I'm the Paparazzi

Will informed me today that the cats in our house are like celebrities (always getting their pictures taken) and I am the paparazzi. I like to think of it as me being the photojournalist, chronicling our life in photos, but sans the semantics, he's right!

The cilantro planted from seeds is coming up! The lavender fern at the front door is attracting lots of bees. I trimmed it back when the bees were gone so maybe they can stay on the other side of the white rail.

Mowry blends in with the wood floors! It's amazing that he doesn't get stepped on by humans. I think he knows to look out for us big oafs.

He's very photogenic. Maybe that's why he's everyone's favorite.Ziggy is eating!

This is what I want to be doing when I'm almost 93! I used a small picture because I don't like posting identifiable photos on my blog since anyone can access them. My neighbor is tending to her lovely front garden.

Monday Pictures

It's 9 am and it's 65 degrees. This is much better than the 85 degrees it was at this time on both Saturday and Sunday.


We finally figured out that as much as we like everything open, if we keep the blinds in the kitchen/dining area closed, it keeps the house cooler. Oops, I originally typed "warmer" instead of "cooler".The atomic clock doesn't always give the right time, but the temperature inside our office on Saturday said 94. How does that work (0r not work, as the case may be) that the time is not right on an atomic clock? It can't seem to get Daylight Savings Time right all the time. The point of this picture, however, is the temperature of 94.1 inside the office on Saturday at either 4:31 pm or 3:31 pm; does it really matter what time it was?
What do hot cats do to stay cool?


Mowry was under the blanket that protects the chair in the living room. This is goofy. It can't be cool under there.


I moved him out of there - sometimes cats need help making decisions - and he stayed next to me on the cooler leather chair.


Later in the day we were looking for Mowry and found him in his favorite spot to hang out when it is hot - on the floor under the bedroom window. The window wasn't open (to keep the hot air out), but he's often here when it gets hot, so it must be cool. Then again he was under a blanket above, so who knows!

Meanwhile, Alex was sprawly boy over the cat beds on our bed. You can see his face if you look for the long white whiskers. Hint: his head is upside down next to his paw on the left.


Check out his leg hanging in mid air as he sleeps!

My tomato plant from the Pleasanton Farmers' Market is growing like mad! When the bees left in the early evening, I trimmed the lavender bush to make more room for the tomatoes. Here is the tomato plant from the Niles "tomato lady" (as I affectionately call her) that is supposed to grow large orange and red tomatoes. Behind it is the sage that was given to me by my neighbor. There is also an iris growing there-not the best place for it.

This is the new tomato from the "tomato lady". It will produce yellow tomatoes.

G R O W L - another avocado bitten into by squirrels. There are just a few left way up there on the tree where we can't reach them, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for the squirrels. I'm glad they are feasting happy.

This is funny. Look at the bookends. They are in the exact same position, even to the point of their left front paws both hanging over the cat bed.

Garage Sale Season is BACK!

It's 11 am and it's already 81 degrees outside according to my computer weather program. It's only 70 in Los Angeles - it's usually 10 degrees warmer there. We're in for a scorcher. The lavender plant is behind the fence and looked interesting to me.
We got up early to go to a neighborhood garage sale. Those are our favorites - we park the car and walk around the neighborhood. It's amusing watching people bottlenecking in their cars, too lazy to park and walk. We spent a total of $5.50, of which I am quite proud and excited.

Mowry with his new 25 cent in the package cat toy, which Will swears he was playing with, but not when I was looking. Is that Mowry's tongue in the picture?

I'm glad the toy only cost a quarter because last night Mow was happy to play with this. Yes, that's a paper napkin he found on the coffee table chest.I found this black backpack purse for $1 (with the tag still on!), these unopened mint tins with pics of SF for 25 cents each, a paperback by an author I just read for the first time and enjoyed for 25 cents, and the wood elephant (which is hard to see) for $1. I have a brown backpack purse that I've started using all the time because it's so great for commuting and carrying lots of stuff. I've been looking for a black backpack purse because I've been mixing black shoes and brown purse, and that's just wrong!
Here's the elephant in the jungle in the sunroom. All but the hippo and gorilla came from garage sales! I never liked the hippo, but now that he's part of a scene, it's cool. The gorilla came from Spirt - the Halloween Store - many years ago. Even the lamp and the fake ficus came from estate or garage sales. The real plant next to the giraffe was a gift.
This sweater (that the lady selling says she never wore) for $1.50 ...

and this short sleeved peach knit top was $1. She had one in green and one in pink, so I probably should have bought them all, but I didn't.

