Tito – Page 6 – jellybeansofdoom.com

July 10, 2016July 10, 2016

Caturday delayed: Diversion needed

Yes, a diversion is needed. The news has gone from bad to worse and we’re bombarded on all sides. Through all of this, we need momentary diversion and time to recharge the brain. I know that’s true for me, at any rate. This is our wee bit of diversion before doing whatever we can to affect change in our world.

Friday, Lastech made it to work even though traffic was snarled a bit. A semi truck caught fire and closed a freeway connector in an area he had to traverse to get to the bridge. It wasn’t too awful, but it was a tad messy. A few years ago, a truck fire weakened the steel and concrete structure enough that it collapsed. This past Friday the connector was closed from 1:30 pm until 11:30 pm. Fate smiled upon him. Yesterday, he left for work just in time. If he had left just a few minutes later, he would have hit a protest that shut down his off-ramp. This is the Bay Area, after all and stuff happens. Fate smiled upon him again. Not sure if three times will be a go or not. 🙂

No mattress yet. I knew there would be a delay as I ordered it on the Fourth of July weekend, so I’ll be patient. I do look forward to the email notifying me that it shipped though. I won’t worry until at least Tuesday. This company is not a fly-by-night type and came recommended by a friend, so I’m not worried on that score.

Lastech worked on the Fourth of July as the crowds were expected to be huge. There were no problems, thought Karl the Fog made every attempt to eat the fireworks. This year, the company providing the display arranged for it to be much closer to the ground. It was good. In previous years, people turned out to watch pretty colored clouds instead of the fireworks. It’s the season of fog, after all.

Even with Karl the Fog present, the display was still nice

And then there was a bee

Now it’s time for the pointy-eared and droopy-eared ones to shine.

Tito lounging in the corner of the dinette

Miss Jenny gets cold when the A/C is on. She burrows under the blankets

Forgive me please. I couldn’t resist.

July 2, 2016

Caturday: A sad day

It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to a man who gave voice to the Holocaust. I’ve read his books and “Night” was required reading in many schools. He will be greatly missed.

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented ~ from Night by Elie Weisel (1928 – 2016)

Things are moving along over here in sunny Concord. It feels like summer, though the temps aren’t too bad this week. I’m able to turn off the A/C at night, which is nice. Our lovely stereo suddenly quit working. I don’t think it will be hard to fix, but I have to go pick up a tool in order to do the job. I’ll do that on Tuesday, when we have time. We’re also waiting on our latest, much needed item. We ordered a new mattress. The ones that come with most RVs are really crappy. We’re replacing it with a much better gel foam mattress. Hooray for comfort.

As for the beasties, they are snoozing all over the trailer today. It’s warm inside as I didn’t feel like turning on the A/C. It’s not too warm though, so they’re enjoying it.

Tito looking sweet and innocent. He had just finished his daily dinette shredding.

Here’s a delightful kitty watching a scary movie

June 25, 2016

Caturday: It’s fire season

It’s certainly fire season and it’s probably going to be a really bad one. The drought and bark beetles have killed millions of trees and the rains promoted a lot of grass growth. The grasses are now dry and highly flammable. There have been multiple fires in CA and the rest of the Southwest, but the fire at Lake Isabella has already taken lives and burned an area bigger than the city of San Francisco. Some of the photos at that link are as beautiful as they are horrifying. As I type, I’m listening to Con Fire battling a grass fire over by Hwy 4. While the pointy eared people and the floppy eared one are in no danger, the fires are worrisome.

Speaking of the furry ones…

Theo Jansen and his travelling exhibition is at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. I hope we can go see it before it goes away.

June 18, 2016

Caturday: Neighborhood watch

We’re back. I had postponed Caturday and meant to post on Sunday, but the news that day was just too awful and and I didn’t have the heart. That kind of hatred is something I just can’t understand. Places like Pulse have been safe havens where those who are or aren’t fully out of the closet can go and just be themselves. Now they have to fear that as well. My heart goes out to the survivors and the victims’ families. My heart also goes out to all of my LGBT brothers and sisters. The grief and fear are yours as well.

The pointy eared people are official neighborhood watch cats. They like to watch the neighbors and Miss Jenny loves to snarl at them.

Pepita wants to be in on the neighborhood watch too.

