the Reggie (bunny) and Rupert (rat) story...

This post belongs in my "Cats, Coffee, and Chocolate" blog... since it is about critters.  But it's also part of the ongoing story of our Aga... which was my "Older but better...?" site's previous post.  So, forgive me but I'm posting it on both sites.  Talking about the Aga got me to go back and read one of my old web sites called Agasite which began as a journal of the horrendous days of remodeling our kitchen. If anyone has undergone this elective devastation, you will understand.

Anyway, as I was reading I came across the story of Reggie and Rupert.  It's a true story that was put into a children's story form in a letter to my then 3 year old grand daughter.  (I send her stories about the critter activities in our backyard).  Anyway, it is a cute story about 2 real life animals that became friends and hung out in our yard.  Even the workers who were remodeling were fascinated by this friendship. So, if you're interested, here is the story of Reggie and Rupert.



Grand daughter's alpaca...

 

A few years ago in the hill country my grand daughter went to a country fair where there were alpaca.  She (as well as her parents) fell in love.  Before the week was out, they visited the alpaca farm and took home 2 young ones which were later named Cruise and Rambler.  It was an interesting addition to their already growing managerie of animals; horses, dogs, cats, pet squirrel, tortoises, and now alpaca. I have to admit they havethe most beautiful eyes... with the longest eye lashes.

This bottom pic is of a box of Chocolate Rum Turtles with Sea Salt that  a friend just brought me from her Caribbean cruise.  Although they are not dark chocolate, they are quite good...

Godiva salted dark chocolate...

DH and I were shopping recently and for whatever reason, this store didn't have our Lindt's dark chocolate with sea salt.  We pick this up every Saturday and eat a small piece of it every night after supper.  Anyway, we had to make do with Godiva's salted dark chocolate. It was good... but also more expensive. We have tried several other brand names, but always seem to return to Lindt's.  Good chocolate, like good coffee, is important to us.

If you read my other blog, "Older but better...?", you know that I just had a birthday this week. And since I had to get my TDL renewed (and a new photo taken), it's official... I'm OLD (new photo has white hair).  I think the date could have sneaked by unobtrusively if it wasn't for that photo. Now every time I look at it... I think, "Wow, that's me?"  Funny how when we're on the inside of our skin, we don't notice the outside so much (at least I hadn't).  Always felt there were more important things to think about.  Guess I still do... but may have to consider (heaven forbid!) coloring my hair... I look so washed out...

Now, back to important stuff.  My original web site (years and years ago) was titled, "Coffee, Tea, and me..."    It disappeared into cyberspace one day.  Never could retrieve it.   I've lost other sites through the years, sometimes finding them again, sometimes not.  Decided that it wasn't important.  What was important was for me to keep writing.  So I have.

Occasionally I'll back off the writing, and do more reading, or back off the reading, and do more sketching... or pottery, or whatever.  It's not that I think any of my stories will ever amount to anything, nor any of my other endeavors, but there's magic in the process of creating.  Hard to explain.  But some of you may understand. There are times when words flow, or the hand sculpts... and it takes on a life of its own (and the world disappears, time passes without notice, the world is as it should be). Sound weird? Maybe.

Peanut Butter Cookies

It's Sunday morning and I (for whatever reason) woke up very early.  So the cats and I watched "Pie in the Sky" for a few episodes before returning back to bed.  Then the urge to make Peanut Butter cookies struck me.  I think I recently got the recipe from one of the cooking blogs online. They looked very good, so I decided to give them a try.

My picture isn't great, but the cookies were good.  However, the recipe called for 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, and I think next time I'll use a whole cup.  I do like them peanut buttery.

Recipe:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 lg egg (beaten)
1/2 - 1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla
Stir in egg, blend in peanut butter
Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt

Form round balls (walnut size)
Press down with fork tines
Bake 10  mins at 350
Let cool (cookies will firm as they cool)

And since I also love dark chocolate, I did stick some broken pieces of El REY 73.5 % APAMATE into a few of the cookies...  (I get these at Central Market)
um...mmm, good!!

Tomorrow I want to talk some more about chocolate... and coffee. Do any of you out there own a Keurig?

Coons and cats and kittens, oh my...




Mama raccoon and her babies eating on our back porch

  We have 2 mama raccoons that bring their babies up to eat several times a day. One has 5 babies, one has 2.  The cats that hang out in our yard co-habitate well with the coons.  They give each other a wide berth most of the time. The babies (raccoons and kittens alike) are curious and occasionally try to get close. The mamas run them off. But they never fight... or at least I've never seen them fight.

