There is the friendly neighbor cat, who feels right at home…even waits by the door to come in (though she is never invited.)

There is a mushroom house occupied by two cheerful gnomes.

Nearby you will find a rabbit, a deer, a few ducks, and other statuary.

The most recent addition we noticed on our last visit was a little door in a previously unoccupied hole in the walnut tree.  This attracted a great deal of attention and speculation about the occupants, although they did not appear at home when we knocked (many times).

The wildlife varies but is always entertaining. This large green beetle appeared out of the blue a few weeks back, the only one we have ever seen. It must have been lost or taking a rest stop on the way to somewhere else.

We’ve been trying to visit Filoli as often as possible before they close for the rest of the year. We saw a lot more fauna than usual today…perhaps because it was so quiet, few visitors in the gardens.

There were turkeys on the way in. (here is an old turkey pic from another visit.) One of our first stops is always to see the birds…there is one bird in this coop that makes an odd laughing sound…almost like a hyena. Madame told the doves some pretend stories to get them talking.

We saw our first cat ever…one of the gardeners said there are 8-10 cats who live there.

We also came across a chicken, roosted on the side of a path. I didn’t see her at first…madame thought she was a statue until she moved. The chicken was getting comfortable, perhaps about to lay an egg. She didn’t get up or run away…just waited for us to leave.

On the way out, we saw a pair of deer grazing on the grass.

Today I tried out a feature on my new camera called “movie digest.” It takes a few seconds of movie footage before and after each photo I take (while using that setting).

I was pleasantly surprised…not only did it capture the essence of our day, it was a lot more interesting than the video I intentionally took. (Beware, it is a little wobbly in places…now that I know the video is shot before the photo, I will try to be a little smoother in the camera handling. )

Filoli movie digest from Jill C on Vimeo.

“I want you to get that crawling bug. It was crawling around like a loser!”
—The kid asks her mom to banish an insect from the house

We had Wubie for about a dozen years. In that time he became a fixture in our lives. I wanted to jot down a few memories before I forget ‘em, stuff that made our loud and proud friend so special to us.

Floom! (Don’t Mind if I Do)

Whether it be a chair, dinner plate, comfy spot on the bed, whatever—if you left it alone, Wubie saw it as fair game to claim as his own. We jokingly referred to this as “being floomed”:

Mike: “That cat stole my chair!”
Jill: “You’ve been floomed!’
Mike: “And now he’s helping himself to my cheerios!”
Jill (caring as always): “You’ve been floomed squared! Ha Ha!”

We also referred to it as Wubie’s “Don’t Mind if I Do” philosophy:

“You left your glass of milk all by its lonesome for just a sec? DON’T MIND IF I DO!” (LAP, LAP, SLURP!)

“You had to get up off the couch? That’s a mighty warm cushion you just left. DON’T MIND IF I DO!” (CAT BUTT PLANT!)

Cross-Pawed Critter

I never had a cat that crossed his front paws as much as Wubie. This was a very common, natural sitting position for him. When witnessing this I always thought of a spoiled little king. And I was right.

Recently Opened Can Detector

No matter how quiet you were, or how deeply ensconced in the deepest of slumbers Wubie was, if you made a grab for a can opener he’d be jogging down the hallway in an instant.

He’d waddle on up to you (whining all the way, of course) demanding a canned food update along with a sample taste. We called it the cat tax.

“Not Getting My Way” Ears

When Wubie wasn’t getting his way he’d express his dissatisfaction by turning his ears back (I called them his skateboard ramp ears) and emitting a low, guttural whine. Basically, he was trying to act tough.

Jill was pretty good at repeating the sound back to him, very much approximating his tone, timbre and demeanor. I’m unsure if he truly appreciated her talent.

Getting Diagonal

For a little guy he sure could take up space. When he was a youngin’ he loved to get in the center of the bed and “get diagonal” for his naps, pointing his front paws (sometimes called his ‘feeters’) to the top left corner of the bed and his rear paws to the lower right corner.

With this strategy he was able to take up as much space as possible. Interestingly enough, the older Wubie eschewed this approach and ultimately favored the lower left corner of the bed. During this latter phase, I thought of him as a little brown postage stamp on a letter sent to a dreamland for those with whiskers and tails.

As the years went on, whenever we discovered anyone stretched out somewhere we’d say they were “getting diagonal”.

Middle of the Action

This is one Wubie trait that caused the kid much aggravation—and Wubie knew it.

Wubie: “Hey kid, what’s that—you’re in the middle of a board game? (plops himself down on board) SO AM I—DON’T MIND IF I DO!”

Kid: “WAAAAAUUUGH!”

