Frankie and Ernie Snow Freak Chaos

BUDDY:  Our friends Frankie and Ernie have been offline (for the most part) while their typist lazed around for the summer

PERCY:  No, Buddy is kidding.  Their typist mom and their dad were actually working hard to downsize their possessions, pack up what's left, and move to Pencil Vane E Ah to be closer to family.

CYNDI:  We have been waiting for them to return to blogging.  We understand they moved Tuesday and today is supposed to be the big return day.

MERCI:  So we would like to ... uh, what's that?  Micah, do you see what I see?

MICAH:  Yes.  Guys, get your nose out of the goodies box. Listen to me!  R-U-N!

CYNDI:  Eeeeeeeeeek!  We're running!  Where do we go?

RUSTY:  Oh, no.  We heard a rumor that Frankie and Ernie's mom allowed some of her snow freaks to escape while she was packing them! 

CYNDI:  Frankie and Ernie are terrified of their mom's snow freaks.  They wreak havoc wherever they appear.  (The snow freaks, not Frankie and Ernie.)

PERCY:  Guys, behind you!  Look behind you!  We're being invaded.  R-U-N for your lives!

MARCUS:  *waves paw*  Hey, Percy.  Do you want to come outside to play with us?

RUSTY:  Turn around!  Snow freaks!  Snow freaks behind you.

SAM:  No, we're not snow freaks.  We don't like snow, remember?

MICAH:  You nincompoops, TURN AROUND!

MERCI:  Help!  Mrs. Frankie and Ernie's Mom, helllllllp! 

SAM:  Oh, no, they're in back of us and in front of us.  Where do we hide?

MERCI:  Cyndi, push the screen door open and let us in!

Whispers heard from a secret hiding place.

MICAH:  *low groan* Sam, get off of my paw.  You weigh a ton.

SAM:  Sorry, Micah.  Someone pushed me.

CYNDI:   Rusty, get your butt out of my face.  Your long fur tickles my nose.

BUDDY:   Will you all be quiet!  They'll hear us.

PERCY:   We're doing the best we can.  It's very cramped in here.

MARCUS:  It sure is.  And dark.  Pitch black.  I'm not sure if I'm facing one of you or a wall.

RUSTY:   Does anyone have a match?

MERCI:  We're hiding in a tiny closet from renegade snow freaks.  There's barely room to breathe and you want a match?

Along with a host of your other friends, we would like to welcome you back to blogging, Frankie and Ernie.  We recently read you already met a number of friendly canine neighbors and some humans too before you moved.  And you'll be getting a new fence for your yard to keep you safe.  We hope you will all love your new life in Pencil Vane E Ah.  Be blessed and happy!

PS -- And please, please, please send your Mom to collect her snow freaks ASAP so we can come out of the closet!  Cyndi has to pee. 

Our Caturday Art blog hop picture.  It is hosted by Athena. We used the Craquelure Filter in Photoshop Elements.  It is supposed to make a painting look old, but you know Jan, she can't read, so she used it anyway to give the picture a different effect.

And our Sepia Saturday blog hop picture.  Hosted by Ruckus the Eskie & Earl's World.

Glowing Edges

MICAH:  Hey, Sam, you're looking a little down ... I mean, a little brown today.  Are you okay?

SAM:  Yes, I'm fine.  Jan thought I would look interesting in sepia.  What Jan wants she sometimes gets. 

MICAH:  So what happened here?  You look like a lost constellation.

SAM:  No, I've got glowing edges.

MICAH:  Are you radioactive?

SAM:  Not yet, but we had better close this post before Jan decides to dye me pink or something weird.

MICAH:  I like you a lot better wearing your own colors.

SAM:  So do I.

Sepia Saturday blog hop - Hosted by Ruckus the Eskie & Earl's World.

Caturday Art blog hop - Hosted by Athena

Nose To Nose Encounter

RUSTY:  Jan thought this recent picture would make good Caturday Art, so she dyed us red.

