mashable.com/2014/10/06/yes-that … ming-pool/
Id be scared if Whopper was Lion sized. Knowing his temperament.
The little lady finally got her teacher to sign off on her thesis and she should be getting her degree in a few months.
Shes due back this weekend. But I hope the typhoon is nowhere near the flight path.
I know I don’t like the extra turbulence.
She won’t either.
Picked up the little lady at the airport. Long journey on SQ. Jkt to Spore, to HK to SFO> SAid there was quite a bit of turbulence from HK to SFO. AS expected as a lot of the track went near that super storm VongFong. I hope the return flights vere further away from that thing.
Glad to have the mrs back.
Cats happy bout that too.
And this is the last we’ll see of Tommy for a while, LOL.
Ha so you thought. But we certainly put some skills to work last nite (wink wink).
What a good hubby I am . Yesterday i went to her fav asian super and got some of the regular veggies and what not she likes, to make sure she has food to cook today while i go to work.
Think jet lag is going to catch up with her, but shes smart in going to bed pretty soon after midnite last nite. This will help her to get re-adjusted to CAlif time.
She insisted I brought the cat with me last nite. So I waited till her flight landed and then i drove hour or so with the cat in the car. She ended up waiting bout half an hour for us because I guess at that time of nite there was not a lot of people entering the USA. And with her Green Card the process is much faster. NO more secondary like with the Advanced Parole. . That CAT ! One bad thing bout whopper is he is a pooper when on car rides. I brought his box and he promptly dropped a couple big ones in his box while I was nearing berkeley. So luckily I was able to hop off the freeway (with rolled down windows to get rid of the super cat stink). And even more luckily , he dropped another huge log just before I got back on, so I was able to get rid of that too. I had no idea he had two loads he could fire, the little bugger. Musta emptied him out afterwards.
Oh and whopper let out a big meow when he saw his mommy and let her hug him for bout five mins. Then he remembered he should be mad at her for leaving him for so long. So the rest of the car ride he pretended she wasn’t there and would look away whenever she called him or talked to him. So funny.
I think today they will work things out.
My sister’s cat is the same way.
Let’s talk about Mt Diablo ! It’s a favorite place for Bay Area residents !
Its a great place for a day trip or if you are into camping, there are a few campgrounds and it is not expensive to get a permit for the day or two.
I haven’t camped there. There are tons of tarantulas around there though at certain times of the year. Maybe even a Mountain Lion or two, but apparently nobody has encountered one yet, or lived to tell about it !
It is only just under 4,000 feet high but it is the high ground of the bay area and from the top (because everything else is so flat for 200 miles in each direction)
one can actually, on a clear day, see about 200 miles around you, apparently.
Going up in summertime, it is not cold up there, but if you do it in winter it does feel like you are in the high mountains. Because of the wind up there. It is however, closed everytime there is some snow. That is because the two roads up and down are very narrow and have no edge protection. So going over the edge becomes a very real and possibly fatal possibility if things get slippery.
Many hardy souls cycle up the thing. But you really need to be in shape.
There are a few hiking trails where one can hike up. Mainly there are two, two lane roads up. I usually go UP from the Danville side (because it is easier to find ) and come DOWN on the Walnut Creek side.
It is very scenic and certainly well worth a few hours !
There is a Ranger station if you come up from the Walnut Creek side where you can pay your TEN DOLLARS (per car) Day Use Fee. If you come up from the Danville side there is an unmanned Ranger gate where you can pick up a small envelope and deposit ten bucks in it and put it in the slot provided. Putting down your car license number and day you are there. Keep the stub in your car windshield so the rangers can check you have paid (when you are parked up on top). Stiff fines if you don’t pay so please don’t forget to do so.
I’ve been up there about ten times now. Most of the time there is cloud around so you can’t see too far. But i have been up there when I could see MT Shasta way up north (nearly 200 miles away) and I could see Half Dome of Yosemite (a similar distance away to the East). You can often see the Sierras as well. Pretty cool.
