Mystery solved! Even the monster under the bed needs to be comforted and kitty cats provide it. They don’t judge. We don’t have to sweat this since our bed goes all the way to the floor…OK, Rhea proved there was a flaw in its design with what she did. Either way, all cats are a mystery as to why they feel the need to wake in the middle of the night, tear off to go do something else yet be there when it’s time for breakfast.
Mama Rhea and her gold eyes
The day we were bummed about came, the foster cats were ready to return to Austin Humane Society where they will undergo sterilization and then be ready for their forever homes. Given how difficult they were to get into the carrier, I think they were more aware of it than me!
Romulus: Handsome little guy!
Uncle Agamemnon (or Aggie) helped out and taught the boys how to be pleasant little house cats: napping, grooming and numerous games of catch Aggie’s tail. Their mother Rhea enjoyed having some time off.
Remus: the smart one!
If you live in the Travis County or nearby area and you’re interested in any of them, please go to this site. The boys are already listed (currently page 4). Mama will be a while since Rhea will need more time to recover. I know I miss them and so does Aggie, he was crying out for them to play last night and still does.
OK, there is one flaw in the argument. Anyone younger than Gen X probably doesn’t know what an anvil is. I too have dressed up as a cheerleader (thank you Anecia Hafner) and one of my favorite misanthropes, Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous. To this day, I’m still a Cis male who is pretty cool with gay people, transgender and the other letters in the pride alphabet. Full disclosure, in my youth, I was an asshole mocking them, telling mean jokes and laughing at how they got ridiculed in the Media. Then I realized I was hurting others’ feelings and it wasn’t cool, unlike Republicans, the political camp that doesn’t have any empathy until it affects them personally. For example, AIDS. Sadly, many will always be unrepentant dicks, see Elon Musk versus his transgender daughter.
Odd to see this on a Mitsubishi. I’d say it’s more appropriate for the underwhelming Chevy Aveo or Kia, as Blaine Capatch’s joke ad campaign goes, “This rules look-up break is brought to you by Kia! Kia…beats walking.” In all seriousness, a wind-up key would be a smart idea for extreme emergencies with electric cars being on the rise. We may not have enough charging stations and I’m still waiting to see if they solve the speed issues with re-charging. I could imagine how much a long road trip to Las Vegas or Chicago would suck. Even with my Prius, I can refuel every 500 miles in 20 minutes. A Tesla needs several hours and it could catch fire in the process.
Today, the sad news just kept on coming. Nubby, the other cat Jennifer brought with her when she moved in passed this afternoon. I wouldn’t be surprised he finally gave up his ongoing battle with hyperthyroidism after knowing his buddy Vegas died. Jennifer shared old photos of these two hanging out since Nubby was originally a very sociable guy. I sadly only knew him while he suffered from the ailment which also killed my Miette, ergo, I often see him as a bottomless eating machine.
Nubby’s original shelter name was Phoenix due to his litter mates or something were a city theme. Jennifer changed it since he only had a stub of a tail; this was an unfortunate side effect of inbreeding. I figure his parents were too closely related. How intelligent Nubby was in his salad days, I have no idea. Today there’s a belief that orange-colored cats (80% of which are male) are pretty dumb to begin with. I beg to differ via my years living with Teddy in the Eighties.
If Vegas was the alarm clock for bed time, Nubby was designated to wake us. Personally, after living with a cat in the house for 24 years straight, I have a hypothesis on how the clowder (you’d think they’d be called a pride) delegates the weakest, dumbest or most gullible to wake the humans. When the food-providers obey, with say Nubby leading them to the food dishes, the rest appear out of the metaphorical woodwork saying, “Oh? It’s time to eat? I had no idea. Good thing Nubby reminded everybody!” Other past chumps? Nemo and until Nubby, Aggie. If there isn’t a wimp cat, then it’s an aggressor. Before Nemo, I can safely say Queen Molly would climb up and wake me with biscuit making.
