Good Morning Friends

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Good  Morning

Its a beautiful morning. I’m just dropping in to say Hi and let all of you know I’m still alive. I’m finally getting into this retirement thing. The cats have started letting me sleep until 7:30. Big improvement over that 5:30 wake up call. Of course that doesn’t get my day going too quick.

Happy Sunshine Music - Sunny Morning Positive Music - YouTube

CATS

The cats are doing good. Last night after I went to bed I heard this thumping and crying. They were in a wrestling match in the door way of the bed room. When I interrupted them they immediately stopped and both sat side by side with the most innocent look.  Of course I didn’t have a camera. I don’t sleep with my phone you know. But they were picture perfect. Like what Mom? We weren’t doing nothin’. 

 

My Day

My day gets off to a fun start with Banner chasing his tail in the tub. No water mind you. I think he just likes to slide around. He talks to his tail the whole time too. Balboa is most likely to be high on his perch in the cat tree pretending he’s sleeping. Once I get breakfast going I have to call him over and over to get him to come eat. Then I have to put him right in front of his food otherwise he acts like he has no clue where it is. He is one weird kitty.

Photo credit- Deb Neumann

The rest of the day is pretty laid back.  Until I have my retirement finances settled I’m grounded so I spend most of my days on the deck with a good book or sometimes a not so good book but I read it anyway. If I get restless and think I should take a day trip all I have to do is listen to the traffic report. There are traffic jams everywhere. 2 hours to get on or off the cape, 3 hours to get to I 84. Back ups at the New Hampshire border…where  has all this traffic come from

And Shark Week on TV is making me homesick for Hawaii. I’ve watch “Sharkcano”  a dozen times just for the underwater Hawaii shots. 

At least I don’t wake up in a panic anymore. At first I kept thinking I should be at work. Thankfully that seems to be a thing of the past. 

Well I’ve rambled on with no rhyme or reason so I think I’ve said enough. Me, my cats and I are all well and good. We just don’t have much to say. We’re just chillin’ and loving this weather. Winter will be here soon enough. Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

Its a Rainforest Kind of Day

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Like a Rain Forest

Its going to be hot and humid today. Predicted to hit 100 and rain! So far just cloudy but it was already 77 degrees when I got up at 7:30 am. I usually only run the AC at night. I like the hot weather but when I opened my slider it was like being hit with a wall of hot air. The air is so thick with moisture it feels heavy. I think this will be one of those rare days when  I’ll keep the windows shut and AC on.

Looking out my back door- Photo Deb Neumann

 

Strange Kitties

Well now that the weather report is out of the way I just want to mention that I have very strange cats. I’ve had cats all my life. Each cat has their own quirky personality but there do seem to be some universal behaviors so common they make jokes and cat food advertisements about them You know the ones, you turn the can opened on 50 cats come running. 

Hungry Cats Who Have Just Heard The Sound Of a Can Opening (Memes) - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Internet photo/meme

 

Well not my two cats. 

Photo credit- Deb Neumann

Banner will only eat dry food. I’ve tried enticing him with all sorts of wet food, kitty broths and the stuff in the tubes that you squeeze out.  No interest at all. When I put his dry food out he ignores it too. After I go get busy and leave he’ll go eat a little bit- just to check it out. He eats the most after we go to bed at night. Nothing like those midnight snacks.

Banner- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

 

Balboa is also strange. When it’s breakfast time he’s like a lazy teenager. He’ll peek over the top of his cat tree at me but it takes me calling him multiple times before he’ll come running. Then he has to do this stretching walk thing–2 steps and stretch, 2 more and stretch again.  This goes on until I can grab him and put him in front of his bowl of food. If he had to get the food himself he’d starve to death. Once its presented to him he’ll agree to eat.  Its like he has to have an engraved invitation to come to breakfast!

Balboa- Photo credit Deb Neumann

 

 

Its clear to me that with behavior like that I’ll never get to live off proceeds from cat food advertising. 

Playtime

My cats have other strange behaviors too. Just last night I was trying to get them to play before bedtime. I was using a feather wand. Balboa got involved for about 2 minutes then when Banner came over Balboa went off to sit under the table. It was clearly a sulk because he was no longer the center of attention. He shouldn’t have worried.  Banner had no interest in the feather wand. He want to play with the fishing pole. He was so determined that he managed to drag the fishing pole out of the chest I keep it in for safety. We had a rousing game of chase the lure while Balboa watched from the sidelines.

I have more silly things they do but I’ll save some for another time.

 

A Small order of Pain Perdu, please

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Pain Perdu

Ah,  Oui. Pain Perdu is the French way of saying French toast. They call it “lost bread”.  French toast didn’t even come from France. Nope, we can take our hats off to Rome for this tasty breakfast treat

Pain perdu (French): Literally: "Lost bread"; Translation "French Toast"; French definition: Dessert made of bread or stale brioche dipped in milk and eggs, sweetened and fried.

photo from French Learner

 

Simple But Tasty

French bread is a pretty tasty breakfast dish often served with maple syrup although I like a dusting of confectioners sugar instead. Some folks like fruit (especially strawberry).  Its pretty simple to make and it does work better with stale or at least day old bread. They dry bread absorbs the egg coating better than fresh. I prefer thicker cuts of bread too but usually will use whatever I have on hand.  (Pro tip: Warm the maple syrup before drizzling it over these beautiful slices of toast.)

