Where have I been?

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Where Have you been?

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Sorry I neglected to write a post last week. I wish I could say it was because I was out doing fun and exciting things but my Cats have been monopolizing my time. I think I’ve convinced Banner to skip the night time lullaby but now he’s extended his morning symphony to  start at 4 AM. And he doesn’t stop! I’m trying to ignore him hoping he gets bored or tired and stops when he doesn’t get any attention. It’s not working.

 

5 Common Cat Sounds and What They Mean - FetchFind Blog

photo credit – internet

Nighttime Ritual

Once I had Banner on silent mode I thought I would get a good night’s sleep but now Balboa has developed a strange habit. He has to sleep curled up under my chin. He’s an 11 lb. cat, not a tiny kitten! He gets in bed once I’ve settled in, unusually almost asleep. He hops up and if I am not in the right position to suit him he stares at me, pushes my face with his paws and finally tried to stretch over me. I have to give in and give him room to get comfortable or no sleep for me. Its nice that he is so loving but seriously? 

photo credit- Deb Neumann

 

The worst part…if I have to get up at all during the night we have to go through it all again. I hate to say it but I’m getting tired. Is this what it’s liked to be loved to death?

So Where Have I been?

I’ve been taking a lot of naps. Not on purpose. I’ve just found that thanks to my furry little friends and my interrupted sleep  I can drop off almost as soon as I get up. Feed the little buggers, change the litter , fix my breakfast and boom! I’m down for the count. Needless to say I’m not getting a lot done. I’m so glad my lifestyle allows me to do this even if it makes for boring blog posts! 

 

 

Take A Nap! 5 Secrets That'll Make You Happier And Smarter - Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Internet photo

 

Cat Trees and Me

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Another Cat Tree

I don’t know if you remember but when I got my 2 little hellions I also set up a brand new cat tree for them. Within in months Balboa took a flying leap from the back of the chair to one of the top seats and crack! Broke it right off!  It was bad enough that I never got the stupid thing together right so it was missing a “condo” and had a tilt, like the leaning tower. It was the cat tree version of a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

photo credit Deb Neumann

 

Of course I immediately bought another one but then it sat in a box for close to a year. In case you didn’t notice, I’m not very good at putting cat trees together.  Needless to say that old lopsided cat tree was really starting to look ragged. 

photo credit Deb Neuman

Construction time

I’m blaming it on spring cleaning. I needed to have my old bed frame removed so I called a local company I’ve used before and figured I’d have them take the old cat tree too. Once that was done I needed to put the new cat tree together quickly before I had a fuzzy critter revolt.

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photo credit Deb Neumann

 

I had a rough start getting the right poles set in the right places on the base but once that was done it went pretty smooth until I got the 2nd level added. Then I got help- unwanted help. Notice Balboa’s eyes. Those are the eyes of insanity!

 

photo Credit- Deb Neumann

There are still more levels to go!

Done!

It took about 3 hours especially with all of the help but I’m glad they were interested. I didn’t even have to use catnip to encourage them. Banner likes the little condo but Balboa is the King of the hill. He has to take the tippy top. 

photo credit Deb Neumann

This deluxe cat tree has 2 dangling toys and one rope. I wonder how long the dangling toys will last? I think they put them on to make the owners happy. Every cat I’ve ever owned makes that their first mission- to destroy the dangly things. 

A Day In The Life

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A Day in the Life

Good Morning World. I thought I would share a day in my life. Being retired isn’t easy when you have 2 cats. Mine are named Banner (AKA Fluffy Butt)

Photo Credit – Deb Neumann

 

and Balboa

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

 

 

(Aka Munchkin or Wreck it Ralph or Sir Talks Alot. Some times he’s described as the “Annoying Little Brother”. If I hadn’t had gray hair when I adopted them I would now. I don’t know what has gotten into these guys. The terrible twos maybe?

 

The Adventures of Fluffy Butt

Banner used to be so quiet.

