Double decker cats

Experiencing Teranga

I hope you are following our friend Toujourdan's visit to Africa. If you aren't, by all means check out his daily blog Experiencing turanga and look at his excellent photos at Flickr. Dan is very bold to go alone into hostile territory! By the way, Dan is just as nice as he is handsome. And he's available, guys.

Why I didn't want to drive last night and don't plan to today

We've been plowed but the road is very slippery. The photo doesn't really show it but there must be terrible snow ahead as the sky was quite black. That will go north of us. It is snowing large flakes here but the sky is light.

Hot? tub

My neighbors' hot tub isn't very hot today. Um. This is NW PA, not Vermont.

Boots and Tim

This is Tim's "canyon". She's on top of the foam now but she snuggles down in the fold behind her when she is cold. It is all in my canoe.
This is me in the snow. It isn't easy to take photos of one's boots. The boots are Muck Boots - similar to these - and are 14+ inches tall, in case you are curious. I took this in the back yard. The snow out front is a little deeper and comes in over the tops. The boots have elastic around the top which helps. It warmed up a bit yesterday so the snow settled a little. If it hadn't, it would be above my knees today.

Still home - but plowed

I should be well on my way to Pittsburgh for the final showing of The Passion of Joan of Arc. But here I sit with the car trapped in the barn by now more than 16 inches of snow and more falling. Someone plowed the straight driveway during the night but I can't get to it without shoveling a 100 foot path. Not possible. It must have been Tom's son because Tom knows where my car is and wouldn't have done that.

Update: Got plowed around 5:30. Had to shovel the front of the garage where the plow didn't go. Also had to shovel two escape routes for the cats. The cat flaps seem to be frozen so I had two paranoid girls for awhile. They don't know me in the garage/barn for some reason. Tim will talk to me but not let me see her once she leaves her foam canyon.

Friday shuffle

1. Love Letters - Ketty Lester
2. Ad completorium: Benedictio - Cistercian Monks
3. Simon Says - 1919 Fruitgum Co.
4. Turn, turn, turn - Judy Collins
5. Molina: The Butterfly - Bach Choir of Pittsburgh
6. Romero/Torroba: Concerto de Málaga - Pepe Romero
7. A Salty Dog - Procol Harum
8. Schubert: Mass in G, Gloria - Shaw/Atlanta
9. Lover-o-Lover Polka
10. Chesky: The Agnostic, Sam
11. Canadian Sunset - Winterhalter
Bach Choir of Pittsburgh will sing Chesky's The Agnostic at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh at 8 pm on 1 April 2009 and at Shadyside Academy on 4 April.

Friday bird blogging

Woke up to about 14 inches of snow. And it is still snowing. Hard at the moment. Heavy wet snow. Now deeper than my knee high muck boots. I really needed to shovel out the feeders and a path to the barn. Did minimal clearing under the feeders and will have to do it again often today. The birds are happier. The pine siskins sat on the clothesline while I shoveled then filled the feeders. Looks like I will get plenty of exercise today without going to Curves. And the Saint Joan film/concert tonight is probably not going to include me. My neighbor may or may not get me plowed out in time. I have water, clean underwear and a sleeping bag in the car just in case I can get out and try to get there. How wonderful it is to have the barn for the car and the cats!

I can barely see the pole now. Yikes.

And then it clears up - temporarily...

Friday cat blogging on Friday

Tom and PuddyTat aren't sure they really need to eat. Yes, that is snow.

They'd rather cuddle. Tom is using PT for a pillow.

Friday cat blogging early

Since PuddyTat has insisted in spending nights on the towels outside the kitchen window, I finally put a heating pad under the towels. I'll put a cardboard box over the towels tomorrow to provide a little more shelter as the temp will be even colder.

Radical hospitality

There have been rallies and protests following the California voters' willingness to deprive other citizens of rights they themselves enjoy. The anger of LGBTs is understandable. LGBTs who claim to be Christians are astounded by other "Christians" who seem to consider part of God's creation unworthy of God's love based on a faulty understanding of several passages in the Bible they worship.

Rather than try to outmarch, outyell and outsign the people who obey their religious institutions in a less than intelligent fashion, perhaps it is time to outlove them? The next time a protest against marriage for everyone is planned, local LGBTs might welcome the unloving by inviting them into a local restaurant or giving them a bottle of water or coffee and cookies? It's pretty hard to yell when your mouth is full of acceptable goodies...

Most people who display bigotry against LGBTs claim they don't know any. Perhaps their introduction needs to be memorable? In a pleasant way.

Thank you, Regena

Looks like winter

Don't know why these two photos are so different colorwise. Just moved the camera a bit. Morning colors are weird anyhow. And as I'm sure you've seen before, the colors my little Sony produces are often very strange. Anyhow it is cold and snowy today. And beautiful. I need to get out and shovel under the feeders.

Spring is sprung.

Fall is fell.
Winter's here
And it's colder than usual.

By the way, welcome Sharecropper to our world!