Happy Birthday Nipclub!

Video by @ShaynaCat



Poster by @kittehboi




Please join us for Nipclub's first birthday on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 from 4PM EDT to Midnight and beyond! We encourage you to wear your favorite costume from past nipclubs... or to create something new!


Click to Tweet "Happy Birthday Nipclub"

Can you believe that a whole year has passed since the #nipclub Grand Opening?? And what a year it has been! I remember the first Nipclub as if it were yesterday.

Nipclub hostesses @maggietkat and @flacatlady created #nipclub as a place much like Cheers. Everyone knew your name, the house was rockin good jams, you could still light up a 'nip cigar without stepping out into the alley.

Promoter @mattiedog lined up the entertainment for the evening. He scored a coup with that superstar anipal band @shibberingC The Shibbering Cheetos.

The DJs that night were our manager and creative consultant @TheNascarKitty, @BunnyJeanCook, and @kittehboi, with a special appearance from @RudyCKat. The barktender's hands were flying as they prepared food and drink for the nipclub's elite clientele. Who can forget @JBhippo's horseradish Bloody Marys! Other DJs, please contact @kittehboi so I can add your names.

Don't worry, girls and boys, @mattiedog is still single!

@kittehboi managed our resident flirts and party girls @ersle and @autumnthedoxie.

Among the partygoers were @georgetheduck, Duck brother from another mother; @mariodacat, Ladies man about town; @pumkinpuddy, Dancing queen; and the famous @cokiethecat Hollywood Insider.

The early evening floor show was an extravaganza in the style of Buzby Berkeley with the besequined talents of @femmekatz, @danapixie, @BunnyJeanCook, @sadlovelyheart, @hollieferguson, secksy ginger boi @petiethecat, @johnson1439, @Sisfurcats, @LadyGreyFox, @PushUpsnPaws, @tildatoo and Big Bad Boy @BorisKitty.

@snick_the_dog Plain clothes police dog, was in charge of drink quality - we think!

The nipclub pole dancers @brutusthedane and @countessbonnie kept everyone entertained.

The smokin' hot Late night Floor Show featured @crazykittykat1, @dawgblogger, @tinypearlcat and smouldering temptress @sanjeethecat.

Please, if you think you should be in this list, contact @kittehboi to be added.


Each Nipclub has a different theme, and anipals have shown up in some of the most outrageous outfits this side of Mars - or in no outfits at all! @KingTuttifruiti is perhaps the most notorious of the nipclub streakers. This is a sampling of the original costumes worn in past nipclubs.

			@Teenysfriends at @GeorgetheDuck's "Gotcha Day"
@thenascarkitty dressed as an owl for the "Drag" Pawty
			@FreshOtis Bad Boy Biker
@MarioDaCat goes Punk for an '80s nipclub

Photo credits: Please contact @kittehboi to have photo credits added.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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More strange animal attachments

One day I will get Boris and Izzy together in a photo. In the meantime here is a cat with a strange affection for dolphins.

I'll be offline for a day or two now. Back Saturday or Sunday.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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The Little Gray Cat

by Cassondra Murray

Early in the summer of 2008, a lonely gray cat, skinny, in trouble, and so small she looked about six months old, wandered into a subdivision and arrived at the back door of a girl named Amy. Amy is a friend of ours, and works with my husband, Steve.

Maybe it was luck, coincidence, or an angel guiding Little Gray Cat, but let's just say that if you were a cat in trouble, Amy's door would have been the one you'd want to find. Because as luck, or the Divine, would have it, Amy had a soft spot for cats.

Amy cleared out an entire spare bedroom for the forlorn little cat, laid out old blankets, moved in a cat tree, litter box, and a scratching post. After a trip to the vet, Little Gray Cat took up residence, and in August, 2008, five little ones arrived. And no group of kittens had ever come into the world to more love.

They had everything they needed, and Little Gray Cat settled in to motherhood without a hitch.

A few months before that, we'd lost our beloved Max at age 17. He'd been lost in a field when his mom and siblings were taken by owls, and come to us when he was three weeks and weighed 3/4 lbs. Max was our companion for all those years, and we were devastated when we lost him. This is Max, engaging in his favorite spectator sport.




Our younger cat, Amon (pronounced Aaaahh-muhnn) was bereft. She sat around, staring out the windows, and although she made an effort to pick up and move on, no doubt she was lonely all day in the house when we were out at work. No more night stampedes through the house. Nobody to lie in wait for from the top of the armoire. It was time to find her some company. I'd always wanted a black cat, but we always seemed to end up with grays.

