Micah: Stop getting in Jan's way and you'll get your breakfast quicker.
Marcus: Hurry up, Jan! Cyndi, don't you even look at the dog bowls.
Micah: Look, this is what Jan sees at her elbow while she prepares your food. How is she supposed to work?
Marcus: Get a move on, Jan! Percy's eying my bowl.
Micah: Put a lid on it, Marcus. You sound like a yodeling traffic cop yelling at us cats.
Marcus: Faster, Jan , fas - Wait, I sound like a what?
Cyndi: Thank you, Micah. I have never been able to put a paw on what to call Marcus's meal preparation hysteria.
Marcus: You don't know what a yodeling traffic cop sounds like.
Micah: Want to bet?
Despite Marcus screaming at us in a high falsetto before every meal, we're grateful to have food, so we're joining Pepi Smart Dog for today's Thankful Thursday blog hop.
MERCI: We love to tell tales on Jan, so we thought we would share a Sunday Smile with you today.
RUSTY: Jan has been a bit intimidated by the "traffic light" timer at Toastmasters. Depending on the purpose, you have to talk for more than "x" but less than "y" number of minutes.
SAM: It isn't that Jan can't talk for x - y minutes. It's just hard to say something on a particular subject when the brain is blank and in panic mode.
MICAH: Last Thursday she determined she would not stop talking on the subject until at least after the first light (green) went on. Her objective was to give a 2 minute minimum evaluation of a 5 minute talk.
PERCY: She finished her evaluation. No light. She kept talking. Still no light. She rambled all around whatever tidbits she could remember of the talk. Still no light.
CYNDI: The other members were being bored into a coma.. It seemed to her and probably to the others as if she had been talking FOREVER!
BUDDY: Eventually she totally ran out of anything to say that was even remotely related to the speech. So she stretched out her arm to point to the timing light, leaned over the podium, and exclaimed, "Isn't this EVER going to come to an end!!" That woke up everyone she'd lulled to sleep! The laughter "woke" the timer.
MARCUS: Next meeting Jan will be the timer. She hopes she doesn't "zone out". It's easy to do.
PERCY: Have you ever seen a horse line dance?
MERCI: Did you ever imagine you would see a horse line dance?
BUDDY: Watch the footwork as the horse dances in a tight space.
I don't know that I will ever actually feel safe here again. Not since one or more coyotes came over my dog pen fence Friday night to dig up Cameron's body and carry it away before the neighbor dogs scared it/them off. It amazes me to learn they can easily jump or scale a 6 or 8 foot fence. All those stories I have read about them jumping a fence to grab a cat or small dog - I assumed the fences to be about 4 feet tall.
First, a couple of years ago, all the feral cats along our walk route disappeared. Last year all the squirrels disappeared. They are repopulating now but not the cats. There was the coyote I sighted nearby last summer while walking Buddy and Sam. And then a couple of reports from neighbors of coyote sightings right here. The neighbors and I have no doubt it was a coyote(s). But why the bottom of the fence was torn loose and Cameron dragged through such a small opening is a mystery.
It's a relief I couldn't dig more than an inch in the clay outside the pen or Cameron would have been gone. I re-buried him Saturday. It was a long hard, brutally painful day. Between my back and the latest knee injuries from the fall in February, it was all I could do to use a shovel. NEVER, EVER try to dig in clay unless you are a big, strong, young dude, which I am not!
Saturday night was quiet. It was hours before I could crawl out of bed Sunday. Last night I slept hard for a while and got up before 4 a.m. There was no barking but it sounded like the neighbor dogs were trying to get out of their yard again. I opened the door to hear better and Marcus hit the screen to run out barking.
He's funny. He has a habit of getting so excited, he runs bravely to the fence barking madly, turns his head, finds he's alone, turns tail and runs back toward the house. As usual, Sam and Merci charged through the door to his rescue and the three ran to the back fence and barked. I got a squirt bottle (well, it's better than no weapon at all) and followed in the slushy mud. There was a face peering at me from inside the wooden fence the neighbor had just boarded over Saturday.
There was nothing I could do at 4 in the morning, but I was so worried I stood at the door watching for well over an hour, then sat on a stool. The noise continued and there was a lot of whining between breaks. No barking, so I had slept through whatever had happened to initiate this. Before 6, it got quiet. I felt terrible. The dogs had escaped and I couldn't even let the neighbor know until after daylight.
When I tried to go back to bed, I discovered Buddy had been left gated in the bedroom so he had pulled back the covers to make himself comfortable and had vomited. There is a pad under the sheet for such an emergency but I had to dig up another sheet and remake the bed. Sleep was a long time coming and thankfully the phone rang at 9.
I would be devastated if my dogs got loose, so I dressed and went next door. There was such relief as I checked their back fence. The dogs had not made it out after all! But the folks do know the fence needs repair again. She said they will try to put up some type of camera back there to see what is going on in that area at night.
The funny part is that after I fed the animals and was about to fix my own breakfast, the dogs started carrying on. I found a city worker on the outside of the fence reading the meter. He pointed to Marcus and said, "What is he? He's beautiful."
