I'd write something pithy about the state of new houses and all that, but I have boxes to unpack. Let's just say that, of all of us, the cats seem to be taking the move the best. Here, Mr 'ssouri Bowtie-face demonstrates that if there is a blanket and a heater vent, they are his. River is out of frame, and half off the blanket, but I am sure she would just write it off to being a long suffering mom.
In a pose that is, I imagine, somewhat like the Princess and the Pea, 'ssouri Bowtie-face sits atop what was a momentary "get this out of my way" stack: detritus from my desk topped by the box that Dell shipped with replacement parts for my computer. (but why did they ship me a motherboard instead of a power supply? and why, oh why, did the dweeb I called to have it corrected refuse to replace it, choosing instead to argue with me about it? not a good move to make on someone who writes about technology...)
That is all.
Farmgirl's virtual cat is a whack job!
When he wants in, he stands at the sliding glass door until he gets our attention and then goes into frantic I am going to claw my way through the door mode. While it is seldom successful on glass, the screen door now sports a cat-sized hole he can step through.
Twit.
Weekend cat blogging is our excuse for bringing the cute to the tubes of the 'net. Belly Timber is hosting WCB this week where, in true theatrical form, WCB: Prologue is posted. Who knew that even WCB was a three act play? If that's not enough cuteness for you, check out Friday Ark, and the Bad Kitty Chaos Festival.
There's one more picture hiding after the jump - my front page is getting photo heavy so I am forcing myself to use extended posts.
Continue reading "wcb: in which i abuse farmgirl's virtual cat" »
The lovely ginger girl here is one of the farm cats at the Stockhouse's Farms on Puget Island, where the weekly Two Island Farms Market convenes. This kitty was taking a break from the arduous life of a farm cat on the island-all that mouse hunting, grass frolicking, barn prowling, not to mention the exhausting face skritching by market customers is tiring, you know.
I really like this market and am, in fact, in the middle of a post about it. For now, let me just say that they have one thing I especially like: live acoustic guitar music provided by members of the Wahkiakum Acoustic Guitar Society (WAGS). Make what you will of the acronym-FSM knows we do!
This is clearly a cats with preternatural powers. someoneElse got up from playing guitar for just a moment and *poof* there was a cat in the special musician's chair. This might, in fact, be a service that is provided for musicians: the sphinx guard cat. She looks like she's almost asleep but look at those little flexiPaws. I wouldn't want to mess with her...or the guitar.
Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted this week by Ms G at Masak-Masak. Don't forget to visit all of the adorable furlings!
(eta: um, sorry about the reposts on the RSS feed, my computer is being a glitchy pain at the moment)
I am fortunate to have a valiant protector in Mr Bowtie 'ssouri, who is also Farmgirl's virtualCat - which is fortunate for her because he is one MOUTHY thing. She says it's because he's hungry, while someoneElse says it's because he is ready to be marinated in lemon and pepper for dinner. 'ssouri says nothing - which is a rare thing indeed. Today he spent some time out in the sun with me, protecting me from the wily grass. Do you think if I fed him herbs instead he'd taste better?
Weekend Cat Blogging is at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats this week - click here to bring on the cute.
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCB home has been floating around, this week nobody seems to have claimed it so I am... leave links here...
...the only link i have seen so far is at Kitikata-san's place... so feel free to drop your links here or there and we'll figure something out...
This is what today has been like around here. Sort of lazy and sleepy. Trubble can only be bothered to awaken when it appears that she might fall off her chair. That would be Trubble, she who we call 'the special baby' because she's just a bit spoiled. Has to do with being smaller. At least that's my excuse.
Pulling back just a bit, Dargo has his own darned chair because he's big...or maybe just his hair is big. And look there in the background, Trubble seems to be settling back in...
Look! It's slinky cat! Doesn't she look innocent?
Mr. 'ssouri Bowtie (aka Farmgirl's virtualCat) is the best big brother ever. Or at least the most tolerant. They slept like this for at least two hours.
Schedule for next few weeks of WCB
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around, this week Kate in the Kitchen has turned over the reins to a rather adorable black and white
tuxedoorca kitty who is hosting this week'sweekend cat bloggingcute.
