Friday Catblogging July 4, 2008

With bonus neighbor kitties! The four apartments on the top floor are home to several beautiful cats. Today, I am sharing three of them with you.



This gorgeous creature is Max - he allows my friend Catherine who lives two doors down to pay the bills and buy food for him.




This is Cubby, sho tolerates my neighbor Jordan so long as Jordan keeps the food coming and the litterbox clean - Cubby likes the skylight in the hallway almost as much as he likes my peppermint foot lotion. I know I'm weird, but sandy little cat-tongues on your shins is one of life's pleasures.


This is Jacob. He too lives with my neighbor Jordan and loves, loves, loves, loves, loves the skylight in the hallway.

Charlie did mighty battle with a thread from the decorative throw.


Dinner time. Both critters would like to appeal to your generosity. They would like me to tell you that as they are not alley cats, they do not want to be reduced to eating "Alley Cat."

Friday Catblogging - June 13, 2008

It is overcast today, and Charlie is a bit miffed that the big yellow ball in the sky
is withholding it's love. Sunbeams are supposed to be streaming in
and allowing him to bask for a good two or three hours
in preparation to rest up for a nap, damnit!

The campaign is taking it's toll on every male in the house...
Buddy Impeachment is wiped out after the
extended primary - and the delegate tie means that I & I
are in deep negotiations about who will be
at the topof the ticket.

Friday Cat Blogging - June 6, 2008

Buddy Impeachment enjoys his time in the sun - literally. Every sunny day we have, campaigning comes to a screeching halt for about three hours, and he takes a sunbath under the skylight. Pity the mere human with designs on kicking back in the LazyBoy and enjoying a midday movie - such felicitous pursuits can wait for him to vacate the throne, thank you very much.

But his brother is going to cause him problems, I just know it. Charges of "elitist" are sure to be made, especially when Charlies fondness for satin bedding gets out. Thank goodness his opponent is an overweight suburban kitty from Irvine! At least an inner city cat from KC has some street cred, even if he does have a brother who is a bit on the precious side!

***************


And I'm out for the afternoon - we'll be keeping our antennae raised for the newsdump, and we will of course have the roundup tonight, but if I am going to have a four year old working this hard, I gotta help out, or there will be trouble with child welfare, I just know it...(Yes, that is Method™ pink grapefruit non-toxic cleaner...)

Friday Catblogging - May 30, 2008

Buddy Impeachment takes a little time off from his campaign to get a little r&r before he gears up to take the fight to the convention. For the record, the soccer ball won, and our cat-idate has turned his attention to Zoe's train as it circles the track.



The campaign has obviously taken it's toll on Charlie.



Happy Friday, everyone! Now go outside and play! Check back this evening and find out what the Friday News Dump™ is this week!

--BG

Friday Catblogging - May 23, 2008

Buddy Impeachment is running on the platform "Vote for me. I am too lazy to get us into any more trouble than we already are. I'm even to lazy to use an exclamation point in my slogan."

He seems to have the essentials mastered - he stays on the duvet cover and he knows where his remote is.









And Charlie will make a fantastic chief of staff and here is why...




He is a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is!

Friday Catblogging - May 16, 2008

Window sill edition!

It is springtime, and open-window weather, and the kitties are loving it.

Charlie is soaking up sun in the late afternoon.
(Enjoy it while you can, Chuckles, because that window will have an AC unit in another month.)

And a few hours later, Buddy Impeachment has been going to town
on the miniblind cord in the sasme window, and is now giving me his best "innocent" face.

And that's it for me for today, I have to get ready to get my schmooze on at Truman Days. If I have time between now and leaving home, I will put something in the queue on a timer, but that prospect looks doubtful at this point. Anyway, for the remainder of the weekend, a version of my standard disclaimer applies: if the vice president shoots someone in the face and I fail to comment on it, it's because I'm off playing quarters with the county executive or something.

Friday Catblogging - May 9, 2008

Buddy Impeachment takes a break from the rigors of the campaign trail
and soaks up some sunlight.


Tippy the sea turtle put up quite a tussle, and managed to end up on top as Charlie was positioning himself in a sunbeam that was coming through the bedroom window yesterday afternoon while we were waiting for the lights to come back on.

Toodles - I leave you in good hands. See you tomorrow from the convention floor.

Friday Catblogging - May 2, 2008

Buddy Impeachment takes a break from the campaign trail
and basks under the skylight in the gallery.

Charlie the lazy boy, on the back of the La-Z-Boy.

No commentary today...I'll be lucky to get this posted without having to reset the connection...

Friday Catblogging - April 25, 2008

It isn't the table, but Buddy Impeachment is on the chair!



Two chairs in that room, and no place for a human tuchus to take a load off!

Friday Catblogging - April 11, 2008

That would be Charlie, doing what Charlie does best - sleeping.

He enjoys Clean Sheet Day™ every bit as much as the people in this house do.

