Kitten, Cats, Flowers and Things UPDATED 3:45 pm

Last night at about 8:30 pm there was a knock on our door. It was Karla next door to tell us Dani (real name Lily - long story, daughter of the cat's owner decided she liked the name Dani after everyone knew her as Lily, but we were introduced to her as Dani, so to me she is "Dan Dan") was having kittens. We went over and there was this tiny, young kitty with one kitten under the kitchen table. They look like little gross mice when they are born.Will has a book about kittens, but he couldn't find it. We knocked on some doors in the neighborhood of people we know, and one neighbor suggested I call Diann who has rescued many cats. Duh! All said the same thing - the cats instinctively take care of it themselves, unless there's a problem. When we got home Will got the brainstorm to look on the internet! Duh again. It mentioned to keep water and food near the mama cat because she won't want to leave her kitten(s). I hope Karla also thought about a litter box. I haven't heard anything this morning.

UPDATED at 3:30 pm: 3 kittens, two white with gray on the head like the mama and 1 gray tabby. It's amazing - she knows what to do with them! Nature is amazing.

Yesterday afternoon I did some hacking to the daisy plant that was just to the left of the purple plant. We were watching episode 1 of season 1 of The Wire (the jury is still out) when I decided to go outside while it was still light and really hack the daisy. You couldn't even see the purple plant because it was blocked by the daisy. Now the daisy will either grow back (and hopefully not as large) or it won't and I'll finish it off. You can see where I left branches from the daisy.

The cilantro is really growing! MMMMMMMMMM I love cilantro!

The hydrangea out front looks great as it grows back from its winter state.

Token cat picture - yes, Dani-Lily-Dan Dan counts, but we need one of our cats. Mow is on the middle lever of the Crow's Nest cat post. What is he looking at?We often get people knocking at our door soliciting this and that. While I think this sign is tacky, it gets the message across. Not my idea. We'll see how it works. At least last night when there was a knock at the door it wasn't a solicitor, it was our neighbor about the cat!

Weekend Photos

I was happily adding pictures to update my blog when a neighbor posted that she had Mexican Feather volunteers to give away. They are much smaller than this.....

and they will end up looking like this! I took a few and planted them around the front and back. She also gave me nasturtium seeds. I hope I remember where I planted them. She assured me they'd come up next year.

Last night we went to see an as-yet-unreleased movie called Weekend King that was filmed in Niles with some Nilesians in the movie. www.weekendking.com.

The jury is still out - we loved seeing Niles and the people we know. There was even a 92 year old guy who had his first part as a baby and so has a 91 year 'acting career'. That is him below at the bar in this scene from the movie.
People were partying after the movie, but we earlybirds went home because we planned an early day going to a citywide garage sale in Palo Alto (to be pronounced "Pahlo Ahlto"). We like to park and walk, but they were mostly spread apart. We did walk anyway because the treelined streets with huge homes are fun to look at.

I found a pair of jeans for $3. The woman had other pants, but it was hard to tell what would fit. I thought these would work, and they fit perfectly, including length.
Will found yet more lights for the sunroom for $2.
We're told The Wire is must-see TV. We've never seen it but we bought the first and second season set.
The required cat picture is of Mowry. Something dropped behind my desk and Mowry was awakened and was looking halfheartedly to see what it was from the cat perch.
Back to the yards .... the lavender plant looks great. The tomato plant looks droopy, although I water it a lot and there's even a tomato on it.


Here's a closeup of one of the many bees making lavender honey (I presume).
Mowry spotted Dani in the yard.

I guess Alex also spotted Dani in the backyard.

This purple plant in the backyard is my favorite. There is one blooming out front also, but it's hidden by daisies, so I chopped at the daisies today.
It's a nice 68 degrees outside. Next week is going to be a busy one with one new client and one that came to life after waiting weeks to get the needed information to proceed. Be careful what you wish for!

Network Solutions Email Sucks and Cat Pictures

Just for the record, my business email thru Network Solutions sucks, so if you're thinking of getting a paid carrier (yes, I actually pay for it), you can guess what I'd say. It times out, and worst of all, when I attach documents and I go back to the message, my message is blank. I know that I can draft my message in a word processing document, but should I have to? It's 2009 and I pay for this email. If I didn't have my business website thru them, I'd quit while my frustration level is only on high. According to their website, they are the leader, and they've even gotten awards, but no one asked me! The one-page simple website is fine. It's the email that is BAD.

I'm working hard at home, and with the exception that I can't use my business email, all is good.

Mowry got to the window perch first today!
Ziggy was waiting in the bathroom all dressed in his tuxedo ready to be the towel attendant. I love the pose with his paw dangling.

Meanwhile, lazy boy Alex slept on the bed NEXT to the cat bed. Look at the black cat fur in front of him. Will thinks that's what he does all day - manufacture cat fur!

Catch up

I went to a new client today in SF. I was able to take BART and a bus. It took me to one of the seedier BART stations, so someone at the company told me to take a different bus that takes me to a different BART station. It was more walking, which I don't generally mind, but the jury is still out as to which was better. I won't be going onsite often since the work can be done remotely, which is good and bad. They provide hot lunch and dinner daily. I know, that means they don't want their employees to ever leave the building, but lunch today was delicious - spicy chicken, a white bean cold salad, a lamb sausage barley dish I passed on, and a tomato cucumber salad. Then there were chips and a white bean dip later. They also have candy, fresh fruit, chips, sodas, you name it. Didn't anyone learn anything from the dot com bust?