(This is part two of our weekend reunion with old friends…see part one here.)

The next day we got together again for a barbecue. Madame was excited to visit again after getting to stay up late to play the night before…she said she dreamed about the marble run.

The guys lounged in the backyard while the kids played and our hosts cooked…sushi and barbecue.

The weather was perfect, sunny but not too warm. After dinner we strolled over to a nearby park.

Did I mention their almost grownup kitten, Smores? She’s so cute!

“1 – 2 – 3…no peaking dolly!”
— Lucy plays hide and seek with her doll

Lucy loves books and the telling of stories. Today she put on a special show: while her mom read “Mog’s Christmas” aloud, Lucy acted out the story with the help of a few props. Both girls did a great job—even Wubie plunked himself down on the couch to watch the show.

Wubie and I both hope to see more “shows” in the future!

“There are millions and millions of candles sparkling with jewels!”
— Lucy describing the two candles on Jim and Tisa’s dinner table in Kauai

We just got back from Hawaii on Monday night. I’m sure we’ll be posting a video and more pics shortly. In the meantime I wanted to write a quick post featuring Wubie-related messages from a good friend of mine, Chuck, who I’ve known since I was about 14 years old.

In addition to being an all around swell guy, Chuck has helped us out on a number of occasions by agreeing to watch our cat Wubie while we were out on holiday. So, when we went to Hawaii, Chuck kept tabs on Wubie to make sure he was OK.

A Wubie update from Chuck:

Hey y’all,

Just a quick note to let you know that Mr. Stinkybreath Poopsalot is doing quite well. He is as regular as the sun shinin’ in the mornin’. Or something.

Just a few things in case I forget:
He’s missed the box a few times. He’s about a 50/50 shot – which is Shaq-fully dreadful as a free throw shooter.

He also seems to like pushing half the cat litter out of the box and onto the floor. Goof.
I found some disinfectant in the hall closet to clean up the mark of Zorro he created on the bathroom floor.

There was a smallish barf spot last night on the floor kind of between the table and the hallway. Maybe he was partying too hard after the super bowl. Anyhoo, I cleaned that as best as I could, but if you have some better stain remover you might want to go over the area again.

And a non-Wubie note – The TV situation kicked my butt. I tried it to see if I could catch part of the Warriors game, but I couldn’t get it to do anything but NBC and no audio. Minimizing the eye TV stuff, you had some software update boxes up, so I figured I’d leave well enough alone. I had everything shut off on Friday, or so I thought, but when I went over on Saturday the sound only was on. I refuse to believe that Wubie was just messing with me… But, um, you might want to go over all the settings when you return.

Hope y’all are having a great time!

See ya.

From Jill:

Hi Chuck,

you are hilarious. Mike wants to do a post called ‘confessions of a catsitter’ on our blog (permission granted?)

Yep, Wubie has some box issues. Glad he is making 50/50, that is better than average for him! Yep, we noticed the ‘digging to China’ too…I think it might just be that kind of litter that he does that with. Mike just changed the litter the day we left.

There are some cleaning wipes in the bathroom strategically located on the toilet for easy access when there are “misses”. No worries about carpet stains, we’ve pretty much given up. It was cheap carpet anyway!

The barf is probably a hairball, he does those maybe once a month, so hopefully you will be clear for a while.

Mike says for the TV, you can close or cancel the random update things. I find the TV does those ghost noises to me too. I dunno, too many things to control! don’t worry about it.

Now you see why we wanted to pay you!

We are having a lovely time, just switched islands to the Big Island today….and guess what, there is a Wubie here! He is a stray, and has a gray friend, but it was so nice to see that little siamese face when we got here. We have been feeding him and his friend cheese. I suspect other condo dwellers feed them too, he seemed to regard this place as his home.

Mike may have more to add, we’ll see when he gets on his computer (we have cheesy corded internet here, so have to switch off using the cable.)

thanks again for taking care of our cranky old man,

Jill, Mike and Lucy

Jill

From a later email:

In fact, the Wu-Bot has been much neater the last couple of days! However, he seems to have offset the messy behaviors with a rather talkative-roaming-around penchant. Sadly, the volume and the vocabulary is about as inspiring (and mellifluous) as the most cantankerous old school dalek. A dalek in bad need of a breath mint.

Have fun.

Chuck

And there you have it. See, even when he’s out of sight and thousands of miles away, Wubie is always on our minds. Thanks again, Chuck!

“Now we have ‘Stay at home Wubie’ and ‘Travel Wubie’!”
— Lucy, talking about the Siamese cats she discovered outside our condo on Hawaii’s big island

Hawaii is full of life, especially wildlife. It seems like the most alive place on earth. The soil is so fertile and rich, you can plant a clipping and it will grow…just shove a twig in the ground. The birds and bugs and animals also flourish here.