I guess it's time to get Marcus a bigger bowl. I don't think his nose is going to fit in it for the swelled head he has now.
I really enjoy a singer called Kaoma. He often makes a capella singing videos, but this one has music. It seems an appropriate time to receive a YouTube notification about his song titled "You'll Be Okay". I sure hope so! (One guy, four parts.)
Oopsie. This was supposed to self-publish at 5 am this morning but guess what?
Hey, it's me, little Luke, again. I'm still here so Big Butt ... um, big Sam said it's okay for me to do another post. It's kind of quiet around here, but I'm in the mood for some fast footwork to get the blood flowing.
Here is my pick of the day. Dr. John and Jools Holland, the Boogie Woogie Twins.Woo hoo can they tickle those ivories. And almost as fast as I can run. Pull up a chair, shove your human in it, and give her a break. Don't be surprised, though, if she pops out of the chair and does a fast shuffle. (I figure all humans are as slow as Jan, thus the shuffle.)
Sam: We have another Sunday Smile for you. Why are there Dalmatians on fire engines?
Buddy: *raises paw* That's easy. To help the firefighters find the nearest fire hydrant.
Merci" Please forgive the guys. They think they're comedians. I'd ... I mean, we'd like to share something appropriate for the humans today, and since Jan likes this song, we'll post it. Perhaps it will help get us back in her good graces after the failed photo session the other day.
It's a song titled On My Father's Side and it's easy to follow, as the words are printed on the page.
Have a peaceful Sunday. And if you've changed readers after Google's closed, you might want to check to be sure our blog feed transferred. Some blog feeds were dropped and we'd hate for you to lose contact with our handsome faces
Hey, Cameron here to continue with our never-to-be-caught-up posts. This is my photo that tied for 2nd place in Kat's Kats 2nd Annual Everycat Sleeping Contest. Like Tober's poster contest, it happened in November and we're just posting about it. **sigh** Jan really needs to get a life so we can access the computer more often.
Anyway, this is my award. Thanks, Kat & the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde.
As soon as I finish this post, I intend to begin practicing for next
year's contest. But I think something soft and warm would be more
appropriate for sleeping in winter.
I also have a season appropriate video for you. This is a Christmas Flash Mob performance by Journey of Faith at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. .Feel free to sing along. We all did.
Hey, Blogger, this is Percy. Are you there? I'd like to report an annoying glitch in your pic posting procedure. It doesn't work half the time! First, you wouldn't load me, then you installed ten copies. Yes, 10 oopies of this same photo! And when I deleted 9, you threw in #11. Now I have no problem having my mancatly handsomeness displayed ten - well, 11 times in a row, but our readers might not stick around to scroll down far enough to see what I'm posting..
And I have a furry appropriate - yes, furry appropriate video for our Sunday post.
Cotton suggests I begin with a favorite quote from St. Francis of Assisi: If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
If there are no more interruptions or suggestions, let's get to the main feature. It's a beautiful slide show of animals and human scenes to compliment the song "All Creatures of Our God and King." The arrangement is by Fernando Ortega.
The song is based on Psalm 148:7-10: Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's such a pretty tune, I haven't been able to resist standing and waving my paws to lead the orchestra. And now that I've got the hang of it, I'm thinking of applying for a job as a conductor. Would any of you volunteer to give a reference for me?
Who doesn't love the voice of Andrea Bocelli? Put Andrea Bocelli and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir together and you have music to relax and soothe you any day of the week.
Sit back, close your eyes and enjoy this beautiful version of "The Lord's Prayer."
Last night a friend sent Jan an email message with a link to a lively tune sung by Sir Paul McCartney., so we thought we'd share it with you. If you haven't had your first cup of coffee yet, don't worry, this will wake you up.
Jan said she doesn't want any fuss, just a strawberry and whipped cream dessert and a peaceful day. We couldn't buy her the dessert so we hope she'll settle for a day without squabbling, no sleeping in the traffic lane (doorways, walking path), and no complaining when she forgets to feed us breakfast until lunch time.
Have a peaceful Sunday too.
Update: KC of Missy Blue Eyes blog and the CB also has a birthday today. Thank you, KC, for this lovely card. We hope you have a fun day with lots of catnip and special treats.
Hey, Cameron here with a PCA - Party Celebration Announcement - for tomorrow.
Asta asked all her friends to post this glitter graphic for Friday to remind everypup and kit that the birthday celebration for Ronnii & Richie is being held tomorrow, Saturday, April 23rd.
Richie had to leave for the bridge on Monday, just a few days before their birthday. But - "Now I has left strict instruckshuns dat Mine & Ronnii’s Birfday Pawty is to go ahead cos I wants yu all to celebrate my sistas speshul day and to celebrate the life I had wivs Da Momster & Da Popster." So let's honor his request and help Ronnii celebrate tomorrow.
Hey, Cyndi here with a little news and a lovely video for a quiet Sunday.
KC needs help with the Cat Blogosphere Auction Blog. The CB keeps her busy and she won't be able to continue with both jobs. Gracie was a fantastic auctioneer for over a year but she has retired because of family commitments. If you would like to volunteer to help KC and kitties in need, contact KC at the CB for details.
