Smell like a Goat....

I have entered the room and like little birds the mouths open and the chirping begins. Mee!! Mee! Feed Me! Grabbing up a squirming hairball I attempt with one hand to hold it still and with the other to wedge the nipple against the roof of the tiny mouth which is snapping in eagerness. Small claws have dug into my index finger and I've missed the mark. Let the Chewing Begin!! Never mind the nipple its gone right for the cap on the bottle and I must now extract the entire nipple & ring from somewhere in the region of its tonsils and start again, but I've lost my grip on its body so now its got claws sunk in my wrists, another set waving frantically, a death grip on the nipple with the little daggers in its mouth, its growling, and the bottle has a vacuum lock.

It weighs….13 ounces ….and its winning.

At some point in the ensuing battle after I’ve poked it in the eye with the bottle and been bitten a time or two the vacuum breaks the kitten drinks, milk dribbling out and for a few seconds all is right with the world. Ahhh…Food Glorious Food!!....

There is the ‘smart one’ that latches on with ferocity and sucks madly. The bottle drains, the tummy fills, there is ‘the Chomper’ snapping at everything fingers included, the clueless – ‘Arrgh! Get away, what is it? Oh gimmi!!’, each personality different in its approach to being fed. Finally… 20 minutes later....

The little tummy is round. The furred Pear burps, purrs and is laid softly amongst its siblings to nap. I, battle weary, covered with ‘paper cuts’ from toes to ankles (from the little claws eager for their turn), a bitten finger or two and smelling like a goat check the clock…and in 4 hours we get to do it again!!

Wind from the sea..

Thursday Sept 3rd



At long last, for at least a little while, the weather has changed. A fresh breeze sweeps in the open windows, stirs the curtains, caresses the skin and flows westward through the house. Months of air conditioning hum forgotten in the soft rustle of the palms off the porch. This is the season … I love Florida. Spring and Fall – which up here lasts most of the winter. It’s getting late, Johns away tonight, the Denizens of Bounding Maines are quiet throughout the house.

In the living room kittens snooze on chairs. Contemplating the night a host of adults nose the wind, long hair ruffling as they sit on the window sills. Scattered on the floor a few Jingle balls, catnip flat rats-well chewed, a mangled straw or two. The tide must be in, the ocean is loud in the night. I made a sandwich for dinner - Ham, Avocado, Cream Cheese, Tomato and Sprouts grilled on a nice seedy brown bread. Yummy, always one of my favorites. And watched a cute comedy called Bottle Shock about the Napa Wineries in the early years. It’s a quiet peaceful night. How RARE!!

Memories of Rays baby blue Z3M Convertible … those million mornings I cruized peacefully up through the wine country to the Napa office- you know he spent a fortune on those beemers and didn’t even have a drivers license- but I always had great cars to drive. The incredible green of new vines in spring, the Bodegas on the hills and fields surrounded by the summer roses they plant to keep the bugs away, the autumn fogs drifting through the bare vines. We were so poor in those years!! But they were good ones none the less. Then we were funded for that 64 Million and all our lives changed. Ray was a dear friend and we’ve kept in touch these last 15 years. I don’t think I told anyone but the old staff from Virtual Publisher..but Ray died of a massive heart attack on July 23. I spoke with him the day before, we were going to do another start up company together – one more time – just for fun. He was happy, dating an old flame and having a ball. Don’t you know it, somewhere, hes making God laugh.



Ahhh… Burning Man! (God laughing here too or shaking his head?) I remember the wooden sculptures that used to line the bay front in Oakland. Snoopy on his doghouse, Don Quixote, the biplane, all creatively made from flotsam and jetsam. I remember when they built the first ‘man’ on the Other side of the bay and it made the San Francisco news - 20 odd years ago. Who knew then what an Event it would become!! Yes Tis the Season!! Sorry I missed the wheeled caravelles to Black Rock. All Hail the Burners!!

A day in the life...

August 31, 2009

Well I’m just back from and early morning vet trip with Swifty, who’d been sold a few weeks back, little Mariah and Emma. All’s well, just a cold an allergy and a case of Acne, so home I came to do the morning chores left undone by my early departure. Walking into the kitchen I note that Piper, our Usual Suspect, has played in the water bowl again and the kitchen is awash. Drop a dishtowel on that accident waiting to happen. I pop a can of Friskies and the still damp floor behind me becomes crowded. All of them vocally admonishing me for being LATE!! with their breakfast. A large plate for the kittens in hand I head for the den. ‘Come on little honeys…’ has long given way to ‘ I can fall faster than you can run! You know where I’m going!! Go there!!’

Having fed the Tribe I trekked to the bathroom to do the 2 litter boxes in there. This should not be a difficult task, its quick, but in a house full of kittens…it becomes an event. Maine Coons being just dogs in cat suites must all go with you from room to room. I was followed by a train of furred goslings. I took the top off a litter box and set it down over someone in the way, dragged forth the lidded litter bucket we use (and carry from room to room) and proceeded to scoop away watched carefully and hampered by all the little bodies peering over the sides into the box. Half done a kitten jumps in and begins to dig for fun…I’m obviously doing so..so why Not!! Wah Hoo!! I pull out the imp and Swifty one of our sub adults jumps in and proceeds to Use the semi clean litter box… now there is another litter box in here. It’s undisturbed and un occupied!! But NO… so I’m sitting on the toilet in front of a dirty litter box waiting……one of the kittens bites his tail dangling out of the box while he’s peeing, this of course causes some comment.….still waiting….he buries carefully #1 and digs a hole for #2 and the same kitten swats him a few times in the head. I’m not sure the look I got was disgust or despair but rescue was out of the question, I want him outta the damn box so I’m the cheering section! ‘Go get him Calliope!’ All the while kittens are jumping in and out of the bathtub, climbing my legs and generally being a nuisance. Finally ‘finished’ I move on to box 2 and the process repeats itself a few times.

To finish up out comes the broom, 2 swipes later all I’m doing is dragging kittens back and forth across the floor as they dangle off the new toy. I give up, lean the broom against the wall and leave the room in hopes they’ll all find something else to do. Returning through the living room I am faced with 8 now empty plates along the plastic floor runner, having gathered them I return to wipe up any spillage. On my hands and knees wiping the runner a couple of kittens trying to break the land speed record shoot by under me on their way to the cat tree on the far side of the living room. Henry having been woken by the rushing wind of their passage is terrified. He shoots into the air and comes down on a vase of Peacock feathers, feathers everywhere. The Adults scatter as if the hounds of hell were loose in the house the Tribe thinks it’s the day of Jubilee and there are bounding kittens Everywhere. The cat flap to the screen porch swings both ways …and in comes Miss MeadowLark and drops a Lizard into the mix and now we have pandemonium. Oh Crap! And its only 10am…