LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Song of Solomon 2:8-13 or
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9 or Psalm 15
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

8 Teh voice of my lover! Srsly, joo look, he's jumping round. Like superman. WTF?

9 My lover is a row or hart, and he is playing hidengoseek threw teh windo. I see joo!

10 Shh, he said, "Sup. OMG, let's go.

11 Winter's over. Nice, cuz rain is wet.

12 It is teh spring! Dere is flowers growed, birdies out of tune, and turtles is talkin. Srsly, wtf up wit dat?

13 Teh fig tree is put for her green figz, and teh grapez smell nice. Get up, plz, kthx.

Deuteronomy 4

OBEDIENCE OR ANNIHILATION

1 ISRAEL! Listen to teh rulez! Follow dem so dat u can liv an cud go in an nap in da houz dat CEILING CAT, Teh CEILING CAT ov ur fathers, iz given u.
2 Keep teh laws ov teh lord ur Ceilin Cat dat i giv u. no changin.
3 U saw wut teh Lord did at Baal Peor. Teh lord ur Ceilin Cat destroyd all hoo followd teh Baal ov Peor,
4 But all u hoo held fast 2 teh lord ur Ceilin Cat r still aliv todai, asidez Jim. 1 8 An wut othr hous iz so kewl as 2 has such awsum laws as mah laws I'm given ya todai?
5 C, i has taught u laws as lord mah Ceilin Cat commandd me, so dat u cud follow them in da land u r enterin 2 taek posesshun ov it.
6 look carefully, 4 dis will show ur smarts 2 teh haus, hoo will hear bout all thees laws an say, "surely dis great haus iz wize an understandin peeps ayup."
7 Wut othr houz iz so great as 2 has their godz near them teh wai teh Ceilin Kat r God iz near us whenevr we pray 2 him, asidez us?

Psalm 45 1 Meh hart is can be oberflode wit many goodz themez; I tellz my tayulz abowt da Kingz; Meh tung bez da pen uv a reddy riter. 2 Yew be shinyer den teh kidz of manz, srsly; Teh grase be dumpt upon j00 moufz; Dat meanz Ceiling Cat has gived you cheezbrgr 4 eva 3 Gloo Ur sharp stikz all on Ur thie, O Beefeh Onez, Wit Ur shinyness an Ur majesties.. 4 An in Ur majesties ride wiff lots of moniez 'cuz uv trufe, humilitiez, and wighteousnessess; An Ur rite hand will beez uv teaching Yew awesomeful thingz. 5 Ur arrowz be shawp in teh hart uv teh King’s eminees; Teh peoplez fall undur Yew. 6 Yer thrown, O Ceiling Cat, be ferevah and evah; A shiny stik uv wighteousnessess be teh shinky stik uv teh floor. 7 j00 has a love fore teh wighteousnessess and you be hatin teh ebil; So cuzza dat Ceiling Cat, Ur Ceiling Cat, said you can has cheezburger Wit teh most flavrful flavrz evor made, moar den Ur bffs. 8 All Ur clothz be smelling good wiff allowz n stuff, From teh shiney white places, wat haz maed youz happeh. 9 Kingz dotters arez hangin' out wiff Ur sweet sweet laydeez; At Ur rite hand is chillin teh kween in teh shiny yelloh metalz from Ophir. 10 Hay! Pay atenshun, O dotter, Fink carefullies and maek shure yu heer; Furget about ur own d00dz, an ur Daddy's howse; 11 So dat da King will think you be super hawttz; 'Cuz Him be ur Lawd, so yew bettr know him be sweet. 12 An teh dotter of Tyre will comes wiff a treasure for yoo; Even dem wiff lots of monies will want to be ur favorite. 13 Teh royal dotter be all shiney wit da palace d00dz; Her wearz be made wiff teh shiny yellow mettal. 14 After puttin' on teh ritz, she will go to teh King; Teh laydeez who know not whur teh harbl goes, the wimmenz who are her bffs, are also goings to be a treasure for you. 15 They will say 'O hai!' and has many happiez; And be in ur palace, srsly. 16 Ur daddies will leaf an ur kidz will be dere, And it's ok if u wantz them to of be being a prinse. 17 I will makes you famus for all da chillens in da fyucher; So teh ppl will give yew cheezburgrz ferevar n evar. kthnxbai.

