Must Eat Squirrel

Can you see what Felix is watching so intently? I was working on the computer and suddenly his tail was thumping me hard in the arm!






I looked over and this is what he saw . . . .

He was watching this hyper squirrel running around like crazy up the tree, around the yard, up the wall and over the grass. Very energetic and busy little bee!

Simone, the Beautiful French Fry

This is such a beautiful picture of Simone, she looks so picturesque with a touch of tragically forlorn. The angle of the light accentuates her beauty, the light from the french fry lamp!

She certainly earns her place as Jimmy's favorite in this stunning picture of Simone in all her glory.

Do you think she was longingly looking at a real french fry?

The Tribe of Hunters

I am sure you cannot see it but the three cats were all stalking a large mosquito. They were full of longing trills and wagging tails, all yearning and stretching to find a way to catch that bug. It stayed pretty high up on the ceiling until one dramatic moment where it left the corner and the wall and boldly went out in the middle of the room. Before I even saw the mosquito move, Lulu had jumped from this spot on the couch, did a twist leaping from the side table to the ground and swiped that mosquito, maiming it!

Now the hunt was on, they all started searching for the lame mosquito. It looked like it had gone behind the GATOS BOWL. So Simone reached her paws around and grabbed it! They all pounced and somewhere in there someone either killed it or ate it. The bottom picture is them all walking away from the hunt.

Pretty amazing to see them all together working toward something! Even if it is to kill a bug!

Sandwich

This morning was COLD! I had the radiator on in the bedroom so everyone had migrated in there over the course of the night. I woke up and couldn't move to my right or left because I was seriously the meat of the sandwich with greyhound bread behind me and gatolino bread in front of me! The gatos were Lulu and Felix, although Simone spent the whole night on the left corner of the bed. She is such a lone wolf!

This is them chilling this AM after I got up, they were still enjoying the hottest room in the house!

Digging a New Hole

I guess Maxine got pretty spoiled during her vacation at the beach. She could run wherever she wanted and could dig as many holes as she pleased. Well now she is back home and working on a new hole right in the MIDDLE of the grass. This picture is dark, but she actually has her two front paws IN the hole. In fact, her friend Bruno was over and he was watching her dig. Hopefully she is not teaching him her bad habits!

Bruno was very interested in the rabbits!! I am not sure how interested Oliver and Olivia were but Bruno wanted to see more!

Super Lickers

These cats are super lickers! They constantly groom themselves and easily transition into grooming each other. Lulu and Felix were going back and forth, keeping each other nice and clean.

Of course, being cats, they also have to mix in a little bit of biting and showing who is boss!

Resting After a Hard Day

Koof is passed out under the heat lamp and Felix is laying long across my outstretched legs!

Jimmy and I just read the other night that cats are the mammal that sleeps the most over the course of the day. They sleep approximately 13 - 16 hours a day, that's almost twice as much as most humans get!

One website states, "Like humans, cats go through both Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and non-REM sleep. Although no one can actually ask a cat, the assumption is that your cat dreams during REM sleep. You may notice his whiskers twitch or his eye moving behind his eyelids. The deep non-REM sleep is when the cat's body grows and repairs itself."

Looking at Lulu here definitely convinces me of the important luxury of a cat nap every now and then!

Good Office Employees

I needed to come home today and take Maxine out since Jimmy is in Chicago for work. That meant I had to bring some work home. Fortunately, each of the cats is such a good little administrative assistant that they were able to really help speed my work along.

Felix helped me look up my bills and do a financial audit to be sure they had all been invoiced out to our research sponsors.

Simone kept here eye on the spreadsheet to be sure it matched the bills and we accounted for all the accounts receivable.

Lulu, well, she just sat her bottom down and acted as a paper weight!


We are so blessed to have three such intelligent and hard working cats!

Three Little Bunny Rabbits

Well, here we have our three little bunny rabbits gnawing away at leafy greens and a banana treat! They are in hanging out with the rest of the family and showing off their incredible speeds.

What? You say we only have TWO rabbits? Well, what do you know! That's not a rabbit that's SIMONE! She went right in there and started chewing on kale like the rest of them. Perhaps all cats have a little inner rabbit inside!

Clean Dog and Sicky

Maxine is home and just got a bath after her long, fun and dirty week at the beach. She rests on the couch with Simone, a rare occurrence!

I am not sure she is happy to be home and not sure if she is happy to be so close to one of the cats, but one thing is sure: she is CLEAN!

Name that Bird

This was the last bird we saw in Port Aransas and we cannot identify it! It looks like a Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron but the coloring is all off. There were people there taking pictures of it, but we didn't think to ask them if they knew.

Do you know what kind of a Texas coastal bird this is?

Here is another picture . . . see if that helps!

Playing Dead

After a good long run, Maxine likes to dig a cool place in the sand to rest her head. This may be her last run on the beach and boy did she make it a good one! She ran leaping across the little dunes as if she was running a race, away from us. It was super foggy so we couldn't even see her as she made a sharp turn and then came back toward us emerging from the fog with the speed of a racer. She really is amazing to watch! And when she is not running faster than almost any other land animal, she is, well, sleeping!

Remember the Lonely Animals

We encountered this little dog today. She was wandering the road that takes us from the highway to the beach - basically in the middle of nowhere.

