Welcome Princess Neko

Here she is. We asked her owner if we could keep her. That's the short version of the much more lengthy post I was in the middle of - then decided that could wait.

We are happy to have her as part of the family.

Autumn activities here at the Oasis

Seems like I've been away from this blog for a long time. I have gone back to a lower frequency of posting, which I attribute to a burnout of sorts. By the time I've listened to radio news (NPR) for many hours, get my daily dose of Rachel Maddow, (almost daily) Stewart/Colbert, and wade through the endless stream of Facebook friends and Liked-pages news feed, commenting here and there, or not, (this election is INSANE) or issuing a status update maybe, plus scrolling through Twitter... I am too mentally wasted and worn out to put together a posting. It will be time for dinner+couch+TV with the spouse, or just getting out and being in the world in person. Anyway, here's a rundown.

Oct 20 was Tour de Fat, which we attend pretty much every year. It's a touring bike-themed, beer-themed, steampunk-flavored play day and costumed bike parade hosted by New Belgium Brewing Company in Colorado. MrB likes to ride in the parade. I sit it out but enjoy the day. I tend to have one beer too many and get too much sunshine. None of that changed this time. A few pics from the day:





On the 24th I went to the book signing of Matthew Inman, a.k.a. The Oatmeal - who creates some of the funniest comics you'll find anywhere. His new book is called "How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you," and contains How to Pet a Kitty along with a whole book-full of other cat comedy. I absolutely love The Oatmeal.

On Oct 27 we went to see 18-yr-old guitar phenom Carson Brock. He is the son of Kyle Brock, who goes way back to the 1970s playing bass with Eric Johnson, and gets better every time I see him. Good voice too. Look for him on your geetar radar. Here he is on the Jimi Hendrix song, Red House.


Halloween came and went. We had a solid hour of very cute costumed children coming to the door. The most popular costumes still seem to be Princess and Pirate, not much changed about that since I was little. I was never a Princess though, always a Hobo.

Nov 3rd we went to the Celtic Festival, where we had an enchanting day of wonderful Celtic music, climaxing with Moya Brennan (of Clannad) and band, including Cormac De Barra, two harps, drum, fiddle and guitar. It was really quite a treat. Here's one of her videos from about a year ago. Our venue was not nearly as magical as the setting in this video, but it was really nice, a stage in an intimate setting with the lake behind. It is still very warm here, still a bit warmer than I would like it to be, but the weather is still lovely and it cools down a nicely in the evening.


And there's cat news... mostly we do not go out except on weekends, and look forward to nightly visits from some neighborhood kitties. There's one in particular who has stolen our hearts. She is owned by the people 2 doors down but she is left out what must be most of the time. On Friday night, in the exact middle of the night, we heard a meowing in a place where there should be no meowing. There she was, on the second floor roof (which was very steep) crying at a high bathroom window which isn't any taller than a cat door.

Everybody was pretty freaked out and scared. I went outside and didn't really see any path down that wouldn't be painful. MrB was finally able to pry the screen off and pull her through there. We don't know why she was up there, whether she was escaping some critter or just decided to see if that might be an alternate place to be let in. We think she must have balanced on the plank fence and jumped up. We hope that she was sufficiently terrified by it to not try again. Anyway, couldn't help but think of this song.

The election is on Tuesday, and it can't get here soon enough. I think our heads might just spin right off at the neck. Will be checking in here again soon, I hope.

They are missed.

There has been a rash of missing kitties in my neighborhood... a few dogs here and there must mostly cats. It's normal to see a flyer or two, always, but I have been shocked at the number of them. This is not even all of the various flyers, there is at least one more within these few blocks that I didn't photograph, and most have cropped up in the last 2 months.

I was afraid it might be a human killer (and there is no proof that it isn't), but MrB was riding his bike the other morning and saw a healthy coyote. This is very likely what is going on. [Coyotes and cats]

I am thinking of making a flyer of my own saying "COYOTES HAVE BEEN SEEN. PLEASE KEEP SMALL PETS INDOORS."

Catblogging - Lost

Boots

Last November this pair of adorable kitties showed up on the block. It was a very lookalike pair of brother/sister tuxedos (and we soon found out it was a trio, as they had a longhaired tuxedo sister, but she hardly ever visits). This is the first one who showed up on the right. She sported 4 white boots and her brother had white boots in the back with white toes in front. You never saw sweeter or more affectionate cats, these were cuddle-monsters from the start. We later nicknamed them "Boots" and "Bisou." (Our original name for him was "Spats," but Bisou being French for 'kiss' it seemed like a cuter name.)