Psalm 15 1 Oh, hai, Ceiling Cat, hu gona curl up in ur tabby-nackle? Hu gona pet ur fuzy bely? 2 Teh d00dz taht stan up strate, flip cheezburgrz 4 minimum w/out complanez, n no lyez. 3 Teh d00dz taht not trols, not pulz ur leg, not DOS atak ppl, n not get retardid. 4 Teh d00dz taht no a trol wehn tehy seez him; but greetz 2 teh d00dz taht is chiken o Ceiling cat. Oh, n no politishuns. DO NOT WANT. 5 N DO NOT WANT d00dz taht lone u mony for cheezburgr but wan interist on toozday. U r so pwnd!

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James 1:17-27

17 Oh and everting good that will ever happen to you is because of the Ceiling Cat. Now u see why I like him, lol.
18 And he wrote that FAQ for us so we should thank him and stuff.

Lissen an den taik axshun
19 STFU when Ceiling Cat is talking. Also chill out, no TKs.
20 Cuz Ceiling Cat NOT WANT yu be mad.
21 And stop DL so much porn.
22 But make sure yu unnerstand the FAQ before yu start playing around.
23 But dont just read the FAQ, do sum of the examples too cuz dey helpful. Peepuls who not do that is stupid.
24 And leik, dont think ur all hot soup cuz you just read the FAQ.
25 So leik, make sure you do the stuff right. Don't just talk about it, k?
26 Nobdy who follows teh Ceiling Cat can say bad things. Is not gud. Celing cat shoot you with lazer eyes. Srsly.
27 Gud ppls follow FAQ and halp teh otehrs.

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Whut haz gud flavr an dont

1 Teh Pharisees and teechurs uv lawz go way frum Jerusalem to see Happy Cat.
2 Dey seed sum uv Happy Cat frenz go NUMNUMNUM but handz iz dirtieded, EWWW!
3 (Pharisees an jooz no liek flavr wifout speshul washded hans liek alwayz tradishun.
4 Wen dey go by foodz, alwyz cleen hans. Also jooz got lotsa tradishun bout washdeding foodz buckets.)
5 So teh Pharisees and teechurs axed Happy Cat, "OMGWTF!!!1!!1 Howcum ur guyz not haz washded liek tradishun an getz dirty flavr? Srsly."
6 Him sez, "LOLZ, Isaiah noze u wen he sez bout u fakerz; cuz teh Bibul sez:
" 'Deez guyz sayded gud stuf wif moufs,
but insydz deyz no got bukkit.
7 Dey wurshup me for nuffin;
dey iz tolded evrywun stuff thatz jus mayd up.'
8 Ur having forgetted wut Ceiling Cat tolded and u jus lieks tradishun."

14 Agin Happy Cat callz peepul and sez, "O hai, ai can has u lissen me?
15 'Dirty' frum outsyd iz not bad flavr. Nsted, iz bad flavr 'dirty' frum insyd.'"

21 Insyd peeplz harts iz big bukkit of meenyness, buttseks, taykin stuff, kil kittehs, harbl goes WHERE?
22 want moar, scratchinz, lyin, yuckies, not liek udder kittehs, tawk bad abowt kittehs, thinked dey bettr kittehs and lotza stoopidz.
23 Theez bad stuff frum insyd and makez 'dirty.' "

Weekend Cat Blogging
#221 Aug 29-30 is being held by Mr Tigger
at The M-Cats Club

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos
Edition 107 | Sep 06, 2009
Kashim & Othello and Salome
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats
#285 is going to When Cats Attack Sunday Evening
(submit your post here)

Ree-purrted by KC

News from Ceiling Cat!

