Happy New Year

I've been so lapse at blogging lately that I just noticed Blogger changed the entire format.  When I sat down to blog and load photos a week or so ago, I didn't recognize my own page.  Not to mention I wanted to add photos and was unable since they are not online in a Picasa album. That pissed me off, so I downloaded my photos from my hard drive to Picasa. That took forever since I am a photoholic.  Then I lost my ambition to write.

My procrastination was caused in part by my heavy holiday workload, and in a bigger part by the nasty flu/cold going around that has befriended me. I think I got this thing in December, went through some heavy antibiotics, felt better, and then it came back.  Maybe since everyone in the house got it (with the exception of one person who got dengue fever instead) we are passing it back and forth and it's seemingly ours forever.  I hope not. I am currently awaiting the day I wake up and feel TERRIFIC.  (Waiting for Godot?)

The weather is strange this winter. We had a few fresh 28°C (82°F) days so far, and nights down to 18°C (64°F). This week the daytime temp is hovering around 33°C (91°F) and nights still 18°C....in late January! The facts that the air is so humid, we live in rock houses with cement floors, and our blood is used to a daily dosage of 105°F days and 95°F nights from March to October, mean that when the first northerly front blows in we'll freeze and all get sick.  There have been relatively few northerlies; instead we have warm tropical air traveling northward and the weather is perfect.  I don't mind the cool nights, in my cocoon, as long as the temp doesn't dip into the 50sF I'll be alright with winter this year.  But I miss the pool.   

This year we emptied the pool for the winter because it was just a lot of extra work and chemicals trying desperately to get the water to a usable temp.  We can heat up the pool during the day with the solar panels and the hot sun itself, but it cools down to ground temperature over night. It is a losing battle.  This means that this year we are going to fix and paint the pool before refilling it in March. 

I'm a little confused by the weather. I think back to pre-dawn January of the past few years and remember wondering if I'd freeze to death before I could hit the bathroom and climb back into my hammock cocoon. This year so far has been different.  I may be speaking too soon about the weather, it's only mid January, so you may hear from me again about this topic. Like when the first real cold front dips down into our territory. Enough about non-weather.

Here is one more pic of the cuties we babysat for a couple of months in Oct and Nov...and a little of Dec.  They are now safely ensconced in their loft in NYC.  From what my friend Janet tells me, they are living happily ever after. Their stay made the others here very jealous. My cats started marking territory inside the house.  In fact, I saw Buster spray for the first time in 13 years.  Moka still has to do routine inspections in the kitties' old room to make sure they have not returned, or any other cute little buggers like them!

Requiem to Weasel.  Yes, he deserves his own obituary page, but I'm trying to consolidate this cat stuff a bit.  He was having troubles with our cats before we took on kittens, but then it was Buster and Busmo that decided the white one with balls must go.  I don't know if they ran him off, if something happened to him, or what.  He was sitting on a pillow next to me for months, as if I were the only safety he had.  Then one day he didn't come back.  Who knows what happens to these cats that so often go missing?  Weasel was really sweet and I miss him.  Not like I miss Mokito, but something was fishy about his disappearance too. They were buddies and I miss them both.

This photo of Busmo came out in such a way that you can see how HUGE he is when comparing his FOOT to our foot long remote control! He has taken his role of security guard very seriously and has some nasty bite marks this week to show it. We have another intruder.  The neighborhood ferals see this operation and want in. The housecats have decided the club is closed.

Here's Buster with his best friend Cuate.  They are the oldest neutered males and they are great pals. They travel together.  Safety in numbers if for neutered cats I guess. Buster is close to having his 14th birthday!  He would rather be my only cat, but he likes his girlfriend Moka, and I think he secretly likes the rest of the commando.  He is staying closer to home these days, as he approaches his older and wiser years, and letting young Busmo do the fighting for the cause.

Not much info in this blog. It's a hello I'm still here kind of post.  Hello, I'm still here.  Doing much of nothing except when working.  I promise myself, no resolution or it's a lost cause, to write every day.  So far I have not done that, but today is a new day and I have written something here!