Cat and garden sitting again

Snuggles - my neighbor's cat

Yes, Snuggles and I are together again.  I’m watching her and watering the garden again for a week.  I don’t know what my neighbor is going to do when I move.  I told her to find another sitter and she did for a while, but they had other commitments and couldn’t keep doing it all month.  Plus, my neighbor says, “no one can do it as well as you.”

Well I don’t do anything unless I give it my all, or the best I can do.  I don’t know if everyone is like that or not.

 Snuggles

 Garden

Snuggles is glad to see me.  I feel sorry for her because her “mama” is gone so much in the summer.  I’m not sure why Sherry even plants a garden when she isn’t here half the time to take care of it.  I know she likes her fresh veggies.  I just hope she can work something out because it looks like she’ll be gone most of the summer with only a day home here and there.  I want to be a friend and a good neighbor, but I have things I have to get done too.

Stain glass kitten

Raven making his move

 

 Raven - if you look closely, you'll see his body behind the stained glass

Isn’t this an unusual shot?  Raven finally made it to the headboard to look out the moon window over the bed.  He’s been trying that maneuver for a couple of weeks now.  He wasn’t sure of himself for jumping up there.  He kept trying and didn’t give up, as is the norm for a cat.  They are very determined.

We were lucky to get this shot of him walking behind the stain glass hanging in the window.  Even luckier, was the fact that he didn’t knock it down.

Have a great Memorial Day everyone!  Stay safe out there.

My Little boy has a Towel Fetish

 Raven playing in the bathtub

Raven playing in the bath tub

I don’t know what it is about a towel that’s so fascinating, but every time Raven sees one, he tries to grab it.  He pulls them down off the towel racks in the bathroom and likes to slide on them in the bathtub as he chases his ping-pong ball around.

Raven with a dishtowel

Raven with a dishtowel

He must really work at getting the towels he wants and then dragging them into place.  Unfortunately, we’re never around to see him in the act.  We came home the other day and he got this one down in the kitchen and carried it to the cat tree.  I’ve had to hang my dishtowels up higher temporarily.

He thinks its great sport to wrestle with these towels.  My other cats weren’t this interested in linens.  I’m enjoying him though because it won’t be long and he’ll be grown and this will be boring.

We have Babies

Look to the right to see the quail babies.  They're small.

Mom is waiting for the "children" to come through the pickets on the gate.

It’s that time of year for the next generation of wildlife.  We had our first sighting of baby quail last week.  They are so cute and more obedient than human kids are.  The quail make very good parents.  It’s fun to watch the interactions between them and the new “kids.”

Baby chipmunk

Baby chipmunk

I can spend hours watching nature.  The quail and chipmunks seem to have their own language.  The offspring will spend the better part of this year with their parents to guide them.  The only thing left out here is the rabbits, which seem to be out on their own at a young age.

Raven behind my house

 Ravens behind my house

Today I heard all this loud screeching and cawing.  I grabbed the camera and went outside to see what was up.  The ravens make a racket when one of their own is hurt or killed.  This time they were dive-bombing a golden eagle.  They kept this up for the better part of an hour.  I tried to get some good pics but birds are quick.  My husband also decided to call right at this time.  I never did succeed in getting a good shot of the golden eagle, but I bet it was only about twelve feet or so away.  However, this didn’t last long and it took flight.  I know one thing, the ravens look big, but this thing made them seem so small by comparison.  I never did find out what caused all this.  I imagine the eagle was probably hunting one of them and feasted on it for lunch.

Tara, the Hero Cat

By now, many of you have probably already seen this.  However, being the cat lover I am, I had to share.  This is amazing because this cat is so much smaller than the dog it’s taking on.  What would we do without our brave felines?  This is super cat to the rescue to save that little boy.  I’m sure the dog would have kept biting him.  He tried to pull the kid away until the cat intervened.

Click here to view the video from You Tube

This cat reminds me very much of the first cat I had as an adult.  Max was an attack cat always ready to protect me, bless his heart.  He was ready to go after anyone at the door unless I called him off.

Max

The Wicked Wind

On Saturday night, we had wind here that blew at 67 MPH (the radio reported this the next day) for ten hours straight.  Naturally, we were out there trying to tie up trees, etc.  This always seems to happen.  I’m just thankful it wasn’t 30 degrees, which is usually the temp when we’re out tying up trees.  However, it was chilly.  I came in and took some extra vitamin c.