Mt Diablo is worth going up to. And rivals going up to Mt. Tamalpais on the Marin side of things.
There is excellent scenery on Mt. Tam (as locals call it) as well, so don’t miss that one either.
MT. Tam has a ranger station a short walk from the parking lot on the top. It is only about 2700 feet high though so much lower then Mt. Diablo.
On the top of Mt. Diablo there is a small museum. Well worth seeing if you get there before 4pm when it closes for the day. And inside is a small rock which you can step on . And that is the ACTUAL TOP of Mt. Diablo.
Going out with the wife means sitting in a nice cafe with her buried in her iphone. And me communicating when necessary by sending her a text ! She WILL reply within a minute though. LOL.
Gendut is very happy Mommie is back and can mess around with him all the time.
Can’t you tell ? 
[quote=“tommy525”]Let’s talk about Mt Diablo ! It’s a favorite place for Bay Area residents !
[/quote]
Awww, this post is a little taste of home. Thanks Tommy!
Coming back from Oakland/Berkeley on the 24 Freeway and catching Mt.Diablo in all its glory is often pretty spectacular. Especially when it becomes quite red as the sun sets. That is probably why the early inhabitants of the area called it Devil Mountain (Diablo meaning devil of course).
Similar to Huo Yen Shan (sp) in Taichung. But higher then that mountain and also much more accessible. As I recall the former is dangerous to climb? Anyone know more about that mountain in Taichung you can see from the freeway?
Having Mt.Diablo within sight on a daily basis actually reminds me of 7 Star when living in Taipei. One can catch a glimpse of 7 Star and its associated Mountain Range daily when living in Taipei. In the East Bay, one can see Mt. Diablo from all directions on a daily basis. Except Mt. Diablo is a standalone mountain and not part of a range.
comments below, apparently some good some bad.
yelp.com/biz/mount-diablo-state-park-clayton
WE have not had much rain this year, so hopefully in November and onwards we will get a lot of rain to balance things out a bit. It is raining today as forecasted. Of course I didn’t believe the forecast and gave my car a quick hose off yesterday. Wasted effort there.
Wifey and i celebrated our first wedding anniversary last week ! One more and I will break my previous record ! My last marriage really didn’t last long enough to make it to the second anniversary.
We didn’t do much but enjoyed a nice day. She had a quick doc visit , then we drove out 30 miles to PIttsburg to a Red Lobster there. She likes Red lobster but driving 30 miles each way to get to it means we don’t go THAT often. Then there is a nice movie house right next to the Red Lobster where we went and saw a movie.
She wanted to see Dracula but i didn’t and i saw this one:
Which was gooder then most (she recommended it as she saw it while in JKT)
youtube.com/watch?v=QYTf9QsIj-0
Good thing bout movie complexes is that two people can actually see two different movies! As long as the times are similar.
People who live in SF know about the Cliff House. But this posting is not about that overpriced place. This is about another well known (and somewhat overpriced place) nearby, the Beach Chalet. Actually the Beach Chalet pricing is not unreasonable, but certainly can not be said to be cheap. It’s got a great view (but hard to get one of the window tables in the daytime) and the food is good. And they actually brew their own beer. And its great to try their sampler. I didn’t last nite as I didn’t want to drink six small glasses by myself.
MY bro no longer drinks (good for him) and neither does his wife really drink. My wife doesn’t either so six 200cc glasses will put me over the limit so i had to pass.
Bro and his wife invited us to eat cuz we just had our anniversary. They invited us to the same place last year after we got hitched. That was very nice of them x 2.
I had had a spot of Japanese food at 330 so i wasn’t terribly hungry. Wife and i shared a Caesar salad for 11. Which was excellent. She had the pan fried salmon (22) which she said was really good. I got the fish and chips (17) , also quite good.
