Seattle

Friday the 15th I boarded Alaska Airlines to Seattle to see Keith and Glen.  Keith and I were roommates for 2 years until he fled the relentless sun of San Diego to return to the lush green of Puget Sound. 

Friday evening we boarded the ferry to Bremerton to meet Jessica and Larry for drinks.  Jessica and I have known each other since Junior High Regional Band Concerts where we played French Horn.  We both ended up at the University of Illinois in the Marching Illini.  Jessica is a rare friend who can make 26 years seem like yesterday.

Saturday we went to the Fish Market and the fresh produce stands where we got fresh nectarines so juicy we had to be hosed off afterwards, and fresh blueberries for pancakes Sunday morning.  Then up the Space Needle just as the sun came out to give us spectacular views.  Sunday we drove around to different neighborhoods and parks, my favorite being the troll under the bridge on Troll St.  I was actually happy to see the clouds and have some rain after a heat wave at home.

Kitty Chaos

To see larger slideshow, click on it, and then find the full screen button in the upper left.

Diablo

Update 8/20/11:  When we found out that she is a he, we changed her name to Debbie because she's such a  snack cake.  This morning the vet said she's the smartest one of the group.  She's such a snake cake!

Kitty Gaga

The kittens are 4 1/2 weeks old now.  Their eyes are wide open.  Going by their pen with 6 sets of eyes and ears all pointing at you is very dangerous.  So far only 1 is spoken for so if you know of anyone who would like to give a cat a good home ( and, you know, not leave it out at night as coyote food ) please send them our way.

Kittens !

A week ago Monday I was laying down and Katie was all over me and the bed.  She finally settled down next to me.  After a few minutes she let out the cutest of kitty farts and started licking down there.  Soon there was an extra squeak in the room.  I slid off the bed and texted my roommate and his boyfriend.  I took photos with 2 cameras and a cell phone and sent out updates as the newborn count went up.

The smaller, low resolution pictures are from my cell phone.  They were easy to send out right away to Jeff and Steve.  The others may be a bit blurry due to low light and I avoided bothering her with a lot of flash. The slideshow can be viewed full screen by clicking on it and finding the full screen button in the upper left.

A total of 5 new little ones came out Monday morning.  She surprised us all by popping out another one over 24 hours later, sending Jeff into a panic.

Katie came into the house as a stray on the day of the Royal Wedding.  Jeff took her to be fixed but found out she was already pregnant. 

My coverlet and sheets actually cleaned up really well.  We saturated them with Shout, soaked them in cold water and then washed them in hot.  The slight shadow left behind can't be seen unless it's pointed out.  Anyone who looks for that and makes critical comments can just leave.

If you play the videos with your volume turned up pretty high you can hear their little voices.

Katie, Warrior Princess

Katie will usually dash out the door whenever it's open to stalk among the plants and let free her inner tiger.  She never goes far and is usually ready to come back inside pretty quickly.  We just check on her after a while.  If she's not ready to come in then, we check on her a while later and shake her bag of kitty treats and she'll come running. 

This morning she dashed out the door to guard the house from her favorite place hidden among the big leaves of the plants by the front porch.  When I checked on her she didn't come running and I couldn't see her at all.  I went back inside and was about to shut the door behind me when this white and calico blur of fur lept through the door and slid to a stop on the living room's wood floor.

The umpire yelled, “SAFE!”  The judges gave her all 10s.  The crowd roared.  Miss Kate, of course, demurely licked her paw and pretended not to notice any of it.

But she knew, make no mistake about that.  She knew she deserved no less.

h o r r i b l i z e r

“Don't be such a horriblizer,” Calliope used to say whenever Mary Ann began to fret about the world.

  - Arumistead Maupin, Mary Ann in Autumn

Princess Kate: Window Guardian

San Diego Gay Pride Parade 2010

Yes, I know I'm just now posting photos from last July, almost a year later.

A)   It's my blog and I can post stuff whenever I want
B)   Will this happen again with photos from 2011 Pride?  See A.

I was surprised by how many photos turned out well.  It was a bright, sunny, warm day in mid-July.  We met at Patrick's house for brunch and then walked over to the parade route.  After the parade we all relaxed in the cool shade of Patrick's front yard.

Easter Sunday

This is already on facebook, but I also wanted to post it here:

Sunday, at Steve's house, after Easter Dinner, one of the guys had this all organized to reproduce The Last Supper.  He had these drape things to act as robes and the names of the characters were on folded up cards that we pulled out of a vase.  At fist we didn't know what to think, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Kudos to Mark for providing Jesus' halo and Craig's mad photo skills.  I think it's completely appropriate that Jesus and 9 of the disciples are gay and Mary has a walrus mustache.  Happy Easter!

Wedding Photo: 1930

Going through some boxes I came across this: the 1930 Wedding Photograph of my maternal grandparents. My Grandmother once said they didn't wear white dresses during the Depression.  They would have 5 daughters and 2 sons.  He died six months before I was born.  She went to join him just last year at the age of 98.

New Roommates

Jeff, Princess Kate, Steve

Jeff generously offered to rent his front bedroom to me.  His signature is on the mortgage, but Princess Kate walked in on the day of the royal wedding and took ownership of the place.

Awesomeness!

Saw this tonight with Skip and Heriberto. So much fun. Learned two new words: hangry and procrastibator.

Skip’s Graduation 5.22.10

My friend Skip completed his Masters in Marriage and Family Counseling and invited me to the graduation ceremony. One of his classmates works with a Doctor who allowed them to use his house in La Jolla for the event. It’s an amazing place overlooking the ocean and full of interesting passages and outdoor sculpture.

Skip’s parents flew in from Massachusetts for the ceremony. They were teachers and missionaries in Afghanistan where he was born and raised until he was 15. His brother recently returned from there and brought the him the Afghan cap that he wore.

It was a wonderful ceremony. Several of the faculty and students spoke about their experience working together through the learning process. Each speech was wonderfully personal, heartfelt, and meaningful. I enjoyed every word.

More of Skip’s Graduation

Wild Animal Park 5.16.10

Zoo

By the time the Zoo opened at 9am I was completely exhausted from the previous long days and early mornings. None of my pictures seemed to be working so I used the take-as-many-bad -pictures-as-possible approach hoping some good ones would sneak in there.