 Dark skies before the storm

You could almost see the windows moving in and out as blasts of wind hit them while roaring around the house.  I was wondering if they would hold up and not cave in.

We went out later and moved all the patio chairs close to the house.  They are heavy metal ones that have blown over before.

The next day we looked out to see the damage.

Another tree bites the dust

 

 The port-o-potty turned over

We only had one tree down, but it was a big one so now we need to replace three trees in the front yard.  This is quite pricey, so we may not replace the one that just broke.  The nursery here has been getting trees in because of the hard winter we had.  The problem is they plant them into big boxes immediately so they can charge more.  What a racket.

There were trees down all over our little town along with several street signs and two outhouses sitting at construction sites.

The wind also blew out the pilot light on the hot water heater so we were without hot water on Sunday morning.  Tell me how it can get past two doors to do that.  The water heater is in a room inside the garage.

Surprisingly the power never went out.  That’s a real shocker since it’s notorious for going out around here all the time.

Vacant lot ready for building - notice the port-o-potty is at the right

On another note, work has started on the vacant lot two doors down from us.  The men were there yesterday to mark out the lot for footings.

 Tootie

Tootie’s eye is continuing to heal.  We took her to the vet last Wed and were able to cut her meds down to twice a day.  I’m glad she’s such a little trooper.  We would never have been able to endure all that we’ve been through with this eye had it been a couple of the cats we’ve had in the past.  They were little scrappers and wouldn’t put up with being doctored that much, or having the e-collar around their neck.  I’m sure we’d have wounds all over us by now.

 Our resident lizard

The lizard is still making itself at home in the fireplace.  I don’t blame it for wanting to stay in there on Sat night.  We aren’t using the fireplace right now anyway and its entertainment for the cats.

 New side-by-side fridge

The new fridge was delivered last Thurs.  It seems smaller, but I'm just used to the French doors.  At least this works and that's the important thing, right?

Look at this gorgeous thing!

Honeysuckle in my yard

Here's a close up of the blooms

Some things thrive in the desert and can endure the awful weather extremes.  Every year this honeysuckle looks like a bunch of dead sticks and twigs.  It transforms itself over night to a living gorgeous thing.  We’ve thought it was dead more than once.  The leaves come on fast and in a matter of a week or so, it looks like this.  It’s awesome it can do this.  This plant will bloom all summer and into fall, so it makes a stunning display for the yard.

Construction goes on two doors down

We hear beep, beep, beep all day as the earth-movers shove dirt around on the vacant lot two doors down.  I guess this is better than the hammers and saws we’ll hear soon.  The cats are fascinated though, by all the action over there, so it keeps the little rascals occupied part of the day.

 Lot Excavation

 Lot Excavation

 

I’m not so sure I’d want my house built there because there’s an underground stream they filled in when they built this subdivision years ago.  Our house doesn’t sit on it, but it’s under the lots next door and it crosses the street running under my neighbor’s house and meandering through the neighborhood.

 Lot Excavation

My husband tried to tell the builder who pooh-poohed him off until they hit running water about eight feet down.  He had to change his strategy, so now they’re bringing in loads of rock to beef-up the building pad.

The owner wants a pool.  This isn’t a good idea as we’re in a drought situation right now and once it gets rainy again, water stands over there when it’s 115 degrees in July.  No one wants to listen to us, so I guess the new guy will learn an expensive lesson down the road.

It’s still windy, warm and dry.

The Orioles are back

Sunday was warm and windy here in the desert.  The humidity was sitting on seven percent, so you didn’t dare drag your feet across the carpet.  I’m glad we don’t have a lot of it.  No wonder my feet and hands are in such shape and I have snakeskin all over.

 Male oriole

Female Oriole

The orioles have returned to the yard.  I spent part of the day trying to get good pictures of them.  The other part I spent working in the yard.  As I ache all over now, the thought of getting a condo is sounding better to me than it once did.  Yard work beats you up.  I just don’t know if they make a condo big enough.  I have to have a place somewhere that I can escape to that’s quiet.