At 8:00 am our time (10:00 am Central Time) it was hopping already at Wrigley Field! And while I'm updating this blog posting, Will is flying in his flight simulator computer game. It looks real, doesn't it?I bought this tomato plant last night from a local woman who sells heirlooms. I got the huge monster-tomato producing plant from her two years ago. Last year's plant got large, but no tomatoes, but I hear it was a bad year for tomatoes. This one will have orange and red tomatoes. The abalone shell is so you can see size. The prickly things around the plant are to keep snails away.The heirloom from the Pleasanton Farmers' Market is growing each day! I trimmed the lavender bush and put in one more yellow tomato plant behind this that I bought last night from the same local person. It will be interesting to see which does better - the two plants in the ground, or the two in pots. Theoretically I'd expect those in the ground to grow better than those in pots, but we'll see.

I also got cilantro seeds from Gale, and I planted them in a big pot out front. They just sprouted! I planted other seeds in a pot in the backyard and they, too, are sprouting, but I'm not sure what I planted. I think it was marigold seeds, but we'll find out soon! Such a gardner for a city-bred gal!

Random Pictures in Random Order on Friday

It was a little cool this morning, so I wore the new dark lavender short scarf (ala Joan design) and the matching blue, white, and lavender socks!

I took BART and got pictures of the new Dublin Station that is under construction. It's cool how we go right thru it, and it goes right thru the freeway.

By the way, just so you know, I'M king of the house. Make no mistake about that, even if this picture IS a little blurry. Will put weights at the bottom of the Crow's Nest so when 20+ pound Alex jumps to the top and the whole CN sways, it won't actually topple. That doesn't seem to deter Ziggy from hanging out on the floor level.

I watched the Celtics game last night. Sadly, there will be a game 7 on Sunday. It's now a one-game series. I hope Eddie House has a great game on Sunday!
I never remember the name of this plant, but it's gorgeous! It's blooming out front.

The Lamb's Ear looks far better than I expected it would! It's already spread and is blooming.

Today two black bees buzzed me as I tried to walk by the Lavender Fern to get to the front door. I think it's time to trim this when the bees are not all over it. I was hoping to capture a bee in the photo, but I took it from inside - I'm not risking getting stung over these territorial bees. It's bad enough I have territorial cats IN the house!

It's going to be a scorcher this weekend. It's only 73 degrees right now, but we have a heat alert from 9 am to 8 pm Sunday. It's going to be in the 90s this weekend.

Thursday brings random thoughts you may or may not like....

I'm on my lunch at a client's office (read: off their clock) so no pictures, but do read on. You're here already, so why not.

1. This is yet another company that 'talks the talk' about being Green, but then they seem to have removed their paper recycling bins. Maybe they just put them in a centralized place, rather than one in each office, but I haven't seen any.

2. I refuse to Twitter or Tweet, or whatever, but I did sign up for Facebook. I blog (obviously, you're reading my blog) but I don't post really personal information like political or religious views (mostly because I don't care about your political or religious views, so why would you care about mine) and I don't post personal pictures. I don't trust the internet and while the accessibility can be a good thing, it can also be bad. Why would I want people who shouldn't know anything about me know more about me because of what I've posted? I read mystery novels. I know the drill!

3. I'm happiest when the outside temperature is 72 degrees. It could be 72 degrees 24/7 and that would be good. It's supposed to be in the 90s this weekend. Not good. It is what it is, so I will adapt.

