Not "Mickey Blue Eyes"

Wow, Mickey Blue Eyes came inside our house for the first time today.  Ever so cautious, he inched inside the front door and explored the living room while we were drinking and watching TV.  I tapped the couch, he climbed on for me to pet him.

Mickey comes here around 6:30 pm every night.  I'm out in the yard as soon as I come home from work, so I pet him and Jordan comes out to meet him too.  Mickey doesn't stay long, he just purrs and meows when we give him our love.  Twice, I have tried to feed him.  Once, we were having a BBQ and I fed him a piece of steak, which he ate.  The second time, I tried to feed him a fish stick, which he utterly refused.

There is NO WAY a stray cat won't eat a fish stick.  He mustn't have been hungry, but what stray cat isn't hungry?  Today, Mickey was hanging out, inspecting the inside of our place. He wandered in and out, all the way into the bedrooms and back out.  

At about 7 pm, Mickey sat at the front door looking out.  I saw him prance.  I told Jordan, "He is hunting something" and ran out in my socks in an attempt to see what he was up to.  I heard a subtle, "Hi guy, how are you?".  I ran over really fast to the voice and said, "Is he your cat?"   I had not even seen Mickey!!!

The neighbor was shocked, but he replied affirmatively.  I proceeded to tell the neighbor I was so happy that Mickey had a real owner.  I explained to the neighbor how Mickey was kind of finicky, hissed when touch certain ways, and Jordan thought he could not be trusted.  I told him that I attempted to feed Mickey twice, but once he did not eat.  The owner said, "Yeah, he is a weird cat.  He likes to be touched like this [pet cat] and he only likes two kinds of food [named kinds].  Please don't feed him".

The neighbor said the cat's real name was "NICKY".  He said Nicky adopted them as he originally belonged to someone else on the same street.  The neighbor tried to give NICKY a new name, but he wouldn't have it.  He has been living with them for 3 years.

Wow, no wonder he responds to the name we gave him, "Mickey".  It's crazy, he actually knows his name and can't recognize the difference between Nicky and Mickey.  Anyhow, the owner and I shared all kinds of tidbits about Mickey (we will continue calling him this).  

He likes to be pet a certain way, is a picky eater, and sleeps in his owner's BED.  So, WHERE THE HELL WAS HIS OWNER WHEN HE MEOWED OUTSIDE OUR DOOR ALL NIGHT?  Ok, so I had to ask the owner that (much more kindly).  He said, "Was it about a month ago?"  I replied, "Yes!" and the man said, "I was in Mexico!"

So, Mickey just wanted to sleep indoors!  Well, at least we know we can just enjoy him and we have no real responsibilities.  The owner said, "You are the orange house in the corner?"  I replied, "Yes". 

"He likes interesting yards".  

So, I take that as a compliment.  We have a stalker cat as he likes "interesting yards".  What the heck does that mean?

Mickey Blue Eyes

He camped at our doorstep all night:
And he was there meowing the next morning:  

Pinchi Gato

I haven't done much gardening this week as I went back to work.

Sometimes when I come home, I harass the guys to have dinner with me outside, sitting on our camping lawn chairs next to our plastic cube-light patio table.   I love this table, when you come over I'll plug it in, but I need a real patio set.

We made friends with a gato today while we were outside having dinner.  He is white-orange, long haired and his is name is Mickey [mickey blue eyes].  Yes, in honor of my Hugh Grant boyfriend and Jordan's love for mobsters.  

Mickey is a little weird.  He is right now meowing at the door, he has been for a few minutes, but it's more like 20-45 minutes.  Mickey is persistent and strong and he never lets up.  If you can imagine a beautiful cat tweaking, that's Mickey.  He is fidgety and while you can pet him, he might turn around and snap at you if he doesn't like something. 

Mickey is a street gato, living the crazy life chasing birds and avoiding predators around here, but he has pretty long hair and he's tough.  He has the most amazing blue eyes I have ever seen and his paw will slap you if you try to get up to walk away.   Soon, I will take a picture of him, but I can't now (even though he is crying at our front door) as he might return night after night to annoy us.  GEEZ, HE DOES NOT LET UP!  I am listening to him as I type.

Besides Mickey, we have a thief.  These perfect cuts are evidence:

HOLY MACKAREL, I AM SCARED.  I am sitting here typing and Jordan comes out to tell me, "Do you see, he is looking at you through the window!"   Mickey is freaking me out.  Apparently, he's propped up on the window sill and is meowing and making occasional hissing noises.  I do hear him, but I've been typing this whole time and didn't notice he is stretched out, standing on his two back legs, with the front paws on the window sill.  All you see is this tiny little face, but he's spooky now!  I gotta go take a picture.

Freed

No More Peanut Butter

So, I've decided I hate the peanut butter plant.  In our garden, it is growing over everything and I've learned its got another name, Kruidjie-roer-my-nie, which means "herb-touch-me-not". This website says it's toxic if you eat it, but people use it medicinally.  Instead of waiting until next month, I decided to trim a bit of it today, I couldn't wait.  At first glance, all you see are the thick ugly stalks.

I trimmed a bit, and mind you, the reason I had to wait was because I am no gardener.  I make a

note of needing the following:  1) Small rake 2) Hat for sun  3) Gardening scissors.  I cut away at the leaves, feeling a bit strange as I get to decide what gets to live, what has to go, and what gets to stay.  I cut away, until I uncover what lies beneath the freaky peanut butter plant.  Go ahead, laugh at my tools.

I don't know how long it has been since these pretty ones last saw the sky.  The peanut butter plant was hovering over them, I didn't even know they were there until pulling up a large stalk of it. It was like uncovering a treasure!

I got excited, cut and threw away almost all of the Melianthus major.  I missed a nice photo op. When I was sitting in the lawn chair drinking tea, I saw a huge lizard in the yard, about 3 ft away from me.  I reached for the camera, but it ran for its life.

I moved on and caught a glimpse of a palm tree, hiding behind and held captive by some vines coming over the fence.  

Clinging

Sometimes I find grass growing in a sea of cement and it amazes me. Today, I saw these little guys clinging to a rock in our garden. 

I's crazy how life can survive with so little.  There is no soil and you can see how the roots are spreading down from the rock, trying to find some nutrients.   These little guys sprouted out of nowhere. Multiple coincidences had to concur for this to happen.  As a payment for their modeling, I gave them a little water and put them back in the same spot.  I will check on them more regularly now that I know where they live.  

Succulent Beginning

The black tree, or purple crest aeonium, is the queen of our backyard.  

Someone planted interesting succulents here, but they have been long forgotten and find themselves in need of love.  Weeds and other plant types have invaded their terrain.  

The purple crest is exotic and frail in appearance, but it's quite resilient and struggles to maintain its dominance  A bright yellow flower is supposed to be its bloom and I can hardly wait to see it.

It's plump leaves store water for the dry summer and I see little ones claiming ground here and there.  There are other succulents in this garden, which will be featured in time.   

Right now, from a baby purple crest, the dew of the morning hangs on...