That's Max. on the right, with Amon, on the left. Amon came home with us after we coaxed her and her sister out from under a car in the parking lot of a Captain D's. She weighed a whopping one pound at the time. One of the employees took the sister, and Amon has been with us since.



As fate would have it, of the five new arrivals at Amy's house, three were gray, and two were black.

We went for a visit. We got to know the kittens in their first five weeks. And eventually we settled on a little black furball with big green eyes and a white snip under his chin. We brought him home and named him Umbra.





Umbra was the first kitten we'd ever brought home who had not been abandoned, and was not in trouble. He'd never known anything but love, and perhaps as a result, he loves everyone who comes to our home. Umbra knows no stranger. He's truly a laid-back cat. At sixteen pounds, he's now a hoss of solid, purring muscle.

Here's Umbra in the new kitchen sink during a construction phase just before Christmas.



Flash foward to the summer of 2010, and Amy found herself, as Little Gray Cat had once been, in the family way. Things were a little different for Amy, though. She had a fellow who loved her, and would love their baby. Amy already had her own house, so everything was set. There was just one problem.

Amy's husband wasn't fond of cats, and as time passed, turned out to be allergic to them. With a baby on the way, there was nothing to do but find a new home for Little Gray Cat.

We'd always told Amy that if Little Gray Cat couldn't stay with her, we'd bring her to our house, but Amy didn't want us to feel pressured, and we already had two cats. So we got the email three weeks ago. With the baby due in 8 days, and her husband sick from the dander, Amy was feeling the pressure. She'd taken Little Gray Cat, Umbra's mom, to the shelter.

We needed another cat like we needed a hole in the head. But sometimes that just doesn't matter.

It was 11:00 in the morning on a Saturday when we opened that email.

By the time we found Little Gray Cat on the shelter website and figured out what we had to do, it was ten minutes before noon. We needed a reference, and our vet closes at noon on Saturdays. We called anyway.

Joy, the sweetheart who works the front desk on weekends (and who loves cats, and has a few more than she needs as well) stopped everything to phone the shelter with a reference for us. We called a friend who volunteers there, hoping these efforts might help us jump more easily through the Nazi-like hoops of the shelter's watchdogs and allow us to spring Little Gray Cat from the slammer. Our friends rallied around the effort, and we drove too fast on the way there.

I have to tell you, I admire people who volunteer at the shelter. I can't do it. I cry from the time I walk in the door until I drive away. I cried a bunch, as usual, and apologized to the people at the shelter for doing so. Nothing makes me lose it like too many faces looking back at me through the bars. We sponsored another cat because we couldn't bring all of them with us.

And we brought Little Gray Cat home.

Her name is Holly (Amy had named her that when she first arrived), and it's clear that Umbra got his huge, pale-green eyes and laid-back ways from his mother.

She's obviously no longer a scrawny little cat, and is being put through laser-pointer chase drills for weight loss.



After some hissing, spitting and a bit of flying fur, the cat chain of command has been established and there seems to be a truce in the house, and Holly is taking her share of shifts on mouse watch.

She's fitting right in.



What about you, Bandits and Buddies?

Have you ever taken in a stray animal?

Have you adopted from a shelter? If so, how do you leave there without bringing them all with you?

Have you ever had too many already, but brought in one more?

How many do you have? If you don't have them now, did you have animals in your home when you were a kid?

Tell me how your furry friends came to be with you.

Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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So that's not my diner then?

TC - another of my sister's catsSource URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Mad mental moggies part 37 674

Err this is one psycho cat!Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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The cat’s lap – a thing of elegance (naturally!)

My thanks go to Claude who sent me a link to this article in the full knowledge that it would be of interest to me.

According to the Physorg website researchers at MIT, Virginia Tech and Princeton University have analyzed the way domestic and big cats lap and found that felines of all sizes take advantage of a perfect balance between two physical forces.

It was known that when they lap, cats extend their tongues straight down toward the bowl with the tip of the tongue curled backwards like a capital "J" to form a ladle, so that the top surface of the tongue actually touches the liquid first. This is known because of the work of Doc Edgerton, who used strobe lights in photography to stop action, filmed a domestic cat lapping milk in 1940.

