Stark and bare against the cottonwoods.

I took advantage of the the beautiful weather over the weekend to prune the fruit trees.

Dwarf Pear Tree stands alone surrounded by black bamboo

How's this for the "cool cat" look?

This yellow kitty has been coming around to visit for almost a year now. I did a blog about him at the end of April last year called "Le chat d'orange" (he looks more orange in daylight). Normally when he shows up he has a spat with Spunk through the wire on the catio, then comes to the sunroom door and looks in for a minute, then runs into the labyrinth I cut in the bamboo and disappears if I open the door to talk to him. But last night he just sat at the sunroom door and meowed and meowed. The first time I went out to see what he wanted, he ran off into the labyrinth like normal, but no sooner had I sat back down than he was at the door meowing again. The next time I opened the door he let me pet him and talk to him. When I asked him what he wanted he gave me a look like "Are you dense or what?" I told him there were no free meal tickets around our house, and after a few good photos through the glass in the door (Spunk was not going to let Yellow come inside), he earned a bowl of food, which he promptly devoured.

"Have I earned a meal yet?"

Spunk and Yellow facing off through the glass in the door.

Shavings from planing down the door to the Catio.

Stanley is old (1940's), rough around the edges, and a bit rusty, but very patient — he has been waiting in the shed for years for me to find a job for him and put him to work. Yesterday Stanley, the hard plane who sits in a Bailey No. 4 base, was put to use planing down the French door and frame that leads to the catio.  Last summer with all the rain, the door swelled and wouldn't shut properly. Months later, after all the other doors had dried up and went back to their normal size, the catio door still wouldn't shut properly. On further investigation, I discovered the problem is the trunk of the trumpet vine growing up and over the arch we have over the doorway in the catio has grown large enough to push on the trim around the outside of the door and has pushed the door frame in about 1/8 of an inch so the door could not close properly. I really need to take the trim off the outside of the door, but in order to do that I need to take down the arch, which is overgrown with the trumpet vine, so I would have to remove the trumpet vine canopy that we use for shade. If I remove the trumpet vine canopy, all that will be left is the trunk causing the problem, so at that point I could take out the trunk, which would do away the trumpet vine.  I really don't want to kill the trumpet vine which provides good shade, and flowers that the honey bees and hummingbirds love. Until I can see if I find a better permanent solution to the problem, I put Stanley to work and planed down the door and the door jamb so it closes properly again.

Stanley where he has sat patiently for years in the shed for me to put him to work.

Stanley sizing up the edge of the door, helping me decide if we could plane  the door in on its hinges.

Stanley making shavings as we plane the edge of the door.

Stanley sits happily among the wood shavings from our labor.

Dawn from the parking lot where the Imperial Building now stands taken Tuesday morning February 14, 2012.

Moonrise over the parking structure with Orion's belt peaking through the clouds taken from the parking lot where the Imperial Building now stands on Monday evening February 6, 2012.

Lola

Lola

Najar

Najar

Sasha

Spunk

Spunk: "This is what I think of your stinking STOP! Stupid paparazzo"

I baked Laurie a dark chocolate heart cake for V-Day

The cake came out black from the dark chocolate so the candy hearts contrasted nicely.

Laurie made a batch of vanilla bean gelato.

Spunk argued the bread basket was too small. He proved his point..

We had grilled steak, green beans and garlic toast for dinner, followed by the deserts we worked on all day.

Happy Valentine's Day!  I gave Laurie various nail polishes and stickers for Christmas. She saved what I call the "kissy nails" for Valentine's day, as they are most appropriate for the occasion. We went to a dinner party last night, and I got four cats to pose for me.

The sliver moon setting through a very light cloud cover.