Snuggly Saturday Morning

WW: Rosie and a Cow

Cody Gets a Makeover

Cody is the most patient cat in the universe.

LBK

Did we mention we got a new cat?

She's very sweet.  She was found at about 2 weeks old, and was fostered by one of Robin's classmates.  

Here she is snuggling with Brian, for scale.  She's about 9 or 10 weeks old. She's energetic, cuddly, fuzzy, curious, and a total ham.  

What Is It????

We hung out for a few hours on the Monterey Beach. Lovely beach weather for any time of the year, much less November. The tide was rolling out, and each wave deposited these little jellyish things.

 

Any clue what they are? The seagulls were fascinated with them, as were we. I scoped up one in a
bucket with some seawater to see if it would do anything.

  It didn't move so either it was dead or vegetable in matter. Any ideas?

Crazy Cat Lady

Erin tells me tonight, just before Bedtime Procedures, she will be a Cat Mommy when she grows up.

"Mommy, I will be a mommy to cats.  I will have 10 cats.  They will love me."

New inspiration for Erin's Halloween costume:

1 year of Kittiez

It's been about 1 year since we got our two kitties, Rosie and Cody. Cody is the tubby grey/brown one. Rosie is the cute, shy, grey and white one. They have outgrown kittenhood and settled into sweet cats. Rosie likes to sit in Brian's lap while he's working. Cody likes to be "loved" by the girls.... well, at least he tolerates it. We're happy they're a part of our family.

WW: Wet Moo!

Erin M, Forensic Biologist

So, as you've read, we dug up Steve so he wouldn't be lost.  We noticed his skull was a little broken - just under one eye socket was broken, the bottom jaw was broken into two pieces, and the nose was a little broken too.

I apologized to Steve for not being more gentle when digging him up.  Yesterday, Erin was showing the bones to Brian in the morning (he was away on his regular PDX work trip when we did the digging project.)  I came in and said again how I was sad I'd broken his skull.

Erin took a deep breath.  Deep.  She said,

Mom, maybe you didn't do it.  When Steve died, he got smooshed by a car.  Maybe the car broke his eye.  Maybe that's what happened. 

Something I never though I'd do #45

Exhume a dead cat.

We're about to dig out the dirt patch behind our garage to put in an office shed for Brian and vegetable beds.  This means where our kitty Steve was buried will be dug up and removed.  We want to keep him here, so the girls and I got out our shovels and got him out of the ground.  We'll put him back when the project was over.  

Summer Finally Begins

While it's been summer for awhile now, both girls have had summer camps during the week.  Yesterday was the last week that both girls had anything, next week Robin only has 2 days.  So it's time to start taking some serious day trips.

First outing: Oakland Zoo.  We went here every two weeks, or sometimes more often, last summer, so it's strange that this year it's our first trip.

We were treated to the male lion roaring and prancing, a giraffe shimmying down for a drink of water, elephants relieving themselves in a big way, lots of goat and sheep petting, and fruit bats napping.  The girls were on foot and they probably walked about 2 miles. Robin never asked to be carried.  The outing was topped off with two rides on the carousel.

Pictures! (just a few, I promise)

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

* To AmyCS: The picture of the giraffe licking herself is for you.  Erin first started by observing, "Look, that giraffe has a purple tongue."  Subsequent observations, "Look!  He's licking his penis!  He's licking his penis!.  Oh, wait. No,  She's licking her vagina!"  I nearly died. 

Dog Sitting

We have a house guest for the next week: Scout!  

WW: Cody Cat, Professional Relaxer

Wordy Wednesday: Strange Subterranean Grubs

You may wonder where the dirt clods came from.  Well, last week Erin came inside after digging in the dirt screaming she'd seen a yellow jacket (or jaguar in her vernacular) flying into the ground.  We had a yellow jacket problem last year, set traps early this year, and are trying to be pro-active about eradicating the problem before it starts.  So Brian heads out with a shovel and some protective clothing with the intent of digging down and finding the nest.

Instead he finds this:

A pretty large, slowly moving, juicy looking insect nestled about 6-10 inches under the ground.  No wings, but winglets (my own term: perfectly formed but mini wings), 6 legs.  First thought?  Queen.  Quick search revealed nope. Not a yellow jacket, not a bumblebee, not anything we can quickly ID by a google search.  We put it to rest.