Recent high-speed videos made by the team revealed that the top surface of the cat's tongue is the only surface to touch the liquid. Cats, unlike dogs, aren't dipping their tongues into the liquid like ladles after all. Instead, the cat's lapping mechanism is far more subtle and elegant (of course!!). The smooth tip of the tongue barely brushes the surface of the liquid before the cat rapidly draws its tongue back up. As it does so, a column of milk forms between the moving tongue and the liquid's surface. The cat then closes its mouth, pinching off the top of the column for a nice drink, while keeping its chin dry.

The liquid columnis created by a delicate balance between gravity, and inertia. The cat instinctively knows just how quickly to lap in order to balance these two forces, and just when to close its mouth

The domestic cat averages about four laps per second, with each lap bringing in about 0.1 milliliters of liquid, the big cats, such as tigers, know to slow down. They naturally lap more slowly to maintain the balance of gravity and inertia.

The work began three-and-a-half years ago when Stocker, who studies the fluid mechanics of the movements of ocean microbes, was watching his cat lap milk. That cat, eight-year-old Cutta Cutta, stars in the researchers' best videos and still pictures. And like all movie stars (Cutta Cutta means "stars stars" in an Australian aboriginal language), he likes being waited on. With their cameras trained on Cutta Cutta's bowl, Stocker and Reis said they spent hours at the Stocker home waiting on Cutta Cutta … to drink, that is. But the wait didn't dampen their enthusiasm for the project, which very appropriately originated from a sense of curiosity.

"Science allows us to look at natural processes with a different eye and to understand how things work, even if that's figuring out how my cat laps his breakfast," Stocker said. "It's a job, but also a passion, and this project for me was a high point in teamwork and creativity. We did it without any funding, without any graduate students, without much of the usual apparatus that science is done with nowadays."

"Our process in this work was typical, archetypal really, of any new scientific study of a natural phenomenon. You begin with an observation and a broad question, 'How does the cat drink?' and then try to answer it through careful experimentation and mathematical modeling," said Reis, a physicist who works on the mechanics of soft solids. "To us, this study provides further confirmation of how exciting it is to explore the scientific unknown, especially when this unknown is something that's part of our everyday experiences."

It comes as no surprise to this cat lover that mogs have an elegant solution to the problem of drinking. Dogs on the other hand take a hit and hope attitude to the problem.,, It’s a bit like the difference between drinking tea from a china cup (with little finger extended) and quaffing a mug of beer (and largely missing!).

Ach it probably won't be long until the Genus Felidae (and perhaps genus Pantera) develop the opposable thumb from their dew claws.... Then we are truly doomed!Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Duchess of Cornwall unhurt by kitten

catsA few days ago the Telegraph ran a story with the headline Duchess of Cornwall Mauled by Kitten. Okay the mauled was in inverted commas but still I thought I would read of some hideous injury meted out by a spitting bundle of feline aggression

Sadly it appears that all that happened was Lucy, an eight-week-old tabby, dug its claws into Camilla's jacket and refused to let go.

The incident took place during a visit to the Battersea Dog’s Home.
When the royal walked into a socialising area for the cats and saw four kittens she said ''Ah sweet, is this the whole family here?'' and began mothering them and picked them up.

The playful kitten was held against the Duchess' chest then began disappearing behind her neck and as Camilla tried to prise Lucy free she dug her claws in prompting the royal to say ''I think she's attached to my collar''.

Gah! No screams and not a drop of blood to be had. Damn I feel cheated! Ah well If a cat can look at a king it can surely stick its claws into a duchess!Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Photo Hunt - letters

The theme for the week's Photo Hunt is letters. There is just one letter that springs to mind and that is the rough M that appears on the forehead of all tabby cats, something that they share with several of their bigger cousins. Above are Robyn and Boris

The origin of the M is the subject of religious legends

One legend tells about Mary and the tabby cat in the manger. It seems that the baby Jesus was cold and fussing, and Mary asked the manger animals to move in closer to warm him. The manger was simply too small to accomplish that, but a little tabby cat came in and nestled next to the baby, and cosseted Him with purring and warmth. Mary was so grateful, she bestowed her own initial, "M" on the cat's forehead.

An Islamic legend states that Mohammed, a cat lover once cut off a sleeve of a garment when he had to leave to attend prayer, rather than to disturb his cat, Muezza, who was sleeping upon the sleeve. It is said that the reason he loved cats so much is that one once saved his life when a snake crawled into his sleeve. (This may be a variation of the well-known Muezza story.) Legend also claims that Mohammed bestowed on cats the ability to always land on their feet. These stories assumes that the "M" symbolizes the enormous esteem which Mohammed felt for cats and that the sight of the "M" on a cat's forehead invokes memories of Mohammed.