Cleaning out the dozens of gigabytes of photos cluttering up my hard disk can be tedious as watching bread rise, but it does have its upsides. Like this.
Trubble at five weeks; Just the right size to hold in your hands. Is that not adorable?
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around, this week stopping at What Did You Eat? where Upsie is doing quality control on the Ahi. Tough job, but some kitty has got to do it.
This picture is little for a reason. It's really cute, but that bright little thing is a bird. Live and not in obvious distress. If that's going to bug you, go look at the rest of this week's kitties and come back here next week, ok? Thanks.
The rest of you, click on the thumbnail for a photo of Trubble.
Not much to say, except that Trubble loves her brother 'ssouri Bowtie very much! I have as much energy as these two and no idea who is hosting weekend cat blogging this week. So here's to someone to snuggle with when you're all tuckered out and it's cold and rainy outside.
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around, this week landing here!
The winds are blowing, the water is rising, and according to the weather-guessers, we ain't seen nothing yet! We're supposed to get 85-100 mph winds over the next day or two. (you may all say WTF along with me!) So, I thought I'd get this posted a day early just in case they are right. Want to see how helpful the kittens are in a storm? Check this out.
Dargo has found his warm, dry spot and can't be bothered. Shhhhh. Creep away very quietly.
Trubble and theCatWithManyPseudoNames (aka t3, Farmgirl's Nameless Cat, 'ssouri, Mr Bowtie...) have scammed a box and Trubble is most disturbed that I dared to use a flash. I'm not thrilled about the flash either, but dark and stormy days call for desperate measures!
Little 'ssouri bowtie wants to prove that he is in fact a helpful kitten, and here's his proof. Holding down the makeshift seamless in case the winds manage to sneak inside the house. In which case, he would be found hiding in another room whining talking about how much I suck because I let it get windy.
Please post your weekend cat blogging links in the comments. You can also send them to me at kitchenmage(at)gmail(dot)com, and if I still have power and a connection to the tubes Internet, I'll get them posted here.
update:
Power's back! Please go visit these kitties and skrinch their little faces.
Please add me to CBW, Welcome to Rascal's World where Rascal has an encounter with a vishus deer...or is it a sheep?
Little Cat Zee asked "Purrty please" to join the party, so how could we say no? I noticed that she's and Rascal are blog friends, even joining together to show off holiday decorations!
Sam's best friend isn't another cat, it's a bird: Jazz the Lineolated Parakeet
Whaleshaman explains why It's Good To Have A Dribblepuss...
Tobias models a cozy, and takes the time to explain a particular internet meme rather thoroughly.
Krogie sends a homemade Christmas card to everyone at Weekend Cat Blogging. Don't forget to click on the Happy Holidays! to activate the card.
Shishi is sniffing the flowers and having a picnic! In December!
Luckily, Miss Lyra had pictures in the vault so when her power went out she could still come play.
KitiKata-san has a friend, aptly named Buddy, who visits from just next door.
Burekaboy swears it's not storming at his place, but I think it looks like things are moving around a lot--or else the alien cat might have landed!
Puddy has a new pink thing, with a tunnel and a ball and a place to pose!
Max and Noosh are helping out their person with computers and laundry. But they want to know: does a black and white cat go in with the whites?
Xena, Kai, and the tribbles demonstrate camouflage techniques.
Prunella over at Pia's place seems to have lots of friends.
Grendel wants to know why the idle hand is not petting him. Like you have something better to do?
Louis is looking for dinner. Maybe a roast chicken and latkes for Hanukkah?
Jelly says Kamikaze is hungry too, but he looks like he'll explode is he eats another bite.
Maggie Fu is contemplating whether felines should ever "be useful" while counting the drip...drip...drip.
Go visit the post surgical kitty at What did you eat and give the fluffling get well wishes.
Colin may have the best spot of all, tucked in bed with a good book blogger.
note: I think I'm caught up for the moment! Thanks for all the good wishes for us in the storm. We not only made it through but the refrigerator and freezers stayed cold enough that all the food is still okay. Which is really good since I just went shopping for a four day reunion/party that starts on Tuesday.
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around, this week landing just across the river at Belly Timber, where Angry Cat has issues!
