Winter 2012...

January Snow...
In the aftermath of our first snow fall of 2012, Daisy and Toto took turns looking at the snow from the front window. In order for both Daisy and Toto to look out the front window at the same time, the curtain needs to be moved so that Daisy can use the kitty condo as a perch because, obviously, Toto and Daisy cannot share the sofa.

At this festive time of year, when the temperature begins to drop and little white flakes of death fall from the sky, it seems appropriate for the people in the "City of Brotherly Love" to toss their kitties out in the cold. A recently displaced orange kitty has been seen hanging around the neighborhood. Daisy was the first to notice a strange orange face peeking in at her from the front window. Soon afterwards, Toto and Otto lined up behind Daisy to catch a glimpse of the orange kitty. The orange kitty seemed to be somewhat skittish around people, so, the kitty ran off as soon as it noticed that I was watching.

Did I Mention That Otto Doesn't Like The Cold...
A couple days ago, the first indication of a problem was when Otto, started meowing. Eventually, we realized that the heater was off. I reset the unit and it made a promising rumble as the gas burners kicked in, but, in less than a minute our hopes were dashed, when the blowers failed to start and the burners shut off. We called for service on Monday, but, we got an answering machine instead. We cranked up the space heater in the living room and Otto and Daisy immediately planted themselves in prime locations in front of the space heater.

Mom was not a happy camper. After a modestly chilly night, she called Tuesday and got through to a person. They came early Tuesday afternoon and replaced a part that had been previously replaced. The part was still under guarantee, so, there was no charge for the visit.

Then, overnight and for the second time in a s many days, my heater decided to stop working. I don't really appreciate this new-fangled technology. My old heater would rumble and complain and I would have to set the temperature at 80 degrees just to get the tiniest wisp of heat out of it, but, it never simply refused to work. My new heater seems to want to quit on me, if I look at it the wrong way. Otto is not happy with the heating situation and gave me quite a lecture this morning.

Then, later in the morning, when Mom discovered that the heater wasn't working, yet again, she was a very unhappy camper indeed. Our heating contractor showed up right away and replaced the same part that went wrong a couple days ago. Though, this time around, he used a different brand. Hopefully, (fingers crossed) this will do the trick. Fortunately, we're still under warranty, so, no charge.

Christmas 2011...

Christmas day started very well. Mom spent much of the morning cooking. This year's menu included a 30-pound roast pork, which took eight hours to cook. The menu also included stuffing, meat balls, a seafood salad, tuna salad, potato salad, baked sweet potatoes, collard greens courtesy of Junior's wife, Karen, and red rice with beans. This year's deserts included fruit-filled pastries, a lemon-meringue pie, a pumpkin pie, a pineapple cheesecake and a coconut-custard pie.

After most of the cooking was complete, Tony passed out presents. This year's big present, a telescope, went to Amanda. Alex scored some electronic gadgets and Anthony scored some video games. Meanwhile, the kitties, Otto and Daisy had a field day with the wrapping paper and boxes.

Sadly, Liz decided to cut things a bit short and picked up the kids early in the afternoon. Tony went home early. Amanda made sure to take plenty of food before leaving. Still, Mom and I were a bit concerned that we were going to be stuck with all this food.

Then, Junior and Karen arrived. Junior sported a gash on his hand from a recent knife accident. Unfortunately, they couldn't stay very long as Karen was cooking and had left the oven on.

Later, Cristina and her family arrived. Karoline, Christina's daughter, decided not to come -- which suited everyone just fine. Apparently, Karoline was unhappy with the lump of coal, Santa left in her stocking. They stayed for a while and ate very well. Sadly, they had to leave a bit earlier than expected when Christina's step-son suddenly had an allergic reaction to the kitties. However, they too, also made sure to take plenty of food with them before leaving.

And last, but not least, Tony's other step-mother from Puerto Rico and her daughter showed up. They stayed for quite a while. Mom noticed that they like a little soda with their ice. But, they did refill the ice tray once it was empty. They spent most of their time catching up on family events and trading family gossip. Eventually, they left and Mom and I packed everything up. All things considered, it was a good day. We didn't really have to worry about no one eating as nearly everything was gone.

Pre-Christmas...
It's been a busy week leading up to Christmas. Recently, there was a house fire a block away from us. My grandmother's grandson (Ilda's son) lived on the next block up from where I live. Ilda's son lived by himself and apparently used space heaters to keep warm. A space heater on the first floor ignited a fire. The whole first floor of his house was completely engulfed in fire before anyone noticed and called the fire department. Ilda's son was on the second floor while the fire raged below. By the time he smelled smoke, it was already too late to escape through the front door. And, when he opened the door to his bedroom, the fire got a big gulp of air and exploded in his face. From what I've heard, it appears as though Ilda's son had suffered burns on his face, chest and arms. Fortunately, after being burned, he managed to crawl out of his second floor window, onto his porch roof and then onto his neighbor's porch roof. It was a really intense fire that completely destroyed the house. One firefighter was also injured, but, we were unable to find out how. Ultimately, the fire was big enough for at least two alarms.

In the latest controversy to spring up in the family. It seems that Anthony and Alex were both suspended from school. Amanda tried her best to cover for the boys, but, came up a bit short when school administrators decided to call their parents. A big stink ensued, but, everything seemed to calm down towards the end of the day.

There have been a few Christmas-related incidents involving the kitties. When the fake tree first went up, Toto wanted to taste the fake tree to see if it really tasted as fake as it looked. Otto seems to have an on-and-off love affair for the lights in the window. Meanwhile, Daisy, not to be outdone, was caught in the act of abusing Mom's Christmas curtains and was even seen chewing on some of the presents. Yesterday, Otto, decided to crawl into the pile of presents under the tree and manged to turn the tree lights on. With two days left before the jolly fat man arrives, I don't think there will be any serious issues with the kitties.