Bro had the burger and his wife had the veggie burger. Both said they were good.
We got there at the second half (Kansas City Royals up to bat) of the ninth inning of the World Series. A bunch of people were watching and cheering. They hit one and stole to third base on two fumbles on the Giants side with two outs. So with Giants leading 3 to 2, this was getting critical. Finally game over and Giants won with a good catch.
Meantime, wifey had left two plates of food for Gendut the Big Cat. I said, “what?”
“he will just eat both plates at the same time”. But wifey had cleverly placed the second tiny plate on top of the glass dining table. And he, the cat, often goes up there so he should find it when he gets hungry and gets exploring.
Well we came home to a very hungry cat. He was hungry but fat cats don’t necessarily explore when hungry apparently. Cuz he never found the little plate.
But she pointed it out to him and here he is gobbling down the grub:
Check out the Beach Chalet next time in SF, if near Ocean Beach.
My wife and my parenting skills differ widely when it comes to our cat. Recently she has been quite successful in reducing his fat by feeding him precise amounts of his Fat Cat food. And that is generally a good thing. Except I think that she has gone radical in her approach and a too rapid weight loss is taking place that may not be healthy. The feed guide says to maintain 16 pounds, feed 1 cup and a quarter. But she is only giving him 3/4 cup per 24 hours. I think this is possibly unhealthy a level. He has dropped from 21 pounds when she got back from JKT in Oct to now 19 pounds. 2 pounds is a drastic weight reduction for a 21 pound cat in a short time. So iv been taking to slipping him an extra 1/4 cup in two portions. Sssssh quiet, dont tell her.
Thing is such a reduction has made him easily mad, frustrated and aggressive. And she has a habit of wanting to hug him and then feed him. He is already desperate for food. I say let him eat, then hug him.
So, she got a scratch on the face for her near concentration camp rations !
Another thing that she has gotten to doing, or anyway did once, did not sit well with me.
All cats lick their fur. Gendut has a bit of a compulsive disorder, in that he likes to pull off his hair occasionally and eat that. Of course that is not healthy as it causes more hairballs.
My approach is to gently reprimand him and give him furball medicine (which he does not enjoy) as punishment when he does this. He doesnt do it often, just maybe a couple times a week.
But she has taken to shouting at him and warning him that he will be taken to the bathtub and sprayed with cold water if he persists in this endeavor.
I said “dont shout at him as that will make him vicious”. Don’t forget he is a large Tomcat !
So one night we are off to bed and Gendut takes a bit of hair. She jumps off the bed and carries him off to the tub. And starts the tap (lucky not shower) and he got his feet all wet. Shes pushing him to the waters edge and the cat is shrieking, snarling and snapping.
I put a quick stop to that and had to remind her that he can cause her serious harm if she persists in doing such a thing. And that she will lose all the good will built up over the year with Gendut. I think I’ve convinced her to not do that again.
Cats can be trained by constant persuasion. But one should not shout at one’s cat or physically punish the animal.
That will cause the animal to revert to its wild nature and become aggressive !
[quote=“tommy525”]My wife and my parenting skills differ widely when it comes to our cat. Recently she has been quite successful in reducing his fat by feeding him precise amounts of his Fat Cat food. And that is generally a good thing. Except I think that she has gone radical in her approach and a too rapid weight loss is taking place that may not be healthy. The feed guide says to maintain 16 pounds, feed 1 cup and a quarter. But she is only giving him 3/4 cup per 24 hours. I think this is possibly unhealthy a level. He has dropped from 21 pounds when she got back from JKT in Oct to now 19 pounds. 2 pounds is a drastic weight reduction for a 21 pound cat in a short time. So iv been taking to slipping him an extra 1/4 cup in two portions. Sssssh quiet, dont tell her.
Thing is such a reduction has made him easily mad, frustrated and aggressive. And she has a habit of wanting to hug him and then feed him. He is already desperate for food. I say let him eat, then hug him.
