Pointy Ear Pipsqueak

Cameron:  We have an "awww, adorable" Sunday Smile for you today.  But first, our Sunday photo.

Rusty:  This is an old photo of me.  It is for the Black and White Sunday blog hop, co-hosted by Golden Sugar and Dachshund Nola. 

Merci::  This was our Sepia Saturday picture.

Micah:  This is an "old photo" look for Caturday Art.  We really like the strange double frame effect of this one.  It's layered with the sepia and the black & white versions.  Go ahead, count them.

Buddy:  This is the original.  We included all of them so you can see the effects together.

Percy:  We thought about just giving you the link to yesterday's post, but decided to make them easy to view together.

Sam:  And now for our Sunday Smile. 

Cyndi:  What is cuter than a kitten with a baby?  Nothing!  But if no kitten is available, a cute puppy will suffice.

Marcus:  Thanks, Cyndi.  I didn't realize you think so highly of me.

Cyndi:  Where did you get that idea?

Marcus:  You just called me a cute puppy.

Cyndi:  No, I didn't call you cute.  I ... never mind.

Percy:  This is Charlie the beagle pup.

Cameron:  He loves his little human sissy.

Merci:  So why did he steal the baby's toy?

Sam:  Jealousy?  I'd sure be jealous if a little pipsqueak was getting all the attention around here.

Micah:  Seriously, you aren't calling the baby a pipsqueak, are you?

Sam:  No, I was calling the I-have-to-have-all-the-attention toy-stealing pipsqueak with the pointy ears a pipsqueak.

Marcus:  Who's that?

Rusty:  I think he means you, Marcus.  You do try to hog all the attention.  Not to mention you steal all the toys.

Buddy:  Ahem! Are you guys going to continue arguing or can we roll out the main feature now?  Okay, let's start the video.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Hunky Mancat Rusty

Cyndi:  Well, it's hard to believe but we're going to have to order that fire ant alarm for Jan.  She's one expensive human!

Cameron:  Did we ever check to see if one has been invented yet?  Well, as soon as we finish this post, we need to visit to see if Amazon sells one.

Micah:  As you can guess. Jan was attacked again this evening.  Three times in less than 2 weeks.  No visible fire ant mound, no warning.

Sam:  She gave Buddy a bath with no problem.  She was bathing me when she started dancing and yelling. Then she shoved the hose down one shoe, then the other.  They didn't bother me but that might be because Jan drowned them before they reached me.  She sure did squish when she walked after that.

Rusty:  This is an old photo of me.  Jan turned it sepia for today.  I might look like I'm sleeping sitting up but don't be fooled.  I was actually ... well, I guess I was actually sleeping. 

Merci:  This is the original.  Yep, Rusty was sleeping on the job.  He was supposed to be posing as a hunky mancat.  How about it ladycats, does Rusty look hunky when he sleeps?

Marcus:  This is tomorrow's black and white photo.  We're adding it out of order for a reason.  We have no idea what the reason is, but Jan said we should so we'll try it her way.

  

Buddy:  This is the reason.  For Caturday Art, Jan turned the black and white version into an old photo with the lines and creases.  Then she layered it onto the sepia version and then onto the black and white.  We're not sure what that makes this but we have to admit, it is different.  It's kind of growing on us.

Percy:  I certainly hope it is not growing on us, Buddy.  I can handle it at arm's length, but up close, it might be contagious, or worse, fatal.  Oh, you meant we're starting to like it?  True, but if you stare at it too long, you can actually see Rusty's head begin to bob as he nods off.

Ruckus the Eskie hosts the Sepia Saturday blog hop.

Athena hosts Caturday Art.

Celebrate the Memory

Cyndi:  Marcus, settle down!  Stop running in circles and squeaking your toy.  Show some respect!

Marcus:  Why?  Did Jan lose more of her marbles?  Oh, *gasp* she's not sick, is she?  Who will feed us?

Micah:  No, Jan's not sick and some of her marbles are still missing, but we're attending a memorial service today in Sparkle's honor.