I was reading another site this morning and they were talking about the "life of cats" with the "life of Reilly" inference.  Truly, cats do seem to have the good life... at least the ones with homes do.  We cater to their every whim, feed, play, and entertain them.  They nap, eat, nap, play, nap, and nap.  Seems like a pretty good set-up.  My 6 are all different ages from 6 to 19 at the moment. And their personalities are all different.  Tux, who is a huge black and white male, brother to Jack who was pictured as Captain Jack on post entitled Cat Tales, is what we call a wus cat.  He is needy and wants loving all the time. If I don't sit down to read or rest by 2 pm, Tux will start following me around caterwauling.  It's his time.. or so he thinks. When I do sit down and he plops into my lap, if I have the audacity to start reading a book, he immediately reaches up and pulls it down... then pats my face (as if to say, "look at ME).  He is a mess.  But he's our mess.




Tux on left, Jack on right



Now the homeless cats that choose our yard as their sanctuary get pretty good treatment also. We feed twice a day (dry and wet) as well as lay out treats, toys, and fresh water.  In the summer they have the patio fan to lie under and in the winter we put out hay and heat lamps for their comfort.  They have a wood fenced yard to protect them from dogs and coyotes and can come and go as they please. We follow the catch and release program and if we can catch them, we vaccinate, spay or neuter, and release. Kittens get picked up at about 2-3 weeks, taken in and bottle-fed, played with to ensure friendliness, and then taken to cat adoption room at our local no-kill shelter (and are usually adopted out within the week). 

However, we don't always catch the mamas and thus, we do have repeat litters, but we try.  We have 2 young mamas in our yard now.  We took Bootsie's babies when they were about  3 weeks.  They have already been adopted out. But we haven't caught Bootsie yet. The other little mama moved her babies not long after we found her hiding place and before we could get the kittens.  Now they are in the yard and adorable, but much too fast to catch.





Cat tales...



Captain Jack

 Realized when I was reading some cat blogs yesterday that when people have several blogs and one wasn't updated in a while, I tended to skip it.  Thought that I should learn something from that and try to update my blogs on at least a weekly basis in order to not discourage readers. I do tend to update one, but not all.  Lately I've been working on my retirement site, "Older, but better...?".

This post is basically going to be about Jack, our 8 year old black and white DSH. His full name is "Jumpin' Jack Lickady Spit" and yes, there is a story behind that.  Since we tend to be the neighborhood feral cat sanctuary, strays tend to use our backyard as their own private cat park.  Some come, eat, and leave; others come, eat, and give birth... staying to raise their offspring...  or in some cases such as this one, leaving their offspring on our back porch and taking off for parts unknown.

Jack and his 4 brothers and sisters were abandoned at about 2-3 weeks of age.  At the time, we had 3 inside cats.  We took the 5 kittens in with the intention of bottle-feeding them until they were old enough and friendly enough to find homes.  Well... my daughter took one, my son took 2... and we kept the remaining 3.  Jack was a little 'jumper'... didn't walk anywhere... but kind of leapt like a bunny.  We added the 'lickady spit' later when it became obvious that when Jack was content (such as lying on your lap or chest) he drooled.  Messy, but sweet.



5 abandoned kittens a few weeks after we found them
From the left: Monkey Mouse, Jack, Cocoa, and Tux with Jasmine (the grey tabby in the font)



"For Better or Worse... but not for lunch"

OK, this is still my old blog. But as you can see, I haven't written here in quite a while. Most of my writings are on my journal website by the same name. But I have decided to add "Retirement - a new experience" to this "Cats, Coffee, and Chocolate" blog. It will give me an avenue to record the adventure in its early days.




Recently (like 10 days ago) my husband of 42 years took his first day of retirement. It was thrilling... and frightening... at the same time. Thrilling because it was a new experience for us - an adventure into the unknown. And frightening to think that there would be no more paychecks coming in. How would this work? Did we have enough saved to live for another what... 10 or 20 years? (If we're lucky) Our 401K's took a beating like everyone else's in the current economy, so we're certainly going to have to survive on less than we'd planned. Could we?





Well, we'll have to, won't we? But it'll take a little time to sort things out. Right now I'm dealing with what it's like to have someone home 24/7 that's never been home 24/7... except for limited amounts of time (like weekends and vacations). It's different... and takes a little getting used to... for both of us. I think we're going to like it as long as we continue to be aware of the impact this change has made in the way we have previously done things.




For instance, I work mornings at a bookstore, come home, give my cats their treat, and then sit down to read the paper and eat my lunch. With hubby home, he may want me to fix his lunch, or go out to eat, or run some errands with him (or throw the paper away before I get home). And although this is a small thing, it changes my routine. I use that first 45 minutes after work as 'downtime' and then I'm ready to move on. I can adjust... but it's nicer when he is aware that this is different for me. (a friend whose husband has been retired for many years now said this to me... "for better or for worse, but not for lunch.")




Time and money... these are the things we'll have to work out. Not anything new that we haven't dealt with before (I mean, hey, it's been 42 years), yet now in a different way. We've discussed some of this previously; like which up to now routine expenses we might forego, which new ones we might have to take on, where we could trim the budget and how to work out insurance plans, etc. So we're not completely in the dark. And I'm not complaining. Actually so far it's been kind of fun... but again, it's only been 10 days.