Animals & Rock n Roll

Morning Report, June 27, 2011

2011-06-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

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.
=^..^=

Morning Report, May 31, 2011

2011-05-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

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.
=^..^=

Morning Report, May 24, 2011

2011-05-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

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.
=^..^=

Morning Report, May 18, 2011

2011-05-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

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.
=^..^=

Morning Report, November 18, 2010

2010-11-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

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

Pickles is a new cat that is actually not a street cat. She lives across the street with some new neighbors, but I guess she likes the food we put out. She's a pretty cat - a Manx with a silver-gray coat and a pleasant and playful disposition. I think she's pretty young, less than two years I'd say.

And Buster came to eat yesterday evening. He was waiting under a neighbor's truck when I got home from work. I don't know if he's been back at our house to eat for several weeks. He's been eating regularly at Pat's house around the corner and we hadn't seen him at our house. It was nice seeing Buster again. He looked good!

Overnight Lows Kick Ass

2010-11-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

Overnight Lows at the Parlor during SXSW 2009. These guys don't travel down to Austin often enough and I need a fix. I may have to take a road trip to their parts soon. If you give a rat's ass about rock n roll, go see them if they play your town, buy their records, CDs and t-shirts and buy them a beer or two or three.

Morning Report, October 2, 2010

2010-10-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Rosenquist, Nico, Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey, Felix and the new guy, we’re calling Buster for now, showed up for feeding this morning. It’s super nice outside right now, with temperatures in the low to mid 60°s. We made it through another summer. I brought Fuji in so Anne could give her medicine to her. She stayed out last night for the first time in a few days. She does not like being inside, but didn’t seem to mind too much when I brought her in. She ate and went directly to sleep.

Buster’s name may change if we can come up with another good one, assuming he keeps coming by regularly. Another feral boy, Bronx, disappeared after being pretty regular for about a month earlier this year. We got him neutered, checked out and had him vaccinated back in April. He continued to come by to eat for about a week after we released him after his procedure, then he disappeared. We had just lost Bucky (I'm still heartbroken about him) and were a bit distraught about Bronx vanishing too. We did see him about a week later and he looked OK, but not since then. Fortunately, I came home for lunch about a week ago and saw Bronx about a block and a half away, just hanging out in the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex. I was ecstatic! One of the residents there takes care of a number of cats and he may have joined that crew. He looked good – his coat is in good shape and he was moving well, so yeah!

More Chaos from Tejas

2010-08-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some more clips from Chaos In Tejas this past May. Another vid from the Marked Men show at Emo's and one from later that same evening, the Riverboat Gamblers down the street at Beerland:

"Someday" and "Fix My Brain"

"I can't get these thoughts out of my head"

Gamblers kickin' it old school . . . three songs from Something To Crow About

"I think we're gonna need a bigger boat"

Amazing to think we got to see both of these bands on the same night. Holy shit boys and girls, I don't if the stars have ever aligned with such cosmic rock n roll power as on that night. It was, to say the least, an unforgettable evening. I am one lucky mother fucker.

Chaos in Tejas

2010-06-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Chaos in Tejas last week. Marked Men are always amazing.

Infuckingcredible.

Morning Report, May 4, 2010

2010-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Honey Bunny

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Horsey and Bronx ate this morning. It was good to see Bronx again - we hadn't seen him since we released him from our care last Wednesday evening after his vaccinations and neutering. Brooklyn also came by at some point as I saw him walking off from our driveway and yard.

Still no sign of Bucky. The food in the storm drains was gone, which is good.

Bucky Boy

2010-05-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

Still no sign of Bucky Boy. We'll continue putting food and water in the storm drains where he would go and are still hopeful he's alive somewhere. The food is getting eaten, but this could be raccoons, possums or other cats. We're trying to stay optimistic, but I have resigned myself to the possibility that we might not see him again - and I'm heartbroken about it.

But I'm still hopeful . . .

What happened to you big boy?
♥♥♥♥ forever, Sweetie.

Hang in there, Bucky

2010-04-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Bucky got into some kind of trouble last Saturday or Saturday night, possibly a bad fight. He was acting a little odd at evening feeding that night and then didn't show up all day on Sunday. We found him hunkering down in a nearby storm drain Monday evening and dropped some food and water into it. I saw him the next morning (Tuesday) walking stiffly across the street, where he went into the storm drain on our side of the street.

