Spring Birding is Over

Well it's official, as of this morning I declare that spring birding is over. I'm sure that summer birding has something to recommend it but I think to experience its charms you have to get up earlier than I am accustomed to. I've been birding some this spring, inspired by a training that I went to put on by the Western Foundation for Vertebrate Zoology (which totally kicks butt and deserves a visit if you are ever in our area on one of the days that they are open to the public).

This morning I went out to Rancho Sierra Vista with Lena and Seth at 7 AM and it was already getting hot, very few birds were singing, all the grass was dead, only sticky madia and mustard were blooming and there were tons of bugs. Woe is me. It was still beautiful out there and, best of all, we saw:

BLUE GROSBEAKS!!

What a cool bird. I've never seen them before. They are very beautiful, very blue, and as Seth commented, their bills really are silvery. A lovely bird to end the spring birding season with.

No pictures but at least some words

I decided that setting the bar too high is preventing posting. Loading photos is a big pain in my world (have to take card out of camera, put in computer, process photos, whine, whine, whine). So instead, some words.

We had a fabulous action packed weekend. One night camping with 22 kindergarden and first graders at Carpinteria state beach. We all walked around Carpinteria, explored the beach, ate burritos, and went on a night hike. Ruby Pancake had clearly never been camping before and dragged me all over the campground. In the tent she ran circles around the inside of the tent rubbing herself against the walls. The tent is now covered in dog hair...

For day two we packed up the tent, unloaded the camping gear and drove down to San Diego for Becca's 40th b-day. Becca and Rob through an AMAZING party in a local photography studio in North Park. We ate thai food, sang a couple of silly songs that we wrote for Becca ("Here's to You, Becca Lewison" to the tune of Mrs. Robinson) and DANCED the night away. Big thanks to Becca and Rob for such an excellent party.

We spent Sunday at the luxurious del Mar house that B and R were renting. We got to spend time with Tiffany and Jason, Tim and Caitlin, and more and meet some of Becca's friends from other parts of her life. We went to the Del Mar dog beach in the afternoon and had dinner with Tim and Caitlin.

A good time was had by all. After spending a few hours in the deluxe del Mar house now I'm trying to figure out what small home improvement projects we could do around here to up the swank factor...

the end.

Farewell Mr. Charismatic Furry Pants

Last Monday, January 10^th, we had to euthanize our one of a kind, evil genius cat, Katafanga. Katafanga was born on a dark and stormy night in October 1995 in Woodland, CA. I adopted him as a furry “female” kitten named “Sassy” from Animal Control in Woodland in 1995. He was a character from the start and more than lived up to his original moniker. Although it turned out that he was not a girl, he was indeed, very sassy. Katafanga was adopted as a buddy for both me and my elderly dog Miya who had always lived with cats. Katafanga didn’t mind dogs at all and liked to go on walks with all of our pet dogs through the years.

For those of you that knew Katafanga, you know what a unique individual he was. He was extremely feisty, independent, intelligent, and confident. He owned the world (our world at least) and he knew it. He would bite you if you petted him in a way he didn’t like, he would bite you if you moved while he was laying on you, he would bite you if you forgot to fill his food bowl, and he would bite you if you annoyed him in any way. He loved to play with toys but after a few minutes of play his eyes would dilate and he would stop looking at the toy and start looking at your hand or arm. That was the time to stop playing with him if you wanted to emerge unscathed.

Katafanga was a very wonderful and quirky guy and he brought so much enjoyment to our lives. He is irreplaceable and I miss him every day. He did so many fabulous crazy cat things like hanging in the window of the door to be let in (5 feet up in a wooden door), play fighting with our other cat Kathmandu for hours on their cat palace, eating cat food with his paw so he could keep an eye on things, laying on our chests to keep warm and get petting, kneading his beloved blanky when he was happy. I could write a book just about him and all his wacky ways. If you left a drawer open a centimeter he would reach in with his paws and pull everything out. He would get in the kitchen cabinets and wander around. He used to drag himself along the back of the couch between the couch and the wall with his claws.

We lost him for two weeks when he was a kitten. After several rounds of posting flyers he was eventually returned to us from the home that he had wandered into. When I tearfully greeted him upon his return, he bit me in the face. That’s the kind of guy he was, loving, frightening, independent, a furry genius, and always wanting everything on his own terms.

Katafanga got bone cancer in his face about two months ago and the tumors eventually closed one of his eyes and started to interfere with his breathing. It was terrible to see him not feeling well and we feel we made the right decision to end his life. Even in his final hours he was imperiously inspecting the inside of the car as we waited for the vet and periodically curling up to purr on my lap on his blanky. For all of you that knew, loved, feared, or loved and feared Katafanga, thank you for being his friend. He could always use a good pet while eating or a warm lap to be in charge of. He will be missed.

By the way, this eulogy doesn’t really do him justice. I feel like he could have written it himself and it would have been more like the Gettysburg Address, or the I have a dream speech, or maybe more like Ginsberg’s Howl. Suffice it to say that I miss him like crazy and he can never be replaced.

Meet Ruby Pancake

The long dog search is over. Six weeks ago Elise and I went to the Camarillo animal shelter and temperament tested two dogs (out of the over 100 dogs that were there, only two passed my initial cage inspection). One of the two we took out was a beagle basset hound mystery mutt mix. The shelter didn't know how old she was but I guessed a year and half based on how clean and sharp her teeth were. She seemed wonderful and passed our battery of tests (interested in people, highly social, affection seeking, no food aggression, more interested in people than playing, etc., etc., etc.) with flying colors. We adopted her on the spot but she had to stay at the shelter another week to get spayed. We brought the girls to visit her and make sure she was good with the little people. She did fine with them although they were terrible (fighting, ignoring the dog, knocking dog training appparti on top of one another, getting a bloody nose).

We brought her home five weeks ago and despite her tendency to escape out the window, chew up random objects, and bay/bark when overly excited, we're keeping her. She is cute, loving, extremely tolerant, loves, loves, loves people, plays well with other dogs, is fine when left alone, house-trained, good with the cats, and very trainable. She is also very funny. Here are some pictures of her. Now that I'm not spending all of my time searching for dogs on the internet (and am instead spending lots of time exercising and training the dog), I have more time to update the blog. So more blog posts later.

Welcome Ruby!

HippieKindergartner Thanksgiving

Hippie Kindergartner Thanksgiving involves:
yummy potluck (we brought cornbread. Parents and teachers barbequed many turkeys).
playing hand drums
hearing a Chumash Elder tell stories
Making butter
Making cranberry sauce
Playing Predator and Prey freeze tag
Singing "Imagine" by John Lennon as well as other similar genre songs
Being thankful for the green and growing things (from LuLu).

Piggy Gets Invited to a Party

If you read Mo Willems then you know what I am talking about. If not, just enjoy the photos. I imagine that this is what the girls would wear if they were invited to a fancy costume pool party. Fabulous!

Jo-Jo Fashion Queen

Here's Jo-Jo wearing my new french scarf that Seth and Elise brought back from France for me. Doesn't she look nice?