So, she got a scratch on the face for her near concentration camp rations !
Another thing that she has gotten to doing, or anyway did once, did not sit well with me.
All cats lick their fur. Gendut has a bit of a compulsive disorder, in that he likes to pull off his hair occasionally and eat that. Of course that is not healthy as it causes more hairballs.
My approach is to gently reprimand him and give him furball medicine (which he does not enjoy) as punishment when he does this. He doesnt do it often, just maybe a couple times a week.
But she has taken to shouting at him and warning him that he will be taken to the bathtub and sprayed with cold water if he persists in this endeavor.
I said “dont shout at him as that will make him vicious”. Don’t forget he is a large Tomcat !
So one night we are off to bed and Gendut takes a bit of hair. She jumps off the bed and carries him off to the tub. And starts the tap (lucky not shower) and he got his feet all wet. Shes pushing him to the waters edge and the cat is shrieking, snarling and snapping.
I put a quick stop to that and had to remind her that he can cause her serious harm if he persists in doing such a thing. And that she will lose all the good will built up over the year with Gendut. I think I’ve convinced her to not do that again.
Cats can be trained by constant persuasion. But one should not shout at one’s cat or physically punish the animal.
That will cause the animal to revert to its wild nature and become aggressive ![/quote]
I think you got that right Tommy. Aggressive training with cats does tend to backfire. They’re definitely “eat soft, not eat hard.”
Actually shouting and being physical will just result in the cat being afraid of her 24/7.
He’s a cat not a child, he can make no connection between eating his fur and getting carried to the tub.
What aphasiac said. Cats don’t understand punishment at all. It is (as you said) completely counterproductive. Make sure she doesn’t do that again.
As for his fat cat food, be careful about WHAT he eats as well as how much. If he’s eating leftovers from meals, it’s fine to let him eat bits of fatty meat etc - but don’t let him eat rice, bread, sugary things. Cats weren’t ‘designed’ to cope with stuff like that and they’ll get the exact same metabolic disorders that causes human obesity. I think you’re doing the right thing by following the fat cat package instructions.
Richard Curtis could write a rom com about this with the strap line, ‘He needs to make a baby to save his cat.’ Film title: Oh Tommy!
LOL
[quote=“finley”]What aphasiac said. Cats don’t understand punishment at all. It is (as you said) completely counterproductive. Make sure she doesn’t do that again.
As for his fat cat food, be careful about WHAT he eats as well as how much. If he’s eating leftovers from meals, it’s fine to let him eat bits of fatty meat etc - but don’t let him eat rice, bread, sugary things. Cats weren’t ‘designed’ to cope with stuff like that and they’ll get the exact same metabolic disorders that causes human obesity. I think you’re doing the right thing by following the fat cat package instructions.[/quote]
I got him when he was already 4 years old and he refuses to eat anything else other then dry cat food. That was what he was raised on. He refuses canned cat food, or any people food.
So what he is eating now is Nutro dry cat food for Fat Cats. It has 28pct less fat and 11pct fiber. Most dry cat food has 2 to 4 pct fiber.
He seems to like it. He gets ten pieces of cat treats a day too. Which is also dry cat food but with extra flavor.
I actually would like to get him on the raw food that is now readily available. It is more expensive but manageable. One ten pound dry cat food at some 20 bucks lasts him something like 2 months ! So thats about 10/month. With the raw food it may go up to 40/month or so. But I think generally it may be more healthy.
It is ready made and kept frozen. But he would have nothing to do with it at all. Iv tried with a few tiny trial sizes before.
And i cant mix his dry food with water either as he wont eat it if it is mushy. But lately i have taken to spraying his dry food with water and then giving it to him. The small quantities given to him this way means he devours the food promptly before it has a chance to get mushy and he still got quite a bit of water that way.