I have just enough room on the back balcony to dry sheets in the sun - and we are high enough, being on the top floor of a building on the top of a tall hill, that there is always enough breeze here to dry sheets perfectly.

The white linens came out for Zoe's futon last week, and Charlie wasted no time. He immediately got down to the task at hand - enjoying his birthright - Egyptian Cotton!



Buddy Impeachment is on the desk - and that's pretty damned close to being on the table!

Refinishing my desk is another item on that "Honey-Do" list that never gets any shorter no matter how many items he crosses off.

He does actually cross things off. He isn't one of those infuriating retirees. Actually, we are having a blast and remembering why we liked one another so much in the first place, now that life isn't a blur of childrearing and careers.

Have a great weekend, everyone. We're keeping an ear open for the news dump.

BONUS SHOT!

Well what have we here? Impeachment is on the table!

UPDATE - Blue Girl

Because Thersites made a neuron fire in the comments section...

Friday Catblogging - March 28, 2008

With bonus shots of my city...



It is officially spring! The tables and chairs are out in front of the Westport Coffee House, the lunch special is Hummus and Pita, and the signboard is advertising salads and smoothies. This is the point where I pack away the heavy winter coats and whatnot and make my yearly threat to join a gym.







Buddy took advantage of clean sheet day to enjoy the comforter for a bit.









Charlie, like his brother, will not stay off the table.










And a bonus shot of the Wienermobile as it went down Broadway as I was waiting at the crosswalk by Penn Valley Community College a few minutes ago. I'm sorry I couldn't get my phone out quick enough to get a better shot...:(

Friday Catblogging - March 21, 2008

Charlie, doing what Charlie does - flopping around and wielding his claws,
until he finds that perfect sleeping position

A couple of days ago, Zoe's toy closet got on my last nerve, and I pulled everything out of it and put it in a big pile on the floor and commenced with sorting and organizing and donating and flat-out tossing some of the - for want of a better word - crap. So far, she hasn't noticed the missing items. Let's hope it holds - she will be four in a few days, and she is really exercising her dramatic chops these days...

And while the closet was empty, Buddy Impeachment
claimed a shelf as his very own.

Friday Catblogging - March 7, 2008

I bet this poor bastard wishes he could have stayed in the house today.

I raised three kids, primarily in two Fords. If I never had to drive another mile, I would not look back from my deathbed and bemoan the fact I stopped sitting in traffic and sliding in the snow once they moved out of the house. Give me a bus pass and Overstock.com, or give me valium. Especially here. Nobody in this town knows how to drive a lick. Every last one of them has cobwebs on their turn signals.




I woke up early this morning to blowing snow and winter weather advisories. I pulled my robe a little closer and went off to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and watch the snow blow, and the kitties sleep. I also said a little "thank you" to the universe for humoring me and letting me take myself out of the game early so I can do things like watch the snow and the sleeping kitties.












They sure know how to make the most out of a winter weather advisory, don't they?



See you in a couple of hours with the Friday News Dump™.

Friday Cat Blogging - Leap Day, 2008

Enjoy them while you can.

Remember when Buddy Impeachment and Charlie came to live with us, I told you I was Taking in Refugees? Well, my daughter just heard from her friend who was unable to take them with him, and he will be returning to KC in a few weeks, and while the subject wasn't broached directly, I can not imagine that he would not want to reclaim his kitties.

Wouldn't you? They are not only gorgeous, they are really good cats - they don't howl incessantly and they don't yack hairballs in my Doc Marten's Mary Janes. Besides that, I live in a historic brick walk-up with a stone foundation and I have never seen a mouse, and we moved here over a year ago. Don't know if that trend would continue if we didn't have a cat, and I'm not sure we want to risk it...

Anyway, I will continue to blog them on Fridays as long as I have them, so without further ado, here is this Fridays catblogging...

Here is Buddy Impeachment on a dining room chair. He has taken his eye off the ball rubber band to look at me and the one-eyed silver thing, so you can't tell that he is doing mighty battle with one of Zoe's pony-tail holders. This is an activity on which he can perseverate for the better part of an hour, and frequently does. He will exhaust himself and then pass out for, oh, 10-15 hours.


Charlie. I managed to snap this right before he jumped from the cedar chest to my chest. And I'm going to preemptively answer the question "what book is that you are reading?" and even plug it a little bit. It is I Wish I'd Been There, a compilation of essays about signal moments in American history, written by noted historians who have studied the events they write about in great detail. My favorite essay in the book is Carol Berkin's George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy.

Now, let's talk about the future of catblogging on this site...

I see a couple of options...My nephew and his significant other - oh hell, my niece and nephew - have a teeny tiny Boston Terrier puppy. He has only been weened for a couple of weeks, and he really is cute as a button. I could get them to shoot pictures of him my way to post in the time I am sans feline.

Or I could resurrect Public Art blogging. I started doing that last spring, then I just sorta dropped it...oh yes - I remember now - my vintage digital camera died, and I went back to snapping the cats with my daughters camera (she lives downstairs!) until I got a new one. I hadn't been doing it long enough for it to be a habit, or for it to develop a following, and I let it fall to the wayside.