Credit the Sister

I am going to give credit for this post to my sister. When I wrote about pancakes she commented that she prefers French Toast. So of course once that was in my head I had to make some.  I also needed a reason to try out the griddle on my new stove. Well I guess the stove isn’t so new anymore more but I still hadn’t tried out the griddle. It was so nice and shiny and clean. I was afraid I’d ruin the griddle and not be able to keep it clean. Well here goes nothing. Lets see how it does with French Toast.

French Toast Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 EGG
  • 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 Cup milk
  • 4 slices of day old (stale)  bread

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Whisk egg, vanilla and cinnamon in shallow dish. Stir in milk
  2. Dip bread slices in egg mixture, turning to coat evenly on both sides
  3. Cook bread slices on lightly greased non-stick griddle or skillet on medium heat until cooked through and brown on both sides.
  • This recipe is very forgiving. I almost never measure any of the ingredients and it always comes out good.

My Griddle

So how did my French Toast come out on my griddle? In a word, BEAUTIFUL! The bread took a little longer to cook than when I use a cast iron pan which was my skillet of choice but it browned much more evenly and the end product was great! Turns out the griddle cleaned up easily with a quick sponge down followed by a wipe with a paper towel. I think I’m in love with my griddle.

Here’s a picture of my golden brown French Toast on the griddle right before I plated and dug in. 

photo credit Deb Neumann

I hope you enjoy your Pain Perdu too! Bon Appetit!

 

 

 

Another 4th of July

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4th of July

Another 4th of July is in the books. Happy Birthday America. I’m proud and happy to be an American but I don’t like  our celebrations. It is my least favorite holiday for that.  I don’t ever remember being really thrilled with fireworks even as a kid. They are loud and hurt my ears but at least I grew up in the country where you could put some distance between you and ground zero.  They are pretty to watch after all.  But then I got pets and moved to the city. Such fun, if you are a sadist, watching your beloved fur babies shiver and cower behind and under your furniture.

photo credit Deb Neumann

 

Banner

Banner is my calm boy. He handled this years Fireworks like a champ. We started out with a tremendous thunder and lightening storm in the afternoon. Mother Nature’s fireworks setting the stage for the evening. The rain came down in buckets. Banner snoozed through most of it but Balboa was gone in a flash.  When the rain finally let up and the neighbors started with the fire crackers Banner sat peacefully at the sliders and kept watch. The noise didn’t seem to bother him at all. 

photo credit DebNeumann

 

Balboa

Balboa is the perfect example of a ‘fraidy cat.  He went into hiding during the storm and I couldn’t even find him to feed him dinner.  I shook the treat jar and Banner was there in a flash but no sign of Balboa.  

As it began to get dark and the booms louder I closed up the windows and doors and put the A/C on.  I turned up the volume on the TV. It wouldn’t drown out the Fireworks but if would muffle it a bit.  I hoped that would calm my skittish kitty but no luck.

photo credit Deb Neumann

 

There’s our ‘fraidy Cat

Finally around 10 pm Balboa popped out from behind the dishwasher . He wouldn’t leave the kitchen. He would come up to the edge of the linoleum  and then sit down. He wouldn’t come into the living room for anything – even treats. But Banner went nuts. If I had any doubt that these cats had bonded this put those doubts to rest. 

Banner immediately started talking to Balboa. Lots of little chirps and merps then he got the zoomies. He raced back and forth from the living room to the bedroom and back swinging right up to Balboa on each pass. It was clear that he was trying to get Balboa to play. He might have succeeded eventually if right about then another big fireworks  hadn’t gone off. Boom! And Balboa was gone- back behind the dishwasher. 

Photo Credit DebNeumann

Around midnight I felt a bump on the bed and Balboa curled up next to me. All was quiet and dark and once again all is right in my little scaredy cat‘s world.

photo credit Deb Neumann

Rain and Kitty observations

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Rain Rain Go Away

I saw this post on Facebook and I had to laugh. It took me back to one of my Hawaii trips. It was to the Big Island where I was going diving with Manta Rays.

May be an image of 3 people, people swimming, pool and text that says 'After seeing a group of people in a pool, huddled together under an umbrella to stay dry, I understand why Aliens don't visit us. AMERICASBESTPICS'

I was at the boat launch for the Manta Ray dive chatting with the dive master when it started to rain. It was just a few sprinkles , no thunder or lightening.  One of the other divers interrupted us to point out it was raining and ask if we were still going to have the dive. She was concerned about getting wet in the rain.  I managed not to loose it before she walked away. 

Manta Ray

internet photo

The Perversity of Cats

Banner and Balboa get along good for the most part. One of Balboa’s many nicknames is ALB (Annoying Little Brother). Banner is about 2 months older than Balboa and was the first one added to the household. He is amazingly patient with Balboa but everyone gets pushed to the limit sometimes. 

Balboa has to have attention all the time. If not from me he goes looking for Banner. Banner spends a lot of time in the bathroom sink since there’s only room for 1 there.

Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Let me give you an example. Balboa was asleep on my lap and Banner was sleeping in the Kitty Condo on the new cat tree. I had to get up and that disrupted Balboa so he went looking for Banner. When he found him in the kitty condo he began to inch his way in too. Not much room for both but Banner didn’t fight with him. Instead he wrapped his paws around him and started a crowded grooming session.

Banner & Balboa 2023 Photo Credit Deb Neumann

One More Of the Kitties

Another grooming session. You can see how much bigger Banner is than Balboa here but a lot of it is fur. Banner has a thicker coat that my Persian cat had. We are constantly brushing and combing to keep his coat from matting or him getting hairballs. That’s how he earned his nickname of Fluffy Butt. 

Photo credit Deb Neumann