Welcome to the open thread! Caturday is a great day to check in on friends, and here’s Storm making sure his friends get the attention they need, says Georgiana Y.:
Far be it from me to criticize your housekeeping, Mom, but my friends here could use a bit of dusting.
Bonus Harbinger of Doom Cuteness!
Elizabeth G. had an ominous visitor recently: this vulture stopping by for a drink. “I hope this isn’t a sign about how the rest of the week will go,” she says.
Happy Caturday! Woke up to what I thought was my air running but then realized it was a downpour (or possibly both…). Supposed to be rainy for the next couple hours, then cloudy until around 7pm, then sunny just in time for the sun to start setting.
Not sure if I want a Pistachio Retriever but she looks very pleased with herself…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vulture except on TV! I think I might be a bit worried?
See, bunnies don’t make comments about their mom’s cleaning ability!
Off to my brother’s for the weekend, about 1 1/2 hours south. We’re having a family “reunion” sorta with my Dad’s side of the family. Fortunately all the cousins will be there! We love to talk and laugh. It will be fun.
My 13-yr-old niece likes that he has an amazing pool! It’s supposed to be in the 90s 😝 with high humidity,
so I will be staying next to the AC!
Have a great weekend y’all!
True confession: I read “my niece likes that he has an amazing poo” and got a little worried. Might be time for new glasses.
Sounds like a lovely reunion. I had so much fun with my niblings–hope you have the same experience.
It was great! Siblings, cousins, and even second cousins! We had a great weekend!😁
“When you’ve finished hoovering up the cat hairs and washing the paw prints off the kitchen floor, could you please dust the feline knick-knacks?”
Thanks to the cool wet weather, the fresh plaster in my loft is taking an unusually long time to dry. So far I’ve managed to put undercoat on the skirting boards and beams but I was hoping to have all the painting finished by now. The conversion took a sizeable bite out of the savings but it was worth every penny – I can’t believe the transformation! When it’s complete I plan to find out how much value the house has gained since December 2022 when I last had it priced.
In other news, I recently booked for the RSC’s Autumn/Winter season at Stratford and managed to find accomodation almost next door to the now defunct B&B I stayed at for over 20 years. The houses are virtually identical so it will be almost like old times!
I love that my Storm is on Cutetropolis on my birthday but I hope the vulture is not an omen of things to come LOL!!! I’m meeting friends later for diner at a nice restaurant.
Oh and the heat pomp was installed Thursday, works great and we’ve had nice cool air in the house for the last 2 days!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday! 🎂🥳
Happy day, Georgiana! And congrats on cooler living!
Happy Birthday!
We’ve seen vultures on/near our property a few times. The first time was in 2020, so we were like, “OK, that seems about right!” LOL!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Hello Beautiful Storm! My my you look gorgeous on that white background. The vulture is quite something! I forget how big they are. Amazing.
This afternoon I’m meeting with a high school friend who is on a trip looking at colleges and universities with his daughter on the east coast. How does he have a daughter who is apply to college next year?! In my head he still my goofy band-geek friend (and I’m still 18 too. ha!) She’s interested in the Mütter Museum so that’s where we’re headed. I had a big breakfast so that hopefully my stomach will be nice and empty by the time I get there. Its a fascinating place, but not for the week of stomach.
So that leaves this morning for cleaning and running errands. Both of which are long overdue.
Oh, and the new-ish free game at the New York Times, Strands, is very appropriately Caturday themed today. https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands Hint: Storm is a nice clue.
Have a wonderful Day!
I just did that one!
Strands #132
“Hello kitty”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡
🐈
🥳
Happy Caturday! Storm, even if you’re right, it’s not polite to say so. (I never dust so I’m not judging.) That vulture reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Elizabeth G, practice saying “I’m not dead yet!”
I’m headed out to breakfast with my latest and last house guest, then he packs up his car and leaves. It’s been terrific reconnecting with my closest friends from Kansas. And it will be lovely to be alone again in my condo. The cats will all have to readjust, after company for 11 days. I get to redecorate my studio with its new loft bed–oh darn, I have to pull out all the yarn and fiber to rearrange on shelves!
Hugs to you all.
