I couldn’t resist a bit of humor today. Simon’s Cat is always a bit of fun. Kitsy would do this, I’m sure. Tito is polite, but Kitsy is a food thief extraordinaire. You can NEVER turn your back on food when he’s around.
For a little inspiration, here is a video from Best Friends Animal Shelter in Kanab, Utah. One day, Lastech and I will manage to go visit the shelter. Dogtown, which is shown on the National Geographic Channel is filmed there. It is the largest animal shelter in the United States.
I just have to add a little bit of doggie to the mix.
For anyone who is a fan of Sphynx kitties, Nofuratu has a new post about his trip to New Orleans in his blog, Adventures of a Naked Cat.
While being interviewed by a news crew, Judy Pugh from Tuscaloosa Alabama, is reunited with her cat Cadie. Cadie simply walked up to her after a month long separation.
Listen to Cadie purring as Mrs. Pugh holds her close.
All furry (and not furry) creatures are miracles. Perhaps not quite of this sort:
In anticipation of the Apocalypse predicted tomorrow, undoubtedly a very sad day for many people, we asked the furry ones whether they were planning the final takeover this weekend. But…
Endcat is coming?
What we have here…
Is two cats and two humans trying to communicate verbally, and for anything other than entertainment, it’s a failure.
Kitsy: -“MmmMmRrrrww-eeew…. WAAAAAH?!? MmmmMrrrrr…
Tito: – RrrrRwwEEEEEE..! RrrrRrrooooo…..
Us: – Wha-? Errm, weeeee?
Kitsy: – RRWAH!!!” (Stops to lick the inside of his left thigh, leg fully extended, toes splayed).
"Say whaaaa-?"
The fact is, these buggers are ambiguous: you know that look, when they watch you with half closed eyes, seemingly satisfied? They have the exact same expression when they give you the stinkeye.
Body language..?
A helpful guide
Tito does the downward bonk, dipping his head straight down and applying his forehead to your hand in salutation. Kitsy does the sideways bonk, tilts his head to one side, rubbing his chin and side of his face against you. Sometimes, he will shove his head nose first into your hand, and I think that’s his preferred way of wiping his schnazz as well.
Mmmumph.... I don't believe this...
Most times, the conversation is one way, especially with Kitsy who will stare at us trilling, cooing, meowing until he gets pissy and takes off barking. Yes: he barks.
Most times, it goes something like this.
Today is Mother’s Day, and we think that mothers should certainly be honored. However, there are a LOT of mums out there who haven’t given birth or adopted, or raised human children. These women who nurture animals or the children of others deserve just as much honor on this day. With that in mind, we would like to honor a friend of this blog.
Her username is flumptytail and she’s mum to a human and LOTS of kitties. She rescues ferals, and has them spayed and neutered. She also takes them for regular checkups, teeth cleaning and various things. Once healthy, they have the run of her home, indoors and out. They are free to come and go as they wish. She has made many of our brothers and sisters very happy kitties.
How many kitties call her mum? Well, according to flumpty:
I have 32, 34 if you count the 2 that belong to someone else. I had said 28 before , but that was just a quickie list and I had left off some that I hardly ever see. They just come in once a day for a few minutes to eat and disappear again. Although by now there’s only one who never stays in all night.
Here are some of her kitties.
This first picture, according to flumpty:
I keep a big cage in the dining room for when I have to keep a cat in it overnight if they’re getting neutered or spayed or their teeth cleaned, etc. in the morning. I leave the door open other times and the cats like to sleep in in. Here is a picture of a pile of kittehs.
Lots of kitties. Photo by flumptytailRed in a pink box. Photo by flumptytailGeorge is watching the yard. Photo by flumptytailHidey (left) and Kiki (right). Photo by flumptytailCidney. Photo by flumptytailDo you want to know a secret? Photo by flumptytailCat beds. Photo by flumptytailKitties getting a roasted chicken treat. Photo by flumptytailFritz. Photo by flumptytailGracie in the garden. Photo by flumptytailUpside down Suzy. She likes to walk on the keyboard and help flumpty type. Photo by flumptytail
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Not to worry. We love our mum too. We gave her head bonks and left our toys in her shoes for her to find.
