Fri, 03 Feb 2006
This is Frigg, helping me write. (Because it's Friday.) posted at: 15:51 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Sun, 29 Aug 2004It's a long time since I did any cat blogging, so what better to do on a Sunday (late, of course)?
Here's Mafdet, doing what she does best:
And here's Frigg, doing her best to catch up in the Olympic snoring
championships:
If you're suffering from insomnia, now you know exactly who's got all your Zzzzz's. posted at: 19:29 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Fri, 09 Jul 2004... Of a feline persuasion. (NB: We wish to apologize for the lack of non-feline-bowel-oriented content this week. Normal service will be resumed as soon as Charlie stops howling with mirth whenever Mafdet tip-toes mistrustfully up to the Littermaid, squats, and legs it. In print journalism, the correct term for this syndrome is "silly season.") [Link] [Discuss toys] posted at: 17:05 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Wed, 07 Jul 2004So of course, this morning I decided to do the monthly total litter tray overhaul -- which consists of completely emptying out the sievable litter tray and re-filling it with about five kilos of expensive-but-worth-it premium clumping litter. And half an hour later the doorbell rings! Yes, you guessed it: it was the Littermaid. At first sight, the Littermaid looks weird, sort of like a cross between a tank landing craft and a Robot Wars also-ran -- the urge to paint red and yellow go-faster stripes on its side is well-nigh irresistible. So far, the cats are treating it with mild confusion ("help! Where'd the toilet go?") ... but I'm sure they'll figure it out in time. Which has now got me very worried indeed, for one very important reason: it sounds like a tank landing craft with lubrication difficulties making its way through a railway stockyard. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, deafening. And while this might work okay in a huge mid-western split-level ranch-style house sprawling across six acres of virgin desert, it's a lot less okay in cramped old Blighty; due to the lack of space in my flat, it's going to have to live in the hall passage beside the bathroom door, about fifteen feet from my right ear when I'm lying in bed. When the cats begin to use the Littermaid, my first warning will be a loud rumbling, creaking noise accompanied by metalic squeaking and a light artillery bombardment to soften up the beach-head -- at about four o'clock in the morning. I originally seeded comments about this gadget under "toys", but I'm beginning to think "superfluous technology" would have been a better place for it. [ Discuss toys ] posted at: 16:35 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Mon, 05 Jul 2004Who says spurious technology can't improve our standard of living? We're owned by two cats. Unfortunately they're big cats, and they're agoraphobic -- they've got a garden to go play in, if only they didn't panic on exposure to the room with the funny blue-white ceiling and the broken air conditioning. (They were raised in an apartment by a little old lady, and they're a bit set in their ways.) One of the side-effect of living with cats is having to deal with that which comes out of the rear end of cats. And it's truly noxious. So it is with a sense of relief alien to all non-cat-owners that I've discovered a UK importer for the Littermaid electric self-cleaning litter tray. And now, my credit card slightly lighter, I'm awaiting the arrival of an extra-large LM-950 which, hopefully, will relieve me of yet another noxious domestic chore unknown to our ancestors. Now if only I could find a robot mouse for them to chase while I'm writing ... posted at: 22:42 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Thu, 27 Nov 2003This is so cute that any diabetics are advised to lay in a spare insulin syringe before clicking on the link. [ Link ] [ Discuss cats ] posted at: 20:37 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Mon, 18 Aug 2003Spent today wandering around Edinburgh, not taking in any Fringe shows, just relaxing. No web surfing, no wild rants, no writing, no opinions. In fact, today could easily have been cancelled. So, just to ensure there's something in my blog for you to look at, here's Mafdet the middle-aged kitten (who has lost about a kilogram of weight since she first arrived here last December):
[ Discuss cats ] posted at: 21:23 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Sat, 01 Feb 2003Meet Mafdet. Mafdet is a roughly eight year old tabby cat: female, neutered, and friendly. She's one of the two cats we adopted from the Edinburgh Cat and Dog Home when Sekhmet died in December. (The other, Frigg, is an enormous -- and enormously overwight -- black panther with a rather odd, stubby tail and a combination of immense patience and feline reserve.) Mafdet is friendly, but anxious. Periodically she'll rush around the house meeping for human company until she finds some attention. She's not a lap cat or shoulder cat, but she likes being stroked and tickled. And when she's found a human being, she'll walk in circles around their ankles. Or around their head, if they happen to be in bed. Yesterday afternoon, Mafdet did her meeping thing and rushed up to me while I was standing in the door of Feorag's study. She did the walking in circles thing. Mildly annoyed, I shifted out of the way, and she continued to orbit. So I began to follow her. After a moment, she paused, confused. I continued to walk around her. She got up and began to walk in circles until we were both traipsing through a circle about a metre in diameter. She kept looking over her shoulder at me anxiously. Finally Feorag and I were in stitches with laughter when Feorag pointed out that I really ought to stop -- Mafdet's tail was bushing up with alarm and she was looking distinctly panicky. Apparently cats are allowed to walk in circles around humans, but there is something deeply wrong with the universe when a human walks in circles around the cat. (An hour later she was still watching me anxiously whenever out paths crossed. Poor thing ...) [ Discuss cats ] posted at: 13:09 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry Sat, 21 Dec 2002Well, I got back to work yesterday, but we didn't get out to the cat and dog home until today. Which is why we now have two new owners, snoozing under the bed. Frigg and Mafdet (not their original names, but why on earth were two females called Frankie and Mac?) are both more than somewhat overweight, and in need of some dental work -- de-scaling -- when we've got their weight down. They are both middle aged females, whose elderly owner died without any next of kin; her cleaner took them to the dog and cat home, which is where we found them. Evidently she didn't stint on either love or double cream, so they're going to have to do without the latter until they've both lost a kilo or so: but they're both extremely friendly, if a little bit perturbed by the change in their surroundings. Now it's time to get back to work. [ Discuss cats ] posted at: 15:39 | path: /cats | permanent link to this entry |
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