Inkblot: "To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence."

Domino: "Note to self: arm = pillow."

This cat blogging is like so un-masculine. I feel so threatened I'm going to need two pills tonight, if you know what I mean.

How about guns and tanks and cool stuff like that? Stuff that makes a man feel bigger.

And remember. If you don't want to look at cats, don't look at cats.

Awwwwwwww. . .

I love the possessive way Domino claims Marian's arm - a "this person belongs to ME!!" pose, if ever I saw one.

Or, here is some “chickenshit” Friday SCATblogging.

and WHAT self-respecting feline would condescend to actually stay in that cat bed, when his person is working at the computer, and thus clearly in need of supervision and editorial assistance?

My cats both love to sleep on the cable modem behind the laptop - the heat fan on the top warms one's belly so nicely. But Archie, when he wants some attention, will also drape himself across my forearms, while my hands are on the keyboard.

And if THAT doesn't work, he climbs onto my shoulders, firmly grabs a mouthful of my hair, and YANKS - HARD and PAINFULLY - until I do what he wants.

I'm just sayin' - cat sleep in designated desktop cat bed? Never happen at my house.

when I saw "Inkblot lolling around," my first thought was "lolcat." Stupid internet.

See, one of the major advantages of cats over hefty canines is that when a cat sleeps on your appendage, you don't awake with a completely numb limb.

I have one of those MWIR cameras, I could image Inky and Dominominion for you. But ya gotta send their clearances first before I can escort them to the lab.

So Thersites? Does taking 2 pills double the length? Or does it just mean double the volume of blood leaving your brain.

Weenie: Yes.

Permission?

You got permission from Domino? If not, you are being species centric, sham on you.

(this is snark)

See, one of the major advantages of cats over hefty canines is that when a cat sleeps on your appendage, you don't awake with a completely numb limb.

Speak for yourself -- our 12-pound cat has put our limbs to sleep plenty of times. He somehow has a knack for finding just the right spot to paralyze the leg completely.

As usual, two pictures of beautiful cats. Always makes my Friday.

Thersites and all the others I razz here.

I will not be accessing the intertoobz till next Thursday, so you can all heave a sigh of relief that you get a temporary break from the teasing.

And yes, I got permission to post this.

Really? From Domino?

I had a cat that would drape just its tail over my arm when we slept. An elegant, delicate but unmistakable claim of ownership. ("He belongs to ME.")

We live near where they had the earthquakes, and apparently right before the main one hit, our cats freaked out and leaped from the bed. (This is hearsay as I slept through the whole thing.) Wonder if seismologists could employ cats for earthquake prediction?

Well, Mnem, good to know it's not just us canine types who wake many mornings to that needles-and-pins feeling.

What's this problem with cats and keyboards?

My tabby, Mitzi, learned by about the third attempt that the keyboard was off limits. She carefully comes down from the monitor top to the space just south of the mouse and avoids interfering with the keyboard completely.

Of course, I always make sure she has a place to come down other than the keyboard or my leg. When those are her only choices, my leg is her intermediate spot up to the monitor-top or down. Claws out.

Cats aren't dumb. Some cat owners are simply not looking at the possibilities from a cat-centric point of view. Does that mean that Mitzi has trained me that if I want to live in this world and share it with cats that I must always be aware of the cat-centric view?

Of course.

Has there ever been any doubt whether cats or humans are the dominant species on earth? Not if you ask Mitzi, and I'm not going to disagree with her. She might stomp my keyboard.

That Domino is one sweetie...

Weenie, hope it's a pleasant break. I'll have to harass shortstop, I guess.

Yes it is a vacation break. I'm going to strap Inkblot to the roof of my car and take him out campaigning. Bout time we got someone into the race who can seriously beat the repugs in the fall - his negative ratings are 0 after all and I have polled all the cats in my neighborhood and they are going for him 3 to 1.

But watch it harassing shortstop - she has a mean set of claws.;-o

Kevin, I just read this. Maybe you can join the march!

www.digbysblog.blogspot.com

"We're marching on ABC/Disney in Burbank today - armed with flag pins!

OK, so everyone's frustrated with the content-free, brainless ABC News debate the other night. Chuck Todd actually gets it wrong - it's not about rabid Obama partisans rising up to hammer ABC, it's about thinking people rising up and deciding not to accept the thin gruel the media tries to feed us anymore.

The moderators are unrepentant and congenitally wired to not get it. So we're going to have to take to the streets - the mean streets of Burbank, California. We want to know if ABC/Disney executives can pass the Gibson/Stephanopoulos flag pin litmus test - it's obviously the most important issue facing the nation, so are they sufficiently patriotic? If not, we're willing to help them out.

I called up my friends at the Courage Campaign and told them we were uniquely positioned not just to throw things at our TV screen but to do something about this. The ABC/Disney headquarters is right there in Burbank, and prior to the Path to 9/11 airing, we actually protested out in front of there.

They obviously didn't get the message, and I figured out the reason why - our flag pin deficit! Nobody takes you seriously unless you bring 350 symbols of patriotism along with you.

Well, we got 'em. And now we need your help.

