More on Sunpatches

Typical Sunday morning, Lulu and Simone vying for a sun patch. Simone came up and made herself as long as she could to get maximum sun. Lulu came up later to try and get a pinch of sunshine, which she is getting here. Can you see the little spot of sun on the tip of her ear?

Cats love sunshine!

The second picture was taken just minutes before Simone was stretching to get more ounces of shine, lost her balance and fell right off the bed.

GATOS!

Zen Moment

I came upon Koof mesmerized by this squirrel. She was just sitting there watching him, kind of like how they say you could meditate watching fish or jellyfish. She was zenning out to the squirrel.

I came up from behind her and she didn't hear me. I got on the ground and took these pictures of her from right behind her. The flash kind of snapped her out of her meditation and she promptly came over to me begging for pets!

Oh yeah, she did two deep downward dog stretches before she came over to me. For some reason I cannot capture the downward dog on camera. It has a delay on it that lasts about as long as the stretch usually does!

In the middle of writing the above sentence I went to let Maxine outside and she and koof greeted each other facing one another and both did a downward dog stretch! It looked like they were bowing to each other.

Two Headed Cat

We are having a quiet weekend doing absolutely nothing. Without a kitchen, a lot of our activities are put on hold.

But that hasn't stopped the Black Radishes from all their shenanigans!

I went into the kitchen about two hours ago and this is what I found. Lulu will come into an areayuv edk,m (that is Lulu's contribution to the blog - she just jumped up here for pets and jumped on the computer). Lulu will come into an area that Felix is sleeping in and flop herself on to him, practically begging for attention. Felix, surprisingly patient with her, will usually start licking her and put his arm around her.

Of course, it doesn't stop there, it almost always ends in a cat fight! Not really a fight, but some hardcore play.

Mr. Yakamora

We are going to Japan in September. I am studying the culture and language in an attempt to avoid getting stuck in the middle of nowhere and knowing no other word but, "Konichiwa," which is a simple greeting. Anyway, each cat now has their Japanese name. It had to happen, right? This is Simone in a perfect scratch stretch on the scratcher Jimmy posted up the side of the shelves.

Simone's Japanese name is Yoko.



Lulu's (Koof) Japanese name has been hard to find. We wanted an exact translation of "little ghost" which is her primary designation (because she is the one we love the most).






And Felix, well, it is perfect for him . . . Mr. Yakamora. I actually think this is his real name it suits him so well!

Neighborhood Watch

This is Felix watching a neighborhood stray cat who we call Ribbons (its a long story, please see previous posts). He really works himself up. He sits as still as a statue . . . except his tail, which flips wildly from side to side in a sharp staccato.

None of the other cats are as vigilant about scoping out the competing cats and none get as worked up about another cat on our property as Felix. Now, he is the male of the bunch so maybe that is the reason. Maybe it is simply his personality.

Simone and Nino

This is a great picture of Nino and Simone, an unlikely duo since Simone is such a lone wolf. She does like her sun patches though and its difficult to lure or chase her away from them!

Felix and Nino startled one another this week and they had a bit of an altercation. I think it ended with Felix jumping on Nino's face! Keep in mind though, Felix does not have any claws so it was probably more of a fright for each of them than a fight. The cats definitely know to get out of his way when he is excited!

And tonight he should be very excited - ALIX is coming home! He will get picked up tonight around 9:00 if all goes well with their flights and everything. I think he has had a good time with us but is probably ready for his own home and definitely ready for his person Alix to be with him. I am sure he misses her a lot!!!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

This is Lulu walking across the top of the closet. She is the only one who can do this with any grace, the heavier cats get too easily thrown off balance with the tops of the hangers.

Jimmy took this picture with his camera, I think it turned out great.

Gatolino in action!!!!

Nino

I think Nino misses Alix! He has had a pretty good week with Jimmy and the cats, but it has been kind of a crazy week. I have been suddenly gone and then during the days we have had the contractors and their crew here working on the kitchen remodel. He whines a lot at night with this unique air being puffed out of the snout and had one accident in the bathroom.

He follows Jimmy EVERYWHERE. Some people would love that kind of attention and loyalty but it kind of makes Jimmy loco.

As you can see from the picture, he likes to collect the toys and put them around the bed.

Donation Dog

Every year at the annual dog show we volunteer to bring Maxine to work at the Greyhound Pets of America booth and be the Ambassador for the greyhounds. You may remember pictures from last years event where Maxine had to wear the purple lace donation jacket and she was very, very disheartened by the cheap ugly wares!

This year, Jimmy put this together and it was a much bigger draw for the crowd. We made double the money we raised last year and Jimmy had more conversations with people about greyhounds. All round it was a successful event.

