Unicorn?

Kitties!

The inmate have escaped from the asylum, and we have proof:

Does anyone care to speculate what the fur is going on here?

ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Leave us your theories in a comment...

Happy Monday!

XX  The Kats  XX

P-Daddy

Kitties!

Today for the Sunday Selfie Blog Hop we have a photo of this peculiar creature:

DADDY!

Who is all geared up and ready to ride...

Happy Sunday!

XX  The Lounge Cats  XX

Sponsored by The Cat on My Head

Manly Monday

Kitties!

Today we have video proof that our peeps have gone completely around the bend:

or click HERE

Mommy is traveling today (Monday/Tuesday) so we may be a bit sporadic posting--however--you can follow along with Mommy on Facebook!  (It's a Public Page; you don't have to join Facebook to view it.)

Happy Monday, and we'll be back shortly!

XX  The Katnip Lounge  XX

Sheebie Sees Some Sights

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here.

I was going through my phone photos and I picked out a few good* ones to show you.

This was taken along a part of the wash that is currently being revegetated.  I decided to ride the gravel road instead of the bike trail for a new perspective.  The pipes on the banks are for reclaimed water irrigation, and the foliage are all native plants.  You can see the dams in the background slowing the water down, allowing a series of ponds to form. The bird in the pond nearest me is a Great Blue Heron--I saw (I think) seven of them!  Imagine, waterbirds in the Mojave Desert--there is a truly diverse biome here in the Las Vegas valley.

(The building in the far background is Sam Boyd Stadium.)

Scott and I were out and about and he realized he had on two different shoes!

Stylin'.

See the bumps and scrapes on his shins?  He's as bad as a six-year-old.

A nest in a cholla cactus at work.  It didn't have any feathers or poop in it so it was likely just a practice nest.

This was taken in late July, during Monsoon season, again at work.  It was pouring in the Spring Mountains forty miles off and sunny in Henderson.  

I love the vistas out here.

Driving home the other afternoon I saw a lady out walking with her miniature pony!  Of course I pulled over to talk and get a couple pictures.  His name was Buddy, and he was the friendliest little soul--walked right up to the car window and peered in--he had to snuffle me, and nibble my fingers, too!  The crew had a field day sniffing the horse spit on my hands when I got home.  

There's more, but I'll save those for another day...The next couple of weeks for me are going to be exciting, yet strange, what with my schedule changing.  My intentions are to keep up a regular posting schedule--everything else is up for grabs, though!  No promises.  I can't wait to awaken naturally, without the effing alarm clock.  Two more days.  wheeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Happy Sunday--Have a Great Week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

*good, as in interesting, not visual masterpieces.

aaarrrrghhhhh!

Friends and Kitties!

A quickie...

Our router is acting squirrely--I'm gonna upload some phone photos from my last ride and call it a night!

::fingers crossed this works::

The low road or the high road?

I took the high road!

Looking South from the trail back towards the wash.

Further up--my neighborhood is in the upper right.

Happy Sunday!

XX  Sheebie  XX

What Sheebie Did on Her Summer Vacation

Friends and Kitties!

A verreh relaxed Sheebie here.

First off, if you ever have the opportunity to take an e-cation I highly recommend it!  I only looked at my phone for email and to skim blogs (gotta keep up wit alla youse) for about a half hour each day, and watched a bit of TV (Da Bears, Survivor, and Big Bang Theory).  The laptop stayed firmly shut.  I do admit to reading several books on my Kindle...but I read some bound books, too, so cut me some slack.  The majority of my electronic interaction was rousting the lazy slow twitch fibers in my muscles, to wit:

Yes indeedy, I'm back on my bike!  The knee feels great (except up really steep grades--nice excuse to walk and have a drink), and my left quads are at about 80% strength.  Descending stairs still is painful, but not physically difficult.  When I visited my folks (more on that later) Mom took me to two yoga classes which were fabulous, inspiring me to sign up through the City rec center for the next session starting in two weeks...during the MORNINGS!  Yep, you read that right, soonly I'm gonna be working afternoons--four days a week--WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!  OK, it won't start until the end of December, but still.  I'm pretending that the next few weeks are merely an unpleasant, if pesky, prelude to a new, grand world of Sleeping Until Eight O'Clock Every Morning.  My new hours'll be 13:00 - 23:00 on the days where my attendance is required at the totally raw deal money-for-labor-exchange work (F, Sa, Su & M).

Back to cycling, I have a personal question--what's the best way to prevent rash in *ahem* certain areas?  I find that after an hour a certain amount of chafing occurs betwixt my greater glutes!  Quite distracting...any solutions?  Also, do any of you use an app for tracking your workouts?  I'm using the free version of Runtastic's Road Bike and so far I like it, but I'm open to suggestions.