Today at 4:00, we're going to meet at ABC/Disney's headquarters in Burbank to protest and pass out flag pins to employees leaving their Disney corporate office.

Your mission: Ask ABC/Disney employees whether they can pass their own flag-pin litmus test: "Are you patriotic enough to wear a flag-pin?" Obviously they don't want to be considered as a bunch of America-hating terrorists by their own network news anchors, so of course they require the pin, the shield of immunity from all questions of patriotism. And maybe we'll give them a couple extras to give to George and Charlie.

If you're in the area and available, at 4 p.m. please join me and the Courage Campaign and your fellow activists at ABC's Disney Studios in Burbank in front of the West Alameda Gate, between S. Buena Vista and Keystone Streets (CLICK HERE FOR A MAP). We're going to be there until about 7 p.m.

I'll just leave you with this because it's fun.

(ultimately these things don't change a lot of minds; I don't expect ABC to issue an on-air apology or anything. But they provide an outlet for frustrations, and create a moment of accountability. If you or someone you know is in the press, please send them by, too.)

Hey, Los Angelenos. It's Friday. Wouldn't you like to leave work early and head over to Burbank and help d-day and the gang embarrass Disney in their own back yard? It might even make the local news here. Entertainment executives no likee being socially embarrassed among their liberal peers. --- digby"

Kevin,
Does Inkblot have a suit. I am going to have to put a flagpin on him and I don't think that he would like it if I attached it to his regular cloths. So can you bring his suit out of the closet and brush the hairs off please? I'll be at your house at 5 pm pdt to pick him up.

I like cats.

Optical Weenie, picking favorites!? Ever seen one cat sit quietly by while you feed choice bits to the other one? Not a squeak, but those eyes! Oh, the guilt! If you are going to be a week-end parent, you take both kids, not just take your favorite.

Oh, and you and thersites make a really cute Bluple (blogger couple) but your on-line romance keeps fogging up my monitor. Have a great vacation.

Visions of roses and cats is a most excellent way of starting the week-end, but I really really wish I lived in Burbank! I can throw a lapel flag, pin side out, like a ninja.

Optical Weenie, picking favorites!? Ever seen one cat sit quietly by while you feed choice bits to the other one? Not a squeak, but those eyes! Oh, the guilt! If you are going to be a week-end parent, you take both kids, not just take your favorite.

Oh, and you and thersites make a really cute Bluple (blogger couple) but your on-line romance keeps fogging up my monitor. Have a great vacation.

Visions of roses and cats is a most excellent way of starting the week-end, but I really really wish I lived in Burbank! I can throw a lapel flag, pin side out, like a ninja.

Oops double post, sorry.

Matt, love your stuff! LOL.

LOVE the picture of Domino in the morning. "My servant, soft spot"... Tell your wife I said thanks for letting you share.

Don't thank me, Zit, thank Friedrich Nietzsche:

http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/

Matt -- great link. Thank you.
Zit -- actually, the judge has mandated a cooling-down period. Don't tell anyone.

I wish I could find it-- years ago there was a site (related to a book) from a couple who had modified their house for their cats-- an elevated track that ran through all the rooms, and so on.

One of the pages showed a series of overhead photos of the couple's bed taken automatically throughout the night, showing the people moving around as they slept, with a half-dozen or so cats coming, going, and maneuvering for prime position.

I know that on a cold three-cat-night, if I wanted to turn over, I had to sit up, carefully slide my legs out from the covers, turn over, and slide my legs back into their "tunnels", so as not to disturb the cats left, right, and center. Yeah, I was trained.

Speaking of cold cat nights, it's late April and the next few nights are going to be cold four-cat nights. Southeastern Washington actually has snow in the forecast - it's normally upper 70s/lower 80s this time of year. I'll have a cat on either side of lower legs, one curled up against stomach/chest or back, and one either in my face or the back of my head - depending on whether I've turned over... when the alarm goes off, it's literally like scooting out of a mummy bag - anything it takes to NOT disturb the sleeping furlines. I have a heated mattress pad and these cold nights I know who it's really for. Not me.

I have a cat who looks so much like Inkblot and like Inkblot, Oreo just loves basking in dappled sun. Great pictures, Kevin.

I guess the possessive of one follows the his, hers, its rule. Or, is it that the plural of one is ones?

Yes. In the case of cats. :-)

Try a software program called PAWSENSE. It is quite effective.

Try a software program called PAWSENSE. It is quite effective.

I use PAWSENSE - it's good for both 4-legged and 2-legged "animals." The moment it detects "unhuman-like typing" a safety block pops up - saving the email or document you were working on from disappearing to 'who knows where.' I disabled the noises that are supposed to scare cats off - they only intrigue them, but the basic promise of cats/toddlers accidentally hitting "command keys" that you don't want hit work great. When you walk away from the computer within a few seconds a screen saver pops up that "only intelligent humans" can remove. Love it. Great for those who have cats, toddlers, grandkids.

Great pics! Luv dem catz...!

Do double posts count in the cat blogging statistics?

Do double posts count in the cat blogging statistics?