A Touch of Whimsy in Bartlesville

Three water towers in Bartlesville are labeled in Old English lettering as Hot, Warm and Cold. When we were kids, traveling through Bartlesville on our way to Tulsa, we always looked for the towers, so they've been marked this way for a long time, and I still get a kick out of seeing them. I finally stopped to get a picture.

An Amazing Performance

A friend shared this, and it made me feel so good I just wanted to share it with you, too.

Saying Goodbye to a Fine Young Man

The world lost a great husband and father, and all around nice young man this last weekend. Harold was the husband of my sister and brother-in-law's niece. This picture isn't very clear but it is typical of Harold and how he adored his three little girls, and how they adored him. He was only 31 years old. No symptoms, no notice, just stolen away in an instant by an aneurysm.

I always want to have an answer for why something happens, and since that isn't going to happen here, I at least wanted to find something good, some semblance of a bright side. It was very hard to find a bright side here.

It took a while to find it, but it is definitely there. Family, friends, their church and an entire community have embraced his sweet family. They have received food, money, assistance of all kinds, and genuine love. These acts of kindness are not one-time happenings. These are the kind of people that will surround and  watch over Missy and her precious girls for as long as they need.

Rest in peace, Harold. You will be sorely missed. This world needs more nice guys like you.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper on Climbing Mountains

Our Aunt Barb and Uncle John came all the way from Georgia and are visiting us for just a short bit. Yay! But, like the last few times they visited it's because of a very sad occasion, but we won't talk about that right now, because it makes my mom's eyes leak.

We love it when our aunt and uncle, Mom's sister and brother-in-law (or is it bother-in-law?) visit. Our mom and Aunt Barb don't look a whole lot alike, but their voices sound alike. So it's like having two of mom here, when we're just lounging around and not really looking at them, but just hearing them talk.

Now when Jeanie, the other sister, gets with the two of them, it sounds like three moms. You should hear them laugh--and they do a lot of that when they get together--you couldn't tell one from the other. It's laugh, laugh, laugh, snort, "oh, shoot", laugh, laugh. Sometimes they cross their legs when they laugh real hard, and that makes them laugh even harder. I sure don't get that. But, you know what I say about humans--that's right--Peculiar, with a capital P.

Mom has been boasting quite a bit lately about her walking, counting her steps and all that. I agree it's pretty impressive that she can walk and all, being that she does ALL of those steps in that awkward upright position using only two legs. But counting every step? Come on now, isn't that a tad much? (yep, Peculiar) Now she's even saying that next time she goes to see Aunt Barb and Uncle John, for a not-sad occasion, she will be ready to climb Stone Mountain again. Our mom, a mountain climber? I had visions of her scaling snow covered rocky mountainsides, having to stay in base camps fighting the snow and wind, and taking days to pick and pull her way to the top of a mountain, and that scared me.

But, then I did my research, and that so-called "mountain" out there in Georgia is just one great big hill made of granite. It's real pretty and there's lots to do around it, but believe me, I'm no longer scared about her "climbing" it. It looks more like a stroll on a hillside. I think that will be okay.

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday, and remember to cuddle your cats and hug your other loved ones real tight.

Purrs and hugs,
=^..^=  Casper

World Cat Day

Today is 2010 World Cat Day!
We greet all our fellow felines as we celebrate being CATS! It is a most pawsome thing to be, at least for all of us that are fortunate enough to have humans who appreciate and love us, as it should be.

Today, in addition to celebrating our catness, we are also sending out purrs for all the cats in the world that do not have the wonderful lives they deserve, and for all the special kitties in shelters that would love to come live in good forever homes. We are purring extra loud and fervently for all of them.

We also offer up purrs of gratitude for all the cat lovers in the world. We're grateful for those who love and care for their pets, the ones who adopt, special people that volunteer in shelters and those in the blogosphere that spread the word that cats are special companions and bring much joy into this world!

Cats Rock! Every day should be CAT DAY!

=^..^=
Casper and Angel

Bubbling Over

A prankster put bubble bath in the Bartlesville Community Center fountain. Not a real original idea, but the results turned out to be. The following video shows some large chunks of bubbles floating down the street. It looks pretty weird.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel gets Perspective

The last few days have been Bad News, Good News days. Sunday morning Mom left to make the 2 ½ hour trip to go see our big brother, Russell, our sister-in-law, Karissa, and The Grandsons. Casper and I had just settled in for a nice quiet Snoozin’ Sunday. Wait… was that the garage door I heard? What’s going on?

