Kitties and the heat

After the unusually long winter we had, I vowed that I would not complain about the heat this summer. So all I have to say is "Wowzers, this week has been a scorcher". :-)

The kitties are tolerating the heat. Here are a few shots from today.

These two are becoming friendlier and friendlier, when Charlie isn't swatting Chloe for some kitty reason.


Little Miss Hermione had some hygiene issues last night, ones that long-haired cats are prone to. I insisted on taking her into the bathroom to clean her up. She hasn't quite forgiven me yet. :-)

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Bad and good kitties

Charlie spends a lot of time running back and forth, monitoring the backyard and the front sidewalk for intruders. He'll get agitated and chatter, but normally I don't see anything.

Last night he was extra agitated - his tail sticking out from the curtains was three times its normal size. I turned on the light for the backyard, and spotted a cat by the back gate. I've seen it before - grey and white, always leaves when I spot it.

So this evening, I heard noises in the back yard and thought that the cat was back. I looked into the backyard and thought, "Oh there's a kitty. That kitty looks like Chloe. THAT KITTY IS CHLOE HOW DID SHE GET OUT?!?"

Perhaps I didn't close the screen door enough, perhaps Charlie figured out how to claw it open - but Charlie AND Chloe were in the backyard. She immediately came back in once she'd been sighted, Charlie was meowing about something so I scooped him up and brought him back. Fortunately Hermione was napping in the living room like a good kitty so ALL KITTIES PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR.

Now I'm going to have to be extra careful with the screen door, and maybe close the patio door if I'm not in the immediate vicinity - which is not easy to say when we're in the middle of a heat wave. I could leave the kitchen window open for a cross-breeze if I have to.

Because this post needs a picture, here is Miss Hermione.

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Pictures catch up post!

They don't often nap together, but when they do, it's ADORABLE.

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Quick update

Day 132


I would've posted yesterday's selfie last night, except that a cat was giving birth on the Internet and I couldn't not watch. Even after the first was stillborn (he had a birth defect). I stayed up to see a healthy girl be born, but couldn't stay awake for babies 3-7. That's right, six healthy kittens.

Day 133


I went for a walk this evening. I'm not used to this sunny weather stuff.



Sooooo happy it isn't snow.

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Day 91

If you're going to lie on the bed while I test my new tripod, you're going to get affection, whether you want it or not. :-)

Bonus kitty pictures.

Photobomb!

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Kitty picspam

Today I'm feeling like I'm shaking off the cold and can go into work tomorrow. I'm still resting and drinking lots of fluids and medication. The most strenuous thing I've done all day is one load of laundry. Because if I'm going back to work, I need clean pants.

The cats have been thrilled to have me home. And I've been taking pictures!

Like this one of Miss Hermione. She's two and a half years old and definitely still a wide-eyed kitten at times.

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Day 74

A day late, I bought myself a birthday gift. A Canon SL1 to replace my Rebel XT which is toast.



Naturally, the first picture I took with it is of a cat. Hello Charlie.



Hermione wanted my attention too.

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Chloe picspam

Five years ago today, I brought this scaredy cat home:
She wasn't impressed. Or happy. Chloe's guesstimated age was seven months. She'd been found with her littermates by a dumpster, and taken in by the MEOW Foundation on December 15, 2008. Her brother and sister found forever homes fairly quickly, but Chloe was shy and the 18 people who'd previously asked to see her had decided not to adopt her. I looked at that scared baby and knew that I had to bring her home.

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Day 47

Day 47, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Life with cats isn't all rainbows and cuddles.

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How I Spent My Winter Vacation - Part One

This is how it will go - I'll post a recap of each day, with photos to illustrate, but I won't post all of the photos from each day at once. I will post the others one at a time, later, so I can still share them but not overwhelm one post with too many.

Note: the Jedi camera doesn't want to turn on, I tried it with two fully charged battery packs. I'll take it into a shop - it may be as simple as the date/time battery needing to be replaced. My point is, all of my photos were either taken with my Lumix or my cell phone.

I arrived in San Diego on February 6. My first flight, from Calgary to Los Angeles, was great. I watched Gravity then chatted with the older couple seated next to me. They were going to sightsee for a day, then board a cruise ship that would take them through the Panama Canal to Florida.

LAX is huge. And overwhelming. With the kindness of helpful people, I found my terminal for my next flight. When I went in search of my gate, I got whisked into a shuttle bus and was driven across across the airport to a smaller terminal with one fast food restaurant and no WiFi. #firstworldproblems.

My next flight was in partnership with WestJet. It was an American Eagle flight and cramped. My seatmate and I agreed that we should pull the window shade down and try to nap. This was definitely an economy flight.