Bucky was putting weight on all of his legs, but he was moving with some difficulty. He had no visible or obvious wounds or external injuries that I could see, but a bite wound is hard to see unless you can get real close or they lose hair around the injured area.

We've been putting food and water in the storm drain where we first saw him and the food is gone each day. It could be raccoons or other cats eating the food, but Bucky could be eating it if he is still hiding the drain while he heals (hopefully he's healing). We haven't found him anywhere else yet and have looked just about everywhere he could be.

Hang in there, Bucky.

Morning Report, February 23, 2010

2010-02-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny, Felix and Horsey ate this morning. Bucky didn't show and he may be laying low until it dries up a bit or until he gets hungrier. He doesn't like cold, wet weather. He was present along with everyone else yesterday evening.

Speaking of cold, wet weather, it snowed briefly this morning. Big flakes too. It's too warm to stick now, but we may get more later today. Everyone's ready to freak out about it.

Rock rock rock!

2010-02-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

Gerard Cosloy and Matador Records recently organized a big event in Austin that took place at my second home Beerland, Casual Victim Pile. The showcases featured mostly local (but not exclusively Austin) bands that he and they think are interesting and worthy of attention. "Casual Victim Pile" is an anagram of the phrase "live music capital" that is sometimes used in conjunction with mentions about ATX.

Here's a couple of clips from nights #1 and #3 of the CVP shows, Follow That Bird! (Austin) and Bad Sports (Denton/Austin):

Follow That Bird! is doing some great stuff these days - more clips of them on the way.

Oh my friggin' gawd! These guys tear the shit up! More outrageous vids from this show and another BS did this past Friday (2/19) coming soon.

Whooooaaaa! And I don't mean stop.

Morning Report, February 21, 2010

2010-02-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Honey Bunny, Trinidad, Horsey and Felix ate this morning. Felix is new to the group. He actually belongs to a friend who lives around the corner but eats at our house twice a day. Our other new guy, Cyrus was found to have a bad injury from earlier in his life. It couldn't be fixed and we had to euthanize him last month, poor guy. I'm still heartbroken about it. Rest in peace Cyrus, I love you pretty boy.

Here's a clip of some of the guys hanging out:

Rosy and Nico (curly tail) hanging out in our back yard, Simon and Tiger lounging in the house. Tiger Boy isn't black but he wanted to be included. Max and Aleksei also appear briefly in the background of the closing scene.

Mosquitoes are always bad in September when the outside clip was shot (recorded 9/20/09).

We think Rosenquist and Nico may be brothers from different litters. They started showing up together a couple of years ago and were inseparable while Nico was an adolescent cat. He was about half of Rosy’s size when we first saw them and initially, we thought Nico was Rosy’s kitten. We soon found out Rosy was a male and changed his formal name to Rosenquist after the painter James Rosenquist. We can still call him Rosy when we want to.

Nico is a lot more independent now that hes an adult, but they still hang out together on a regular basis and sleep in the same general area during cold nights. They do have quite different personalities. Rosy is pretty comfortable with our attention (he doesn’t like the camera though) and loves to get a good petting. Nico on the other hand is very skittish with us or other people and will take off if he senses that we’re focused on him and we get too close. I don’t think Ive ever touched him. You can walk close by sometimes as long as you don’t make eye contact.

Nico gets into fights with other cats semi-regularly and every few months he turns up with an injured foot or leg. Fortunately, he's been able to recover from these on his own since we're not able to administer medicine to him very easily. As he gets older, we hope he'll get more laid back like Rosenquist who almost never gets into trouble.

New kitty, and ya gotta love the Leather!

2009-12-17T08:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a chance to do any posts in the last couple weeks - life is INSANE recently. The holidays and work are conspiring to drive me nuts, but they won't completely succeed I believe. We adopted (for the moment at least) a new kitty, Cyrus. He's really cute, Tabby with a fair amount of white in his coat, and about 10-15 months old I think. He's kind of a mess though and adding a good deal of extra work to our lives (mainly Anne's schedule). He's not familiar with litter boxes and he's not picking up the litter box routine. Oh shit (literally)! There may be some improvement in the last couple of days, hopefully. I'll try to get some pics up soon - he's pretty shy.

Here's a vid from a recent show we went to at Beerland, Digital Leather, from Omaha, Nebraska (they used to be from Phoenix, Arizona). Their shows are always a blast!

