Talking To A Mop

Taylor:  Marcus, sometimes I wonder about you.  What kind of a foolishness was this?

Marcus:  It wasn't foolishness.  Jan got me a new toy and when I tried to take it from her, she whacked me on the nose with it.

Taylor:  She did not whack you.  She wrestled you for it. You look like a maniac with a death grip on it. 

Marcus:  It was my toy.  I had a right to it.  She was just being selfish.  I think she wanted to keep it for herself.

Taylor:  Of course she wanted to keep it for herself.  It's a special mop.  When she washed the suv, she nearly fell off the stool because she had to climb on shaky legs so many times.  Next time she washes it, she shouldn't have to climb more than twice, hopefully.

Marcus:  Well, anyone else would have let me enjoy my new toy and bought another one for herself.

Taylor:  But it wasn't your new toy!  Oh, never mind.  I might as well be talking to a mop.

We are joining Flashback Friday.  To see other blog entries and/or to enter your own blog, visit the Five Sibes. 

And joining Feline Friday at Comedy Plus.

Promoted to Back Seat Driver

 Marcus:  I have the sads.  Jan says I have to keep riding in the back of the SUV. 

Percy:  I can see you have something.  I hope it isn't contagious! 

Marcus:  I am ignoring Jan.  She let me into the front seat but she still says I can't drive.

Percy:  I don't blame her!

 Marcus:  She gets the back of disgust.

Percy:  You need to learn anatomy.  That's your right shoulder, not your back.

Marcus:  Did I hear Jan correctly?

Percy:  Probably not.  You hear what you want to hear.

Marcus: Jan said if I'm a really good back seat passenger, she'll let me become a back seat driver.

Percy:  Oh, good, you might have found your niche, Marcus.  I bet you'll make a great back seat driver.  Perhaps you could even become a back, back seat driver.  You know, ride all the way in the rear with the groceries. 

Marcus:  I hope Jan gives me my own ignition key.


Marcus:  So much as happened since September 25th when we posted Locked Door Motor Running.  We're sorry it has taken two weeks to post the answer to the locked door mystery.  You probably need a quick reminder of how Jan got locked out of her vehicle.  Go ahead.  Click the link to review the post.  We'll wait.

We left you with Jan standing outside a vehicle with locked doors and the engine running.  The spare key was in her purse on the passenger seat.  She was alone in the country with no cell phone.  How did she break into the car without doing damage?

We left you clues and many of you assumed the window was rolled down and Jan just reached in to unlock the door.  If that had been true, Jan wouldn't have been so upset and there wouldn't be a mystery.  By the way, I wasn't in the car, so I didn't rescue her by stepping on the button.  I only posted my picture to remind you how handsome I am.   

We mentioned Jan is not accustomed to air conditioning and likes open windows.  Just as she reached Mr. Doug's driveway, she turned off the ac and rolled down the driver's window.  Just a little.  As it turned out, just enough to stick her arm in the opening - below the elbow - and wave at the passenger window.  It didn't wave back and the open part of the window was above her head.  No way to reach the buttons.

She didn't think of it at the time but if worst came to worst, she could have searched for someone with a cell phone to beg a ride home to get her spare, spare key.  Meanwhile, it was panic time!

Then she had an idea.  What surrounds you in the country?  Trees!  She started searching for a particular type of branch on the ground.  Long, thin but sturdy, and with a distinct backward bend.  She found the perfect one, stripped the leaves and little branches off it, and finagled it in the window and down to the button.  She was successful on the second try.

That mystery has been solved, but why anyone would design a vehicle that locks the doors when the driver steps out is still a mystery.

We are participating in Happy Tuesday blog hop. Stop by Comedy Plus to see other posts or to join the fun.

Marcus Has Wheels

Cyndi:  What was that scene about yesterday, Marcus?

Marcus:  Oh, that?  Jan told me I have wheels but she lied.

Cyndi:  I guess she did.  You're still racing around on four paws.

Marcus:  Not wheels on me! Wheels for me. She said now that I have wheels I can go anywhere I want. 