So what do you think, folks? I have a trove of fabulous public art around here, and if I resurrect that feature, you all can send me pictures of your own local favorites and share them with the class.

Ideas? Opinions? Bouquets? Brickbats?

Friday Cat Blogging - 21 February 2008

Honey-do list edition

Charlie is usually pretty good about staying on the towel I lay across the foot of the bed to keep him off my satin bedding, but once in a while, he gets feisty and wrestles it instead. The Honey-do project in this picture is the chest in the background. I have had it for years, it is real wood, and it has been schlepped all over the globe. It needs stripped, painted and new handles. You can see one of the pulls has fallen off - and has been residing in a wicker basket on top for a few weeks now.


Tuckered out. These are not diminutive cats - they are both in the neighborhood of 20 pounds, with Buddy Impeachment being slightly larger than his brother. I'm sure the downstairs neighbors were quite thrilled with their antics. The pictures of them wrestling were all blurry, so I snapped them after their marathon wrestling match. The Honey-do project in this one is a bit more detailed - in fact I haven't broached the subject yet - but when this was a rental, the glorious woodwork got painted. I know - it makes me sick. Since the trim around the front door is loose anyway, I think we should pull it all down and strip it back to natural wood. He may tell me to get bent...

Sorry y'all, but Dreidel has been banished to her own house for being a razor-clawed terror after I caught her swinging from one of my best dresses in the closet...this after a lot of stern looks from the better half in response to her taking after his recliner.

The Return of Friday Catblogging - February 15, 2008

A home without a cat - and a well-fed, well petted and properly revered cat - may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title? --Mark Twain

Charlie doing what Charlie does best - soaking up sun.
He will move when the sun does, and then I can make Zoe's bed...

Buddy Impeachement is about 20 pounds and has his claws.
The cedar chest is at my side of the bed, and every morning he manages to
open the door and he comes into the bedroom and hops up on the chest,
then proceeds to stare at me until I wake up and feed him.

And Dreidel...What a character she is turning into! Her antics could definitely
derail Impeachments chances of election...When I went from a desktop to a laptop
(thanks again, everyone who contributed! I am still overwhelmed!)
she immediately abandoned stealing the office chair the minute I get up to
do something, and started taking up a position under the lap-desk.
I think this proves she is methodical, deliberate and diabolical.
But we still love her.

Somehow, I think Mark Twain would approve of our household...

Friday Catblogging - January 25, 2008

"Nana! Charlie and Dreidel won't let me make my bed!"
She is getting very independent and wants to do things herself.
I kid you not - she moved them, one at a time,
three different times. And every time she got one off,
the the other one jumped back up.

And Buddy Impeachment - the troublemaker -
can't resist messing up Zoe's bookshelf. He does this twice a day -
but what am I gonna do? Put I three-year-olds
books out of reach? (doing my very best Seinfeld...) I don't think so.

Friday Catblogging - housework gets done on their schedule edition

Dreidel chased the string of a helium balloon to Zoe's bed, decided the pillow looked damned inviting, and decided she would just curl up and go to sleep, right there on the spot.


This is not going to be good for Buddy's Impeachment's presidential aspirations. Curled up in the food-givers bed at the crack of noon! Not only lazy, but obstructionist too!


And just for you, Elmo! While sweeping the floor, I set the foam kiddie chair on the table. Charlie thought a nap in the close quarters was a grand idea, and hopped on up. He has not expended a calorie of energy since. I hope that if Impeachment is successful in his bid, he doesn't choose his brother as Chief of Staff...

Friday Catblogging - with bonus pets edition!

Dreidel is a pretty smart little critter. We have steam heat, and a radiator is preferable to any towel warmer Koehler has ever made or sold. We put the towels on the radiator when we put Zoe in the bath, and she soon figured out that if the towels are there, there is a warm spot and she hops right on up.


Last night, Buddy Impeachment entertained us with his nightly midnight freak-out, then suddenly disappeared. Turns out he was laying in wait in the bathtub, and when another cat wandered into the bathroom, he jumped out and committed a drive-by slapping, and then it was on again - and all three cats tore through the apartment at top speed for another half hour. I'm sure the medical students a floor below just loved that!

Dreidel is learning from the master that the key is getting in or on the blankets while they are still warm, and before the food-givers make the bed - or in this case, the futon.

This is Bitty - Bitty is one of four cats that owns my friend and fellow lefty blogger, fighting the good fight in a red state, Beulahman - and I'm not going to tell you how he got his unusual handle - you have to go read it for yourself! But hey - I summered on a farm in rural Missouri as a teen - I know a couple of characters like Lil' Ear my own self...



And finally - a purse dog! Because I am not content to just tell you you are likely to see anything on the bus in Kansas City - I like to provide evidence!


Have a good weekend, y'all - Either Pale Rider or I will be back later with the news dump!