Anne and I love these guys, or Shawn, specifically. He's pretty much a 1-man band in the studio, or that was his approach in the past, not sure if he still takes that approach with their/his new album "Warm Brother" but he always tours with a killer band. This song is not from the new album but there's another vid up on YouTube that includes an excellent cut from it, Photo Lie, coupled with a DL classic, Styrofoam (a great sing-a-long tune). You should be able to link to it from this one. Oh what the hell, here it is too:

Shawn and his band mates are super nice guys too.

That's all for now, don't forget to rawk it!

Morning Report, November 23, 2009

2009-11-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Little by little, Bucky and Mandarin are getting more comfortable with me being nearby. I don't know if we'll ever be able to handle or pet them but we need to keep trying that so we can get them to the vet once a year or at least once every couple of years. Nico remains very wild and won't let us get near him. His big brother Rosenquist is almost the opposite. It's funny how much look like each other and how different their personalities are.

Let's eat! Let's eat!

Holy sh*t boys & girls!

2009-11-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Chaos in Tejas!
Chaos in Tejas!
Chaos in Tejas!
Chaos in Tejas!
May 27-30, 2010

Jeff's coming back from Japan!

Oh my friggin' gawd!!

Morning Report, November 13, 2009

2009-11-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Bucky from a couple of years ago - he's a big boy!

Today is the anniversary of my father-in-law's passing, Homer Mendez. Super nice and very interesting man. We miss him a lot!

Rest in peace Homer. You are loved!

Morning Report, November 12, 2009

2009-11-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Mandarin and Horsey got into what sounded like a nasty fight yesterday evening, apparently over "hanging out" territory. Mandarin had Horsey cowering and retreating which is kind of a surprise. Horsey is almost always the aggressor when there's a disagreement with the other cats and Mandarin generally goes out of his way to avoid conflict. I guess Mandarin really wanted his spot and wasn't going to be pushed out of it. They both seemed fine this morning and there weren't any obvious signs of injury or continued hostility. Crazy cats.

Morning Report, November 6, 2009

2009-11-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

We love the inside crew too, although I don't mention them very often. Here's Aleksei hanging out a few months ago:

He is a very, very sweet cat. Handsome too!

Morning Report, November 3, 2009

2009-11-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

All the inside crew are doing well. Sammy wrestles regularly with some of the boys, especially Simon, Elio and, to a slightly lesser degree, Rocky (Rocky's such a good sport!). For an older kitty, Rocky runs and jumps almost with the best of them and he never gets grumpy about it. We adopted him in 1999, so I think he's about 9 1/2 years old. He's a real sweetheart!!

Morning Report, November 2, 2009

2009-11-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Rosenquist & Nico, 2006

Anne saw what she describes as a young Raccoon yesterday evening. It was eating some of the leftover cat food that was outside. She chased it off by banging two pan lids together. This is probably the same Raccoon we've seen in the yard a couple of times in the last two weeks.

Morning Report, October 30, 2009

2009-10-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Little Brother lounging

A cool front came through yesterday, bringing some rain here and there. There were some heavy but very brief showers. It's much cooler this morning.

RAWK!

2009-10-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

Super show this past Sunday (10/25) - Underground Railroad To Candyland, Ghost Knife and Cruddy at Beerland. URTC was awesome, quirky and epic - it was over too soon. Ghost Knife is getting really sharp, both in their great songs and the witty repartee (is that redundant?) they engage in between songs - "It's all about Sepultura" - you'd never guess how they arrived at that observation. Cruddy was a blast although they were missing their bassist Dustin who at the last minute couldn't do the show.

And holy shit! We're back at Beerland for a GREAT show tonight - Digital Leather, Love Collector, the Dead Space, Flesh Lights and Literature. It will be a loud, cathartic, drunken, dance party. Man oh man oh man oh man oh man!

Gotta love the Leather!

xoxo

Morning Report, October 28, 2009

2009-10-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji and Honey Bunny ate this morning. Fuji hadn't been around for a couple of days, probably because of the rain - had some BIG rain this week!

Cool this morning, but getting warmer during the day. Should be pleasant this evening. Big show tonight!

Morning Report, October 23, 2009

2009-10-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning. Didn't see Fuji.

It's much cooler this morning, near 50°, but it's going to be sunny and clear all day.