Cyndi:  So what was the problem?

Marcus:  See for yourself!

Cyndi:  I don't see a problem, but you do look angry. Your eyes are closed.

Marcus:  I was counting to ten.  Jan said she wanted to see if I have any problem climbing into my new wheels.

Cyndi:  Did you?

Marcus:  Of course not!  You know how I love to jump .  The higher the better.

Cyndi:  So why were you upset?

Marcus:  Look at where I am.  She opened the wrong door.to take that picture.

Cyndi:  What's wrong with that door?

Marcus:  It' opens on the passenger side!  I am not riding on the passenger side! 

Cyndi:  You want to ride in the back?

Marcus:  No way!  If I have wheels, I want to be the driver!

Cyndi:  But you don't know how to drive!  And you don't have a driver's license!

Marcus:  That didn't stop Buddy!  (The Driving Lesson)

Cyndi:  But you're not Buddy.  You have to be yourself.  Be the best yourself that you can be.

Marcus:  You're right.  I'm going to be me - cool, confident and competent.  Did you see where Jan left the keys?  I'm going to take my wheels for a spin!

Cyndi:  Well, when you stop spinning, I hope you haven't hit anything.  I don't believe you're on the insurance policy.


We are joining the Pet Parade with hosts Rascal & Rocco, Barking from the Bayou, & Bionic Basil. 

Inspector Buddy

Rusty:  Buddy and Merci have had a turn to show off their new beds.  (The Perfect Size  and  Musical Beds)   Today Marcus gets to show off his.  Jan brought it home just over a week ago.

Marcus:  Buddy, what are you doing in my bed?

Buddy:  I'm the official bed inspector/tester here.  You can't have a new bed unless I make sure it's safe.

Marcus:  How could it not be safe?

Buddy:  It could bite.

Marcus:  How many times have you ever been bitten by a bed?

Buddy:  Well, never, but it could happen!  

Marcus::  Thank you for inspecting my new bed but it's time to go sleep in your own.

Buddy:  Okay.  I'll send you my bill.

Marcus: Hey, Jan, can we get some better light over here?  Oh, okay, but I'll remember this when you need me to model again..

Rusty:  Don't worry.  Your friends will understand you have to work with what you have and what you have is Jan.

Marcus:  This is my new bed.  Jan, I'm a big guy.  I'm also the star of this post, yet you missed me.  No, my shoulder doesn't count as on target.

Buddy:  Oh, I don't know.  It's kind of nice to see a headless picture of you.

Marcus:  Here I am in my new bed.  Finally!

Buddy:  Yes, we dogs got new beds for early Christmas presents, and just in time.  It's going down into the 20sF for the next couple of nights.  It's going to be cold in here.  What am I saying?  It's already cold in here.

Rusty:  Jan said if she needs to buy anything else, she'll have to rob a bank, but one of you dogs will have to drive the getaway car.  Marcus, I hope you have a license because the rest of us will never get in a car with Buddy in the front seat again!

Marcus:  A license?  We don't even have a car!


We are joining the Pet Parade hosted by Rascal and Rocco, Basil the Bionic Cat, Barking from the Bayou and Owned by a husky.

Percy's Blue Station Wagon

Percy:  Hello, anybody?  I'm trying to decipher Jan's handwriting. It's atrocious!  Can someone please come help me

Micah:  None of us can read Jan's handwriting either.

Percy:  I think this says to buy Percy a new car.  I want a blue station wagon so I can drive Jan to the store to buy our food and litter.

Micah:  Blue, why blue?

Percy:  I look good in blue.

Micah:  But you don't drive.

Percy:  Buddy can help me.  We've driven together before.

Micah:  I heard you had a lot of help and you never got off the front lawn.  In fact, I heard you crashed Jan's car - back when she had one - into the bushes.  (Farming Michael Vick.  And Farming Michael Vick Continued.)

Percy:  That was a minor setback.  We're older and more coordinated now. 

Micah:  But obviously not wiser. 

Percy:  I think I'll just curl up here and dream of driving down the highway with the wind blowing through my fur.