4. Big companies are so full of themselves. One of Will's clients is being acquired by a big company. He's been consulting with the client for over a year, but now he has to pass some independent contractor test provided by the IRS, but administered by a third party payroll agency who (in my opinion) is clearly exhibiting conflict of interest because they will benefit if he fails this test because they will pay him and will get paid by the company to do so. I run into this occasionally, and it's crap. It's especially crap in this case because the only thing that changed is this big company now rules the roost. If he was a consultant for the little company, and nothing has changed, then he's a consultant for the big company. This is why neither of us could be employees, nor do we want to be. In the words of a character on Seinfeld who didn't like his stand up performance, "I can't date (OK, insert "work for" here to make this work) someone I don't respect."

5. There are a lot of dirty noses and butts out there. Sorry - I know my Mom and Dad read this blog - but it's true. If you figure out what I'm talking about, great, and if you don't, then who cares, because it's my blog and I'll rant if I want to. If you don't know what I'm talking about, and there are multiple meanings here, then proceed to #6, no questions asked.

6. I'm glad we didn't go to either industry conference this week. One was in Hollywood, and the other was in Colorado Springs, both lovely venues. It's just like high school, only grownup crap. There's that word again. The popularity contest and cliques, the drinking stories the next day, etc. I just want to get a few clients, do my work, and come home to my real life. I don't care about conferences, and I don't particularly like to travel. I like where I live, and I'm lucky (I know it) because I don't feel like I have to get away. Getting away to me is going into the sunroom with a good book or knitting, a cat or two (or on rare occasions, all three), and Will, and not in that order. I can leave the crap behind when I do that.

7. I moved up here because there were too many people in Los Angeles, which to me means too much traffic, too much noise, too much crime, too many annoying people, etc. etc. In the years I've been here, it's gotten more crowded here, and some days I feel like I did back in LA. Then I go to a big city (LA, SF, whatever) and I come home to suburbia, and it's better. Until the next time I feel like there are too many people here. When I hear about people moving away, I want to scream out - can you please take about 100 of your closest friends with you??? If 100 people did that, that would mean 10,000 fewer people, and yes, I checked the math! I am not good at math without Excel or a calculator, but preferably Excel.

8. It was chilly this morning, and it's hard to believe we're having a one-day cooldown, and then a meltdown. (See #3 above). I'm getting mentally ready for the heatwave.

9. I wish I could bring one of my cats to work with me, but that wouldn't work because
a) I'm not an employee (see #4)
b) Cats don't like to travel
c) Cats don't like to work
d) People are allergic to cats

... heck, most of the time I work from home my cats aren't with me, although sometimes there is a cat on the window perch next to me and that's all good!

Random Photos

The cats sure use the Crow's Nest, as evidenced by the scratches and fur. Ziggy liked to hang out on the floor by the bottom.

Alex is usually at the top, but today he decided to hang out on the towel on the back of the loveseat. The towel is there because he jumps up and down from the Crow's Nest with his claws out.

The wasp catcher is finally working this year. There aren't many, but 4 is better than none.

This old bus takes Niles Canyon Railway passengers to and from the train. I remember using buses like this many years ago.

Closer. My tomato plant is growing and growing! There are now yellow pre-tomato blossoms on it

Knitting and Cats and things

I finished this! The neck is slightly tight going over my (apparently) big head, but I think it will be okay. I need to block it - the armholes are a little larger than I'd like, and in this picture, one looks larger than the other, but I think they are okay. I really prefer free form knitting or socks.


For me it's kind of like skiing - I never got past an advanced bunny or maybe intermediate (who remembers), but I liked it because I enjoyed every minute. I didn't care if I got more advanced or better, I just enjoyed doing it. Dani - the new kitty next door, usually hangs out in our yard, and then runs the minute she sees us. Today Will noticed she was sitting under the swing and didn't move when she saw us. OK, I cheated. I gave her a treat, but she wasn't that interested, and before that she let me pet her (and she even purred) and then she ran, but she didn't run away. She just ran to another part of the yard.

She's tiny - maybe because we're used to monster male cats who are long haired and 20 lbs apiece, but then she's even small next to Mowry. But just in case you ever forget, I'm the king of the house. Sheesh, you can even see the size differential in the pictures!
Don't worry Alex, Mowry and Ziggy - the cats next door are welcome in our yard any time, but they don't ever get to come inside.