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

 

He was a funny kitten. He didn’t want to sit on anyone’s lap but he did want “pets”. When you gave him those pets he would purr so loud his little body would shake with excitement. Then he’d bite you. He thought it was a love bite.  He still gets that way but he’s bigger now and so are his bites.

The Mini Monster

Balboa is much smaller than Banner but he seems to get in more trouble although appearances can be deceiving. 

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

 

Balboa taught Banner how to open cupboard doors. He also demands attention- constantly.

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

 

Where Banner bites Balboa stretches up a little paw. He’s got the  “look” down pat. 

Cute cat that looks exactly like Shrek's Puss in Boots has ...

The “Look”- Photo credit- Internet

So cute until he extends his sharp little blades of claws. “Pay attention Hooman!” “Pick me up”  Once up he gets picked up he wants to get down so we can do it all over again.

PBR

One of the first things I discovered when I started streaming was the PBR Championships.  For those who don’t know PBR stands for Professional Bull Riding- That’s Rodeo Baby! Bucking bulls mostly but sometimes they throw in calf roping and barrel racing. I love to watch it but Banner and Balboa , not so much. They have a 2 pronged attack. Balboa climbs onto my lap while Banner sneaks behind my chair and proceeds to scratch. I respond with the compressed air can and both run. (Water didn’t work) It doesn’t keep them away long so I try distraction. 

We have the feather wand and the Red Dot (Laser pointer) They have a short attention span so that only works for maybe 10-15 minutes. I try cat nip and when all else fails treats. In the meantime I am missing all the PBR action.

Glendale to host stop on PBR Team Series schedule | The Daily Independent at YourValley.net

Photo Credit – Internet

Thursday night PBR was on late. 11 pm. I tried to stay awake to watch but gave up around midnight. That’s when Banner decided a serenade was in order.  

Midnight Music

The Meows started just as I was drifting off. Banner was sitting in the bathroom so he could get the most amplification for his melody. I got him out of the bathroom, gave him some heavy duty petting and hoped that would settle him down. Nope he headed for the living room to continue with his distressing ballad. I think he wanted to enlist Balboa as back up singer. 

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

It took awhile but finally the concert was over. Right at the edge of sleep I was pounced upon, I guess since Banner was quiet now Balboa was bored and decided to come to bed with me. Mind you, I have a twin bed. That was ok when Balboa was a kitten but he takes up a lot of real estate now that he’s grown.

Photo credit Deb Neumann

Finally around 2 AM I managed to fall asleep.

Good Morning!

It’s 5:30 am! Rise and shine. Banner wants breakfast so he’s in the bathroom again.

Banner’s evil face- photo credit Deb Neumann

 

Not only is he doing the cats version of the top 40, he has opened the medicine cabinet and is pulling everything out into the sink.  Ignoring him is not an option if I am to prevent widespread destruction. That means I got about 4 hours sleep.

With the cats fed I decided to share my woes with all of you. The cats decided to explore the kitchen.  You’d think they were deprived. Look at all the toys!

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

But they’d rather play with a piece of plastic they found under the sink. 

Photo Credit – Deb Neumann

Agh! I’m going to try to get a nap!

 

Are Aliens visiting Earth?

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 Aliens? Really?

Well no, according to the eminent physicist Stephen Hawking. “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans,”  Link

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Calvin & Hobbes

The Phoenix Lights

Are the Phoenix Lights UFOs? They are unidentified and they are flying so I guess they are UFO’s. The first sightings showed up in March of 1997 over the southwestern states of Arizona and Nevada. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area.

Illustration from USA today

Hudson Valley UFO’s

Lets leave the southwest alone for a minute and head east, Long before the Phoenix Lights in 1997, the Hudson Valley in New York State was having their own run of unidentified lights. During the summers of 1983 and 1984 the Hudson Valley was plagued by sightings of a gigantic craft, black as the sky, rimmed with bright lights in white, red, or green. It would drift over towns with a steady hum, witnessed by many. It traveled over the Taconic Parkway, Westchester county and parts of Connecticut. The UFO was seen by hundreds of  eye witnesses. 