Computers, Cars and Silly Putty

Percy:  Do I look a bit perplexed here?  I probably am since there has been a lot of perplexing confusion going on around here lately.

Cyndi:  We actually have not resolved the computer confusion of last Friday. 

Micah:  This has forced Jan to struggle to understand about profiles and administration and who does what and even who she is since she appears to be in her profile more than once. 

Merci:  Or is that more than one profile in her whatever-it's-called? 

Sam:  She should have learned this before but it's always been a bit much for her to comprehend.  Now her head is spinning and we're trying to stay nearby in case it flies off and we have to catch it.

Buddy:  For this reason, we hope you will forgive us but we're going to post an urban legend today.  We know it's an urban legend because Snopes says so.  http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/autos.asp.

Cameron:  But that's okay.  It's funny and applicable.  And if we had money to bet, we'd bet you all feel the same way.  Here's the urban legend.

At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.


Rusty:  We are trying to figure out why young humans can learn all this new technology so quickly and old fossils like Jan have to struggle with it. 

Marcus:  I know the answer.  Jan keeps saying the wood in this house is so old it's petrified, so it stands to reason young kids have squishy brains to absorb new learning while old brains are too hard for new material to filter through.

Sam:  I don't believe it.  I keep hearing, Out of the mouth of babes.  The young squirt might have something there.

Percy:  Yes, he does.  Silly putty for brains.

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.

Test Dummy Stuffies

Percy

Percy:  Hey, woofers, here's some news that will interest you.  It's about dogs.

Merci:  Oh, you're right.  This is interesting.

Buddy:  Yes, it would be interesting for anyone who travels with a pet.

Sam:  Jan has a safety harness for you, Buddy, because you lean on your elbows on the back of the front seat and jump around whenever you see something that excites you.

Merci: You don't jump around, Sam, but since anything in the car can turn into a projectile in a sudden stop, you' should wear a vest with "Lethal Weapon" written on it.

Sam:  The only reason you behave, Merci, is because you're too short to see over the head rest, so you have no idea what is going on.

Buddy:  Well,  this conversation would be a whole lot more meaningful if we still had a car.

Merci:  I agree. But we can be good canines and share the information with those who do have one.  This could help save a life or three. 



The Center for Pet Safety has a video showing Subaru testing dog car restraints and you might want to watch the video to see how the tests turned out.  Hint:  We're glad they were not using real dogs. We feel for the "stuffie" that broke its neck in the interest of protecting dogs everywhere.  (Before you freak out, it's a stuffie.  A stuffie can not break its neck.)

We found the video fascinating because we've often wondered how these companies can afford to wreck so many cars to test their safety. Rather than prattle on, we're just going to let you watch the video and see for yourself how it's done.

Just click the link for the video --
Study Shows Many Pet Car Safety Restraints to be Unsafe.  

How opportune. As we were putting this post together, we came across a very short story on making dog dummies for crash tests.  Pet safety nonprofit makes dog dummies for crash tests.

Funny Farmer Funmobile

Hi, Merci here, with today's Thankful Thursday post. You kitties might think this a bit strange but me, Buddy and Sam are thankful for our Funny Farmer Funmobile, even if Jan forgets to take us with her any more.  Other dogs will understand how much we love it.

This photo was taken before Sam came to live with us, the day Buddy tried to practice for his driving test so he could get a license.  I'm the little redhead.  Do I look nervous?  Well, I was!  You can tell how excited Buddy was by the look in his eyes?


This is what our Funny Farmer Funmobile looked like nine years ago. It's nowhere near that good-looking now since it's a 1987 model. Guess in car age, it might be older than Jan. (She's elebenty-hundred-six and creaky.) Well, it used to be when Miss Mother was alive and we dogs used to ride in style every day to visit her.  Sometimes a kitty would get to visit too.  We usually only get to go to the vet in it now, but Buddy, Sam and I have been trying to convince Jan she needs to start taking us out again on occasion so we can have some fun.

