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| Name: | Popoki |
Age: | Eleven years old |
| Gender: | Male |
Kind: | Siamese mix |
| Home: | Shell Beach, California, USA |
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Popoki (Hawaiian for cat) was adopted at two years old (estimated by vet) and has been with us for almost five years. He’s “mostly” a flamepoint Siamese, who loves sightseeing from the window!
Popoki hid from every one for the first four to five weeks after we adopted him. He slowly began moving closer and closer to our common space until he made himself at home. He meows only when hungry or if a neighbor cat comes to his window. He also has an attitude when you aren’t feeding or playing with him on his terms. He turns his back on you, makes short meow sounds, and flicks his tail. He likes to be in the same room as we are, but not too close (unless it’s his idea) Since our cats are always kept indoors, we have a pet stroller for an occasional outdoor stroll. Poki (as I call him) complains when you put him in the stroller, but seems to really enjoy all the sights and sounds around him. He often does somersaults when playing and literally melts when he gets his (hopefully) daily back massage. He is still afraid of new voices, the doorbell, and the sound of plastic bags, but boy is he friendly and loving when he smells a tuna can being opened! For the past few weeks, he has decided that sleeping in our bedroom at night is a given, and I honestly think he knows the sound of the clock when it chimes twelve times (which is when he gets tidbit from my husband’s lunch). With age, he is becoming more affectionate as well (yay), and more of a people cat! |
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Tag: California
Special Kitty of the Day for February 5th
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| Name: | Moonlight |
Age: | Deceased, Three years old |
| Gender: | Male |
Kind: | Cat |
| Home: | Tustin, California, USA |
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Inominate Moonlight the Stray, who came to accept me as his friend. About three years ago I noticed that the cat food I was leaving out in the evening for my cat Smokey to snack on was disappearing. Then soon after I caught a glimpse of a ragged black and white cat scurrying away into the darkness at just the slightest movement of the wind. Just a spooky little guy. So I began to leave more food out and in no time I had a nightly visitor. Every evening when the sun set this scrawny cat would appear, and so he became known as Moonlight.
Moonlight made great strides in accepting me as his friend. From the malnourished thief of a cat who would steal Smokey’s food under the cover of darkness to that of an occasional lap cat whose purr sounded like thunder. Smokey tolerated him with an occasional nose boop. No longer a wisp of a feline but a big hunk of a tom and as soon as the sun had set I would hear Moonlight make his way upon the tops of the fences with a loud meow announcing his arrival. He would then dine upon two cans of food and a plate of crunchies before stepping inside for an hour long nap on the couch and an occasional brushing. Afterward he would return to the back porch and enjoy the evening for a few hours safe inside my yard. Sometime later he would venture off to make his nightly rounds but would always return the next night as sure as the moon would rise. For three years this feral cat and I understood each other and respected our places in the world. He lived his life and I lived mine, but for a few hours every evening we enjoyed each other’s company. Then one evening he did not keep his dinner date. Nor did he the next night. Worried I would walk the neighborhood looking for any signs but never saw one. A week passed and nothing. On the ninth day I woke to find Moonlight sitting at the back door and since the sun was up I knew something was terribly wrong. I sat my injured friend in my lap for an hour and listened to his broken purr as he tried to get comfortable, but the look in his eyes told me a story that words could not. Sadly, Moonlights injuries were too severe and he did not survive. Thank you my friend, you will be missed. I’m honored you accepted me as one of your own. |
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Incense for Cats
Incense for Cats
Cats and magic have enjoyed a natural partnership throughout history. The Egyptians relied on feline cunning to destroy the rodents that plagued the Nile Valley granaries. Cats saved the population from starvation. Thereafter, cats were given a place of honor in Egypt.
The black jaguar of the Mayan people represented their most powerful deity and was the driving force behind their magic.
This is still true today. Giant ground pictures called intaglios, which are etched in to the Colorado basin of California, two mountain lions, each over a hindered feet long. According to the Mojave tribe, these are the tribal creator’s helpers.
Of course, no cat story would be complete without mentioning all the wonderful tales of Witches and their feline familiars.
One gem that has been handed down through English history is an incense recipe for cats:
3 teaspoons pine needles, dried and crushed
1 teaspoon frankincense
3 teaspoons catnip, dried and crushed
1/2-3/4 teaspoon gum arabic
Rain water to bind gun Arabic to the other ingredients.
Mix all ingredients together in a glass bowl. Burn on self-igniting charcoal. For your cat’s safety, burn this recipe before he or she comes in to play, or place the burner out of reach.
