My Turn

After seeing Diego-san placed in the carrier last week and taken away, Theo has apparently decided it is now his turn. He's been hanging out the past couple of days inside the carrier.

That Wascal Wabbit

For the past few years I have had a family of rabbits living in my yard. I don't know if they are the same rabbits, the kids of the parents of the rabbits, or completely different rabbits altogether but often when I come home and walk through my backyard to my house a few rabbits will watch me and if I get too close hop away.

My sister is allergic to cats so she has a couple of bunnies for pets. My dad and my friend M- both have told me that rabbits continue to eat their hostas but I haven't had that same problem. Thus I have learned to come to enjoy the rabbits in my yard. The only nuisance is that one of them likes to sit underneath the window that Thompson likes to look out of. To me it's almost a taunt- the rabbit surely knows Thompson is there and unable to jump through the screen to catch him.

Well the welcome might be over. The tomatoes in my garden have just started getting ripe and I have been paying particular attention to three that were nice sized and slowly turning red. I thought about picking one of the three as I went by my garden on my way to work but decided to leave it be and pick it when I got home. One of my summer loves is that I love fresh tomatoes out of the garden. While all the other plants in my yard have suffered from the lack of moisture in these parts, I have diligently kept my tomato plants watered.

When I got home from work and went to enjoy my first tomato of the season, I noticed it was half eaten. I figured I hadn't noticed some insects had been eating my tomatoes. I picked the next ripest tomato and brought it into the house figuring I could let it finish ripening inside. When I looked closer at this tomato I noticed some bite marks. This suggested some animal had decided to sample my summer's worth of hard work. Suspect number one, two, three, and four? Mr. Bunny and his family.

I wouldn't think of doing violence to an animal but the thought did occur to me that maybe I should loosen the screen from Thompson's window and let nature take its course. I might be being a bit unfair since I'm not even sure it was the rabbits that ate some of my tomato. Is there such a thing as a tomato eatin rabbit?

One Time One Night

I saw Los Lobos and Los Lonely Boys' show at the Minnesota Zoo last night. I've seen Los Lobos several times and the Zoo is a nice place to see a concert. It has an outdoor amphitheater and the music doesn't seem to disturb the animals much. Los Lobos opened their set appropriately with "How Will the Wolf Survive?"

I've never seen Los Lonely Boys before. They rocked the place.

The biggest faux pas both bands committed was that Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos and Henry and Jojo Garza from Los Lonely Boys committed the cardinal sin by continually thanking "Minneapolis." Technically the Zoo is in the suburb of Apple Valley and at the very least the guys could have thanked Minneapolis and St. Paul since we are the Twin Cities after all. Someone must have gotten to Cesar because halfway through Los Lobos' set he corrected himself and started thanking "Minneapolis AND St. Paul..."

Morpheus

I almost had to close my office door at work yesterday. Renee- one of the vendors I deal with and have traded cat stories with- told me she lost her cat Morpheus. She had brought Morpheus to the vet because he was constipated and they discovered cancer that had spread throughout his body.

I felt so bad for Renee and even though I never met him, I'll miss Morpheus.

Movie Critics

I don't think the boyz and I share the same taste in movies. I watched German director Tom Tykwer's latest film, "Perfume: the Story of a Murderer." This was Thompson's and Diego-san's reaction. Could they look any more bored?

I've enjoyed Tykwer's other films especially "Run Lola Run" and "The Princess and the Warrior." His movies are always interesting visually and storywise. He does have the tendency to be a bit bizarre and "Perfume" may be his weirdest film yet. It essentially asks the cinematic question, if you don't smell are you really alive? I had never thought to ask that question before but the movie does a good job capturing the sense of smell even though it's pretty hard to smell a movie.

Maybe because the boyz have a much keener smelling ability than mine they just thought the story was silly.

Milestone

I reached 5,000 miles on my scooter. I've had this particular scooter for about a year. I think 5,000 miles is pretty impressive since in Minnesota the scooter riding season is basically from May to October. I'm getting close to 100 miles per gallon so riding my scooter so often is saving me money. I actually pulled over to the side of the road to snap this picture.

Loyalty... To an Extent

One of the things that surprised me the other day when I brought Diego-san into the vet was Thompson's reaction to the whole event. He watched as I gathered Diego up and tried to calmly put him in his carrier. I thought Thompson might get a little agitated either figuring he was next since the two usually go to the vet together, or worried that I was doing something mean to his best buddy. Instead Thompson calmly watched with a look of "glad it's him and not me" in his eyes.

No Soup for You

Let me begin this post with a disclaimer: I feel horrible about burning Diego-san. All week long, first with the incident itself and then with the remedies, I feel like I let him down in my biggest responsibility- providing a safe and happy home for the three boyz. That said, my sense of humor often gets me in some trouble...

Today was the first day that I've had soup since the INCIDENT. You might well ask why I am eating so much hot soup during the hot days of summer. Good question. I've been enjoying Japanese noodles (udon) for dinner several times a week for the past month or so. I boil the noodles and add the broth and then pour the soup over vegetables. It's easy to make, cheap, healthy and I haven't tired of it. So today as I was boiling my water I looked at Diego-san and asked, "Care for some soup?" He didn't look too amused.

When it was done cooking I carefully carried the bowl to the living room. Diego eyed me but did not run up. He also showed no signs of fear. I doubt he's forgotten the incident but at the same time unlike some of us, he's seems willing to not let the outside scar become an inside scar as well.

