Category: Pets

Pets, Photography

Ajis and Her Kittens

Shelly

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If you look at the full-sized image of the top photo, you can see how rough cats’ tongues really are.

Ajis was my brother Gabe’s cat. She was one of the colony of ferals that lived in the alley behind my mom’s house. We gradually caught and tamed them, spayed the ones we could, and found homes for the babies and the adults that were people safe. Ajis was extremely friendly, and an excellent mamma cat, so it was easy to bring her indoors when she had her babies. Keeping mamma and kittens inside makes it much easier to socialize the babies. Otherwise, the mother will keep the babies hidden until they’re old enough that proper socialization becomes difficult.

By socializing the kittens so that they can be homed and catching and spaying adult females and homing the ones that can be tamed[1], it’s possible to humanely eradicate feral cat colonies in just a few generations.

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[1] Established colonies are pretty intolerant of male cats. They’ll allow them to hang around while there are females in heat, but the males are quickly run off afterwards. Young males have “kitten license,” but when they mature, they are usually kicked out of the colony.

Pets, Photography

Sunday Dogblogging

Shelly

Saturday I went out to the real OC to help Ms. Lea move some more of her stuff. Since we’d be working mostly outside, and it was cold out, I decided that my sneakers were woefully insufficient for the task of keeping my feet warm. I stopped on the way to buy new boots.

Mmmm, cozy toesies!

Anyway, when I came home, Harriet toddled sleepily out of the bedroom to greet me. I bent down to rub her ears, and she bent down to sniff my shoes. Standard procedure, right? Except that the olfactory dissonance of OHMYGODWHOSEFEETAREYOUWEARING?! b0rkened her little pea brane, and she launched herself sideways across the room in shock. I have never before seen a dog move that quickly while staying flat to the ground. It was kind of amazing.

My new shoes have now been thoroughly and completely sniffed, and have been deemed Legal and Allowed by Officer Brown. Also, I laughed so hard I gave myself asthma.

Teh Enb.

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In case anyone out there doubts the magnitude of Miss Brown’s bozocity, I thought I’d submit this photo as proof that she is Not To Be Trusted.

Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Fog

Shelly

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This is a pretty good approximation of how my brain feels this morning. Mr. Upstairs (Milton) has spent the last two nights rearranging furniture, so I haven’t been getting much sleep. How much furniture can one fit into a 700sq ft apartment?! And why can’t it be (re)arranged at a reasonable hour?

I still can’t figure out when Mr. Upstairs sleeps or when he goes to work, assuming he actually does either of those things. Whenever I pass him in the hallway or parking lot, he pretends I don’t exist. Even when I say hello, he stares straight ahead and ignores me. M’kaythen!

In other neighbor news, the Bumpass family have moved into the apartment I share a wall with. I was a little apprehensive at first, but they’re surprisingly quiet. I had to laugh when I saw them moving in. Their patio is cram-packed with filthy, broken-down old furniture, and they’ve erected a Monument to Tackiness that leaves me equal parts horrified and impressed. I’ll try to get a picture of it, but for the time being, you’ll have to make do with the knowledge that it contains a bunch of glass-ornamental-garden-tchotchkes-on-sticks, US flags, and porcelain bunny planters.

Also, they’ve got the requisite Bumpass Hound, in the form of a cuter-than-hell Catahoula Leopard Dog puppy. She seems pretty well behaved, though when she gets barking, it tends to go on and on and on. Miss Brown does not approve. Whenever Miss Catahoula starts roo-roo-rooing, Harriet gets agitated and starts pacing and hrumfing.

Pets, Photography

Monday Dogblogging

Shelly

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Miss Brown’s Dog Bed

Some dogs have dog houses, some dogs sleep on the floor, and some dogs have their own little beds. Miss Brown’s house has central heating and air conditioning, electricity, and running water. It is furnished with comfy furniture for her to lounge about on, including a full-sized bed. Also, she has staff to feed her and to prepare her bed with fresh, clean linens, and to tuck her in when she sleeps.

Yesterday was laundry day. Miss Brown waited patiently while I stripped the old sheets off the bed and replaced them with clean ones. As soon as the bottom sheet was in place, up she hopped, making a cozy nest for herself with the pillows. I had to put on the top sheet and comforter with her in the bed. The bottom picture is of her under the comforter. She stayed there until I called her for her afternoon potty break and snack.

Pets, Photography

Studio Update

Shelly

It is done. All the furniture is in place, and everything is pretty much unpacked and put away. I still need to find a small shelving unit to go next to my computer desk, and there are drawers and drawers of supplies and assemblage/collage junk that I just crammed together when I moved that I’ll need to sort soon, but at this point my studio is functional.

And, Pandora approves.

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Pets, Photography

Sunday Dogblogging

Shelly

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Harriet crashed out on the couch, with her ears up. She’s all about The Comfy, so she’s lying on top of a fleece blanket, with an afghan on top of her. It was a gelid 70F inside, poor baby. (I love the way the fur on her chin turned out in this photo. If you’ve ever petted a horse’s muzzle, that’s what a Boxer muzzle feels like. Soft and velvety, like moleskin.)

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Since becoming an only dog, Harriet’s style of play has changed a bit. She plays more by herself, and when she does, she engages in more fetch-chase-kill!kill!kill! games. She’s even begun growling and vocalizing while “killing” toys, which cracks me up. Tennis balls are often the victims of these games. She tosses them around, chases them, grabs them, then shake-shake-shakes them dead, all the while snarling and growling and basically telling them what she thinks of them. This time, after playing on her own for awhile, she spit out the ball and play bowed at me, inviting me to play with her. Meanypants that I am, I took her picture instead. It’s not a very good photo, because I had to act quickly.

Pets, Photography

We Have Achieved Shelving

Shelly

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I’ve been trying to find time to knock together these rickety-assed shelves for weeks, and finally managed it last weekend. I opted to use a couple of shelf brackets to stabilize them, instead of plywood backs or swaybars. Eventually, they’ll get a coat of paint and proper backs, but for now, they’re functional. Hallelujah! I was sick and tired of piles of boxes of books everywhere.

Our lovely spokesmodel is Pandora, who, with the perversity inherent in all cats, chose to take a bath while I was taking the first photo. Pandora has perfected the art of being exactly where you don’t want her, at the precise moment when you least want her there. She also has a death wish, in which she indulges by way of flopping around on top of the dog’s bones and chewy toys. Harriet isn’t the most patient or tolerant of dogs, so I think she deserves some sort of medal for not putting the smackdown on Pandora.

(And, yes, I do have lots of kiddie books.)

News & Politics, Pets

IM IN UR HOUSE PACKIN UR STUFF

Shelly

I and a bunch of other folks were at Ms. Lea’s last weekend, helping her pack up her life. She’s not finished, but we made a pretty impressive dent. It was hard work, but lots of breaks and giggle fests helped make the time go quickly and enjoyably. Who knew packing other people’s stuff could be so entertaining?

So, I thought I’d share more cats, in order to brighten an otherwise hideously dreary day.

One and Two.

Also,

Nancy Pelosi: I’m in ur house, impeachin ur doodz.

Crankypantsing, Pets

Note to Self

Shelly

On the next move, do not lose the dog’s nail clippers.  Also, her leash.  Also, too, her rubber curry comb.  I finally found the nail clippers this morning.  I still haven’t found her leash, so I’ve been using Elliott’s old one.  I have no idea where to even begin looking for her curry comb, though, and there’s really nothing that will substitute for it.  Hrmf.