My Annual Weather-Complaint Post

Eighty percent of the time, Southern California has amazing weather.  Mild winters, lovely springs, pleasantly-warm autumns.  Then Satan comes to visit for two months and requests the temperatures be adjusted to match his normal residence. I know, August is almost over, but the heat is just starting to get intense.  We'll have insane temperatures through September.  

Yesterday it was 102°, which is normal for this time of year.  The problem was that it also rained during the hottest part of the day, leaving the rest of the afternoon a sticky mess.  It's been like that most of the week, and it has sucked all the energy, along with the will to live, straight out of me.  The only thing I could rally myself to do yesterday (other than complain) was to make some lime-mint sugar scrub for a friend's birthday gift.  I usually screw things up on the first go around, and this time was no different.  I added too much lime juice and instead of a scrub it was lime-mint syrup.  But this time I could take advantage of my mishap and use the first draft in iced tea.  (Well, I haven't used it in there yet, since I didn't have any energy to make iced tea, but it will happen.)  I didn't even have energy enough to take a final picture of the scrub in a cute little mason jar with the lid decorated, but trust, it was really cute.  

One nice thing about these temperatures is that we can wash the dogs outside and not even think about worrying if they'll get cold.  It makes it much easier than wrestling them into a bathtub.  

Not that they hated it any less.

Can you see those pleading eyes?

 

Coco wouldn't even get in the tub.  

But my baby boy Blue was the most tolerant.  He's such a sweetheart.

And of course, they all promptly went and rolled in the dirt afterword.

Alright, I'm off to hibernate until October.

Raising Eyebrows

Are you bored?  Having a bad day?  Draw eyebrows on your dogs and laugh for hours.

What a clown!

Rhino's going for the pensive look.

Piggy kept looking up to try and see what I'd done to her forehead.  She forgot about it after a few minutes, but I laughed for a long time afterward.

I may have discovered a new form of therapy.  Hey, whatever helps.

Casualties of War

Ninja, also affectionately called Ninjerk, got in a whopper of a fight a few days ago.  He's always been a scrapper, and usually he comes out the victor with nary a scratch and maybe just a tuft of hair missing.  (He'd been an indoor cat for years but then got a taste of freedom.  No turning back after that.)  

We didn't even know he'd been in a fight at first, just that he wasn't eating much.  Then we noticed the hair starting to fall out around his skull and some tell-tale puncture marks on his head.  Then Ralph saw him scratch it one day and tons of pus and blood (sorry) started coming out of his head.  Of course, being the perfect feline that he is, instead of letting Ralph catch him and clean him, Ninja instead ran around the house spewing gunk everywhere.  Yeah, lovely.

I think cats do this stuff on purpose to remind us who's boss.

We tried cleaning and irrigating the wounds ourselves, but after a couple days of this and no noticeable improvement, we knew it was time to go to the vet.  Sedation, irrigation, stitches,  and a car payment later, I give you Frankenkitteh:

Or as Ralph proudly calls him, Cannibal Cat.  (He's convinced Ninjerk ate his opponent.)

(If looks could kill....  I had the same look on my face when the receptionist/tech told me how much the visit cost.)

Frankeninja hasn't yet forgiven us for putting him through the vet ordeal  (it's for your own damned good, you jerk!) and continues to fight us twice daily when we give him his meds.  He's also expressed his displeasure at having to stay inside to heal by peeing on all the drapes by the sliding glass doors.  Sigh.  At least those can be thrown in the wash.  Unlike the car upholstery...

So as not to leave you with such an ugly, sad tale of woe, here's a picture of the Pig Dog (is it merely coincidence that I just typed Pig God by accident?) in all her bat-eared glory.

(I could have told you cats are nuthin' but trouble.)

Pig Dog Don't Care

Piggy is so appropriately named.  You would not believe how much this girl loves mud.  Rolling in it, eating it, diving head first into it.

I swear there are days when I just want to eat her up she's so darn cute.  After I clean her up a bit, of course.

Something Sneaky This Way Comes

Up to no good.  As usual.

Spring Has Sprung, and So Have the Torts

(image source)



Long time no post.


We've been too busy trying to soak up this nice, mild weather while we can until we're forced inside by the scorching temperatures to come.


Last week was actually unseasonably cool around these here parts. And rainy. Oh, how I love the rain. It's such a rarity in SoCal. Having been a Californian for most of my life, however, even one day without sun is a bit unsettling. That's why I'm so happy that the warm weather is finally here! (Notice I said WARM. I'm not looking forward to the blistering hot weather that's in the near future...)



Believe it or not, these are lovely temperatures in the Inland Empire. It's so dry that 90° feels like 75° with a breeze. (Almost.)



And look who just woke up from their long winter's nap!


sunning and hydrating


Ralph's been preparing their outdoor space while they've been hibernating. Lots of retrofitting, as these suckers are delicate. They have a 95% morbidity rate in the wild!! Yikes!

More pictures of the tortoise enclosure to come.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, and That Wet Dog Smell

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone. We're getting a lovely rainstorm here in SoCal, which for me is a nice change from the dryness. Maybe it will even green things up a bit!