Too bad I had to miss it!

Meet Andrew

This is my friend Karen's dog, Andrew. He is some sort of a shepherd mix and a very sweet dog. I was actually with her when she found him at the SPCA in San Francisco (we call it the Taj Mahal).

He is SO patient with the children! He tolerates riding him, pulling of the tail, touching his face, ANYTHING.

They do have another dog, it is Jay's dog named Tai. Jay lives for that dog (really, he has an oil painting of his dog above his piano). But Tai does not like the children very much and lets them know it!

You can see a picture of Tai on Jay's website and learn more about the Carolina dog as a breed or sign up for a clinical trial: http://www.questclinical.com/tai.html.

Abyssinian Cats

I was in Marin County visiting my friend who had just received some bad news. One of the things we did was purchase some more koi fish for their pond.

When we visited the pet store, there was the most beautiful, little, unique kittens in the store. They were light brown with some areas covered with a darker brown, very lithe and sleek. I took these pictures and then asked the clerk what kind of cats they were.

Abyssinian!

These are some of Jimmy's favorite cats, although he was quick to point out that this was no place to purchase a cat! No reason to buy one from a pet store when there are so many cats and kittens looking for homes at the SPCA. I am sure they don't have many Abyssinian cats

Kitchen cats

Cats really do like change! We had just finished the demo of the kitchen (took the sink and oven out, took all the tile off the counters) and as soon as there was a quiet moment the cats jumped right on top of the now exposed dishwasher top. Jimmy put two clams on the spot and now it is the new, hip, favorite spot. Especially when the sun shines in like this!

Walking the Greyhounds

I had to go out of town unexpectedly so some of these pictures were taken from Jimmy's cellphone. This one is of him walking the two greyhounds!

Nino gets really, really exited before a walk. Not to be outdone, Maxine matches that excitement with her own. So whenever you reach for the leash there is suddenly a chaotic frenzy of energy. And lots of leaping!!!!

We also started the kitchen remodel project. We will not have a sink or oven for the next two weeks! So much going on and Jimmy has to do it all by himself!

Two Dogs on the Bed????

I thought this could never happen!

Maxine usually will not allow anyone on the bed with her. In fact, when Alix and I first started to hang out this was one of the issues between Nino and Maxine.

So Max has come a long way.

Alix, enjoy!

Clean Beds and Drive By Truckers

Anyone familiar with Jimmy or our household will know that we are all about keeping things clean, neat and organized. Well, of course, as soon as Alix dropped Nino off we had to clean his bed. Unbeknownst to us it was not as easy as it looked.

We unzipped the exterior to find a mishmash of fluff inside, the carcass of a much better bed of days long gone by.

So we put it all in a garbage bag and washed the exterior. Meanwhile we found an old dog bed and put all the fluff neatly in its own new shell so everything is clean and contained.

Jimmy could sleep that night and apparently . . . so could KOOF!

The Thinker

I caught Nino in this adorable position, tear dropping over the edge of the chair. Isn't this hysterical? Maxine would never dare climb up on a chair and chill like this but Nino makes it look comfortable.

Just for the record, even Nino is not immune to the Jimmy nicknames. Here they are in the order that they evolved: Onion, O-Skin, Big Lug, eDork.

The last one comes from the recent revelation of Nino's origins. There is a huge database with all the greyhound id numbers, which are tattooed into their ears!

Would you want a tattoo in your ear????

But it lets us track their history back pretty darn far. I think we have information going back to the 1800's about Maxine. Amazing!

As an aside, I just had some very bad news about a dear friend of mine and the ONLY animal that came to comfort me when I was crying was . . . take one guess . . . .

Yep, NINO!

Dr. Pepper Scratcher

These cats LOVE to scratch. The more scratch posts the better. When we got our couch I thought for sure the cats would tear it up, but Jimmy bought this little cardboard scratcher and put it right next to the couch. They absolutely love that scratcher! Not to say that little Koof doesn't occasionally scratch the couch (and we keep a blanket over it when no one is over) but I thought it would be completely destroyed within the first few weeks.

The scratcher decoy works!

This is the second generation scratcher, now elevated on an old Dr. Pepper carton. They love the elevation and they adore this simple, inexpensive scratcher.

Better the scratcher than the couch!!!!

Dental Floss and Cats Don't Mix

Jimmy sent me an email today titled Cat Floss. You could also call it Butt Floss. I think you get the picture. For those with weak hearts, you should probably move on to the next blog.