Really great to hear everyone’s news and Happy Birthday Georgiana. Storm is looking slightly judgmental about your cleaning skills, love his friends’ names. He’d be indignant if he was at my house, I dusted my floors today and came up with enough dog hair to almost make another dog. Ooh, glad that vulture didn’t come to my place. It would be unnerving to find one hanging around my place. And it’s not even Halloween! Hubby did have to fish out a bird from the pool this morning, I want to know how it fell in and couldn’t get out. Luckily after drying off a little he was fine. Friend came by and took a few things off my hands so more space in my place. Always love getting rid of/passing stuff I’m not using on to other people. Haircut and grocery shopping later. Tomorrow I’m off to try out a newly opened Mexican market up towards Los Angeles. It has all these food shops under one roof from a place selling tamales to one selling churros plus fresh tortillas, mariachi bands and oh yeah also sells groceries. Its called Mercado González https://www.northgatemarket.com/mercado. Should be interesting! Happy weekend everyone!
Happy weekend and birthday.
Good morning, beautiful Storm.
Peeps, it has begun. Hubby’s employer and hubby’s union have begun fighting over him. If he gets job promoted, he will be out of the union, and the union does NOT want to lose him as steward and ambassador. I am sitting back (with a fan and ice tea) watching the beautiful chaos unfold, and loving it.
Duckie is suffering from the heat, and not doing well. I have a fan set up directly in front of her cage, and she loves sitting in the breeze. I think her vision might be going, as she is squinting and moving closer to things to see them. Other than that, she seems okay.
Hot weather continues. Uncomfortable days, barely tolerable nights. Counting down to my favourite time of year.
Older sister has finally made decisions about her situation. She will stay with her husband in their house as long as our parents can live alone, and move in with them when they need her. I’m not thrilled with her first choice, as I loathe the icky little squit she married, but at least she has made a decision, and has a plan to move forward with. I’ve always loathed him, but my loathing reached epic proportions when he ordered my sister to tell our parents to sell their place, move in with my sister and her husband, so my sister can look after them, and give him all their money so he can retire.
Off for a coffee and whine session with my BFF, and then back to the grind. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone, and stay cool.
That is SO GREAT about hubbies job! Let’s hope the monetary compensation zooms up👍🏼
How long do birds like Duckie live?
Your sisters husband sounds like a real jerk!
Very, VERY short-and-simple context: I’ve been an intuitive all my life, but underwent a major spiritual expansion/awakening back in 2015 which in many ways is still ongoing. Signs from my spirit guides (including bird/animal/insect messengers) is pretty much just business as usual in my world these days, and as a consequence I have numerous information resources that I reference often as far as the symbolism of different creatures. Naturally, there are LOTS of different perspectives on the subject out there, and no single author is ever going to resonate with everyone. But, I thought Elizabeth G. (and everyone else who’s reading today, LOL) might find this particular take on vultures reassuring:
“Buzzard or Vulture teaches the power of purification of the mind, body and spirit. Vulture aids accomplishing tasks through great patience and vision, using your sense of smell and discernment, and how to glide and soar with your own energy. He teaches efficiency in actions and promises that changes are imminent. He shows how to restore harmony of thoughts and feelings so one can reach new heights with little effort. Buzzards will aid in uncovering truths, clarifying previous conceptions, and allow to see and hear subtle hidden qualities using intuition and awareness. Buzzard can teach confidence and the ability to stand with dignity and soar with clarity and purpose. He shows how to seek a new and heightened vision while increasing sensitivity. It is time to soar above your perceived limitations. Are you currently undergoing an internal death and rebirth cycle? Are you ready to assert your actions from your ideas? Buzzard will aid in transforming knowledge to bring the unconscious to conscious and teach how to soar above it and bring the transformation you are needing at this time. Are you ready for these lessons of awakening?”
The original site this info came from seems to no longer be available directly on the web, alas, but fortunately the Internet Wayback Machine has numerous snapshots of it archived, so I can still sorta-kinda give credit where it’s properly due:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190416200543/http://www.starstuffs.com/animal_totems/dictionary_of_birds.html
Well, that sure makes a vulture visit sound appealing! Very positive spin👍🏼