Although his condition made him a four-legged, furry Homer Simpson, he enjoyed his life everywhere he went. When not eating, Nubby would play with found objects to bat under the couch. He was a cute sleeper, curled up in odd positions, hidden in laundry baskets or blankets on the floor. To the end, he was also Houdini reincarnated. When he decided to do the cat thing of hiding in order to die alone, I couldn’t find him. I had only checked on him 20 minutes earlier, saw him in the bedroom. While I was working at home this week (due to Vegas), Nubby mustered all his remaining energy to go to the kitchen, get behind the freezer (it looks like a fridge though) and climb into a section with its coils and wires. Meanwhile, I was beside myself checking everywhere else. Behind he washer/dryer in the laundry room, every piece of furniture with a gap and even the kitchen cabinets: a favorite hangout for Isis, sometimes Nubby, Metztli and Aggie. It was like he was beamed away by the Enterprise. Jennifer figured it out when she came home early.
For better or for worse, Nubby was still hanging in there. We said goodbye to him one last time. I whispered in his ears, thanks for all the funny shit you did, namely the time I saw him get in a yoga pose to take a dump somewhere he shouldn’t have. It was gross, awful and oddly hilarious all at once. He breathed his last with us in tears.
May his journey across the Rainbow Bridge be swift too. I know Vegas is waiting for him and they’ll do the cat high five, nose boops. Then as they’re re-invigorated, they’ll romp around, climb carpet-covered towers, scratch leather furniture without consequence and nap together in the warm sunlight.
Today we had to say goodbye to Vegas. He was the oldest kitty in our current household and it came on rather suddenly. The poor guy stopped eating sometime around Saturday. Then he started doing that sad thing many cats do, hiding, looking for a place to slowly die.
We did all we could to keep him comfortable and had been trying for some weeks due to his arthritis, he was over 16 which is 80+ for a human. Despite his size, he was the largest here, Vegas was very timid so he kept to himself. His final year at Castella di Maggi were happy times though. When I first got to know him at Jennifer’s last apartment, the poor guy never left her bedroom because he was bullied by Totoro (now living with Jennifer’s son and daughter). So he spent his days hiding under the bed or a bathroom cabinet. He only came out in the evening to join Jennifer on the bed to sleep. Vegas had a very loud purr to demonstrate his happiness. He was also part alarm clock. Some nights when we’d be watching TV, you’d hear his creaky meow which was his way of telling her it was time for bed.
At the house, Vegas’ quality of life improved. My cats Isis, Agamemnon and Metztli were indifferent to him. This led to him wandering and sleeping on the couch in the open. He even joined the rush to breakfast in the mornings. Insert The Lion King theme as you visualize the clowder running to their food bowls!
Vegas is already sorely missed. No more rumbling/purring to help me sleep nor the bad habit he shared with my long-gone Molly, drooling when he was extremely content. It’s funny when cats lose their dignity given how regal their aura is. I’m going to miss him as he took a liking to me right away.
May his journey across the Rainbow Bridge lead to joy and he overcomes his fear of other cats as he will be enjoying endless warm sleeping places, delicious tuna and wrestling with his original litter mates.
It’s still not clear if Kaczynski killed himself or it was cancer. Either way, his death was for the best given how much he scared the hell out of people for two decades while pointing out the FBI’s continued incompetence. For a person with a burning hatred of (advanced) technology, he didn’t seem to have a problem with bombs…a rather difficult technology.
Again, I want to highlight the FBI’s ineptitude. Kaczynski succeeded in mailing bombs via USPS and other couriers with no difficulty. It took Kaczynski’s younger brother to finally discover his true identity after the Washington Post published his manifesto. I’ve never read it since I’m sure it’s a nonsensical, rambling screed on par with the numerous White Power Movement killers; however, many sane people do worry over how the human race’s ability to create and utilize technology outraces our collective wisdom. Obviously, he was mentally ill. A shame Kaczynski never sought nor was given assistance to address his sickness.