Make of these what you will. As far as I am concerned the M tops off the most beautiful creature on this planet.

UPDATE: Sparkle has a far more plausible theory as to why tabbies have an M on their foreheads:

"Actually the truth behind the "M" is that it stands for Master, so that humans will always know who is boss"

Sparkle is quite right of course!Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Vengeance!

I don't think that was Sylvester. Ted vanished off somewhere yesterday and wouldn't say where he went....Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Note to Mary Bale: when in a hole stop digging

There is no way that I would put Mary Bale on a par with the evil bastard James Chesney and there is no way I would condone death threats against the cat binner but it was a cruel and nasty act against an animal that clearly just wanted a bit of affection. I’m not sure that trying to justify or minimise the act is a sensible move though.

"I really don't see what everyone is getting so excited about. It's just a cat," Bale is reported to have said. "I was walking home from work and saw this cat wander out in front of me. I was playing with it, stroking it and listening to it purr as it stood on a garden wall. It was very friendly.

"I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly thought it would be funny to put it in the wheelie bin, which was right beside me. I did it as a joke because I thought it would be funny. I never thought it would be trapped. I expected it to wriggle out of the bin."

"To think this video is being seen around the world is unbelievable. I'm a very private person and don't want to upset any members of my family. I don't know what my relatives will think, but to be honest I think everyone's overreacting a bit.

"OK, I shouldn't have done it, but it's just a cat at the end of the day. I don't think I deserve to be hated by people all over the world, it was just a split second of madness."

Err this is a country with a lot of public and private CCTVs and a communications system that can transfer information across the world in moments. A bit of grovelling contrition and perhaps a big donation to the Cats Protection League would probably have been a far wiser course of action.

If it had been one of my cats that was dumped in a bin I would have been bloody furious ( a hell of a lot more pissed off than I was when my car was stolen a few months back). Still I would like to see Mary Bale try to put Ted into a wheelie bin and avoid a trip to casualty with some heavy duty clawing!Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Of Pigs and Printers

by Christie Kelley

Technology is my friend…except when it’s not. It’s great when technology works properly and everything goes smooth. Unfortunately, Saturday wasn’t one of those days.

I seem to have an issue with printers. When I need them the most, something always seems to go terribly wrong.

I used to have my office in an open area of my old house where my boys would run through while playing or annoying each other. One of the many things would they do is fling rubber bands at each other from across the room. More than once, I found a rubber band in the paper tray blocking the paper from feeding correctly.

I’m currently in the middle of revisions for my fifth book, which I believe is now titled, ONE NIGHT SCANDAL. So on Saturday when I went to print out the book one more time, the printer wouldn’t feed the paper correctly. Hmm, the boys have seemingly outgrown the fine art of flinging of rubber bands at each other, so my first thought was the darn thing was broken.

I did my usually tech support thing, took the paper out, looked inside the paper feed and found nothing. I pulled out the can of air and sprayed it in the paper feed. Then, of course, I tried to print again. Once again, the paper jammed. More than a little frustrated, I did a little more in the name of research. I unplugged it and turned it upside down just in case something had fallen into it.

As I did this, I noticed something peculiar on my desk. I usually have three small “lucky” pigs sitting on my desk near my printer. Only today, instead of standing up and looking lucky, they were laying on their sides and horror of horrors—there were only two pigs!

Suddenly I remembered that my cat, Misha had been “playing” with them lately. And by playing, I mean picking them up in her mouth and carrying them to the floor. I glanced around and didn’t notice a pig on the floor. Where could little pig number three be?

I quickly grabbed a flashlight and peered inside my printer. What did I see? A little pink pig leg stuck down deep inside the feeder! One unlucky pig must have been picked up and dropped inside the printer by my cat! After a little pounding, the little pig came out. And yes, my printer started working again!!

So does anyone else have any funny technology stories? If not, how about a good pet story. I’m sure we all have one or two of those to share.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Boris on the fifth iteration

This is not a catSource URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Eating My Words

So, I'm reviewing my blog from last month. The one where I was basically talking myself out of adopting a pet.

Pretty sound arguments I decided as my new kitten nibbled on my toes.

