-11 degrees F or -24 degrees C

Six AM and it’s only -11 degrees F outside! This is February weather. Further, I have appointments to make today. The boys have their annual veterinarian check-up at 10:30 and I have my weekly military museum stint. I doubt many people will come out to the museum today. Probably any people is more like it!

Oh crap! I have to take the boys to the veterinarian for their annual check-up today!

I’ll check with the veterinarian’s clinic to see if their veterinarian made it back yesterday. I made the annual check-up appointment for the day after he was to return from a trip on the suggestion of Kim, the receptionist, so he had time to work through things he needed to do before getting back to appointments.

If he didn’t get in when expected, it might make sense to reschedule the appointment since it’s for a routine check-up.

Though the other veterinarians on staff are all good, I especially like the annual check-up to be done by their regular veterinarian. He knows best what issues they’ve dealt with and what later issues they might have in consequence.

I just feel better about using the same veterinarian when at all possible, too, because the boys are familiar with him and are comfortable with him.

snow day: 4 Dec 2013

This fir is directly outside my back door. The cats love it for the bird life…! (Just saying.)

I’ve always liked this fir-tree. It is so perfect, I always expect someone to cut it down in the middle of the night for a purloined Christmas tree. People do that sort of thing, you know. Ho! Ho! Ho!

As usual, there’s a good sized drift outside my back door. This is how far I can open it.

I haven’t checked the front door yet. I’m expecting a package today. I hope the staff clear the walks before then, no matter how much snow there is…!

It doesn’t take any time at all for my adventuresome Dougy to stick his nose into the snow. Andy’s standing inside, behind me, not too sure he wants snow today.

Dougy plows right into this white stuff. He’s fearless, curious, and the one of my two boys I have to watch carefully so he doesn’t slip outside. I don’t make the brothers wear their collars inside. They aren’t allowed to roam outside, so never have worn collars. I’m sure they would have fits! (Kind of like ties and me.)

Dougy wants the full experience. He pops his front paws up on the Cretan planter next to the door to try to see over the drift. (I snapped the photo, not expecting him to do this, so…!)

I have two of these handmade Cretan planters. They are fairly large. I grow Sedum in them, which dies off and is attractive dried, too.

Dougy has his way

Nothing beats a good nose rub!

film noir

Today, November 30th, is St. Andrew’s Day in Scotland. I named my wee Persian buddy Andy after St. Andrew, a nod to my mostly Scottish heritage.

Saltire of Scotland

In recognition of St. Andrew’s Day, I made a quick video featuring Andy the Persian cat.

In this film noir, I am the victim of a “toothing”. Or am I? The victim, I mean. Dougy, Andy’s brother, is on the scene. What did he see? What does he know? What the heck is his part in the “toothing”? Or DOES he have a part? Can he be made to talk? Or will he cover for his brother? Will the answers show themselves or will more questions arise? And why the heck is SpongeBob smiling that “toothy” smile?

http://www.scotland.org/celebrate-scotland/st-andrews-day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir#Problems_of_definition

Snow day

We have snow and cold today. Per tradition, I let the boys see the snow. They always are curious about it…. Dougy wants to get right in it; Andy wants to get right in it, but isn’t sure if he’s just kidding himself or what. (Seriously, Andy’s scared snotless by the great outside!)

weather 21 nov 2013

Dougy would run away if I let him outside. He’d follow his nose wherever it took him. That’s the bad news about Dougy, the reason I have to be very careful about knowing where he is when I hold the door open!

The snow gave me a chance to try out my new camera in extreme lighting, and it handles it pretty well for a little point-and-shoot camera! I think the video quality is great, too. The money was well spent!

I took a few stills of Dougy, too, before I decided a video’d be a good idea. All used flash, and none really appealed to me. This one of Dougy contemplating a little snow is about as good as it got. Frankly, I could get better stills by [Print Screen] off the video!

