Friday, April 21, 2006

Family Portrait

I got an email yesterday that said they liked the pictures on my sidebar of my family and friends but, "Why don't you have any of your lazy bum cats?"
Besides the fact that they don't have a blog, I guess because
I have a hard time getting them to smile.

Jet always looks pissed.
And mostly he is. He is fading fast and is all skin and bones. We keep telling him that this is his last summer, or fall or winter and now this is his last spring. But he is too ornery to die. He has kitty alzheimer's and forgets to eat and more recently the location of the litter box. He hasn't groomed himself since last Halloween, and his breath would melt plastic. This makes him less than desirable to be near. Still he hangs on. I pet him and tell him we'll miss him when he's gone, but he won't take the hint.

Lights on Nobody Home

Popeye his younger brother (our only natural born child, but that's another story) is waiting in the wings to be top cat around here. He is way on the dumb side, having been dropped on his head as a kitten. He mostly has one talent. EATING.
We wonder what will happen when he is the only cat. He weighs so much that when he tries to jump up on the bed or the couch it takes several attempts before he is successful. Sometimes he just gives up as the humiliation is too great. He needs one of those pet staircase things they advertise on TV. But really we don't want him on the bed with us, as he takes up so much room and snores too loud. And wherever he lays, he leaves a load of fur behind. If he sits on your lap, don't adjust your legs or his claws come out, in a vain attempt to balance his voluminous weight. Popeye will have no kitty memories to look back on. He slept through everything.



That damn bird, Mr. Cardinal woke up at 4 again today. So did we.

15 comments:

  1. Good thing I was finished with my coffee cause that photo of the cat made me laugh! Wo says cats have no personality?

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  2. That Damn Bird has relatives in my neightborhood too. And what's with those stupid sparrows? 4:00 a.m.!!! Just how chipper do they have to be?
    Your friend,
    Laura

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  3. Aw that does bring back memories of my three cats, they were such characters, and now we live in a top floor flat, no more moggies.
    Popeye looks a hard nut :)

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  4. Must be an orange thing cuz I have a cat that eats, sleeps and meows. Did I mention that he eats a lot...a whole lot! Oh...and he's orange too.

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  5. Anonymous2:55 PM

    Your family portrait made me laugh out loud-loud. They have such personalities. That bird gets around-for years we always wondered what kind of bird it was that woke us up at 4 with that stupid song. They're so pretty but so loud. By the way, the fabric came yesterday and it's spectacular. Can't wait to dig in. Have a great weekend, Dee

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  6. Anonymous3:24 PM

    The cardinals are announcing to you that this is a beautiful day and they don't want you to miss a single minute of it.

    I don't know about you guys - you're griping about the cardinal's song and Laura is griping about the poor hungry rabbit. Is Frieda the only nature lover among you fusers?

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  7. Anonymous8:06 PM

    I awaken every morning to cardinals, sandhill cranes, my neighbors roosters, my other neighbors horses, pheasants (which really thrills me because for years they were really scarce around here...I do NOT allow them to be hunted on my land!!), RWBBs, mourning doves....I wouldn't trade this symphony for anything!!

    My friend Liane (whose FLA home I tempted Dae with) has an orange tabby that is older than dirt and has a huge tumor between her shoulder blades. She's dumber than dirt, never shuts up, won't die, but I just love her.

    teri

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  8. Anonymous10:46 PM

    Cardinals are very territorial, the spring after we built our house a male would come around every morning at about 4am and peck on the bedroom window. When we would shoo him away he would move to the kitchen window. This went on every day for over a month….. we didn’t shoot him, but we did think about it often.

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  9. The cats are a stitch lol...the past few days I have been painting outside and there is this one bird that just chirps all the while I'm painting. I don't mind it really. Maybe he like the colors I'm using. I have the cardinals, black birds, bluejays, who can be mean and attack you if you come near their tree and a pair of hawks who zoom by daily, yelling lol. I have to watch my molly when they are around. She is kinda small.

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  10. Anonymous4:30 AM

    You just love your cats don't you! As I said that Jet is a serious cat. I think you need to now get a kitten, maybe Jet is waiting for a capable heir to his throne.

    Tell your hubby that he did a fab job in the garden........your garden looks huge from where I am sitting.

    We have no singing birds here so be thankful for your cardinals, well none to sing us awake.....loads of blackbirds and magpies and some robins.

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  11. Thank you so much for sharing the descriptions and photos of your felines. It gave me a good laugh and I had to have my 14 year old come over and read it too. We have cats (TOO MANY CATS!), so we get all the nuances of cat personality. Jet reminds me of our Nut (pronounced "newt") in looks, although Nut is young and friendly in an annoying, clingy sort of way. And your orange tabby - what is it about orange tabbies!? Are they all part helium balloon? Our latest orange tabby (actually more of an orange spiral), Charlie Weasley, is so fat it takes a huge heft and a loud "oomph" to pick him up. And when he jumps on your chest during one of his sudden love attacks, it's hard to get a breath.

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  12. Helium balloon - I was thinking about the "being big and round" aspect. Not the weight. Maybe I should have gone with a bowling ball analogy instead.

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  13. Anonymous5:27 PM

    Best description of cats ever! It's like you're sharing your home with Walter Matthau and Jack Klugman or something.

    My friend had a very old cat who was always on the brink of death and always recovered (well, except for that last time). We chalked it up to her being so hateful that she couldn't stand to shuffle off this mortal coil and leave all that snarling and bitterness behind. She was a great cat.

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  14. Anonymous12:53 PM

    I can see the family resemblance between Dave and the orange cat--really! There's something about their smiles that's similar!!!

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Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com