August 18th, 2009

Working on a not so secret project.

You can pre-order now and everything! Spread the word. What will your Aunt think of it? As always you can chat with Ceiling Cat right on his twitter.

Visit the Pet Prayer & Praise Blog

Kitty Limericks

Technorati Tags: LOL Cat Church, LOL Cat Bible, Lectionary Readings, Prayer & Praise Blog, Weekend Cat Blogging_/\_/\_

Turnip's Last Photos

At the very end of July very early in the morning, Zorro brought another mouse into the house. Of course, the mouse was alive. Zorro dropped his prey as soon as I praised him and Possum and Turnip promptly claimed it. They tried to put it in my purse. When I said no, they tried to take it to bed to give to John but I said no again. Here is Turnip trying to find a spot in the house where he can enjoy the mouse. As soon as the mouse died all the cats went outside for more.

Within 36 hours, Turnip walked all the way out to the road and was hit.

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LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sunday, August 23, 2009

1 Kings 8.[1, 6, 10–11] 22–30, 41–43
Psalm 84
Joshua 24.1,2a, 14–18
Psalm 34.15–end
Ephesians 6.10–20
John 6.56–69

1 Kings 8.[1, 6, 10–11] 22–30, 41–43
Solomon bringz teh ark an stuffs to Ceiling Cat's hause

1 Solomon getted elderz of Israel an all hedz of tribez, chiefs ov dads ov kittehs of Isreal, so dey bring ark ov covenant of Ceiling Cat frm city of David.
6 An priests bringed teh ark into teh oracle of teh hause (most holi plase!) undr cherub wings.
10 When preists were com out ov holi plase, ther was cloud. But not fart cloud, LOLZ. Wuz not smelly.
11 Teh preists no could minister ther becaus of cloud. OMG! Teh glory of Ceiling Cat filled teh hause!!1!
22 An Solomon stood at ark wif teh kittehs an he puts his paws in teh air.
23 Then Solomon sed, "Ceiling Cat, ther iz no kitteh liek u in teh ceiling, or in da urfs. U keeps covenant an mercee wif servents that luv u cuz ur totalee kewl.
24 You stays wif my dad an talks wif him an fulfilled stuff wif him.
25 So plz Ceiling Cat, my dad can has help to keep good kittehs on throne?
26 Plz to has veriffcaton? Thx.
27 Da urfs no can contain Ceiling Cat. Teh holi hause not big, eithr. WOW OMG Ceiling Cat IZ HUGE!!!1!
28 I makes you a prayer an I hope u lieks it:
29 Plz to watch hause day n night an teh plase wif my name wher servant makes u a prayer.
30 An lissen to servants when tey pray toward teh hause an forgiv them, plz to has.
41 An about weird doods from othr plases that lov u an wanna liv in Israel:
42 (They will heer about u) When he prais toward teh hous,
43 Heers it, an kitteh can has what kitteh wants.

Psalm 84 1 Ceiling Cat haz teh bestestest ov houzez, O yeah. 2 I wantz 2 curl up in teh houz of teh Ceiling Cat and can haz cheezburgr. 3 Teh birdiez, teh swallowz An teh sparrowz who makez teh baybee chickeez I laiks 2 chase An eat, we haz all napped in teh houz of teh Ceiling Cat. 4 Hai Ceiling Cat, the kittehs in ur houz say kthx for making teh cheezburgrz alwaiz. 5 Hai Ceiling Cat, teh kittehs cldn’t chazez teh birdiez widdout u. 6 Teh Ceiling Cat alwaiz makz teh litter box cleen 4 teh kittehs. 7 An we climbz treez hai 2 see teh Ceiling Cat. 8 O yeah Ceiling Cat, we luv u. An dat Jacob dood laiks u 2, so lissen, eh? 9 Lookit Ceiling Cat, lookit ma tail. 10 I can haz ly in ur houz onlee 4 1day, itz bettr’n mastubatin out in teh tentz all teh time. 11 Cuz u givez cookiez An cheezburgrz An keepz teh dogz away from teh kittehs dat laiks u An walkz on 4 pawz bhind u. 12 Dey dat laiks teh Ceiling Cat will alwaiz have cheezburgrz An nap in ur houz. kthx bai.