The first time these kitten/cats ventured onto the screened porch, they both piled into my lap and went to sleep.
These cats seemed to be mostly outdoors, but they always looked good - good coats, no injuries or obvious health issues. Because of that, I tried to worry less, or at least I was able to push the worries to back of my mind - because these are not our cats, and they have a home around here somewhere. Before long, Bisou started to readily come inside the house for belly rubs, snuggling, and occasionally a short nap. We never feed local cats anymore, and no longer have litter pans, so we make sure the visits are very short. It is important to us that neighbor cats know where they are supposed to be living, where their real home is. It's important that they don't think they live with us.

We just can't go through cat-parenthood again. It's far too painful, expensive and hazardous to our own health through stresses. But I looked forward to every visit from Bisou, and really tried not to fall in love.

We started to see Boots a lot less frequently in the daytime, and found out that she had become a night kitty. Any evening, after dark, we can go out in the driveway, and she will come running. She is usually either under a truck down the street or coming out of the storm sewer. She wants belly rubs and petting, and does not get tired of them. She got to be much more skittish about the house though, and stopped coming inside at all, ever.

About a week ago, these posters went up in the neighborhood. It is Bisou. I am happy that Bisou's humans cared enough to put them up. I have seen many cats go missing around here without seeing flyers or getting an inquisitive knock at the door to let people know that they are missing their little sweetie.

If you are a long-time reader here, you know that I have strong feelings against leaving cats to roam freely and unsupervised outdoors except under certain circumstances - but for me those circumstances do not include a suburban neighborhood. The outdoors in general present dangers from venomous snakes, scorpions, coyotes, and all manner of things. In areas where humans are denser, there's the extra danger from vehicle death, child/teenage/adult pranks, dogs, other cats, communicable cat diseases, whatever lives in the storm sewers, plus the snakes, scorpions and coyotes. It's an active debate in the cat-world and there are pros and cons to both indoor and outdoor choices. What is not in dispute is that outdoor cats have a much shorter lifespan.

We do not know what happened to Bisou. It is possible that some neighbor who fell in love with him decided to make it permanent. That's what we have to hope for. I contacted Bisou's people to send them our photos, and the woman said that they provide shelter for Boots in the garage. I don't know if that means an open or closed garage, but a closed garage in the winter here is a welcome thing, but in the Texas summer it will not be shelter. It will be an oven, even at night. If Bisou is really gone from this world (and we don't know what happened), he will never have experienced a whole summer, as he was a young cat just out of kittenhood when he came into our lives last November. We miss him very much.
Bisou

Cats and jammers

Time for a bit of a status update here. Have been spending really far too much of the free time working in the house, although I guess what's 'too much' is a matter of opinion. There are still 3 ladders in the foyer, but I have reached a point where the 8ft. and the 16ft. can possibly go back in the garage for a short time. What a pain in the ass it is to have high ceilings, especially if you want to paint to hang stuff up - and, of course, painting involves as much "taking stuff down" as "hanging stuff up," and my favorite, "moving stuff around."

I also opened the can of worms which is my art collection. It's stuff I created myself throughout my earlier life, and I figured I may as well hang up a few choice items. The figure drawing classes left me with an overabundance of nudes, with a solid number of still-lifes featuring skulls, vases, and drapes. I'm being very selective here. Mentally tiring trying to figure out which ones are worth hanging... I will try to get some photos up here as soon as there's something to show.

Helping out in the process have been some neighbor-cat visitors. We've been allowing a couple of block cats to come inside the house for brief visits (just kidding about the helping out. Cats are unhelpful with tasks - always). Definitely not more than an hour, and no snacks. We have made a vow that we will not take in any pets for a good long time - and that's going to stick. Anyway, these 2 cats in particular are going to break our hearts for sure. They are sweet and affectionate. These cats have homes (2 different ones) but they are left out to roam a lot. They are friends with each other, so I'm glad of that. Such nice kitties.

Love.
Making himself at home.
Most of my energy is being directed toward planning our SXSW day party crawl this month, which means narrowing down an insane number of choices to something humanly possible - and then figuring out the proper combination of buses and boots that will provide the transportation. Parking is a pain, at best, and lots of streets are closed anyway. Looking forward to seeing some of our favorite bands and maybe discovering a new one or two. Here's a favorite we hope to catch once or twice, Punch Brothers, based in NYC.

Here's another one we like, GIVERS, from Lafayette LA:


I will be very glad when festival-time gets here.

