CATSYNTH

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Author: catsynth

  • Weekend Cat Blogging and more: Luna's "Burfday"

    Well, we had a cold, dark, and camera-less night, but that didn't stop us from kicking off Luna's “Burfday” Weekend. Here's a slightly blurry cell-phone photo of Luna:

    We had a bit more fun today, and even managed to scrounge up an old camera for some photos. It wouldn't be a birthday without new toys:

    And Luna is expecting some more exciting things in the mail real soon.

    Of course, there is still plenty of time for rest on a favorite spot, especially as it has been very cold this weekend (even dipped below freezing for a bit):

    We're doing the best we can to have some enjoyment and celebration in this really hard, transitional time.

    Oh, and Luna is now three years old 🙂

    UPDATE: See Luna's “burfday” diary entry at Catster.

    Weekend Cat Blogging will be at Life from a Cats Perspective with Samantha Black and Tigger. The “holiday meow singing” brought us a brief smile.

    The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be hosted by Pet & The Bengal Brats at Pet?s Garden Blog (I think we need both mittens and socks for the cold). The Carnival of the Cats will take place this Sunday and Monday at This, That and The Other Thing. And of course the Friday Ark #167 is at the modulator.

  • Wordless Wednesday: Apropos

  • CatSynth pic: one musical cat

    From nekonekosoft at flickr:

    Yes, he's composing on my synth there. Neko progressive rock go!

  • Video Interlude: Cats Talking

    A couple of busy days at the start of this week, so enjoy this Silly Cat Video ™ from myspace:

    Cats Talking

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  • Weekend Cat Blogging and more: Away for Thanksgiving

    Well, I am away in New York for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and Luna remains at the (hopefully) soon-to-be-former home in Santa Cruz. So I thought it would be appropriate to share some more photos of Luna from our favorite cat sitter Ronni West:

    Perhaps this trip is a little more bittersweet because the “long weekend is longer than a weekend”. We're going to be stuck in away-from-home state for a bit longer, it seems. Hopefully not too much longer. But it is good to know that meanwhile she is getting lots of love and care.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #129 is being hosted by our friends at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats. It looks like Pepi had a bit of a scare with a candle, but everyone is fine. Everyone, please be extra careful with fire safety. A candle can easily turn into something terrible for everyone.

    The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be hosted this weekend at Mind of Mog; Carnival of the Cats is going to Wonkitties this Sunday. And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • Highway 120 in Westchester County, NY

    A little local “fun with highways” as I spend Thanksgiving with family in Chappaqua, just north of New York City.

    We have noted Chappaqua in the past as the “home of CatSynth and Hillary Clinton.” It is a relatively small but affluent town in the middle of Westchester County. You can read more about it here, including its noted school system and famous residents.

    Our main road is NY 120 which starts in the nearby community of Millwood (which is actually part of the same town), and continues southeast through the town center of Chappaqua. The main intersection is famously confusing and dangerous and years of trying to install such safety conveniences as a traffic light have met with local resistance. Apparently a traffic light would ruin the character of the town (in a way that car accidents apparently do not). 120 also crosses the Saw Mill Parkway, our nearby excuse for a highway, and the main commuter rail line that passes through town to New York City.

    From there, 120 works its way southeast, through Armonk (one-time home of contributor whaleshaman of JellyPizza), the Westester County Airport (which I have never used), Purchase (home of a state university campus) and eventually the town of Rye on the Long Island Sound (home of the Playland amusement park). It's not really the most efficient way to cross Westchester, that's what our freeways including aptly named Cross Westchester Expressway are for, but that's a topic for another day…

  • Heroic cat alerts man to two-alarm blaze

    From our local ABC affiliate:

    BURLINGAME, Calif. Nov. 21, 2007 (BCN) – A man slept soundly this morning while a fire burned his home in the unincorporated Burlingame Hills area of San Mateo County, fire officials said.

    Luckily, the man's cat woke him and alerted him to the blaze, Central County Fire Department Battalion Chief Ed Barton said.

    The fire burned the man's home, which is a guesthouse located in front of a house located at 3037 Canyon Road, Barton said.

    The two-alarm fire was burning when the man woke to put his howling cat outside, Barton said. The man went back to bed but woke again to the cat's insistent meowing.

    When the man got out of bed to attend to the cat, he saw the fire and called 911 at about 5:21 a.m., Barton said.

    The cat was not harmed by the blaze, and the man appears to have escaped safely as well.

    What makes this story particularly significant is that I saw this fire. I happened to be staying in the Burlingame/Hillsborough hills above the canyon. I heard the sirens and saw the smoke, and then the fire, which looked to be quite large (as “guest houses” can sometimes be in this area). Many of you may have read about our nasty wildfire season here in California, so there is always a small worry of a house fire spreading up a canyon – fortunately, the weather has been pretty cold and damp lately.

    Fires are terrible events. It was fortunate that both the cat and the man were safe.

  • Wordless Wednesday: White Peacock (Texas Hill Country)



  • CatSynth pic: Scooter and Synthesizer

    Another from Maggie Osterberg, featuring Scooter:

  • New Podcast: OctaveCAT improvisation


    Click here to listen or subscribe.

    This weekend I decided to spend a few minutes playing with the OctaveCAT synthesizer before packing it up (part of our preparations to move). In part, I simply wanted to make sure it was working, but it is also a great instrument for improvisation.