Rusty:  It was a shock to the blogosphere that she left us so unexpectedly.  She is greatly missed.

Sam:  Everyone knew Sparkle.  She was a writer, an advice columnist, a model ... She was a little of everything.

Cameron:  Whenever possible she helped to spread the word there was a cat in need of assistance.  She had a big fan base so she could reach a lot of people. 

Percy:  We kitties generally interview a cat blogger for Mousebreath on Friday, but we talked it over and decided we will skip this week so we can send our readers over to celebrate Sparkle's life at her blog.  Come back next Friday for a new interview.

Buddy:  Yes, Sparkle's human is holding a commentathon memorial for her.  A dollar will be donated to Tabby's Place in Sparkle's memory for every comment left on her blog today - up to $500.  So, if you haven't already, please go by and leave a comment.

Marcus:  *whispers*  Oh, no, I'm sorry.  I'll go by quietly and leave a dollar.  Does anyone have a dollar to loan me?

Rusty:  It's okay, Marcus, you don't have to whisper.  And you don't need to donate a dollar.  If we leave a comment, Sparkle's human will donate $1 of her own money to the cat sanctuary.  But if you find a dollar and want to donate it directly to Tabby's Place in Sparkle's name, there will  be a button in the post so you can.

Merci:  We are also supporting Sparkle's memorial commentathon today as one of the co-hosts of the Pet Parade.  Please stop by Sparkle's blog and leave a comment on Celebrating Sparkle and Commentathon.

UPDATE:  We just dropped over to read Sparkle's memorial post about celebrating her life and how she made a difference.  There is a link to a post we were mentioned in but weren't aware she had written.  It brings back a flood of memories regarding a black cat Sparkle became determined to save.  We saw her plea and became determined too. 

It turned out the black cat was saved without our intervention.  But like ripples spreading in a lake after you toss in a stone, our puny efforts resulted in a white cat, her five kittens and an old Siamese rescued from the same shelter.  Our rescue contact, Carolyn, named the white cat Sparkles after Sparkle whose efforts for the black cat indirectly had a paw in saving her.  If you want, take a moment to read white Sparkles' story, White Rescue Update.  It's stories such as this that make the time and effort - and even tears - invested in helping even one cat or dog at a time worthwhile.

The Pet Parade is hosted by Rascal and Rocco. And co-hosted by Bionic Basil, Barking from the Bayou, Love is being owned by a husky, and us (Jan's Funny Farm).

There are two parts to the hop - your blog post link and the social media, if you'd like to enter that too.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Missing Marbles

Cameron: Marcus, why are you trying to add this clipart photo to our post?

Marcus:  Because Jan said she's losing her marbles and I thought we should help her look for them. Our readers can help.  I think this is what they look like.  Has anyone seen them?

Buddy:  That's just an expression, Marcus.  Humans say that when they ... well, when they're actually losing their marbles.

Cyndi:  But a human's marbles aren't visible to the naked eye, Marcus.  They're invisible.  Perhaps virtual is an easier way to think of it.

Marcus:  *blink, blink*

Sam:  Marcus, just think of Jan's marbles as existing only on the computer or online.  Except they're actually in her head.

Marcus:  *blank stare*

Percy:  I don't think you guys are getting through to him.  But, then, if you were explaining it that way to me, I wouldn't understand a word you're saying either.

Micah:  It's all my fault.  If it wasn't for me, Jan would still have all her marbles, no matter where she keeps them.

Merci:  No, it isn't your fault, Micah.  For once, Jan read her calendar and -

Rusty:  - got ahead of herself.  Actually, she got ahead of everyone. She saw Micah's Gotcha Day was the 24th, so she dropped everything to make him a graphic for us to post today ... tomorrow. (We're writing this tonight ... er, Wednesday night to post Thursday.) 

Cameron:  Yes, a day late is better than never.

Sam:  Only she couldn't figure out how yesterday was the 24th if today (now yesterday) was the 27th.

Cyndi:  Yes, that did seem a little strange, but around here we're usually on the wrong day anyway, so who's to notice?

