Smell fangs

Tulip kitty slept in the crook of my knees last night. Yeah, she pretty much hogged the bed. When the alarm clock rang this morning I hit the snooze button. Kitty stretched and came up to say good morning. She walked right up and started sniffing my eyelids. When I opened my eyes, she was right in my face, giving me the "smell fangs". (For those of you who don't know what smell fangs are, that's the goofy, open-mouthed face that cats make when they smell something weird. I don't have a picture of it, but I'll work on it.) Just to mess with her, I started fluttering my eyelids. She heard it and started sniffing them again. This went on for a few minutes, which made me laugh. Flutter, sniff, smell fangs, repeat.

It really is a toss-up as to who's weirder, me or the cat.

Evacuation photos

Here are a few pictures from kitty's evacuation adventure...

Hiding out in the kitty carrier at the office:


Trying to rest with Raynay:

Just arrived back home, getting ready to catch up on sleep:

Kitty is back at home

After 2 nights on my office floor, we received the thumbs-up to return home this morning. It took me about 2 seconds to pack up all our crap and get on the road. When we got to our neighborhood the landscapers were here mowing the lawn. Our neighbor was outside washing his car. If it wasn't for a very murky looking pool, you could hardly tell that anything had happened. What a relief. It seems like many of our neighbors in the complex have not returned yet. For once it's quiet around here.

Tulip kitty seems happy to be home. She has been wandering around the house checking everything out. At the moment she is pacing back and forth in front of the sliding door. She wants to go out on the deck, but it's too dirty and the air quality is too bad for that. Eve just tried to pet her and Tulip took a swat at her. It's good to see she's back to her normal self. :)

I'm going to take a shower, then curl up in bed for a while. Hopefully kitty will join me. It's so good to be home. Thank you all for your positive thoughts.

Evacuation update 2

We (and as far as we know our home) are still holding up so far. We are still staying in my office. I think we are the only ones in my building, but others are on campus. Tulip kitty and Eve are both asleep. I haven't really slept, but need to while things are calm. My eyeballs feel like they have been sandpapered. The air quality is horrible.

It's really hot, but obviously we can't open the windows. Just sitting here slow-roasting and watching a live news feed. The cafe employees didn't come in today, so no hot food other than instant noodles. My office-mate stopped by this morning with coffee and breakfast, so we'll be fine. One of us might venture out later if we get hungry. We'll see how it goes.

Things seem to be improving just a little bit in this area. It's keeping me hopeful and very thankful. At least we aren't trying to outrun the fire.

Evacuation update

We are still at my office in La Jolla. Things continue to be safe here. We haven't been back to our house yet. However, I heard a guy on the radio about half an hour ago that was traveling through our neighborhood. He reported no fire damage, just a lot of ash and downed trees. Hopefully we'll continue to be lucky.

There was some talk yesterday about our company not letting us stay here at our offices because we are not "set up to be an evacuation center". Thanks for your compassion. Hopefully they've thought better of that idea, since we're still here. Some other co-workers showed up overnight. I was going to take a walk around campus to see who is here, but I'm just too tired. Other than very brief cat-naps I've been awake and checking the news sites all night. I can't wait for this to be over.

I thought I should add that Tulip kitty is resting in her bed. She'd love to go home too, but she's handling things well. She's sleeping at the moment.

Kitty evacuation

It's been a rough day all around. As you may know, we live in the San Diego area. As a result of all the fires in the area we were told to evacuate this morning. We packed up all of our most important things, rounded up Tulip kitty and headed out. Since all the area shelters are probably full, we opted to come to my office. It's smoky, but now and then we see a bit of blue sky. This area seems to be safe, at least for now. Some other co-workers who were forced to evacuate are here with their motorhomes and campers. At least we're not alone.

Eve, kitty and I are hanging out in my office. Tulip is resting in her carrier at the moment. She has been in and out of there a few times today. Earlier she curled up in her bed and slept. She's nervous but doing fairly well. She's a sweet angel, and I'm glad that she's able to remain relatively calm.

We have no idea how our house is. At least we're all safe. One way or the other, things will be okay. We're in for a long night of watching out the window and waiting. I'll keep you posted as we learn more.

Birthday 2

Eve's parents came by this afternoon for a birthday dinner. We still had an entire pan of lasagna left, so we heated that up and stuffed ourselves. Tulip kitty wasn't too excited about the idea of visitors. She retreated to the bedroom for quite a while. Later in the evening she decided to poke her head out and see what was going on. She started out at the end of the hallway by the bedrooms. Then she made her way to the kitchen. Then she hid in the bathroom doorway. Finally she came to the end of the hallway. Eve even got her to play some kitty soccer. She'd bound down the hallway, then come to a screeching halt at the end. She knew mom and dad were still here. She put on a little bit of a show, but she never did say hi really. She sneaked up to check out mom when she went to the bathroom, but that was about it. She's awfully curious about visitors, but still isn't sure she's ready to check them out. I keep hoping she'll warm up to people. One of these times she'll be bold.