Yup, I went from 0-60 in 30 days.

I have a new pet.

Here she is, the little darling. Her birth name was Chaos. While somewhat accurate, I thought it too negative a connotation. So, I changed it to Cricket. Still appropriate as she bounces from couch, to wall, to perch, to recliner, to floor and back again. Whew, I get exercise just watching her!

Now remember, I hadn't had any type of pet (fish don't count...not really. You can't pet a fish) since I was a child. I didn't really realize how I'd have to kitten proof the house. The first time out of her carrier? She headed straight to a kitten size opening I didn't remember I had under my cabinet. Got her tail in the nick of time.

She loves to snuggle and perch on my knee. She's starting to pay attention to the birds outside and is onto my kitten evasive manuevers.

Some things I've learned in 2 weeks:

1. Cats don't care that you want to eat alone.....they want to help.

2. She'll require a manicure more often then me while I.....will need more Bandaids and Neosporin.

3. You THINK she's in the carrier while you vaccum???? Ha!

4. That's not a horse you hear galloping around your house....it's a manaical cat. I should have called her "My Little Pony."

5. She knows the mousie on a stick is not real...but plays with it to amuse you.


But she snuggles and is good at night. Is using her "big girl" litter box and greets me at the door.

We've often taken polls here in the Lair. What about you? Cats or Dogs? Or "other". What's your favorite type of pet? And names. What is your pet's name and why?
Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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A Pet by Any Other Name

It was a long winter.

Like so many others, I had to deal with horrible weather, work layoffs, family and friends surgery and life changing events. Throw the holidays in there and gaining those 8 pounds I’d managed to lose and you have a recipe for stress.

Sometimes the effects of that stress sneak up on you and you find yourself working through the after effects. Lots of ways to do that….exercise, chocolate, meditation, chocolate, essential oils and massages….

Chocolate.

It set me to thinking about a lot of ways to deal with this level of stress and then I looked out the window. My neighbors had a new puppy.

Hmmm. A puppy. Well, the experts say a pet can help relieve stress. I like petting my brother’s cat Citrus. I enjoy my friends dogs Buckarudi, Pooka and Brody.

There would be challenges. Among them that I’ve never had a dog. I don’t have a fence. I do NOT enjoy getting up early in the morning to let said dog out. Howling makes me anxious and barking makes me jump. And if I ever found a flea or tick I’d faint.

Ok, so a cat. Well…that presents challenges too. No good out of the way place for a litter box. Cat hair clashes with my new recliner and I know…just KNOW that while I worked 12 hours Fluffy would be on my kitchen counter making tuna sandwiches. Don’t get me started on hairballs.

Fish? Been there, done that, slopped the water on the carpet.

Hamster? Squeaky wheel.

What to do, what to do?

So I talked over my thoughts with Buck’s Mom. I could hear her laughing. “A stuffed animal or a pet rock. Those are the ones that would work for you.”

“No,” I protested. “I could adjust.”

She snickered.

“I could make pets of all the birds I like listening to in the morning,” I protested.

“Really?” she said.

“Yeah,” (scuffs toe in carpet) “I just have to come up with 25 robin names.”

Sigh.

So I guess I have to take her suggestion. Pet rock it is. And I have experience! I had one in high school. This picture shows a pedigree pet rock. Mine was a stray :-)

Tell me about your pets. Any suggestions for me? Have you ever had a pet rock? What was its name?Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Cats Orpheum Theatre Tickets

Hey cat lovers (well, fellow cat lovers I should say)!! There is a musical coming to the Orpheum Theatre next May and it's all about cats! The musical was first introduced on Broadway back in 1982 and has become an international success, winning numerous awards around the world. Cats will begin running Friday, May 14th at 8pm and will have several shows over the weekend, with the last one being Sunday evening at 6:30pm. This musical will only be in Minneapolis for one weekend so you'd better get your Cats tickets now before they're gone! This one is sure to sell out! We've even got tickets to Cats shows around the nation so check them out!!Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Cat Got Your Tongue?

by Jeanne Adams

Okay, you asked for it, you got it...I gave air time to the dog lovers last week. All day it was Diver this and Remy that and oh-let-me-tell-you-about-my-dog.

So its your turn now, Cat Lovers! I've already confessed myself to be a Both-er, that is delighted with both Cats and Dogs, however many are not. They are Cat People. None of this silly barking, woofing, slavishly devoted dog stuff. Give them the independence, the self-sufficiency of cats any day and they will be happy.

