construction

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Steel

For this week’s Photo Hunt theme of Steel, we once again did into the CatSynth archives for a couple of views of Luna with our metallic modernist interior design:

Technically, some of this is chrome, but I am pretty sure the metal in the black table below is in fact steel.

We opted for archival photos this week because CatSynth HQ is not the best backdrop at the moment, between the cleanup inside and construction outside, which has many things here out of place. But the scaffolding used by the construction crew is also an example of steel:

Hopefully, we can put things back in place here by the middle of this month.

The Saturday Photo Hunt features the theme of STEEL this week.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Wordless Wednesday: 1 WTC at Sunset

Wordless Wednesday: 2601 (Transbay lines and angles)

Weekend Cat Blogging #300: Return to Normal

Luna looks on at the jumble of furniture, on which the dotara is sitting post performance. I actually like the geometric formation of the tables pushed together during the construction, and the contrast of the curved musical instrument.

The big concert is now over and done. It mostly went quite beautifully, except for one technical flaw that disrupted the final piece (more on this in a later post). The construction is also now done. So we are looking forward to life at home returning to normal.

We now have the time and opportunity to put the apartment back together, and do those mundane but necessarily things that make up normal life. Oh, and to relax and enjoy a little down time. At least until the next big creative project begins. I think we will be starting on Tuesday.

Weekend Cat Blogging #300 is hosted by Mog and Meowza at Mind of Mog. Like us, they seem a bit dazed.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted tomorrow by Nikita and Elivra at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging #297: Construction again

The on-again off-again construction at CatSynth HQ is finally on again for real. That meant Luna had to go back to boarding for a couple of days, but I brought her back home the weekend. Here we see her inspecting the state of the work:

Hopefully it will be done early next week. The whole process has been a bit stressful for both of us. I hope letting Luna enjoy some time at home over the weekend is indeed better for her, and I’m not adding to her stress or exposing her to much fallout from the construction work. It’s certainly far less than what we went through in late 2008, so hopefully it’s OK.

Weekend Cat Blogging #297 is being hosted by Oliver and Noli at The Accidental English Teacher. This is their first time hosting!

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted by Nikita at Meowsing of an Opinionated Pussycat. This is definitely not his first time hosting.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator, back from hiatus.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Homecoming (temporary)

With delays in the construction at CatSynth HQ, I decided to bring Luna home for the weekend. It is nice to have her home, even though it is only temporary.

As one can see in the above image, things are a bit out of place in anticipation of the work, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying our time here. Here we see Luna checking out a new toy (a birthday present from a friend of ours):

Note the picture frames neatly resting on the stairs behind her. Much of the artwork (paintings, prints, etc.) had to be moved as well.

Weekend Cat Blogging #287 is at Mind of Mog.

Kashim, Othello and Salome are pulling double duty this weekend, hosting both the weekly Carnival of the Cats and the monthly Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos. We suspect they are going to be busy.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Fun with highways: Bay Bridge construction

The Bay Bridge has been closed over the Labor Day weekend for a major engineering feat. As part of the replacement of the eastern span, engineers actually cut out a small section near Yerba Buena Island, and actually wheeled in a new section of bridge. This allows the old doomed bridge to be used while the new one is connected up to the island.

Looking towards Oakland from Yerba Buena island, this is what things looked like before the cut- and-replace operation:

You can see a lot more time-lapsed photos and different angles at the official website for the project. They also posted some photos that better illustrate the move itself at Twitter:

[Click on the images above for full-size versions at TwitPic]

Note that this does not really affect the western half of the bridge near on the San Francisco side, which is what we usually show in our Bay Bridge posts and photos at CatSynth. Except of course that it is closed.

And it looks like the closure could be a little bit longer than excepted. There was a serious crack found in one of the metal supports, so now they are working to repair that before opening. It’s just another reminder of why we want to replace the whole eastern span, hopefully before the next big earthquake. Fortunately, the closure doesn’t affect us at CatSynth all that much.

Weekend Cat Blogging: The construction is over!

The construction at CatSynth HQ is finally done.

To their credit, the construction crew did an impressive job cleaning up. As one can see in the above photograph, it is beginning to feel like home again, albeit with a few boxes scattered about.

Luna tentatively explores as things move back into place. There is still a lot of work to do, however. And no where more so than in the upstairs studio area. I was never particularly happy with the layout, and this is an opportunity to do it right. But it will take some significant effort to plan and organize. And I do want space as soon as possible to resume more serious creativity, musical and otherwise. So it is going to be a balance between “doing it right” and “doing it quickly (and cheaply).”

Weekend Cat Blogging #192 is being hosted by Mr Tigger and the M-Cats Club.

Kashim, Othello and Salome will host this weekend’s Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Pet’s Garden Blog

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Really almost back to normal

Luna is back home again after the China trip and final round of construction at CatSynth HQ. Things are almost back to normal.

We now get plenty of sunlight again.

But we still have much of the paper and plastic material covering the floors, and we are anxiously awaiting the cleaning crew. Cleaning day is supposed to be today actually, but so far no sign of the crew. Not having the cleaning done today would be annoying for a variety of reasons, some of which are not appropriate topics for WCB. For now, we are simply eager to start putting everything back in its place, including our artwork:

But meanwhile Luna continues to demonstrate that she, too, is a work of art, very graceful and elegant.

Sir Tristan Tabbycat Longtail hosts a very manly Weekend Cat Blogging in honor of tomorrow’s big game.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos returns to its roots with Megan and Bad Kitty Cats.

The Carnival of the Cats will be going up this Sunday at Mind of Mog

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Homecoming

After many weeks away, Luna finally came home today.

Exploring familiar places, tentatively at first.

As can be seen in these photos, the construction is not quite complete yet, though it is progressing and we hope it will be done soon.

Several treats awaited her arrival, including a new catnip-laced scratcher.

And of course some affection.

Welcome home, Luna!

Weekend Cat Blogging #185 (Holiday Edition) is being hosted at the M-Cats Club. They have feline Christmas music, you have been warned 😉

Kashim, Othello and Salmone host this weekend’s Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Nikita’s Place

And of course the Friday Ark #222 is at the modulator.