Pretty Blue Pussy, originally uploaded by kcm76.
Sally the Cat trying to look demure!
Category Archives: pleasures
Our Cats – Happy Furry Friday
As it’s furry Friday I thought I ought to upload pictures of our current two cats. So here they are: Harry above; Sally below …
They are now about nine. And no, Harry and Sally weren’t our choices of names; they’re rescues which we acquired some 8 years ago when they were about a year old; they’d been dumped on the doorstep of our local Blue Cross centre (in Hammersmith, London) with Sally heavily pregnant; the staff chose their names. Sally’s six kittens were spoken for almost before they were born, but no-one wanted these two really lovely friendly young adults. Harry greeted us for the first time by rolling on his back and demanding attention; he’d obviosuly said to Sally “It’s alright dear, you look after the kids and I’ll do the PR stuff”! The staff at Blue Cross were so glad we wanted them that they wouldn’t even let us see any other cats!
Charlotte Church Savaged to Death
Charlotte Church* savaged to death in the Beckhams’ back garden
(*that’s the lamb Gordon Ramsay named after the Welsh singer and was rearing for his TV show)
The above is a headline from today’s Daily Mail. You can find the full story here.
Someone please tell me it’s actually April 1st! Or are these people total tossers?
Back on Duty
Harry the office cat is back on duty after his operation. Although he’s still confined to barracks (and mighty fed up about it) his leg is healing well and, as you can see, he’s allowed to do light office duties. Amazingly he hasn’t (yet) removed the stitches! And he’s back to being huggy Harry, which is nice.
Poor Harry
Harry the Cat has been to the vet today for an op: he’s lost a tooth and a lump from his back leg. He’s back home; and he’s obviously a bit sore, which is hardly surprising given that incision in his leg. Otherwise he seems fine, apart from being pissed off at being kept in.
Give him only half a helping of this special soft food, and no crunch says the vet. So Noreen did just that: he wolfed down the paté, and then proceeded to demolish Sally’s whole helping of their normal food. Meanwhile Sally is pissed of ‘cos there’s no crunch!
Keep him in until you bring him back to have the stitches out in 10 days. Some hope! He’s already eyeing the study fanlight. Oh and he’s currently sitting on top of my scanner which I was actually using when he arrived!
Cats! Love ’em to bits.
Harry Thru' the Pinhole
A battleworn and scarred Harry the Cat guards my laptop mouse. As is not unusual he was lying on my desk, recharging under my desklamp.
And before you say anything, yes the picture is fuzzy. I’ve been experimenting and this was taken with a pinhole on my Olympus E500 from about 9″. A cunning combination of very old and new technology.
Friday Five: Pets
1. Do you have any pets? If so, how many, and what are their names?
Yes, two cats aged about 8 called Harry and Sally. We think they’re siblings, but as they’re rescues we aren’t sure. Oh and the names weren’t our choice, but those of the rehoming centre staff.
We also have lots of fish: both freshwater tropicals and pond fish. They don’t have names. Surprisingly the cats take no interest in them at all.
2. What was your very first pet? Do you remember its name?
Throughout my childhood we always had a cat. Most of them were black, and the first one (which I think my parents got just before I was born) was called Sooty. She had lots of kittens — we always seemed to have kittens around the house when I was a kid.
Then when I was 7 or 8 we got a small dog called Sue, which was supposedly mine. But of course like all kids I didn’t look after her!
After that I suppose my real first pets were our first two cats: Floss and Pickle which Noreen and I got soon after we moved into our own house in 1981.
3. Is there an animal you would never have as a pet?
Basically anything wild or which I knew I couldn’t look after — so that’s most things! Personally I don’t think I’d ever keep marine fish, snakes or other reptiles, terrapins, etc. Nor anything which is a cat’s natural prey.
4. What common pet have you always wanted but never had? Why not?
I love parrots and would love to have one. But I know little about them except that they need a lot of entertaining and I don’t think it fair to keep birds with cats.
5. What wild animal (extinct or not) would you own if you didn’t have to worry about its adjustment or the cost of captivity?
Now that’s hard. I like tigers (indeed most big cats except lions and cheetahs), but I don’t think I’d want to keep one; they’re much better in the wild. And anyway just think of the meat bills! I guess the nearest I get is parrots (see above).
[Brought to you courtesy of Friday Five]
Cat and Mouse
The New Year started well. It was a wild, wet and windy night. At 1AM enter Harry the Cat. Oh how nice, he’s brought us a present — live mouse. After protestations from us Harry took said mouse from the bedroom downstairs to the hall. Here he put it down, looked the other way, and — Poof! — the mouse disappeared. So now, somewhere about the house, we have a live — or possibly dead and decaying — mouse. He’s a good cat for catching the vermin, but one day we will get it into his head that we prefer them dead before they come in through the cat door. Cats! Love ’em to bits.
The Catte
The catte is a beaste of uncerten heare and colour;
for some catte is white, some rede, some blacke,
some skewed and speckled in the fete and in the face and in the eares.
And he is … in youth slythe, plyaunte, and mery,
and lepeth and reseth on all thynge that is to-fore him;
and is led by a strawe and playeth therwith.
And is a right hevy beaste in age, and ful slepy,
and lieth slily in wait for myce …
and when he taketh a mous he playeth therwith,
and eateth him after play …
And he maketh a ruthefull noyse and gastfull when one
proffereth to fyghte with another …
for some catte is white, some rede, some blacke,
some skewed and speckled in the fete and in the face and in the eares.
And he is … in youth slythe, plyaunte, and mery,
and lepeth and reseth on all thynge that is to-fore him;
and is led by a strawe and playeth therwith.
And is a right hevy beaste in age, and ful slepy,
and lieth slily in wait for myce …
and when he taketh a mous he playeth therwith,
and eateth him after play …
And he maketh a ruthefull noyse and gastfull when one
proffereth to fyghte with another …
[Bartholomew the Englishman; Of the Nature of Things; 1398.
Translated John de Trevista]
Translated John de Trevista]