And a ? If Dandelion is white and has blue eyes, is she deaf? I thought that combination produced hearing issues in cats. Or have you addressed this before?
I have addressed it before, but I don’t mind addressing it again. Some white cats with blue eyes are deaf, but Dandelion can hear just fine – we’ve tested her repeatedly, and she always hears us when there’s food involved (she knows the “Come on, guys!” call that indicates snack time), and the rest of the time it seems to depend on whether she’s interested in what we have to say.
My long-since-passed cat Sushi got into the dryer one day. Not having noticed anything, I turned it on, then paused to wonder what the thumpa-thumpa-thumpa noise was. Were there tennis shoes in there? A wallet? I opened the door, and when it slowed spinning enough for me to look in and see, there was Sushi, sitting there looking a wee bit dazed, but in a good way. I tried to get her out; she wouldn’t come out. I reached in and pulled her out; she jumped right back in. Three or four times. By the second time of me tugging her roomy buttocks out of there, she was scratching at the door, trying to close it behind her. I think she thought it was a carnival ride. We were eventually able to train her to stay away by liberal use of a squirtgun, but it took months.
She’s the same cat who used to flop out in the middle of my mom’s kitchen floor until someone – usually my brother – would come along, hook a finger into her collar, and spin her in circles in the middle of the floor. When she wanted to be spun, she’d go plop in the middle of the floor, and if no one came along after a few minutes, she’d start calling for us. It was not unusual to hear my mother yelling, “For the love of GOD will SOMEONE please go SPIN THAT CAT?” I always wondered what the neighbors thought of that. (She loved spinning on office-type chairs, too. But she hated harmonicas. My mother would get out her harmonica and before she’d even get it up to her mouth, here’d come Sushi from whatever far-off room in the house she’d been in, biting my mom’s feet and, if that didn’t work, hands to make her put it away. I don’t know if she could hear the snap of the case, smell it, or what, but she was SERIOUSLY anti-harmonica.)
That cat… man. She was probably brain damaged but boy, what a personality she had.
I love this story so much!
how are they getting in the dryer? do you leave the door open?
As soon as I open the dryer door to get laundry out, there are kittens trying to jump into the dryer. They’re nosy little brats, and they wanna know what’s going ON.
Noelegy said: Have you ever seen a Sphynx mancat who still had his parts? It’s…disturbing.
And Elayne said: I wish you had not reminded me of that image – don’t know if you’ve seen it, but there was a picture making the rounds of a male, intact Sphynx who was sitting on top of a computer monitor, facing backwards. The… we can’t call them harbles because there’s no “har” on a Sphynx; the “nekbles” for nekkid maybe? Anyway, his tackle was hanging down over the edge of the monitor. That was a hideous photo.
Imma go look for it.
(Robyn, I leave it up to you whether to delete this line/link)
I’m leaving it, but be warned, y’all: you do NOT want a coworker or child walking by when you’re looking at that picture! (I laughed out loud when I looked at it, myself.)
(Hey, wait. Is this kitty porn?)
And a while back, I took Robyn’s advice and bought a can of compressed air for my foster room. Works like a charm. Although I DID have one stubborn little foster, just one, who would just stand there and take it, all, “Ahhhh! A refreshing breeze!”
When I first started using the compressed air with the Pickles, most of them were like “Oooh, what’s that?”, and weren’t scared at ALL. They’ve started to respect it recently, but for a while there, I had to break out the spray bottle of water. (Which I hate because, y’know, it gets everything wet!)
Oh, that Thistle. Her eyes are olive green? They’re lovely. And Magoo’s eyes are copper?
I wonder if with Halloween approaching, black cats will be more, or less desirable?
Magoo’s eyes are sometimes copper and sometimes green. I think they’re turning more toward green, but I don’t think he’s reached his final eye color yet, either. Thistle’s eyes are definitely green, though!
I’ve always heard that there’s an issue with black cats being adopted around Halloween because people might torture or otherwise harm them. Some areas stop adopting black cats around Halloween for that reason. I’m not worried, though – the Challenger’s House adoption counselors are good at what they do, and I think that if someone had nefarious plans for a black cat they wanted to adopt, the counselors would sense that something was amiss.
I think that black cats should always be in high demand, personally, because they’re always so awesome!
Robyn…I immediately thought of you when I saw this.
I will NOT buy another Croc shoe bed. I.. will NOT. Only… wow, that’s such a good price, right? I should totally buy an extra just in case, RIGHT? No, I won’t won’t won’t buy another one. (But maybe I will!)
I have an ant problem in my house – anyone got recommendations for an ant killer that is kitty-safe?
I have no suggestions (we’re lucky in this house that we don’t really have an ant issue as long as I don’t leave anything sugary where the ants can stumble across it), but I know there are probably lots of suggestions out there. If you’ve got a great suggestion, please share in the comments!
Wow, you have a lot more chickens than I thought! How many do you have and what do you do with all the eggs?
As far as I can tell, we have somewhere around 60 – 75 chickens (I tried to count, but they’re rude and refuse to stand still). Well, that’s the number we have at the moment – there’s about to be a large young rooster exodus as they all head off to freezer camp.
Any eggs that we don’t eat, we sell. We used to put a sign out at the end of the driveway, but now we have enough regular buyers that we don’t really have to do that any more. We’re usually sold ahead, in fact.
I’m sure you’ve been asked this before, but how do you tell George and Gracie apart?
I have no problem telling them apart in person because Gracie’s quite a bit smaller than George (she’s about 2/3 his size). He’s got a big square block head, and she’s got a smaller, narrower face. The only way I know who’s who in pictures, though, is because I usually remember taking the picture and which dog it was. Fred’s better at recognizing them in pictures than I am.
Magoo has lost the gremlin look. Is the angle of the photos distorting the width of his nose? The 2 photos of Thistle and then Magoo; Thistle’s nose looks wider/bigger. Or is Magoo still growing into his head?
I thought this was an excellent reason to get a side-by-side picture of Magoo and Thistle so we could do a nose comparison! You can see how that idea turned out…
Thistle, could you look this way, please?
Thistle? Please?
You GUYS, could you just sit side by side for one moment? Please?
Stop staring at the ceiling fan and look at ME!
Thistle, seriously. Just for a second? Please? (Magoo looks SO MUCH like Loony Jake in this picture!)
Thank you!
So, I would say that their noses are about the same size. He’s probably still got a little more growing into his face to do, but I think we’re seeing a hint of what he’ll look like as an adult (a black Loony Jake!)
Also, their eyes don’t have quite as much copper to them as it appears in that last picture. It was just the lighting.
I love that Magoo, just love him to death. Lucky for me, he enjoys being kissed.
“Be vewwy vewwy quiet. I’m hunting feather teasers!”
Gazing lovingly at the feather teaser.
Magoo tries to decide whether to go after Polly’s tail or not. (I suggest you don’t, Magoo.)
Percy Pickle, you are SO freakin’ cute.
::thlurrrrp::
I can’t wait ’til Dandelion’s done with her ear meds, so I can give her a bath and wash all that residue from around her ears.
Don’t hate the Corbs because he’s beautiful. He cannot help being the most! beautiful! cat! ever!
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Previously
2011: Spanky (and Elwood!) Wednesday.
2010: Blog vacation.
2009: “I would have expected a much higher-pitched scream,” I said to Fred, and then I laughed until I cried.
2008: Marion, the torbie of hissiness.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No, we aren’t adopting him ( <—–LIE)