More Cesar

Cesar's eye is doing better.  He's NOT enthusiastic about the eye drops, but they definitely are doing what they're supposed to.  He's still sneezing.  In the paperwork I got when I adopted him, they mention the possibility of cats being adopted from the pound having Upper Respiratory Infection.  It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks to clear up so I'm not worried about the continuing sneezing.

Some things I've noticed.  He's a flame point Siamese yet is almost entirely quiet.  Siamese aren't just talkers, they're TALKERS.  Shoot, I've had two orange tabbies who were chattier than Cesar.  He may start talking more as he gets more used to being here.  He may not.  We'll see.

He's also still a MESSY drinker.  He doesn't drink like a normal cat (perhaps due to his URI?).  Instead he rakes his paw through the bowl  & then licks the water off his paw.  In the process he gets water all over the floor.  I had a newspaper down to absorb the water.  It did OK, but wasn't quite right.  So, I ordered a Soggy Doggy Slopmat.  Really.  That's its name.  Oddly, I read about it in a newspaper insert about the time I adopted Cesar.  After all the water on the floor, I decided to give it a try.  Hopefully, it will absorb all of the mess.

So far, Cesar does not seem to be a cuddler.  My three previous cats were all big fans of sitting on my lap.  Not the best scenario in the middle of summer, but a plus in winter.  Not Cesar.  He likes being close to me, having me in his line of sight.  He does occasionally lounge on my lap when I'm in the recliner.  However, he seems to prefer the chaise to my lap.  As you can see here:

Propped up against the pillows.  If you're a cat, does it get any better than this?  Since you asked, yes, my cats do live a good life.

Papillo

Cesar the cat

I've decided to call the new cat Cesar.  It can be pronounced either SEE-zar or SAY-zar.  I tend to lean more towards SEE-zar.

We went to the vet today.  I knew Cesar was a hefty cat.  It turns out he weighs - wait for it - 13 pounds.  Yep.  He's not a huge eater.  More of a nibbler.  He still weighs 13 pounds.  And he is solidly built, rather like a furry rectangle with legs.

The only problem spotted was conjunctivitis in his right eye.  I noticed he's been only partially opening it.  I now get to put drops in his eye several times a day for at least a week.  What fun!

He doesn't seem to be much of a player.  He was indifferent to a number of toys left over from Oscar's era.  So, of course, I went out and bought more.  More - meh.  I bought a flat scratching post that has toys inside.  He likes to sit on it and sharpen his claws.  Has he played with the interior toys?  Nope.

I did buy him a collar with a bell.  Although he's less clingy than he was yesterday, he still likes to follow me around.  The bell helps me keep track of him.  It's a pretty blue, the color of his eyes.

Papillon

The newest member of the family

For 16+ years I lived with Oscar, the cat.  His kidneys were failing and I had to have him put to sleep in December, 2014.

So, I decided to adopt another cat.
There were two reasons - one, I was missing having a cat (not all the time, but quite often).  Two, I've been noticing evidence that I might have a mouse in the house.  Not good.  With that, I decided to head off to a local pet adoption event.

There I found Siwa, a 5 year-old Siamese flame point.  We're still getting to know each other and have been doing a lot of lounging around the house this afternoon.  I'm not entirely reconciled to his name.  I looked it up and it's the name of an oasis in Egypt.  It just sounds a bit twee as a cat's name.

There's stuff I'm still getting used to.  I was startled at his drinking habits.  He's capable of drinking from his water bowl like a regular cat.  However, he also likes to drag his paw through the water and lick the water off it.

He's been kinda stand-offish for most of the afternoon.  I can't say I'm surprised.  One habit that does startle me is when I walk around the house.  He follows me almost like a dog and demands attention.  It's kinda weird because he'll sort of ignore me - until I start walking, then I'm his best buddy.



I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow for a wellness check.  I think he's a bit overweight, but will see what the vet says.


Papillon

More odd weather

As mentioned in earlier posts, Albuquerque is officially high desert.  That means we do get rain, but not just in large amounts.

July and August are considered to be 'the rainy season'.  June is normally considered to be the 'dry' summer month.

Which made yesterday's weather both surprising and welcome.

I'd noticed clouds moving in for most of the afternoon.  And then I heard the thunder.  Yippee!
Later on, I noticed it was raining.

