My kitties

Tina, this is for you! Below are my two 'new' kitty's enjoying their new home...I think?

This is Pasha...formally known as Desire, Desi or Miss Kitty...finally settled on a name for her. She is a Seal-point Himalayan according to the shelter's docs but I don't think she's a himy. Maybe a Bermese or other Siamese-colored breed. She is a big, hefty cat. She's really put on the weight since I got her...it may be diet time. Shes a beauty though!



This is Smokey, aka Smoke, Mokie, or Squeeker. He's a Blue-point Himalayan so the shelter docs claim. He is a tiny-boned, delicate cat but quite the hunter...and quick! He loves to play, is shy about being petted but loves to be brushed. He too has put on the weight. They were both underweight when I got them but I took care of that!

Mokie sleeping in my sewing room next to me (while I'm on the computer...did I say sewing room?)



Well I'm off to go play in the garden...summer flowers are starting to bloom, day lilies and agapanthas, geraniums, et al. I leave you with last night's sunset...

I hate spiders!

I like to think of myself as a tough old broad...respectful of rattlesnakes, lizards and frogs but when this HUGE and I mean HUGE black widow spider pops out of nowhere in the dark garage dangling too close to my hand I squeel like a little girl! Ewww! Instant goose bumps. Yes, it's now part of my garage wall...and I'm back inside the house...shutter...

It was too near my longarm too! Now I'm going to have to quilt with one eye open above and below the table! I'm going to try to quilt this weekend since I have 4 days off! I have Gloria's quilt top to quilt, the one we worked on when she visited a couple months ago.

On Saturday, my b-day, I'm taking an art class with Lisa Bebi. She does some amazingly fun stuff and I can't wait! Not sure what I'm going to do, maybe a leaf or one of the kittys. After that is a shrimp BBQ at Mom and Dads.

I bought a new(er) car!

Well I traded in my poor tired 1998 Toyota with 206K miles for a 2001 Honda Odyssey with only 91K miles. It was a good price and even comes with a nav unit, electronic sliding side doors, a back seat that folds into the floor, and lots of other goodies. It's gold with a cream interior so the dust won't show as bad.
 ;-) So far it drives like a new car, has lots of power. It's only getting 19.5-19.8 MPG but then I do drive that nasty hill daily. I like it. It's a relief. My poor Toyota was ready to go tires up!

Here it is! His name is Hal...as in 2001 "Space" Odyssey...

Owls and Iris

Well look who's peeking out of my owl box! It's momma owl. I saw her moving around in the box last Friday and snapped a couple pictures. This one was the best!

Last night at dusk I was out watching the box. I saw the male owl swoop down the hill and make a kill. A minute or so later I hear him coming straight at me from behind the owl box carrying the rodent in his beak. As he approached the box, he swooped up, wings fully extended, extended his claws and grabbed onto the entrance, stepping inside. A minute later he exploded out of the box to hunt again. Momma owl was in the box chirping away when he left. I believe she is nesting! Hope to see owlettes in a couple weeks to a month.

My Anna Apple has set apples! This is the largest. The rest resemble the next picture...just starting to swell.

My iris have been blooming for the past month, mostly the solid deep purple, lavenders and whites. This weekend this bi-color and the pink bloomed. So pretty!

And then there's this red iris...

and a red violet

This deep purple is from my grandmother's ranch up north. They have been growing there for as Long as I can remember. I believe it is a historical iris named Amas.

And of course, last night's sunset...



Brown out!

Well I never expected the electricty to go out for no reason last night! It happened around 9:30; the TV popped and went off, the ceiling fan lights dimmed to a ghostly yellow and the refer alarm went off. Wow where did that come from? Good thing I have a land-line phone so I called SDGE to report it. I was #9. They sent a couple crews out as it was a 'catastrophic failure', sounds omnious doesn't it? With an hour or more estimated repair time I went to bed with a flashlight and read for a while. Lights came back around midnight or 1am.