If you have been to BellyTimber the Angry Cat blog today, you probably know all about the injustice being perpetrated against Angry Cat. Oh, the felinity! The furlings over here at kittenMage kitchenMage have been working hard to help out, what with the math and all. AC needed extra paws on which to count up all that catnip. While the grayling lent a paw, everyone went out to practice their fighting skills, because you need military pouncing backup on these matters.
While Dargo is scoping out a position from which to sneak up on SC, Trubble (grayling #1) and T3 take advantage of his lack of attention and practice the flying pounce!
Look at that synchronization! Those sneaky snakes who stole AC's picture better watch out!
Next maneuver. Dargo thinks that SC (grayling #2) is not watching what's going on and that he has a chance to get in a sneak attack. He's lining up for his attack run, better watch out SC!
Hah! SC laughs at your sneak attack! Look at the air under Dargo, he must have been really surprised by SC's swift and silent attack skills. Man, they are so ready to back up AC. Where are those pesky people from the O? What chance do they stand against the kittenMage horde?
Trubble, otherwise known as the clever grayling, has been working very hard to help AC and she's utterly exhausted. Remember, math is hard for Barbies and kittens. Luckily, Trubble has found a place to snooze while awaiting further orders from AC.
Remember, Weekend Cat Blogging will be hosted right here next weekend. Drop me mail with your permalinks at kitchenMage (at) gmail(dot)com or post them in the comments next Friday.
Until then. Hi Ho Angry Cat Away!
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around, this week landing in France with Lali et Cie, who is collecting the cute this week...
Do you remember the poor little kitten who was looking for someone to take him in just a little while back? This guy. Well, apparently he hasn't lost his thing for boxes, although they sure have gotten bigger! And theKid, who is one of his people, was kind enough to catch him hanging out in his favorite spot and share.
theGrayling, as we called him, has a bunch of real names now, all of which start with SC...perhaps theKid will remind me of some of them. I'm sure she told me but I'm still on that silly deadline and I'm seeing 6.20 in the fraking morning in my usual fashion: still awake after a long night writing.
Be sure to go visit the rest of the kitties in France. Flying Spaghetti Monster knows it's the only way I'm getting to France any time soon!
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around the 'net, with Rosa's Yummy Yums collecting the adorableness this week...
Some pictures really don't need much description. I believe this was about three days before River had the kittens of madness and doom. She was tired. So am I. And I have to be up many hours before noon tomorrow. As if. So I think I shall go sprawl, hopefully a bit more delicately than River is, and zone for a bit myself.
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around the 'net, with The Hidden Paw collecting the adorableness this week...
Yeah, I know I already put up my WCB post for this week, but Farmgirl asked how her kitten was and I figured I'd share the cute. T3, also on the car during a break in the rain.
btw, Farmgirl, this furling needs a real name and if he's yours, you really should give him one. (ooooh, naming rights!) My primary requirement is that it doesn't end in a diminutive (i.e., "___ie") and it cant be more embarassing to yell at 2am than "C'mere Trubble!" because someday I will end up in the local paper's gossip column as "the woman who is out late at night looking for trouble..." (why yes, we have a gossip column in evenTinierTown's paper, doesn't yours?)
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around the 'net, with The Hidden Paw collecting the adorableness this week...
It's getting on towards fall round these parts and that means rain. Lots and lots of rain. Some niches of my little burg get something like 120 inches of rain a year! Yep, ten feet! If I didn't live here, I'd have a hard time imagining it myself. Luckily for the fuzzlings, today brought a break in the ongoing sprinkleDrizzlePour cycle that is October. Trubble takes advantage of the momentary cessation in precipitation and heads for high ground.
Just to add to the cusp of the season confusion, look what I spied in one of the herb beds today!
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around the 'net, with Chef Sarah Jane collecting the adorableness this week...
Shhh, Trubble's snoozing...or was until the shutter so rudely clicked and woke her up.
I am sure that pot was supposed to have something planted in it...I didn't think that it would be a gray fuzzFlower, but it's kind of cute, don't you think?
T3, on the other hand, was cruising the walkway looking for small, crawly things to eat. He stopped long enough to pose for me, which was awfully nice of him.
