Sammy Cat 1997-2011

Well sad news from my world.. My little kitty cat, Sammy, Passed away last night. Sammy came into my life as a little Kitten 14 years ago. I was putting up Christmas lights the first year I lived in this house and he just appeared meowing. I thought he belonged to my next door neighbor, so I fed him and waited for the neighbor to come home. The neighbor said it wasn't his cat, but he thought he belonged to his neighbors who moved. Poor little kitten- abandoned by his family. (Some folks should never be allowed to have pets) Anyway, Sammy decided to live at my home. With my other cat Tuffy and me. Always a source of laughter, Sammy would eat cheese and tomato sauce like no ones business. And take on Tuffy the Huge in play fights. Tuffy outweighed Sammy 2-1 so it was great amusement to watch the petite feline, with speed and agility, fight with poor old Tuffy. Sammy got along great with dogs too.And dogs seemed to like him. Even Romeo wouldn't leave him as he left this world. So Rest In Peace Baby Kitty. Say hi to old Tuffy when you see him. Thanks for being my kitty over the years.

Stay-Cation

Having a mini stay-cation for the next few days. Romeo and I went to the WestCrest Dog park in Seattle, and just puttered around the garden(s)

Having a drink with the guys at the Canine Cantina at Westcrest Dog Park
zuchinni in blossom
WINDOW BOX KITTY- Sammy Kat approves of the window box
Garlic- or why my house smells like Luigi's Pizzeria! This was part of my garlic harvest!
My tomatoes happy in their Self watering planters
Tomatoes in my Community garden plot
My DIY topsy turvey planters

One Small Change- Kitty Litter refuse

Another friendlier option for a waste problem

Well time for another small change! This time is more a way I do something which I hate- cleaning Sammy's litter box. The garbage pick up want's me to bag the kitty litter which is messy and a pain. But while I was cleaning up yard waste it came to me... why not use a yard waste bag? They stand up, and hold up long enough to get Sammy's spent pine pellets into the bag. Then I simply fold over the top and discard. Everyone is happy... the garbage man doesn't get bombarded with used litter and poop, I get an easy way to rid myself of said litter, and Sammy gets a clean comode. No plastic bag.

Sammy and Romeo Stars of the Interwebs

Sammy Cat and Romeo Dawg have their own pages on Catser and Dogster! Check them out!

#1 dog site for dogs & bipeds!

#1 cat site for cats & bipeds!

My Name is Earl...

Earl Grey that is! When I got home last night there was a big package from UPS on the stoop. Fan mail from some flounder? Early Birthday present? Nope it was the Russian tea plants I ordered a month or so ago from Raintree Nursery. Camellia Sinensis which is where tea comes from. Younger leaves make green and white tea, mature leaves the Black tea. There are instructions! So get out of bed-Romeo and Sammy we got plantin' to do!

two lazy 'Mules sharing a saccharin moment

So out we went into the east 40 feet, and planted what I hope is my caffeine fix in the future! I planted them in the old corn plot, where I also will plant some chamomile plants. Romeo helped!

What was that?- Squirrel!!!

While we planted, Sammy guarded the laundry basket, with "Puss in Boots" eyes.

Saving money on cat litter

Not my cat, I respect Sammy's privacy

Well I am cheap. I was reading a while back on cat litter. My kitty, eco terrorist that he is, has decided he likes feline pine kitty litter. That's okay by me, but that stuff is expensive. I was reading on a blog, I believe "fake plastic fish", on one of her cat litter posts, some of her readers use Pellet stove pellets. They look the same as Feline Pine, act the same, both turn to sawdust when pee'd on. So I price a 40 pound sack- $5.49 at the Grocery store, same price as a 10 pound bag of Feline Pine roughly $1.40 for the same amount. So I thought "Why not- if Sammy Cat likes it then I am money ahead". I bought the pellets. I changed his litter tonight. And he is using it. Yea Sammy! He knows there is tuna or better yet Sardines in his future for saving me money.

Rooting a tomato

On of my hanging tomatoes had and accident at the victory garden. I brought it home and stucv it in a mason jar of water. I got some nice root growth there!

I will probably replant it, although I don't know if I will replant it upside down or not. While I was working with the tomato look who I caught doing something naughty:

A Perfect Day

A perfect day by Lou Reed, sung by Various Artis-
One of my fave songs- I couldn't decide which version I like best-
it was a tie between this one and duran duran
I spent a perfect day. With my dog. This morning we went to a carshow, Had a burrito, looked at the cars. Then this evening,we went to the Grandview Off Leash Dog park. Even though it is claimed as a park by SeaTac and Burien, it is not the closest or the best. The best off leash park in this area is Marymoor, which is in Redmond, and where as a taxpayer who helped build it, I get the honor of paying a dollar to park every time I use the park
I could have gone to Westcrest off-leash park, which is the closest , just over the city line in Seattle, But I never had been to Grandview, and since My city helped build it, thought I should. Grandview has some of the best views of Mt. Rainier. And it has nice fountains with a fountain down low for pups. The sunshine made a nice day to play with Romeo. When we got home we had MacDonalds for dinner Even Romeo amd Sammy the Cat had MacDonalds- sammy loves french fries with catsup!Then we proceeded to do some yard work, Sammy got out and proceeded to go under the house (I have a crawl space that needs a new door- after threatening sammy with certain death if he made me crawl under the house, I gave up and walked away- and out he came!) Now I am sitting here looking at a worn out dog and a worn out kitty sleeping on my bed.I think I will join them!