To me, the ultimate irony was how his prison cell at America’s SuperMax was larger than his little “cabin” in the boonies of Montana.
So why am I even writing about this guy? Kaczynski came to the forefront of my life and work (indirectly) back in the mid-Nineties a couple times. I clearly recall FedEx sending out alerts about delivery delays whenever “the Unabomber” declared he had shipped a package to someone he saw as a threat. Was I ever worried? Not really since there was a clear pattern to his targets. Kaczynski tended to attack fellow members of Academia, an advertising executive and a timber lobbyist; again, the FBI couldn’t connect the dots via his pattern on the former.
It’s not a surprise to those who know their cats. Kittens are notorious for falling asleep in the middle of fighting each other, eating meals and most often, in our laps. Remus has recently discovered all the motion on our TV. He hops up to swat at any motion spotted since his eyes aren’t developed enough to make out what exactly is on the screen. After his exhaustive workout, he collapsed right below the TV! Remus is so adorable. I’m going to miss the little booger as it’s about time he, his brother Romulus and mother Rhea return to AHS for surgery and adoption.
It’s three according to owls! Ergo, you should never ask them how licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop while brandishing your candy in the open. For Johnny Bravo fans, there was a good parody of this. Meanwhile, when I was in grade school, stuck waiting for my parents to pick me up when classes let around, I had the time to find out the “true” answer to this conundrum. According to my definition of a lick, I recall to this day it’s around 1300-1500. If you have a more accurate answer, fill me in!
Another piece of shit KKKristian bites the dust who also lived too long and didn’t suffer enough. I first recall him via our cable TV in Springfield carrying his propaganda known as CBN with his bullshit. I was just a kid then but being in a Catholic family, I knew he was bad news since he spewed nonsense.
He reared his ugly head out from under his slimy rock in 1988 to challenge Bush the Elder for the GOP nomination. Although Robertson’s ilk loved the false religiosity of St. Reagan (a hint of what was to come), the Moral Majority and Evangelicals (Christo-Fascists) were thrilled to see a traditional WASP in the running. Somehow their beliefs about love and compassion for all doesn’t apply when a Country Clubber who accepts Jews and Catholics is in the lead. He didn’t make any difference. The Democrats choosing a guy born to Greek immigrants and capable of speaking five languages fluently (he could’ve been the first POTUS since FDR with such a skill) was enough to snap the xenophobic bloc into line.
If there is a Hell, sadly it’s a fiction created by organized religion, the first tyrannical government humans always create when agriculture is figured out; I hope he’s in it for will forever be remembered with this hateful, inaccurate quote…
Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
Obviously, any form of critical thinking was his enemy because it exposed how much he fleeced millions of dumb people believing in sky cake.
He may have lived to see Roe v. Wade overturned but time is on my side. Each generation of Americans are less religious like our European cousins. Short of a horrible catastrophe, which is bound to happen thanks to our two right-wing political parties, America is on course to returning to the secular state founded in 1789.
I love this site and I hope to hire my friend Sara to photograph the collection to make a proper Web page on this site. But for now, here is my latest arrival, Troopers! Normally I have passed on the other Star Wars creations because the names are clumsy and/or too long. A sports team or battle unit should be succinct, to the point. A famous example of my point…The Mighty Duck of Anaheim when Disney owned the team. Thankfully they’re the Anaheim Ducks as they should be. I forgot a couple choices were just a stretch. I loved the show Breaking Bad but calling a team based upon Walter White “Empire” didn’t make any sense to me. I’m sure I’ll get mocked for the next one on the horizon based upon Fritz Lang’s 1927 Masterpiece yet in my defense, some teams have alternates in which the logo is the city’s name!
TK-421! Why aren’t you in goal?
