Alasandra, The Cats & A Dog: 01/01/2009

More San Diego flowers, I saw these at Mission Trails Regional Park. The above photo is of a Christmas Berry. Apparently the Kumeyaay would eat the berries if there wasn't anything else to eat. The berries do contain cyanide so the rangers advised against trying them.

This is a San Diego Sunflower.

Sorry I don't know the names of two of the plants.

~Alasandra

The Perfect Doggie For Us

We have been reading Member of the Family by Cesar Millan. He even tells how to introduce a doggie to us cats in this book. We are sure our doggie will think we are superior pack leaders and obey our orders, thanks to Cesar.

This is from the book

"If you have a dominant, high-energy cat, the cat will take care of itself in almost every situation. On more occasions than I can count, I have been called in to help humans with an "uncontrollable" dog - only to find that the family cat has had no problem at all giving the dog rules, boundaries, and limitations."

After reading his book this is what we are looking for in a young dog or puppy.

Low to medium energy (The beans are rather lazy).
A member of The Herding Group, hopefully with long hair as Mommy would love to have a doggie with long hair. These are the breeds we are looking for Australian Shepherd (with tail; we do not approve of docking a doggies tail), Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Tervuren, Border Collie, Rough Collie (honestly until recently we didn't know there was any other kind), and a Shetland Sheepdog (aka a Sheltie)
Or The Working Group - Specific breeds Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz or Samoyed.
Or The Non-Sporting Group - Specific breed -American Eskimo Dog.

We are avoiding the Sporting Group, Hounds, and Terriers because their instinct is to hunt and they might mistake us kitties for prey. And while Mommy would love a doggie from the Toy Group she thinks the guys would prefer something bigger. We knows there are some doggies in the groups we aren't looking at that do get along with kitties; but we are trying our best to make sure the doggie we rescue fits into our home smoothly.

Unfortunately it is hard to find these breeds locally GULF COAST SHELTIE AND COLLIE RESCUE, INC. has plenty of doggies we would love to have. But they won't even talk to us.

IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF OUR ADOPTION AREA, DO NOT CONTACT US ABOUT ADOPTING A DOG. OUR ADOPTIONS ARE LIMITED TO THE MOBILE TO PANAMA CITY AREA. THIS IS IN THE FAR WESTERN END OF THE PANHANDLE OF FLORIDA. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS.

We think it is very sad that some poor doggie will not have a chance to live with us because we live ONE HOUR from Mobile in Jackson County, MS on the MS GULF COAST. We thinks they need to change their name if they are unwilling to serve the WHOLE GULF COAST. If we could adopt from them we likes Scout. Isn't he pretty? Some rescues that do have doggies we are interested in are out of our price range. We would love to meet Vicki and see if she would be right for us but she lives too far away and cost too much. We could get a Mini Aussie from a local breeder for the same price. The Great Pyrenees we liked has been reserved, we are happy she found a home, we are just sorry Daddy didn't finish the fence in time for her to live with us. We have our fingers crossed Daddy will finish the fence this weekend. Most of the doggies we likes live too far away, but we shall keep searching for the purrfect doggie. We wants to get it right cause we want the doggie to be happy, we cats want to be happy and we want our beans to be happy.

If you know of a doggie feel free to email the beans at osso(at)cableone(dot)net. The doggie doesn't have to be a purebred, we are purrfectly fine with mutts as us cats are the feline version of mutts. We do want a puppy or a young dog 2 years old are younger.

We feels bad about not considering a dog from Rainsville but the doggies Carrol had that we did consider have already found new homes. The eight that are left might not be good choices for us and Cesar warns about adopting a doggie because you feel sorry for it, we are trying to stick to his advice. We needs a dog that would fit in right away or at least fairly soon. Also our fence may not be finished by February 1st, with Daddy you can never tell and a lot will depend on the weather.

~Socks, Scylla & Charybdis

1.28.09 - Update on Rainsville Alabama situation

Go by Hope 4 Dogs and see what you can do to help. There isn't much time left and there are still 8 dogs that need homes. They also need help transporting the doggies that have new homes.

HT: To JFF for linking to the update. Even with all the computer problems JFF has been experiencing they have been faithful about keeping everyone posted about these doggies.