On Kauai, there are wild chickens everywhere…in parking lots, at the beach, park, roadside, backyard, shopping center, even the airport!

We saw an endangered monk seal at the beach, loads of birds, and even a mouse. Eek!

On the Big Island we discovered toads on our lawn, big ones, sometimes hidden in the short grass, so you almost step on them. Last night there was one on the road we had to stop for and let pass. Was that a squirrel, nope, it was a mongoose. And the bumblebees! So gigantic they weigh down any flower or leaf they land on.

And on the beach, we saw crabs, fish, birds and….turtles! Next on the to see list: whales and dolphins. (We saw some whales spouting from the shore on Kauai, but we want to see them a little bit closer.)

This trip we have had cats wherever we went…the resident cats at our hosts on Kauai, and wild ones here on the Big Island. When we arrived, what did we see but…a mirror image of Wubie! A siamese cat in a feral version, in the parking lot, just washing his feet. So naturally we took a shine to him. Then we saw his twin. And tonight, we saw a third siamese.

Those three had friends, all living out on the lava and in the shrubery nearby. Probably every week they get new benefactors from the condo and resort dwellers who miss their own fuzzy friends.

And on the home front, our Wubie is keeping his catsitter busy. But we’ll save that for another post!

“Yes, he is annoying because he doesn’t wake up at 9 or 10 or 11 or 12!”
— Lucy commenting on Wubert’s early morning breakfast demands

“I’m a little girl and he’s not a gentleman so he’s not my little baby!”
— Lucy explaining why Wubie can’t be one of her “babies” (like her dollies)

“Hey look at this—a tall Wubie with a smile!”
“That’s Wubie at night playing baseball! That’s his window, and his treehouse, and his bat, and his baseball!”
— Lucy explaining her latest drawings of Wubert

Way back in 1998, Jill and I had been in our condo for a few short months when we realized something was missing.

1998 was a big year for us. I’d (finally) gotten my BA from SJSU, began working fulltime in Palo Alto, and settled down in a peaceful, quiet condo with Jill. Looking back, it was probably too peaceful and quiet, because we both came to agreement that we longed for the pitter-patter of little feet.

Yep, we needed a cat.

We started looking around, and one day dropped by a local pet store that occasionally showed off rescued cats in need of homes. The store had a little room in the back that housed about a half-dozen cages. On this day the little room held captive a clowder of Persian cats that had been rescued by the aptly titled Persian Cat Rescue Society.

Though we weren’t looking for a Persian, we walked into the room and took a look at the wall of cages, each one housing a pair of cats and a litter box. As we strode by each cage, Jill would give a kind word to each cat:

“Hi, little feller! Aren’t you a cutie!”
“Hiiiiii! Meow, meow, little guy!”
“Look at you! Oh, what a pretty tail you have!”

We were almost finished w/ our little tour when Jill stopped in her tracks in front of a cage. Inside, taking up most of the metal box was a big fluffed out Persian. But next to the Persian, relegated to a permanent spot in the litter box due to the tight confines of the cage, was a small, quiet(!) Siamese cat. Yep, it was Wubie. For Jill, it was love at first sight.

“OH, HI, LITTLE KITTY! LOOK AT YOU! YOU’RE SO SWEET!”

She immediately tried touching the object of her affection, plunging her fingers between the metal bars of the cage. Seeing this, Wubie stepped out of the litter box and flicked on his “charm” switch. (Funnily enough, I think this is the last time he flicked on his charm switch, the little con artist!) He pressed himself against the cage, allowing Jill to pet him while he purred quietly(!)

“Oh, this is the one! I want him!” Jill said excitedly.

“Are you sure?” I asked as I eyeballed the cat. “He’s not a kitten, ya know. He’s a full grown cat.”

“He’s the one!”

I looked at the cat again. “Pretty cat,” I thought. “He seems friendly and low-key.” (yep, famous last words.)

So, while Jill staked out the cage w/ her “claimed” cat, I went looking for a store employee who could help us out. To my surprise, none of the employees could assist with the cat. Instead, they referred us to a Persian Cat Rescue Society flyer with a contact phone number. Remember, this was 1998, so neither of us had a cell phone.

Jill reluctantly left Wubert as we both went out in search of a pay phone. Luckily, we found one right outside the shop. However, our hopes were dashed when our call led to an answering machine.

We left an excited, semi-coherent message, pledging our dedication and commitment to this newly discovered caged beastie, made sure to leave our contact info, and hung up.

