In the words of the philosopher Annie...

"The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow!" Welcome to "tomorrow"... for the first time in 4 or 5 days, the Tropical Tip is sunny once again. Still struggling to get the temperature back where it should be, but I am surprised at the difference in attitude. A tough day in our household yesterday, with a couple hours at the vet, where we found some kind of upper resperatory and sinus bug had our sweet kitty ill. Antibiotics and nose drops, and she seems to be on the mend.

I played guitar this morning, and she hopped up beside me. She is my second biggest fan. We knew she wasn't feeling good when she didn't come running when I pulled down a guitar the past few days.

Music and the "savage" beast.








-------------------

On Edit: 

Little Izzy is definitely improving.  She has been sleeping on a heating pad, but getting up occasionally to grace us with her presence.  At one point, she poked her head out from where she had been under a blanket...

There is some spark back in the eyes, and she gave me leg rubbing at feeding time (part of our meal ritual).  This photo is unusual, in that you don't see her mane (behind the blanket)... it almost looks like she is at the beauty salon, ready for a haircut (the way that blanket is in front of her).

A better look at the mane...

Sorry for the crappy cell phone image.

The furry girl...

Little Izzy had a tough weekend - the poor little furry girl isn't feeling good.  A trip to Dr. Julie (Izzy's vet) shows that she has a low grade fever, possibly a nasal and upper respiratory issue.  She didn't eat much over the last couple days, and that is an issue with cats.  An antibiotic shot and nose drops - we're hoping this gets her feeling better soon.

This isn't her typical bright-eyed face...

Dr. Julie's office didn't have any available appointments for the next few days, but we were told we could come in right away and they'd work us in where they could - "Prepare for a wait."  Fifty minutes later, we were into an exam room... better than I usually get at a doctor with an appointment.

Izzy does not like being poked and prodded, but she is pretty docile - she won't bite or scratch; but she is a little powerhouse  She will squirm and kick her way out of being held.  It takes two of us to administer the nose drops.  I'd like to think she knows it is for her own good.

Anyone remember the 60s?

If you are too young, you still may have heard the saying: "If you remember the 60s, you really weren't there."

I was there.  I remember a bunch of it.  I remember that February in 1964, seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan... that shaped some of my musical life.  Because... you know... chicks, man.  I'm still convinced that 5 years later, being in a band helped convince this young blonde girl to go out with me.

So, here's a tribute to The Beatles, one of my favorites of their songs...

https://soundcloud.com/captainjimb/got-to-get-you-into-my-life

Joan is working on a quilt project; Izzy is snoozing on the couch; I've got time to play in my music room... none of us has any interest in going outside in this snotty weather.

-------------

On edit: a couple more songs recorded this afternoon.  The first one is a cover of the Dave Loggins, also covered by Kenny Chesney, Please Come To Boston...
 
https://soundcloud.com/captainjimb/please-come-to-boston


The second is song by Eric Stone, Reggae Guy...

https://soundcloud.com/captainjimb/raggae-guy


At this rate, if the weather doesn't break soon, I will have used up my whole SoundCloud allotment.  ;-)


------------------------

Another edit:

There is a full moon tonight - the Wolf Moon - and, it's a Supermoon. I'm trusting that is true because the same heavy overcast that left us with drizzle and making sure the temperature didn't get out of the 40s here (Tropical Tip??) is preventing us from seeing the moon.

Happy New Year!

2018 is coming in like a lion.  Let's hope the rest of the year is more lamb-like.  What?  That's the month of March?  Somebody tell Mother Nature.  The anticipated norther blew in with a bang overnight, awaking to winds out of the north at 27 gusting to a million; 43º and that is as warm as it's going to get.  Spitty drizzle.  More rain coming.

Anticipating all this, we took down our outside Christmas lights yesterday and I wrestled the cover onto the boat.  It looks like this snotty weather is going to be around for a while.

Joan and I had our traditional quiet evening, even stayed up past midnight - watched the ball drop in Times Square at 11:00 our time, just in case.

I'm not a resolution-maker, but I'm hoping for a kinder 2018. 

Considering...