The object was described as extremely large, 300-400 yards wide. Often described as triangular with a series of lights. As I read this description all I could think of was the Phoenix Lights. 

0095052 Granger - Historical Picture ArchiveUFO: LUBBOCK LIGHTS, 1951. <br />Flying formation of lights photographed by Carl Hart, Jr. on 30 August 1951 in Lubbock, Texas.

The FAA and law enforcement blamed local pilots flying in formation but witnesses said is was 1 large craft, not a series of planes and traveling too slow  for a plane.  It couldn’t be a formation of helicopters because they would make a lot more noise than  this craft.

For more details I recommend reading “Night Siege” by J. Allen Hynek, Philip J. Imbrogno and Bob Pratt

Conclusion

So what is the truth about the fantastic light formations in the sky above the Hudson River Valley? Were they aerial stunts performed by sophisticated pranksters? Or did the flying objects come from somewhere beyond the stars?

Maybe Calvin’s got the right idea

I’m with Stephen Hawking. I don’t think I want to be around to meet our Alien Neighbors.  Its fun in Science fiction but I can think of so may things that can go wrong in real life .

Is It Time to Cut the Cable?

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Cable is so Expensive

Now that I’m one of the retired community I’ve been looking for ways to cut my expenses with the least possible impact on my lifestyle. I’m waiting patiently for the real estate world to recover from the Interest increases so that my retirement account will get healthy again. But  one of my biggest monthly expenses is cable. I have the Bundle which is supposed to save me money but it just keeps going up. Even worse is that there is nothing on TV . I watch only about 5-6 channels  and can probably do the narrations on each program since they are all re-runs. I can’t cut out those unused channels because then I would lose the package with the ones I do watch. 

Bored Girl Watching TV Stock Photo, Picture And Royalty Free Image. Image 45245634.

Stock photo

The phone is part of the package but I get so many spam calls that I shut the ringer off. When I see the message light I check it but other than that it just takes up space on my desk. We all want to remember to get the car warranty updated, right? Everyone uses my cell phone.

 

Spam call vector phone fraud and scam design Spam call vector Phone fraud and scam illustration. Hacker unknown number calling on smartphone. Fake robocall, vishing and anonymous incoming call robocall stock illustrations

stock image

Step 1

Photo credit- Deb Neumann

I started the process a couple of weeks ago when I found a sale on Roku TV’s. For $99 I was able to order a nice TV for the bedroom. I need Forensic Files on when I try to go to sleep. My old TV couldn’t stream so a new TV was needed. That worked out great. The new TV even has an easy to set sleep timer. So far it’s been working great.

Step 2

Now that I’ve figured out the new TV, I took the 2nd step. I upgraded my HULU account to add Live TV.  Then I switched back and forth between cable and Streaming to be sure the Live TV matched what was on the cable. It did! I’m going to see if I can handle streaming only for about a week. I don’t see a “guide” on the streaming platform so I’m probably just not familiar with it yet. Anyway, if it goes well I will turn off the cable and phone next week. I will keep the internet.

Step 3

So as I said, If all goes well I’ll be cable and phone free next week. Then I’ll turn in the cable boxes (That’s $20 just for the box rental) My cable company will want their modem back since it’s a phone and internet modem so I think I’ll buy my own internet modem and then the transition will be complete

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Image of modem

Almost There

So I’ll let everyone know how it goes. If I decide to finish the final steps it should save me about $100 a month. Hulu is $70 and includes Disney Plus which I’ve been paying extra for. I’m not sure how much internet alone costs but I’m guessing it’s probably around $80 / mo. So that’s $150/ mo. instead of the $250 per mo. I’ve been paying. That kind of savings certainly makes this experiment worthwhile.

I’ve checked the channel list on HULU and all of the channels I watch are there. Just have to figure out how to tell what’s on the schedule, I’m so used to scrolling the channel guide!