You have furry, lifelike mice lurking in corner of the house where mice ought not to be.

You have paper bags laced with suspicious substances, lying in wait for your unsuspecting feline while you sit, glass of wine in hand, ready for the show.

You will set aside the paper, the knitting, the book, the homework just to pet the cat.

You're one of The Cat People, aren't you?

I thought so.

Cat People are usually much like their pets. Independent. Warm and friendly on THEIR terms, not yours. You have to admire cats for that. There's none of this fawning obsequiousness that dogs sometimes show. They are their own creatures first, your companion second. If only we humans could learn some of that. I mean, really. Wouldn't it be better if we took more time to decide what WE want, and do that? All the success books say so. Before haring off trying to please everyone else only to find out that there are too many of Them to please and there's no way to please Them even if you work forever, we should be Cats. Self sufficient. Warm and friendly on OUR terms.

Yep. Sounds about right. Easy to say, hard to do. Cat-like.

Aunty Cindy was talking about it yesterday. Contrary to popular belief, we writers focus a lot of energy on what other people think. Something we have absolutely no control over. Instead of writing our own stories, making them so deliciously creative, and independently brilliant, we try to play to the market. Even as the editors - fickle creatures, those! - say "Give us something different!" we try to do it the Evanovich way. Or the Roberts way.

Do you think Cats do that? Heck no. They are strictly love-me-or-get-out kinds of creatures.

For some reason, Cats have become quite well known as companions for writers. Maybe its the nature of our profession. I'd like to make it high-flown and erudite and say that writers are the independent voice in the collective mind. We're the voice of dissent. The spotlight on society.

Mostly its that we spend a lot of time in solitary, talking to imaginary people.

Cats understand this. They accept it.

In fact, they embrace it. Isn't it interesting that when writers or Hollywood want to portray an independent - or nefarious! - woman, they give her a cat? *humming We are Siamese if you Pleee-eese*

Heck, Cats get the whole thing. Tinseltown and writers have nothing on Cats. We just make up stories. They see the unseen. They spend a lot of time looking at, pouncing on, and interacting with things we just cannot see. My black cat, Dubh, use to do this. She'd wake from a deep sleep and without even stretching first would go tearing down the hall after some unknown intruder.

*Whispers* They see Ghosts.

Yep. You betcha. I blame the Ghosts. It would wig me out to suddenly have Dubh go from zero-to-sixty, growling, only to saunter back in a few minutes later to resume her nap on my bed. Weird.

(Then there's the whole "companion of witches" thing - okay, we won't go there)

Ahem...my point...what was my point? Oh, yes. As storytellers, we "get" the strange and unusual and pretty much accept it. Cats like that. In fact, Cats like us just as much as we like them if we're willing to let them do their own thing, pet them when they demand it, and tolerate the litterbox. Same could be said for writers. Let us WRITE, darn it, when we need to write, and worry about all that laundry stuff later. Grins. So you think the cat worries about the laundry? No. She'll appreciate the clothes warm from the dryer - great place to nap - but she won't fold 'em.

Cats are absolutely perfect foils for certain characters in books too. Take Lillian Jackson Braun's pesky Siameses. For nearly 30 books, those two cats have bedeviled thier curmudgeonly writer-owner Quill into solving mysteries. There are Cat Anthologies. There are mystical cats, and there are Cat Societies.

Cats have had their own following since Egypt was young and have never forgotten it.

So it's time for you, dear Cat People, to tell your tail...er...tale.

What's your favorite book featuring a feline? Favorite Movie?

Are you strictly a Cat Person, or a Both-er? (Both Cats and Dogs)

Do you love a swirly, patchwork kitty, or a high-faluting pure-bred feline? Or both?

Ever been to a cat show?

Let the games begin....Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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Doggone It!

By Jeanne Adams

Are you a Dog Person or a Cat Person?

If you've ever owned a dog - or been owned by one - even if you don't have one now, you know you're ONE OF THEM.

The Dog People.

The people who carry a spare leash in the car in case they come across the neighbor's dog, loose and running toward the street. You're the one who's been known to have three or four manky, disgusting tennis balls rolling around in your van or car, as well as having spare "dog towels" in the trunk. You're the one who bought special protective covers for your car seats, or even better, a ramp so your older dog could still go for rides with you. Your car windows have that special doggy imprint...you may even have one of those bumper stickers that says I HEART My Bouvier de Flanders. (Yes, that is a dog) Or one that says, My Mutt Can Beat Up Your Purebred.