Buddy:  Jan was so confused she compared two calendars and couldn't figure out why they didn't match.  It finally dawned on her she was in September instead of August.

Rusty:  Yes, reading the wrong calendar month does make a difference.  She is now ready for Micah's Gotcha Day next month.

Merci:  She might be ready now but you know she's going to forget to read the calendar next month and forget to help us post it in time.

Micah:  I guess I should feel special instead of guilty.  Jan dropped everything because she thought she was late for my Gotcha Day.

Percy:  Well, Marcus, did you understand the discussion about Jan's lost marbles?

Marcus:  *shakes head*  Not a word, Percy, not a word!

Buddy:  Things have been so crazy around here with computer crashes and Jan's missing marbles, we are a week late acknowledging the Influential Blogger award from Pipo and Minko of the WeBeesSiameezers blog.  It's nearly midnight, so we hope you will all forgive us if we just say thank you, kind friends, and finish our post before Percy falls off the typing chair from exhaustion.

We are joining the Thankful Thursday blog hop hosted by Pepi Smart Dog.

And Thoughtless Thursday co-hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Love is being owned by a huskie.

Whisker Licking Good

Cyndi:  Mmmmfff.  flob, doo, pupper -  Oh, sorry.  I'm not supposed to talk with my mouth full.  I'm just taste testing some food.

 

Rusty:  *sniff, sniff*  Yep, smells good enough to eat.  I think I'll chow down and enjoy my breakfast.

Percy:  The food we are tasting is B.F.F. (best feline friend) grain free Tuna & Chicken Charm Me, which is wild caught and dolphin safe.  It comes in a 3.0 oz (85g) pouches.

Micah:  Rusty, mmmmmfff, get your butt out of my shot. I'm trying to look handsome and eat without floof sticking to my nose.

Rusty:  Don't complain to me.  Complain to Jan.  She's the one who handed out the bowls.  This is where she put me.

Cameron:  Ha!  I had the good sense to be on top of the fridge for breakfast.  I don't have to worry about any cat's butt in my shot.

 

Percy:  In case the food in the dishes has looked a tad green, it's not the cat food.  The morning Jan took the photos, she forgot what she was doing and added a little Spirulina and water as she usually does.  Spirulina is green. 

Cameron: Hello, peons!  Were you a bit crowded down there?  Plenty of room up here.  I think I'll just sit here and enjoy an after breakfast bath.

Percy:  This food is supposed to be low fat, grain free and high moisture (even without Jan adding water).  It contains almost no carbohydrates.

Cyndi:  BFF is produced in a facility that also produces food for people. The factory operates at international human food processing standards.

Rusty:  The main ingredient is a red meat or dark meat from tuna, primarily skipjack or bonito.

Micah:  Best Friends Foods is located in the US but is processed in Thailand.  

Cameron:  We searched and found a few good brands of pet food are processed in Thailand under strict regulation.

We all liked the b.f.f. grain free cat food in a pouch. Jan even refrigerated half a pack to see if Rusty would eat it.  He won't always eat food out of the fridge.

Chewy.com provided us with the samples to taste test.  We were not paid and any opinions are our own.

We Interrupt the Post

Buddy:  We interrupt the post -

Cyndi:  What post?

Micah:  Yeah, what post?  We don't have any photos or news.

Cameron:  Of course, we have news.  We just don't have any photos to go with it.

Sam:  Well, the blue screen of death would make a mighty poor post photo.  It would scare the pants off every furry seeing it.  And we don't even wear pants!

Marcus:  I thought it was the black screen of nothingness.

Percy:  Well, Friday it was the blue screen of death - TWICE!

Merci:  And yesterday it was the black screen of nothingness - TWICE!  What a scare.  It took 20 - 30 minutes to get the computer restarted.  Jan was so stressed, she took Marcus for a walk to relax.  Returned home and there was the pre-startup screen waving at her as she came in the door.

Percy:  Marcus, what are you doing?

Marcus:  I'm posting a cute photo of myself so readers won't be disappointed.

