A Day in San Francisco

New Album 12/11/08 9:36 PM

A cathouse in Carmichael

This is the cedar cat house kit I ordered online for my outdoor cat, Emily. She's an outdoor cat because she sprays and doesn't get along with our 19.5-year-old indoor cat, Bud. Emily does fine outside, though. She rolls around in the dirt, supplements her PetSmart diet with a bit of hunting, and knows her way around the culdesac. The neighborhood cats know this is Emily's place.

Still, I'll sleep better at night knowing she has a warm house to come home to. Carmichael gets cold in winter.

The kit I bought was pre-built, then disassembled, then shipped to me so I could whine and cuss and reassemble the thing. I was having a hard time with the square-holed screws (WTF? Not flat-head? Not Phillips-head?) UNTIL I discovered the custom drill bit included in the bag with the screws. My bad. Took me a lot longer than the projected 15 minutes, but I did it all by myself! I am woman, hear me grunt, curse and whine!


This is actually a semi-enclosed front patio area. A hopseed hedge conceals Emily's house from the street.


Emily's temporary housing, clearly judged to be inadequate.


Emily's first walk-through.


Emily's imagining living here.


I think she likes it, but she seems to be saying, "Hey, this pad's supposed to be heated. You better get crackin' on that, Angela."

Tree dahlias 2008, mission accomplished!

Yay, my tree dahlias bloomed before they froze! The open buds pictured below, which were looking happy on the day I took these pics, are fairly withered this morning. Today's remaining unopened buds look like they could still open. Judging from the frosty feeling outside this morning, I'm not betting on that.

The lighting wasn't great when I shot these pics, but I couldn't really sit around all day waiting for better light.






My tree dahlias are so tall that turning on my flash didn't help much.



Lower leaves look a little funky. A fussier person than I would probably get on a ladder and remove them.