More yippee!



The forecast doesn't look promising for the rest of the week, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Papillon

Confusion

Albuquerque exists in an environment known as high desert.  High as in being a mile above sea level.  Desert as in - not a lot of precipitation on a yearly basis.

That said, this has been one wet month of May.  It started raining yesterday and has been intermittently doing it right up until about mid-afternoon today.  Then the clouds moved off (mostly) and the sun came out just in time for sunset.

Whatever blew through also blew in some cooler temperatures.  Normally daily highs in mid-May are in the upper 70's.  Today, the high was forecast to be in the low to mid 60's and I'm not sure it got up that high.  I had to turn on the heat this morning.  Not very high, but enough to take the edge off.

The weirdest part has been the snow in the Sandias.  I tried to take a photo around noon, but the clouds had rolled in and looked to be dropping another light layer.

All this while the vegetation around town is still doing the spring thing.  Notice the green in the lower fifth of the above photo.  Or this lovely bush, I think it's called Spanish Broom.

Later the clouds pulled back a bit.  You can see small areas of snow at the top of the mountains and just below the clouds, if you squint a bit.

Tomorrow it's supposed to start warming up a bit.  And we might get more rain later in the week.
Either 1939 or 1941 are the wettest Mays on record.  If we keep going the way we have been, we might just beat the record.  Considering how recently the state was listed as being in a drought, any and all rain is welcome.

Papillon

It's All Happening at the Zoo

It's been years since I went to the Albuquerque zoo so I decided to go Friday morning (yesterday).  I thought - it's a work day and a school day so it'll be quiet and uncrowded.

Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!  Snort!  Smacks hand on desk!  Ha, ha, ha! 
(Excuse me while I take a short break.)

Okay, I'm back.  (Brief episode of low-level giggling.)

After you re-read the first paragraph, I'm sure you can picture the look on my face when I pull up in front of the zoo.  Not only is the parking lot FULL, so are all parking areas within walking distance.  And there looks to be most of the school buses in the Albuquerque metro area, plus a couple from Santa Fe.

Needless to say, I promptly put the zoo in my rear-view mirror.  I had NO desire to be trampled by large hordes of very short barbarians.

This morning I woke up and the thought occurred to me.  Saturday morning is generally when crowds of parents and children converge on the park near my house to do whatever sport they do.  If they're all at the park, then they can't also be at the zoo.  Shall I try again?

I decide to go for it and was very pleasantly surprised when I get there and note that the parking is only about half full.  There were numerous people there, but it was not nearly as crowded as on Friday.

When you first get to the zoo, you're greeted by a rather contentious group of flamingos.  They seem to spend half their time eating and the other half bickering with each other.  (Notice the ruffled feathers on some of the birds.)

Here's a cougar who was kind enough (bored enough) to pose for me.

 

This tiger came out, took a look at us and walked back indoors.  I know there's a dark spot on the wall behind him.  No, he's not urinating, it's a spot that's being repaired & hasn't been painted yet.

His behavior was mimicked by the zebras.  They walked out, looked bored and walked back indoors.

The sea lion on the other hand seemed to be having fun posing for all of us.

 

Finally, here's the zoo's baby giraffe.  I'm not sure how old he is, but he's a cutey.  He was very curious about me at first, then decided eating was more fun.

All in all, I had a pleasant time and left just as the parking lot was beginning to fill up.  Timing is a good thing.

Papillon

 

Chocolate and Roses

This evening I got home a bit later than usual.  Why?  Well, it involved chocolate and roses and not in the way you think.

At work they will periodically offer classes to employees that are not related to work.  Tonight's class was on using chocolate modeling clay.

Chocolate modeling clay?  Yep.  You read that right.

Apparently someone somewhere decided to see what happens when you melt chocolate and then add some vegetable oil to it.  You then let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours and you then have edible modeling clay.  Obviously it's hard to dye it if you use brown chocolate.  But if you use white chocolate, dye away.

You can use the clay to make most anything you want, similar to how you use fondant.  The teacher said ultimately it doesn't get as hard as fondant, making it easier to eat. 

Here are the results of my class.  I think I've got them in the order that I made them.  If not, sue me.

 

I'd like to thing I got better as I went along.

It was fun and I may try my hand at other projects.

Papillon