I’m frustrated. We’re watching a movie called “a cat’s tale” also known as “cats: the movie”, a live action shot on video (gotta stay mobile to follow the cats in the story), and I think they did a pretty good job at telling a story with creatures that, well, are doing pretty much as they please.
I guess it’s all in the editing, and thank goodness for video, otherwise the cost of film would be astronomical.
Point is, they did a pretty good job of it. Personally, I’ve been having a hell of a time trying to take pictures of Tito and the demon Mazuzu. Tito… Tito, the inexplicably paranoid kitty. I saw him creep up on a dust bunny and suddenly beat the crap out of it as if it were an intruder… Same thing with drapes. I don’t even ask anymore.
Oh, you wanted a photo?
I’ve taken to turning the camera on in another room because he sometimes (but not always) jumps nervously when he hears the electronic sound the camera makes. Yeah, he’s not exactly consistent about that.
Then he has to be approached in such a way that he senses me coming into the room, but not in such a way that he might think I’m about to move stuff (a big no-no which will send him scurrying). He is difficult enough to photograph in natural light, dark and jumpy as he is, but he also has an uncanny sense of the precise moment when the shutter’s about to close: he then closes his eyes or turns his head.
For every good picture we ever managed to take of him, dozens more were deleted.
Aaaaaahhhhhhh! It’s got me!
Oh, but Mazuzu is something else.
First, we can’t use the flash because his eyes, his blue peepers, are sensitive to it and he shuts them or turns away. We’ve practiced and gotten him used to being photographed without it, again in natural light. Given that the apartment is relatively dark, these two are making us work at it… If I contort myself and manage to get positioned just right for a close up, he will turn and present his rear end. Or close his eyes, still. But 8 times out of 10, I get the rear. At times, he’ll smudge his nose against the lens.
Kitsune’s blue peepers
Well, you know, what works in fashion ends up working in cat photography as it turns out. Load them up on catnip, turn the music up a bit, have someone rough-house them, petting them heavily while saying stuff like “work it Baby! Yeah, that’s right! Oh you like that?” And your subjects will squirm and mug for you…
If you want them to hold the pause, point the laser a few inches from their stoned – I mean impaired – noses and make it quick.
This. Is a lot of work…
The cats have been feeling their oats lately, playing just a bit more vigorously than usual and sleeping just as hard…
ZZZZZZZ-Whaaa..?
We’ve been going out more and more ourselves, spending most of this past Saturday at Golden Gate Park, starting with grilled fish, shrimp and carne asada in the meadow across from Mallard Lake. We had marinated the shrimp in a mix of Clementine-tangerine juice mixed with lime juice, brown sugar, thinly sliced shallots and shredded ginger which all came out deliciously fresh tasting.
Filets of sole and carne asada, with blackened seasoning on the fish.
Grilled peppers and beer, dried bread crumbs for our hosts.
Raven
Three hours later, we took a stroll around Mallard Lake where we saw this beautiful Blue Heron:
Great blue heron
Looking for parking around the Arboretum, I decided to drive around Stow Lake where we saw these geese with their goslings:
Canadian Geese and goslings
Finally, the arboretum with so many flowers in bloom:
We haven’t gone on about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Maybe we should have done more.
Here is another happy story from the area.
I didn’t find a transcript, but there really isn’t a need for one. Just listen. About 1 minute in, you will hear what is important.
Be aware, though, that these are rare. A great many pets were left behind and it wasn’t out of choice. Many shelters around the world don’t allow pets. Many people around the world don’t have their own transportation. If you are poor or without transportation and you’re told “no pets” you don’t have much choice.
My heart aches for these people. The thought of abandoning our furry little polite kitty named Tito or our shameless nekked kitty, Kitsune is heart rending. I would rather live in my car. But…what if we had no choice? I live in an earthquake zone and always have. I know the stakes. We don’t have a dog, but the same rule would apply.
This also happened during Hurricane Katrina. So many people were demonized for leaving their pets behind when they just weren’t allowed to take them in the first place.
That said, if you can give a bit to Japan Animal Earthquake and Animal Rescue and Support, please do. You may have noticed the ad on our sidebar. It’s not there by mistake. If you have given to the humans and have no more to give, it’s understood. If you can give anything, it’s welcomed.