We’re going to have a not so delightful heatwave this week. My parents will have to cope with temps of 120f (48c) or more. YUCK! Thank goodness they have A/C. It won’t be that hot here. High 90s most likely. Sadly, we’ll be running the air conditioner most of the time now as summer is here. I love it, but I really don’t like the noise. I like to hear the birds. I shouldn’t complain. The rest of the year is pretty darned nice.

And now, here’s a drunk squirrel for you.

June 4, 2016

Caturday: a measure of evil

Titan:
[Tahyt-n]
a person or thing of enormous size, strength, power, influence, etc.
one that is gigantic in size or power, one that stands out for greatness of achievement.
See also: a unit of measure in Hell.

The dog knows to give him a wide berth as he ambles past, but sometimes not quick enough. Pepita instinctively avoids any kind of eye contact, even as he stops to stare at her, trying to decide whether to expend the energy to whap her. In contrast, Tito has the patience of a saint, even as she pokes her nose at him roughly, the little brute.

Pepita can not only be a little rough, she is uncouth: she farted on me as I petted her to calm her down and makes gruesome slurping noises as she licks my toes on my way to the bathroom. I wish it were easier to get up early in the morning to let her run off-leash at the arboretum, but I’m usually dead asleep until 10 am… So she has a lot of pent up energy, which is only reined in by her fear of you-know-who. Aside from cabin fever, she requires a few minutes of greeting when I come home from work which, if cut a little short, will make Pepi nip at me. Her version of grabbing. “Come here, you!”

Jenny spends much of her time on our bed these days, a very welcome change from our days in the City. And so does Tito, who spends most night at the foot of the bed sound asleep. Two things will make Jenny growl at the window: the neighbor coming home and the groundskeepers’ cherry picker.

Miss Jenny only moments after snarling at the neighbor

Titanescu perfecting his aura of evilness.

Pepi knows that Titanescu is walking by and she won't look — Pepi knows that Titanescu is walking by and she won’t look

And now for something different

May 29, 2016

OMG! It’s been a whole year already

Yes, a whole year! On this day in 2015 We moved about 30 miles from San Francisco to Concord, CA and took up residence in our little trailer. What an interesting year it has been.

The pointy eared people not only adapted well, they have thrived. Of course, I suspect that they take great joy in carefully shredding our once lovely interior. Oh well, it’s what kitties do. They’re little furry little Klingons.

Miss Jenny followed this pose by turning to look out the window and snarling at the neighbor. She's weird that way. — Miss Jenny followed this pose by turning to look out the window and snarling at the neighbor. She’s weird that way.

Tito paused in his couch shredding long enough to pose for me

Then, on Labor day weekend, someone found a dog in a dumpster just before the arrival of the trash truck. The dog came home with Lastech and has been here ever since.

As the year progressed, we watched the hills turn from brown to green and back again.

We’ve managed to discover lizards, all manners of ducks, geese, hawks, strange flowers and plants.

We even came across a big rattler on one of our hikes.

To top it off, we’ve managed to look out from on top of the world, or at least our teeny little corner of it.

While we had to deal with a few emergencies, like ER visits for Lastech and Pepi, life has been good. Our lives are much better here than in San Francisco. All in all, it has been a very good year.

May 21, 2016

Caturday: Titanescu packs a punch

Yes, Titanescu packs a serious punch. His punch may not utilize the claws, but it’s a very loud WHAP! Poor Pepi gets punched often. Tito makes Titanescu angry? He runs over to punch Pepi. He wants food and we’re not fast enough? He runs over to punch Pepi. Sometimes he starts to walk past her, but stops to look at her. Then he runs to punch her. Poor dog. In the wee hours when we’re trying to sleep and Pepi is safely tucked away in her crate, Titanescu punches the wall instead. To be specific, it’s the wall panel right next to my head. If that doesn’t wake me up to feed him, he’ll go over and start punching the mini blinds. Punching is his version of knocking crap off of shelves.

Ah, but we love our little black curmudgeon from he!!

And now it’s time for all of our pointy-eared people and the floppy eared one.

Titanescu thinking about punching something

As for Lastech and I? We’re fine. It was in the 90s a couple of days ago. Today it’s only 65. The hills have gone from emerald green to their summer tan. Here are a couple of flower pics we caught before they vanished in the heat.

In spite of being Titanescu’s punching bag, Pepi is a happy dog. Here she is having a good run.