Mom walked back into the house. She said her car sounded funny. She made a swishy sound as she described it to Russell over the phone. She was right – that did sound funny. She was sad that she wasn’t going to see ‘the kids and grandkids’, as she calls them. But, she would see them soon. Car broken and no visit with the fam – bad news. Then came the call, the fam was coming here instead – good news! Good news as far as she was concerned anyway. But, there went our plans of sleeping the whole dang day away. There is NO sleeping when those rowdy boys are here!
About three hours later, they’re heeere; off to mom’s bedroom we went.

It’s kind of like a small tornado, without the rain, blowing through the house when the boys are here. Mom says they are sweet and energetic, I say they are a horde of locusts come to destroy our entire way of life.

 

Anyway, they came, they created their mayhem and path of destruction, and then they went back home. We survived, once again! Definitely time to sleep! We slept long and hard.
Next day, mom got her car to the service department. It was, as Russell had predicted, the alternator – bad news. But, the repair was covered by her extended warranty – good news. They had to order the part and it would take a couple of days to get it – bad news -- she would have to rent a car. It too was covered by her warranty – good news.
Life is just one big old balancing act, like having our plans crushed by having the wrecking crew visit (bad news… for sleepy cats anyway) led to some awesome snoozing time (great news). Plus, having them visit makes Mom happy and we love Mom, so I guess it really is good news.
It’s all a matter of perspective.

Hugs and Purrs
=^..^= Angel

2010 Tulsa Memory Walk

Okay, it's time for me to do something good, for someone besides me, with all this walking I've been doing. I believe I am prepared for the 2010 Tulsa Memory Walk on August 28th. The objective is to raise awareness and money for The Alzheimer's Association,  a health organization funding Alzheimer care, support and research.

I have a friend, a  beautiful young lady, whose once vivacious mother was diagnosed with Early On-set Alzheimer's a few years ago. Her mother is only in her mid-fifties and already attends an elder-care day facility because she can't care for herself while her husband goes to work all day. My friend picks up her little boy from his daycare center after work each day and then goes to gather her mom from her day care facility and delivers her back home. Her mother enjoys the people and activities at the center, but it won't be much longer before she will need 24/7 care. The family has begun the search for a long-term care facility.

Alzheimer's is a heartbreaking disease, a most insidious thief. There is no cure yet, nor known causes, for this disease. Much research is still needed.

A few weeks ago, I was moved to tears as I watched a segment on CBS Sunday Morning, called Jan's Story. It's the story of a lovely woman with early on-set Alzheimer's, beautifully and intimately told by her devoted husband. Click here if you would like to see it.  I couldn't help but think of my friend and her mother as I watched.

So many of us have been impacted by this disease, in one way or another, and I hope and pray it will be eradicated one day soon.

Angel Hits the Sauce

Well actually, she just batted it around a little.

Whiskers Wednesday - Casper gives Mom a Break

I guess I’ve dished on Mom a little too much lately. There was even talk about me losing some computer privileges. Now I can’t let that happen, so I’ll lay off Mom for a couple days and she’ll forget all that nonsense about taking away my computer time.

Sooo…let me tell you a few things about Angel.

Believe me, she’s no angel. Do you know that Mom hasn’t been able to put toilet paper on the paper roller thingies since Angel came to live with us, when she was just a few weeks old. If you come to our house and have to use the facilities, just remember the paper is in the cabinet right over your head. The reason? Angel goes after that stuff as if she's on a mission from God to destroy every last square of the stuff. Mom has come home and found piles of the shredded white stuff all over the house. I think it’s pretty funny, but I guess it really isn’t the ‘green’ thing to do.