The only downside?

Filthy dogs.

The Pig Dog, still being a puppy, needs to be closely monitored when inside, and we are training her to go outside when nature calls. Unfortunately, she still loves to pee and poop on the carpets for some reason, (even when she's just come back inside!) so we are putting her out a lot. Not that she minds the rain. It makes for lovely mud puddles to dig in. When she comes back in, though, as with all the pooches, she's filthy, and doesn't smell so great, either.

Rough life.

So there will be a full round of baths later today. Probably after our corned beef and cabbage. Mmmmm....

I Am Pig Dog. Hear Me Snore.

We have apparently become known as the family who takes in all the animals others can't keep. Not that I'm complaining. We've inherited quite a brood of amazing critters, and we just added one more.

Introducing
Princess Piggy Specklebottom

(I snort like a pig)


She's a four-month-old French Bulldog with whom we fell in love on New Year's Eve.



Our friends weren't really supposed to have dogs at their place, and when they saw how much she clicked with all of us, they knew they'd found a good home for her.

(You can see the polka dots on my butt here; hence my last name)


Our friends also loved the fact that Piggy has other dogs to play with, as she was a bit lonely over there. She LOVES chasing the other dogs and going after their tails.



They are amazingly patient with her.



When she's not chasing something/someone, she can usually be found napping.

(I snore like a chainsaw)


Or chillin'.



She always wants to be close by.



I love how she looks like a grumpy old man here.


I think she'll fit right in.

Attempted Murder

What can I say? I amuse easily.



(original source unknown, as it's been floating around everywhere. I found it on my friend's Facebook page.)

Not Exactly Urban

Click on picture to enlarge.

I often forget how aggie parts of the IE are. We had some interesting spectators at the scrimmage last night. They didn't seem too bothered that there were lots of loud children so close to their habitat.

I'm sure the kids that go to that school don't even notice them anymore.

Me on the other hand? I was a bit bothered by all the flies that seem to accompany them. And let's not even talk about the smell.

More'n One Way to Skin a Cat

As the temperatures start creeping into the upper 90s (with 100s right around the corner), the weather has been on my mind lately. A lot. I'm not a huge fan of being hot and sticky and thirsty and unable to sleep due to hundred plus degree temperatures.

I can only imagine what it would be like for the poor critters that are cursed/blessed with tons of fur.

I used to have a cat named Tippy. She was a rescue cat and came with that name, not sure why. Maybe because she only had a tip of a tail? Who knows.

Tippy was freakin' awesome. She was super affectionate and would actually run to the door to meet me when I came home from work.

She was also a total brat.



And a little on the plump side.


Being that she was very furry and somewhat obese, I figured that the summer heat must be driving her more crazy than it was me. Often times I would find her on the bathroom tile floor, trying to find a bit of coolness to soak up in the otherwise roasting apartment.

I decided to take action and try and bring some relief to my poor rotund cat.

I'd heard of animals getting their fur shaved for the summer and figured it would help Tippy's situation. Also, the vet had someone on site that would do it. So one morning before work, after I'd hog-tied her and wrestled her into her carrier, (my coworkers wondered at my scratched and bleeding arms) I dropped Tippy off to get a "lion cut." This is a cut where most of the cat's hair is shaved off, but the head and paws are left long, perhaps looking like a lion's mane?

I had been a little apprehensive about the process, as Tippy is less than cooperative at the vet, but I signed off for her to have a light sedative and figured that would be all that was needed to get her through the "ordeal."


I had no idea what I had just signed her up for.


The vet told me when I came to pick her up that she yowled the ENTIRE TIME, even with the sedative. Plus it took two of them to hold her down while yet another shaved her.

I'm pretty sure they charged me extra.

One thing I learned upon picking her up (other than that she is a royal PITA and the vet never wanted to see her again) is that cat's skin is the same color as their hair. That doesn't sound bad, except when you have a cat with multi-colored fur. When their hair is removed, it looks like they have a skin disease.




Good God, maybe Tippy was yowling because she saw how wretched she looked.



Plus, without a tail, she looked like a plucked chicken. A diseased and rotting chicken.



She wouldn't acknowledge my presence for days. Not that I blame her.


I honestly don't know if it helped with the heat issue, as she looked pretty miserable regardless of the temperature. I never did that again, although I did have to get her a "panty shave" (yes, I swear that is a real term) every now and then because she was too roly-poly to be able to clean herself properly.

This tale of woe has been a PSA for any of you thinking about helping your pet through the summer months. All I'm asking is that you seriously consider the aftereffects.

Tippy's and my relationship was never the same.

Make Sure to Match Your Pets to Your Drapes BEFORE You Bring Them Home

A woman in the UK recently returned a rescue dog because he clashed with her curtains.

The "Clasher"



I'm glad blue is one of my favorite colors.

My little boy Blue

Actually I don't care if he was florescent green with purple polka dots, who could resist that smile?

Kittens: Making Your Head Explode Since the Beginning of Time

Found this while searching for some other image (isn't Google awesome?). Made me smile, which is a big accomplishment right now.

(source)