The folks' first Selfies!

So I had a great visit with my Mom, Dad, and Shadow.  I haven't shared this until now but my Dad's prostate cancer recurred last spring and it was an emotional roller coaster for a while.  However, it looks as if he's got it licked--again--one more scan on his lung and he's in the clear.  His urologist said he expects my Dad to die from being run over by a bus before he expires from cancer...which struck me as morbidly, yet hilariously, reassuring.  They are both in fine fettle, Miss Shadow keeps 'em on their toes, chasing her throughout the house.  Kitties, expect to hear from her this week!

The Despot

I don't think Dad noticed it--but I played the Dessert Game with him, and even allowed him to win once...Mom's apple pie was just too damn good to dawdle over.  I did some cooking for the P's while I was there, I made a dairy-less potato soup for lunch(es) and sauteed shrimp with baked kabota squash and a warm bacon, mushroom, & spinach salad for dinner.  Mom said it was weird, getting kicked out of her own kitchen.  Also, that I'm a "vigorous" cook.  She's so nice...what she meant was messy, although I do clean up after myself I have a tendency to fling peelings, etc everywhere while I cook.  In my defense, the Potato Paring Incident was a result of a faulty peeler, which was resolved during a shopping expedition.  (Always blame the tool, not the fool.)

We went out for a scrumptious lunch at a favorite restaurant:

I ate it ALL.

where I had a pork fritter with sauteed spinach and mushrooms that was so good that when I got home I recreated it for Scott and he loved it too.  Since I broke my knee I've been eating a little more meat and I have to admit I feel less tired.  We have settled into a nice compromise of  moderate flesh consumption; more as a flavoring and condiment than as a main for every meal.  Scott fantasizes about a big juicy steak but he knows if he got one, he'd eat a couple bites and be done...and tear into the salad instead!  Funny how one's taste can change.

Mom and Dad took me to see a performance at their local live theater, and it was so much fun--it was the kind of performance where the audience gets to cheer the hero and boo the villain, and I've been promised another play the next time I visit!  The troupe was superb, and the venue was great, too; small tables (with complimentary bowls of popcorn!!), great lines of vision, and waitstaff in costume in the theme of the play.  Even a piano player, who before the show played old standards for everybody to sing along with.

After six great days visiting I went home where, with the exception of riding and hiking, I was a complete and utter sloth for nine more days.  It was glorious!  This was the first time in twelve years that I've taken two consecutive weeks off work, and it was the Cat's Pajamas.  I'll be doing it again next year, that's for sure.  The Horde spent many happy hours with me, happily buzzing away on my lap while I read (and napped) on the Catio--the weather was perfect and I think some days I only went inside to get a fresh cuppa coffee.  Rupert in particular has become a complete Lap Fungus, dribbling copiously and clawtooing my hide every time I sat on the sofa; in fact I'm typing around him right now.

So naturally, I'm bursting with cat stories to tell...the Heinous Flypaper Assault springs to mind, but that's for another day...

It's nice to go away, but it's nice to be "home", too.  I missed y'all.

Happy Monday, and have a Happy Week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Sunday with Sheebie!

Friends and Kitties!

It's been quiet yet busy around here, and due to a) a lack of any cohesive story line, b) snappy segues, and c) laziness, I'm gonna post a list.

1.  I started yoga classes to help stretch out my back and I think it's helping.  The class is very low key, all adults, and lots of fun.  What's nice is we all get a printed sheet (homework!) of what to practice during the week which helps jog my memory--I find it hard to remember poses when I'm busy clearing my mind.

d.  I did two nice bike rides last week.  I had a wee tad of trouble on one hill but pulling over and puking took care of it.  Next time I'll gear down sooner and chug less water all at once!  Spring has sprung here in Las Vegas with highs in the 80's and lows in the upper 50's at night.  It's just glorious outdoors, except for my allergies.  I'm allergic to pine and olive tree pollen and they're blooming like gangbusters right now.  Thank goodness all I get are itchy red eyes and not the sneezy chesty type reaction; a few eye drops and I'm good to go.

Z.  Both my immediate supervisor and manager got promotions, so I'll be getting a new boss.  I have a couple of candidates in mind and have been prodding encouraging them to apply.  I qualify for the job, and I'd be good at it except for the fact that I'm so non-politically correct that I'd be down in Human Resources within the first 25 minutes of acceptance.  I have a hard time with stupidity and there's a couple of dead weights around here that--well--let's just say I've volunteered to dispose of the bodies.  