On the Carbon Fiber guitar forum, where I participate pretty regularly, there is a guy with an Emerald X7 looking to sell or trade.  He would like a bigger guitar.  Incidentally, I have a bigger guitar (a RainSong Shorty limited edition) that hasn't been out of its case in a year.  Yes, I already have an X7... this one on the forum is an amber color with upgraded tuners and pick-up.  I sent him a note.

He wanted to see photos of the Shorty.  I got the guitar out, and Joan and I both said, "Oh - I forgot how pretty that guitar is."  It is one of 15 made with the abalone soundhole rosettes and sharks as fret markers, and an all-gloss finish on this particular model.

After sitting all that time, the guitar was still in tune.  (Another nice feature of carbon fiber)  I took the strings off, polished it up, put new strings on, and took some photos...

Some close-ups that show pick gouges that happened when I lent it out for an evening.  You have to disclose stuff like this for guitar fanatics.

Yep, this guitar looks, plays, and sounds great.  Interesting situation.

Making tracks...

Nah, that joke is too easy.

I put a bass track and some drums on The Letter, that I recorded a couple weeks ago...

https://soundcloud.com/captainjimb/the-letter-wdrums-and-bass

The weasels said it would be sunny and around 70º today.  Close.  Solid overcast, occasional mist, barely made it to 60º.  I thought we might get out on the boat, but no.  I did get strings changed on a couple guitars.

Joan made chili and cornbread - just right on a day like this.

Guilt...

It's not a pretty emotion.

Even less so when someone (and I won't mention any names here, but it's my daughter Stephanie) tries to take you along on her guilt trip.

If you saw the previous post about that big ol' fur-ball Alfie, our grandcat, you may have noticed it was photographed with reasonable lighting so you could see his winter fur.  And, that impish face.

Steph and Dan have two other cats, both females.  Joan and I don't play favorites - we lavish plenty of attention on all three when we are there.  Torrie is the eldest, at 17.  She is special because she is the first furry family member for Steph and Dan, and the first pet period for Dan.  A medical situation with Torrie led to Steph and Dan canceling their plans to come here for Christmas... something that Joan and I understand and fully support.

Torrie is a mostly black with some gold tortoiseshell.  With all the black fur, it is tough to get a good photograph of her.  Of course, someone whose name I won't mention (but again, it is Stephanie) worked in our studio for a number of years... doing all jobs, including shooting.  Apparently, the posting of the previous Alfie feature caused a bout of guilt in my sweet little girl, and she sent me some photos of Torrie and Tasha, telling me how hurt they were that they didn't get featured in a blog post.  Alas, we had no photos of "the girls," because someone (do I have to tell you who?) didn't send me any photos of "the girls."

So, I just got some photos of "the girls," apparently hastily photographed, and not much regard for exposure or positioning.  Because I am a good Daddy (and cat-Grandpa), I spent some time getting the best possible out of those images.

Here's Torrie...

Torrie is a little bit of a thing, with the tiniest paws I've ever seen on an adult cat.  For the first 16 years, it has been very apparent that Dan is her favorite.  I don't speak "cat," but I am pretty sure I heard Torrie say to Dan, "Why do we let her live with us?  She is always trying to come between you and me."  (referring to Stephanie)  In the last year or so, Torrie has not only accepted, but embraced life with Steph.  Torrie was a "girl of the streets" before being rescued by Steph and Dan.

This is Tasha...

This is Tasha's back...

No, I have no idea who thinks this is her best side.  Apparently, someone who hurriedly took a photo, apparently while Tasha was laying on her feet.  It took a lot of photo manipulation to find any detail in that image.

This image shows some personality...

That is a big cat (Tasha is also a 15 pound Siberian Forest Cat, and if you were buying her an outfit, it would be: size Pretty Plus) under a low table.  Tasha has a beautiful sweet face.  I am amazed that she can fit herself in that skinny space, though.

Here is a photo I took of Tasha when she was brand new in the family...

Yes, she had to have the "cone of shame" to keep her from licking some stitches (from getting "fixed").  Such a sweet little face.

All three of our grandkitties are special to us.  We can only post new photos when someone (need the name??) sends some.

Steph was concerned - or rather, she said "the girls" were concerned - that they wouldn't be in a blog post before the end of the year.  Yeah, I have that covered.  ;-)