Buddy:  As I was saying, we interrupt the post we had planned to do an unplanned post.  By now you have undoubtedly figured out we are talking about computer crashes.  It has not been a fun weekend. 

Rusty: Mr. Doug came by Monday afternoon and tried to diagnose the problem.  Not sure we know the problem but he got us up and running again.

Cyndi:  Please forgive us but we are all so exhausted we are taking the night off.  We will try to get a post together tomorrow for Wednesday.  As long as the computer doesn't go on vacation too.

Micah:  We'll see you in a day or two.

Basset Clown House

Micah:  Can you believe it's Sunday again already?

Rusty:  Nope.  Wonder where the week disappeared?

Sam:  Jan keeps saying time flies but I haven't seen any flying around.  Have any of you?

Marcus:  Yes, I did.  I saw some flying by this morning.  It sure can flyso fast I can't see its wings move.

Cameron:  That wasn't time, Marcus.  That was a hummingbird.

Marcus:  But Micah said it was time flying.

Cyndi: He was just pulling your leg, Marcus. *raises paw*  No, don't say a word.  I mean Micah was joking.

Merci and Buddy

Buddy:  This is the black and white version of the picture Jan turned into two "devil dogs" earlier in the week.  The one we posted yesterday in sepia, devil dog, pencil drawing art and in the original.  Except the original turned out to be the wrong photo.

Merci:  We don't know how Jan lost the original but it was kind of funny to find she goofed.  (It was her mistake.  We never goof!)    If you missed all our artwork - including the fake original - you can visit Sparkle and Art.

Percy:  We have a very short Sunday Smile today.  This is the basset hound version of a clown car, but it's performed in a dog house,  Prepare to smile.  :)


If the video doesn't play, click here.

The Black and White Sunday blog hop is co-hosted by Dachshund Nola and Golden Sugar.

Sparkle and Art

Cyndi:  Before we begin our regular scheduled post, we would like to take a moment to say good-bye to an old friend.

Sam:  Just a minute. I want to be respectful.  *removes his hat and crushes it to his chest*  Okay, now I'm ready. 

Micah:  Sparkle has been blogging for 11 years, so the blogosphere has lost another beloved icon.

Merci:  Like Sparkle and her human, we do not believe in the Rainbow Bridge.  We use the term "bridge" in order to tread lightly on the feelings of those who are grieving who do.

Cameron:  We honestly don't know what happens to an animal after death.  We hope we will all meet Jan in heaven one day, but to tell the truth, the way she hogs the computer, we're not sure she'll make it there.

Rusty:  Sparkle, you are now with other blogging icons and friends - Skeezix, Ginger Jasper, Abby and Gracie, (too many to list) - in our hearts.

Buddy:  We will miss your fun posts on Sparkle the Designer Cat..  We will befriend and love the new sister you didn't get to meet, but we will miss you. 

Percy:  And now *sniff, sniff, wipes eye* we will have a moment of silence in remembrance of all the friends we have lost over the years we have been blogging.

Marcus:  Psst, Percy, I have to pee.  It's an emergency.  If I don't go outside now, I'll have an accident.  What do I do?

Percy:  Bow your head and pee silently.

(So many tears since reading the simple words on Facebook:  "Sparkle didn't come home".  We needed a smile and thought perhaps others do too.)

Katie and Waffles (Glogirly) have provided a link list where anyone posting a tribute to Sparkle can enter their link.. 

Merci:  And now for our scheduled post.  This is an old picture of puppy Buddy and myself in the back seat of Jan's car.  There is a story to this picture which we posted on Wednesday.

Marcus:  This, of course, is in my favorite color.  Dirt.

Micah:  Not dirt.  You mean sepia.

 

Buddy:  Here is our Caturday Art, a drawing.  Not bad for holding a pencil with one paw.  Kidding.  It was done in Photoshop Elements

Rusty:  This is the original.

Sam:  You do know you had a fat chin as a pup, Buddy?

Buddy:  I did not have a fat chin.  I had chin whiskers.  