Recharge

It's hard for me to believe sometimes but Theo's battery does need recharging once in awhile. It only seems like his motor is constantly going...

His Hero Houdini

When I got home from work yesterday I expected to be greeted by the sight of three kitties with one wearing a large blue cone around his neck. Instead I was greeted by the sight of three cats with none wearing anything around their necks.

What was a bigger surprise however was when I found the empty blue cone I noticed it was still completely tied together meaning Diego-san had found a way to slip his whole head through the neck sized hole. I guess after living with the world's smartest kitty for the past five years, nothing should surprise me. (Although you think he'd be smart enough to avoid walking near a klutz carrying a hot bowl of soup but that's besides the point.) What would be an even neater trick is if I come home tomorrow and find the cone not around Diego's neck but around Theo's neck instead. If that happens I'll treat Diego to a year's worth of Temptations anytime he wants them...

I may have to call the vet back and see what the other neckwear options are.

The Soup Saga Continued

I brought Diego-san into the vet this morning. She ended up shaving the area around the burn so I could keep a better eye on it for infection. She also gave Diego a fancy collar to wear for the next week or so.

I think he may hold having to wear the collar against me as much as burning him in the first place seeing he takes great pride in his appearance.

The vet also said that the fur of the burn area itself likely will never grow back so we will have a permanent reminder of the great soup incident. I get upset with every ding in my Mini Cooper and every scratch on my scooter or iPhone screen. Imagine how this news made me (and Diego) feel.

I'm not sure how effective the collar is going to be in preventing Diego-san from licking the wound. He's already figured out that if he walks close to a wall, the collar will bend back giving him access to the wound again. Plus Theo immediately started licking the wound as soon as he saw the fancy collar and the bald spot.

Quite the morning in these parts.

Another Trio on the Other Side of Town

My friend A- looked in on the boyz when I was in New York City. I returned the favor this weekend and looked in on her three cats. This is Marcel. He looks a lot like Theo except his eyes are closer together and lack the spaciness look of Theo's eyes.



This is Marabou. She's a lovely lady with a bit of a temperamental attitude. She's very sensitive about wisecracks about her figure.



And this is Bud. Bud was the happiest to see me. He's the only one who came and sat on my lap and purred away. Thanks Bud.

Update

It's official... I did burn Diego-san. He's got about a two inch sore that he's licked all the fur away from. The problem is he won't stop licking the spot and I'm guessing he will need to leave it alone for it to heal. I'll probably call the vet tomorrow to see if there is anything I can do.

He even skipped his nightly combing tonight... Sniff...

My Real Bad

Last week I wrote about how I took some perverse pleasure in spritzing Theo with some water. Today I did something similar but a million times worse and I feel truly awful about the incident.

I was carrying a bowl of hot soup from the kitchen to the living room and Diego-san ran up to see what I had. I tried to warn him away but the chopsticks that were sticking out of the bowl starting falling out and I tipped the bowl spilling some on Diego. He yelped and immediately ran and tried to lick the hot soup off but since I spilled it on his hind quarters he ended up running around in circles. I burned my own thumb so I think I may have burned him too as he spent the rest of the afternoon hiding underneath the piano.

I'm sorry Diego-san.

Good to Be Home

I liked the hustle and bustle of New York City. It truly is the city that never sleeps. I suppose if I could make it there I could make it anywhere. That said, it's great to be home with the guyzos again.

The City So Nice They Named It Twice

I went with a group of friends to New York City to see our plucky Minnesota Twins take on that evil Empire, the New York Yankees. The Twins ended up losing both games we went to, the first 8-2, the second 5-1.


It was pretty much my first time in New York but we didn't have a lot of time to sight see. We did make it to Ground Zero where it truly was hard to comprehend all that was lost on that day.


We also saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from across the harbor. We even jogged through Central Park.

Out hotel was right next to an ASPCA building. It crossed my mind that I should adopt a cat there but I think he/she might speak in a New York accent that would confuse the boyz. She/He'd also probably be a lot more street wise and tough.



Seeing Yankee Stadium was really cool even if the Twins didn't do well at all.

Hey, What Happened to Our Schedule?

The dork never came home last night. This is unacceptable.

Not Again...

Hey the dork packed up some clothes this morning and took off in an awful hurry after leaving a lot of food in our dishes. While we appreciate finally not being given such small portions of food, this type of behavior usually means we won't see him for a while.

Dork.

That's Too Bad

I was sad to see that Roger Ebert announced that he is discontinuing his association with the long running movie review show that bears his last name. The show's co-host for the past eight years, Richard Roeper, also announced he is leaving the show.

I started watching Siskel and Ebert way back when I was in high school and the show was on PBS. I've hardly missed an episode in all that time because it was always wonderful to see two guys do reviews who loved movies at least as much as I did. I love Roger's writing and I miss Gene Siskel a lot. One of the things I did when I visited Chicago last year was to stop in and see Gene's theater.

I know a lot of people were greatly saddened by Tim Russert's death and the hole that left on the long running 'Meet the Press' program. While this news doesn't directly relate to a death (Gene died in 1999 and Roger hasn't appeared on the show in two years due to health issues), today it feels as if I've lost a lifelong friend.

On Demand

A couple of days ago I wrote about Thompson's dislike of being combed. Diego-san is quite the opposite.

Every night as I'm getting ready for bed he follows me upstairs and meows and bellows until I get his comb. Then I spend several moments combing his long hair. He rolls around making sure I don't miss any spots and his purring gets louder and louder. After we are done he often sits there belly side up looking as if he owns the world.