Socks ~ Spay Day 2009 Online Pet Photo Contest

If you go here you can enter the Spay Day 2009 Online Pet Photo Contest, or you can vote (that cost money) for your favourite pet. So far me and Scylla have both entered. We don't expect anyone to vote for us as we know $ are hard to come by these days, but we are hoping we can help cats and dogs just by entering. Charybdis is going to enter as soon as Mommy finds a good picture of her.

And now I am going to be a tattle tail. Your bean has to fill out a questionnaire and it ask about an endearing bad habit. Well Mommy says I am purrfect, Charybdis only has one bad habit but Scylla has so many Mommy found it hard to pick one. Mommy says we love Scylla in spite of her legion of faults.

Scylla's faults

Tearing up toilet paper.

Tearing up paper towels.

Jumping to the highest spot she can get; roof of the jungle gym, roof of the barn, roof of the shop, tree when it is time to come in for the night.

Tearing up the weather stripping on the garage door.

Waking Mommy & Daddy up at 5AM.

Jumping on the entertainment center and knocking the pictures over.

Whaping the pieces of the chess set off.

Clawing the carpet

Meowing to be let in then wanting to go right back out. She does this like a zillion times until Mommy & Daddy get tired of being a kitty butler.

Dragging the towels off the rack in the boy beans bathroom.

I am sure there are more but I don't want Mommy to remember all the reasons Scylla aggravates her so I will refrain from mentioning them. I think 10 bad habits are plenty. Don't you?

Wordless Wednesday ~ Queen Scylla surveying her domain

Tattle Tail Tuesday by Socks

Scylla is bored inside. She wants someone to play with, but she will not go outside because it is COLD. I don't mind the cold as long as it is sunny.

She is asking me to come in and play with her, but I have lots to do. I have to patrol our yard and check on the progress of the fence. Sadly Daddy hasn't made much progress on the fence cause it rained Saturday. He has the gates up...................but that's it, we have post and gates and no more can be done till next weekend when eldest boy bean brings Daddy's truck back.

Scylla you really should come out and help me. You could chase the birds....................

Mancat Monday ~ Socks

I don't know how a mancat is suppose to get any sleep around here when Mommy is always using that flashy thing. For some reason she thought I looked funny sleeping like this.

Daddy did it!!!!!!!

Daddy climbed Cowles Mountain (Sunday, January 18th) while he was in Sandy Eggo. He snapped this picture with his cell phone and sent it to us. OK technically he sent it to Mommy but we borrowed the picture for our post. He was very high up, at 1,592 feet, Cowles Mountain is the highest point within the City of San Diego.

Daddy is back home with us so we are going to enjoy some lap time with him now, we will be by to visit our fur friends as soon as we can. Mommy has to do his laundry (ha, ha) ~Socks, Scylla & Charybdis

Chipped by Scylla & Charybdis

We hope none of Mommy's pretties get CHIPPED with our roughhousing. You would be in so much trouble Daddy, cause you are older and pose to know not to roughhouse in the house.

PhotoHunt

Vote for Scylla

I entered the Spay Day 2009 Online Pet Photo Contest. You can vote for me here.

Flowers on Friday

I saw these lovely blossoms in San Diego. I would love to have this flowering shrub/tree but alas I don't know it's name. I loved the contrast of the pale yellow petals with the dark pinkish inside.

These were all over the hotel.

These cacti were found in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

This beauty was on the cliffs overlooking the beach in La Jolla.

This lovely bed of flowers graced the patio at the hotel. I just wish my cyclamen had done this well. Alas both of mine died. Maybe I'll get a chance to try growing them again one day.

Twelve Things I saw in San Diego

We stopped by the Vistors Center in Cleveland National Forest and these are some of the things we saw.

Rocks! I really liked the wall made of rocks. I think it looks really neat.

Stuffed animals

And a painting

We saw this in La Jolla, while we were waiting on the sun to set. I am not sure what it is.

We saw this Scrub Jay on our nature walk at Mission Trails Regional Park.

We also saw this hummingbird on our walk.

This Mule Deer is located in the Vistors Center. We didn't see any on our hike.

I think this is some sort of duck. We saw it at Old Mission Dam.

Reggie

Reggie is a cute little fellow that needs some help. You can read all about him here.

Shadow & Molly gave us an award

Shadow & Molly gave us this purrty award. We just love the butterflies on it.

