Morning Report, June 27, 2011

Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Lloyd Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and Pickles were present for feeding this morning.

We're officially in summer now and it continues to be very hot each day. Surprisingly, we got a good rain storm last week that may have given us more than one inch of rain. I thought we might not see any rain until October - glad to be wrong about that.

Mandarin after breakfast.

Morning Report, June 2, 2011

Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and Pickles ate this morning.

Rosy went to the Vet today for an exam and vaccinations. He checked out OK, yay!! Negative for FIV, FeLV and heartworm. He got rabies and FeLV vaccinations and a check of his blood cell count. His gums were kind of pale & Dr. B. wanted to make sure he wasn't anemic.

Chaos in Tejas started today, actually it sort of started last night. I didn't go out last night much as I wanted to see Women In Prison. It was going to be a hard day at work today and the bands playing last night are playing later this week. At my advanced age, I gotta manage my fun to stay outta trouble at home and work. Women In Prison play Saturday afternoon. Should be a riot.

Women In Prison - "Suicidal Exit" and "Strange Waves"

Punk rock is your friend.
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Morning Report, May 31, 2011

Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and Pickles ate this morning. It has been hot in the recent days, hot. And dry . . . water hauling season has begun I guess. I don't anticipate any rain happening until next October or November.

The outdoor gang is fully into their Summer routine, lounging or sleeping wherever they can find shade and a cool surface. We freshen their water a few times a day and try to make sure it stays in the shade which is always moving.

Chaos In Tejas this week, rock n roll overdose approaching.
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Morning Report, May 24, 2011

Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and Pickles ate this morning.

The heat and humidity are building. There is only a very brief period of time in the morning that is what I'd call comfortable, and I'm comfortable with that. It's sticky and that's how it's supposed to be this time of year. Summer is pretty much here already even though the Solstice is about a month away.

And we have a bee hive, apparently. A large unused flower/plant pot was left upside down in the back yard after some Spring yard cleaning weekend before last, and it looks like a colony of Honeybees has moved into it. Hopefully, these are not Africanized Honeybees. We’re cool with them being there but are a little concerned about the outside cats being attacked or possibly the neighbors’ dogs. Both our next door neighbors and the neighbors in the house adjacent to our back yard have dogs. This may be the same hive that lived under a nearby storm drain cover last year who have relocated to a space more conducive for their needs. It’s a larger space and is in the shade. We’ll see what happens.
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Morning Report, May 18, 2011

Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Lloyd Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and Pickles showed up to eat this morning. Summer is fast approaching but it's still relatively nice for a few hours in the morning.

Aleksei and Little Brother died since I last wrote. Aleksei suddenly got very sick in early March and ultimately was diagnosed with leukemia. We escorted him across the day after we got the news, March 16. He could barely move by that time, his energy was so depleted. He’d always been the robust picture of health until these weird subcutaneous bumps started appearing all over his body in December or January. We always get our guys tested when we adopt them but somehow the FeLV virus was hidden or missed when he first joined our gang.

Little Brother crossed a few weeks later, April 7, we believe of a cancerous tumor he had in or around his small intestine. Little Brother was an older kitty, at least thirteen years based on the information we had from his former humans (or subhumans) Melissa and Dean, former neighbors who’d pretty much abandoned him for a few years after they had their first child. He’d had a large tumor on his shoulder that was untreated for a couple of years before we adopted him. I don’t know if this melanoma was related to his intestinal tumor. Little Brother had a good long life for a street kitty, spending many days in our yard and cruising up and down our block before we brought him inside full-time.

Several of the other indoor cats have been tested since Aleksei passed and everyone is negative for FeLV so far (yea!). Everyone will get tested over the next year or sooner during their regular exams.

We're still heartbroken about Aleksei and Little Brother leaving and miss them both dearly. I am thankful they came into our lives though, and feel blessed to have been able to commune with a couple of the sweetest boys we've ever known.
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