But when Jan started the engine yesterday, smoke poured out the exhaust.. The consensus of opinion is it blew a head gasket, which would cost hundreds of dollars more to fix than Jan has.  She says the entire car probably isn't worth that much.  A mechanic said he will come out next week to see if the problem really is a head gasket or something less expensive to fix.  All of us are hoping for the something less expensive. Much less expensive, please!  :)

 

So what is there to be thankful for after Jan tried to blow up our Funmobile?  Well, first of all that she didn't actually succeed.  :)  But mainly that if this had to happen, it happened in our front yard where Jan didn't have to have the car towed (yet), and she didn't have to hike home, with or without the groceries she was supposed to pick up for us.. 

Yeah, guess there's a silver lining even in an unexpected white cloud.  Just like there was one the day Buddy practiced driving without moving the car.  If he'd had the car key, he would have practiced for real.  And, you might not know this, but that dog is DANGEROUS!  Don't believe me?  Read The Driving Lesson for yourself.

Jan is so Fired ... Again

Yep, that's me, Rusty, enjoying the great outdoors.  Jan let me out with the dogs the other day and was horrified some time later to look out the kitchen window and see me sleeping in my cathouse.  She had forgotten all about me.  But I didn't care.  I was happy ... happy .... happy.  

I love to roll in the dirt before and after sleeping with the cobwebs in my private clubhouse.  And then I make Jan pick me up to carry me inside just so I can share my fun all over her clothes.

Jan is finally starting to limp around again but the car is still sitting in the same spot she parked it 2 1/2 weeks ago.  And that's why Jan's been fired ... again.

We didn't have anything to do with firing her this time.  We were all inside the house at the time so she can't blame any of us.  We didn't even sneeze, snort, hoot or holler.  We watched through the screen door, so we did snort, hoot and holler after the fact, but we weren't the cause.

See, Mr Doug, has been coming by when he can to try to figure out the problem.  Last time he took some parts with him to check them.  Before he put one part back today, he wanted to see if it was stuck, so he asked Jan to turn the key but not start the engine.  Jan turned it to click.  Everything was quiet so she thought she hadn't turned it far enough.  Yep, she then turned it to the second click. 

And then it wasn't quiet any more.  Mr. Doug shouted, "You blew it up!"

He wasn't kidding.    On the second click, the spring and the rod had shot right off the part.. A stunned Mr. Doug collected the pieces while Jan encouraged him with, "Well, I guess it wasn't stuck."

Mr. Doug did reassemble the part.  But Jan is so fired ... again! 

We really need to find something she's good at.  We're going to have an inferiority complex if she keeps failing.

Life of Rusty

This was Rusty this morning. The photo was not taken today but this is what he loves best about being outside in the pen - sunpuddles and rolling in the leaves and grass. At such times he is quite vehement about not wanting to come back inside.


For those of you who commented on the photo of Jan's ripped jeans at the bottom of Wednesday's Yummylicious (dog biscuits) post, we especially enjoyed the advice to not tell Jan if she forgot to change between walking with the dogs and going to Bible study.  Unfortunately, she did remember to change out of her hole-y (thanks for the new word) jeans.

For those who said duct tape would solve the problem, we assure you that if duct tape was the answer, she wouldn't have lost so much blood or so many clothes to the Car Seat Ripper.  Duct tape does not fix everything!  Neither does beating a spring down with a hammer!


We have written several times on Dogs in Brazil, a rescue run by Jan & Carlos who have lost just about everything but are still helping dogs.  They are working on non profit status so they will be able to help more. 

We saw an article by Jan (not our Jan) today on Care2.  It's Guga's story.  We remember how worried Jan and Carlos were about him, an old dog living on the street and in need of medical care.  They  rescued him just days before the horrible mudslides destroyed villages and killed so many humans and animals a year or so ago. 

Guga has a new life.  And we're hoping things will soon turn around for Dogs in Brazil.  Stop by Care2 and read Guga's story..

And we hope you will stop by Dogs in Brazil blog occasionally and leave a comment.  They've had a long hard road and they haven't given up or abandoned the dogs in their care.   That says a lot!