Catblogging: Nothing to see here

These two neighbor cats were in the middle of a standoff when I came outside to play cop. The managed to muffle the grrrs and do their best to present a "who? us? we aren't doing anything" facade. After the picture was taken, Fluffy skulked across the street and got under a car, followed by Martin, who was so interested in stalking Fluffy that he crossed the street in front of a car. No harm done from vehicles, and hopefully no bites or scratches. I worry about the outdoor kitties.

Caturday - Brother Cats

These brother cats live next door, and are indoor/outdoor. They are both all black except for a little white "bowtie" patch on the upper chest. Despite having the same coloring, they are very easy to tell apart. Martin (who has been featured on here before) is very friendly and will come over as often as possible for belly rubs. He never gets tired of these.
Here he is in a photo taken today, sitting on the rusty grate of his air conditioner. As soon as I got closer to him, he jumped down and wanted belly rubs.
This is his brother, Deuxie. I don't know if it's spelled that way, but his 'dad' said they originally named him Deux because there were two cats, so they call him "dewey." He is an extremely shy kitty and letting me get this close to him without running away is great progress. One day he even allowed a nose boop, but I don't think he was that OK with it.They both seem to be very sweet boys.

Friday Furbabies and Mean Eyed Cats

Henry just looks like he might have some good advice. He thinks that you should take it easy, and pet him more in his new chair - or he thinks it's his chair. More about that chair later. Henry, regardless of how sensible he looks, has been very silly lately, and every morning he insists on getting in the shower with his mom. Who's bothered by a good soaking? Not this guy.
This is the next-door neighbor cat, Martin. He's been on here before, and he is still coming over for daily belly-rubbins. Go to the link above for embedded video of this silly, flippin' cat, or just click here.Martin looks mean here, but he is totally sweet. He has a black brother who is very people-shy and comes over only to poop in the yard but not for rubbins, and he is perfectly welcome to come over for any reason at all. Speaking of a mean eyed cat, we went to the Mean Eyed Cat bar tonight (which is the greatest-looking place you ever saw but is being engulfed by the surrounding stifling yuppification), we were going to see the Texas Sapphires*, but they had to cancel because the bar didn't renew its live music license. Not sure what the deal is there, but they need to fix that detail.

*Do check out the Texas Sapphires if you love real country drinkin dancin music with no plastic, and have got a couple of really good records out too. They just played a gig last week with the one and only Wanda Jackson (in Houston).

Alright everybody (cats too), let's get through Friday.

Caturday: Talk Birdy To Me

This is Martin. He lives next door but spends a lot of time in our yard. It's easy to see one reason for that. We don't approve of bird-traps (like this one that just popped up with the emergence of these tall poppies), and so have since moved the birdbath to another area.

Martin is an absolute sweetie-pie, and greets us almost everyday asking for belly-rubbins. He will do this 'til the cows come home.


He cohabits with another black cat who is very people-shy, and he has not let us pet him yet. Here's a closeup of Martin from the above shot, looking adorable.

Purrsday Black Cats

Above is one of our new neighbor kitties. It’s got a very cute little squeaky voice, and is usually waiting near the garage at 5PM for belly-rubbins and head-scritches (cats always know what time it is). Kitty (with unknown name) is a little shy but super-affectionate and has a great coat. Yesterday, it was there, and some kids started chasing it around, so no rubbins. I sure hope they keep this kitty indoors for Halloween.

Check out this irresistible bottle of wine on the right. World Market has these, and they are right there at the checkout (smart marketing on their part). It’s about $10, and the wine is a German Reisling called Zeller Schwarze Katz – yes, ‘black cat.”

Catblogging - Most Favored Neighbor

Here is Claw, the sweetest cat on the block, second only to our own Henry. Must be a tabby thing. He lives next door, actually he lives outside most of the time. His adult parents let the children take care of him, so he doesn't get good care. A few weeks ago, he showed up with a foot that was swelled up bad, he wasn't able to walk on it. There was no blood so we figured maybe it was a bee sting or a cactus needle injury. I carried him to their door, and the kids said "yeah, we know about it", but nobody ever took him to the vet. He gets left out on freeze nights, and 100 degree days. Also he's not neutered, so before long there will be even more kittens on this block where we almost have a colony of roaming cats now. But we love this cat dearly. Originally it was him and his sister, Heart (who has won the Catmodel of the Week banner contest). I have not seen Heart for months, but there is another cat over there now, someone we don't know. I hope that Heart has a good home somewhere -- no idea where she is. Here is sweetie-pie Claw curled up in the feather grass. He is 100% adorable. I need to get him into the CotC gallery. Yes?