For the last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, Mom was busy with last-minute preparations. This year, it looks as if we'll have a pretty good turn out. Tony, Liz and the kids, of course. Junior, Karen and Christina and company are also expected to arrive. Raymond's (Tony's father) wife and daughter are also expected to make an appearance. From what I gather, Raymond has taken a few bad falls and is not in the best shape. Raymond's wife apparently has some sort of serious medical condition that required her to come to the U.S. mainland for treatment. It looks like it'll be a busy weekend.

Before Christmas, My Chimney Imploded...
Two weeks before Christmas, my heater decided to stop working. I let Mom know that it was going to be cold and then she got out of bed to see for herself. We looked for Michael's (our heating contractor) phone number and after about an hour of searching through years of receipts, I found Michael's number. Michael came out the same day and got the heater to start up, but, then it shut down again. Michael decided to have a look at our chimney and discovered that it had collapsed in on itself. The heater had shut down because it was starved for oxygen and was also venting carbon-monoxide into the house. Not killing Mom and I was a safety feature.

The good news was that the fix would only take a couple of hours. The bad news was that Michael wouldn't be able to fix the chimney until the next day. Mom went out and picked up a couple of space heaters to tide us over until the repairs could be made. The boys seemed to have tolerated one night with the space heaters well. They were a bit suspicious of the heaters. Daisy found the perfect spot in front of one of the space heaters, so she could stay nice and toasty warm.

The next day, Michael's sons showed up and got the chimney rebuilt and the heater restarted within a couple hours -- $800. Our next-door neighbor kept a wary eye on Michael's sons as they worked on the roof and reported later that he was very pleased with their work. The only really unhappy news to report in the aftermath was that one of Michael's sons had noticed that our water heater was about due to be replaced. A new water heater would cost about $750 which I don't have right now. Hopefully, it will hold out until the spring.

On the bright side, Mom and I did find out that tank-less water heaters are not as good of an option for us as we'd been lead to believe on various home improvement shows. They're not really suited for households with a low level of hot water usage and they do have a much higher up-front cost (about three times) than I was expecting. In addition, we were informed that tank-less water heaters may not offer the same service length as their tanked counterparts. We've had our current water heater for close to twenty years.

The Final Frontier...
The boys got a treat. I let them explore my room -- the last room in the house to be explored. Otto and Toto took turns exploring the space behind my computer. Then, Otto went under the bed. Meanwhile, Toto decided to explore the top of the bed and the windows. Daisy tried going under the bed, but, she's no longer the delicate little flower that she used to be and found life under the bed a bit crowded. The boy did manage to knock a few things over while they were exploring, but, thankfully they didn't get hurt and nothing was damaged.

The First Thanksgiving....

The first Thanksgiving holiday for my boys, Toto and Otto, has come and gone without incident. The boys did not show any signs of animosity towards each other, our guests or Daisy during the long holiday weekend. The were not very interested in turkey, but, were very interested in a seafood salad that Mom whipped up this year. Among the dishes for Thanksgiving day, were the aforementioned seafood salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, spiral-cut glazed ham, turkey, lasagna, stuffing, sweet potatoes, red rice with sausage and deviled eggs. This year's deserts included a pineapple upside down cake, pumpkin pie and a double-chocolate cake.

Thanksgiving day was fairly understated. Tony and his kids came over. Tony's friend, Wanda, stopped by with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend. Karen and Carmen stopped by as well. Liz, Tony's wife, decided to spend Thanksgiving with her mother and sister, but, she also stopped by for a bit. Thanksgiving at Liz's mother's house was not as organized as it was at our house, so, Liz spent much of the morning shopping for late-minute items. The success of this year's Thanksgiving festivities, as measured by how much food was left-over, were very successful indeed.

On Friday, we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. The boys were reasonably well-behaved. Toto only tried to eat the tree once. Now, the three kitties take turns lounging under the tree. Otto has been seen trying to remove the bows that mom placed in the front windows. So far, Daisy has not seen a need to attack the new Christmas-themed curtains that Mom hung in the front windows.

With the Christmas tree sitting next to the TV, we had to move one of the kitty condos to a spot near the front window. Ever since the move, Toto has become very possessive. He told Daisy and Otto that he doesn't want them scratching on HIS condo. Although Tot is the most timid of the three kitties around people, he's the toughest when he's dealing with other kitties.

Today, the boys caught their second mouse. Unfortunately, Mom screamed and distracted them and the mouse got away. My natural-born killers are earning their keep.

The First Kill
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I got a frantic call from Mom. Apparently, after I left for work and before Mom came downstairs for her morning routine, the guys caught a mouse. But, they didn't just catch it, they had a party. There was blood and pieces of the aforementioned mouse all over the kitchen. Mom was brave and managed to clean up the mess. Unfortunately, a mop, a broom and dustpan all had to give their lives for the clean-up effort. In addition, Mom ran out of gloves. So, I'll have to get new cleaning equipment and gloves for Mom.

To celebrate the awesome blood lust and utter carnage wrought by my two darling natural born killers, I gave the boys a can of tuna. Of course, Daisy was allowed to partake in the festivities. Even though, according to Mom, Daisy was upstairs while the boys were downstairs partying with the dearly departed ex-mouse. The official casualties of the aftermath of battle: one mop dripping wet with mouse guts and blood, one broom and dustpan also dripping with blood, one pair of comfy bloodstained shoes and finally, one neon-orange cat toy that brought back too many horrible memories. By the way, there may also be some mouse remnants on the sidewalk in front of my house.