Well, Jan is headed out the door to hike on some errands.  The car seat attacked her Monday while her brother was working on it and then yesterday she and the car had to be rescued.  The car is sitting on the front lawn but she says she'd rather hike and haul than drive and shake.

She's so thankful someone was willing to come help her with the car .  There was a very nice older lady across the street who kept crossing the street to check on Jan.  Before Jan left, the lady crossed the street again and shook Jan's hand, saying, "I know who you are." 

Jan was surprised.  "You do?"

"Yes, you live over by (she named our next door neighbors) and you have dogs in your back yard." 

Well, Merci, Buddy & Sam are walking around with swelled heads now because they're so famous strangers know where they live.  A pawtograph, anyone?

Blind Oskar and Farewell Admiral

Hey, Cyndi here.  We had another post planned for today but Jan hasn't downloaded the photos from the camera yet and something came up that changed our plans.

So I have a fun video for you today instead.  Here is the blind kitten Oskar and the family Christmas tree.  Helping to put a tree together and decorate it looks like fun.  Too bad we can't convince Jan to get us a tree so we can kill it ... I mean, so we can nurture it.


If the video doesn't play, click here.



And this is what came up to change our plans today.  We weren't going to make any more graphcs when there is a loss because Jan put the wrong birth date on the original one she made for Opus a couple of weeks ago.  It's just too easy for her to make a mistake when we're all upset.  But since such a graphic is for a grieving human, we convinced her pride is overrated.

We were shocked to learn the lovely Admiral Hestorb passed away yesterday.   She just celebrated her 14th birthday Sunday.  She's had some health problems for a while but her mom took good care of her and we thought she was doing better. 

We are going to miss the Admiral.  Our hearts are heavy for mom Carole.  Leave a comment for her on Adventures of Admiral Hestorb. 

Cats and the Internet

We decided to take Nikita of Opinionated Pussycats up on his challenge today to write a blog post on What is it about the Internet and cats?

The question was asked by a contributor of the popular site (although we'd never heard of it before) The Slacktiverse.

Well, we're a bit confused (a not unusual state for us around Jan). What's not about the Internet and cats? We're everywhere! As well we should be; we're just so darned awwww cute, innocent as American pie, cute as a button, floof and fur and ... did we mention all-fired cute?


We're playful and fun, as our lovely Cyndi demonstrates with the nip-scented candy corn toy Sam the dog ate, leaving only a tiny scrap of yarn and subsequent piles of vomit as evidence of its demise.

Like Jell-o, there's always room for one more of us. Our matriarch Cotton demonstrates how little room we take up.

We're self-confident, crafty and intelligent, often mistaken for being smug. Here is Rusty celebrating with a smile after putting one over on Jan. He convinced her he was sorry he misbehaved. And she fell for it. Again.

We're inquisitive, always checking out everything that comes in the yard or inside the house. If it's edible, it's ours. If it's not edible, it's still ours. This is Percy checking out the furry intruder Jan made from our fur for National Hairball Day. We decided not to claim this messy mass. Jan made it. She had to clean up after it.

We're photogenic. Notice we're photogenic but the photographer must have been tipsy. Jan cut off the top of Rusty's handsome head as Rusty poses with his likeness on a canvas print.

Jan would probably classify Percy here as a "nosy Parker" or buttinsky. Notice how Percy managed to finagle his entire head into the foreground of Rusty's photo shoot. But, hey, we just want to be where our humans are. **wink, wink**


We're friendly, loyal and companionable. Here is Cameron snuggled next to his best friend and companion at the time Merci. Things changed a bit when hyper Buddy and then Sam arrived, but Cameron and Merci are still friends.

We're also very relaxing to hang around with. Here's Percy just chillaxing and snoozing. Doesn't this design relax you humans and make you yearn to imitate him? It does us, so it's time to wrap this up for a nap.

We could go on but we don't want to brag and discourage the woofies. But you put these marvelous traits together and we belong on the Internet. We should rule the Internet. We're everywhere. And we're organized. Together, via the Internet, we're plotting and planning world domination.