A week goes by and the dirt clods resulting from the excavation are perfect for throwing.  Erin asks for more dirt to throw, I pick up the shovel and dig further into the pit already started.  And another big, juicy bug emerges. It really looks like a bug that's not quite done with development.  Puny, squirmy lets.  Itty bitty wings plastered to its body.  Eyes pasty and the same greenish-yellow as its body.

Out comes the iPhone, a quick picture, a Facebook post, and lots of minds on the question of "what in tarnation is this bug?!?!?!"

Hats off to Jenna Mc for finding this.  Reading through this blog post, the ID process went much as the FB discussion did.  It is a cicada nymph. I had no idea these insects lived here.  I remember hearing that they spent decades underground.  And now I feel really bad about killing two of them.  And I will feel even worse this summer when we tear apart the back yard dirt patch to put in a shed and veggie garden.

Thanks to everyone on FB who helped solve the mystery!

Horse walks

In the evenings lately we've been taking "Horse Walks".

Erin and friends preparing for feeding time:

Robin asleep in the stroller (dude, you're missing all the horses!):

The field (check the deer in the background)

Robin and Calliope

PUPPY FOUND HIS HOME!

An update to the lost dog post....


... yesterday as the girls and I were walking to the park, I saw a "Lost Dog" flier.  Guess what?  It was the same dog!!!  I called and the mom was ecstatic!  And since I'd told the emergency vet clinic where I left the dog that we were interested in becoming his care taker, I had his animal control ID number and shelter phone number for her.  She will pick him up today.

Apparently the family was away for the day, the dog had broken through or under their gate and they hadn't realized he had escaped until 11 PM.  We picked him up at about 2:30.  I'm certain he'd either never have survived that long on that busy road or, hopefully, some other pet-loving people would have come to his assistance in that time.  Either way he's going home!!!  And my faith in humanity is restored.

Looking for a good home (long and wordy again, sorry!) 10

We're 3 miles from home after a medium-serious drive of 4 hours coming back from Tahoe when we see a lollygagging, happy, alone Golden Retriever standing alone on a corner of a busy street in downtown Orinda.  There's N*O*O*N*E nearby.  He has a collar but not a leash.  I quickly pull over, the roady is very, very busy and we lost two cats to it a couple years ago.  Brian hops out and hooks the dog.  No tags.  We hem and haw a bit over what to do, looking around all the while for a search party.  No one emerges, we pile the dog into our car and head home.

I imagine the scenario where the dog escapes from the yard unexpectedly and is wandering about, maybe the family is out, maybe they're not paying attention.  But they're missing him or soon will be and will soon mount an all-force effort to relocate him and bring him home.

The dog is old, with a greying face and a big lump on his back.  On the sage advice of dog owner and all-around-good-guy Uncle Jim, we looked for a vet to take him to. Being Sat, all the vet's offices are closed by now, but I find one emergency clinic, call them and they say to bring him in.  I do.

He's thirsty but otherwise happy and friendly, as all Goldens are.  He's got no microchip.  They take him in, telling me he'll get picked up by animal control and taken to the closest shelter.  After a waiting period, he'll be put up for adoption.

The receptionist says he looks *just* like a dog that was there yesterday, brought in by a family who said they'd take care of him, but then might have changed their heart and dumped him by the side of the road.  My heart sank that this sweet, elderly dog would ever find his people again.  And it sinks even lower that this dog might have been abandoned by a family no longer able to take care of his needs.  Likely having cancer or another virus, his care taking needs have certainly changed since he was a puppy 10 years ago.  And maybe the family'd ability to take care of him has changed too.

I leave, thinking we've done the best we can, saving the dog from the treacherous road, and B and I consider maybe taking in the geriatric dog to give him his last year or two surrounded by adoring little girls. I feel a responsibility for the animal, having plucked him off the road and trying to get hime to safety.  However, introducing an older dog with health conditions.... am I ready to teach the girls such an immediate lesson in loss? Can I just leave the sweet pooch to his fate?

(P.S. this is a backdated post, so if you're on pins and needles check in on 4/10.)

Heapin' dose of kitten cuteness

The tubby one on the left is Cody, the diminutive one on the right, grey and white with the cute nose dot, is Rose.  These are really sweet cats.  They will be a year old sometime around May, so technically they are still kittens.  However, Cody's girth has caused us to not only switch them from kitten food early, but also regulate their food to measured-portion mealtimes rather than at-will eating.  Cody is over 12#, Rose only 9.

San Diego!!!!!

We drove last night to San Diego to visit Matt, Sharon and Cousin Megan!  Wooooo.  The drive was smooth and the kids did well.  After LOTS of coffee and delicious eggs, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.