my little master

I spent much longer writing a letter to my Amsterdam friends than I thought it would take this morning/afternoon. All that time, Andy pestered me.

“Whaaat,” I whined, “…what do you want, kitty?”

Nothing I did or did for him settled him down. Constant interruptions.

Andy was a pest today.

About halfway through the letter, I took this photo of Andy. Not a brilliant piece of art, mind you. I took it with my webcam. Hit the button to take the photo and three seconds later, it makes the picture. A lot can happen in three seconds when you are taking snapshots of a cat! This was a best of several efforts. That’s how bad the rest were! Ha!

…in case you think I was lying about the other photo being the “best”, here are the five I took before I got the “good” one.

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tkmorin – This is the best one of the other five for eyes, but there was just too little detail on Andy’s face to make something decent of it. You barely can see his partly closed eyes.

Part of the problem, too, is in all the others his head’s turned or his eyes are closed.

tired kitties

The boys wore themselves out doing “cat stuff”, then disappeared to their favorite sleeping perches. Soon, the world slowed to a stop.

That was then: On civil discourse.

My Mom and Dad pretty much voted straight ticket in all elections. In part, most offices in this state, from Governor to County Commissioner to Councilman are held by one party, and the other rarely puts up viable candidates. In part, because they happened to like the candidates and party they voted for better than the other.

They occasionally crossed party lines if the candidate put up by their party wasn’t, in their judgment, the better person for the job. I mean, they wouldn’t deny friendship to someone because he voted for the other guy or call him an idiot, moron, traitor, or whatever to his face because they had a different point of view on how best to run the country. They didn’t shout down the other guy when he expressed an opinion they didn’t agree with. They weren’t ideologues, just thoughtful, thinking citizens.

“The Salvation of the State is Watchfulness in the Citizen” ~ Hey, it’s carved in stone!

Apropos civil discourse, here’s an example of how Mom handled such things:

Once, during the evening news, someone made a disparaging remark about the President at the time. Mom started to cry, her angry cry. I was confused because I didn’t understand what was going on.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” I asked.

“I didn’t vote for the President, but he is the President of our country. You should never be disrespectful of the President. If you can’t respect the man, respect the office,” she said.

That was then.

The party Mom and Dad supported has been taken over by people who show incredible disrespect for our current President. As much as I miss them, I’m glad Mom and Dad aren’t alive to see and hear the appalling slanders made against the President or to see how the politicians in the party they once supported behave more like spoiled brats than statesmen and people who won’t put country above party.

This is now. They would not approve.

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I intended to put a video in this post of Thumper Rabbit saying “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” It struck me, though, that there are several individual uploads of that Disney-copyrighted material on YouTube. I ran afoul of the copyright nazis when I made three short videos of my cat Andy when listening to a favorite Louis Armstrong CD. See below. Yet I found at least 10 different uploads of the Thumper quote alone, one posted as far back as 02/17/07! I’m having a Thumper moment, but I’m not thinking about saying nothing! While I think happy thoughts, go to my happy place, you read the table below. Please and thank you!

Ten people who uploaded Disney-copyrighted videos of Thumper saying “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

It just occurred, too, I bet Thumper’s words of wisdom are probably copyrighted by Disney. Oh #&@*.

There is some evidence of Disney videos pulled off YouTube for copyright issues. See the “Wrath of God” bolt of lightning?

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HERE’S WHAT CAUSED ME TO SEEK MY HAPPY SPOT:

21st Century I.P.

copyright or copywrong

haircut day

Dougy and Andy got their bi-monthly grooming session today. They came out of the session prettier than ever, washed, buffed, trimmed, and fluffed.

They even got good marks for being good boys! I was worried about that because Dougy certainly wasn’t a good boy when I had to catch him to take them to the groomer! He gave me a 10 minute chase, that ended up with me all hot and sweaty, and Dougy in the slammer.

He whined about it, of course, because he always does. Dougy thinks he’ll never see freedom again! Andy takes it like a big boy because he knows he’ll be out soon enough. (He’s done more “hard time” in the veterinarian’s cages than Dougy, thanks to starting out life in worse health than his brother.)

I didn’t have energy to try to make a video or even take a photo of the boys after their session, but I probably will do something about that in the next day or so.

In the meantime, Andy and Dougy spent lots of time putting their special touches on their new ‘dos, making sure they smell like Andy to Dougy and like Dougy to Andy! I can’t smell any difference (they have a neutral scent), but they can, and that’s all that matters!