Then he found a toy to mess with. This week, that means snakes on the walkway! MuthaFrakking Snakes on the MuthaFrakking Walkway! (obligatory pop culture reference brought to you as a demonstration that it's not only dairy products that have a limited shelf life)
obligatory food related tidbit: KTCS Cooks is on the TV as background and this nice man is making a cabbage salad and talking about how "...the secret is that the ice cream has hamburger relish mixed into it..." I don't even want to know what he's talking about, but I'm sure some county fair is serving it on a stick... (and it even has outtakes)
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCb home has been floating around the 'net, with Chef Sarah Jane collecting the adorableness this week...
One of these is the mom, the other is not. Can you see why I sometimes have trouble telling them apart? All his nicknames are a reference to him being River's mini-me: R2, Rivulet, T3 (grandma Tux looks like this too), and a dozen others I can't come up with at the moment. someoneElse developed a soft spot for this little guy so the approach to finding him a new home has been, "If someoneWonderful happens to knock on the door looking for a kitten, we will consider it..." which is a long way of saying we're keeping him...
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige... Clare's been MIA for a bit so the WCB home has been floating around the 'net, landing this week at Miss Elle's page where Darlin' Darla dodged the hurricane yesterday and is now holding court for all her feline friends...
yes, that's one of the kittens, yes, he's getting rather big now that he's four months old, and yes, he's trying to nurse... 'nuff said?
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige...
from Orphan Train (Utah Phillips)
Poor little grayling! He's all packed up and ready to be sent out on his own. Not exactly an orphan, and I doubt it will involve trains, but he is looking for someone to take him in. (Either that or we will, as we've been joking, end up with five kittens!)
Did you know that there were actual orphan trains in the United States?
Started by the Children's Aid Society of New York after the civil war, the orphan trains relocated somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 children from the east coast to parts further west. (Like in times of war, exact numbers are hard to come by, as I was typing this, someoneElse asked, "Isn't it closer to 350,000?") Unlike the cities of the eastern US, the west had the space for more children and they were wanted by many families, even if only to work as farm hands.
While a lot of these children were, in
fact, orphans this was not the case for all of the children; a number of them came from families who simply couldn't afford to care for them or had parents that were deemed "unfit." Siblings were often separated, never to see each other again. The trains operated from the 1850s to the 1930s, paralleling the
expansion of the railroad tracks, stopping at each town on the westward
journey, described here by Utah Phillips:
The farmers and their families they came from miles around
We lined up on the platform of the station in each town
And one by one we parted like some living lost-and-found
And one by one we all were taken in
In any case, many of the orphan train children were destined not for adoption but for indenture. Yes, you read that right: indenture.
For a country just ending slavery yet needing to fuel a massive westward expansion, the attitude — and legal reality — that children were property made them a handy source of unpaid labor. Children of the orphan trains often discovered that they weren't legally part of what was sometimes the only family they had ever known at the death of a parent, when they discovered they were cut out of inheriting a portion of the farm they worked as a child. (since I learned this, the verse above evokes a slave auction...)
Other bits of the Orphan Train history shed light on some of the more shameful and tragic aspects of the program: children as young as five being arrested and thrown in with adult prisoners before being sent west; beggar children, referred to as "street Arabs" or "city Arabs" were sent west to "good Christian families"; reports of some girls ending up as child brides, sometimes to much older men.
I find it fascinating that so few people know of the Orphan Trains — even though admittedly I first heard of them maybe a decade ago when someone played the song at a "hoot" — since it seems like something we should have been taught in school. Perhaps it's just one of those oh so awkward moments in history that we'd rather just forget about.
Maybe the Internet will help change that: The Orphan Train Riders have a site, PBS did an American Experience on the topic, a museum (The National Orphan Train Complex) opened recently, and there's even an Orphan Train movie. (which reinforces my point, the only comment includes "...I didn't know...these orphan trains were something that really happened.") The last of the Orphan Train riders are getting well along in years, if we don't hear their stories now, it may well be too late.
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige...
People talk about dog years, but what about cat years. I'm not sure how long a cat year is, but I can tell you one thing: six week old kittens are the same as human toddlers, about 18-20 months old, if my memory of the theKid is right. Everything fragile that I care about is packed (or sitting on a tabletop, well, mostly sitting on a tabletop), the house is thrashed, kitty detrius is strewn down the hallway, and a few times an hour I hear the thump of a head hitting hardwood and wince, waiting for the following whine.
