zaborgar and Miss Cyborg, which path will he take? To find out, let’s kill a few people and flash forward twenty-five years…

This is more than a revival of ’70s Japanese television, “Karate Robo Zaborgar” is a comedy well off the beaten path, in the same vein as “Gentlemen Broncos“. “Karate Robo Zaborgar” pits high-school misfits (both the good and bad guys) against the true villains: lecherous, corrupt politicians, with slow-mo explosions, Bruce Lee moves and moos, ludicrous subtitles and very weird innuendos…

“Karate Robo Zaborgar” gets five jellybeans….

March 10, 2013

Sunday cat update with pics

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.

March 4, 2013October 28, 2013

Tulips

I was lucky and got some pics of the tulips at Pier 39 before they were gone.

March 2, 2013March 2, 2013

Caturday: what you want and what you get

Waiting for the Pointy Eared people to work out their treaties and other political deadlocks, I look through older photos and forward to the tribe coming together.
So today is part retrospective, part look back to the future…

This is what I want:

Caturday Tito Kitsy Jenny — L to R: Maz, Jenny and yes, Tito

Tito does the camouflage very well on this dark shiny blanket, but I think Titan will blend in even better…

… This is what I get:

Jenny going monkey crazy on cat tower — “La Voltigeuse” on a cat tower that’s seen better days

And a really good thing it is that we “moored” the tower to the bookcase, or it would have been toppled countless times…

This is what I want:

Little Tito and Boober — I wuvs you Bubby…

The Boober did have the patience of a saint…

This is what I got:

The cat tower has seen better days — Young Tito pole dancing

Meanwhile, next door:

Titan in new surroundings — Titan a.k.a. Captain Stubby

Just under Titan’s stubby tail is a teddy bear. It’s not what it looks like: these are the bears’ eyes and nose.
Maybe in the future we’ll have a cat named Jupiter or Jove, and Titan will moon him, rather easy with that nub of his…

Dedicated to our spectacular dramatis personae Maz Whang and Boober…

Kitsy sunning in the kitchen — Dramatic Kitsy being… Dramatic

Boober and his toys — The ultimate charmer

Finally, I now realize I blamed the cats unfairly when I couldn’t find my socks… I had no idea!

February 27, 2013

Beach, Stairs, and a Tyrant named Titan

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.

Pretty purple flower at Mile Rock Beach by Lastech

Stairs near Sutro Bath — That’s a lot of stairs. This is just one of the ones we climbed. There were many more. Photo by Lastech

A Great Blue Heron (left), a seagull and seal rocks from Sutro Baths, by Lastech

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. 🙂

February 25, 2013February 25, 2013

Catso Fascista: Secundo Adventu

Some old aspects of the cat remain while new attitudes slowly appear. Looking at Titan’s russet accents, I am reminded of the Boober’s sable-brown fur. And way back East, where I imagine Titan might hail from, as far back as Romania where the Strigoi and Communist generals are the scourge of the people, bastards would kill for such a luxurious coat.

There’s a bit of Bukowski in him too, as he ambles over to the futon to cuddle and rub his chin on our face, smearing cat food all over and leaving streaks of fish flavored saliva with his slobbering kisses, hissing when the petting gets too close to his nubby tail, snapping unconvincingly.

Jenny and Tito came in tonight for a supervised visit, while the old coot watched from the bed, moaning and hissing softly in annoyance. They roamed around at a safe distance but still confident that Titanescu’s armored divisions were long sold to African or Middle-Eastern clients at a discount, and that his blunted incisors couldn’t quite sink into their necks. They knew and he knew.

The world has changed and continues to…

February 23, 2013

Caturday: The Good, The Mad, and The Bored

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!

February 21, 2013

Of birdies big and small and a basement kitty update

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. 🙂

February 16, 2013

Caturday: OMG we have a basement kitty!

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.

Titan gazing out of his room at the shelter.

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.

Titan immediately climbed onto Lastech's lap — Titan immediately climbed onto Lastech’s lap

As you can see, Titan has one white whisker

He settled right in and promptly fell asleep

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.