Saturday, February 18, 2012

Cat Sitting in Weed

Maxie, above, is a constant source of fun. I spend at least two hours a day laughing at Maxie's antics, thus elongating my life, according to articles I've read. I've been cat sitting for almost two months in a large house in Weed, a few miles north of Mt. Shasta. I spend most of the time alone but really enjoy it after my roommate experience in Mt. Shasta (don't ask.) The cats, the cutest fluffers I've ever met, are a constant source of laughs. Below are Ho'ponopono and Francine, sisters. All are large, black fluffy cats and it took me quite a while to tell the sisters apart. Under that is Ho'ponopono telling me what she wants for dinner, or maybe she's yawning.


I have some great neighbors, Tom and Ren. Once Tom saw my art he commissioned me to carve a statue for them. He gave me photos of what he wanted but when I looked at it, it seemed more like a painting, so I made a painting. This was a gift because of all the nice things Tom has done for me - loaned me the furniture in my room, supplied me with firewood, showed me how to change the propane, and many other useful things. Good neighbors! While painting it came to me how to carve what he wanted, so I did. Check it out.


Tom and Ren with the carving.
Ren is studying to be a nurse, but supports herself as a tattoo artist, below is one of Tom's tattoos.
The house is large - 3,000 square feet - and hard to heat. We had a huge storm - big winds for three days. Sort of like a 50 mile an hour slushy coming at you, but in the end we had no snow. The branch lying on the ground was blown onto the roof over my truck bed, leaving a big dent. I can't complain - in 2005 I paid $60 for the cover and it still isn't leaking.
The same day as above, I drove about 7 miles to Mt. Shasta and was shocked at how high the snow was and this was several days after the storm. I learned that the area in the high desert where I'm now living rarely gets snow that sticks.
Below are the two benches I helped Monica mosaic a few times. I did the white patch on the far bench and some of the blue on the nearer one.
I'm still volunteering as a photographer for the Siskiyou Humane Society and below is a tree in their parking lot. I collect photos of weird wood aberrations.
LinkThese are three of many photos from The Kitty and Puppy Therapy blog. Check it out.


At the end of my street is a park and at the far end is this stream; its headwaters are about 100 feet north of this photo.
I had an adventure last weekend. A neighbor, Vartan, below, asked me if I'd like to go for a hike to Pluto Cave. I'd heard about it so said , sure, I'd love to go. I didn't think to ask and he forgot to tell me that we were going on a two or three hour hike, and thinking we were just going to have a look, I didn't carry my water bottle. Guess I should have realized - Vartan has climbed Mt. Shasta three times and Mt. Shastina once. He works as a park ranger and water researcher, so a long hike in the dark should have been expected.
I was hiking with no problem until we got to the entrance of the cave and into the dark, My flashlight wasn't strong enough and I couldn't see where I was putting my feet. I fell twice into the dusty bat quano. Vartan and the others had moved on ahead of me and we became separated. They went on without me and I waited, and waited, and waited. My water bottle was locked in the car. I hiked around and took photos, below, but after two hours I became so dehydrated - something I've been hospitalized for and my mouth was totally dry and spitless. I was saved by the wonderful Japanese couple, below, who came and gave me a water bottle then drove me home. Tomoko works in Paris, France and her boyfriend lives in Tokyo. This was the last day of their vacation and I felt that they had saved my life.





I have dozens of photos of Mt. Shasta, but here's the view Shastina from Weed, with a trendy lenticular cloud.
Next to the park is a trail that leads into Weed. It takes too long for video so I just stopped and shot a photo every seven steps and now you can see the whole walk in less than two minutes.

Doug is a water witcher I interviewed in Willits before I moved up here. I finally got time to edit it all together for him to show people.