Personalities are emerging, to the extent that we can guess which kitten is connected to which noise, and, more often than not, why. If there's a sudden lonely cry, it means T3 just realized she's all by herself and wants attention. A pained yowl means theFluffling has forgotten the size difference between himself and the "three babies"...again. (resulting in an introduction to gravity — wherein he is gently dangled upside down for 15 seconds while being talked to in theBadVoice — then someoneElse holds fruffleFace in his lap, while tenderly stroking the his face and saying, "you have to be gentle with the babies" repeatedly while I dissolve in laughter.)
Then there are days like today. I sat down on the floor with a camera while the kittens romped on a sunlit patch of floor. Adorable kittens playing in gorgeous natural lighting and space for about 170 pictures on my CF card, what could go wrong...go wrong...go wrong.
Perhaps there will be more pictures this week. Perhaps not. Perhaps if there are more, they will be of kittens that are in playing in natural light rather than kittens who are climbing on me in natural shadow. Perhaps not.
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige...
This week starts with a basket of cute. Three tiny (well, not quite so tiny any more) kittens stuffed in a basket that's barely large enough for two. This may be why you can only see two of them, the third is being squished — rather like a bug — underneath these two.
That bright little face, btw, belongs to T3 who is one of the two kittens available for adoption. How could you not love that little face? And if you're a real softie, her grandmother Tux is also available. She's a real sweetie too.
Anyway, it's a good thing that they all got some rest too because the next thing on the big kitten agenda was outside! While the fruffleThing used to be an outside kitten before she came to us — mom was a stray who moved in at my friend's bed and breakfast — the other three had no clue.
Continue reading "wcb: four kittens and the outside adventure " »
Clare and Kiri from eat stuff organize weekend cat blogging to provide us with an excuse to bring on the cute...and we're all happy to oblige...
Starting with the three almost month-old kittens because, even if they are pretty much a blur, they are at least predictable. As in, they are supposed to be here. They are each between 550-575 grams as of yesterday and we've had to redesign the kitty containment system in their room to make the board across the doorway higher — it's now two feet and I give them a week tops before the first one gets claws over the top edge in a single leap. Then this barrier will fall, as the puny 1x12 fell before it. With any luck, we'll have the kitten section of the yard fenced in by then. So far, we've been about a day ahead of them. Doesn't bode well for us puny humans.
They are also getting older — not just bigger, older. They are a lot more like tiny cats now than they were just a few day ago: they scatch behind their necks (and lose their balance and topple over about half the time) and spend a good chunk of their waking time playing bap and bite, which seems like a fun game if you're a kitten. Plus they have their little paws under them and are walking steadily and even doing short bursts of running...until their back legs lose traction on the hardwood floor and they end up sprawled indignantly on their bellies.
I took more than 300 pictures of these three furlings this past week. They all look like this one. Well, that's not entirely true...some are blurrier. I need to get them outside in bright light so I can get a decent shot for next week. (Plus, I need to get a tummy picture for Layla...)
But didn't I say something about four?
This week brought great change in the land of the smidges:
freedom!
We got our first inkling that something was afoot (apaw?) one morning when we awoke to a lone kitten next to the board we had placed across the so-called-sewing room** doorway. Fortunately, we had expanded our kitten-proof zone the previous day in anticipation of just this event so while the furling was unhappy at being alone he was at least confined to a small part of the house. I'd give you three guesses which kitten, but you know which one was 'nymed Trubble, so it's probably obvious.
The next afternoon, I went to check on the smidges and found this. Apparently escaping is exhausting and the smidges had to crash. but look! That all-gray face that seems somehow ready for more...guess who? The more I watch these guys, the more convinced I am that we got Trubble nailed when he first tried to escape from the 'birthing bed' less than ten minutes after he was born.
A little while later, after we put back them back into the blue box, T3 had to show her mom just how fewocious she can be. Be amused, be very amused.
The three continue to grow apace, all of them being around 400 grams now, I believe. Everyone is up and moving around pretty well too. The last day or two has seen the beginning skirmishes of the Tussle War, look for pictures of that next week.