I remember that call very well. By that time, Jill’s admiration for this new cat had become contagious. I wanted this cat too. And there he was, looking pitiful and depressed, hunkered down in a litter box behind bars. But we couldn’t save him. The only thing we could do was say goodbye and go home to wait for a call that might never come. We felt utterly powerless.

Time went by, enough time for us to conjure up paranoid thoughts of assorted miscreants swooping in and taking our cat. But then the call came.

“Yes, we want the cat!” Jill said to the woman on the phone.

“Are you sure? He’s a Siamese cat you know.”

“Yes!” Jill said. “I’ve had Siamese before. I know what to expect.”

“What to expect? What are they even talking about?” I thought as I listened in. The majority of my experience had been with gray tabbies. “Whatever. A cat’s a cat,” I decided.

Arrangements were made. When the day came, we drove off to the pet shop, excited as can be. When we saw Wubert, he looked worse for wear than our previous meeting. He now had an infected eye and was looking rather glum.

However, this time we were able to do something about it. We filled out the required paperwork, paid our “adoption” fee, and excitedly purchased cat food, toys, and a litterbox for our new charge.

Once we got him home, our new roommate took some tentative steps around the condo before doing some full-fledged exploring. We named him “Mr. Wu” which eventually turned into “Wubert”. Lately he’s been “Wubie”, the moniker Lucy applied to him.

Now here we are, almost 13 years later. Having Wubie has been great. He’s been a loyal (well, as loyal as a cat can be!) constant companion. However, I now understand much better what it means to share a home with a Siamese cat. Shortly after the adoption, Wubert shed the quiet, tentative demeanor. Once he became fully comfortable, he decided to wave his Siamese freak flag high.

Some observations about Siamese cats:

• They are loud and proud
• If they are lonely or bored, they will let you know about it, loudly
• They are stubborn
• I truly believe that they see many daily interactions as a struggle of wills
• They are incredibly perceptive (Wubert will run and hide if he thinks Jill and I are doing anything that looks remotely conspiratorial. He can sense when a trip to the V-E-T is imminent)
• Have I mentioned they’re loud?

Anyway, that’s the rather longwinded story of how we met Wubert all those years ago. Now, here’s some stuff that’s a little more recent:

Wubie’s getting older, so now he has to see the doctor every now and then. These are some pictures from a recent trip to the V-E-T (we spell it out when in front of him)

The above two pics were taken in the V-E-T’s office. The pic on the right was snapped after Wubie came home after a two day stay at the hospital. They had to put him under while he was there, so they shaved a little window in his sleeve where the needle for the anaesthesia was placed. Here’s a close-up of Wubie’s “window”:

More pics of Wubie after his return home. The left picture above shows him playing the role of customer at Lucy’s “store.” The pic on the right shows the two taking a break.

And here are two last pics of the partners in crime just hanging out. Young Kid and Old Cat—sounds like a cop buddy movie.

BTW, long before this blog was created, Wubie had his own web site. We have an archived version of it here.

“There’s something brown in the town.”
— Lucy spots Wubie in the kitchen

We got a new iMac a couple of weeks ago. It’s pretty spiffy. The deal I made with myself on the actual purchase was:

You want a new computer? Fine—but only if you can pay for it with money made from selling stuff you already have. And make sure to sell the old computer while you’re at it!

Though I’d sold a few things to help pay for it, I hadn’t sold enough to cover the entire purchase—until this morning. Now, it’s been covered (and then some).

I had a pricey gadget that had been sitting in my closet for a while. I decided to post it on a few sites to gauge interest. One of the places I tried was Facebook Marketplace. Talk about a waste of time! Within a few hours of posting the item on Facebook, I received four messages. “Wow, that’s cool!” I thought as I opened the messages. All four messages were from different users with variations on the same scam:

“My (friend/cousin/sibling/etc.) would be very interested in this item. However, they are in (Nigeria/Africa). Can I pay you now? Would you take the following (goofy circuitous route) of payment?”

“Wow, that’s completely lame!” I thought as I deleted the messages.

Luckily, Craigslist came through for me. The prospective buyer and I exchanged emails during the week. Once I determined he was on the up and up, I arranged to meet him in an open public space (a mall). Rules I have on selling stuff:

• never let a prospective buyer inside your house
• cash only

If it’s an inexpensive/bulky item, I might meet them outside my garage. However, for higher priced items, I always meet them in a public space.

You never know who’s going to show up, so you’ve got to use your head and play it safe.  Anyway, the transaction went off without a hitch. Once it was completed, I had a bunch of cash and felt like a rapper for a second. However, I quickly reminded myself that this was money already spent.

Yep, the pragmatic polka singer in me usually wins out.