What was even more omnious was the morning sky. Got up around 7am and the sky looked like what I call 'earthquake weather'. The sky was an errie yellow glow. But the good thing is, there was a morning rainbow.

Linguica

Last Friday I made a batch of linguica stuffing that needed to marinate for 48 hours before stuffing in hog casings. Well today is the day I stuffed the hog casings. This is my first attempt at making sausage and it was messy but fun! I have a long way to go to get the links similar in size but that will come with practice. Next up for these links is the smoker. I have a built in smoker in my BBQ. I've soaked some hickory chips and am headed to the smoker to try it for the first time! Lots of firsts this weekend!

The first casing which made the links in the picture below was made using the larger of the two stuffers. I thought it was too big so the next casing I used the smaller stuffer.

The last 3 links used the smaller stuffer. It's a better size for linguica.



So now they are off to the smoker. I have no idea how long to smoke as the directions didn't say. I'll go at least 2 hrs if not 4. I'll search the net to see if I can find a generic sausage smoking time.

Fun!

edit: Here's the final smoked linguica:

It looks good, like linguica is supposed to look. The flavor was quite different than I'm used to tasting though. A bit over spiced (too many spices). I'll definately try another recipe next time. Mom is trying to remenber how Grandma made hers using sour oranges (Seville). This recipe called for sherry. Others call for red wine. Now why didn't I make that one??? ;-)

Happy April Fools!

Well today marks the one year anniversary of the purchase my home, 1 year down, 29 to go. So how do I celebrate? I'm out pulling weeds and prettying up my front hillside. I'm out spraying round up on the weeds down the hill in the back. I'm fumigating the ground squirrel tunnels as well as the gophers near my Paradiso fig tree. In other words, being a home owner. ;-) It got a bit HOT outside so I came in for a break. I'll go back out to get more done later this afternoon.

The perennials I put in a few months ago are growing well. The only setback are the daylilies. How was I supposed to know rabbits love them? Oh well. I need to get more agapanthas to take their place.

A few of the hundreds of iris I planted are throwing blooms. Can't wait for them to bloom! Most are from a garden club sale I went to last year. There were 3 flats of iris, one of white iris, one of purple, and one unknown. I bought all three. Had to be over 100 rhizomes. My sister gave me all of her iris, most of which are from Grandma's ranch. These are old world, unhybridized iris and highly sought after. Grandma's irises are the ones starting to bloom now.

My Anna apple is in bloom! This is a excellent sweet apple and I can't wait for my first bite. I was surprised to see how many blooms were on the tree. I didn't even know it had bloomed until I went out to weed.

My lemon has 20-30 small fruit set but something is eating the leaves, the orange too. I think it's snails but haven't caught the rascal yet.

The stargazer lily bulbs I planted are poking up thru the soil and the Society Garlic is blooming. The Panache fig has put on a good couple inches of growth. Love this fig! Excellent, excellent taste but needs a hot summer to ripen fruit well. My Pride of Madeira that I started from a cutting last year has doubled in size. It's a beautiful brilliant blue, stunning. I doubt it will bloom this year but next year for sure. I want to get a dark purple and a red-violet plant too.

One of my 3 lilacs had a tiny bloom but it was nice to see what the color was. It’s a pretty dark lavender color. Next year they should be beautiful.

I met my soon-to-be new neighbors today. As I was weeding they were driving by, stopped to say hello. They are building a weekend Tuscan retreat 2 properties over...they are from La Jolla. They have already put up an owl box, people after my own heart. They even have a mating pair nesting. I think I do too but it's hard to tell as there is no light on the box as I don't want to frighten them off. I do hear the male out there nightly on the box. I hear him all hours of the morning before daybreak too so I think I do have something going on. ;-)

The neighborhood is going to do a pig roast when their home is finished to celebrate. That should be good! A neighborhood Luau! I have great neighbors! I'm so lucky to be here.

Here is last night’s sunset. A bit of clouds in the sky always makes a special show.