MICAH:  Rusty and I were checking each other out prior to deciding which of us would get a turn on the new lounge scratcher behind us.  I won, since I have claws.

RUSTY:  No hissing, no growling, no whapping.  Just a peaceful nose to nose encounter.

MICAH:  Now we're into Sepia Saturday art.  Sepia is Marcus's favorite color since it reminds him of dirt.

CYNDI:: A black and white version.

PERCY:  And the original.

BUDDY:  A brief moment in the life of the Funny Farmer Felines.

MERCI:  It kind of makes you teary, doesn't it?

MARCUS:  Well, it would if Micah swiped me in the face with those claws.

SAM:  Don't tempt him, Marcus, don't tempt him.

Sepia Saturday blog hop, hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Earl's World.

 And Athena's Caturday Art.

World Cat Day Art

MICAH:  Hey, it's World Cat Day again.

MARCUS:  Again?  You mean there have been others?

CYNDI:  Of course!  It was before your time when we last celebrated it but Ann of Zoolatry sent us the badge and said the day exists.

MERCI:  Of course the day exists.  It's Saturday.  Every week has one.  Oh, you mean World Cat Day exists?

BUDDY:  Yes.  Ann's exact words were, "An annual event to simply recognize the beauty, majesty, humor and fun of cats ~ your own ~ and others!"

SAM:  She thinks you cats are fun?  Well, she can afford to.  She doesn't live with you.

RUSTY:  As long as we're celebrating cats today, we might as well enter Athena's Caturday Art.

Rusty with colors inverted

PERCY:  Hey, wait a minute!  How come you get to be posted today, Rusty?  I don't remember taking a vote.

CYNDI:  We didn't vote, Percy.  But that's okay.  We'll all get a turn if we can get back to Saturday posts again. 

 MICAH:  Look at those weird white eyes and the green nose.  Is he contagious?

RUSTY:  Haha.  This is the original photo.  I think I was trying to learn to whistle.  (Actually I have freckles on my bottom lip.)

PERCY:  And now we're all set for Sepia Saturday too, hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Earl's World.

Breakout to Jail

RUSTY:  No, you are not seeing things.  That is a fence with a hole in it.  And you will be scratching your head when you see what crawled through that small opening.   

MARCUS:  Tuesday night between 9:30 and 10 PM, Jan let me outside and we heard strange noises.  Jan listened and then she went next door at that late hour to scare ... um, I mean to warn the neighbors that their dogs were trying to break out again.

MERCI:  At midnight, she opened the door for Marcus so he could have a last pee before bed.  Sam and I charged out the door with him.  We ran to the rear three panels of the pen and really checked them out.  Then Marcus started prancing up and down like a hero on steroids, chuffing and pounding his chest ... well, actually he was prancing and making strange noises so it's basically the same thing.

CYNDI:  He was pretending he was fearless but we all know he's afraid of his shadow.  Still, he can put on a good show.  The dogs didn't want to come in.  Something was going on again in the neighborhood and we'll never know what.

BUDDY:  The first thing Jan noticed the next morning was this hole in the fence.  It was way too small for the dogs to squeeze through.  And then the woman next door came over to say the dogs did indeed squeeze through that hole and asked could Jan keep an eye out for them.

SAM:  Jan waited to hear they were home again.  Thursday morning she was preparing for a meeting and, suddenly, she couldn't stand worrying any more about the dogs.  She went on Facebook and tagged a few ladies in the local Humane Society, asking if anyone had seen or heard of a black lab and a Weimaraner traveling or picked up together.

PERCY:  She also emailed the county shelter Animal Control guy.  When she returned to Facebook, there was this picture of the amazingly flexible escapees in their prison cell.  One of those she'd tagged, Miss Kay, shared the photo with her.  They'd been hanging around someone's yard the day before and were turned in to AC.

