Catymology

Labels: fun and games

The Summer Solstice occurred at 1:06 p.m., Central Time, on June 21, 2007.

Now I'm going over to the Friday Ark to see what my feline friends are up to. And don't forget Sunday's Carnival of the Cats.

Labels: poetry, summer solstice

My human tells me this is gross: leaving a baby mouse lying around with its head bitten off. She even refused to take a picture of my prey!

For a cat who had the claws removed from his front feet early in life--long before I came to live here--I am a pretty good hunter, don't you think?

Labels: fun and games

I think there's catnip in there!

There's more fun and games at Modulator's Friday Ark. On Sunday, watch out for the Carnival of the Cats. Hosts needed!

Labels: fun and games

Over at The Skwib, the Carnival of Satire gets catty, including these posts:

Cato explains the source of his hunting prowess: “Everything I know about killing I learned from Tony Soprano”.

Taking catblogging to a new level, Aloysius [Yes, that's me!] discovered this short (3 min) film: A Puurfect Love. It’s set in Paris, but for some reason the human actors are Scandinavian. (It stars Jixie Junie, who is a cat, not a starlet from the “horizontal entertainment industry”).

Rumor has it that Cato has asked Jixie Junie to be his running mate. What next? Just pounce on over to The Skwib and find out!

My favorite charity, the Wildcat Sanctuary, has just announced a contest; the winner will receive his or her very own portrait, plus a tour of the Wildcat Sanctuary for two of his or her humans. As you know if you've been reading my blog, the Wildcat Sanctuary gives homes to our wild cousins, many of whom have been abused after being kept as pets. The tour is the big lure here, since the sanctuary is not normally open to the public. I hope they get a million entries, as the entry fee will help support the beautiful wildcats who live at the sanctuary.

enews: "Tell us why your pet is wild at heart and you could win a custom painted portrait of your favorite animal friend and other great prizes! To enter, send your $15 entry donation with a picture of your beloved pet and a story (150 words or less) about the wonderful and whimsical things that make your best friend wild at heart. Download the registration form,

Does your cat climb the drapes like it's a tree? Does your dog howl at the moon or dig up buried treasures in your back yard?

The top 5 stories will be posted on our website along with the photo of your wild-child. The winning story and photo will be displayed at our annual Jungle Boogie event in October.

Grand Prize: 16' x 20' canvas painting of your pet (animals only, no people) and a behind the scenes tour for two of TWS.

1st & 2nd Prize: Custom-designed jewelry from a local jewelry artist.

All proceeds will benefit the wild at heart residents of The Wildcat Sanctuary!

Deadline and entry instructions:

All entries must be received by August 1, 2007. The winner will be announced August 15th. Mail your photo and story (sorry, photos cannot be returned) to TWS, PO Box 314, Sandstone MN 55072 or email both to us at: cat@wildcatsanctuary.org. Portrait will be done from the photo you submit.

Labels: wildcats

Over at the Carnival of the Cats home page, Laurence tots up which of his extensive collection of Catmodel pics got the most clicks during the past week. It's me!

Carnival of the Cats: Carnival of the Cats #168: "what a fine fuffy tail that is!"

Labels: Carnival of the Cats

The big rose bushes back near the fence are blooming like crazy.

I'm showing off my garden at Modulator's Friday Ark, and also the Carnival of the Cats, hosted on Sunday by K T Cat at The Scratching Post. Weekend Cat Blogging will be at What Did You Eat? I'm eating the herbs, naturally.

Got leopards? Get out your cell phone and download some ringtones. Reuters reports on the humane way to lure leopards into traps:

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Forest guards in western India are using cell phones with ringtones of cows mooing, goats bleating and roosters crowing to attract leopards that have wandered into human settlements, officials said on Monday.

The wild cats in the state of Gujarat often roam into villages near forests in search of food, say officials, adding that this results in attacks on people.

But rather than use methods such as live bait like goats tied to trees to lure the leopards, which then fall into large pits dug by guards, officials say they have found a safer method to trap the cats.

"The moos of a cow, bleating of a goat from the phone has proved effective to trap leopards," said D. Vasani, a senior forest official in Gujarat. "This trick works."

The leopards are trucked far away from inhabited areas and released in the forest.

Let's just hope that the leopards don't start retaliating by downloading ringtones that appeal to humans. All they'd have to do is check the latest hot ringtones at Billboard.com. I'd recommend something like Rascal Flatt's "What Hurts the Most." Raarrr!

Labels: wildcats

Today, bloggers around the world are posting images like this. To learn more, visit Mimi Writes.

Labels: Blogblast for Peace, Dona Nobis Pacem, Peace globes

Yo, cats and catted ones! Darcy here.

Let me tell you, I can't believe I've been gone so long. That feline spa I checked into was sure relaxing.

What got me to come home is reading about the new edition of Krazy Kat comics over at Fantagraphics. Krazy Kat, if you ask me, was some smart cat, a cat after my own heart.




There's some confusion about whether Krazy Kat was male or female. The poet e e cummings wrote a famous essay to introduce an earlier edition of Krazy Kat, in which he assumed that Krazy Kat was female--maybe because Krazy kept getting bopped on the head by Ignatz Mouse. But the Kat's creator, George Herriman, referred to Krazy as both he and she, and many times the other characters seemed genuinely confused about Krazy's gender. Krazy said once:


If Krazy were living today, s/he would have done what I did: marry both a man and a woman.

Some humans have either complained about or praised the fact that Krazy Kat's plots kept repeating themselves. It's always Krazy in love with Ignatz, who ignores and abuses him/her. Then Offisa Pupp (yeah, there's a dog here) arrests Ignatz. The way I see it,

Labels: books, darcy

I crept back behind the juniper bushes. I like to sit there, where I'm mostly hidden by the foliage, and wait for prey. Usually, nothing comes by. But today was different: a fat little chipmunk ran right up to my mouth. I opened my jaws and caught it behind the neck! Seconds later, I was at the sliding door, asking to come in, with a joyous "Meow!"

Look what I brought you, you lazy humans!

Amanuensis yelled, "Oh, God, he's got a bird!" But by this time I was already in the house, dangling my prize like a mother cat carrying her newborn kitten.

"No, it's a chipmunk," she yelled. "Drop that this minute. Aloysius, drop it!"

I opened my mouth, and the chipmunk scurried away to hide among the potted plants. Next thing I knew, I was being picked up and locked in the kitchen. The indignity of it!

Note from amanuensis: we propped the side door open and, with a broom, shooed the chipmunk outside. No, we were not going to stop long enough to take its picture. The chipmunk looked pretty frisky. It ran out the door and disappeared into the bushes. Aloysius had probably not even broken the skin on the back of its neck. He just wanted us to share his toy!

Aloysius: I can has chipmunk! Weekend Cat Blogging is at CatSynth--a very interesting blog that is new to us!

Labels: fun and games

This doesn't usually happen. The window is open! But there's a screen keeping me from jumping out. Maybe if I just snoop around for a while, I'll figure out how to get that screen out of there.

Meanwhile, I'm boarding the Friday Ark. Carnival of the Cats #167 will be at Justin's Random Thoughts.