Pagan Hearth Recipes
the daily humorscopes for wednesday, december 21
the daily humorscope
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Aries (March 21 – April 19)
A relative will be seriously injured today, when a man dressed as a huge shrimp abandons his post at the opening of a seafood restaurant, steals an experimental hovercraft, and crashes it into your relative’s motor vehicle. The worst part is, the insurance company will refuse to pay a cent.
You will go to a Chinese restaurant and decide to try something new. Don’t do it! It’s not as good as your favorite.
Good day to buy lava lamps at garage sales. Once in a life-time opportunity. Also, if you happen to spot a white 100% polyester leisure suit with bell-bottom pants and a really large lapel, buy it on the spot. I know *I* would love to have one.
Inspiration will strike you, and leave you for dead. The police will do nothing.
You are being stalked by an invisible mutant from Planet 7. Or at least, you’ll find that this makes an excellent excuse for not doing those outside chores today.
In a strange form of protest against the new trends in personal adornment, you will make mooing sounds whenever you see someone with a nose ring. Coincidentally, some of them will say “Hay!”
You will finally begin your novel! This is very good, since if you’d decided to write a screen play, you would have had to move to California and drive a taxi.
Don’t lose hope! Conditions like yours are painful and embarassing, but often clear up on their own.
You will have a visit from “The Scourge of Valderia”. He’s thin, small, balding, wears little round glasses, and dresses in a rumpled blue suit. Still you don’t want to cross him.
This week you will feel like corn. Just not like having any.
You’ve been trying to sell your car, and it just isn’t going anywhere. Sometimes it helps if you have a name for your vehicle, to give it more character. I call mine the “Millenium Falcon”. My passengers often become irritated at being called “Chewie”, though.
You will mosey, this week. There’s nothing that wrong with moseying, after all, and it’s occasionally just what is needed. In fact, you’ll soon begin work on “Mosey Your Way To Fitness”, a best-selling self-help book on the topic.
How to Make Your Drekkahorn
How to Make Your Drekkahorn
by Gefjon
(This is a condensed version of a paper presented at a workshop at the Ostara gathering he/d just north of San Francisco, California.)
What Kind Of Horn
The use intended for a horn determines the “best” kind of horn. Will it serve 12 people at a Sumbel, or will it just be yours, and small enough to pack easily? Will it be carved or left plain? How much time, energy and money will be expended on the horn? Big horns can be cut down, but the diameter of the open (mouth) end and the horn’s configuration and curve cannot be changed. Odd shapes can bang your nose and precipitous curves often create a tidal wave effect when drinking. The more round the opening, the better. Horns usually come with a ragged mouth which will need to be cut down. When getting a horn, look for punctures, deep crevices and thick splinters – all of which are undesirable and may not be correctable.
Where To Find A Horn
Cattle ranches ~ ask them to keep your name for future reference if they have none at present. Remember, they may sell only the whole skull. Slaughter houses ~ there are often laws about keeping “parts” around, so call them first and ask them exactly when it would be best to come by. Retail skull, hide, and bone merchants ~ good if you can find one. Taxidermists ~ very good, but they are usually rather expensive sources. Tandy and other craft stores ~ okay but their horns are usually very thin. Junk stores. etc. ~ you might get lucky but you can never count on it. Note: mounted bull horns can be dismantled giving two horns.
Cleaning And Preparing
If you get an entire skull which is particularly fresh, bury it for about six weeks (longer in winter). Then, if the horns are still attached to the skull, soak the whole thing for four to six hours in a boiling solution of eight gallons of water and one gallon of bleach. Or submerge it in a vat of 40% hydrogen peroxide and 60% water for an hour or so. When the horns are off, use a bottle brush (or flexible rod with a rag firmly attached) and vigorously clean the inside of the horn with more bleach/water solution.
Soak it again for several hours, scrub it out a second time, and then rinse with a solution of four gallons of cool water and one-half a gallon of vinegar. After rinsing, the horn should smell clean. If not, repeat the boiling soak sequence and then fill the horn with baking soda. Once the horn is clean, but still damp, if it has a lot of scales and/or splinters, now is the time to take a vegetable peeler or a pocket knife and scrape – with the grain of the horn, and away from your body. Afterwards, invert the horn and allow it to air dry for 24 hours.
Curing (see also Sealing below)
If you do not plan to seal the interior mantle, curing the horn is the next step. Remember, the horn is made of keratin which is porous and will retain a degree of porosity forever. This means that there is always the possibility of a chemical or microbe being absorbed into the keratin matrix and perhaps being released later into another drought. possibly affecting taste and your gastrointestinal system. Due to the possibility of contamination or infection, I do not personally advocate the curing of a horn as a final interior finishing. Many people believe sealing it (see below) is safer.