P was at the San Diego airport, with her kids, Victoria and Andrew. I've known P for so long online that it wasn't weird settling into her minivan and talking as we drove through San Diego. San Diego is beautiful, by the way.

The next morning, everyone was at work or school. I had breakfast with a beautiful view of her backyard, and canyons and hills. And a hummingbird hovering around these flowers.

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Kitties!

Charlie and Hermione are so stinking cute together tonight.

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Cuddling up on a cold night

Cuddling up on a cold night, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.

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The best of friends

The best of friends, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.

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The kitty intruder returns

Charlie growled at the back door again tonight. I turned on the backyard light - the intruder was back, standing by the door and looking very friendly. She has a very sweet face, very clean and fluffy fur, and a collar. She's also smaller than Hermione and I just wanted to pick her up and snuggle her.

BUT. That's not how things work when you already have three cats. Especially one that is doing his duty as Alpha Cat and telling the intruder to buzz off. So I opened the door a bit and she ran to the back of the yard. I opened the door some more, because I realized I'd left my clippers outside, and she left the yard entirely.

One minute later, she was back by the door so I had to scare her away again. I patted Charlie and told him what a good guard cat he is and gave him treats. He was on duty so he didn't eat the treats.

Part of me is worried about the other cat, because the temperature is dipping low tonight. But she really looks like she has a home. And putting out a cat bed for her, one that she could climb into for shelter and that my cats don't use, would probably be the wrong thing to do in the long-term.

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Gardening update - Attack of the Snow Peas

The snow peas are insane. They're flowering, they're sprouting, they can barely be contained as they reach for the sky, and clasp onto the tall hedge mustard between them and the fence.




Resistance is futile.

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Kitties!

Charlie is the alpha male around here. This ... is the QUEEN. Hermione is wondering why I'm pointing that thing at her instead of feeding her treats.



Buy at SmugMug .

The alpha male taking a break.



Buy at SmugMug .

I have no intention of turning this blog into a SmugMug ad. I was thinking of doing a weekly "New at SmugMug" post. Your thoughts?

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The girls

The girls, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Caught sleeping together.

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Halloween and Kitties

Because I don't know when my windows are being replaced, I didn't go batshit crazy decorating for Halloween. I went for "friendly" and "charming" and "please please please come to my house I've lived in apartment buildings for so long and I've never trick-or-treaters living on my own ever so please come here I have candy".



On the window ledge are little dollar store LED lights and decorations. I went to Vegas earlier this month, that's where my money went. :-)

That white window screen I made this summer really stands out at night. Did not know that. At least it will be replaced, hopefully soon.

I also hung a battery-lit paper lantern from my mailbox and placed a cheerful dollar store pumpkin on the steps, to show that I welcomed trick-or-treaters. And I had to have a cat decoration too!



I got off the bus at 6 and was dismayed to see there were already trick-or-treaters so I quickly hustled home and turned on all the lights.

And lo, the trick-or-treaters came. The very first one was a toddler in a bear suit who tried to enter my house, he wasn't entirely sure why he was there.

There were about 30? In the space of three hours. In my initial excitement I was very generous with the treats, then started rationing them to one treat per child. Especially if the child was old enough to sport peach fuzz, and/or his voice has changed. Some of those boys were taller than me!

When it was 9:19 pm, I'd just had one more trick-or-treater, and I was down to four tootsie roll pops. The novelty had worn off. I turned off the lights and went upstairs for a bath.

What did I dress up as? I was initially going to do a very casual Star Wars fan. That morning I spotted my Soft Kitty hoodie and went a different way. I drew some whiskers on my face and I was a kitty.



And then I pretended to be a 15 year old girl on MySpace five years ago.



The cats were not impressed with this strange-people-coming-to-the-door nonsense. Chloe stayed upstairs the entire time. Hermione ran around the house, especially whenever the doorbell rang or someone knocked on the front door. Charlie was grumpy because he was trying to nap, while these hooligans kept coming to the front door and making noise.

In quieter times:




Sometimes I get to sit in that chair too. :-)

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KITTIES

There is an awful lot of this going on, while the weather is cool.



Frankly, it's a miracle that I get anything done, with the Charlie and Hermione ongoing lovefest being so darn cute. :-)

A couple of nights ago. Chloe started chattering and meowing and making me run to see what was the matter.







In case you haven't figured it out - she was following a spider, in the upper left corner of two of the photos. I got sick of her chattering, got the broom out, and swept the spider towards her.

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Photo of the Day - April 9 2012

Photo of the Day - April 9 2012, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Another afternoon of spying on the neighbours.

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