What To Do About Overstressed Cats

I am very worried about Logan’s cat LJ (“Logan Junior” just so you know). He is quite stressed and can’t seem to relax. I am wondering if we have too much going on the house. I mean maybe instead of trying to cram everything in during this holiday season we just kind of back off and get to basics. Just kick back and take it easy and maybe he would learn by our example. What do you think?

I think we are going to give it a shot because we are really worried about him. He just doesn’t seem to know how to loosen and just chill. He runs here and there and is about to wear himself out.

Does anybody know how we can get our poor overwrought kitty to relax?

Pondering the Spirit of Christmas

(Wreaths are one of my favorite decorations, and they include lights and candles, so much the better.)

Christmas is a very complicated thing I think. We celebrate Christ’s birth at Christmas but everybody agrees that he was not born on Christmas. What is up with that?

(One of our several Nativity Scenes, we are keeping all of them!)

Then the whole Nativity Scene thing. We’ve seen it a zillion times. You know, the baby Jesus, Mary Joseph, the various critters, shepherds, and the three Wise Men. It makes a great scene but that is not the way it happened. Not according to my Bible at least. My Bible doesn’t specify the number of Wise Men and it doesn’t say that they appeared at a manger. They appeared at a house and worshipped a young boy, not a baby.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to be snide or act superior. I’m a Christian and I love nativity scenes, we have more than one and I believe in the virgin Birth and that Christ is my savior. I’m not trying to change the way you celebrate Christmas. My point is that Christmas is more than a religious holiday.

(Christmas trees on the Riverparks. I love’em.)

What else is Christmas? Lets see, lots of decorations, Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf , concerts, holidays, egg nog, hot chocolate!! Oh yes, I love all that also.

(Brian Setzer Orchestra. Wow, what a Christmas show. My first ever rockabilly Christmas.)

And don’t forget gifts. It is fun to give gifts and it is fun to receive them.

(Logan’s first Christmas. I love those little arms and legs and big smiles)

Nothing like watching a baby or a young one enjoy Christmas. Nothing like watching a loved one open up a special present you got just for him or her. Hey, and I won’t lie, I love receiving presents. I really do. I freely admit it. Do I feel bad for those who are not as blessed as me and my family? Yes, I feel horrible about it. What do I do about it? Not much I’m afraid, Angle Tree gifts and some money in various pots and kettles and such. We can all do much better I think.

I like the little things about Christmas like the ranch owner who made a wreath out of rope, spray paint, and a bow and put it on a fence out in the middle of nowhere. I just love things like this. It is a gift to me and others from somebody. We don’t know each other but they gave us something out of the blue.

(Warehouse district in Oklahoma City)

I watch secular Christmas movies like Home Alone and others where they talk the “The Spirit of Christmas.” That always confuses me, what is the Spirit of Christmas. Maybe it is grace. Being kind to each other, even total strangers, in small acts and large. I think it is at the very roots of Christianity. I think though that Christmas has enough room in it for others besides Christians. It better, for there is a lot going on at Christmas that doesn’t have anything to do with Christianity.

So, what do you think the Spirit of Christmas is about?

Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat – Logan’s Recital

Our son Logan has been taking voice lessons at a private music school since last summer. The school had their Winter Recital Saturday so Logan got a chance to show his chops in the singing business.

The program went from youngest to oldest. The younger ones were really young but they got through their pieces be it the guitar, or piano or a song and we, who didn’t know each other at all, were happy for the kids and their nervous parents and grandparents. As you would expect as the kids got older they displayed more polish and skill and a few had that “presence” up on the stage that hints at real promise. Remarkably there were only three boys in the entire program.

Logan came on toward the end and sang “Sit Down You Are Rocking the Boat” from the Musical “Guys and Dolls.” In my humble opinion (“IMHO” as the political facebookers say) Logan sang it very well. He had a microphone but he was one of the few kids who didn’t need one. He remembered his lines and sang his way through the piece with feeling and vigor and sat down. His Grandmother, (and world’s best MIL) Nana, has taught him to “sell” it whenever he performs. Heather and I are very proud of Logan. He loves singing and performing and it makes him feel good about himself and that is enough for us right now.

It is Somebody’s Birthday Today – Somebody Special

It is Heather’s birthday today.

I’ll say she is somebody special.

Logan will agree!