I saw a couple of Hawks flying directly over our block yesterday. They're probably Coopers Hawks judging from their coloration and size. They look like Red Tailed Hawks but much smaller. The adults are about the size of an adult cat, so shouldn't be a threat to our guys. I understand that smaller birds and to a lesser degree, Squirrels, are their favorite prey. Many of the local birds begin sounding the alarm when these Hawks are nearby. The Hawks are pretty noisy too, with a very distinct and loud call. It sounds like the monster call from a 60s Sci-Fi B-movie.

Morning Report, October 20, 2009

2009-10-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, and Honey Bunny ate this morning. Horsey has been pretty regular most days but wasn't here this morning. I had to chase him off last night because he was terrorizing Bucky and to a lesser degree, Rosy, during the evening feedings. He's a pretty cat and pretty sweet usually, but he can be a butthead occasionally.

His human originally named him Horses Ass because of his penchant for being mean to the other cats, but I could never call him that and have always called him Horsey. His person now calls him Horsey too.

Sammy has slept in our bedroom a couple of night recently. He's still pretty vocal in the early, early morning. I'm not sure if that helps us get up or makes more tired in the morning because our last hour of sleep has been interrupted.

Morning Report, October 19, 2009

2009-10-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Sammy is very affectionate and he got under the covers early this morning. He's taming up pretty good - loves to get a petting! He's getting along pretty well with the other cats.

Morning Report, October 16, 2009

2009-10-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

It's turned cool again - yea!!! Supposed be nice (and dry) this weekend. Maybe we can do some hoopin'! Plus UT-OU game tomorrow, early too - won't have to wait for it.

Morning Report, October 13, 2009

2009-10-13T13:26:00.001-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad and Honey Bunny ate this morning.

Rainy again today - who'd a thunk it'd be so rainy lately after such a hot, dry summer?

Killer vids!

2009-10-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some new videos from shows during the last couple of weeks, starting with the most recent:

Love Collector at Mohawk ~ I love these guys!
You Drain My Batteries

My Baby Goes Waaaaaaah

Lost Controls at Mohawk, Wedding

From Denmark, Mig & Min Ven at Beerland, Mig Og Min Ven (Me & My Friend)

Yeah, we drank a lot of beer.

Morning Report, Columbus Day, October 12, 2009

2009-10-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

It's cool, cloudy and kind of drippy, upper 50°s. It's really fall I think, although it's forecast to get into the lower 90°s later this week. A warm spell is always just around the corner in Texas.

Morning Report, October 8, 2009

2009-10-08T10:49:00.001-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad and Honey Bunny ate this morning.

Didn't see Horsey this morning and Anne reports he didn't eat with the others yesterday evening. We did see him later in the night. He was in the area when we arrived from the grocery store. As I was parking the car, this young-looking but fairly large Raccoon was coming out from near the hedge in the front yard. I honked my horn briefly to shoo him off and that succeeded in getting him moving. However, the Raccoon scampering away prompted Horsey to chase him. The Raccoon crossed the street and appeared to go under the wooden porch of the neighbors across the street. Horsey followed him over there. I didn't try to intercede because I thought that would just make them run further away together. Anyways, when I didn't see Horsey this morning, I remembered that. I sure hope he didn't tangle with that Raccoon.

Morning Report, October 7, 2009

2009-10-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

It is cloudy and mild, low 70°s.

Tracking the wild Bucky

2009-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

Horsey has been messing with Bucky during the last couple of weeks. It’s gotten bad enough to where Bucky is changing his feeding attendance routine. He’ll be missing when everyone else has gathered to get fed and then come by later when the other cats have finished their first round of eating. Horsey has chased Bucky off occasionally when they were gathered at the feeding area before the food was brought out.

This morning Bucky was missing when I took the food bowls out. I banged one of the bowls on the ground a bit and whistled a bit to let him know I was out there. He didn’t come out immediately but a few minutes later, I did see him walking down the street back to the green zone at the dead end of the street. I called out to him, “Hey Bucky, how you doing?” as he approached the end of the street. He didn’t turn around (and I didn’t expect him to) and I could see that most of the food was gone from the bowl at the spot where he usually eats – under the back of Anne’s car. He then walked into the tall grass and disappeared into the green.