My animals walk all over me

My dog and cat both walk all over me! Spoiled they are. I had to repair two window screens so Sammy cat could lay with the windows open- not like he can't already but these are his favorate places to lay out. It was lucky my grandma showed me how to fix screens when I was a young boy- what a savings over buying replacement screens. Very easy- just buy some screening, some "splinting" and a splinting tool- "Splinting" is the rubber cord that holds the screen into the frame. Relativy cheap- you may be able to re-use the old splinting

As for Romeo, he has a strange addiction to frosty paws- he loves em. Luckily Raise a green dog blog has a recipe for homeade frosty paws. Just some yogurt, some blue berries, a banana and peanut butter is all it takes to whip up a dog's favorite treat.

Coffee- just not for breakfast anymore

I was perusing the Internet and saw an article in Natural Home Magazine for creative ways of getting rid of your coffee grounds- did you know that you could use them to scrub dirty dishes?The coarse texture of coffee grounds is perfect for scrubbing difficult-to-clean dishes. Pack the grounds into a square sized cloth, gather the cloth’s ends and secure with a rubber band. There are many suggestions in the article that I never heard of- Like using diluted coffee grounds as a flea rinse- "Romeo, Sammy meet Juan Valdez" they should like that! Of course the article mentions the old obvious uses for used grounds- compost, pest deterrent. But I found it interesting for some of the uses they recommend. Good article. I may have to check out the magazine.

Anyone out there have any other uses for coffee grounds? How about home remedies?

Azalea trees and Bean Sprout waste- Weekly Challenge update

This is what I got in leiu of flowers for Valentine's Day a beautiful azalea tree from Martin. He said "I got it for you 'cause your always plantin' stuff." Luvs it.

Sharon's Independence Days Challenge-Week 34
Plant Something: Started more sprouts- some Mung bean, some broccoli sprouts and a salad mixture: Fenugreek, Lentil, Kamut and Adzuki Bean
Harvest Something: Lentil sprouts, some radish sprouts
Preserve something:
Store something: Vacuum Sealed Some rice into Mason Jars
Manage Reserves: Started building my potato condo ala’ shiba-guyz
Cook Something New: Crab stuffed Avacadoes; A Crab Melt Sandwich- have made a ton of Tuna Melts in my life but never a crab melt
Prep Something: Cleared out a space in the kitchen for sprouting
Reduce Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repair: See below in Crunchy’s Food Waste Challenge; Repaired the side yard gates to keep Romeo in; Made a junk art table for outside- use a plant stand found at the thrift store and the Glass from the turn table in the old microwave
Learn a New Skill: Nothing really
Work on Community Food Security: Shared this week in my blog how to make starter jars for sprouting, discovered new source for sprout seeds and materials in my neighborhood!

MELINDA'S BUY SUSTAINABLY CHALLENGE: Found the Grainery had supplies for my sprouting- no more mail order for sprouting supplies! Made a glass topped table out of a used 15" plant stand and the microwave turntable I saved from the old microwave when I bought a new microwave

Sammy inspecting the new table

Crunchy’s Freeze Yer Balls off Challenge: Still at 55/65 here.

Crunchy’s Food Waste Challenge:
Sunday- No Food waste Monday- No Food Waste
Tuesday- No Food Waste
Wednesday- A handful of un-popped popcorn, Used the last of the Crab Salad I made on Monday in a “Crab Melt Sandwich” for supper
Thursday- No food waste
Friday- No food waste
Saturday- Well this week shot to hell- found out that bean sprouts don’t keep. A whole jar of lentil sprouts went bad- but I was able to compost the jar of lentil sprouts- or rather put them in the composter

Total Food Waste- 6.5 oz

May I introduce ROMEO

Here is the dog formerley known as Romi. I renamed him Romeo. Just so I could see the looks on my neighbors faces when I am outside yelling " Romeo, Romeo where for art thou Romeo?"
It takes so little to amuse me.
He is a bundle of energy, not unlike the Jack Russell two houses down. He met Topaz the labrador. All is fine there. She didn't get all crochety about him being around. Sammy the cat is another story. He looked at me when I brought Romi home and the expression on his face was "What the hell is THAT???" Now Romeo is sleeping on his spot on my bed. That will go over big!
We have already had our first go out to Petsmart and a little later we will walk around the neighborhood. It is good to have a dog again!