The object of curing is to shrink the keratin matrix as much as possible to decrease its porosity. (1) Fill the horn with a salt water curing solution (three cups of salt per gallon of water) and allow it to stand for 24 hours. (2) Pour out and repeat. (3) The third evening, pour out and rinse well with cold fresh water and then air dry for 24 hours. (4) Then fill the horn with 100 proof vodka and allow it to stand for 24 hours. (5) Pour out and repeat. It will need to be completely re-cured at least twice a year. The only real advantage of curing (instead of sealing) is that you can leave the horn on the dashboard of your car in the summer time when it gets hot.
Sanding
Start with a medium grade of sandpaper (120) against the grain of the horn. Be patient, this takes time. Then sand with the horn grain. Repeat with a finer grade (360) until it is very smooth and free of imperfections. Remember – the more mantle you sand off, the less thickness is left to carve, and the more brittle the horn.
Cutting The Lip
Take a wide rubber band and encircle the horn mouth with it at a level at least one inch below any cracks. Position the rubber band until it represents a straight line. Trace the line with a pencil. Use a hack saw to carefully cut through the line. Then sand the opening to make it smooth.
Decoration
Plan designs for the size of the horn. Draw on paper first and then wrap the paper around the horn. Draw on the horn with a #2 (or softer) pencil. Decorations can be either carved into the outer surface of the horn or stained – or both. Some people carve with a knife. Others use a tool like an electric dremel. Do not use any tool until you are thoroughly familiar with it and can use it safely. Staining can be done with India ink (which comes in several colors) or acrylic paint. Acrylic will dry about 40% darker than its wet hue.
Finishing
After a final fine sanding, the horn can be finished with several coats of clear acrylic spray. Or it can be polished with jeweler’s rouge. Or a coat of beeswax can be applied and rubbed in by hand.
Sealing
Sealing a horn entails coating the interior mantle (the inside of the horn). Beeswax is traditional. and is related to mead. The only problem with it is that it will melt in warm conditions. (Do not put hot coffee in your horn or leave it in direct sunlight.) However, if the beeswax does melt, you can always reapply a new coat of it. Beeswax can be purchased at art supply and craft houses.
For a half liter horn, you will need about a quarter pound of beeswax. Melt the wax in a double boiler, stirring it thoroughly. Pour the wax into the horn and immediately start to rotate the horn so as to coat all of the inside surfaces. Pour excess wax back into the boiler. Wait about five minutes and then repeat. Do this three times, and then allow the horn to cool for one hour.
Metalwork
Silver, or other metal rims can add a rich look to a horn. A matching metal tip can also be added. Any good silversmith can do this for you if you are unable to do it yourself. However, this can be quite expensive. so get a cost estimate first.
Care And Cleaning
The inside of a horn should be thoroughly washed out with clean, cold water containing some liquid dishwashing detergent after every use. Then rinse with cold water to get rid of the soap.
EYE COLOR
EYE COLOR
Ingredients
Sit comfortably where you won’t be distracted.
Clear your mind and start by thinking about what color you want your eyes to be.
I get an idea of what color I want and I think of my face like a mask I am holding up about 5 inches
from my eyes so I can see behind it. Then I think of a light (like a flashlight) shining through the
eyeholes of the mask. It starts dim but it gets really bright and he light is the color I want my
eyes to look I try to hold that idea for as long as I can I see the eyes of the mask fill up with
that color and then I visualize putting the mask on and absorb it under my skin so my eyes
become that color. I don’t chant or anything since I find it to take most of my concentration
to visualize it and make it stick. I do burn a little incense sometimes but it doesn’t really matter
what I burn it’s just to relax my mind.
Mine last about an hour and a half for most of them.
Which for the most part I’m only doing them for special occasions (like parties) so I don’t
need them for much longer if I do I can do a touch up in the bathroom (same Idea as
makeup touch up just visualize a quick zap)
Earth Science Pic for Thursday, October 20th
Fog and Redwoods
October 20, 2011
The photo above showing sunny hillsides and valleys choked with fog was snapped in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, California. This view looks down into the redwoods and bay laurels (Laurus nobilis) in the direction of the town of Canyon. Redwood Park is in the distance. Typically, the biggest and oldest redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) are found in deep valleys and ravines. Here, in addition to the cyclonic storms of fall and winter, fog drip and condensation is a regular occurrence. Trees above the fog layer, approximately 2,300 ft (700 m), are deprived of this source of moisture and are somewhat stunted in comparison. Photo taken on January 17, 2011
Earth Science Photo of the Day for Sept. 27th
Cloud Fingers Over Tracy, California
September 27, 2011
On the photo above, finger-like altocumulus clouds are seen stretching across an azure blue sky. These billow clouds (undulatus) formed in atmospheric waves. They’re oriented more or less perpendicular to the wind direction. Slots between the clouds appear where the wave dips (trough). The air temperature in the wave crest (where the wave climbs) is slightly cooler than in the trough, so atmospheric water vapor more readily condenses here. Cloud droplets evaporate; however, where the wave moves the cloud into the trough. Photo taken in the late afternoon of July 31, 2011, from Tracy, California.
