Tag: pets

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Yesterday, our cat Yuzu snuck out and we couldn’t find her all night long. And it was a coooold night, dropping down into the 40s! ❄️ We realized she was gone at about 8pm, and I walked around the neighborhood, then drove as well, but couldn’t find her… it was quite upsetting, but I was expecting to have a neighbor find her and return her. I had posted in our neighborhood Facebook group and told our cul-de-sac neighbors to keep an eye open for her.

Overnight, we left the garage door cracked open, and a bowl of cat food to try to lure her home. I checked a couple of times during the night and early morning but didn’t find Yuzu, although the food had been eaten. I didn’t know if another cat might have eaten the food or not but was hopeful that Yuzu would turn up today.

But as the day went on, there was no word of any sighting, so in the early afternoon, I made some Lost Cat signs and was going to put them up in the neighborhood. Due to a technical issue (the masking tape was old and not too sticky) I returned home without posting any, and when I pulled into the driveway, I saw Yuzu in the garage eating from the bowl of food!

I quickly got out of the car, closed the garage, and made sure to trap her inside. Then when we went into the garage to get her, she was hiding way back in a corner. Now I suspect that she was holed up there overnight and all day!

So all’s well now, and we’re happy that she is safe and sound and reunited with her sister, Anko, and Lani. And we’ll need to be more careful because Yuzu likes to sneak out! 🐱

Stay warm tonight!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today Bay had a piano recital in North Austin. 🎹 His piano teacher has a large number of students, so the recital is split into two parts, and each part starts with the beginning piano students and ends with the advanced students. I’m proud to say that Bay performed in the last slot of the first recital! 😄

He’s really come a long way since he first began several years ago… time flies… I remember when he was one of the first students in the recital line up.

Since we’ve been going to recitals for a while now, we’ve become old hats at it. I always set up my tripod and make a video of Bay’s performance, and I notice a lot things that newbie photographers do. I guess since I’m a photo enthusiast, and take photos sometimes for work, so I operate in a more discreet way, but I find some of the beginner “mistakes” interesting. For instance not setting the camera’s audio cues to silent. I hear the auto-focus beep go off multiple times before a shot is taken. The beep is annoying since you can hear it on the audio recordings.

Another thing is that people have their tripods set up in the middle aisle, which is fine, but you shouldn’t leave it there for the whole recital. Just put it there for when your child performs, then move it out of the way afterwards.

Also, don’t walk down the middle aisle during the performances. Use the side aisles, or at least wait until the song is over. And it’s nice if you keep your kids from constantly running down the aisle. And also, don’t give little kids in the audience bags of chips! Those things are loud.

Today there was a teenager with her dSLR sitting in the audience, taking photos of her young sisters or cousins who were also sitting in the audience. That is ok for one or two snaps, but not 20 or 30 photos, especially using flash + AF-assist flash, and pointing towards other audience members since your sibling subjects are sitting far across the room. Rude! People are trying to watch/listen to their kids perform, and then someone is firing her flash towards you and making a loud dSLR click noise. Plus, the flash is distracting to the performers.

Anyways, these are just minor annoyances… it’s not like we’re at Carnegie Hall! But I do find it interesting that some people don’t think it is rude, or is it that I am ultra-sensitive to these things? Probably a bit of both. 😋

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Today’s photo is of our cats, resting comfortably together on the sofa. There’s a word in Japanese that describes them perfectly: “Nakayoshi”, which means friendship, or closeness, often when snuggling.

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today’s photos are of our cats, who like to relax in extremely odd positions. Especially the tuxedo cat. I love it when they sleep like that. So funny! 🐱

We normally have kept them in a separate room overnight, but lately we’ve let them roam the house all night and this has led them to coming into our bedroom and hanging out with us. They don’t bother us too much while we sleep, but they tend to make messes in the bathroom. Not poop or anything, but they will knock over houseplants, jump on the counter and push things into the sink, etc. Very annoying! Mariko thinks it’s cute, but I kind of think it’s a nuisance.

Like I may have mentioned before, I like cats, but my preference would be to not have any pets at all. I’m only one of four family members though, so I often get over-ruled on these things. Life’s full of compromises, though, isn’t it? 😜

I hope you had a nice Monday!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today’s photo is another of our crazy cat, Anko. She never ceases to amaze. 🐱

Hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B