Cyndi:  I think we have a bigger problem than whether Buddy has a fat chin or chin hair.

Rusty:  Problem?  Oh, I see it now.  Either Jan gave us the wrong "original" or Buddy is having a reaction to what Jan has done to his picture

Sam:  Wow, look at how wide his eyes are.  Okay, this is a similar original.  Just not the original of the one Jan photoshopped for us to post.   

Cameron:  This is our Black and White Sunday version.  We'll re-post it tomorrow but we include it now so readers can see what a difference a little change makes. 

Percy:  Jan made them look like devil dogs when she was playing around with pictures the other day.  We posted this Wednesday but include it as another example of fun with a photo.

PS - Our computer crashed twice yesterday while we were working on today's post.  We hope it will not happen again.  We would hate to disappear for a time.

Ruckus the Eskie hosts the Saturday Sepia blog hop. 

Athena hosts the Caturday Art  blog hop.

The Winner Is

Cyndi:  Why are you dancing around the room, Micah?

Micah:  Because we had to delay last week's interview but we get to post it today. 

Rusty:  We couldn't post one last week because Jan hogged the computer to do the Adoption Day flyer for the local shelter. 

Cameron:  It was really nice of the cats from My Three Moggies blog to forgive us and wait an extra week.

Percy:  So please drop by Mousebreath, the ezine written by cats for cats, to read their story, Three Moggies ... Archie, Henry and Oscar.  We know you will enjoy meeting them, or getting to know them better.

Merci:  And today is the big day for the Pet Parade's special giveaway.

Sam:  The first anniversary giveaway ran for two weeks and had a lot of entries.

Marcus:  First anniversary?  Isn't that a whole year?  I wasn't even born when you guys started co-hosting it.  What did I miss?   I didn't miss any treats, did I?  I don't want to miss any treats.

 

Buddy:  No, Marcus, you didn't miss any treats.  Lauren Miller from the blog ZoePhee is the winner of all these items.  Congratulations, Lauren!  Rascal and Rocco have a photo and a video on their blog post, so be sure to stop by there.

The Pet Parade is hosted by Rascal and Rocco. And co-hosted by Bionic Basil, Barking from the Bayou, Love is being owned by a husky, and us (Jan's Funny Farm). 

An InLinkz Link-up

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Driving Mower Without Sight

Cameron:  Why are we posting this picture today?  I thought we were going to do a thankful post.

Micah:  We are.  Jan is thankful she thought to wrap the new hose around a cinder block.

Merci:  Yes, she says if one more person runs over our hose with a lawn mower, she's going to have him arrested for driving a mower without eyesight.

Marcus:  Are you serious?  Humans drive those dangerous machines without eyesight?

Buddy:  No, she's kidding.  Sort of.  Remember this photo from a month or so ago?

Cyndi:  Yes, the guy mowing the lawn cut a big piece out of the hose and then looped it through itself to hide the hole.

Sam:  Well, at least Jan couldn't give us a bath until she found the energy to un-knot it.

Percy:  Well, if she ever decides to bathe us kitties outside using a hose, I'll cut a big hole in it myself.

Rusty:  You might complain a lot but you wouldn't vandalize Jan's hose, Percy.

Percy:  You're right, but I'd sure pee on it.

The Thankful Thursday blog hop with host Pepi Smart Dog.

The Thoughtless Thursday blog hop with co-hosts Ruckus the Eskie and Love is being owned by a husky.

Devil Dogs

Merci:  I don't know what Jan did but she sure made us look like devil dogs today.

Buddy:  This is an old photo of Merci and me in the back seat of Jan's car.  Or it was before Jan accented the edges.

Merci:  I believe this was was taken just before Buddy climbed into the front seat so he could learn to drive.

Buddy:  Yes, I wanted my driver's license and I would have gotten it too, if Merci hadn't wimped out on me.

Merci: Wimped out?  You tried to kill me.  And that was without the motor running.

Buddy:  I did no such thing.