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Joshua 24.1,2a, 14–18
Rahab an der Spiez

1 Joshua sentz 2 spiezecats frm Shittim an sed “Chex0r out teh lands speshly JericoCat lawlz!”. They went 2 teh landz n steyed in HookerKitty hoose.
2 Teh Kingzor herd of teh spiezecats an tolded teh guardz:
14 Teh speizekats sez "K! U doan tel an wheel protexx U n yr Famabalies"
15 So she bryng out looong peece uv string, nawt fur play wit, but 2 climb down wall uv citi.
16 She tellz dem to run way an hyde. Tehn wayt 3 daze bein hidden an den tehy wil B saef.
17 Teh 3 spiez sez "Wee wil keep promiss,
18 butt wen ar armi cums heer, U will lett uz no wer U liv an yor famablies wil B in yr hows. Srsly.

Psalm 34 1 I r always talkins of Ceiling Cat I r always say good tings. 2 My soul r brag 'bout Ceiling Cat Let teh poor kittehs hear n be happies. 3 Lets rave 'bout Ceiling Cat lets prase his kewl name togedder. 4 I meowed for Ceiling Cat an he answred me He r save me from teh scary tings. 5 Teh kittehs dat trust him is happy cats Dey nevar hav shameful face. 6 Dis poor kitteh called HALP! An Ceiling Cat heerded him, He savded teh poor kitteh. 7 Teh Wingcat of teh Ceiling Cat is neer teh kittehs dat is respektful of him, an halps dem. 8 Taste n u will see, dis Ceiling Cat has a flavr. Cheezburgrs for teh kitteh dat seeks him. 9 Repekt teh Ceiling Cat, u good kittehs Cuz respektful kittehs get all de good tings. 10 Teh big cats is gettinz weak n hungries But kittehs who findz Ceiling Cat can has cheezburgrs. 11 Come to me, babby kittehs I r goins teech u to respekt Ceiling Cat 12 U kittehs dat luv life an r wants to haz 9 lives 13 Say no evil - mak shur cat have ur tongue! An never tell lies n stuff. 14 Point ur tail at evil and do lotsa good tings look for peece n chase it liek a maus. 15 Ceiling Cat is watchin teh good kittehs An his ears is listenins for dere cries. 16 Ceiling Cat not look at kittehs dat do evil tings He r delete dem from teh memory of teh urfs. 17 Teh good kittehs meow, and Ceiling Cat heers dem. He are savins dem from teh sad tings. 18 Ceiling Cat r cuddlin teh kittehs whose harts is broked An he r rescuins kittehs wit crushded spirits. 19 A good kitteh may havs lotsa trubbles but Ceiling Cat r goin to halp him. 20 Ceiling Cat r garding call teh kitteh's bonez Te kitteh r not have breakded bonez. 21 Evil r goinz to kill teh bad kittehs Teh enemiez of all good kittehs r goins to be uthanized. 22 Ceiling Cat freez his kitteh d00ds; No kitteh dat trusts in him is goinz to be doomd.