There's one individual in particular I'd be more than happy to work for so I wish them the best of luck.

7.  Our tomato plants have blossoms!  Scott put in several varieties of cherry tomatoes for us to try this year.  It gets too hot too soon to do the big ones, they split.  He has to spray some sort of magical sexy blossom elixir on the flowers in order for them to bear fruit as there aren't any natural tomato plant pollinators out this early.  There are plenty of bees but apparently tomato blossoms are stinky and they don't like 'em; instead they're all in the arborvitae partying drinking the sap off the stems.

@.  The kale is doing well, too.  As is the catnip!

14.  Sparkle's Human and Quill's Mom came over for an afternoon last weekend, and we had a wonderful confab together, talking cat-talk and a thousand other subjects.  The Horde (sans Scouty and CC) was very gracious and welcoming, with Tarty Salem whaling about for a good hour on the dining room table much to everybody's enjoyment.  Especially hers--what a ham.  

A large ham.

5.  The Park Across the Street is coming along nicely.  Joining the Horned Toads is a new giant animal (shrouded by a tarp, dammit) which is some sort of lizard, the bocce ball court is about done, and the curb for the horse corral was poured last week.  Nothing that photos would do justice to, but the whole complex is really starting to take shape.

q.  I've been making bread at home in my new Kitchen Aid Mixer, and I swear I'll never buy bread again.  Home-baked is just so freakin' good!  I bake on Wednesdays and Scott and I have bread-n-butter, fruit, and cheese for dinner.  Delicious.  I've used my mixer for several batches of quick breads and to shred cabbage for cole slaw and smush up apples for applesauce and boy was that ever easy--I have decent knife skillz but nothing near as fast as those slicer blades.

elebenty.  Scott has a new hobby, he's taken up tie dying and so far his shirts are Far Out, Man!  As soon as he gets confident enough to make shirts to order he will be setting up a store, he enjoys it that much.  I think it's great--he is so creative with color.  It just goes to show that being red-green color blind doesn't prevent you from using the full palette.  I often wonder just how he visually perceives things.  Photos of his work to come...

So, that about wraps it up...have you done anything new and interesting lately?

Tell me in the comments!

Happy Sunday and Have a FUN Week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Ride Along with Sheebie

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here.

The weather has been sort of crappy and cold (30's--brrrrr!) the past two weeks so I've been unable to get out for any bike rides.  What really bothers me is my hands get so dang cold!  I need to research some warm gloves to wear, the rest of my body heats up just fine once I get going.  In the meantime I've been walking like a madwoman to try and keep my endurance up, and riding the trainer bike we have in the garage so my butt doesn't get sore.  It's just not the same, though.

*sigh*

However, I do have some shots from a ride in mid-February to share with you!

I'm on the trail head facing East, the new park and my house are behind me.

Pay no attention to that stupid sign!  We're headed down the pavement to the upper right-hand side of the photo--the trail goes due South under the highway...

...through this tunnel!

Another sign to ignore

On the other side the tunnel splits off East towards Lake Mead National Park, (about 3 miles) or West, towards town.  I went West, and rode down to the Wal-Mart and back.  It's a ten mile round trip and after getting over the initial hill is flat all the way.

The initial hill is a doozy, though!

Segments of the trail are concrete and here's why:

More signage!

And they aren't kidding--there still are segments of tarmac washed out from the torrential rains we had last fall, waiting to be replaced with concrete!  It's a good thing I have knobby tires cos I have to do a little "four-wheeling" (so to speak) occasionally.  

It's supposed to be in the 70's this week and I'm planning a long (for me) ride on my weekend; Scott is going to drop me off about 10 miles into the Nat'l Park and I'll ride home from there.  He's getting his bum knee scoped (hopefully) soon and will be able to start biking seriously again, too.  Which will be so much fun--we love to get out and explore.  And of course there will be pictures!

Happy Sunday, and have an Invigorating Week!

XX  Sheebie  XX

The Monday Sheebie met Murphy...

Friends and Kitties!

Sheebie here, and I'm finally ready to talk about the horrible day I had at work last Monday.

Generally, my work day is quiet and routine; I'm basically there to monitor an automated system, and react to any unusual situations.  For a water treatment plant operator, a boring day is good one, but then there are the non-typical days...like Monday...when I had to shut the plant down.  On purpose.  

The treatment plant out at Lake Mead is over forty years old, and periodically it needs repairs that can only be accomplished without water in it, and I was the poor sod who had the shift doing the shut down, where I encountered Murphy, many many many times.

