Gato Bowl is Back!

So, it has been out of circulation for some time but the Gato Bowl is BACK! It is a difficult space to maneuver, you have to have just the right chops to balance yourself as you get in without spilling the bowl. This week, Lulu has taken quite a fancy to it!



Everyone has new spaces this week with the patio project under way and new items coming and going hourly.

Felix, of course, takes it to the next level. He has to hide underneath the New York Times Magazine!

Concrete Solutions

The patio project has begun! The long, ardous road post-fire and post-Ike have finally come full circle. Our garage and patio solutions are merging into one project underway right now. Once we sell our other house, this project will be crucial to getting storage space for our home.


And Maxine is NOT very thrilled about it. In fact, that would be a severe understatement. She doesn't know anything about the new concrete we laid (shown here in the background) but she DOES have a few key questions for us:

1) Why do you torment me by sending me outside without stairs?

2) Why do you torment me by not letting me outside hither and thither as I am accustomed to? (BTW the concrete is wet)

3) What was wrong with the old garage?

Alas Maxine, everything is not always about you. The patio and back yard will look really good when we are finished. Not to mention, most of our decisions about the back yard were with YOU in mind!

Crawfish, Son!

Maxine had her two friends Roscoe and Boudreaux over last weekend for a crawfish boil! It was pretty much the last weekend we could get really good crawfish so we had them and their people (Kelli and Steve) over for a late morning boil.



Can you see Maxine's two friends in these pictures? One is sniffing the crawfish and the other is resting while the crawfish boil. That is one big crawfish boil pot! It has the words "kosher" written on it in Hebrew.



The food was incredible. Look at that spread! We cooked artichokes, corn, potatoes, sausage, 42 pounds of crawfish and a pound of shrimp! After we ate we shucked every last one of them and we all had plenty of leftovers. When we poured out the crawfish water the dogs rubbed themselves all over it, except Max of course. They probably stunk for days.

Meanwhile, the dogs got big bones. They were very excited, especially Roscoe. He wouldn't let anyone near it. Yet somehow Jimmy stole it from him just as they were getting ready to leave.

Can you see Maxine in this picture? She is remarkably well camouflaged.

Thanks Steve and Kelli for a great day!

Rake!

Maxine is enjoying her backyard before we tear it up again to fix the patio. She was outside chilling with us as we BBQ'd Friday night. She is super spoiled as Jimmy gives her bits and pieces of what we eat (only when we are outside). Tonight she got steak and asparagus, but she passed on her asparagus.

Look at that green egg SMOKIN'!!!!!!

Guerrero Bird Family

Every year since we moved in the same little bird family builds a nest in our patio. Can you see the mama bird in this picture? She is very small and perched on the fence close to the beautiful yellow flowering plant.



The second picture is the papa. We looked up the bird in our bird book and they are called house sparrows.

After they make their nest each year they lay eggs and some time in April we start hearing the little chirping of baby birds!

We have never seen them come out and fly but it would be so neat to see them take wing.

This is their nest. What will happen when we re-do the patio????

Cats Also Love to EAT Boxes

I have posted many, many pictures of the cats in boxes of all sorts, styles and shapes. Have you ever seen a cat EATING the box? That's Sickman's unique box style.

Outside of the Clam

Sometimes cats just make you laugh. Here is Felix acting the Renaissance man - thinking outside the box fully stretched out on a book about Da Vinci. Well, maybe he isn't thinking outside the box but he is sleeping outside the clam. Does it count?

Simone on the Prowl

Simone really is a clever and good thief. We harvested 10 heads of lettuce and triple washed them in the sink. I had to stay in the kitchen the entire time so Sicky didn't steal all the lettuce! Look at her sneak up on the stash, getting nice and camouflaged by the heap of fresh garden herbs on the cutting board.

She waited for me to be busy moving the board before making her attack.

Then, score!

One piece of lettuce for the cat!

Tres Gatolinos

All three cats enjoying the sunshine. There must have been a good bird show out there!

Sorry, I've Been Hiding Out

Felix's New Spot

Weird, he is suddenly spending time in the leather chair!

Lots of Birds

We are getting a lot of birds at the feeder. They can plow through a liter of bird seed in a day! The cats love to watch them fluttering about out there, scrounging for seed either in the feeder or on the ground.



Notice the inches of water on the ground. This was the first sun we saw after about 8" of rain fell over the coarse of about 6 hours. Pretty crazy - massive flooding throughout the city.

Blue Jay

Jimmy snapped a picture of this blue jay.

Aren't they beautiful!?

Bird TV

We saw a red cardinal and a blue jay! I couldn't snap a picture quick enough to capture them. But the cats are glued to Bird TV!

The Ultimate Clam

Its kind of a blurry picture, but with Lulu's love of being "under water" or completely covered by blankets Jimmy laid another clam on top of her regular clam. She chilled in there for awhile. Can you see her one little eyeball peeking out?