(s) Cotton, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron & Rusty

Percy on Springing a Leak

So this is what a peeing car looks like. Not very impressive, is it? Now, Sam, he really knows how to take a leak.

Oh, sorry, I forgot to identify myself. This is Percy. No, not the photo below. I'm the kitty in the photo above.

The car's radiator level has been dropping and Jan's brother did find and fix a leaking radiator whatchamacallit last Friday. So Jan went to Walmart yesterday to buy some more coolant. But she got right back in the car and came home empty-handed after she saw the puddle forming underneath. She raced in the house, grabbed the camera and ran back out the door.

She thought that white line was a string and when she tried to pull it off in the Wal-mart parking lot, her finger went right through it. It was warm and wet. Thankfully, not hot!

It's a good thing she noticed the leak because two or three hours later, after she was sure the engine was cool (actually because she finally remembered), the radiator was full when she checked it. And since she is parked on the lawn, she wouldn't have known about the engine draining.

Since this is the only kind of entertainment Jan's had this year, maybe we need to get a job to cheer her up. Anyone looking to hire some adorable furries? We can eat and sleep and play and journal, so between us we have lots of experience.That should make us worth lots of green papers.

Not right now? Well, keep us in mind. We'll go practice sleeping some more so we don't forget how. You know the old saying, use it or lose it. Or should that be snooze it? zzzzzzzzzzzz

Okey, Abby and FPCA

We would like to introduce you to Okey's Promise Art. We believe the premise that helping animals is helping children. Watch the video to learn how.


If the video doesn't play, click here.


Tabby Normal is having a Flat Cat Winter Photo Contest. Be sure to go by and enter.

Our neighbors in Pike County, Georgia have no animal control and no shelter. Friends of Pike County Animals (FPCA) is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization (currenlty seeking 501 (c) 3 status) We hope you can spare a minute - daily until January 31 - to vote for FPCA for the Pepsi $50,000 grant.

You can vote for them at Create an animal adoption & education center in rural Pike County, GA.

Or you can go to the FPCA website and click on the vote widget.

And please pass this on and ask your friends to vote. We all know how important it is that any community's animals have an advocate..

They are currently 155th.  They need a lot of votes to move up and win.  

Cotton, Kitty and Rocky

Hi, I'm Cotton, or rather I'm Cotton's paw, to introduce our post for today. I haven't finished my daily beauty routine (I'm 11 years old), so I would prefer just to show you one tortie paw at this time. 

We'll start with a short but cute kitty video.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

We are posting this tonight to give Jan a smile after a long afternoon outside on her feet watching her car get taken apart and put back together.

As we mentioned yesterday, Jan's car broke down. The timing belt jumped time because it was shedding its teeth. They were just falling off. And humans get upset because we furries shed?

Doesn't look like a fun way to spend a day to us.  No toys or munchies in sight.

But she was fortunate to find someone to work in the Wal-mart parking lot so the car didn't have to be towed.  Now she needs a day or so to catch up a little on what she was going to do yesterday and today - clean the house and exciting stuff like that.  So we're going to catch up on exciting stuff too - napping.  She promised to wake us when it's time to post again. 

Although we know many of you already know of Rocky the Gutter Cat's passing, we would still like to mention him.  He left a sad family behind.  You can visit his blog here to leave a comment.

And check out our Zazzle store if you haven't already. You can still order in time for Christmas. You can now order coasters or ornaments with your pet's photo or your child or grandchild's photo. Or even with your own photo to give as a gift.

Cotton, Dorcus and Oscar

Hi, this is Cotton as a mosaic cat and I'm here to do a quick post because we probably won't get to do one tomorrow.

We were as shocked as any earlier today to learn Dorcus of the Thuglets was seriously ill. But before we could post it ,we have learned Dorcas was so sick she had to be helped to the bridge.  We are so sad for her family.  We hope you will go by The Thuglets' blog and leave some purrs and tail wags for her.

Also, Oscar from Got Kibble blog had to be helped to the bridge. His dad could also use some kind thoughts.