Photo details: Olympus E-5 camera; f/11; 1/1000 sec. exposure; ISO 200; 14 mm focal length.
Green Outdoor Weekend Activities
Green Outdoor Weekend Activities
posted by Greennii
Spring has finally arrived here in Northern California and all this sunshine begs for fun things to do outside, which often also happen to be green. I tend to go outside at even the slightest hint of sunshine (then again, I’ve also been known to walk the dog in the rain just for fun), and do whatever it was I was doing inside, out under the sky. For instance, I’m sitting at an old-fashioned school desk, replete with wooden cross-bars under my seat for holding my books, and peeling green paint; outside; half under the Wysteria-covered arbor and half in the sun (the computer screen is oh-so-much easier to see in the shade); occasionally throwing the ball for my dog, who earlier got a little bath during the watering of the lettuce.
As I sit here considering the glistening, black-bottomed pool, I’m also considering the possibilities for the weekend:
1. Plant some organic lettuce. It’s so fun to open up your front door (or back door, or kitchen window) and snip off a few pieces of lettuce for your sandwich, a garnish or your dinner salad. I love lettuce and would have thought it beyond me to grow such a delicate, frilly, easily wilty plant, until my husband forced me to do so by planting a half-dozen little teeny baby lettuce plants and then promptly leaving them in my daily care. Turns out, lettuce is easy! Oh joy! So hop on down to whatever nursery is nearby and pick up a couple of six packs of the lettuce varieties which suit you. Then, rummage around in your backyard, ask your neighbor, scour the garage sales and thrift stores, and find yourself some shallow, wide pots (you could also plant each lettuce in its own pot, which would be very cute, but perhaps space-consuming). Stop by your local ACE and pick up some organic potting soil (or grab some where you get your lettuce). You’re ready to plant! Lettuce wants its little neck sticking out a bit, so don’t plant all the way up to the leaves. Keep the soil moist. Cut leaves from the bottom as soon as the plant starts growing.
2. Visit the Alameda Point Antiques Faire, held the first Sunday of every month, which just so happens to be next Sunday, April 3. Take a list with you of things you were otherwise going to buy brand new and see what you can find. I have not yet been, but I have it from a reliable source (read: friend who loves antiques and has discerning taste) that this is the best show in the Bay Area.
3. Go to any of the local farmer’s markets held all around the Bay Area. Most have food (the kind someone makes for you, not the kind you buy and take home as ingredients) vendors, so you can take your appetite and eat there. Take your refillable coffee mug along and get your morning dose from one of the local coffee shops along the street. Use these guides to find the market closest to you:
- California Certified Farmer’s Markets
- California Farmers’ Market Association
- Bay Area on the Cheap farmer’s markets list – this may be the most comprehensive list I’ve seen.
- Organic Picks – this one lists markets not on Bay Are on the Cheap.
4. Unplug your life (and that of your family or a group of friends) and go outside with a picnic made from the organic stuff you bought at the farmer’s market (or at least from a small, local market). If you drive in a group, you’re lowering your carbon footprint, as well as not using all those electronic devices you’d be using if you stayed at home. Check out any of the local beaches, state parks or local parks and enjoy nature. The California State Parks system is vast, and their website has great ideas and guides for getting outdoors:
- Historic Sites, “From mansions, missions, and museums to parks, pioneers, and plazas.”
- Find state parks, other parks and open spaces with their searchable map.
- Find a trail by region.
- Find a state park by region.
- Visit the Coastal Redwoods Parks.
I’m likely to do at least two of the above, unless I decide to help my husband and our friend finish changing a Land Cruiser from right-hand-drive to left. I’m guessing the beach will win out over that. At least for me and the dog.
-Jocelyn Broyles
Citrus Unblocking Spell
- Collect as many types of citrus fruits, emphasizing the sour ones. There can’t be too much fruit in this bath.
- Quarter each fruit, squeeze the juice into a tub of bath water then toss in the rind.
- Add a bottle of orange blossom water or hydrosol.
- Enter the bath, rub yourself with the fruit, envision your blocks cleansed away and then allow yourself to air-dry. )Depending on the quantity of fruit used, you may be sticky. Leave the fruit residue on for as long as possible before showering it off.)
Witches Of The Craft® 