So last night at about 10:45 we realized Simone was passing a long piece of dental floss through her system. The resulting image was a long piece of dental floss coming out her bottom. Jimmy quickly flew into action (thank god!) and grabbed the scissors and chopped that floss right down. We quarantined her to the bathroom (passing dental floss results in lots of poop strewn about) and Jimmy started scrubbing!

Once we were all decontaminated we made sure Simone had all the comforts of home in her cellblock and turned in for the night.

I awoke this morning with that horrible Friday morning feeling of "Oh its Saturday!" only to quickly realize that NO it was not Saturday. In fact, it was POOP FRIDAY! I bolted up in bed and ran into the bathroom and found a bathroom practically brush stroked in poop.

Jimmy ended up taking Simone to the vet Friday and making sure she was ok. When he called me he said, "At least it was waxed, unflavored dental floss." And unfortunately I had to correct him, she had actually eaten MY brand which had the now unfortunate name of "SuperGlide Extra with Mint."

This is her after the vet, apparently no worse for the wear, ready for her next snack: DENTAL FLOSS.

Just kidding! Curious as a cat is all I can say.

Enork Runner

Nino just winked at me right when I wrote his racing name in the title of this blog! Literally, I just looked up and his face was above the computer and he winked at me! Amazing.

So Nino is visiting us for a wonderful ten days. Maxine and him are already chilling, like only greyhounds can do.

[Jimmy was just watching the cats and said, "Why does Kaf always ambush the other cats when they are in the crapper?"]

His parental unit dropped him off this afternoon and for some reason he always follows Jimmy around. Right now his dog bed is in the wash and he is helping Jimmy with the laundry. Nothing like a whole gang of helpers!

You can't tell in this second picture, but Koof got all excited about Nino's presence and started rolling all over the chair and trying to entice Nino, the big big dog, to "play" with her. She does not have that natural sense of fear that actually preserves species. She even threw her claws into the air and batted them around wildly like she was about to bitch slap the dog (pardon my language for the little viewers - parents please edit). That's why she is the little ghost, little ghost the one we love the most!

Sunshine Daydream

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Cats love sun patches. Sun patches appear more frequently in our house in the morning. Therefore, cats love morning!!!!

Maybe Lulu is more like a deadhead than Spicoli?

This picture of Simone is languid. Doesn't she look happy?

These are absolutely beautiful pictures of the little gatolinos, a little gang of three enjoying the morning sun.

What is missing from this picture? CAT FIGHT!

If any of you have ever thought the life of a cat was not something to strive for you certainly have not lounged out like this on a Wednessday morning at 10:24 AM!

Marley Comes Over!

This is one of Maxines friends from her play group, you might remember her from Maxine's birthday party. Her name is Marley, isn't she beautiful? She looks like royalty.

Her parental units were drinking martini's downtown while the two of them played off and on for hours. It was perfect for the heat of summer - the dogs could go outside for ten minutes and then come inside and cool off and then go back outside. It was a blast!!!!!

Don't you think Marley is a good looking dog?

Foul, Foul, Felix Brown!

Felix has been very, very bitter lately. He is like an angry old man in the body of a little ape suit!

Jimmy thinks he is becoming more and more possessive of me, to the point that he thinks he owns me. He certainly is fixated on me and this fixation is usually the source of his aggression. But it seems like such a dog-interpreted notion.

Needless to say, here Felix is surely contemplating how he can beat up one of the neighborhood cats (or me!).

And I am starting to think he is a little overweight. He needs to shed a few pounds.

Fishing for Cats

The Black Radishes are all hit or miss with the desire to play or not, but when they want to they really go for it! This is feisty Koof, the little roller always up for some fun, a scrap here or there, dangerously fearless, never a negative vibe. The Spicoli of cats!

Gato Bowl

No text necessary!!!!

Melted Cheese on the Tower

I just posted the last blog about Lulu and the Tower and went into the closet. Lulu was doing melted cheese in the most dangerous place! Right on top of the tower!!!

Princess Tower

We completely re-organized the bedroom closet yesterday which ended with our hat boxes stacked on top of a little set of drawers. Jimmy put a clam up top and this has now become Lulu's favorite little spot!

How does she even get up there when the tower is so tall???

Flooding

Well, everyone is a bit shaken up by all the rain we have been having. Today it was a beautiful, clear morning. While we did all our chores and the Black Radishes fought over the Saturday morning sun patch.

Not five hours later, this is what the end of our street looked like up to our house.

Needless to say, Maxine did not get her afternoon walk in! Fortunately, she already had a big day with the farmer's market and a morning walk!

Computer Cat

Ridiculous! I am trying to work from home on a Friday afternoon and Felix, who always has to be right next to me, takes a snooze literally on the computer!