Washington Navy Yard shooting

How soon we forget we promised to do something, then, but failed.

If the murders of 20 first grade children didn’t bring about change in America, what will? What? WHAT?

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A Guide to Mass Shootings in America

DrNworb and foster kittens, a great combination!

I can’t speak highly enough about people who work to find homes for cats (or dogs, for that matter) that might otherwise end up euthanized or condemned to fending for themselves in sad, dangerous, short lives as feral animals.

Thanks to one Vancouver couple, however there is help and hope for abandoned mother cats and kittens in that lovely city. I learned about them through YouTube videos posted on the DrNworb channel. They foster abandoned kittens and their mothers till the kittens are old enough, then help place the cats with good families. I am a big fan!

Yesterday, I discovered DrNworb expanded to Facebook.

I have a bit of a cynical outlook on life some days. Well, many days! But people like DrNworb (Doug and Sharon) remind me that goodness and decency does exist in this world, that there is hope for humanity, that there are people who selflessly do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because it brings them glory.

It’s impossible to select one perfect example of the type of videos you’ll find on DrNworb’s YouTube channel – and now on Facebook! – but here’s a great one:

Aw! Aw! CUTE!!! If you like cats, check out this channel or the new Facebook page, you’ll soon see why I live for the days a new video gets posted! Always entertaining, always uplifting, always promoting humane treatment of cats and kittens.

Typically, their foster kittens are adopted out in pairs when they are mature enough, an arrangement you probably know I feel is best for the cats and their humans! (Andy and Dougy didn’t tell me to tell you that, but I tell you that because of them.)

Here’s another great DrNworb video:

If you enjoyed this taste of DrNworb videos and want to see more, or learn more about these and other fostered kittens and their mothers, here are some links:

https://www.facebook.com/drnworb?ref=profile

http://www.youtube.com/user/DrNworb?feature=watch

http://www.orphankittenrescue.com/

I’m addicted to cat videos, whether it’s making them or watching them. Most are posted on YouTube by the human companions of individual cats. Many are posted by breeders who use YouTube as a way to introduce viewers to the specific characteristics and behaviors of the cats they sell. The best ones, though, use videos on YouTube to promote humane treatment of cats through specific actions and established organizations like VOKRA (Vancouver Orphaned Kitten Rescue Association).

This post is in support of these two volunteers who’ve opened their home and hearts to abandoned cats and kittens in their community. Vancouver is fortunate to have such great ambassadors for humane treatment of cats!

weather and haircuts for the boys

The boys have a trip to the cat groomer coming up on Wednesday the 18th. I may have to ask for a longer final length on their hair than usual now that Fall is almost here on the High Plains.

This is how cool it was at 6:48 AM today. Fall is around the corner!

Actually, other than the problematic butt hair (poop balls) and armpit hair (mats), both Dougy and Andy seem to handle longer hair better than they used to. They are cuter and more Persian cat-esque with longer hair, too! Persians have that “owl face” thing about them that I find especially appealing.

Their hair takes on some very attractive qualities when it’s longer, too. You see more of the characteristic “smoke Persian” pelage qualities, something you can see in yesterday’s photo of Dougy in the box that I used for my Christmas stamp and card illustration. Those highlights on his coat actually are the effect of how light hits it.

Smoke Persian qualities show on the boys when their hair is longer.

Though the boys seem to be black cats, they are more multi-colored, with soft shades of grays ranging to darker grays, then black on their legs, shoulder, faces, and hindquarters, depending on how light hits them. They are very dramatic cats when in motion!

Better grooming is a big part of the reduced hair issues. Andy doesn’t need much brushing because he has less undercoat than Dougy, but neither has had a problem with bad hair mats since I started taking them to Sarah, their groomer. She’s a cat-grooming goddess! I like Sarah! More importantly, the boys are good boys for her: They like Sarah, too!

Speaking of Sarah, who regards Andy and Dougy as her favorites, I intend to start tipping her. Until my Seattle sister mentioned she tipped her boy’s groomer, it hadn’t occurred to me to do the same. Sarah’s excellent care of my boys means they are cleaner, I don’t have to watch out for poop balls or wash poop (“poop baths”) out of their hair.

Sox the tuxedo cat, Andy and Dougy’s Seattle cat cousin.

I don’t know what a reasonable tip for a pet groomer might be, but I’m starting out with a generous one that is the sum of what I would have tipped Sarah from the first session till the one on the 18th.