UPDATE Sunday 4/3: KC has two new volunteers for the CB Auction Blog. We won't tell you who they are. We'll let KC make the announcement.
We have a lovely video for your humans. "Dana Winner, the International Tourism Ambassador for the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, sings "Let the Children Have a World" while students from the Trans Oranje School for the Deaf sign the lyrics."
We suddenly have use of the computer for a few minutes and we can't think of anything pet related to post, so we're just going to give your humans a lift to start their weekend. We hope they enjoy it.
We like this lady's spunk and courage, even though she didn't win.
In the United States we celebrate July 4th as Independence Day. So, America,
Today, we would like to share this video of Orson Wells on the history of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," written by Julia Ward Howe. We found it interesting and hope you will too.
Whether or not you live in the United States, we wish you a purring and tail wagging day. There is always reason to celebrate, even if it's just that you're alive.
PS -- We didn't get to publish until late afternoon Saturday', so if you haven't read our post on the young girl who is finally home after a fairly recent heart transplant, click here for "Penny's Heart." It's a story you don't want to miss. :)
Today is Memorial Day in the United States and we did a Memorial Day post yesterday. However, we like the music of The Rivoli Revue and they just sent us a link to their latest video, which they both wrote and performed. As anyone who has ever lost a loved one in war can attest, freedom is not free! So we're going to post their video. We know you will like it because the words are so true.
And Debbie Lee, a Gold Star mom, has a website, America's Mighty Warriors, which she founded after the death of her son Marc Alan Lee, the first Navy Seal killed in Iraq. We encourage you to visit the site and look around.
This song, "Memorial Day" was written by Tony Mullins to honor America's fallen heroes on Memorial Day. It's sung by Cary Rutledge. Tony sent us a link to a new version of the video filmed at Deerlake, Montana, but, although the scenery is beautiful, the most important part of the video is missing -- those we are paying tribute to. So we are going to use the old video, the one that includes them.
For the first time in eight or so years, Jan was unable to help the Veterans of Foreign Wars distribute Buddy Poppies on Friday and Saturday. She says she's tired of being tired and sick! So if you'll excuse us, we're going to go distribute lots and lots of fur around the house to remind her she's not useless. And maybe we'd better leave the dustmop where she'll trip over it since she's probably forgotten where she put it. It's hard when your human gets old and starts leaving her memory in odd places. Sigh. We hate to think what she'd do without us.
While Jan soothes today's sunburn acquired at the car club benefit for the local Humane Society, we are told we can't use the computer but a few minutes, as she has to process all the photos she took today to post on the HS blog. She's still honking and barking, which interrupts our naps, so we wish she would go to bed instead. We sure hope allergy season ends soon!
We don't want you to forget us, so we are going to post a furry tractor music video for your amusement. We're telling you up front there aren't any furries in the video -- the furries are posting the video.We just thought it was fun. Kind of like dancing with Billy Sweetfeet, only it's tractor - guitar music to set your paws a-tapping. Just don't tap them near the engine.
If you like mysteries, this was one for us. We published this yesterday Feb 5 at 10:21 PM. According to the post verification email Blogger sent. We had a few comments. However, when we just got online and came to our blog, there was no Cat Concerto post!!!!! Not even in a search. It didn't exist. But we have the email to prove it published and we don't think you can leave comments on it if it doesn't exist. Hmmmm.
Well, after more careful examination of the email, we found at the bottom: "Posted By Jan's Funny Farm to Jan's Funny Farm at 1/17/2010 07:10:00 PM." Oh, dear. We should never do anything late at night. By the time we finished last night, we had forgotten we had saved the link in an unpublished post. So we are republishing it, this time in February. Hopefully, under today's date. We apologize to any who came by and didn't find it. We really weren't hiding it. But we think we'll go hide for a while until our faces aren't red any more. :-)
And now for the original post.
We just have to post this video of Catcerto with the Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra, conductor and composer Mindaugas Piecaitis, playing "with" Nora the piano cat. It's fun.
We were teary last night after we read the post on Talk With The Paws blog. Today's post is a bit more optimistic but our friends Jigsaw, Munchkin, Patches & Tigger can use some help. If any of you can possibly spare a dollar or two to help them, we know they would be grateful. It is not easy to admit you need help and many of us have been in need at some point. Prayers would be appreciated too.
We were going to post some of the beautiful email cards we received from some talented bloggers , but we decided to keep this post simple. It's Christmas eve and folks have other things on their plates. Besides, we couldn't show the cards we received by snail mail -- our scanner won't work unless we install an ink cartridge so it can set everything up for printing. Since we don't print with that all-in-one, we don't understand what the problem is, but then we're just dogs and cats. Thanks to each of you who sent us any type of card. We couldn't "borrow" any money from Jan's wallet (it was empty) to send stamped snail mail cards so we posted our homemade card. (If you haven't received your card yet, see post below this one)
Instead, we have a video for you. Beautiful Christmas music. O Holy Night by Celtic Woman. We hope you like it as much as we do.