First, as soon as the last raw water pump went off the entire computer system crashed, due to a bug in the calculations that the scurvy knaves in I.T. were aware of and failed to pass along.  Myself and the maintenance crew ran around like crazy people getting everything shut down locally, instead of from the control room.  I.T. got us up and running in a few minutes, but it was butt-puckering until they did.  Fortunately where I work it's copacetic to offer feedback... 

This is filter #9.  You can see there's a piece missing--this is one of the repairs that was scheduled.

This was not.

Filter #17 was the second thing that went wrong, and the genesis of the rest of the entire crappy day, because we weren't able to isolate the leak effectively and ended up draining things that needed to stay filled and filling things that should've stayed empty.  There was a whole host of other things that went wrong as well; the day was ten hours of unrelenting awfulness.  Everything was under control by the time I left--Murphy had evidently left the building--but I don't think I've had such a stressful day in a long time.

So it was wonderful to have 60-degree windless weather on Tuesday and get out for a nice long bike ride!  I took a few photos of the trail; I did eight miles and I can tell I'm getting into shape because the hills are getting a lot easier. 

This is halfway down the mountain-ette, facing West.

And from the same spot looking East and down the rest of the hill, going towards the Park.  The elevation change from top to bottom is over 400 feet so it's a sizable hill; a blast to coast down and a bear to pump back up!  I only had to stop and rest twice this time, there's a couple of really steep sections towards the top that are killer to get over.  Soon...

This is one of the brand new sections of trail just past our house; since there weren't any lines painted I rode all over the road in a fit of rebelliousness.

Nothing like beautiful blue sky to erase all my cares!

Which will be returning--guess who gets to restart the plant this coming Monday?

*sigh*

Happy Sunday--Have a Better Week than Me!

XX  Sheebie  XX

Sunday with Sheebie

Friends and Kitties!

Technology is a wonderful thing.  Take windbreakers for example--when I was a kid the classic windbreaker jacket was a nylon shell with a thin fabric flocked liner, and it totally Did Not live up to the moniker; I think the wind considered these types of jackets a mere annoyance in it's mission to transform a small child walking home from school into a kidsicle.  Nowadays, it's a whole different story.  I recently purchased a new windbreaker that scoffs at anything below a gale.  This thing is phenomenal--I'm pretty sure it's made from magical fairy dust polymer. I got a Pearl Izumi Barrier Convertible Jacket.  The sleeves zip off so it's a  vest, too.  The fabric is incredibly lightweight, and warm.  Worth every penny, and I'm a cheapskate.

Fun on Wheels

Scott pimped my ride for me!

I never knew such a wondrous fabric existed, in fact, in the past couple of weeks I've had a crash course in all sorts of performance related fabrics due to the fact that I need to look stylish riding my new bike.  Oh, and I'd like to stay warm, too.  It gets cold here--really--this morning it was in the low 40's and there was lots of snow on the mountains.  (Where it belongs.)  The aforementioned wind can be sharp because of how it funnels through the valley and 20+ mph gusts are common, summer and winter.

I usually detest shopping for clothes but eBay and Amazon really came through for me this time.  Since my everyday clothes roster is all black and gray I decided to go for some wild bright shirts (so the emergency helicopter can spot me where I've wiped out, LOL) and my Windbreaker of Wonder (WoW) is a bright screaming yellow.  So, when I go out riding at this time of the year I am thusly attired: carbon-fiber helmet, liner cap with shade brim, gel gloves, ergonomic and gender appropriate chamois-padded shorts, windproof knickers (with articulated knees!), compression bra, jersey, shoes (thanks Mom and Dad!), and the WoW.  I'm comfortable, exercising, and trendy!  Life is good.  

So last Tuesday I took my new jacket for a spin on my longest ride to date, I rode about 50 minutes with a couple of breaks for water and scenery, and I'm here to tell you, the right equipment really made the ride enjoyable, even though there were a couple spots where I was convinced that death was imminent whilst pedaling uphill.  Not one molecule of wind assailed my hide until I got warm, unzipped, and invited the air in.   It was fabulous.  We had a front roll through Thursday with a record 0.77 inches of rain and much cooler temperatures, so my next ride will be interesting to see how warm I stay wearing my present kit.  The paving dudes have been working all week on the bike trail connectors that go by our house, and I'm dying to get out and explore.  I'm writing this on Saturday afternoon and if the the sun is still shining when I get home I'm gonna gear up and go do some science.

*Later*

The results are in; the WoW performed fantastically in colder weather!   I was so comfortable I ended up going a lot farther than I intended.  Scott took a couple of extremely flattering husbandly photos of me in full regalia.

Front

Side

And off I go!

Happy Sunday, and have a great week!

XX  Sheebie  XX