Post 529: Arrr! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Andy had his doubts about that tuna-flavored bomb...!

Andy on an ordinary day.

...because tomorrow the bogeyman's catching you and taking you to see Dr. David!

Haven’t ye heard, Andy, what today is!

“Arrrr…! I feel the glow!”

Flashback to Andys kittenhood…

Andy (above) and Dougy lurked in my bedroom last night, and decided 1:30 AM was a good time to wake me up on my birthday! (Notice Andy's horn is showing. I guarantee there was another one on the other side, too!)

It became clear.

How we looked after the trip to Deidesheim.

Me-Arrr! Andy is a pirate kitty!

I first learned about this day when I still worked at the hose factory. I’d spent hours trying to get formulae to work correctly on a spreadsheet I prepared to separate nonaccountable mandrel scrap from accountable scrap. I felt I was near to the answer when the Human Relations Manager showed up at my desk. He was wearing a tricorn hat and slashed the air around me with a toy sword.

“Arrr! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day!” he said, clearly into the fun of it, but oblivious to the effect of this unwelcome distraction, one that cost me a few hours progress on resolving my spreadsheet challenge. “You have to talk like a pirate all day.”

Disgusted, disturbed, delayed, but not yet defeated, I felt an urge that would imperil my future. I mumbled something in “pirate-ese”, but thought a more specific pirate thought, “[Blank] you, matey! [Blank] you!”

He was the Human Relations Manager afterall.

more information here

😉

On a different note, the Scottish independence referendum is complete, with a 55% majority voting to remain a part of the United Kingdom. I still don’t know what I think about the issues, but there appears to be some concessions that give additional autonomy to the Scots and, promised, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England. It’s enough to turn one into a pirate!

Dougy was obsessing over birds at the feeder across the lane, chirping, pacing, and deciding to leave the scotch to the humans!

Offered a single malt scotch, Dougy declared he prefers to watch birds. Arrr!

Post 519: a surprise at the veterinarian’s

Andy needed a refill on his blood pressure medication today, so I called ahead to have the medication prepared in tuna flavor, the original flavor I got it in. The chicken flavor I had it made with the last refill didn’t agree with Andy or he just likes tuna better. Anyway, tuna it is for my little fuzzy prince!

I arrived at the clinic before the medication was ready, so sat down next to a woman with two carriers. It was the only seat left, but it turned out to be fortuitous: The person in the other seat was Tara, the veterinarian technician who gave me Andy and Dougy!

Tara doesn’t work at the clinic now, so she hadn’t heard in months how the boys are doing.

Oops! It’s “weggieboy”, not “weggyboy”!

I brought her up to date on Andy and Dougy, handed her my “business” cards, which feature the boys, and let her know she could watch videos on YouTube and read about the boys on my blog. (I just noticed today I misspelled “weggieboy” on the Dougy card.)

The surprise at the veterinarian’s? That I ran into Tara and we caught up on where the boys are? Well, that was nice, but the real surprise was in the two carriers with Tara. In one, a Birman queen who is the boy’s paternal auntie! In the other, a step sister, also a Birman queen! I’ve met the boy’s mother, and now a step sister and an aunt.

The aunt is very sweet-natured, and I see the family resemblance to this aunt in Andy more than Dougy. Andy has a rounder face, whereas Dougy’s is classic Persian, that owl-like disc face. Both boys, though, have faint, very subtle hints of their Birman father’s markings, which is similar to Siamese cats. The boys are much darker, of course, so those features show only in certain light or if you are looking for them.

I didn’t have a lot of time with the boys’ relatives, but I was enough to appreciate how beautiful and sweet-natured Birman cats can be! Watch out boys. I want one!

Post 509: “You don’t have my permission…!”

Whew! Dougy does not like his photo taken! That makes him a true member of my family. I did, however sneak one of him at the back door, resting on the little red chair, a favorite of both boys.

“What!? I didn’t say you could do that!”

I pushed his button, but don’t think Dougy doesn’t know how to push one or two of mine back…!

“Nyah! Nyah!”

You wee fart! You know you aren’t supposed to use the furniture as a scratching post! I’m scandalized, Dougy, scandalized!