In my quest to have every Geeky Jersey of mine a unique number (0-1729), I had to go with 76 instead of the traditional 77 (the year Star Wars debuted); one of my three Planet Express jerseys already used 77 with O.M. Waterfall (a guess at his age). Why 76? A couple reasons. It was the year the movie’s primary shooting was done in England with all these English extra thinking, “What the hell kind of movie is this?” The other involves a favorite comic book artist/writer, Howard Chaykin. Besides being the creator of Jaxxon the green rabbit alien peer of Han Solo that Lucas hated, he did the first Star Wars comic book cover which was then made into 1000 posters for 1976 SDCC. They were given away for free and if the legend is true…there were plenty left over.
All Star Wars geeks/nerds/whatever have to know the inside joke about the name I put on the back if it’s a stormtrooper. ‘Nuff said.
The final touch I love are the patches on the shoulder. I obviously have a ‘translation’ of the Aurebesh characters; OK, it’s not a translation, more of a lazy cypher or character sub they’ve had since the first movie. “Imperial Troopers.” Drat. I was hoping for a little joke as my Mars University shirt has.
Where to begin‽ Last time I checked, T-Rex’s aren’t making a comeback so that’s a dumb point. If we could bring them back as per Jurassic Park imagined, no one would eat them due to the cost as they’d be on par with manufactured meat; last time I checked, comedian Roy Wood Jr. got to eat a lab-grown chicken nugget costing $50 and it didn’t come with complementary honey mustard. Throw in the concerns of genetically modified food, aka it was tampered with DNA manipulation not traditional eugenics, how we correctly grow heirloom or specialized foods. The greatest example is the carrot, an orange, better-tasting turnip we can thank the Dutch for.
Now for the sake of their RFK Jr-level bat-shit logic, one day we could have either factory farms full of or free-range T-Rexes, hell yes I’d eat them. As the cliché goes with PETA agreeing…they taste like chicken!
He was found dead in his sleep today. Too bad, he should’ve suffered much more for he was mainly a piece of shit Opus Dei cultist and right-wing dirt bag. If you caught any news about this sleazy hypocrite, Hanssen is most famous for being one of the worst breaches in FBI history: he gave away US secrets to the Soviets/Russians for about 20 years. Several moles/operatives on the other side were betrayed by him and I wouldn’t be surprised we’re continuing to suffer the damage he did.
I first learned about Hanssen through NPR via the FBI operative who was the long-term bait to flush him out; obviously he profited by writing a book and selling the film rights. Hollywood made a shitty movie as always and it was terrible since it took years to catch him, not a few months plus they really toned down how gross he truly was. Of course, Hollywood dodged pointing out how inept the FBI and CIA were too since they feel they need these corrupt and incompetent good ol’ boy clubs in order to make more films…I mean propaganda.
How did the FBI fail? Many, many ways.
His arrest, greed and cynical attitude to our security amplifies why the ultra-right and ultra-religious should never be in power. They’re liars, cheats and hypocrites who made Mao’s regime look like amateurs. They’re worse than the Commander in The Handmaid’s Tale (the novel, I’ve never seen the Hulu show). Hanssen videotaped having sex with his wife so his buddy (or buddies) watch, yet Bob Crane is the moral tale we need to know? I think the Reagan thugs protected him too. Many Opus Dei assholes are Republicans who allied with the B-movie actor despite all the actresses he raped when he was the president of SAG. So should we surprised that Evangelicals back a con-artist and lead the country in areas they label moral decay? The Soviet Union was a horrible, horrible murderous regime but they were paranoid and smart enough to spy on their leadership to keep them in line.
He truly is a friendly neighborhood kinda’ hero! Here he was giving a high-five to a budding superhero, I’m guessing Spider-Boy, while patrolling Pinballz. I imagine he’s pretty skilled at any game involving those spider-like reflexes. Not sure if his spider senses work on say a video game in which an attacker surprises you because his life wouldn’t really be in any danger.
Cats in a box isn’t anything new but what made this photo Internet-worthy is how quickly Metztli took it over. According to Jennifer, she occupied the vacant cardboard within 10 seconds of its contents being removed. I think the little stinker is jealous because the foster kittens have taken over an empty Amazon box and transformed it into their playground and ambush jumping point.
