Memorial Day 2017

Today is Memorial Day in the U.S., a day when we remember and honor those who have died in service to our country.

Big & Rich's song "8th of November" always brings to mind, not only those who died, but those who survived and live with the memories of their fallen brothers.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Since I Lost My Blankie

 

Marcus:  ♪ ♫ Since I lost my blankie.  ♪ ♫  Since I lost my blankie.

Percy:  What are you wailing about now, Marcus?

Marcus:  I'm singing The Temptations' old song "Since I Lost My Blankie".

Cyndi:  I never heard of it.  Are you sure there is such a song?

Marcus:  Of course there is!

Percy:  So where did you lose your blankie?

Marcus:  Right here.  It used to be inside my crate but now it's outside.

Cyndi:  I hate to say this, but that's not a blankie, it's your bedding.

Marcus:  Okay.  ♪ ♫  Since I lost my bedding.  ♪  ♫  Since I lost -

Percy:  You have not lost your bedding either.  You pulled it outside your crate and wadded it up.  if you want it "found" again, just drag it back inside.

Cyndi:  Oh, and by the way, The Temptations never sang a song called "Since I Lost My Blankie".  It was "baby", "since I lost my baby"!

Marcus:  That's just plain silly!  How could they lose a baby?

Percy:  I don't know.  How did you lose your bedding while sleeping on it?  

Cyndi:  If you don't believe us, here it is.  Baby, since I lost my baby.



If the video doesn't play, click here. 

A Lion Screams Tonight

Marcus:  Ice cream away.  Ice cream away.
                Ice cream away.  Ice cream away.
                In the jungle, the mighty jungle,
                a lion screams tonight.
                Hut, hut.

Cyndi:  Whoa, Marcus, what are you singing?

Marcus:  A Lion Screams Tonight.  I heard it this morning and it's now my favorite song.

Cyndi:  No, no, in that song the lion sleeps.   Why is your lion screaming?

Marcus:  For ice cream, of course.  You remember - I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.  Even the lion.

Cyndi:  Suddenly I have a headache. 

Marcus:  That's what happens when you eat ice cream too fast.  You get an ice cream headache.  Don't eat so fast next time.

Cyndi:  But I didn't eat any.  *mumbles*  You gave me the headache.

Here are The Tokens with the original - the correct - version.


If the video doesn't play, click here. 

Biscuits and Turkey Tea

Marcus:  *singing softly* ...rich folks eatin in their private dining cars...   prolly chompin biscuits and drinkin turkey tea...

Percy:  Hey, I recognize that tune.  Isn't that from "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash?

Marcus:  Sort of.  I'm just sitting here in my private dining car waiting for Jan to allow me my one hour in the exercise yard with the other inmates.

Percy:  Marcus, you just ate breakfast and you're waiting for Jan to finish taking pictures of Buddy and Merci for the dog food review next week.

Marcus:  Oh, what a relief!  My sentence has been commuted.

Percy:  Your sentence is way off track.  There is no such line as "prolly chompin biscuits and drinkin turkey tea" in the song.

Marcus:  There isn't?  Are you sure?

Percy:  Positive.  Here's Johnny Cash himself.  Listen and learn.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Join Pepi Smart Dog and friends for the Thankful Thursday blog hop.  

Veterans Day 2015

PERCY:  Today is Veterans Day, a day the U.S. honors the veterans of our Armed Forces. 

BUDDY:  We want to share this video of the Homeless Veteran Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Song called I'm Not Home.

MERCI:  The reason we chose this song to represent our veterans today is because so many of them have returned home with PTSD.

CYNDI:  You might know someone who is struggling to cope with traumatic memories after military service. 

MICAH:  Many of us will never know what these men and women have faced in order to protect us.

RUSTY:  Because they have served, we have freedom to go about our lives.

MARCUS:  But we should not undervalue those have returned with PTSD.

SAM:  These veterans are our relatives, our friends, our neighbors ... and some of them are among the homeless.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Happy Easter 2015

We are still in hiatus, but we want to wish all of you a Happy Easter.  Jan has all the energy of a drowned dish rag so her idea of making us a special graphic was adding a frame to our old one. Do you suppose she likes green?

We can't think of a video we'd rather include this Easter than this one - David Phelps singing "The End of the Beginning".  He also wrote the song and it's one of our favorites.  We hope you will take a minute to listen to the story he tells because we believe the day we are celebrating today was indeed the end of the beginning.  Thank you for the great song, David Phelps!



If the video doesn't play, click here.

You Will Be Okay

Seldom a dull moment around here.

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.)


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Misbehaving Defined

PERCY:  Do you remember this photo from late 2013?  Micah and I get along better now but we still have an occasional disagreement.