We send purrs and tail wags to both families.

Jan's car broke down on her way back from taking shelter dog and Petsense cat photos today.  She had to get a ride home and will have to hike back tomorrow..  She's ordered a timing belt and has someone lined up to fix it.  Hopefully!  She said she hopes we can eat less for the next month.  Gulp.  Sigh.

This is so important we just have to mention it here.  We are delighted President Obama signed Senator Richard Burr's Crush Video bill into law yesterday.  We hope this time the law has enough teeth to actually bite the jerks who participate or watch such cruelty. The depravity of humans is so often beyond belief!  And that is all we have to say on the subject.

And check out our Zazzle store if you haven't already. You can still order in time for Christmas. You can now order coasters or ornaments with your pet's photo or your child or grandchild's photo. Or even with your own photo to give as a gift.

Wags and Tags and Winnie

Today is Cyber Monday - the Monday after Thanksgiving and one of the busiest shopping days of the year for online retailers, so this seems like a good day to post our review for Wags and Tags.

Wags and tags has a line of quality dog tags for the elite dog or for the causal canine, such as Merci.  Above are two of the sterling silver dog bowls, one with a bone of solid 14K yellow gold and one of polished 925 sterling silver. (Sorry, but none of the photos Jan took do the tags justice.)  There are other choices - Diamond bone inlay; Cubic zirconia bone inlay; Silver bone inlay with a single cubic zirconium.

The back of the tag is stainless steel so the information won't rub off.   The dog tag would be engraved with the dog's name and phone number on the back at no additional charge. If you go to customize tag at www.wagsandtags.com you can see how to order the center bone of your choice and how the engraving will look on the back.

Merci chose the silver bone.  Her tag is a medium, about the size of a quarter. 

Jan obligingly attached the bale/connector (top of the tag) which is made of stainless steel instead of sterling silver for additional support so the tag doesn't get lost to the double split ring and added it to Merci's collar.  Jan suggests you find a man with strong fingers to do all the attaching.  She learned the hard way the double split ring is s-t-r-o-n-g!  Her fingers don't work as well as they need to so it was slow going for her. She wore a hole in her finger trying attach the tag to the collar.

After cleaning up the blood, she found out the new tag was hiding behind Merci's rabies tag so you couldn't see it.  :( 

A few days later, Jan tried again.  And finally succeeded. Doesn't Merci look pretty?  She is actually camera shy and hard to get to sit for a photo. (Oh, did Jan ever want to buy Merci a new collar to go with the pretty tag!)

There are also matching owner pendants.  We don't know if you can engrave information on the back of the pendants for humans - probably not - but we think it would be a good idea.  It takes 3 of us to keep Jan in line so she doesn't wander off when we walk her. What if she got lost?  How would we describe her so someone could recognize her if she was found? And with her memory would she even remember her name?

UPDATE: Sandy, the owner of Wags and Tags, advises us that the matching owner pendant can be engraves on the back at no extra cost.  So if you're concerned about your human wandering off and not finding her way home ....

Wags & Tags is available at fine boutiques throughout the country and online at www.wagsandtags.com. Follow them on Twitter @WagsTags.

From now through January 13, 2011, you can use a $20 coupon with a purchase. The promo code is easy to remember: JFF.

In keeping with the FTC disclosure guidelines, Wags and Tags furnished us with a sample tag for Merci to test, but we were not paid to review the product.

We're very sad that Space Paws has lost their 16-year-old Winnie. She left on her new adventure on the 20th but it was too painful for them to post the information. It's always difficult when it's time to say good-bye.  If you haven't already, we hope you will stop by The Adventures of Space Paws to read Winnie's story and leave a message.

And even though Gracie (and her mom) never ask for praise and always ask not to tattle, we want to send many, many thanks to her for the beautiful Christmas header she made for us. It was a wonderful surprise and Jan cried when she saw Crystal in the picture over the mantel. Of course, it didn't ... sniff .... bother any ... sniff, sniff ... of us. Does any cat have a handful of extra tissues?