Now I do have to laugh my tail off whenever Angel pulls this stunt. Every morning, before leaving for work, Mom checks to make sure she knows where each of us is, so she doesn't leave someone closed up in a closet or something. It happens. Anyway, about once every month or so, Angel will hide real good, and before you know it Mom is going all over this house, looking in everything, under every bed, everywhere. I'm talking she absolutely cannot find Angel, and she's beginning to get a little shrill, "Angel, I have to get to work. Where the heck are you? Kittykittykitty." You know when humans do that high pitched kitty kitty call where they're almost rolling there r's, even though there are no r's? They don't know it but the only reason we come at all when they do that is to get them to stop doing that. But, I digress. Angel has been known to hold out for as long as 10 minutes; that's like an hour in cat time. Then she'll sneak up behind Mom and casually rub her leg, all like, 'were you looking for me?' Oh man, I'm about to roll on the floor by this time. Mom just pets her and says, "You scared me. I'll see you tonight."

Oh yeah, another thing. One time when Mom came home from taking Angel to the cat doctor, she had her hand all wrapped up in a big white bandage and she even had to take antibiotics. Can you believe it? Angel was real scared at the vet's, and she bit Mom! I get the whole freaking out thing – have you seen how they take our temperature? Shudder. But, she bit her! Not like when I give her a warning nip because she's brushing a knot out of my fur, and it smarts. No, she punctured her hand with that fang like tooth! I thought, oh boy this is it! She’s going to be in real big trouble now. But, oh no, mom took her out of her carrier and said ‘it’s okay sweetie, you were scared, you didn’t mean to.’ Well, okay, but what about that TP shredded all over the place? You can’t say she didn’t mean to do that!

This is just the tip of the iceberg with Angel. She’s pretty ornery. Mom goes on about how sweet she is, and really she is most of the time – because she’s sweet when she’s asleep.

So it appears I wasted all those years being the nice, polite guy when I could have been getting away with all kinds of mischief. Who knew? Oh well, too late to change now, and besides, now I feel it’s my duty to mentor the wayward little girl. It’s a tough job, but, if not me, then who?

Happy rest of the week!
Purrs and hugs,
~Casper~

You say Tomato, I say Tomater -- Fried Green Tomatoes

Here are a few things that fried green tomatoes make me think of:
# 1. The movie, of course. A very good movie, one of the few I’ve watched several times. I love Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes. Towanda!!

# 2. The book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, by Fannie Flagg, from which the movie was adapted. Fannie Flagg has a way of making her characters real to us and of bringing her readers into a southerner state of mind.

and # 3. The fried green tomatoes I fixed for a late dinner last night. Oh my goodness, they were goo-ood. I felt quite southern myself. Even now I have the urge to say something like ‘Why shut my mouth.’
There’s a lot to like about summer, and fried green tomatoes is just one of those things.
I’m already craving them again!

In the Interest of Brevity

Here's a micro mini short film starring Casper and Angel, as themselves, just being themselves.

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel's Advice

Our mom was very tired last night, and for good reason. She did not go to bed until really late the night before. If I could count, I would be able to count on one paw the number of hours of sleep she got, and that's not good! But, boy oh boy, when she did go to sleep, she slept, and I mean big time. She even purred…real loud. Mom needs to take a lesson from us cats. We take our sleep very seriously.
Humans could learn so much other stuff from us as well, if they would just pay closer attention. First, we do everything we have to, to get our eighteen hours of sleep each day. When we get tired, we find a comfy spot, plop down and get after the snoozing. We eat when we get hungry, we drink when we are thirsty, we scratch around in the litter box when we must, and we let someone clean it up afterward. Life is so simple, really. But humans do like to carry on as though it's all so terribly complex and complicated.
The other thing you'll notice, when you start observing our superior life strategies, is that you just don't see cats going around wringing their paws, worrying about goofy things like humans do.
I started thinking that maybe worry was actually fun. Why else would humans do so much of it? So I found one itty bitty worry to work on…
Our mom always tells Casper and me that she would like to stay home with us, but someone has to go to work to keep us in the Lap of Luxury, and believe me, we like Luxury! So, now she tells us that her work for this one company is about to be over, but she has started looking for her next gig. I started to worry, what if she doesn't go to work? Does that mean the Luxury Lap will go away? And what about our dreams of a big ol' cat tree and a catio? What if she stays home all the time and we have to follow her around the house, and miss out on all that wonderful beauty sleep? Oh my.
Geez, I don't know why humans do this worry thing -- there's absolutely no fun in it! It is definitely not for me! It makes me tired. I'm going to go plop down somewhere and snooze now… Have a happy rest of the week; I know we will.

Master sleeper, Casper, is not worried about anything!