Update on the sick boys: Alex is feeling a little better. It hasn't quite been 2 weeks since he was overdosed by the vet, and it's supposed to take that long to get over it. He's still shaky and trembly, but tonight he pounced Henry (who is twice his size and then some) so he must be feeling better. Duncan is hanging in there, not eating very well and losing weight too fast. But he is playing a little, and purring like crazy. Duncan is not really going to get better. Time to go put medicine in his ear.

EDIT Friday night: We took Duncan in to the vet. He was having some problems breathing, like we were told to watch for. He had a lot of fluid in his lungs and other places where isn't supposed to be fluid, plus one lung was collapsed. They siphoned a lot of it out, and the good news is that his current blood work shows that he is not in kidney failure -- the previous readings must have been caused by the extreme dehydration from the medical rescue from his heart failure 3 weeks ago -- so he is not a kidney patient -- but he still has the heart problem. We can give him lasix though, which will help with the fluid buildup, and he feels much better tonight than last night. They shaved a big patch out of his side though, so the other cats will have something to tease him about. (((Duncan)))

Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at House of the (Mostly) Black Cats - Cats - Catblogging -

Friday Cat - Last week I Clawed you, this week I Heart you

Here is the sister and litter-mate of last week's kitten who was named "Claw". This little girl is named "Heart", and she is such a sweetie. She always looks like she's about to say something. Probably "I love you". Below it looks like she might be arched up to look mean, but she's just getting up and about to stretch after a little siesta in the heat. Heart and Claw live next door, and everywhere up and down the block. They are outdoor cats. :-(
Here she is again with that lovey-dovey stuff.

And a very Happy Birthday to our very own Prince Henry, who is turning 15 today. As you can see, he is all tuckered out from all the partying, but never to tired for a snuggle. Henry is made out of love. Must be a Tabby thing.

- Last week's "Claw" post -

- Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Justin's Random Thoughts on Sunday - Cats - Catblogging -

Friday Cat - Clawed

Here he is! The little boy next door who is trying to steal my heart! When the brother and sister duo first emerged from their mom's watchful eye, this little stinker ran up our tree and posed for this picture way back in June. That's when I nicknamed him "Cheeta" but now I know that his real name is "Claw"
Claw and his sister, who is named Heart, are a couple of real sweethearts. Look how he has taken over Mr. Blueberry (who is even more of a kitty-cat pushover than I am).
Next week I'll show off sister Heart. The camera loves them both, and so do we. purrrrrrrrrr.
Get your own customized official seal here. Link snagged from MichaelBains.

- Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Begin Each Day - Cats - Catblogging -

Bonus Cat - Baby on Board

One of the things I like about the weekly Friday cat-blogging is that the Carnival of the Cats is politically neutral. The idea of it is for all us to put aside our political differences for just one post a week for the sake of the animals and our need to show them to the world. Most of the blogs that link to me on Technorati are conservative blogs who have hosted the Carnival and linked to my kitties. So... weird world, and surprise, surprise, conservatives need cat love too. I put this bonus one up because the bumper stickers are definitely not neutral, and it won't be in the Carnival. This is the baby boy who lives next door (and everywhere!!) with his sister. Isn't he a charmer? Also on Cute Overload there was a feature post on the Crocodile Hunter... and a cat. After that Bush mug I needed to post some cuteness for balance.

The Irresistables

Well, here we go. As soon as the neighbor's kittens entered our lives, we decided not to get attached and basically just try to keep them away and leave them alone even though they won't get good care. As mentioned here before, they don't fix their animals, barely give them any shelter, food or water. It's the old pro-life problem -- they must give birth but care and survival after that is their problem.

We CAN'T save the world, one cat at a time. The line has to be drawn somewhere.

They love us, of course. When our garage door opens, here they come at full speed in 100% cute mode. Getting out of the driveway in the morning will require about an extra 5-10 minutes as one person holds the kittens back while the other pulls into the street, gets out and the holds back the kittens for the other one. The car horn doesn't frighten them away.

The kittens are always panting when we see them, and yesterday it was over 100 degrees (today will be hotter than yesterday!). Last night we gave in and put out some water for them, theirs was gone and their "folks" were gone too -- they took really long drinks. Poor little sweeties.

I think their kitty mom is pregnant again. I will be surprised if another litter is allowed, I will not be surprised if she disappears or gets "stolen". And how long will it be before this little baby girl is pregnant too?

Previous posts on these babies:
Kittens are great, but...
New cats on the block
Yard cats