>CLICK!<

I got another shot of you, Dougy! And I’m bigger than you, too!

🙂 > < 🙁

On a more positive note, Andy and I had an uneventful time this morning. Continuing the no-scruffing rule, I had no problem picking Andy up and medicating him in short order. A few minutes later, when I was making my breakfast, we exchanged blinky-eyes with each other till our eyelids hurt.

Oh, yeah, and I rubbed his ears, scratched his chin, stroked his head and ran his fine tail through my hand, saying those words he likes to hear, “What a purrrdy tail, Andy! Purrrrdy! You’re the kitty with the purrrdy tail!” And he is.

Post 501: Mayhem ensued ~ How we observed Black Cat Appreciation Day!

Whew! Then you turn the inmates loose, you shouldn’t be surprised that things go downhill fast! So it goes.

Here’s how we observed Black Cat Appreciation Day at our house. It isn’t pretty…!

Post 498: “If I have to…but I won’t like it!”

Each day has its own challenges when it comes to Andy and giving him his medicine.

Suspicious….

I try not to alarm Andy when I stalk him to catch him to give him his medicine. Many times, he loses track of events and comes up to me, begging for treats or play time: I snatch him right up!

“I see you!”

Other times, when he doesn’t come around to me, I try to catch him unawares. Unless he’s in deep sleep, he generally senses me coming and skedaddles before I can snatch him up. (He’s a western kitty. Yes, he “skedaddles”!)

Not today, though. I caught him unawares, deep sleeping on top of the blue carrier he uses for his daytime outpost. Curiously, he doesn’t struggle when I catch him, then carry him to the medicating chair cradled like a baby in the crook of my arm.

That is, until I reach for The White Towel, the Object of His Oppression. Ever try to wrap a struggling cat in a towel? Five hands isn’t always enough, though I somehow manage to do it with two.

“I won’t like it!”

Awww! Poor Andy wrapped in the towel. He becomes quiet, a little oppressed victim of The Man! Because the medication is for hypertension, I rub his ears and try to calm him.

(What stress is there in an indoor cat’s life, other than his brother and me giving him blood pressure medicine? Hunh!?)

“Why!? Why!? WHY!? I’m just a little kitty!”

Dougy watches the process. He may feel sorry for his brother, though I suspect he’s more concerned that he might be next.

“Brother, are you OK?”

I give Andy the syringe full of chicken-flavored medicine in small mouthfuls. He slowly gags it down. Then I tell him what a good kitty he is — and mostly he is — while rubbing his nose (which he likes) and scratching his ears (which he also likes).

I put him down. Well, he struggles out of the towel when I loosen my grip and he “escapes” with a bound! I give him some treats. He gets over the indignity of medicine squirted into his mouth, and things return to normal for the rest of the day.

“Did you see what the human did to me, Dougy?”

Poor kitty!

Post 496: Andy is nuts!

Dougy remains a bit baffled by the boys’ new ball toy. Andy, on the other hand…. Well, watch the video and see!

Hope you enjoyed the show!

Post 486: Dougy won’t pose.

Black cats are difficult to photograph inside. Invariably, the best “poses” or activities happen in the places with poor lighting. Dougy is just enough darker than Andy that my little point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix S100 poops out a flash in places it’d go for natural light with Andy.

As a result, Dougy is more camera-shy than his brother: He hates that flash. Can’t blame him!

dougy 3

That’s a typical flash photo of Dougy. It takes a moment for the camera’s capacitor (I guess it is) to build up power for a flash, and Dougy almost always beats the flash by closing his eyes!

dougy 4

Flash in the eyes, Dougy took off. So I attempted telephoto shots.

dougy 6

Ugh!

dougy 5

Yes, in all instances, he anticipated the flash, turned away, then ran away.

Later in the day, he came under my computer desk to see me. I got a chance, finally, to get a decent photo of Dougy where there was lots of light coming in from the back door.

Of course, when I tripped the shutter, I wiggled the camera enough for a blurry photo that Photoshopping can’t improve. Rats!

DSCN1592

But I didn’t know that at the time. I got one photo of Dougy. The flash didn’t go off. He didn’t run away! And I got two more photos of him.

dougy 1

Fair, but I would have liked less “profile” and for “head on”.

dougy 2

Oh well. Here’s my usual result when I take Dougy’s photo! It isn’t easy photographing black cats.