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Ephesians 6.10–20
Ceiling Cat: Teh Armurz

10 Ceiling Cat will maek yu strong.
11 Put on teh armurz Ceiling Cat givez yu, so yu pwn Basement Cat.
12 We not pwn otehr normul kittehs, but Basement Cat nd his invisibul kittehs.
13 Maek shur yu not forget any of teh armur. That wai yu will pwn.
14 There is teh belt of teh trueness and teh body armur of teh gud.
15 Teh armur shoes iz maed of teh FAQ, so yu can has brainz.
16 Dun forget teh sheeld! It savs yur laif frum teh firy arows.
17 Helmet is made of saves, and teh sword is of teh Hovrcat.
18 Prey 2 teh Ceiling Cat all teh timez. Not fall asleep or forget to preyz!
19 Whiel yur at it, preyz 4 me 2. Ask Ceiling Cat givez me teh brains to unnerstand teh plan.
20 I is in chains. Prey lots!

John 6.56–69

56 Dose dat eat mai flesh n drinkz mai bloodz staiz wit meh n meh wit him.
57 Just as teh Ceiling Cat sint meh n I haz lifz becuz of ceiling cat, so duz dose hoo feedz on meh wud haz lifz becuz of meh.
58 Dis is teh cookiez dat comz down from teh ceiling. Not like momcat and tomcat hoo eatz n dize, dose hoo eatz dis cooki livz forever.
59 Dis was all sed at teh synagogue at Capernaum.

Teh mani homiez o Jebus
60 Teh homiez wuz dare and sed, "WTF? Dis iz diffrnt! Hoo kin hang?"
61 Jebus noo his homiez wuz hissing 'bout dis. He sez, "Homiez! Dis ain't new!
62 Wut if u see'd teh Son of Catz rize up to teh ceiling?
63 It iz teh ghostcat givz lifz, teh flesh don't mattrz! Teh wrds I sed iz sprit n lifz.
64 But dare r kittehz dat don't beleev." Jesus noo dat the kittiez dat didn't beleev wud betryz him.
65 He sez, "Dis b wy I sez nun kin comz to me lest ceiling cat sez so."
66 Lotza kittehs scatz n didn't comz bak.
67 Jebus sed to hiz homiez, "Do u wantz to scatz?"
68 Simon Peter sed to Him, "D00d, wherz we go? U iz teh cookiez of lifz.
69 We beleevz u iz teh wun Ceiling cat sez is goodz stuffz. srsly."

Weekend Cat Blogging
#220 Aug 22-23 is being held by Salome
at Paulchens FoodBlog?!

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos
Edition 107 | Sep 06, 2009
Kashim & Othello and Salome
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats
#284 is going to Mind of Mog Sunday Evening
(submit your post here)

Ree-purrted by KC

News from Ceiling Cat!

August 18th, 2009
Working on a not so secret project.
You can pre-order now and everything! Spread the word. What will your Aunt think of it? As always you can chat with Ceiling Cat right on his twitter.

Visit the Pet Prayer & Praise Blog

Thank you all — again— for your words of comfort when we lost Turnip.
We have not been able to blog much, but are beginning to think about it.

Kitty Limericks

Technorati Tags: LOL Cat Church, LOL Cat Bible, Lectionary Readings, Prayer & Praise Blog, Weekend Cat Blogging

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Turnip, Too

I began writing this post one week ago and never completed it. I never had the heart and I still don't. Turnip has died. He was hit by a car last week. Thankfully (again), it was quick and he was beautiful in death. John has buried him in the garden. Turnip was always so timid and fearful that I never ever thought he would make it all the way down to the road. Yet he did.

Turnip (named by Amelia because she "always wanted a cat named Turnip") was one of Matilda's babies, born in August, 1996 in Hartford, Connecticut. He was almost 13 years old. He was such a sweetie that he never fought with any other cat. He was totally submissive yet was very caring towards the other cats, and was always cuddling and washing the others. Zorro, Turnip's brother, is now the only survivor of Matilda's family.

Here is a slideshow of Turnip's life

Turnip's loss has been very difficult for all of us this week
but time heals.