Dougy notices the snow by the door…

Andy’s fine whiskers

2011-01-01 Andy in window and on desk 004

Dougy has a handsome ruff and very distinct smoke Persian pelage. Andy has a kittenish face with huge whiskers! His tail’s pretty magnificent, too.

The photo shows Andy’s fine whiskers; the video, his fine tail. You’ve probably seen the video before, but, well, it’s a favorite of mine!

When you have two cats that are essentially identical in appearance, it’s handy to have distinctive field marks to keep them straight!

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

I don’t think there is a better photo of Dougy to show you how different he looks in the face (wider head, greater spacing between eyes, more developed ruff).

He’s also physically bigger, which may be why Andy always uses the litter box when I use the toilet: I’m there to distract Dougy! (Dougy always follows me in and walks back and forth under my legs when I am holding court from the throne, so to speak!)

a new camera

My new point-and-shoot came yesterday. I’m not totally unfamiliar with the functions since it is the same brand (Nikon) as the one I wore out, but it’s just enough different that I will need a little start-up time learning how best to use it.

The lovely Dougy in a new head shot for my facebook page.

The photo above is a screen print from an accidental video I shot. The still photo (below) shows a grumpier, less friendly looking Dougy, which he is not!

Dougy isn’t a grumpy cat.

After a few involved posts lately, I’m settling today for this minimalist look at what my new camera can do.

Incidentally, the second photo shows Dougy’s colors with more subtlety than the screen print. Both he and his brother Andy are very pretty cats!

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Simple, light-weight, and capable of making adequate videos. And cheap! (Check me out on YouTube, where my full range of videos came be found at phainopepla95 , though many are here on my blog and facebook as well.)

Nikon Coolpix S100

It’s a Nikon Coolpix S100 like this one in the photo. It’ll do until I decide if I really want to get into a serious camera with interchangeable lenses again. (I still have Nikon film cameras – an FTN and an F2, I think it is – and a range of lenses that I bought 40 years ago when I was in the US Army. I don’t use them because of the hassle of finding and developing film, not to forget the hassle of storing negatives and prints. I am fully committed to digital!)

Dougy’s tub

I mentioned Dougy’s tub yesterday and how Andy sneaked a sit in it when Dougy wasn’t paying attention….

Today, Andy, emboldened by his transgression yesterday, hopped in Dougy’s tub right in front of Dougy, who was on his favorite foot stool. You know, the one that matches the glider and that I bought so I could put my feet up.

Here’s the scene of the crime. Sorry for the crap quality of the photo, but my camera handles low light poorly. That’s Dougy in front in his tub. Andy is on the cat lounger by the wall. A short time before this photo was taken, the tub was on top of that box by the stacked carriers.

andy knocked dougy's tub off the box 11-5-2103

So what happened?

Dougy, on his foot stool, hassled Andy, who was on his recliner. “Hassling”: engaging Andy in a stare down, a challenge. Hassled, Andy jumped over the arm of the recliner. Dougy tried to follow him but I’d put something on the floor that stopped him from gaining speed.

Baffled, Dougy went back to the foot stool, scratched the fabric vigorously, and plopped down to rest.

Andy returned to the scene shortly after, slipped silently past Dougy (snoozing by this time), and hopped on the box, where he promptly stepped into Dougy’s tub! He seemed startled at how brazen he was! He nervously looked at Dougy, me, then rubbed his personal scent all over the tub. Don’t waste your opportunities!

Dougy didn’t miss Andy’s affront. His ears folded back at this challenge to his right to the tub….

Andy saw Dougy picked up on what he was doing. Dougy hopped down from the foot stool, ran toward the tub to reclaim it. At the same time, Andy hopped out of the tub, knocking it on the floor. He hopped on the cat lounger, scratched his scent into it, and positioned himself so he could see Dougy. Dougy stopped by the tub, smelled for Andy’s scent, but showed more concern it was on the floor. Worse yet, it was lower than Andy’s perch, the cat lounger!

