Leave us alone!

Leave us alone mommy! Can't you see daddy and I are trying to take a nap. Put that flashy thing away. Hrmpf!

Isn't it hot for sunrays?

This week has been in the 90s again. So hot! It's like an oven outside. Yet, I found Sebastian under the table enjoying the sunrays. I couldn't help but think, isn't it too hot to have the sun beating down on your furs? I guess not, when the air conditioning is blaring!

Biggest bird I've ever seen in my backyard...Ever!

The other day, my husband was outside in the yard, doing some weedwacking. My cellphone rings, and he's on the line. "Honey, look at the driveway, but don't make any noise." Okay, I said, a bit worried. I peer out the window, and I see this gigantic bird. "Whoa, what is that?" I said? Okay, I know I live on an island, but I live on Staten Island, not some tropical paradise, so to see a bird like this, it's totally rare. My husband said it looks like a heron. I've only seen herons in Florida. When he came back into the house, he did a Google search, and we saw pictures of blue herons. This bird looks like a baby blue heron! On further research, apparently there is a Blue Heron Park right in Staten Island about 5 miles from our house. It's a wildlife sanctuary with lots of ponds, and home to some blue herons. How cool is that? http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/blueheronpark

Sebastian loves cold air.

Yesterday it was a blistering 99F! NYC is getting one of it's worst heat waves in quite some time. Everyday hovers in the 90s, hot, heat and humidity. I was working on the computer on the couch and looked over to see Sebastian on the dining room table. If you read my blog often, you'll know that I don't like the cats being on the table because this is where we eat, and they shed like crazy. So I watched him for a few minutes.

Then he got up and stood right next to the air condition unit. hahaha, I forgot that Sebastian loves the cool air that comes out of the a/c. When he was younger, we used to have an a/c near our bed, and he would sit on the pillow and plant his face right in front of the cold air vent. haha, I see things have not changed! Since it was so hot out yesterday, I let him stay on the table. But this better not be a new habit!

Cats use chairs too!

The other day I couldn't find the cats. Where are they. Oh, under the table! Um, kitties, chairs are for us beans! So much for eating lunch at the table!
As soon as Yaffa saw me taking photos, she covered her face. Go away mom!

Sebastian was actually snoring on his chair. LOL.

Yaffa and Sebastian are peas in a pod. Where one is, the other has to be.

Christmas in July Photos!

We received our Christmas in July package a couple of days ago, but I've been too busy to post them. Finally, the cats made me do it. Thank you to AttieCattie and Baby Audrey for such lovely catnip toys for our kitties! The toys came in this really pretty packaging.

How cute is this? Fortune cookie catnip toys, and each cookie had a fortune on it!

Dante is not a big catnip fan, but he definitely investigated this one.

Sebastian and Yaffa LOVE LOVE LOVE catnip toys, and boy did they love these. Did I say Love? Really Love.

Sebastian couldn't stop licking the toy. Nom, nom.

Yaffa couldn't get enough either!

Here is Sebastian passed out from the nip attack. And his toy tucked under his paw. So cute!

Thank you for the awesome gift, Attie Cattie and Baby Audrey. Your package is in the mail, hope you get it really soon!

Going green is saving green!

When we received our first water / sewer bill from the city, we were shocked to find out that for 6 months we were paying over $600! So expensive! We were shocked to see that we were using over 300 gallons of water a day? Could this be right? How could this be? We factored in that a lot of it must be the fact that we were watering the garden with the hose. Wow, waste of water! So we thought of ways we could conserve water and save money and help the planet while we are at it. First we bought 2 rain barrels to collect rain run off from the gutters. Then we invested in a new shower head. This is a eco-friendly shower head that has a slower trickle of water. The water comes out at a lower pressure. It took a while to get used to but it helped to know that this was going to conserve water and save us money.We got our water bill in the mail today, and we are happy to report that with the rain barrels and the new shower head, we managed to cut our water consumption in half! We now use only 165 gallons of water a day. Woo hoo! Conserving rocks! And even better, our water bill was cut in half! Going green is saving green!

Keeping Cool, Sebastian's Way

The heat has been so oppressive this week. We are looking at another 5 days of temperatures in the 90s. Heat wave, please go away.

This is how Sebastian likes to keep cool. He hides under the stool and sits on the cold hardwood floor. Smart kitty.

Angry Sebastian?

Why is Sebastian angry you ask? Well it has to do with this black bucket to the right. I just mopped the floor and it was completely wet, and he was mad that he couldn't jump down from the stool he's sitting on. He didn't want to get his paws wet. Oh, boy was he mad! He gave me the stink eye. Hahahahahaha

Scritches

Dante loves scritches under his chin. It's his favorite thing, next to belly rubs! Here he is standing in front of my computer not letting me do work, because he wants his chin scratched. Smart kitty.

Photos from Travis July 4th Parade

Our part of town in Staten Island holds an annual 4th of July parade. This year was it's 100th year of the parade. What's so neat is that we don't have to go anywhere to see the parade! It goes by our front yard. Here we are getting ready for the parade. It was a blistering 102 degrees out so beach umbrellas were in full force!
The start of the parade began with these beautiful police horses. Here is my nephew watching them in fascination.

NYPD marching in the parade! They were in full uniform in this heat. Poor guys!

Then came a float with the Grand Marshal. I'm not sure who that was.

Here comes the bag pipers. This was so cool!

Staten Island's Fire Department with their big engines. In our area we have 2 fire houses!

Even politicians were showing their support. Here is Andrew Cuomo, he's our state Attorney General and he's running for Governor. You might know his dad, he was the NY Governor in the 80s and 90s. I like Cuomo, but what's with taking a cellphone call in the middle of the parade?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was also walking in the parade, but we missed a photo of him because he was surrounded by so many bodyguards and handlers that we couldn't even see him in the sea of people.

In this heat wave, someone was keeping cool! Our cousin Nikki, the golden retriever, she kicked out all of us out of the kiddie pool. Haha!