MERCI:  What is your definition of "occasional"?  Once a week?  Once a day?  Every other day?

MICAH:  Occasionally.  There was a time Jan despaired of ever having us in the same room.

CAMERON:  Between you two and Rusty, there's a lot of yelling and things going crash in the night. 

SAM:  Or in the day.  You need to take up mediation for peace and tranquility in life.

CYNDI:  Mediation might help but I think you actually mean meditation, Sam.  But the way you and Marcus get along does not set a good example.

MARCUS:  Hey, every time misbehaving enters a conversation, my name is mentioned.

BUDDY:  That's because when I checked online, "Marcus" is listed as the definition for "misbehaving".  You can't sit still for five seconds.  You are constantly trying to tell all of us what to do and driving us all to distraction.

RUSTY:  Marcus doesn't drive.  That was Buddy's department when we had a car.  Marcus nips and chases and -  Is there a military camp for dogs?  I'll give up my allowance to help send him.

SAM:  We don't get an allowance.

RUSTY:  I know.  That's why I'm willing to give it up for Marcus.  Would the rest of you like to chip in too?

PERCY:  We think we should tell you Sunday's Dashcam Performance video was staged, but it still had us all laughing. 

BUDDY:  In case you missed it, you can click on the link above to Sunday's post or you can watch it when you read the story at the Christian Science Monitor.   The video is included with the article.

MARCUS:  Officer Mark Hoffman, we would all doff our hats to you for such a great performance, but most of us don't wear one and Sam won't remove his because it keeps his head warm.

DashCam Performance

PERCY:  Have we got a Sunday Smile for your humans today!  They should begin to limber up because they are going to want to keep up with the action.  

SAM:  You're right.  We've all been dancing in place with the video.

MICAH:  Sam, you're so big you have four left feet and a left tail.

RUSTY:  He's right, Sam.  There's no other way for you to dance except in place.

MERCI:  Well, he could move around but there would be a lot of crashing and breaking.

CYNDI:  And yelling.  Jan tends to yell when things start crashing and breaking.

MARCUS:  I don't have to break anything for Jan to yell at me.

CAMERON:  Marcus, there's a lot of leaping and bruising around you. We can only hope you don't add breaking to your list of talents.

BUDDY: Why don't we just leap into our Sunday Smile video for the week. This is video from a Dover Police DashCam.  The officer's performance had Jan almost rolling on the floor with laughter.   Will he ever live this down? 


If the video doesn't play, click here.

If you missed our weekend art, it can be viewed at Iron Paw Jenny.

Christmas Story by Micah

Warm and cozy thoughts for your Christmas celebration.  We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with family, friends and fun.  And whatever your faith, we hope you will remember the reason for the celebration. 

We want to thank all of you for the beautiful cards of one type or another.(email, snail mail, Jib Jab, Jacquie Lawson, Smilebox, SloppyKiss, etc.).  We have enjoyed every one of them and are grateful for your friendship and kindness.  We have emailed several lists of bloggers the above card and hope you received yours. If not, grab the one above.  If you'd like a copy fit for print, we'd be happy to email you one.

Before we finish this post, Micah has a Christmas Eve story for you. 

Micah:

Thank you.  I'd like to tell you something that happened last night. With Red aka Little Puppy No Name here, Jan gets up several times a night to put him outside to pee.  She opens the screen door, puts Red down, gives him a slight push and closes the door very quickly.  Red runs down the steps, takes a quick pee and races back up to be let inside.  For this, she doesn't even bother to put on a robe.

About 2:30 this morning, Buddy got up and made it clear he wanted to go out.  Jan got up, threw on her robe, went back to the bed, picked up Red who was curled up in a ball sleeping soundly, and proceeded to take him out.  Buddy detoured to the kitchen for a drink of water.

It was c-o-l-d!  Jan opened the door, put Red down, gave his butt a push, and heard yelping from the bedroom.  She had not put Red outside.  It was ME!

And I didn't want to be outside. I am the house cat someone dumped last fall and I do not want to be outside.  I didn't have to pee either.  At least not until the moment the cold air hit me and I realized I was outside - alone  - in the dark..

I ran down the steps and across the dog pen.  I didn't know where to hide.  Jan flew out the door and came after me, but I kept stopping and starting, trying not to panic. Finally, I was swooped up in Jan's arms and carried up the steps and deposited inside the door.  Jan couldn't come in with me.  You see, while chasing me in the dark, she'd stepped in dog poop.  So first she had to remove her slipper.  She hobbled inside on her heel so she wouldn't get the whole sock dirty, put the shoe down on newspaper, went into the bedroom to pluck Red from off the bed where he was screaming because he was alone, put him and Buddy outside, and went into the kitchen to clean the slipper over the trash.

