Cat Help in the Catio

February 3, 2014 Timothy Price16 Comments

Work continues on the catio. We started preparing the old cement slab for resurfacing on Saturday, but then we discovered we needed to rent a high pressure sprayer to clean it before we put on the resurfacing cement, plus the temperatures are supposed to stay above 50º F for 8 hours after the new surface is applied. Since the temperature only got into the 40’s over the weekend we decided to prepare surfaces for painting.

The first photo is Laurie preparing to wire brush the French windows so I could paint them. In the second photo, she is telling Rosencrantz and Guildenstern what they could do to help. The third photo shows Guildenstern supervising Laurie. He had a lot to say about our work, so much so, that it wore him out and he had to take a break (fourth photo). The French windows and door had not been painted in 22 years. The ivy had grown up on them which marked and pulled off paint in various places, so I spent a good part of the day painting the windows and doors with a very good, “stain killer” primer. The last photo shows Laurie standing by the freshly primed windows.

As I have mentioned before, we live in a cold spot — the reason Laurie was dressed in layers of warm clothes to work on the catio. We went to a dinner party last night in Albuquerque. When we left the party at a little after 10:00 PM, the car showed the outside temperature was 47º F. When we got home 20 minutes later, the temperature at our house was 26º F. We live about 10 miles north and west as the crow flies, and about 700 feet lower than the part of Albuquerque we attended the dinner party, yet we were 21degrees colder.

Let a Sleeping Cat Lie?

February 1, 2014 Timothy Price22 Comments

Rosencrantz was so cute sleeping in, that I had to do a photo. I got only one shot of him sleeping before he kitty-sensed my camera, woke up, and looked around a bit disoriented. He was definitely unhappy with me disturbing his bliss by taking a photo of him while he was sleeping.

Waiting on a Waffle/Breakfast with Guildenstern

January 29, 2014January 29, 2014 Timothy Price2 Comments

I had to get out my 17mm, super-wideangle lens to get a photo of Beaker impatiently waiting for the waffle that’s in the toaster oven. You can see the tips of his wings are a little blurry because he is fluttering them in anticipation. Guildenstern got up on the table, flopped himself down and waited to see what Laurie was having for breakfast. He wasn’t too sure about either the granola or the coffee.

Cats in Winter

January 16, 2014 Timothy Price18 Comments

What do our cats do in winter? Romeo was not sure about me taking yet another photo of him. Rosencrantz made like a kitty statue, while Guildenstern relaxed on a Viking book to see if he could soak up some Old Norse. Mama Manx dozed on a “cat magnet” blanket, and Diné got warm lying on the heater vent.

A Kitty & A Bird

January 5, 2014 Timothy Price9 Comments

Rosencrantz and René were both wanting my attention, and neither one cared much for the critter competition they had going on.

New Year, Nyuu Kitty

January 1, 2014 Timothy Price6 Comments

I can’t think of a better way to start 2014 than with portraits of a new kitty. This is Nyuu, who belongs to Roxy. I was visiting with Roxy when Nyuu got on her lap — the rest is photo history. Happy New Year!

Classic Kitties & René

December 29, 2013 Timothy Price8 Comments

Romeo, Tesla and Guildenstern were classic today. We went over the Lane’s house and played with Tesla and he posed for me. Then we dropped by Laurie’s parent’s house and Romeo was disgusted that we walked in smelling of Tesla. Earlier in the day we put carrot cake outside on the deck to cool, and when Laurie whispered “…don’t tell Guildenstern!” he perked right up and looked around to see what we were whispering his name for.

I took René in for his quarterly beak trim. Classical KHFM was playing an opera during our drive to the vet, and when René heard the woman’s voice he started to hoot and whistle like he does when he’s flirting with women. I found it interesting that he reacted the same way to a beautiful voice as he does to a beautiful woman.

Rail Yard Cats

December 25, 2013 Timothy Price8 Comments

Merry Christmas! You have probably heard of “junkyard dogs” — rail yards have cats. I stopped by the yard where the Santa Fe 292 locomotive is being restored, and there were lots of cats in the rail yard. Most of the cats hid when they saw me approaching the fence — one cross-eyed kitty was curious, two sat at opposite ends of an old loading dock, while two others watched me from the safety of a stack of railroad ties.

Cats & Concert Sunday

December 16, 2013 Timothy Price3 Comments

The cats were in winter mode most of the day. Even though it was sunny and a blistering 40º F (4.4º C) outside in the afternoon, Guildenstern, Rosencrantz and Diné chose to lay around on our bed most of the day. We went to the West Side Chior’s Christmas concert Saturday night, and Jerri had me help record the concert. I didn’t think of it, but I could have taken equipment and shot a video of the concert Saturday night. Well, they had another concert on Sunday, so I shot a video of it with my Canon 5D and a stereo mic. The video and sound are great, but it’s going to be a lot of work putting the hour long concert altogether into one video.