We tried to get her into our truck, but she just couldn't trust us. She got a lot of treats and water and some good will.

Unfortunately, there was no way to get her to a police department or shelter because it was after 5:00 PM and we were out of the boundaries of Port Aransas. Alas, little one will have to find her own way. As Jimmy always reminds us: we can't save all the animals!!!!

But if you have an open space in your heart, remember the little ones!

Last we saw her she was headed for a crowded beach where surely she will have a friendly and warm place to sleep and someone to help her find a home.

Laughing Gull

This morning was gray and a bit rainy. We watched the ocean and hung out in the car waiting for a break in the rain to walk Max. These laughing gulls came to us with their deep Gawaaah! Gawaah! calls. I guess they wanted in from the rain, too!

Can you name these birds?

Brett went fishing on the marsh side of the island today and Jimmy, Linda and I stayed watch on the sidelines talking and reading our books. It was overcast today so we had to bundle up a little bit.

We saw all kinds of interesting birds! Can you guess the name of some of these birds?

These first two pictures are of the same bird, he bobbed his head up and down just like this while walking briskly through the water. Obviously, eating something tasty as they went. To our novel best guess, and using a Texas Bird Guide, we think this is the Long-billed Curlew.


This beautiful creature sat regally still for long periods of time. We though maybe it was a Blue Heron, but it looked pretty small for that. In the end we settled on a Green Heron.




And this, my friend, is the Great-tailed Grackle! He taunted Maxine for a few minutes trying to get her to chase him and then gawking loudly when she wouldn't chase!

Go Fly a Kite

The second day we were here it was very very windy. Almost too windy to do anything . . . but perfect weather for kite flying.





Jimmy, Linda and Brett got the two kites flying high. Then I held the big shark while Jimmy got the next kite up and running. If you look closely you can see the wild green kite that Linda and Brett had way up in the sky.

Diggingest Dog

Do you remember one of Maxine's favorite past times at the beach?

You guessed it, DIGGING!

I call this the Diggingest Dog after a children's book of the same title. Have you ever read it? If not, next time you are at the library ask the librarian to look it up for you. It is worth the effort.


Why do you think Maxine digs such a big hole?

To bury a bone?

To bury Jimmy's boots?

NO! To take a nice nap in the cool sand.

Greeting of the Birds

These were some of our welcoming birds that greeted us back on the island as we headed back to Port Aransas. These are gulls, we will see much more of them I am sure on our trip as they are obviously one of the most common birds.




This is a little black bird, we think it is a grackle, but did not have time to identify it fully. Linda and Brett are already here on the island waiting for us, apparently Brett has already caught a big huge fish!

Fish and birds, dogs and sand, sounds like we are going to have a good time! Don't you think?

Dub is Back in Port Aransas

Maxine is back in Port Aransas again this year - the kid is back.

This is Max crossing over to Port Aransas on the ferry. She has driven us the entire way from Houston and is tired from the long drive.

We all look forward to a lot of good times in Port A!

Olivers Gimp Leg

This is a picture of Olivia who is chilling after a lot of good play time. I love this rabbit stance, it truly is a comfort, safety and good times rabbit pose.






Unfortunately, her friend Oliver has had some problems standing on his left back leg. We are worried about it because it seems to get worse and worse. Hopefully, he is ok. The doctors don't know what the problem is but when he puts any weight on the back leg he falls over. Its sad!

Predators and Prey

This is a great picture to remind us that even though our cats and rabbits get along well, they still cannot be left alone. The vet told us point blank: cats are predators and rabbits are prey. That means the cats will inevitably try to chase and stalk the rabbits. The rabbits will instinctively run and hide, doing whatever they can not to get chased.

On the other hand, let the rabbits and cats be what the good lord made them to be!

Lulu Helps with Taxes

Well, it is tax time - that special time of the year we get to pay out the nose to the government. It is always a challenge but at least this year we have the exceptionally honed tax skills of Lulu!

Koof Gets Framed!

Run Rabbit Run

Oliver and Olivia get to come in and run around with the rest of the gang every other night or so. The cats love the change and have become quite playful with the rabbits. This night, the rabbits kept running and chasing the rabbits. Felix still runs when they come toward him, even though he is bigger than them!


Olivia is doing great - she is definitely the big sister to Oliver. She is constantly grooming him and keeping him warm.

Rare Moments of Peace

These are some beautiful and rare pictures of Lulu and Simone looking beautiful and serene. I wonder how long it took for Simone to start her hissing!

Tres Leches de Gatolinos

Rarest of rare moments. All three cats within a few feet radius. I am sure Simone was spitting fire, but had to weigh her hatred for Lulu against the nice warm heat lamp. Please note Lulu is licking felix, looking a bit drugged out (tired!) and still everyone is looking at the camera!


Talk about stoned out, Lulu really takes pleasure to the next level. And under this light you can see why we call her the Havana brown!






Then again, Sicky looks pretty happy here, or is she just tired!

Buns in the House

Even though they have their fancy hutch, the buns still need to come in and socialize with the family and run around a bit in the household. They are basically toilet trained so they do not leave deposits all over the house.

This is a great picture of Olivia wandering around the front room.

The cats get a little bit excited but what can you expect. So far, the buns have held their own!

KOOF! You are NOT a Rabbit!

Enough said!