She is the deep thinker of the family. I think the two of them are thinking about what to do about me.

She’s my biking partner.

She’s part of the dynamtic duo with her mother Nana.

She always has a smile for me!

Happy Birthday Heather!!

Skywatch Friday – Whining Away the Days Edition

This pic is from late November. Since then it has turned cold, really cold. At least what we here in Oklahoma consider to be cold. Plus it snowed. So I have been inside fighting off the kid and the dogs and cats for space in front of the hearth. So I have lots of pics of Christmas Trees and ornaments and such. Not much in the way of skies or anything like that.

(View from my old office, sniff)

(My new office, “Joy to the World” on beige)

Plus I went from a cubicle with a window to an inside office with lots of gas company beige. I am ashamed to say that I got so wrapped up in my ~~napping~~ work that I forget to look up and sunset time is over.

(Warmer times)

Generally, Wednesday night has been good Skywatch time for me because that is my weekly kitchen pass to go run. But with it getting dark at 5 pm and I don’t get off until 6 and don’t hit the river parks trail until 6:30 I am ~~shuffling~~ running in the dark now.

(However, last minute addition to the post. On my running last night, I did come across these Christmas trees on the river trails. They were a nice surprise.)

So sorry, I have no game this week, just a pic off my front porch as the sun was going down.

Skywatch Friday

LJ the Inquisitive Cat

Meet LJ, short for “Logan Junior.” LJ was a Christmas gift to Logan a few years ago. He is a rescue cat but do you think he is grateful at all. No sir!! We are lucky to have him as far as he is concerned. He is one of those bottom heavy cats who doesn’t like to be picked up and when you go to put him down he jumps away leaving you all scratched and clawed.

I guess that we’ll keep him though. He is a handsome devil. The bane of his existance is Chrissy our big Maine Coon. When she gets into a bad mood she just stomps over and lays into him. It is kind of fun to watch.

Lessons Learned from Lomography

(The old Amerada Hess Petroleum building. They packed up and moved to Houston in the 90’s. They left the building though. I like all the windows and the almost ceramic finish on the lower level exterior.)

Early last week before the big snow storm I grabbed my La Sardina Lomography analog camera and went for a walk around downtown. I’ve learned a few things about my cheap film cameras over the years. The first thing is that they work best on a bright sunny day. Duhh! is what you old time film photographers say, who would never leave digital. Sorry, is what I say, not everybody is as smart as you!

(This is the old YMCA on Denver Avenue. It is being repurposed into condos now. I was a member of the Y for about two weeks in the early 1990’s. The clientele was kind of rough. Subject of another post I think. This building is similar to the Amerada Hess building because of all the windows, and the ceramic like exterior on the first level. The Amerada Hess building is at the far right of the photograph.)

Second, you have to pay attention to the details because there is no “A” setting. I’ve learned on the Sardina that for single exposures I better have a 400 speed film or things will be dim. If I want to do double exposures I better use 200 film. 100 film, uh, no. Also, you have to manually focus and for goodness sake take the lens cap off. Film photography is expensive, make the most of it.

(The Tulsa County Courthouse. I’ll be visiting again to make my annual trip to pay our real estate taxes. It is across the street from the YMCA building. )

Third, you have to make yourself happy. Most people don’t understand why you are using film. Most of them happily abandoned film for digitial years ago and have never looked back and they don’t know what is wrong with you. (I’ll happily admit that a lot is wrong with me.) What of it. What can I say, I like the look and feel of the pics, I love seeing the grain of the film. Plus it is kind of like Christmas every time I pick up a roll of film. There is always some surprises and a few disappointments.

So far I have four Lomography film and three other film cameras. I hope to get another for Christmas. This one a pinhole camera. In other words no lens, just a pinhole. That’ll be fun. That’s getting down to basic.If I get it, as opposed to the lump of coal I deserve.

So that is what I’ve learned. Tuition has been kind of high. What have you learned lately?

Trees of the Season

Heather has been working on the house both inside and out. Above is our living room. She makes works hard to make a very festive yet welcoming room. You can tell that LJ, the cat on the hearth is pretty happy with the result. He and Chrissy the Christmas cat take turns on the hearth. Or more precisely he gets the hearth until she kicks him off of it.