Just as she reached the area of the trash can and cleaning supplies, her heel got soaked.  Yep, she'd stepped in cat puke.  Hooray for whichever kitty scored; I will be eternally in your debt.  '

I hope you learned your lesson, Jan.  Don't get up until you wake up!

Now back to our Christmas post.



We wanted a Christmas song to end our post.  We chose Cloverton's video of "Hallelujah, The Christmas Version."  We are sure at least some of you will enjoy it.

Merry Christmas!


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Luke Boogies to the Beat

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.)

Enjoy.  I will.  And then I'll need a nap.




If the video doesn't play, click here.

Memorial Day Angel Flight

In the US, Memorial Day is a day we honor military men and women who died in service to their country.

A while back we did a post on Angel Flights, flights that bring soldiers killed in combat (heroes) home.

We'd like to post the shorter version instead of the remix today. (If you'd like to know how the song came about, check out our post USAF Angel Flights.)  This is a beautiful song and we feel it appropriate for Memorial Day.  Listening to it still gives us teary eyes and chills.

There's a dedication flashed onscreen to the "Red River 44."  If you'd like to know who this refers to -
"On September 17, 2008 seven soldiers from the 2-149th Aviation Task Force 34 were killed in a CH47 Chinook crash near Talil, Iraq."

This is for them.  And for all our military who have fallen in the line of duty.




If the video doesn't play, click here.

Sunday Smile

Oh, yes, have we found the perfect song for Jan.  It's for aging, ancient, decrepit humans.We're sharing it because some of you readers might know someone else it will fit.  And even if you don't, at least you will get to know Jan better. 

The song is called Green Side of the Grass by Libby Allen.  And the next time Jan spends half the night yelling, "Shut up!" at Sam because he's standing at the bedroom door crying in the rain .... um, no, we mean crying inside while it rains outside cause he's terrified of thunderstorms .... we'll just remind the old, gray, cranky lady that, okay, you didn't get much sleep last night, but you woke up on the right side of the grass this morning.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

USAF Angel Flights

Hey, remember us, Merci, Sam & Buddy?  The Funny Farmer Felines keep hogging the posts with their Mousebreath interviews and Jan keeps hogging the computer, so we don't get to post very often and we keep getting overlooked.  But we're still here.  Today we have something special for you.


Veterans Day was November 11 and we wish we had known about this musical video then, but we didn't and we like it so much, we're going to post it a week late.  Grab a box of tissues cause we doubt you'll make it through without tears.

This video begins with Radney Foster, Darden Smith and Darius Rucker giving a short explanation of why / how the song was written  For those who are not aware, the U.S. Air Force Angel Flights bring home our fallen military (heroes).  

Co-writers Foster & Smith are donating proceeds to a charity that provides assistance to military families of the fallen.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Many thanks to all our veterans, including those who ride - as well as those who fly - the Angel Flights

We prepared this yesterday and don't have time to write a new post, so w apologize this teary video falls on the same day the cat blogging community lost the lovely Miss Huffle Mawson. It is doubly sad since her family is traveling out of the country. 

And the dog blogging community lost the adorable Princess Isis. Isis was Hansel's cousin.  Isis's' blog will be closing now. 

Marg and the Real Bill

Hey, Percy here today.  I'm the fastest typist and we can only post while Jan is out of the room, so this has to be a quick one. 

Happy Birthday, Marg, from all of us on the Funny Farm.  Except Jan, since she's been fired and doesn't want to share the computer now.  But we hope this will be a special day for a special lady.  We appreciate your love for animals and all you do for the CB auctions.

On another note, in our post Jan is So Fired last Wednesday, we showed you her artistic version of Bill Gaither.  This is our entry in FURminator's 2012 National Hairball Awareness Day.. (If you're on Facebook, click the link to go vote.)  Ours is not among the finalists.  Can you imagine that? 

Many of our readers aren't familiar with Bill.  So for those of you who live outside the US or haven't listened to Southern Gospel music, we'd like to introduce the real Bill.

Mark Lowry has the solo. Bill Gaither is the one who interrupts him. It's usually the other way around. We thought a little comedy would go well with Jan's art.

Evidently the comedy is that the video is no longer available in our country.  :)

Have a good day. Jan's back and we're being kicked off the computer again.

Tucker and Caboodle Ranch

 

Hey, Cameron here.  We finally figured out why Buddy was testing his pipes the other day.  He was practicing for a duet with Tucker.  