May 14, 2016

Caturday: Catgirl edition

It’s been two years already! Catgirl (Miyuki) and Carolyn got married two years ago. We were late with our anniversary wishes last year as we were in the middle of moving, but we didn’t miss it this year. Our favorite catgirl has a wonderful little blog called Neko Neko’s Movie Litterbox where she writes wonderful reviews on horror films from all over the world. We love her blog.

As for us, our one year anniversary of the move will be coming up. The last year has been interesting, with the last 4 months being the wrong kind of interesting. Lastech, Pepi, and my mom in the ER/Hospital and other pain-in-the-tuchus events. It was all capped off by someone backing into our car in the parking garage. Lucky for us, they were insured. We got our car back yesterday.

The pointy eared people are doing well, at any rate.

Tito: Does this couch make my butt look big?

Miss Jenny: Why yes, I've shredded the couch. That's what it's there for. — Miss Jenny: Why yes, I’ve shredded the couch. That’s what it’s there for.

Pepita perfecting her "noms?" look. — Pepita perfecting her “noms?” look.

NoooooOOOOOooooOOOOOOoooooo!

May 7, 2016

Caturday: contented cats and a hot dog

Happy Caturday everyone. The last week has gone from highs in the 80s to a high of 60. Of course, we decided to go hike when it was in the 80s. We went back to Briones and picked a trail that wasn’t strenuous. The dog wasn’t amused. Pepi was hot. She let us know she was hot. She flopped in the middle of the trail and looked at us with her tongue hanging out and with a look that said “Dammit! I’m HOT”. We were fine. Pepi wasn’t. We gave her plenty of water and headed back to the car after we were a mere half mile in. The hike wasn’t a total wash though, as you’ll see below.

The pointy eared people on the other hand, are contented. They’re happy to lay around in the trailer watching the birds, planes and neighbors go by.

As for that hike, we went to Briones. It’s a regional park that is located about 6 miles West of us. It was really warm, but not miserable. We chose a nice fairly level trail. It was beautiful. We did remember to watch for snakes as the weather was perfect for them and there has already been a rattlesnake bite at Lime Ridge where we like to walk Pepi. It pays to be careful. Here are a few pics that Lastech took.

A panoramic shot looking East. Mount Diablo is visible in the background.

Once we reached the area where Lastech took the panoramic shot, Pepi decided she was pooped. She flopped in the dirt with her tongue hanging out and didn’t want to get up. We gave her water.

We got her back up and headed back. We stopped in the shade a few times, to make sure she drank water.

She went from a hot dog to a wet dog. We poured some water over her and she liked it.

Big ole northern Pacific Rattlesnake wandering across the trail. It was about 5 feet long and healthy.

Poor Pepi was so pooped that she never saw the snake. Lastech kept her out of range while I took pictures. This is why she is never off leash and why I keep her out of tall grass. When we got back to the car, she flopped in my lap and went to sleep.

Trivia bit: Adult California ground squirrels are resistant to rattlesnake venom.

Now for a hummingbird rescue

April 30, 2016April 30, 2016

Caturday: Attack of the chirping poopy bird

Happy Caturday to all. It has been a quiet week in the park, but a mess for Lastech who is working tons of overtime. He’s not getting much time to relax these days.

It was quiet until Thursday when suddenly there was a loud flapping in the skylight. The ceiling in our trailer is only 6 and a half feet high, which makes the skylight very close. A sparrow had decided to land on the screen. It chirped like mad, dropped a poopy on the screen, then went back to chirping madly. The pointy eared people and a droopy-eared dog went berserk. The cats swarmed the dining room table trying to get to the bird and Pepi started barking. The bird was unperturbed and never cast a glance in our direction. It spent several minutes on the screen before moving on.:)

Speaking of the pointy eared people, here they are.

Miss Jenny looking annoyed because I interrupted her bird watching for a picture.

Tito watching the birdies on the strip of grass outside

Titanescu basking in the sun. It was warm, but I didn't have the heart to deploy the awning and deprive him of his bliss. — Titanescu basking in the sun. It was warm, but I didn’t have the heart to deploy the awning and deprive him of his bliss.

The rainy season is mostly over and the hills are turning to their summer brown. There are still nice batches of wild mustard out there though.

And now for something rather unusual. I’ve heard of rescuing a cat from a tree, but not this.