Issa birsday

Thursday was Evie's birthday. I stayed home with her and Tulip kitty to celebrate. Tulip and I got up early to bake an apple tart for breakfast. Once it was done we enjoyed some hot tart and coffee while we played some kitty soccer. Even Tulip had a little taste of puff pastry.

Later in the morning we made 2 giant pans of lasagna. We feasted on that several times throughout the day. We all had a restful day of stuffing ourselves, lounging on the deck and celebrating. Kitty was quite happy to be outside, since she hasn't been out on the deck in several weeks. She was busy exploring and listening to the birds. We kept her so busy that she didn't get a nap for most of the day. By the time we were ready for bed, kitty came to bed and went right to sleep.

When the alarm went off this morning, Tulip didn't feel like getting up. She was curled up in a ball next to me. When I finally sat up and attempted to move her out of the way, she took a swat at me. Kitty was tired and cranky. She finally got up to help make the coffee, but went back to bed after her breakfast. When I left for work, she was curled up in the down-filled blanket on the bed. She was pooped. All that partying really takes it out of a girl! Eve said that Tulip spent most of the morning asleep in the blanket. Must be nice!

Little helper

I received this picture from Eve on my cell phone a few days ago. Tulip kitty decided to make herself at home on Eve's arm rest next to the computer. Have a pillow, why don't you? I guess Evie needed some kitty supervision that day. Nothing like someone watching over your shoulder while you're trying to work. Even if they don't have eyes...

Mama, let's play!

Tulip wanted to play this morning. When I got up, she ran out into the kitchen. She inhaled her breakfast then started running around the living room. She hasn't been getting enough play time because I've been so busy with homework. I know how she feels! Anyway, she batted her soccer ball around, ran up and down the stairs, stalked Eve when she got up. She was full of it. After I had coffee I went to the bedroom to get my clothes ready for work. I saw her sitting at the other end of the hallway, peeking around the corner at me. I got down low at my end and whispered to her so the sound would travel right down the wall to her. She thought that was great fun. Her little head was bobbing up and down while she listened to me. She finally came running down the hall, into the bedroom and up onto the bed. Then she flopped herself over onto her side and let out a little huff when she hit the bed. I love that! I tossed Tiggy Tiger to her and she proceeded to put the hurt on him. After tearing up the bed, the tiger and everything else in her path, she laid down and fell asleep. It's a tough life she's got.

Stinky bear

I was hanging out on the bed with Tulip kitty this morning. She was (and still is) as ornery as anything. I was probably risking my life laying with my face next to her. But I figured I was okay because I had Wyatt in between us as a buffer. I suddenly realized that something stunk. At first I thought it was me because I hadn't taken a shower yet. I finally figured out that it was Wyatt. He stunk! I immediately took him downstairs and tossed him in the laundry. I don't even want to know what that smell was.

Well, Wyatt got showered and coiffed and came back upstairs. Kitty was eager to check him out. But apparently she decided that just because he smelled good, didn't mean he wasn't getting an ass-kicking. Fangs out!

TV time

Last night Tulip kitty jumped up on the couch and sat with us for a little while. I think that may have been the first time she has ever done that on her own. We were watching TV when I noticed some little ears poking up over the edge of the couch. Then I saw some squinty eyes and a little pink nose. Suddenly there was a kitty in my lap, investigating the down-filled blanket I was under. She didn't stick around for long, but she did find a spot to lie next to me for a few minutes. Hopefully this idea of chilling on the couch will catch on with her.

Whack!

Poor Tulip kitty. When I got home last night, she greeted me at the bottom of the stairs, just inside the garage door. Normally she just waits for me at the top. I came in, gave her a pet, and she darted upstairs. Well, she misjudged the top step. Instead of doing her usual up-and-over, she ran head first into it. What a noise it made! Poor Tulip. She was okay, but it definitely dazed her for a minute.

Oh my!

So I wrote a while back that Eve caught Miss Tulip getting freaky with Wyatt Bear. Well, yesterday Eve sent me a text message that said she was in the office working and listening to a Heart CD. The song "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" was on when she just happened to look over at kitty. Kitty was on the bed getting her freak on with Wyatt again. Eve grabbed the camera and caught the whole thing on video. I haven't actually seen it yet, but I could not stop laughing. I can't decide whether or not I should post the video. Watch me get banned from YouTube! I guess I'll have to see how bad it is first. My goodness, Kitty! Get a room!