Frogs in a Pond

Seen yesterday in my garden pond...

 Two cute frogs, just hanging out and enjoying the sunshine.

 Another frog, pouting in the corner.

 This guy, looking intent.

 A Zen frog, meditating on a lily pad.

Not a frog :-) But I thought you'd like to know that Babylon the lizard is settling in well. (This is in his vivarium where it has been moved to a quiet cat-free room upstairs.)

Have a great day, all--anyone planning to kiss a frog?

Feline Friday: The "What's With the Weird-Looking Cat?" Version

If you were around earlier this week, you already know that I have taken in a new lodger--my step-daughter's Mali Uromastyx lizard (who in theory will eventually be going out to California to live with her, if we can figure out how to get it there).

Initially, I put Babylon's large terrarium on the counter downstairs between the living room and the dining room. There were a couple of problems with this arrangement. First of all, the counter is fairly high, which meant that every time I needed to get into the case (to add food, remove food, clean up waste, etc.) I had to stand on a chair. But also, there was this:

To say that my Feline Overlords were unhappy with this new, funny-looking cat would be a minor understatement. There was, at one point, hissing on both sides of the glass. Yes, they probably would have adjusted eventually and just learned to ignore him like they ignore me. (And Babylon has been living with cats, but apparently they aren't quite this interested in him.) And Angus, the little chicken, would have eventually stopped freaking out.

Still, it seemed both easier and kinder to everyone involved to move him upstairs to the "Crafts/Crap" room, which I was already in the process of clearing out and neatening. So for the record, I now officially have one "Cat Room" (technically the guest room/library, but really the room where Angus and Samhain stay when they're not downstairs with the rest of us) and one "Lizard Room." I think I may need a bigger house.

So--anyone out there have weird pets, weird rooms, or even weird(er) cats? Or know how to ship a lizard?

New Addition to the House: Say Hello to Babylon

As most of you know, I have a number of ...let's call them roommates, it sounds so much better than Feline Overlords..that share the house with me. A couple-five roommates, to be specific.

Today, we got an addition to the household. You may notice that he does not exactly blend in with the rest.

 CAT

 CAT

 MORE CATS

REALLY BIG CAT

 NOT A CAT

Meet Babylon. Babylon is a Mali Uromastyx, otherwise known as a lizard. In fact, you could say he is my grand-lizard, since he belongs to my step-daughter Jennifer. (Sure, technically you might want to call him my step-grand-lizard, but that would just be silly.) When Jenn moved out of town a few years ago, she left Babylon in the custody of her mom, Jo. But Jo has to move and can't take him with her, and nobody else wanted to hang on to a really large lizard in a 4 ft. vivarium (that's a fancy word for a large glass tank with a lizard in it) for an indefinite period of time...so here we are.

Currently, Babylon and his home are sitting on the counter between my dining room/office and my living room. We'll see how that works out. I have a spot cleared for him upstairs if the giant tank is too much in the way, of if for some reason the cats freak out about it. And Jenn is looking into how on earth one transports a lizard from upstate NY to San Jose, California.

In the meanwhile, welcome to Summer Solstice House, Babylon. As they said in Oliver, "Consider yourself at 'ome. Consider yourself one of the family." Try not to eat the postman.