Roscoe and Audrey on the lookout It was a chilly 48 degrees in the house when I got up this morning. A cautious peek at the thermometer revealed a mere 36 degrees outside – as far as I could tell, with food-crazed kittens milling around my slippered feet. Oddly, Clyde makes just as much fuss [...]

Star meets Padawan, June 2010 Yesterday morning, I saw Schatzi go tearing past my house. Alarmed, yet impressed with her speed given her state of decrepitude, I hurried outside to make sure she was OK. Calling her is pointless at this point, yet I persist in doing it. I clapped my hands a few times [...]

My brother’s cat Twilley guarding the premises Fortunately, the skunk smell vanished as suddenly as it arrived. I left the doors open when Megan and I ran errands on Saturday, and by the time I got home, it was magically gone. I’m lucky that the skunk didn’t decide to take up residence under the house, [...]

Well, dear readers, today marks the tenth anniversary of my blog. Can you believe it? Ten years ago, my life was different. I was married. I lived in San Francisco. Both of my parents were alive. I went to Europe at least once a year. I worked at a big corporation in a big building. [...]

A very glamorous birthday girl As the well-informed are well-aware, every April 15th is Jessica’s birthday, a day to be celebrated by all. The world would be a much less amusing and sparkly place without Miss J in it. This year, she and her best friend Greta got their nails done: and then had their [...]

As I write, the air in my little hippie hovel is delicately scented with eau de skunk. So glamorous! I woke up around 2:00 to the distinctive smell. I knew all the cats were in for the night, but wondered if an intruder had made his stripy, stinky way into my humble abode without any [...]

Clyde and Audrey take a nap Cats find the funniest places to nap. This is behind my bed in the sleeping loft. As you can see, part of the curved wall is made of corrugated plastic, which makes it warm for napping kitties, but makes rain noisier and is, as you can see, almost impossible [...]

Little salon in the big woods I don’t know if this happens to the boys among you, but when we girls wake up one day and want to get our hair cut, there is no stopping us until the mission is accomplished. No matter what you do with it, you hate your hair, and lament [...]

Two webs are better than one It was 44 degrees (or 6 degrees, depending on whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist) in the house this morning. A cautious peek at the thermometer outside revealed a discouraging 35 degrees (or 2 even more discouraging degrees). Not for the first time, I reflected that living in [...]

The kitties let me sleep in until nearly 8:00 this morning! That’s right, Audrey didn’t demand to be let outside at 4 am, Clyde didn’t climb on my head, and Roscoe didn’t bite my nose. I woke from dreams of envelopes* to find that it was raining, though the sky was blue. Audrey was sitting [...]

The beautiful weather lately has led to some beautiful sunsets, as you see above. And the adage “Red at night, Suzy’s delight” has so far proved to be true. We’re even planning to have a barbecue at our brother’s place this evening. How’s that for daring? I’ve also been using the break in the weather [...]

Audrey enjoys the sun The beautiful spring weather has not gone unnoticed by the cats. After weeks of having to choose between the boredom of being inside, or the cold and wet of being outside, the sun is shining and birds are just asking to be chased, trees to be climbed. Earlier this week, I [...]