Heather also decorated the outside. I put the lights on the eaves and Heather added the lights on the shrubs and wrapped the trees. Plus she put the tree in up the dining room window. I did a lot, I promise. Just because you can’t see what I did doesn’t mean that I didn’t do it. Or something like that.

This is the dining room tree that you could see through the window. It is our “old” Christmas tree recycled.

And this is my Nana,the world’s greatest MIL tree, or more precisely one of her trees. She loves the Gulf Coast so she has a palm Christmas trees complete with a flamingo. Works for me.

Oh, you thought she had just one tree, no, sorry this is sitting room tree in front of a window.

Two trees you thought, sorry, this is her third tree. I like it best ofher trees. So territorial looking. Notice the stove, it is from one of her forbearers who were Oklahoma pioneers. It’s the real deal, but it is not hooked up to a flue. So no fires in it for now. In her previous house she had it hooked up and used it for heat once in a while when it got frosty.

Do you have a tree up yet? I mean if you celebrate Christmas.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday – Where I Stand Edition

Where I Stood

Hey everybody meet Seven. He is the horse my son rides at his Thereapeutic Horseback Riding lesson every Saturday morning. Seven was donated to the center by a ranch here in Oklahoma. He is a trained cow horse but he has a trot that will “scramble your brains” which is not good for cowboys in the saddle all day.

Silver

I captured this at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City during our Fall break trip in October. Notice I got myself along with Heather and Logan to the left.

Tiny

I’m a geocacher, an internet based game (check out geocaching.com) where people hide containers or “caches” out and about in the world and then other people go find them using handheld GPS receivers (“GPSr”). The biggest cache I found was a footlocker in the eleavator penthouse of a New Orleans high rise office building (the owner of the building is a geocacher. He has a security guard take you up to the penthouse so you can go find it). This pictured is the smallest I’ve ever found. Talk about a needle in a haystack especially consider that the accuracy of a GPSr is only about 12 feet under ideal conditions. So if the hider’s GPSr is off by 12 feet and the finder’s is off by the same amount then you have a radius of 24 feet to check. Fun, fun, fun. I have found about 1300 of them over the years and hidden 27.

In the Cupboard

Well instead of Cupboard, how about Pantry. Above is my wife Heather at my cousin’s store in Rigby, Idaho. It is The Prepared Pantry. They have all sorts of baking mixes that are great. They often have free cooking demonstrations on Saturday where they give out generous samples of the food.

Shadow

I found this shadow at Powell Gardens near Kansas City Missouri back in October.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

First Snow

We had our first snow of the year on Friday. It started with sleet and ice on Thursday during drive time home (fun, fun, fun, rednecks on ice!) and the snow started early Friday. Rather than play bumper cars I worked from home. I just love having that option.

And I shoveled the driveway. It was a wet snow and it pretty much did me in. And again, for the thirteen years that we have lived in the house our driveway was shoveled first. Then three of my neighbors came out and shoveled theirs. I think I shamed them into it. I don’t feel bad, they shame me into mowing my yard in the summer. Our four driveways were the only ones shoveled in our part of the neighborhood.

I was glad we had put our Christmas lights up outside while it was still warm. I hate putting up lights when it is cold and it is impossible with snow. It is not supposed to get above freezing until Wednesday. Oh, I’m already hearing the moans of sympathy from those who live in Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, and Maine for me having to bear our brutish temperatures.

So I turned on the outside lights while I shoveled. Sorry, I think lights with snow is pretty.

Inside I got our gas log going. That’s Chrissy the Christmas Cat, our big, fat, lazy, Maine Coon. She’s going to not move from that fireplace except for eating and pooping until April.

Heather worked hard decorating the house all day. She does a heck of a job and I’ll post some of her handiwork later. She has quite a collection of snowmen. These are just a few. She says she needs a snowman clock for kitchen and you know I think she does. Maybe we can get out today. The street in front is a solid sheet of ice but maybe it will be passable once the sun gets up.

The annual University of Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State University football game (called the Bedlam game) is being played today at 11 am. It is going to be below 20 degrees at game time. Lots of people I know are going. Those are known as crazy people. I just can’t imagine being interested in going to a game and freezing in a crowd. I am a casual fan of both teams. I prefer the professional version of the sport personally. Uh, I mean, the National Football League version.

So, how is Winter going for you so far?

YogisDen.us

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