Will signed the sidewalk last year when they repaved it. He had to do this SEVERAL times because they kept covering over his signature. I think I may have posted this before, but I took another picture of it, and that's what this blog is for. What else can I do with pictures that I'd never actually print?
The first two times the USGS folks came to our door, I don't think they had the magnetic sign on their vehicle identifying it, although they did have shirts that said USGS and business cards. When they returned on Tuesday they had the sign on the vehicle.
This was the other find from the giveway the other night. I didn't post it because my parents read my blog. These are what we call "Lil's dishes". Franciscanware Desert Rose. They are dessert or sauce plates. Unfortunately, there were only two, but I sent them to my mom and she loved them! And it happened to be their 58th anniversary, so timing is everything. Yes, they know where I got them! The best price is FREE!

And this picture is just because. Just because Mow is everyone's favorite, here's a picture of Mow being Mow.

USGS, cats and trees - you have to look to understand!!

The apple tree in the foreground next to the ladder was "very pruned" last fall. The tree with the leaves in the background is a non-producing avocado. No leaves left on the apple tree after its pruning.
Yesterday I noticed apples already!
The USGS folks (this time 3 of them) showed up to put the seismic devices in our yard.

They were originally going to bury them in the yard, but decided instead to just sit them on the cement and ground. These are pretty big. Burying would have been a lot of digging!
While the USGS folks were setting up, I was looking at the yellow jackets caught in our trap. The USGS folks are behind this deciding what to do.
More equipment.
Closed from the elements, including wildlife that visits our backyard.
Yesterday the kits got wet food after our visit to PetSmart to get more food. Mowry LOVES his wet food.
He jumps onto the dishwasher when he hears (or more likely smells) it being prepared (dished out).

Ziggy waited in his feeding spot when he realized it was wet food time! He doesn't usually finish his portion, so Mow gets the rest, but last night he not only finished but for a few crumbs, he went over to Alex's dish to finish his! Shhh, they don't realize portions are just a tablespoonful.
Alex came in for his wet food but then went over to the dry food dish. He's a funny cat. He can't eat anything but his prescription Science Diet C/D since he had crystals in his urethra and almost died 1 3/4 years ago, but he's never liked human food or anything but his 'usual' food, which makes it easy. He usually eats a little wet food, but today he preferred his dry food.
Look who's posing on the window perch today.
He actually fell off before, but he's back on giving himself a bath as I type. Maybe this isn't the best place for a cat bath.
Doesn't it figure that after we spent $60 on a huge bag of cat food and two cans, I got a coupon via email for 15% off at Petsmart? I think we'll buy more before the coupon expires on Sunday. It's a consumable, and we never want to run out since we live in "earthquake country" - see above for a reminder!!! The question is where to store this gigundo bag.

ONE last note about Ziggy - last night Alex and Mowry were on our bed. I got up and came back (you know where I went), and then Will got up and he got towel service by our tuxedoed cat, Zig Zag, as I call him. Then I heard a cat in the box, and since Al and Mow were still on the bed, by process of elimination, it was Zig Zag!!!!!! What a good kitty, Ziggy. Then Alex did Kitty barf, so I had to get up and clean up the cat bed. Then we all went back to sleep! This was around 4:00 am.

Monday Pictures

Ziggy got to the window perch first. Alex is on the left staring at Ziggy, hoping he'll leave. These are two large black and white cats! There wasn't any chasing or anything. Alex mostly chases Ziggy if he sees Ziggy walking away from him, or if he spots him around a corner.
Today Alex got to the perch first, so Ziggy settled for the cat bed atop the scanner. They are very close to each other! Alex's tail is practically touching Ziggy.
Alex rolled over and is really comfortable now! I love when he does his upside down rolly thing. Look at Alex's head and his white chin!

Equal time for Mowry. It's not a new picture, but it sure is cute!
Yesterday someone posted to our Yahoo Email Group that she cleaned out the house and garage and had a pile of junk, and some not junk available. I wanted so badly to check it out, but I felt funny, and it sounded like a lot was kids' stuff and I don't need more junk. At 7:45 pm I looked out the front window and noticed two neighbors from down the block walking by. They never walk by here, so I opened the door to say hi. They were going to check out the stuff on the next block. She went earlier, but had the wrong address, so nothing was out, but when it was re-posted, she wanted to go. So we went with them. WOW! We both scored fun stuff.

I found several books.


And a great framed photograph that was a better size for the spot than what I had here. I may or may not keep the photo, but for now, I'm happy with it. Could it be? Yes, it's an Unidentified Flying Object. A UFO! UFOs are BACK!!!! These were made by Ghirardelli for Trader Joe's and were $1.69 a package. One day they disappeared. Then they were back, but not for long. They are back now over a year later, and are $3.99 a package (talk about raising prices!) and we're excited. Our friends LOVE these, and they love Palm trees, so this is for them.