Today

I have been putting so much news about the Kitty Kids and me in my Daily Journal posts that I gave neglected sharing with my Nick's Bytes readers, who outnumber the Journal readers 10 to 1.

So, with camera in hand, today I have stumbled around snapping photos that I now share here:

I do not know why, when I open treats for one kitty kid, the other two magically appear.

Little Girl and one of her helpings of treats today.

Sugar eats more threats than either of the other two kitty kids.

Alex by my desk waiting for... something.

Give me this day my daily meds.

Someone again attacked a roll of paper towels.

The kittens were out of the nest in the closet several times today.

They were so cute I decided to sit in the bedroom and watch their play.

This cutie always looks up at me, but when I reach down to pick him/her up, the kitten runs away.

There are more kittens behind and under the dresser.

I have no idea what this little one found.

My shoes became kitten toys.

My nose-hose (oxygen tubing) also became a toy.

This one decided to hassle mommy.

Little Girls response was to get the kitten on its back and lick it.

The LG and the kitten played with one of my shoes.

There are meowing kittens beneath the dresser and Sugar is looking at them.

Sugar pulls one kitten from behind the dresser. Note the small kitten face at the bottom right of the dresser.

Kitten (bottom, left) observes (stalks?) sibling at top before running and pouncing. 

Moments before "the pounce."

Both kittens attack the belt of a robe.

I heard Tavis Smiley say this on NPR this afternoon and immediately created this graphic.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos. For information more information of me, including my health, please read Sometimes Saintly Nick's Daily Journal.

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Today (now yesterday)

I created this post at intervals throughout the day.

I sit here shirtless as I write this post. It’s almost 96° outside and over 80° inside. This morning I got quite ill from the heat. More about that later in this post.

Today is the 12^th day of June—a day that for three fourths of my life has been a high point of every year. It was on this date in 1971 that my oldest son, Nicholas Lawrence Temple III, was born in Würtzburg, Germany.

Marienburg fortress/castle, Wurtzberg, Germany with Main River in foreground

It was on this date in 1975 that my youngest son, Robert Lawrence Temple II, was born in Louisville, Kentucky.

Louisville night skyline from the Indiana shore of the Ohio River

I still celebrate this day, in a way, although not with the grandness that I once did, since now I am estranged—not by my desire—from both of my sons. Yesterday I created these graphic images that I posted on Facebook to celebrate Nick and Rob’s birthday:

I don’t expect a response.

Recently I have been reading books written by two giants of train-of-thought literature, HenryMiller and Jack Kerouac. I wonder if reading their words has in any way influenced my own writing—probably not since I am so attuned to punctuation that I have don’t think I could create a run on sentence even if I tried. I have discovered that there is quite a similarity between their styles perhaps because both Miller’s Tropic of Capricorn and Kerouac’s road novels are autobiographical nature, something I hope to address in a future blog post.

This morning things began extremely well. I awakened at my normal 3 AM and decided to get some chores done. Part of that was to drive all of the garbage down to the dempsty dumpster so that I could dispose of it before it got too hot. It really didn’t work out very well because it was already 2 o’clock when I started out. By the time I was at the dumpster and throwing the garbage bags into it the heat had me nauseated and gasping for breath. I ended up vomiting on myself on one of the new shirts that my mother sent me as a Father’s Day present since we both realize I shall receive no acknowledgment of Father’s Day from my sons.

One of the 4 shirts Mom sent me for Father's Day

At the moment any writing is difficult for me with this cat not only in my face but also trying to lick clean.  Little girl has been quite demanding recently—no matter where I am seems that she wants to be also. Maybe that has something to do with my discovering that her belly is quite hard and her nipples swollen so maybe the Kitty Kids population may explode soon!

I hope that you all had a good June 12 –i.e., yesterday.

My Kitty Kids

I first used the term kitty kids in my daily journal, where I now discuss the personal elements of my life that I used to post here on Nick's Bytes. A few days ago I realized than many of my Nick's Bytes regular readers have been following the story of Alex since he was less than 2 years old and may wonder about my dear friend. So, this is an update on Alex and the other two kitty kids who now share my life.

This is one of the earliest photos of Alex that I posted to Nick's Bytes

Alex is now 9-years-old and less active than he was when I shot this video about seven years ago.

About fourteen months ago, 3-year-old Sugar joined Alex and me after a fire burned down her home.

Sugar, 2 weeks ago, the day she returned home after being "fixed."

Alex and Sugar have gotten on quit well, chasing and playing with one another, and old Alex bopping young Sugar on the head with his paw when she hassles him too much.

Alex and Sugar playing

A couple of months ago, the kitten, Little Girl, joined our household. She had been purchased by a neighbor who didn't want her after she observed her dog, Nicky, eating crunchies from the cat's litter box. She told me that if I didn't take Little Girl, she would place her in a shelter and I certainly did not want the kitten killed.

Little Girl

Sugar and Little Girl napping

Well, that's our household at the moment: the three kitty kids and me. Soon I shall write about our current situation, including Alex being intimidated by Little Girl and now living (hiding) in the bathroom.

Alex hiding in the bathroom.

A Mishmash of Thoughts

Here are some thoughts that have passed through my weird mind in recent days:

We call them insurgents and terrorists; they call themselves patriots and freedom fights and servants of God. What history will call them depends upon who wins this absurd “War on Terror” and who writes the history.

Steve Mumford: Dying Insurgent, 2005 

oil on linen, 48 x 60 inches

Todd Akin would have made an excellent member of the Inquisition,

or perhaps a Puritan witch hunter.

I am feeling an anxiety that is pushing me down into depression. It isn't what I can do or can't do that drives me into depression, it's the threats and power of idiot bureaucrats, politicians, religious freaks, and the lackeys of the 1% who frighten me.

 Leon Trotsky has interested me since I first read of him almost 50 years ago. An intellectual activist all of his life, he was a mitigating force between the revolutionary forces of preBolshevik Russia. Had Trotsky followed Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union, I am certain that the horrors brought to Russia and the world by Stalin would not have occurred.

There seem to be elements within the U.S. intelligence (spying, not intellectuals)community  who want to get their hands on Julian Assange because of the embarrassment he caused the U.S. spy community (CIA). At least they are using semi-legal means of doing it (rather than paid assassins): extradite to Sweden from which he can be extradited to the U.S. where he can be tried for exposing classified documents and (they hope) sentenced to die from a lethal injection.

I love these kitty cats!

Alex

Sugar

Little Girl

No more thoughts at the moment!

You are  cordially invited to visit my new blog:

Sometimes Saintly Nick's Daily Journal