Post 482: ‘nipped

Andy put up a valiant effort today to avoid getting his daily dose of blood pressure medicine. The process began a bit after 3 AM, but took till 6:45 AM to complete: He didn’t want to take his medicine today! No way!

Around 6:30, I tossed out the treats I usually give Andy after he takes his medicine. “Maybe Andy’ll come over for the treats”, I thought. “Then I can nab him.”

Secret weapon? My cats think it stinks.

Have I mentioned Andy has genius level cat intelligence when it comes to escape and evasion skills? No? Well, he does, and he was wary of the treats. I finally caught him when I used my cane to block him into a spot by the front door where his escape routes were cut off.

Captured and medicated, I stroked Andy’s head and rubbed his nose. “What a good boy you are, Andy!” I told him over and over, because he is, then I let him down.

I decided to reward Andy with fresh catnip since the “good boy” treats were already out. I grow catnip in the window by my kitchen sink. I was delighted to see my neglected catnip plant — it’s a weed and doesn’t require much skill to grow — managed to put out flowers!

Dougy tenses up in anticipation of the assault of catnip on his nose…!

I picked a small amount with flowers for Andy. He and Dougy cringed and dropped back when I approached them. Fresh catnip is nauseatingly minty-musk scented and over-powering to me, so I can understand their reaction! Dougy rarely gets close to it, yet Andy likes to eat the leaves once the scent settles down a little.

They both ran away as soon as the catnip stench hit their noses. “So much for cats go crazy with pleasure on catnip,” I thought as I followed Dougy, the easier one to catch most days. “Maybe he can be persuaded to try it.”

“Icky! I don’t want any of that stuff,” Dougy said. Well, he would have were he not a cat!

Dougy tried to avoid the catnip in my hand when I slowly brought it up to his nose. He appeared to be distressed more than amused, so I backed away.

In the meantime, Andy’d climbed on his favorite perch, the top of the blue carrier. I decided I’d photograph him reacting to the catnip, but he ran away from the nasty leaves.

Today is not the day I get Andy and Dougy to react to catnip for your amusement and mine, I decided. I ripped the leaves and blossoms off the stem and tossed them on the floor by the cardboard castle by the utility closet. More likely than not, Andy’ll sample a leaf or two later. Dougy…not so much.

Post 479: My best bud is a bad boy today!

A big pile of magazines and newspapers accumulated during the five weeks of family visits. I made a 50%-60% dent in the pile since the last of my family returned home, but I still have a lot of reading to go.

Here’s the pile. Yep! That’s Dougy in the background, being a bad boy by walking on the table!

I had to excuse Dougy, though. I’d put the cat toy on the table instead of up high where I usually do after the boys tire out. It seems one of the boys still had some play left in him!

Andy decided to rest in his favorite place by the front door….

I heard a thump behind me when I took Andy’s photo. This is what I found:

The toy the boys played with moments before and my partially read TIME magazine were on the floor. Dougy was on top of the magazine, ripping it up!

“Ohhhh! Grrrr! I’ll show you, Dougy! I’m making a video about how naughty you are! Bad boy! What a bad kitty!”

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I’ve mentioned another toy the boys fixate on. It ends up all over the house. One or the other cat will carry it, taunting the other with this favorite toy. Today, one of them dropped it on the floor between their water fountain and their feeding station. Most mornings, I find it on the floor by my bed, evidence I’ve had a visitor or two in the night and didn’t know it!

This toy is out all the time. I never know where I’ll find it each day or during the day. Andy and Dougy carry it around like a trophy, taunting each other with it!

Post 476: what happened before the camera battery crashed

Both Andy and Dougy are wound up today, wanting to play, play, play…!

Ok, I decided, we’ll play, but I’ll make a video at the same time since I rarely get them both playing together with the same toy.

(Dougy’s telling me to hurry up, incidentally, because he still wants to play! He’s a whiner, so I will pay attention or endure his fuss. Now, he’s adding some “soft claws” to his appeal. Next, full claws: Dougy doesn’t play around…when it comes to play!)