I can’t emphasize how much difference her excellent work’s made in the lives of the boys, or, for that matter, mine! I was close to finding a new home for them, the poop issue was so bad. I would have missed out on a lot of joy in my life….

It’s a dull day here on the High Plains…

Andy is cool~ !

But Dougy was the subject of my 2012 Christmas card and postage stamp!

putting Putin in perspective or just poo-pooing Vlad…I don’t know

The news is full of reactions to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s editorial in the New York Times. Not unexpectedly, members of the American ruling elite took offense to his remarks, as did some portion (98.7%) of the American public. We are genetically coded to mistrust Russian leaders, though I note that the actual Russian people are wonderful, as you know if you’ve ever met any of them!

But let’s not let our mutual love for each other get in the way of international politics.

Hey, I’m a child of the “duck-and-cover” era, as is Vladimir. I was a Cub Scout; he was a Young Pioneer. We grew up in mutual fear that the other guy was so evil, he’d drop atomic bombs on children just to see them shrivel up into dust, dust that glowed in the dark.

I lived in the zone where Soviet atomic bomb tests left a trail of Strontium 90 for American milch cows to ingest and pass on through their milk to all us American children that survived the impending nuclear winter. No doubt, Soviet children got a good dose of American radiation, too. We – the Americans and Soviets – were in this madness together, just on opposite sides of the political and geographic map.

But I wander. Putin rose to Lieutenant Colonel in the KGB by the time the Soviet Union had its day of reckoning, but he resigned and threw his hat in with the jolly Boris Yeltsin, first President of the newly-formed Russian Federation. He became a democrat, sort of, Russian style.

When Yeltsin resigned in 1999, Putin, PM of the Russian Federation, became President. Not too sinister, eh? George W. Bush looked into his eyes and saw his soul, famously, and he, like all bald men, looked pretty good in the cowboy hat he acquired in Texas. I don’t remember, but did he get cowboy boots, too? There are some famous bootmakers in Texas. Hats plus the boots help short men look taller.

OK, that was snarky to write, but he also has a comb-over! Hee! Hee! Thought we wouldn’t notice that in all those bare-chested outdoorsy shots of Vlad hunting bear, fishing monster fish, riding charging stallions, etc., etc. I mean, if Mao Tze Tung could swim in the Yellow River to prove he wasn’t dead yet, what harm is there in showing us your manly boobs, Vlad!? You DO look better half-naked than I do, so there’s no point on dwelling on this point much longer! Letting my hypocrisy hang out isn’t good policy, and you know martial arts.

So, when I heard Vladimir Putin had an editorial published in the New York Times, I was curious. What morally insightful guidance could this former KGB Lieutenant Colonel offer the United States and her President on dealing with the Syrian mess?

Quite a lot, actually, if you overlook slight rewritings of history and unintentionally ironic points that we of the “duck-and-cover” generation are primed to notice. Right message, wrong messenger. I’ll even give you a freeby on the “American exceptionalism” comment. I mean, George W. Bush saw your soul and found you were to be trusted. >wink~wink< I’m sure you were sincere in what you wrote. Or your American PR firm was in what they wrote in your behalf. Whomever. Whatever. (There I go being snarky again…!)

I especially felt encouraged, though, by what I saw as a “come to Jesus moment” at the end. Who would have guessed a former KGB Lieutenant Colonel might speak directly of God, that His children are all born equal? Or that Wikipedia’s biography lists Putin as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church? I’m trying to picture little PR-prepped Vladimir as an altar boy, but the image just doesn’t come together.

Or am I being snarky again? Must be all that Strontium 90 I ingested as a kid speaking.

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The text of President Putin’s editorial is available on the Internet. An analysis of the speech by any of several news outlets is available. Any of them has more relevance than my little post, but my post is more snarky. Try this Washington Post analysis, for example:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/09/12/vladimir-putins-new-york-times-op-ed-annotated-and-fact-checked//

cross purposes

The boys are great fun most days, but there are other days when one cat on my computer desk is a challenge , and the intrusion of a second one is one cat too many.

When I began making the video below, I envisioned it as a vignette of Andy playing with a pen. Andy chose to expand the theme into “very cute cat playing a game with his human by dropping a pen over the side of a shelf so the human had to retrieve it for the cute cat”.

Dougy didn’t have anything better to do, so he stopped by for a nose rub or whatever he could get out of me. He refused to let the distraction of the pen stop him from his quest! He stood his ground – right between Andy and me while I was trying to make the video of Andy.