It is apparently impossible for me to guard the little birdies that visit the feeder/balcony from the viscous furry menace that curls up next to me in bed and lifts and angles his little head when I come home so that I can kiss the top of it hello. Short of wrapping the entire balcony in netting. So I guess Phouka will have to make due with the ( Read more... )

I thought I was done with the a/c for the year but it's hit about 85 outside which would be fine if I'd remembered to shut the blinds on my large, south facing balcony doors by about noon, but I forgot. It's late enough in the year that the sun slants down through the doors really well and has heated up the apartment to almost 90. Sitting in front ( Read more... )

I got home and immediately found another dead bird on the living room floor. At least it was fairly neat, just a few stray feathers. So I got rid of the corpse. Then I walked into the bedroom and found more feathers and asked Phouka if he ragged the poor little thing all over the apartment. Instead I found a second feathered bundle of dead on the ( Read more... )

It's not that I blame Phouka for killing birds. After all it is the nature of cats to hunt and Phouka spent almost the first 2 months of his life outside. But...sigh...this one died bloody. At least for the sake of my blood pressure my furry menace did the dirty deed in the bathroom ( Read more... )

It’s Sunday and the weather is gorgeous (if a tad cool for most people - about 60) and I have the balcony doors wide open because there’s little to no wind and the sun is shining bright. Unfortunately it’s not really all that peaceful because the neighborhood dogs are in fine voice...and have been for the better part of the day ( Read more... )

The 3 Pomeranians that live in the house my balcony overlooks have 2 new look-alike friends. That small yard is a seething, yipping mass of blond, floofy fur. The noise is deafening whenever Phouka decides to take a stroll on the balcony railing. And considering it's a glorious, sunny 65 degrees outside (of course the fact that he's an incredible ( Read more... )

Phouka is, by turns, one of the best things in my life right now, and a little fuzz-butt tormentor from hell ( Read more... )

So last week I was sitting on the couch, watching a movie, when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see Phouka scrabbling furiously in the container plants. Then he comes inside and I damn near have a heart attack because he has something small and fluttering wildly in his mouth ( Read more... )

I had to break down and pull the 3 largest, fist-sized green tomatoes off of that long branch hanging over thin air. (I've had good luck so far with them ripening outside but in the shade.)Then I realized there was another branch arching out near that long one that was unsupported and arching downward with several large tomatoes.


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I was out on the balcony, just puttering around, talking to Phouka and pruning the tips off of the rosemary when suddenly a little hummer rose up beyond the hedge of tomato and pepper plants lining the balcony like a submarine rising to the surface for a peek. It saw me, stopped, flitted back and forth in indecision for a moment, then flew off. I ( Read more... )