(The boys each has one of these loungers, so, of course, the lounger either cat wants is the one the other cat is using at the time. That’s why Andy scratched vigorously to leave his scent on the lounger when he hopped on it to escape Dougy. “You can have the tub, Tub Boy, but the lounger is mine, MINE!)

dougy in tub November 5, 2013

Dougy smelled around the rim, where his brother left his mark. He rubbed on the tub to re-establish ownership. That taken care of, he pulled in his tail, circled, and positioned himself so Andy was in view.

Eyeballs locked, it looked like a second confrontation was in the works. Both boys turned their attention to me when I came back to document the scene with my camera, of course.

I put my camera down after I took the crap pictures, picked up the tub with Dougy inside, and placed it back on the box. I faced Dougy toward Andy so he didn’t have to adjust his position. Of course, he now had to look around the corner to see Andy. They both relaxed their guard, and peace returned to the kingdom!

I take care of my cats.

Andy’s recliner

I decided to sit in my recliner to get my slightly swollen feet up. “My recliner”: I laugh! Andy claimed it early on, and resents me sitting in it! I can tell. He stares and glares at me when he catches me in “his” recliner. Grrr!

Today, though, I had a comforter over my lap. For whatever reason, the boys don’t like to walk on the comforter. Maybe I can get away with abusing Andy’s recliner, I figured. The comforter is a great cat repellant!

On the other hand, Andy and Dougy both like to crawl under the comforter into that little pocket of air between my legs and the comforter when I’m in a chair. They walk around down there, sniffing and tickling my legs with their whiskers and tails, making themselves at home in this temporary cave. It’s a great ambush hideaway, too. Many glorious ambushes start from this spot.

Andy couldn’t get to the opening on the side today, though, because it meant walking on the comforter to get to it. He contemplated his next move, looked up, and jumped into a plastic Dougy-sized round tub that is, well, Dougy’s favorite front room spot. I gasped. Andy’s furtive looks in all directions told me he knew he’d stepped into the dragon’s lair. Fortunately, the “dragon” was elsewhere, sleeping.

Dougy would have eased into the comfortable curve of the tub, tucking tail during his settling-in maneuver; Andy couldn’t decide if he should risk it. He sat there, miserable because I had his recliner, miserable because he had Dougy’s tub…. He eventually decided to jump onto the top cat carrier, one of his claimed spots.

I leave the carriers out, and the Dougy’s tub is on a box next to them. I leave the doors are open so the boys can spend quiet time in them if they chose. Andy looked through the lattice on the side of the carrier to see if Dougy was inside…! He’s no fool!

“No Dougy inside! Whew!” Andy relaxed a little and jumped off the tub.

Safely on top of his spot on the top carrier, Andy faced me in a sphinx pose and stared at me until I got out of his recliner. LOL! You don’t want to upset the other “dragon” either! Everyone knows the recliner is Andy’s recliner.

[Andy’s recliner and the carriers show in this video. That’s Andy cleaning up. Pay particular attention to the stare he gives the camera before he settles in for his bath…!]

time change

I managed to outlast the cat brothers’ pestering to get me up till 4:30 AM today, a vast improvement over their usual results. On Time Change Sunday, it is especially nice that I actually got some extra sleep, something that rarely happens!

Fed and loved, the boys got right on the business of pestering each other. I think Dougy got a bit rough with Andy, though, because there was some loose hair on Andy’s back. Bad kitty, Dougy! Bad, bad, bad! He’s your brother!

Aw well, as soon as I talked with Dougy about his bad behavior, Andy started being mean to Dougy. Must be a front moving in. The chases continued for a good 90 minutes! No hair clumps or squeals, though. I think the boys recalibrated their play to reduce harm to each other.

Not too soon, either! All that running, and the boys were ready for a long nap. I don’t know where Dougy’s hanging out, but Andy’s asleep on the lid of the washer. Too pooped to climb into the drier, I guess.

Yeah, they are little angels when they sleep, little angels! At least Andy is. I better check up on what Dougy’s doing.