I want to thank everyone who left a comment or sent mail about Tidbit. He was an awfully special little thing and it was nice to hear he'd tugged a heartstring or two out there.
The rest of the week's cats can be found at Eat Stuff, where Clare and Kiri have taken a moment from their adventures to round up the cute.
** I use the term "sewing room" to describe the room that has been occupied by one cat or another for well over the half the time we've lived here. The room in which I have used a sewing machine once in eighteen months. The one with the shelves full of fabric that have been unpacked, stacked, semi-repacked, unpacked again, organized "for real" a few weeks back...and then taken over by River when she moved her kittens in there, requiring me to pack three shelves (out of five) lest they become kitten fodder. That sewing room. Hrumph! Might as well call it the kitten room.
Isn't that just the warmest, softest pile of furlings you've seen lately? (The picture is about a week old and while I was all geared up to brave River's indignant m'rows to get some more current ones for this weekend's WCB, life has intervened. How unusual.)
The kittens grow so fast now, they look different almost from one day to the next...fat bellies, eyes opening, heads are starting to perk up when we come into the room or turn on a light. They are rapidly cruising towards fat, happy and crawling all over the not-yet-kittenproofed house.
Except for one.
(weekend cat blogging, cont.)
As promised, updates on the kittens. River's had four so far and seems like she's going to have another one or two. The first two were gray (one pure, the other with a little white), the second two black (one pure, the other with white markings), and three sets of white socks amongst them. One little one is pretty much pure black from what I can tell.
Carrying on a fine tradition, we have another "Tux" (aka Tux3) — River's mom Tux (who lives at Jessica's place, the lucky thing!) being the first and River (who was "Tuxette" as a kitten) being the second. Is that not the most adorable thing you've seen today?
this is what 12 minutes old looks like, just in case you have ever wondered... there's a second one now, and River decided to have them (literally) at our feet... there will be more over the weekend...and i'll post more too...
until then, please be quiet, there's sleeping kittens and a kind of worn out, and not yet done, River...
the rest of the cats are at Clare's place... (and now i must go back to reassuring River that those mewling things attached to her are really okay)
(updates and more pictures here)
I've been neglecting this poor blog lately, something about deadlines. (and I know I am not the only one...) But I managed to snap a picture of River tonight, in one of those spots you have to think about to appreciate.
First, check out the locations of appliances and sink. Those tall cabinets on the right are where a lot of the food is stored. Nice placement of the sleeping cat, huh? There's barely enough space to walk around her to the refrigerator, and there's a door beyond it to the right. The cabinets open without hitting her, just. Take one too many steps backward while working at the oven and she's squished like a bug.
One might wonder: how did she come to such a sleeping spot? It's not soft. It's not dark. It's not quiet. It is, in fact, in the middle of stuff. Stuff being, in this case, two kinds, dinner, and cleaning. Well, we named her Underfoot for a reason.
Weekend Cat Blogging is Clare and Kiri's weekly collection of fantastic felines. This week, Kiri's got a new condo with space for visitors.
Found this wonderful old picture recently. Thor and Trubble, a pair that once lived with me. Thor arrived as a six-week old ball of fluff and was promptly whipped into shape by Trubble. Somewhere is a photo of them curled up sleeping together later the same evening as this shot. Needless to say, they were a hoot to live with. 
(sorry for the quality...it's sooo pre-digital! back when moisture damaged prints...)
Weekend Cat Blogging is brought to you by Eat Stuff, where the world's most tolerant cat lives. Check out this week's furlings.
Weekend Dog Blogging comes from Sweetnicks, where Cate hangs out with puppies and a truly adorable pair of kids. This week's roundup is here.
I was looking through some blog stats the other day and noticing a lot of traffic to two images recently, all of it through Google searches. Well, I just googled and it seems that two of my weekend cat blogging pictures are currently at #9 and 10 on a google search for "adorable kittens"...ummm, so can I claim this as my niche du jour?
I am only glad River isn't human so I don't have to deal with an actual ego...or demands for royalties.
