The big update with lots of pictures! (And a HURRICANE!!!)

Summer is officially over, at least as far as work goes. Three weeks of teacher workshops over and onde with. Cindy and Andy are married. I made it to the lake for a few days of downtime on the way over to the wedding. Picture highlights are below:











Note especially my date Cara, who is looking lovely during the ride on the school bus that Cindy and Andy arranged. Brilliant idea!
And now for the necessary kitten update. These cats are hilarious. Yesterday Tony spent 20 minutes looking for a June bug that had flown in and dies behind the couch. He missed the death part, so he just kept meowing and looking for the bug...it was hilarious! He took a road trip with me today, all the way to the vet by himself, for his last round of shots. Pictures of his first solo ride in the new car:



He just enjoyed sitting on the back seat, chilling, and does not climb everywhere, unlike his sister. Speaking of Mollie, here are some other pictures of these kittens, in all their glory:







Those last ones they totally got caught in the toilet. They think they are so sneaky, but not so much, especially when one of them falls in. The other cute thing that happens is, Tony likes to sit at the window by the front door when I leave, and waits for me when I return. It is so freakin' adorable!




For those of you who have visited me or knew me in Saccramento, you will remember Alice, my 1996 Silver Volvo. Well, she is no more. I have replaced her with a much faster, much cleaner, much more mechanically sound vehicle, the 2005 Acura TL:



And finally, the biggest news: we are in the midst of a very active hurricane season. I have just become the owner of $300 of plywood board to board up my house. They are cut to the window size, which theoretically is helpful, but would be more helpful if they didn't weigh a ton. Now, I can totally think of a better way to spend that much money, but apparently I would rather have windows without cracks after the storm. Hurricane Ike is three days away, but people are already boarding up and leaving. We are on level 4 security at work, which basically means if you leave, cover your computer with plastic and get it off the ground. My living room is currently housing my patio furniture, so that the chairs do not become bullets traveling 100 MPH into my windows. This, I hear, my neighbors will especially appreciate. I hope they are doing the same with the crap in their yards. However, if some sort of expensive grill comes through one of my windows, I am keeping it. Just so you know. Check out the newest cat jungle gym (or so they think):




At this point, I feel it is only fair to have a day off of work for all this effort. I am hoping for evacuation orders to become mandatory sometime tomorrow (preferably while I am in still in bed and before I get up to actually go to work). However, if you happen to be reading this and get suddenly worried, do not worry about me. I am a strong swimmer, and I have a ton of canned chili and beans in my pantry. I am good to go for at least 2 weeks, and theoretically, I will be in Palm Springs this weekend during landfall. Ike isn't going to screw my plans over...