Tucker likes to sing and play the piano several times a day.  We are of the unanimous opinion Tucker could use a few more piano lessons.  His vocals, though, are perfect - great rhythm, good vocal range and clear enunciation.  :)


If the video doesn't play click here.

Many of you have heard of the recent raid on Caboodle Ranch which used to have a reputation for being clean and well-run.  It is sad and scary to read such accounts because it tells us that those who are working hardest to make a difference for animals are being targeted for prosecution and destruction, not just by those who oppose animal rescue efforts but by alleged animal rescuers and protectors.  We disagree with PETA, their agenda and their methods! 

Stop by the Caboodle Ranch blog and read Caboodle's side -  the top two post.


On the other hand, Craig is being accused of being a hoarder, even though the cats had a 30-acre property to roam.  How did the numbers grow to 700?  There were reports prior to this that neighbors were shooting cats on Caboodle property. 

In Georgia, a rescue must be a non profit registered with the state.  They are subject to the same state regulations and unexpected inspections as any other shelter. We assume it is the same in Florida, so we wonder how this could happen to Caboodle Ranch or any other rescue.  If conditions were as bad as written about, where were the safeguards and / or the inspectors?  . 

We are reserving judgment on this subject, but we have questions.  Many questions.  And we wonder which rescue will be targeted next?

Percy Ignores Frostie

Hey, Percy here again.  It was cold this weekend so most of us did a lot of snoozing in front of the heater. Jan disappeared for hours yesterday and we think she went somewhere warm without us.  So we're rethinking Saturday's post about buying her a new pet bed ... um, mattress bed so she can sleep in front of the heater too.  

A long time ago we posted a couple of videos of Snowball the cockatoo dancing. Today we have Frostie a 20-year-old Bare-eyed Cockatoo doing a lively dance to a musical medley.  She's got more rhythm than our Jan, so feel fortunate we're posting a video of Frostie and not Jan dancing.

I was having a good time enjoying Frostie's dance when .-

Wait, what's with the camera, Jan?  You don't need a picture of a bird when you have this handsome furry mancat to pose for photos.

Fine, take photos of the bird.  I'll just take a bath and ignore you and Frostie both!

Okay, Frostie, I'm finished my bath.  Go ahead and do your thing.  The video is by Karla K. Larsson for Birds of Paradise in California. 


If the video doesn't play, click here. 

Christmas 2011

 Merry Christmas to all ...  

furry and human!  May your celebration be filled with peace, love and blessings.

If you haven't already, please grab a copy of our Christmas card. It's for all of you - old friends as well as new. We appreciate each of you.

Thank you, Ann of Zoolatry, for this lovely ornament graphic of our Crystal.  He'll be gone 2 years in January and we still  miss him!  But he's still here with us in spirit as a part of this blog.

We would like to share a Christmas video. Many of you know the song "Mary Did You Know." We've heard it so many times over the last few years. What many don't know is that the lyrics were written by Mark Lowry and the music by Buddy Greene. Jan was searching for a good recording of the song and was delighted to find a video of the two writers performing the song together. The video visual isn't the greatest but the music is. So enjoy.

If the video doesn't play, click here.

PS -- We had this in a box above the post but we're going to post it here instead, in case anyone can help us.If you don't know what we're talking about, be glad.

Last night Blogger suddenly made a new Picasa album for the Christmas card photos we posted.  Not a jff  blog album, a new album with yesterday's date on it, and put all our Christmas cards in it, which was okay because there were a lot of them.  But  today when we tried to add a graphic to this post, it made an entirely NEW dated  album with just the one graphic in it.  We tried adding other pictures and the  same thing - every single picture added created a NEW Picasa dated album.  So we had to delete everything we tried to add today.  We have no idea what is going on or why.  So we need your help.  Anyone else  having this problem?  Anyone know how to resolve it?  We didn't change  any settings, can't even find anything related to this when we google  it. We can't post pictures again until this is resolved. So ... help!

Cameron Sings Zzzzzzs

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.  


If the video doesn't play, click here.

And now, I'm off to practice sleeping.   **Big yawn.  Slow stretch.  Zzzzzzz.**

Cotton with Wonders

Hey, Cotton here. At least I think I'm here. Blogger was a pain again about refusing to post a photo and then posting a half dozen of the same one.  I have as much ego as the next cat but one photo of me at a time is enough!

I have a Sunday music video for you today.  We all think it is a pretty song with lovely graphics.  It's "God of Wonders" by Third Day.  Enjoy.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Well, this was set to auto post but somehow Blogger took it off the schedule again.  Good thing I'm still up or you'd have to wait a while to see my pretty tortie colors.

Have a good day. We're all going to curl up in front of the gas space heater and nap. That's about as exciting as it gets around here.