Merci:  You wanted to drive sitting backwards in the seat so your ears would tan evenly or some such dumb idea. 

Buddy:  Merci, you have the worst memory.  I have never tried to kill you.

Merci:  Let's let readers decide for themselves with a link to The Driving Lesson.

Beach Ball

Merci:  What's today's date?  Is it the 19th yet?

Micah:  Yes, today is the 19th.  Why do you ask?

Cameron:  Oh, I remember, it's the day Frankie & Ernie said we should post our pool party photo.

Sam:  We decided we didn't want to go swimming in a pool.  Too much chlorine. 

Rusty:  So we went to the beach in Florida instead.

Buddy:  We had a lot of fun, but by the time we got there, we were so hungry, these are all the treats we had left for the picture.  Don't worry, we didn't litter the beach with the empty treat bags. Jan traveled with us to take this group picture - oh, and to pick up our poop.  Always be sure to take a pooper scooper with you when you travel.  Or is that a poop scooper?

Marcus:  It's my first trip to the beach and I had a ball.  Micah and I played with the beach ball.  Jan blew it up with a bicycle foot pump before we left and it could have used more air.  Sand is almost as much fun as dirt, but not as soft on the skin.

Cyndi:  It was a beautiful day but very hot, so we're all worn out and intend to nap through today.

Percy:  Frankie & Ernie organized a pool party to thank Chewy for the lovely box of goodies they sent to each of us.  We posted on the Surprise Package before the party was organized.

Fur Everywhere

Rusty:  Okay, everyone move out of our way.  We're working hard to try to catch up.

Marcus:  What are we trying to catch up to?  I hope it's not a train.  I'm not sure we could catch it.

Merci:  No, not a train. Or a bus.  Or anything tangible.  We're trying to catch up to ourselves.

Sam:  How do we do that.  I hope we don't have to chase our tails.  I get dizzy chasing my tail.

Micah:  No, we don't have to chase our tails.  We just have to work harder and try to accomplish more in the little computer time Jan allots us each day.

Cyndi:  But catching up is not all drudgery.  We had some good news earlier this month.

Percy:  We won Milita's birthday giveaway over at Fur Everywhere.  We got a lovely card, some cat treats and Dorothy and Gabrielle, two neat little blue kitties. 

Buddy: The little card attached to each reads: You have adopted a Lavender Cat. This little handmade cat contains dried lavender blossoms grown in the Pacific Northwest.  He or she (ours are both girls:) would love to sit on your desk, dresser or windowsill, softly scenting your world and making you smile.  100% of the cost of this cat helps provide care for cats at the Cat Care Society Shelter.

Cameron: Thank you, Carmine, Melita, Jewel and your mom. We love your giveaway package. We'd post some photos of us kitties enjoying the treats but Jan's camera button finger seems to be broken. Not really broken. Just not being used much for taking photos. This must change!

Click here to visit Fur Everywhere's announcement post.

Baby and Boxer

Micah:  Whoopee, it's Sunday, time to smile again!

Rusty:  What's so special about Sunday?  I thought we could smile any day of the week.

Merci:  We can but this is the day we do our Sunday Smile post.

Cameron:  Hey, I was getting a drink of water.  What did I miss?

Sam:  Not much.  We just picked a short video to share today.

Cyndi:  You'll like our choice, Cameron, even though it's not the one you wanted.

Cameron:  So what did you choose?

Buddy:  It's a dog and baby play video.  We've never met a baby so Jan isn't sure how we'd react to all that screaming, but you can tell this boxer really loves this ten-month old baby.


If the video doesn't play, click here. 

Luke & Sam

Percy:  We are re-posting all the weekend arty photos so we don't (we hope) forget to enter the Sunday black and white blog hop again.

Sepia Saturday

Caturday Art with Sam "the grazing cow". 

Original

Marcus:  Don't forget to enter the Pet Parade 1st Anniversary giveaway. It ends this Thursday.  It is not limited to the U.S.  Details and entry here.

Black & White Sunday blog hop, co-hosted by Dachshund Nola and Golden Sugar.