Purrs and hugs,
~~Angel~~
zzz zzz purr purr =^_^=

Note from Mom: As Angel advises--don't worry, Angel and Casper are not at risk of losing their Luxury Lap.  I wouldn't let that happen. :)

Time flies when you have grandkids!

These three handsome young men are my awesome grandsons, Zachary, Dyllan and Johnathan. They own my heart.

Today is Johnathan's 10th birthday.

Happy Happy Birthday, Johnathan! Welcome to the double digits.

I love you sooooo much!

A Stroll in Bartlesville

Bartlesville is the town where I work. It is a really charming place and I enjoy taking a few pictures when I go walking there.

I love libraries. Here's B'ville's.

Price Tower - This is Frank Lloyd Wright's only skyscraper, and as you can imagine, it's quite unique, and an important landmark here.

The Bartlesville Community Center

The Price Tower Buffalo statue. This is one of my favorites.

The OK Mozart Buffalo.

...And that was it for this walk. Don't I have some great things to look at when I'm out grabbing some exercise?

A Bartlesville traffic jam.

Okay- this wasn't taken on my walk. I took this as I  was headed to the highway that takes me home.

Another Walking Story

After work last night I went walking at my standard go-to trail at Haikey Creek Park. The temperature was around 95 with more than 50% humidity, making the heat index hotter-than-hell degrees Fahrenheit. There were several people on the trails, quite a few of them running. I am not a runner but I have to admit I was impressed with their dedication. I’ve said that I wouldn’t run unless a serial killer was chasing me. Even then I would have to stop and gauge what kind of day I was having and how badly I wanted to live. But, maybe someday--

Whenever crossing paths with other walkers or joggers I smile and say ‘hi’ if they make eye contact. Most respond in kind, or even initiate the greeting. I’ve noticed that other women walkers will sometimes start a brief conversation without breaking stride. Here’s one I had Sunday morning:
Me: “Hi.”
Lady carrying a stick: “Hi. I’ve got my stick in case a man pops out of all this underbrush.”
Me: “I have my keys ready to gouge an eye.” Chuckle
Lady carrying stick: “It can get scary back in this area.”
Me: “It sure can.” The last two sentences were hurled over our shoulders as we strode away from each other.

Conversation from yesterday’s walk:
Lady in her 30’s: “Hi.” Panting.
Me: “Hi.” Not panting!-and this was close to the end of my trip. Oh yeah, I rule.
Lady in 30’s: “Omigod, it’s so hot out here.”
Me: “What were we thinking, huh?” Chuckle
Lady: Smiled weakly

I used to think everyone who passed me on the trail was thinking, 'Please don't make me try to remember my CPR training.' When I passed Lady-in-30's, I thought the same thing. I don't think I have that effect on my fellow walkers anymore. Now that's progress!

Whiskers Wednesday -Casper ponders, What’s in a name?

      that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet .

 Our mom is a name-caller. Not bad names. Well, I have heard stories of the names she calls people who do something like tailgate her car, or drive slow until she starts to go around them and then put their foot in it-whatever that all means. At those times we understand she has uttered some names that would make the tiny hairs in our ears curl.

No, I'm not talking about those kind of names. I'm talking about all those cutesy-wutesy, lovey-dovey, ooey-gooey names she has for Angel and me.

Some we may only hear once in awhile. But, there are some recurring ones that we get every single solitary day. We both get the usual Sweetie, Baby, My Lovelies, Pumpkin, Punkapoodle (we don't know either), My Kids, Baby Loves--you get the picture.

But, then there are some that are exclusively mine, such as:

Casper (of course, since that really is my name), Cat Spur, Cass Balou, Casper Bonito, Cassie (she even used that one in front of the cable repair guy once, when I was offering him a chance to pet me, "Get out the man's way, Cassie." How humiliating. To begin with, I'm pretty sure he was there to pet and coo over me and my lovely floof. On top of that, what a sissy name to call an obviously hunky mancat! I did have to snub her awhile for that). Then there's Sushagoodboy, Capalou and Capaloonylou.

Here are a few that Angel gets:
Angel (of course), Baby Girl, Sushagoodgirl, Sushaprettygirl (I see a pattern), Maya Angelou, Prettybabygirl, Angelina, Angelpooh.

