Through The Humidifier Stripely

Spunk: “It looks like Beaker got a new humidifier.”

Beaker: “I’m looking through it all stripely.”

Gwendolyn: “Quick change Spunk! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Beaker: “Thanks for the new humidifier! I can breathe again.”

Spunk: “How did you do that you little brat?” Gwendolyn: “Ah ah ah ah…”

Gwendolyn: “Magic!”

Spunk: “I look great reflecting on the phone.” Gwendolyn: “I’m outta here.”

Beaker’s old humidifier started leaking, so I got him a new one. No sooner had I taken the humidifier out of the box, than Spunk jumped in it followed by Gwendolyn. Beaker gets his own private humidifier to help him breathe better. It’s so dry here that Beaker wheezes without the humidifier.

Beaker Loves Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

“Where’s my blueberry buttermilk pancake PapaRATzo?”

Breaker, our 29-year-old Gold Cap Conure, goes nuts over blueberry buttermilk pancakes. He also loves Susan’s blueberry pound cake. I’m thinking that Beaker has genetic memory of his feathered forefathers going out to treetop IHOPs for Sunday breakfast or Sunday Brunch where they enjoyed blueberry buttermilk pancakes. Beaker also loves coffee, donuts, hamburgers, French fries, pizza, huevos rancheros, and similar fare, all of which he rarely gets. But still, the fact that he likes those various types of foods so much leads me to believe he has a genetic memory of a whole feathered fast food industry high in the tops of rainforest canopies.

Beaker’s pancake is the little one on the lower left side of the griddle.

“I’m still waiting!”

“About time you got my order off the griddle.”

“Yum!”

“Yum! Yum!”

“Yum! Yum! Yum! Yum!”

It’s been a few years since Laurie made blueberry buttermilk pancakes. Beaker thoroughly enjoyed his pancake as I did mine. The pancakes were delicious.

Glenda and Gwendolyn were not impressed with blueberry buttermilk pancakes. They were more interested in lying around and looking cute.

A Frayed Knot

The state of the cats’ scratching post reminded me of a very old joke I heard last century:

A string went into a bar and ordered a beer. The bartender told the string that he didn’t serve strings. The string left the bar, tied itself in a knot, fluffed up its top, went back in the bar, and ordered a beer. The bartender looked sideways at the string and asked: “Aren’t you that string that was in here a few minutes ago?” The string answered: “No sir! I’m a frayed knot!”

The cats have enjoyed their scratching post so much they have frayed the knots.

A frayed knot

Loki

Gwendolyn

Loki

Loki and Gwendolyn

Loki

71.4% Waxing Gibbous

Feline Follies

Loki shapeshifting

MarbleGlenda

Silly Silver

Glenda reaching out to touch the phone

Sasha on a cold day enjoying warm air blowing on her.

Gwendolyn being a bit intense.

Spunk chilling on a warm countertop.

Lokii: “Leave me be stupid paparazzo!”

Of Cloudscapes and Cats

The clouds over the Sandias this morning made beautiful cloudscapes, some with rainbow colors made by the rising sun reflecting off ice crystals in the thin clouds. Other clouds cast shadows as the sun rose above them.

Sasha

Silver

Loki

Spunk

Gwendolyn

Intermission

Marble

Ice crystals reflecting colors in the clouds.

Glenda

Moon in the western sky before sunrise.

Moon behind Mama Owl before sunrise

Mama Owl at sundown

Daddy Owl watching the birds flit around below him at sunset.

Mama Owl hopped over to another branch so I could get a shot of her from the levee after sunset.

Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn is more adventurous than Glenda, but not into modeling like Glenda. She doesn’t hold still for long unless she is napping in a cubby or lounging in some other difficult to photograph location. She is always playful, but when I get the camera out she skedaddles under the bed, behind the couch, under a chair, wherever she is out of camera range. This afternoon I got her to come out from under the bed and give me some cute poses. Thank you, Gwendolyn.

Intermission: The wild sky this afternoon.

Moon in the rough. January 23, 2021.

 

Reyes in the Snow

Gwendolyn: “You woke me up to tell me about some dumb celebration in the cold and snow?”

The first year we celebrated Reyes in Madrid, Spain it snowed. Not common for Madrid, and apparently Madrid got a lot of snow today. We stood outside in the cold and snow and watched a parade where the three Reyes Magos rode into town on Camels. Then we ate Spanish Chocolate. We have continued the tradition of eating Spanish Chocolate for Epiphany ever since. Today we celebrated outside in the cold and snow with a space heater, chimenea, fire pit, and a camp stove all burning to keep us warm. Since January 6th was on Wednesday, we waited until tonight, January 9th, to celebrate. However, instead of having our normal party with friends and neighbors coming to join in, we had family only. This was the first Reyes in the last 20 years that we didn’t invite everyone to partake in Spanish Chocolate.

The fires.

Silver napping.

Enjoying the heat when the temperature was 35ºF outside.

Spunk napping.

The end of the party before I turned the torches and lantern out.

Glenda: “You are dumb enough to be outside in the cold. I’m staying in my cozy cubby.”

Kittens, Cranes, Kitties, Crows

Gwendolyn  gargoyling

Glenda and Gwendolyn have full run of the house, catio, and deck now. Teagan had cast them as flying monkeys in a kitty fantasy, and she was right. The kittens are like a couple of flying monkeys. They have become very difficult to photograph because they won’t hold still if they are out of the dark kitten caves they have made for themselves in the laundry room. The big kitties have finally accepted the kittens and everyone is getting along reasonably well. The big kitties have become much more playful under the influence of the kittens. Of course, the big cats are also teaching the kittens many of their bad habits.

Cranes coming in for landing with crows in the background.

Marble

Gwendolyn

We’re just dropping in the see what condition all the conditions are in.

Spunk in the fuzzy hammock I replaced the last burlap hammock with.

The murder of Crows continues.

“You didn’t include me in the title?” Nope! You’re the intermission.

Cranes cavorting

Glenda in the dark.

Cranes at sunset

Gwendolyn: “What cream?”

Glenda

Gwendolyn: “La Llorona? What were you saying about La Llorona drowning kittens?” Children. She drowns children.

Glenda: “Kittens are children too!”