It’s cool watching him be a wild cat, but I kind of miss not ever being able to give him a petting. I’ve touched him a few times – just kind of stroked his back or tail during the feeding sessions a few times. He’s pretty nervous and doesn’t like that. We didn’t get to bond with him like we did with most of the cats. When he got trapped and then neutered, vaccinated, etc., he got away from Anne as she was transferring him from the kitty carrier to the larger kennel we planned to keep him in for a few days while he recovered from his procedure. Boy, I was mad when it happened. We didn’t see him for five of six days and I thought he was gone forever. I would have done the same thing if my nuts and ear had just been clipped by strangers, even if they were feeding me. But he showed up eventually and has been pretty regular for the last couple of years. I think this happened in the spring of 2006. He’s pretty much a scaredy cat even though he’s pretty big. He’s cute, a classic Red Tabby with golden eyes and a medium length coat – definitely not long haired, but not a sleek, smooth coat either. We love that Bucky cat.

Morning Report, October 6, 2009

2009-10-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky (later), Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning. Bucky wasn't there initially but showed up later after the initial rush to the food bowls.

It's mild, upper 70s, and humid. It's supposed to be stormy this evening. More rain - yay!

Live rawk video!!

2009-10-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some new vids posted in the last week.

The Hex Dispensers at Emo's, Ring

Digital Leather at Beerland from 2008, Dance Till Dead

Poppets all the way from Sweden at Beerland, Teenage Rebel and Make It OK

Wild America at Sound On Sound Records, Think Too Much

Rock n roll ya'll!

Morning Report, October 1, 2009

2009-10-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning. Holy shit girls and boys - it's October! Supposed to be rainy later today and this weekend.

Morning Report, September 30, 2009

2009-09-30T15:04:00.001-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning. Nico was present at first, but he later showed up on top of the POD (Portable On Demand) storage unit that's in our driveway. Shortly after I saw him he jumped on the house and then he probably climbed down the Crepe Myrtle in our neighbors' yard. He shared a bowl with Rosy.

Sammy is integrating into our household nicely. He runs through the house with several of the other cats and generally gets along with them. He went to the vet Monday (9/28) because we found evidence of worms and he got some treatment for this along with a booster of some of his original vaccinations. He can be pretty vocal, especially early in the morning. He's also very affectionate, although we still have to be careful with him as he might "latch on" to our hand or arm and tear it up. He hasn't done this for a week or so, and that's a step in the right direction.

Morning After Report, September 23, 2009

2009-09-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Saw one of my favorite bands last night, Overnight Lows from Jackson Mississippi, who were playing at Beerland, Texas. They were GREAT!! Another intense, hard driving set. Don't have any vids from last night's show up yet, but here's a sample from last December - this was at a Ground Zero Texas house party aftershow:
"Picked Apart, Left To Rot" and "So Well Read"

There were only a few people at the show unfortunately, mostly due to a competing show down the street at Mohawk. That and the fact that it was a Tuesday night. We had fun though and I got to talk to members of the band. And bassist Daphne gave me a bunch of buttons to go with the t-shirt I bought.

The other bands were also rad, Mig & Min Ven, and Haje Haole, both from Denmark (not sure about all the spelling of their names). They report that they ate some awesome barbecue earlier in the day at Sam's BBQ. Sam's does have some great barbecue.

Morning Report, September 23, 2009

2009-09-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning. They're all so cute when they're eating together.

Sammy is doing well. He ventures out of his room periodically and some of the other cats go into his room from time to time. The only he may have an issue with at this time is Simon, and it's not really overt trouble. Having said that, Jazz and Doria don't seem to be interested in having anything to do with him so far - they hiss at him a lot. He hasn't grabbed my hand or arm and bit it for over a week, although I think he did bite Anne in the last week. He's pretty exotic looking, having a long neck, legs and body. I need to get some pics of him uploaded.

We had a good rain yesterday, maybe near 3 inches! Everything is turning green again - yay!!

New live videos - whooohoooo!

2009-09-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a clip from a recent in store show by Wild America, recorded at Sound On Sound in Austin.

And another from last year that I just posted from the Marked Men (yay!) at one of the last shows for a long, long, long time (booo!):

Rawk!
xoxo ~ dr

Morning Report, September 12, 2009

2009-09-12T14:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Dennis! It's my brother Dennis' birthday. He's a great guy and a real anchor for the family.