_/\_/\_

Pansy

Pansy (left, glaring) and Turnip (right)

Pansy's huge catitude is beginning to thin. She actually came to bed and slept with the other cats one morning (after I was awake of course, because she doesn't really like me). And she did bite John's toes. But still, she is becoming more sociable and talking to me when it is time to go out in the morning and come in at night. Before I took this photo, she had a smile on her face. But she saw that I was looking at her and she glared at me again. Turnip? Well, he's totally at home everywhere and with everybody now.
_/\_/\_

Possum, Charlie & Zorro ♡ NH (but not Turnip & Pansy)

For the first time in her life, Possum (above) asked to go outside. And I let her go. She is in heaven here in New Hampshire in the gardens. She has taken to John quickly and had an easy transition. I think it is mostly because there are no dogs here to worry her. And the Bad Boys (Buddy and Charlie) are not worrying her because they are busy exploring their new world.

Charlie is in love with John. He sleeps with him, listens to him and chews on his fingers (it took Charlie two years to have a relationship like that with me). He has no problems living here. Charlie is killing. John said there have been a few headless mice around his truck. That is Charlie's signature kill — if he doesn't eat the entire mouse, he eats the head. Or simply chews the heads off. He also leaves the bodies about the car of the person he loves.

Zorro — a skittish cat in Vermont because of those dogs. He is relaxing daily now, conversing and interacting well with John and me. He comes and goes as he pleases. In the photo above he was chatting away with John in the garden. While there were, of course, chipmunks in Vermont, they were not on my land. We never saw them. But they are plentiful here. I see them standing on their haunches in the gardens when I let the cats out in the morning, or scurrying under rocks around the house. The cats are fascinated by them and I expect to see a couple of dead ones soon. The chipmunks set up a loud alarm whenever the cats are let out.

Turnip and Pansy are having a difficult time. Turnip came down with an eye infection the week before we moved. It has gotten worse here because of the stress. I debated bringing him until he recovered, but I realized that the stress of being left behind without his brother, Zorro, would be as bad as moving him. He has explored the house once but is mostly sleeping and is gradually getting better.

Pansy is an enigma. She is disabled with many birth defects but is stealthily moving about the house. She doesn't seem to have lost weight and is not growling or crying. Hopefully she and Turnip will integrate more as time goes on.

Possum's Set
Zorro's Set
Charlie's Set
Turnip's Set
Pansy's Set

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Cats Tuesday: Still Winter!

photo by Matt

We are still in the winter doldrums here. George Barton Cabot has been accepted by all cats except Buddy and Charlie. Their bickering is making me nuts. Above you see (left to right): Turnip, Zorro and George.

Be sure to drop into People Pets and add your kitties. This site is growing phenomenally fast and will increase your blog traffic like never before!

Thank you for stopping by!

To visit other participants, visit Gattina

or click Cats on Tuesday

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Cats Tuesday: Turnip's Illness

This summer, Turnip was very ill. He had gradually lost weight, his stools were loose and bloody, and he had barely any control over them. At the end of summer, he spent a few days in the hospital and they found he had a bad liver count. He then spent two full weeks in a kennel in the city because he could not receive the medication (he hides here when it's time for meds) or the prescription food he needed because of the other cats. For Turnip, these three weeks away from home were full of terror. He is an affectionate, quiet homebody.

He came home a bit plumper and healthier but within two weeks he was worse than before. He refused to eat his special prescription food. He was crying in pain and became thinner than he had been before. By the time Labor Day Weekend arrived, Anna and I were discussing doing the unthinkable and putting him to sleep so that he would no longer suffer his obvious pain. I could not justify sending him back to the vet or the kennel for treatment because his terror was heartbreaking.

But after Labor Day, my source of Wellness cat food dried up. I then bought what all of my cats had been weaned on: Nutro Max. Within one week, Turnip had gained weight, his stools were normal, he was sleeping peacefully, and was a part of the household again.

Turnip was not "sick": he had suffered a severe, life-threatening food allergy. The vets never diagnosed this. None of us had a clue. The photo above is from Sunday when Turnip was reading in bed with me, in the crook of my arm, purring and warm. My Turnip is back and without any pain. Be careful if you switch your cat food.