We've had the sort of rain that local naturalist Robert Pyle might call "ratta-tatta-tattarain with intermittent virkkaplotzs" for what seems like weeks. The rivers have spilled over their banks and receded and seem poised to do it again. Some people who have homes with decks that just out over the Columbia River were reminded of their relationship with the river when it crept over first the deck, then the doorstep. The joys of waterfront living!
My cats took advantage of a brief pause in the rain (they call them "sun breaks" up here, which is just odd) to get outside for a moment's romping.
The little black furling has now been here for six weeks and he's looking so much fatter and healthier. He's got a name too.
Allow me to introduce Bean "the S'kitten" Underfoot.
Bean for the character in the Ender series, who starts life as a scrappy little street kid before things start to look up. (If you haven't read the series, you really ought to take a look. Bean even gets his own series after a time.) The moniker of Bean came with bonus points because he was rescued from an espresso stand on the side of Hwy 101. Not a good place for a tiny, starving furling to be hanging out.
The "s" in s'kitten is for skittish, which he was at first. Extremely skittish. Even now that he's secure here, he's not overly fond of sudden loud noises — although he is getting used to the kitchen appliances. Which is good (or so he might have you think) because it means he can spend more time under my feet while I'm working.
Apparently our cats are somehow related because they are both clearly members of the Underfoot clan, Bean's gotten a few gently squished paws while figuring out that behind my feet while I am cooking is not the best place to lurk. It doesn't help that, being almost pure black, he completely disappears into the shadows.
Like I said, two cats are more hyper than one.
Weekend cat blogging is the wonderful excuse that Clare has provided for us to show off our furlings. Her roundup of this week's cute is here.
Those of you without cats aren't left out of the fun. If you've got a dog, check out Sweetnicks for weekend dog blogging...and another charming picture of the sweetNick himself. If you've got herbs, get thee to Kalyn's Kitchen for weekend herb blogging, maybe she'll share some of the peach fresca she found. This weekend is also Paper Chef, hosted at Belly-Timber where they are cooking babies or something.
As for food, someoneElse is in the next room, just pulling some snickerdoodles with variants (nuts, craisins, both) out of the oven. And I hear more eggs being cracked. All that and a new season of Battlestar Gallactica and The L Word this weekend. The year's shaping up pretty well so far.
No long babble on this, but it's cute enough that it just doesn't need it. River, the five month old furling has been in desperate need of a new friend and one has shown up and moved in. We found her hanging out at a local espresso stand about two weeks ago and, after a few skittish days, she's settled in rather nicely, as you can see.
The rest of this week's furlings at Eat Stuff, where Clare also has some sad news about a WCB regular: Seems Macroom, the Happy Goddess's familiar, is having a bit of a rough spot health-wise but things are looking up a bit as of the last update. Stop by and check out the wonder that is our cats.
As you've probably heard, Clare of Eat Stuff is in the hospital recovering from a rather unfortunate series of events. So this week's Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted at masak-masak and folks are showing up with yummy things to eat, flowers, and adorable cats of all sorts.
River is working the perimeter and heard there might be dogs hiding in this box. Evil, scary, barky dogs who must be stopped.
And I am shaing the kitty love with my favorite two year-old who gets this cat-covered shirt this weekend.
This week's roundup is over at masak-masak, you really should go see them.
This weekend's cat blogging is special because it's Kiri's birthday! His beautousness is all dressed up in a jumper and tie (I swear that cat's on nip, check out that last picture) and ready to party, Kiri's got lots of friends hanging around. Complete guest list is at Kiri's slave's place (sometimes known as Eat Stuff).
The furling, who has finally been named—but we'll get to that in a moment—had to rest up before the party and chose one of her favorite spots.
The local food bank was collecting donations today, and since we sometimes donate to the food bank in honor of someone's birthday, it seemed like good timing. The furling checks out the bag to be sure it's a good collection.
Pasta, fruit, no problem, but there's tuna in there! Did I say you could give away tuna?!?
There are treats to share too. The remnants of the roe from the homemade caviar are the furling's offering. Too bad it won't squish through the Internet, it was apparently really yummy.
Any good party has games, and the furling is playing her side of tethermouse. Kiri, smack it back!
Now on to the naming portion of our day.