Here is the meaning and rules of this award:
"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Daisy & Harley ~ Daisy and her sister Pixie (who has gone to the bridge) were kind enough to share information about getting an ultrasound with us so Charybdis wouldn't be so afraid. They also reassured Mommy, who was very worried about Charybdis' heart mummer. We really appreciated their advice and support and we have enjoyed getting to know Harley who is a real ham (Charybdis' heart mummer doesn't seem to be a problem, we didn't want anyone to worry).
MoMo - who dresses us so we can go to parties.
Asta - who invites us to parties, and tells us all about life in the Big Apple.
Charlie - who is a very sweet and wise doggie. We hopes to have a sibling just like her one day.
The Cat Realm - who inspires us to be better kitties with their dares.
Sassy - who puts a smile on our faces.
Opus - He and Roscoe were among our first acquaintances in the CB and we love to read about their life in Italy. We think Opus is very brave to carry on blogging without Roscoe.
Gandalf & Grayson - who remind us that laughter is very important. They are taking a vacation from blogging right now and we miss them terribly.

We wanted to include lots more bloggers, but Mommy said we had to stop at 8. But if you are in our blog list we think you are GREAT!!!! and deserve this award too.

Wordless Wednesday ~Scylla

Romantic Weekend ~ Day 3 (Sunday)

We went to Mission Trails Regional Park. We arrived at the Visitor Center in time to join the guided nature walk. The rangers pointed out many of the native plants and animals and we got a crash course in identifying tracks. Cats have a McDonald's Arch in their tracks.

We also learned about the Kumeyaay Indians who used to live in this area. This is the type of house they would have lived in.

After the nature walk we elected to visit the Old Mission Dam and do some hiking on the nearby trails. Hubby is hoping to have the opportunity to hike Cowles Mountain while he is in San Diego.

Then we decided to enjoy a late lunch early supper back at the Best Western Hacienda Hotel Old Town (where we were staying). We ate on the balcony at the Acapulco overlooking Old Town. I had the Sea of Cortez which was delicious, my favourite was the halibut in sherry-butter sauce but the grilled shrimp brochette and crab enchilada were also very tasty. Hubby had the Steak & Shrimp Fajitas, which he seemed to enjoy. Then we were off to walk off our supper. We strolled the streets of Old Town where I saw a huge Jade Plant that was blooming (sorry no pictures, I had left my camera back at the hotel) and we visited various shops including the The Tin Smith. They had the most awesome star light fixtures made of tin, there were also angels and purses and various other things. It was a very interesting place. Then we took a drive to Coronado for a romantic stroll on the beach. Since I had to get up early to catch the flight home this was the end of our adventures.

Rainsville, Alabama Update ~ Urgent 12 Dogs Need Homes

We are very happy to report that one of Carrol Crocker's thirteen doggies got a home. But time is running out for the remaining twelve doggies. The city of Rainsville will kill nine of them if they are not rehomed before February 1st. Carrol will be allowed to keep three doggies, but we can't imagine being put in the position of deciding which three will live. We are purring that Carrol doesn't have to face that choice. We are purring that the doggies will find new homes before the mean city of Rainsville, Alabama kills them.

Please see JFF's comment, we may have made a BIG MISTAKE and all 12 of these doggies may need homes.

Change a Pet's Life Day

If you are planning on adopting a cat or doggie check out Change a Pet's Life Day.

Romantic Weekend ~Day 2 (Saturday)

We drove to Julian, which is an hour east of San Diego, in the beautiful Cuyamaca mountains. We stopped there for some Coffee and Apple with Boysenberry Pie. I had the pastry crust and Hubby chose a crumb crust, both were delicious.

Lake Cuyamaca

We visited the Historic Stonewall Mine. Daddy be sure to note the name of the mine.

We also drove to Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The change in temperature and vegetation within such a short distance was amazing.

You can see the Salton Sea in the distance.

Here we are in Cleveland National Forest.

We stopped by the visitors center to look around.

And I just had to take the opportunity to play in the snow.

Ok, back to the nice warm beach. We went to La Jolla to watch the sunset.

Then we were off to Little Italy for a delicious supper. We ate at Buon Appetito. Normally I would have wanted to set outside, but after spending the day driving around with the top down I was more then happy to sit inside. I had the Farfalle al Salmone (I wish I could recreate it, it was scrumptious, I made a huge pig of myself and ate every delicious mouthful) and Hubby and I shared a piece of Tiramisu for desert.