He is a good boy and tends to take a drink right after eating dry food. Which is great. But I do want to make sure his water intake is sufficient. Its important for long term health. So spraying the small amount he gets at each feeding. He basically gets something like 10 to 20 small pieces per feeding . That 3/4 cup has to last him 24 hours ! And I slip him that extra 1/4 cup. And now that it gets water sprayed on that at least may be some sort of way to make sure he gets liquids.
Everyone said this already but I’ll repeat it. The cat doesn’t have the cognitive capacity to connect eating hair to “punishment.” Animals children adults- every organism capable of learning has a special point where repetition crosses with intensity of experience crosses with immediacy of results to help them learn that Antecedent A leads to Result B.
You’ve got intensity of experience (getting wet in a violent way is pretty intense for a cat) but you don’t have repetition- how often does your cat eat hair? If he did it 5 times a day or so, he might make the link between the hair eating and the spray of water, but I doubt he’s doing it that much. As far as immediacy of results, I bet the cat has forgotten the hair eating before your wife even gets to him to pick him up, let alone gets him all the way to the bathroom, gets the water on, etc. That cat is not linking fur eating to water. That cat is linking crazy lady to water. Soon the antecedent of “mommy coming toward me” is going to be linked to “unpleasant” which is going to suck for everyone involved.
And for god’s sake Tommy, have a conversation about healthy weight-loss taking time. It’s your cat, this isn’t healthy, put your foot down.- what are you sneaking around for?
Well. I am newly married, and I would like to STAY married 
My wife is pretty hardcore when it comes to rules around the house. She’s a little bundle of energy and is also a little Napoleon-ness.
I now have a curfew of 11pm , with permission required for time over ! I can no longer eat anything (but I can drink coffee or tea or water) past 10pm.
With this mindset you can see how suggesting that her little royal highness follows the NUTRO feeding guide is a bit difficult. Easier to sneak the little devil some when he wakes my ass up at 430am !! And again at 630am.
Shes on a mission to reduce my fat and my cat’s fat and she will stop at virtually nothing to accomplish this.
I have dropped bout ten pounds in two weeks and the cat has dropped ten pct of his bodyweight since Oct.
She may be on to me though as the cat’s weight has remained at 9.1kg over the last week 
Yup we have one Queen cat, one FAT CAT and one meek TomCat in our house.
Last nite the Fat One made some noises while licking his hair. Picture our nightly routine. MIsses goes to bed, followed by tommy. The cat walks around and takes a dump or a peepee or both right after I have turned off all the lights (and never BEFORE). I then must get up and clean his cat box. I go back to bed, after turning off lights. Cat then comes into the bedroom and gets into his fav chair and proceeds to clean himself. After ten mins or so he will fall asleep and we can hear him snore (yes Fat Cats do snore).
So Gendut made some noises that appeared to be “eating hair” noises. So Momma cat leaps out of bed and turns on the light and finds a small tuff of hair that Gendut had pulled out. She shows him this hair and berates him (luckily not too loudly…and no trips to the bathtub…I have put my foot down on that).
No more "eating hair " noises the rest of the night. So there may have been some effect?
Well, its about time you and that cat lost some weight. She is probably worried about you both and doesn’t know the best way to make a permanent change. She needs to find out that you and the cat will need to lose weight in different ways. You do need to have a chat though. Maybe take the cat to the vet with her so she can ask questions about how to help the cat lose weight. As for you, she is dung you and your health a big favour. You should be thanking her, not skulking and sulking.
She is young, presumably not got English beyond upper int, just finished her masters and is essentially housebound and biological. You can’t really blame her for trying to make some changes in her environment in areas where she feels she can create change. What else in her life can she really be in control of beyond how you and that cat behave?
Very true. Me and the Dut are her “pet” projects. We got to get her in engrerish school or a JOB !
Shes been hunting for jobs, but it aint as easy as you may think, even for a Starbucks position or a retail position. 