The lists could go on and on - and on. Now I'm not really complaining. Sometimes our mom just can't help what comes out of her mouth when she's under the spell of her beloved kitty-witty-witties (another one we hear a lot), and in private we even kind of like it - a little. But, for goodness sakes it's a tad embarrassing when she does it in front of others.

But, we've heard a couple of her names, too. Her sister, our Aunt Barb has been know to call her The Crazy Cat Lady. Her son, our big human brother calls her Mom (of course, since that is her name) and sometimes, Weirdo. Now those are some sweet terms of endearment if you ask me.

We love you, too, Mamaloonalouie!! Yep, you still smell as sweet.
=^..^= 
Purrs and hugs,
from Casper (The Alpha Mancat)

Hummingbird Don't Fly Away

Yesterday afternoon Angel was looking through the storm door and she started making that cat-chatter noise cats make when they see something terribly exciting, usually birds, flying bugs, something like that. If you have cats, you know what I mean. I went to see what was causing this reaction. There was a hummingbird hovering aroud the area where I usually hang their feeder. Only this summer I had been pretty lazy about tending to my bird friends so there was no sweet nectar there. Recently I started feeding the songbirds again, but my poor hummer friends were being neglected.
Once I saw him though, I hurried inside and prepared the two feeders and got them put up as quickly as I could. It wasn't long before he was feasting. 

I think all has been forgiven.

A Day at the Museum

Today I enjoyed a visit to the Philbrook Museum. In 1938 Waite Phillips gave his 72-room mansion and surrounding 23 acres of grounds as an art center for the city of Tulsa. The Italian Renaissance style mansion itself is a beautiful work of art. Add to that the very impressive permanent collection of artworks, special travelling exhibits, and breathtaking gardens, and you have a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Currently the travelling exhibit is "To Live Forever; Egyptian Treasures", from the Brooklyn Museum. It was amazing to actually stand and look at vessels, jewelry and other objects created thousands of years ago.

As a good museum goer, I did not take pictures inside the museum, but I put my little point and shoot camera to work when touring the grounds. Here are a few of those shots.

10K a Day - Week Ten!

Tooting my own horn.

I'm enjoying my walking challenge. It's almost the end of week 10, and I feel so much more energetic!

Whiskers Wednesday - Angel's Anticipation

A few weeks ago our handsome friend Brian and his beautiful sisters received a big brown box from the package human. Inside the box was a most pawsome cat tree. Even Sascha, who isn’t usually very adventurous played with it, and napped in the big roundy perch at the top of the tree. We were very happy and excited for them.
So a week after that, when the package human came to our house, imagine my excitement. A cat tree for me and Casper!! Yay! Casper said not to get too crazy because it might be something else. I thought-- he’s old, what does he know?
When Mom came home, she brought the big box in the house and then proceeded to take it into my bedroom...and then...she just left it sitting there! I couldn’t believe it. Can you believe it took her three weeks to open that box?!

Last Sunday she opened it. Finally! I couldn’t wait to climb that cat tree! She started taking stuff out of the box. Not only was it not a cat tree – IT WAS ANOTHER MONSTER VAC!!! What the Hello Kitty!?!

This monster vac isn’t as loud as the other one, but it spits out hot water and then sucks it back up. Gross! Now, why would anyone want such a screwy thing as that - especially when they could have a cat tree?

Now Mom, I know you must be feeling really bad about the trauma this has caused. But, you know -- you could make it up to us.
Cat Tree! Cat Tree! We want a Cat Tree!! Oh yeah, and don't forget the catio, too! I think that should do it.

Hardesty Library Revisit

A couple of you liked the stack of books in front of the library (from Friday's post). I can't believe I hadn't caught the other cool feature in the entry, so I went back yesterday and snapped a couple more pictures.

By the way, he's reading "Popular Science" and drinking a can of Coke.

Weekend Walking Trail Review - Jackson Park

Jackson Park is only a mile from my house and it's a nice place to walk, but when the sun is beating down, it doesn't supply much shade. So when it's a cloudy morning, like it was earlier today, I like to walk here.

The newer portion of the trail, at the back of the park, is not very scenic. Sometimes it's the details where you find beauty and sometimes you have to look at the big picture to find the best sights. Either way I can always find something interesting if I just remember to look.


The front part of the trail is where this park really shines.

I didn't see any snakes, but believe me I remembered to look for them. All in all a very nice place for a Sunday morning walk.