Sweetie, Roughing It

It's Been A Few days...

I messed up my back a few days ago, and it is both hard to sit at the desk and energy level is low for blogging. I must keep repeating "Thou Shalt NOT Squat. Thou Shalt Not Squat."

I have been taking some pills the doctor gave me, and a bit better, but not very interested in doing much beyond reading and the occasional stagger around the yard.

I did order some camping stuff for this summer, to be delivered to our favorite storage facility in Utah.

Here is a pic of Calvin Bosworth, feline, commiserating with me:

This, too, is one Calvin Bosworth, flaked out much as I have been lately:

Good kitty.

Naughty Indoor Kitty

Herding Cats

Anyone who has taken kindergartners on a field trip should appreciate this:

Malaekahana Beach Park Camp Out, Again

About three weeks ago Valerie and I jumped into old Nellie Belle and motored off to the North Shore for several days of camping at Malaekahana Beach Park with our friend Dan and quite a few of the locals of both the fuzzy and the feathered persuasion. We took plenty of food for each so we had plenty of freeloaders to entertain us.

We did have to check out the beach, of course, and on day two discovered that a big log had floated in during the night. As usual, clik on the pic if you want a bigger version.

 

It had been in the water for awhile, long enough for plenty of hitchhikers to latch on:

 

In a few places they were pretty sparse. Note the little brown crab just above center, trying to hide out:

 

Most places, though, they were thick as small government advocates when the politicians are handing out subsidies:

 

It was breezy, and a few sailors took advantage of it:

 

While Valerie and I were hanging around the beach one day a fellow with a grey plastic suitcase in hand came walking up the beach, peeled down to his POLICE wetsuit, put some gear in the case and tethered it to himself, then waded into the water.

 

He came back a few minutes later with an illegally set and unregistered lay net. He looked like anybody walking down the sidewalk in the financial district, briefcase in hand.

The gear he had tossed in his briefcase consisted mainly of his wallet, badge, gun and gun belt: Can't very well leave those lying on the beach, so the gasketted case goes with him whenever he has to go in the water. What a pain.

 

There were a couple dead fish in the net. One, which proved the net had been untended (illegal) had been dead for a while. Apparently legal nets have to be checked daily. The other was fresh:

 

Back at the ranch, Dan gave a little help to his friends. Nothing like welfare queens getting salmon dished up with a silver spoon. Might as well be Democats. Or Republicats, for that matter

 

 

 

Tough cat: Must be a Tareyton smoker:

 

One morning we drove over to Kahuku Golf Course and went for a beach walk, then stopped at the InterGalactically Famous Fumi's Shrimp Wagon for you guessed it, some shrimp. While there we saw our old friend Fumi, the Black Crowned Night Heron:

 

The water in the shrimp pond had been drawn way down, exposing mud flats, or nearly so, and for the first time there we saw a Hawaiian Stilt at Fumi's. They are the endemic sub-species of the Black-necked Stilt, which is common enough elsewhere, but there are only about 1400 of the Hawaiian race around.

 

Here's the same guy:

 

Here's one more. Yeah, yeah, I know: three is too many. Well, it's my blog, and I call the shots. If you want fewer pics of Hawaiian Stilts, go to HuffPo.

 

We did more than lie around the beach and feed the welfare queens, but I didn't take any pictures, so that's all, folks.

Sweetie Pi

This one:

 

Or this one?"

 

Calvin in the Kitty Hospital

Calvin has been in and out of the kitty hospital for some time now with a urinary blockage. The vet hopes to send him home tomorrow evening, but until then this pic will have to do.

This had to be a bummer for the neighbors

Sabertooth tigers hunted in packs.

Surprised kitty

Thanks to InstaPundit for the lead.

Not yer Every Day Cat House

This is a proper Japanese Cat House, complete with some of the features I thought would be nice to have, plus some I hadn't thought of, like ceiling beams to walk on.

Tenting in the Jungle Primeval

As the tropic sun gently rose over the eastern hills and the shamas called to their mates, I rose cautiously from my pallet, crept silently to the fire and made a pot of coffee for myself.

Later, as the sun slowly passed it's zenith I set up our new abode under a jungle giant, surrounded by a small herd of pachydermi ceramicus aieaensis and watched silently from afar by a pair of felis domesticus.

As the soft-scented breeze wafted through the jungle, threatening to snap the frame and tear the tie down cords from their gracile mounts, I swiftly captured the scene in all it's primitive glory, then, lest darkness fall well after that of our new Home, I disassembled the shelter, rolled it up, and stored it with thoughts of replacing the cords, the stakes, and simulating a floor with a big blue tarp.

 

Socks: RIP

Socks has gone to that Big Catnip Patch in the Sky. Betty Currie is reported to have staffed for him after he was abandoned to his fate by the Clintons. At least they didn't have him offed like a dog I could name but won't.

Wonkette has the sad news.

Stressed. Totally.

 

Calvin

 

Cute...

...overload.

Pics from around the house

Moonset over the Waianae Range:

 

New Year's cookies:

 

Though the kitchen doorway: Nicholas and Valerie at the computer:

 

Calvin:

 

Sweetie under the Christmas Tree:

 

Ford Island, Pearl Harbor: Ping Pong Ball on an Oil Rig (part of the missile defense system--- it leaves, then returns, leaves, then returns.):