Cat tunnel of love

Ordered the Cat Tunnel from petsmart.com

Sheboo holding her breath to squeeze her tummy through the tunnel

The humans also tried to squeeze through, with mixed results

Princess Kushi and the Pea

Since Tigger doesn't do the sharing thing with Kushi, especially with the pink pillow...


Kushi went off to make a pillow nest for herself...

and settles down for a nice cozy nap.

Waiting for Summer

Spring has arrived...

...and now Kushi waits for summer.

Memorial Day BBQ

Waiting to see any wayward meat will fall off the grill wagon...

Grilled seafood, tandoori chicken and grilled veggies, mmm...

Tandoori Chicken recipe:

2-3 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (approx 6 thighs)
3 Tbsp unflavored yogurt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp grated garlic
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1/4 tsp ground green cardamom (1 pod)
1/4 tsp ground cloves (4 cloves)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf, ground
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
optional: 1/4 tsp red food coloring
Sliced red onion, lemon wedges and chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Mix together the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander powder, cayenne, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, bay leaf, salt, turmeric and optionally the red food coloring. Score shallow parallel lines into the chicken meat so the marinade will soak into the meat. Put the chicken into the marinade, coating well, and let sit for 4 hours or more (or overnight) in the fridge. Take the chicken out of the fridge for a half hour to let come to room temperature. You can either bake or grill the chicken. To bake the chicken, preheat the oven to the max temperature setting (550 degrees F for my oven). Lay the chicken in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil and bake for about 18-20 minutes (15-16 minutes if the thighs are boneless). Garnish the chicken with the raw red onion slices, lemon wedges and coriander leaves.

Bean Hollow State Beach

We drove to the Half Moon Bay State Beach to see if we could take Kushi out on the beach (we didn't look at dogfriendly.com first to see if the beach allowed dogs). We found out that dogs weren't allowed, so we drove south on Highway 1 until we found a beach that allowed dogs, which turned out to be Bean Hollow State Beach.

Finally free!! Kushi lets loose some pent up energy (that annoying snapping noise is me chewing gum, sorry)

Kushi is more nimble across the rocks than her human companions

Exploring the rocks and tide pools

Harbor seals sunbathing

Kushi's first boating trip at Lake Del Valle

On Saturday, we took advantage of the heat wave to go boating/swimming at Lake Del Valle in Livermore. We bought a life jacket for Kushi, and it would be her first time swimming.

The marina at Lake Del Valle

Motoring around the 5 mile long lake in the fishing boat we rented. Kushi looking hot. We'll soon remedy that...

Taking his turn steering.

The dragonfly liked my hat.

Finally in the water! Kushi is furiously paddling away. See her video below:



Kushi wondering why I'm still in the water.

Drying off in the boat.

Dried off, and happy to be back on solid earth.

Another day at Fort Funston

Who's excited to be at the beach??

Treats in human's bag = sticking close to human

Too many big dogs/small ponies = failure in Kushi's courage

Waiting for us slow pokes to catch up on the steps

Hungry doggie diptych

'Ah will wait for yoo fo'evah, ma love...'


the object of her affection

Waiting for spring, Part III

Birthday presents

Some birthday presents for Kushi, Tigger and Sheboo:

Kushi decided not to wait and jumped up to drag off her stuffed bird

Applying the kill bite

The bird was delicious

Tigger was not very interested in his catnip toy (Sheboo couldn't even be bothered to wake up)

Kushi was more than happy to take Tigger's present

Happy birthday to me... happy birthday to me...!

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

April 9 is Kushi's birthday. Tigger and Sheboo were also born around this time, so we decided to celebrate everyone's birthday with a little sashimi dinner:

Maguro tuna from Nijiya, a Japanese super market

Chopped up and mixed with dried bonito flakes


Kushi inspecting her birthday dinner


Tigger starts chowing down on his dinner while Sheboo walks off, indifferent. Sheboo is very finicky for such a fat cat.

30 seconds later, scarfing almost complete...


Tigger licking up all the bonito flakes before eating the tuna

The humans' dinner! mmm... Clockwise from top left: grilled geso (squid), tori karaage (fried chicken), suzuki and hamachi sashimi, tuna ceviche, cold cha soba.

Review: the FURminator, a fistful of fur

After thinking about it for several months, I finally got the FURminator. I had been putting it off because of the high price (retail $35 for the size small brush), but even though I usually brush all the animals about once a week, I would still end up spitting out stray floating pet hairs from my mouth. So I finally got it from Amazon for about $22:
It feels nice and heavy in the hand, and the comb blade is sharper than you would expect. Brushing it across your arm, you can feel that it would irritate the animal if you press down too hard.

I immediately tried it out on all the animals, and delightful mountains of fur began to sprout from the animals. At first, the cats were irritated by the brushing, but if I brushed very lightly, they seemed to accept it more readily. Kushi was more indifferent to the brush. The FURminator works significantly better than the flea comb at pulling out the fur. The flea comb is better, though, at catching the fur in its comb, whereas the FURminator would leave the sheddings on top of the fur, leaving you to grab it off the animal. I usually start with the FURminator and finish off with the flea comb to pick up the stray hairs. The FURminator works especially well if your pet has an undercoat.

Sheboo wondering if this will make her look skinnier...

Enough fur to make another cat...

I'm too sexy for my cat

Modeling the latest fashion of wearing a live cat

How much is that kitty in the shopping bag?

I found Sheboo in the bag, waiting for express checkout...

Waiting for spring, Part II

The purple flowers have grown bigger...spring is coming closer...and still Kushi waits...