Thank you for coming. I wish you peace for the upcoming week.

Technorati tags: Cats+on+Tuesday food+allergies

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The Good News

Spotted Touch-Me-Not (Impatiens capensis), also called Jewelweed

Some good things happened today. I have a new site for my photos. It is meeyauw photo gallery at dot Mac. You can view my photos in a slide show, carousel, and other ways. If you double click a photo, you can see it full size. It seems to load fairly well. If it continues to do well, I will renew my dot Mac subscription in October.

I got some good wildflower photos today. Be sure to check out my photo of the day for Sunday. Please.

Buddy took off again for another forty-eight hours. Being me, I presumed him dead. But he is home again, asleep here on the table next to me. His disappearance was reason #2 why I did not go to Rutland.

Best of all: Possum and Turnip are home after nearly three weeks in Amy's cattery at Oasis Pet Resort while they were treated for chronic bowel inflammation (Turnip) and bladder inflammation (Possum). They are doing well and are on prescription food which they won't touch. It was wonderful to have them in bed again at nap time. I missed them badly. Their homecoming was reason #3 why I did not go to Rutland.

A field of New England Asters

Technorati tags: Spotted+Touch-Me-Not Impatiens+capensis Jewelweed cats .Mac New+England+Aster

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Unfortunate Events

Zorro had just rolled on the front stoop after Jon had mowed, covering himself with grass clippings without shame. Messy cat! Sometimes he comes home covered in cobwebs and doesn't mind that.

A series of unfortunate events the past few days have left me far behind with my work. I already told you about the code problems in the template. There are still a couple of problems because Dorothy and Ruth are having intermittent problems logging in.

Amy came by with mid-season flea treatments and to help with Pansy's claws. Pansy was born with skeletal birth defects and her claws can grow into her foot. We have to be gentle while clipping her so that we don't harm her. Yet she turns wild when her claws are done so gentleness is a trick.

Amy also took three cats out. Mouse had to be shaved at Amy's kennel. But the most distressing news is that two cats (Possum and Turnip) had to go to the hospital. Turnip has lost weight and Possum is behaving as if she is in heat. I am not worried about them anymore, though (I was convinced, without knowing what was wrong, that they would have to be put down). The vet has run blood tests and Amy is medicating them at the kennel. They will be home when that is done.

The problem with having rescued and/or feral strays is that medicating and treating them can be overwhelming. I don't know what I would do without Amy, who knows how to handle wild cats, and her kennel, where they can be confined so that they receive the full course of meds that they need. Pansy was so lonely with the others gone that she broke our hearts with her meowing and calling for them half the night.

What else could go wrong on a beautiful summer day in Vermont with those famous blue skies perfect for photography? I decided to go to Burke Mountain so that I could take photographs. I was cleaning my lens and stupidly dripped cleaning fluid onto a horizontal lens.

The fluid leaked inside and my lens was wet (see left photo). There was nothing I could do to fix it. I was sure the camera was ruined. I wanted to go immediately to New Hampshire (no stores here, remember) for a new camera (forget paying bills!).

Back at home later, I found I could take macros and use judicious cropping for other photos (see right), so I calmed down. I went to a concert after supper but the lens was still wet. I also lost my car keys yesterday but found a duplicate, which did not open the car doors. Fortunately, I tested the key on one locked door so that I did not get locked out of the car.

I picked Mousie up from Amy, got ice cream and came home. And the lens was dry!

At this point, it is not even worth mentioning the other unfortunate events: the power outages, connection problems and the flooded upstairs bathroom.

Naked Mouse taken this morning. She has forgiven me.

Today I am going to Dixville Notch to try to find a moose!