 Female oriole on feeder

 Look at this handsome fellow - Beautiful color

Anyway, back to the orioles.  We had three in the yard flying in the trees and taking turns at the hummingbird feeder.  For those of you who have orioles and don’t know it, these birds love the hummingbird feeder.  We tried Oriole nectar and orange slices and they wouldn’t touch it.  So fill up your hummingbird feeder and watch for them.  But be warned they can drain it in a couple of days.  I have a giant sized one now.

 A couple of sparrows enjoying the feeder

The Orioles will hang around all summer and then migrate in the late fall.  They don’t mind sharing the feeder with the hummers.  And, as you can see, even the finches and sparrows take a turn.  They’ve learned if they rock it back and forth, they can get the nectar out.

Changing it up

Isn't this spectacular?  It's an Argentine Saguaro

I’ve been so negative lately, so how about some nice pictures of spring in the desert?  The cactus bloom in April and May and everything is so green out and dotted with color.  It’s really nice and hard to believe that these plants can live through the winters.  The only problem with cactus is that the blooms don’t last very long, but there are usually lots on each plant so they open at different times and this allows for some color over several weeks.

 Koki

On another note, my little mischievous girl, Koki, is now nine-years-old and settling down a bit.  I hate to see this, but times goes on whether we like it or not.

 Raven

Raven is now six-months-old and into everything.  He’s the live wire around here, but it’s nice to have some action in the house, although my husband wouldn’t agree with me on this point.

 Tootie with her messed up eye - poor baby

Tootie with her collar on

Tootie is the old gal at age fourteen.  She’s the one having the eye troubles since Raven scratched her when they were wrestling.  She has a cornel ulcer now on her eye that we’ve been treating over the last couple of months.  Thank goodness, she’s a trooper because she gets ointment in it three times a day and then has to wear this Elizabethan collar for a while.  Actually, the vet instructed us to keep it on her all the time, but we take it off after a couple of hours.  It’s mainly so she’ll leave her eye alone when we put the ointment in.  It’s getting better, but will probably be a while before it’s healed up.  I just hope she’ll be able to see out of it later.

Enjoy some more scenery around the parkway where we live.  

It’s going into the 90’s here in the desert.  I love this time of year.  We haven’t even turned the A/C on yet, but I imagine we’ll have to soon.  I wish it was like this all year, but you can’t have everything you wish for and the plants do need a rest.

Aw Hell !

Clipart

Well the technicians came and the fridge is toast.  The compressor went out and it’ll be $600 to repair it.  We can’t put this amount into a ten-year-old fridge.  So now, we have to find a new one.  This is very bad timing as we will be moving and intended to sell the fridge with the house.  We have a small used fridge in the garage that we’re using in the meantime while we look for something on sale.

My husband went to run errands after the repair guys left, so I decided to haul some big boxes out to the garage and get them out of the house.  He said he’d haul them out in due time, which means they’ll b there a while.  Naturally, I couldn’t see what I was doing, one big box caught the door lock, and I ended up locking myself out of the house.  Now what?  Today I didn’t have the house key in my pocket, wouldn’t you know, so I had to break in through the front window.  I’m so glad it’s nice today and I left it open about three inches.

As if all this isn’t enough today, I ended up cutting the bottom of my foot on my floor mat because it’s all cracked up.  I go barefoot around here in the summer and I didn’t want to get a new mat until after we move.  I guess that will teach me to wear shoes.

I’m told later today that we will need a permit to haul away the old fridge because it contains Freon, a hazardous substance.  But if we buy a new one, the people who deliver it will hail the old one away and dispose of it.  This may be easier, but you do wonder if everyone is in cahoots to sell new appliances.  My husband decided to check and see if the power company had any rebates on new fridges.  It turns out they have a small one and will give you another rebate if they haul away your fridge, but only if it qualifies.  In other words, I guess it has to be a certain brand.  We’re calling them tomorrow because we don’t want to be stuck with a fridge we have to dispose of.

The only good thing so far about today is that the weather is perfect.  The gusty winds are gone.  It’s sunny and we have a nice breeze.  It’s in the mid-80’s.  I love it.

 Mama with her birthday cake

I called my mom for her BD and got to talk a few minutes.  I think she had a terrific time at the restaurant and actually enjoyed her whole day today.  That’s great!  Maybe next year I can be there.