MICAH:  Jan called the woman.  There was barking in the background.  The couple had decided to check if the dogs had been picked up and the woman was at the shelter.  She later said it seemed like they were expecting her.  :-)

RUSTY:  Jan hung up and Miss Peggy (shelter volunteer who helps with rescues) called to tell her the dogs were at the shelter.  She had intended to call Jan to ask if she knew who owned them since the were found on the next street. 

MARCUS:  Miss Peggy said the dogs were so sweet she had a rescue already lined up for when their time was up.

CYNDI: Jan is still trying to figure out how those two dogs manged to get out through a hole barely big enough to fit a dog-size head through.

BUDDY:  Since Miss Peggy said it is okay to use her photo, we thought we would go ahead and use it for our weekend art.  We haven't done art posts in a long time.

MICAH:  This is our entry for the Sepia Saturday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Earl & Ethel. 

PERCY:  Hmmm, this one looks a little strange but interesting.  Oh, it's plastic wrap. We thought we would use this one for the Caturday Art blog hop hosted by Athena.

SAM:  We thought we would toss in a black and white version too.  We just love the expression on the Weimaraner's face. Disbelief perhaps?

Mosaic Cyndi

SAM:  Great, it's the weekend again.  What are we going to post for art this week?

PERCY:  I found an old photo of Cyndi we can use.

MICAH:  Okay, let's go for it.

CYNDI:  Hey, what happened to me?  I look a bit strange there.

MERCI:  You have been turned into a mosaic.

     Visit Athena's blog to see more Caturday Art and to join her blog hop.

MARCUS:  That's more like it.  Every furry looks great in dirt.

CYNDI:  That's not dirt, Marcus, that's sepia.

     The Sepia Saturday blog hop is co-hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Earl & Ethel.

CAMERON:  You are very pretty in black and white, Cyndi.

BUDDY:  This is the original, for comparison.

RUSTY: I don't know about you guys, but it looks like Cyndi was having fun when this picture was taken.  Do any of you feel up to a game of tag?  I didn't think so. I think I'll take a nap instead.

 

Iron Paw Jenny

CAMERON: It's weekend art time again.  Our subject today is Jenny, one of the original Funny Farmers.

RUSTY:  Jenny was before my time.  Sam, Micah and Marcus did not meet her either, but we've all heard stories about how she ruled the roost with an iron paw!

MARCUS: This is Jenny in sepia for the Sepia Saturday blog hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie and Earl & Ethel.  You know this is my favorite because it reminds me of the color Dirt.

SAM:  Even in black and white, you can tell Jenny had a soft, beautiful coat.  She loved to be brushed. 

MICAH:  Jan used the HDR-ish filter for this picture so we can join the Caturday Art blog hop hosted by Athena. 

PERCY:  For this one, she added Filtered Black and White to the HDR-ish picture above.

MERCI:  She couldn't resist adding a DUO Tone filter.  Jenny was a lovely cat and she looks good in any color.

CYNDI:  We can't forget a copy of the original photo for comparison.  I wonder what Jenny was thinking.

BUDDY:  Last night Murphy and Stanley made us aware a site has been publishing posts complete with photos stolen from a number of dog bloggers.  (We aren't included.)  They are one of those blogs with stolen posts. Murphy and Stanley and others are working on having the site shut down.  We have an idea they are angry!  And we don't blame them a bit.

MICAH:  What would be funny, if it weren't for the circumstances, is that Murphy and Stanley began to post a notice to the effect, if this post appears anywhere except ..... it is stolen in bright red text.  Those posts are boldly copied to the other site too.  And dzdogs posted an Important Annoucement with information on what those with a stolen blog should do, which was promptly stolen.  We think it's fitting the thieves should help take themselves down.  (Hard to argue they weren't stealing material when what they're posting clearly states it is stolen.)

SAM:  You would think whoever is doing this, possibly copying and pasting from an RSS feed, would notice what they are publishing. 