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad and Honey Bunny ate this morning. Sammy is pretty wild. He bit the crap outta me this morning. I was petting him and got my arm too near his tummy. He latched on with his front paws, started "bunny" kicking me with his back feet and bit me pretty hard, all in about half a second. I yelled at him and he let go and ran off. Crazy cat.

It rained more during the day yesterday and is still raining off and on today. This is great - the trees and everything are getting a good soaking for a change. We won't have to do any watering of the Airport Blvd. trees this month. What a relief!

Morning Report, September 10, 2009

2009-09-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad and Honey Bunny ate this morning. Rosenquist has a spot on his back, sort of between his shoulders. Looks like a bald spot. It doesn't look like ringworm really, but we'll have to watch it for changes.

I saw Horsey eating last night. He looked handsome as always. He'd come by after Anne took their food out for the evening feeding.

Rock n Roll In The Morning

2009-09-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

New videos posted this morning from Gun Outfit (Portland, Oregon) and Love Collector (ATX) - whoop whoop whoop!
Gun Outfit, August 31, 2009

Love Collector, August 15, 2009

RAWK!

Morning Report, September 9, 2009

2009-09-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Fuji and Honey Bunny ate this morning. It was cloudy early, then it started raining intermittently throughout the morning. Yay!

Still cloudy in the early afternoon.

Also, I saw the first Schoolhouse Lilies of the season - nice! They're also called Oxblood Lilies. They are popping up in most of their usual places in our yard. Welcome back Lilies!

New live video!

2009-09-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Gun Outfit from Portland, Oregon, recorded at Club 1808 last week, 8/31/09.

Rawk!

Morning Report, September 8, 2009

2009-09-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Lloyd Trinidad and Honey Bunny ate this morning.

Sammy is quite affectionate, but he's also pretty excitable. He bit me pretty hard last night while I was petting him, enough to draw blood (I got a wound I think from his teeth, although it might be a good scratch). He's really pretty wild, kind of like Simon was and how Max still is. Max is tamer now but I would not try to rub his belly at this point, maybe ever. He's wicked with his claws.

Morning Report, September 5, 2009

2009-09-05T08:11:00.001-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad and Honey Bunny ate this morning. I'd put some food out at 2:30 a.m. or thereabouts when I got home from Emo's, so some of them may have eaten before we got up.

Big rain yesterday evening - yay! We got 1.48 inches at Camp Mabry according to the Weather Underground.

Sammy loves a petting!

Showtime!

2009-09-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

Went to Emo's tonight and had a great time, even with the Extravaganza cancelling their appearance (Cody has an injured hand). Cassingles (or is it the Cassingles?), the Open Casket, Scrabble Robot and the Hex Dispensers were all super tonight. Really great! Really fucking great!!

Morning Report, September 4, 2009

2009-09-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning. Not sure exactly when, but while getting stuff ready to feed the outside crew, I heard several birds on the block sounding the alarm (making a bunch of noise). I looked up and saw a hawk fly directly overhead and down toward the dead end. It was probably a Cooper's Hawk based on its size and appearance. Smaller birds are some of the Cooper's Hawk's primary prey. The cats are most likely OK as they are as big or bigger than this hawk species, or at least their bodies are. I used to worry about the cats and these hawks until I found out more about them.

Horsey drools. I pet him when I first set their food out to give some of the other cats some time to have a bite to eat before letting Horsey take over the bowl they may be eating out of, because he will (he’s a big cat). When I’m petting him, he drools and he drooled all over my foot this morning. Horsey loves a petting.

Sammy didn’t make as much noise during the night as he did previous nights. I petted him quite a bit this morning. He’s a strong cat, not too big but really bigger than he looks and very, very solid. His neck muscles are like steel. Sofia visited him some more this morning. I think they'll get along OK. Sammy bit or nipped Anne this morning while she was petting him, so technically, he needs to stay inside for 10 days to ensure he doesn't have rabies.

Morning Report, September 3, 2009

2009-09-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Sammy howled a fair bit during the night. I'm guessing he hates being in a kennel - it is totally different from his life up to now. Anne petted him for the first time yesterday and I petted him for the first time this morning - wow! That was fast. I didn't anticipate being able to touch him for quite a while. He seemed to really like it - wow!

Sofia (who we think is his sister) visited him last night and this morning. He seemed mildly interested. We think we'll be able to let him out of his kennel this weekend.