Cats should pick their own names—or so goes the wisdom around our place—and while this isn't as straightforward as many other methods, it just might be the most accurate. The nameless furling has been with us or just about a month now and until just about a week ago, she's mostly been known as "the little kitten," as in "It's too quiet, have you seen where the little kitten is?" (Believe me, like with a toddler, silence is not golden, it's worrisome. The last silence accompanied a demonstration that a roll of toilet paper could be unrolled onto the floor 30 feet away without any auditory indication.) As we've watched her get used to living here, her personality has begun to express itself a bit more definitively in a number of ways.
She is, by and large, a good-natured furling who can often be seen scurrying around the house burbling to herself in a manner highly reminiscent of R2D2 or the little bots on Farscape. Gurgles and coos waft down the halls in her wake. On other occasions, she sounds like Kenny from South Park—and we can almost decipher what she means. However it's identified, she is a talkative little thing, even if nobody but her knows what shes saying.
There is apparently an on-off switch buried somewhere; she goes from being the sweetest, gentlest, snuggliest kitten to a bundle of terror incarnate—and back—in a flash. With any luck, we'll discover the triggers before our forearms and jeans are reduced to shreds. When she's in kill-mode, she has a special relationship with gravity and serious hang-time.
Another thing: Houdini has nothing on this furling. At least once a day I search the house for her—and the areas that are not protected by closed doors are neither huge nor heavily furnished so this shouldn't be that hard—and, after failing to find her anywhere, blink and she's at my feet. In the middle of a room with nothing to hide under in it. I am thinking she is a half-breed, perhaps elf or pixie, or something that accesses additional dimensions to tesseract around...it's the only explanation.
Like many kittens she is frequently competing with our feet for floor space. Luckily, having had a few cats who did this, we're used to it and step lightly. Plus, the hardwood floors mean she slides easily while escaping from the great crushing human feet. Of course, that also means she slide a lot of other times too, but we have to get our laughs somewhere.
After living with the furling for a few weeks, we started trying out names to see what fit. Poof, in honor of the great appearing act, was a hot contender for a while, but it was a small slice of a multi-faceted kitten so we moved on. Many possibilities were examined and discarded, although an early decision was that she might need more than one name. That didn't make this easier.
Eventually we came to a decision. Once we had done so, we found ourselves saying things that made a lot of sense if you knew who she was named after, which must indicate we chose wisely. Given all that, got any guesses?
Oh, it might help to know that our last two cats were named Wesley and Moufasa, both after movie characters. The first got her name from some kids who were visiting us when the cat—a stray—adopted us. The kids were watching "The Princess Bride" and upon seeing the stray cat lurking around the yard, insisted on feeding her...while giggling, "Eat well Wesley, we'll most likely kill you in the morning." (Okay, so it was Westley in the movie, the kids were 3 and 7 and they said Wesley, so Wesley it was!) Moufie got his name because he this rather hulkingly low-to-the-ground orange and white fluffcat who was an adorably ferocious 6 week old when he killed his first critter; The Lion King was on our radar for some reason, someone said "he wants to be the King" and the name stuck. There was also a tiny grayling stray who briefly adopted us and was dubbed Shadow Underfoot—clearly her elven name.
Last guesses? ...the furling's new name, on the other side of the jump.
Continue reading "WCB: Kiri's birthday and a special surprise" »
She's still nameless, although we have a few contenders, but she's very much at home...and apparently bored by what TV had to offer.
Every weekend, food bloggers share their favorite felines via Kiri's person Clare at Eat Stuff. Some weeks the cats, being the political aware animals that they are, even give us a cat-related cause to support.
Next week is Kiri's birthday so start planning costumes and drugs for the cats--because Clare, I am not sure what you feed Kiri, but my cat looks at some of Kiri's pictures and then at me as if to say, "try that and you'll be typing with one hand!" I think I'll have to photoshop something in.
Check out this week's collection and enjoy the cats. This week's group so far:
Check out the cute glinda in a kitty sling! I so want one for Kiri!!!! at Anne's Food
Check out the growing little kittens who are taking over Boos house at Masak Masak!
Check out the pusses who ardusting to their new found celebrity status at The Food Pornogropher
Check out Tigger basking in thew sunlight at Look hunny, I cooked
Check out the newly renamed Bowser setting in at A cat in the Kitchen
Check out Trina hanging out in the window at