CAMERON:  Romping and Rolling in the Rockies is another of the blogs.  We understand they had a lot of photos - and they post beautiful photos - stolen and now have them "locked down", which sounds like a good idea. Now their posts have been stolen.  They have made their "do not steal" information highly visible. 

CYNDI:  It has been suggested that anyone who has their RSS feed set to FULL change it to SHORT so an entire post can not be stolen without a little invested effort.  Having a watermark did not stop the thieves but at least ownership can not be disputed.

PERCY:  We understand Wordpress has a plugin (?) that adds copyright information to the feeds, so those of you using WP might want to look into that.  Blogger needs something similar.  

Black and White Inverted

CYNDI:  Hey, what has Cameron done to deserve another turn for our weekend art?

MICAH:  He didn't do anything.  He just happened to be the next picture in line.

MERCI:  Don't worry, we'll all get another turn.  We're going through old photos.

CAMERON:  I was just lazing around looking handsome when Jan snapped my picture. No, she didn't take it in sepia.  She made a few changes.

     Join co-hosts Ruckus the Eskie and Earl & Ethel for the Sepia Saturday blog hop.

BUDDY:  Hey, Jan must have switched pictures on us.  This\isn't really Cameron, is it?

RUSTY:  Yes, it is Cameron.  Jan inverted the colors for our Caturday Art.  He sure is a handsome mancat in any color!

     Athena is your hostess for the Caturday Art blog hop.

PERCY:  Here is Cameron in black and white.  Wait, I'm repeating myself.  Cameron is black and white!

SAM:  This is the original photo.  Cameron hates to have his picture taken and usually closes his eyes, but here they're at only half closed.

MARCUS:  I think Cameron just pretends he hates being photographed.  He doesn't want anyone to know he sleeps a lot.  Ouch!  Who kicked me in the knee?

Scream in Technicolor

MERCI:  Jan had some fun working on our weekend art picture, even though the monitor kept flashing her so she couldn't see what she was doing.  At least that's my interpretation of her mutterings and gestures.

MICAH:  Yes, she tried the check for an updated driver trick again but this time it didn't work.  Someone please shoot the setup banner and put it out of its misery. Not the monitor.  Just the flashing banner.

MARCUS:  Our new monitor arrived today ... oh, that's yesterday since this morning is last night in our posting.  But Jan has to clear a work space and work up her nerve to install.  She said if the new monitor flashes too, she's going to scream in technicolor.

BUDDY:  She didn't say anything about technicolor, Marcus.  She said she'll scream so loud we'll need a tourniquet for our ears.

MARCUS:  Oh, well, isn't that what I said? Technicolor, tourniquet, what's the difference?

CAMERON:  You might recognize Buddy as a wee pup in this sepia picture.  Jan made us cats a warm bed under the table and Buddy climbed right in while I was testing it.  Guess Jan forgot to tell him he wasn't a cat.  That's Angel Crystal watching Buddy sleep.

     You can join the Sepia Saturday blog hop at Ruckus the Eskie or Earl & Ethel.

PERCY:  Here they are in a drawing of the same picture.  She boosted it in Picasa a bit to make everything stand out.  Cameron's eyes are so hard to photograph, because he closes them and turns away when the camera appears.  So this was taken before his camera aversion began.

BUDDY:  I wanted to play at being an artist too, so I tapped a key and this appeared.   Okay, it wasn't really an accident and I didn't have anything to do with it.  Jan was playing with filters and came up with this heat map of the drawing above.

     The drawing and the heat map are together our Caturday Art.  Stop by Athena's blog to join the blog hop.

SAM:  This is the original picture.  I just realized Buddy is not sleeping.  His eye is open.  He and Crystal are staring at each other.

CYNDI:  Crystal was probably telling Buddy to get out of his bed!  Crystal was a generous dude but he did think Buddy should sleep in his own bed.

RUSTY:  And last on our tour of the clothes basket bed pictures is tomorrow's black and white version, posted today for purposes of comparison.