You laughed uproariously at the Pedigree Super Bowl Commercial featuring the odd pets-that-were-not-dogs.

You laugh at Frazier's dog, Eddie.

You buy your dog presents for the holidays.

Yep. Dog Person. (You Cat People are a whoooollllleeee different kettle of fish, so to speak. I'm gonna talk about your proclivities on the 19th....)

Dogs are wonderful creatures, really. Loyal. Protective. Funny. Sympathetic. Pick an adjective.

Introduce two true Dog People and they'll be happy for hours telling dog stories. It's even worse if they share a breed-specific scenario - i.e. put two Yorkie owners together and the "ooh, my Chester just..." stories go on, and on, and on. Dogs are great conversation starters. A single-guy friend of mine calls his dog, Hefty, a chick-magnet.
(While this picture isn't Hefty, it looks like him. So, you can see, Hefty is just that, and has been from puppyhood.)
Hefty turns heads wherever he goes, that's for sure.

As a reader, I love it when there's a dog in the book. I so enjoyed hearing about Pirate, the talking Jack Russell in Angie Fox's Accidental Demon Slayer. I also loved hearing about the motorcycle clubs for dogs and their owners.

Our own Donna MacMeans is featured in an anthology called Tails of Love (June , 2009), with her story Lord Hairy. (The proceeds go to a no-kill animal shelter)

In Nora Robert's Dancing on Air, the hero's dog Lucy, the black lab, stole my heart, as did Moe, the mutt in Robert's Key trilogy.

As I've gotten email about my first book, Dark and Dangerous, one of the most-mentioned characters is Shadow, the German Shepherd.

I love talking about my own dogs. (No, you wouldn't have guessed, right?) I LOL about Facebook now having a Dogbook section so your dog can Friend other people's dogs. Isn't it amazing how much time we devote to playing, walking, grooming, checking, washing, vetting and finding a place for Rover to stay when we go to the beach? (The horrible rental people at the beach don't allow dogs, you know. Terrible thing. Sigh.) Even then, we call home to be sure they're okay. For instance, my friend called me from Greece, just to check on her Golden Retriever.

From Greece. Seriously.

Some people go so far as to have their dogs as best man or woman. My hubby and I didn't do that, but it did cross my mind. And even though we didn't have the dogs in the wedding, we DID have a picture taken with them. What do you think of it? :> Its one of my favorite photos ever.

Like I said, Dog People are....crazy.

They develop clubs and games and sports for their dogs. I'm not just talking confirmation showing, or obedience trials, or field trials or agility. All that's fun, but it's kind of like what many of the breeds do when they're working, or herding, or sporting. No, these clubs are for things that have nothing to do with actual "working" dogs, like retrievers or gun dogs.

Picture a scene with me. Summer on the lake, two guys sitting at sunset drinking a beer, their very wet, happy and tired dogs by their sides. I imagine it went like this:

"You know, I don't like guns or hunting, but my dog sure likes the water." Takes a swig. "Like today. Couldn't keep him out'a the water."

"Yeah, mine too." Amiable silence. Frogs croak. "You know, Stud jumps off that dock until he's exhausted."

"Yeah, Fluffy does too. Hey how far do you think your dog jumps?"

"Really far. Farther than your dog."

"Like H*ll. We should measure it and see."


Enthusiastically, "Yeah, yeah, and Fluffy can beat Stud in Dock Diving."

And Dock Diving was born...
And Fly Ball.
And the Terrier Races.
And we won't even get into the any costume and sweaters contests, and not just at Halloween.

I've shown Dalmatians for years. I've had several champions and one Best in Show Winner. Now, with my new dog Diver, the Irish Water Spaniel, I'm going to try obedience, agility, and perhaps, Dock Diving. :>

All in my spare time, that is...hahahahahahaha.

So, the question for the day is, Cat or Dog or Both? (Louisa, I already know your answer!)
What's your favorite romance with a dog in it?
What's your favorite "dog book" from childhood?

Hey, Dog People! You'll want to tune in tonight (Monday) and tomorrow night (Tuesday) if you live in the USA, for the world famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog show. It's on the USA Network. Four groups tonight, three groups and Best In Show tomorrow night. I'll be watching to see if any of my dog-show-pals win their Breed and go to group.Source URL: https://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/search/label/cats
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