Speaking (loosely) of rock n roll (more) . . .

2009-09-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

I picked up a 6-7-10 split last night at bowling! It was in the 10th frame of a very close game 3 and helped us win the rubber game of the night against a very, very good team. We got the series win 5-2.
Yay!

Speaking of rock n roll . . .

2009-09-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Saw a great show Monday night at Club 1808. Woven Bones from Austin, and Gun Outfit from Portland, Oregon. Cry Blood Apache (Austin) was also supposed to play but they didn't show up (didn't call or nothin'!). Woven Bones was going on tour starting the next day and I bought some merch so they'd have a bit more gas/food money. Gun Outfit is near the end of their tour and this is their second show in Austin (played at Beerland in early August). Got a Gun Outfit CD too that is killer!

Great stuff from both bands. Look for video on YouTube in the very near future, although I may need to check with Woven Bones first - they had someone there with a pro-style video cam shooting some of their set. They may want to control what goes up on the Web, but I'll post some soon if they're cool with it.

Morning Report, September 2, 2009

2009-09-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, Trinidad, HoneyBunny and Horsey ate this morning.

Sammy is inside at this time and it looks like he is Sofia's brother based on their interaction when Sofia went into his room. Also, Anne petted him today and he really liked it. He did bite her (more of a "nip") during her 2nd petting session and she thinks he just got overly excited by the contact.

Evening Report, September 1, 2009

2009-09-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Trinidad, Honey Bunny and Horsey ate this evening.

I'm not sure what Anne's plan for Sammy is regarding him staying inside permanently or going back outside. He did not have his ear tipped.

Morning Report, September 1, 2009

2009-09-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Rosy, Nico, Bucky, Fuji, HoneyBunny, Trinidad and Horsey ate this morning.

Sammy is inside at this time. Anne was able to trap him last Sunday and we took him to the vet yesterday. He checked OK - YAY!! No bad diseases. He seems to be doing OK this morning but is still a bit freaked out I think. He got out of the carrier during the night but otherwise has stayed inside the carrier the whole time he's been inside since bringing him home yesterday afternoon. I still think he's Sofia's brother. She seems very interested in him and we hope to re-introduce him to her soon.

Yay!! Sammy's OK!!!

Morning Report, May 13, 2009

2009-05-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Fuji, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Honey Bunny and Sammy ate this morning. It’s a bit sultry this morning, warmer than yesterday.

Nico did eat this morning but not with the outside crew. I saw him eating something in the back yard pretty early. I checked it out a few minutes later and found that he was eating on a Rat. This was an adult regular Rat, probably a Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus). Nico had eaten the back half of the Rat’s body – all that was left was part of its front torso, arms and head and its innards were hanging out which was quite lovely to see amongst the flowers and such early in the morning. Anyways, hopefully the Rat had not eaten any rat poison which could’ve made it easy prey for Nico. That could be very, very bad for Nico. We’ll have to watch for any signs of illness in him. I think symptoms should show pretty soon if there is any poison involved, probably within 12 hours or less. I’ll go home early for lunch and see what I can see. Nico usually hides out in the heat of the day this time of year and I don’t often see him out and about after mid-morning, usually not until evening feeding time. Crazy cat – if he’s not hurting from a bite wound he got in a fight, he’s chasing other animals. It’s good he’s catching Rats as long as they haven’t been poisoned, very bad otherwise.

Later . . . I saw Nico and he seemed to be OK. His eyes were bright as he was hanging out under the deck and appeared to be chilling out comfortably.

Morning Report, May 12, 2009

2009-05-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, Little Brother, Fuji, Rosenquist, Nico, Bucky, Honey Bunny and Sammy ate this morning. Today, Sammy was waiting in our front yard in the middle of the new Sunflowers where the POD used to be (the POD killed the grass there). He’s getting more comfortable with me being nearby and it looks like the other cats aren’t bothering him. Yea!

It's nice this time of day (7 am-ish), but it's going to be very hot today - ugh. Summer never waits to arrive in Texas. It just kicks Spring out the door right when you're beginning to think the weather's going to stay nice for a little while.

Later . . . I think everyone showed up to eat this evening - Anne reports the outside feeding was normal.

Had a couple of nice looking Daylilies today but didn't get any pics until it was quite hot. Mosquitoes are out in the evening, so we'll have to make sure all the cats that can be handled get heartworm treatment.