Technorati tags: Burke+Mountain cats
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Cats Tuesday: ASCII Cat

This is an ASCII image made from my photograph of Turnip. I was holding him up to the iSight camera on my MacBook and he wasn't happy about that. (Turnip has the eye that I used for the Blogger Profile photo on this blog). The original photo used for the ASCII art is below:

ASCII drawings are an old art on the computer. I remember making one in the 1960s on a mainframe at the University of Connecticut (all computers then were huge mainframes). ASCII drawings are made simply of text. If you search the Internets for ASCII art you will find a lot of art to look at.

In order to make this I did not have to become an artist. I got an e-mail newsletter from Photojojo about how to convert photos to ASCII (all links open in a new window). I then followed directions and I had my art! However, I did learn that all photos you submit have to be 200 kb or smaller.

The artwork is downloaded to your computer if you request. However, this is ASCII afterall, so it downloads a text file. In order to make this a jpg for Blogger, I printed the web page of my ASCII art to a PDF file. You can do this with one click on a Macintosh and I don't know if it can even be done with a PC. I then cropped the ASCII art inside the PDF file and then saved it as a jpg file. I used ImageWell software to add the frame and background color. Then I uploaded it to Blogger.

ASCII art is often used as an e-mail signature. If I want, I could use this text file of Turnip's photo for that. However, it is too big for a signature. I would have to play with this ASCII converter to get a text file small enough for a sig.

I hope you enjoyed last week's Lolcats that I made. I have found two more websites that you will enjoy:

How To Create LOLCats
and
I Can Has Cheezeburger?

Have a great week and thank you for visiting! Summer classes begin Tuesday night (summer semester already? Time has disappeared!), but I will visit you all after class.

_/\_/\_

My Eye

I took the eye off of Turnip's pic (see the post just below this) and played with ImageWell, a tiny editing app from Xtralean. There is a free version and an "extra" version for $14.95. I can barely remember how I made this eye because I randomly click things without a plan. But after doing it a few more times I'll figure out what I did.

Crop in Imagewell seems to be the powerhouse of the app. Crop masks the parts of the photo you want to get rid of. In GIMP you cut and paste onto a canvas and then move the image around for the mask.

This stuff keeps me busy. Biopsy on Monday morning. Got to keep my mind busy.

_/\_/\_

Cats Tuesday: Killer Turnip

Say Hi to Turnip! He is Zorro's full brother but Turnip was the first born of the litter. Why Turnip? Because Amy always wanted a cat named Turnip, so now we do!

He looks so sweet and he is. He has a cute way of turning his head nearly upside down when he wants attention. He sleeps in the crook of my arm all night long. He is shy and reticent and doesn't make new human friends easily.

But Turnip is a killer. He's the indoor killer in the family.

I was getting ready for weekend guests one day and I needed to prepare the spare room. It was summer so I was barefoot. I walked into the room with an armful of pillows and fresh sheets. I stepped on something wet. I groaned. We all deal with cat yak, right? I was sure this was some more for me to clean up. Putting the sheets down, I looked at what I had stepped in. It wasn't cat yak. It was long, red, and wet. I couldn't figure it out. I found a cleaning rag and poked it a bit trying to comprehend what this was. Oh my God! It was a skinned snake! Turnip had not only killed a snake (he finds them in the cellar) but had skinned it! There was a bit of snake skin on its head. But no where else. And I had stepped on it!

Turnip was on the bed, awakened by the noises I had made. I looked at him in shock. "You did this!" I gasped. "How could you?" He smiled at me with pride, stretched and went back to sleep.

It took a long, long time until I felt I had sterilized my foot enough. I rested then, devising a plan to dispose of this snake and not vomit myself. I double-bagged two plastic grocery bags and got my kitchen tongs. Wearing a pair of Amy's surgical gloves, I walked as close to the snake as possible without looking, reached with the tongs, grabbed the snake (cringing at the squishy feel of it) and dropped it, tongs and all, into the bags. I tied up the bags securely and ran into the garage and dumped it into a trash barrel. I then disposed of the surgical gloves just like a surgeon would. Then I took a long, long time to disinfect my hands and took a shower.

Beware of a sweet faced cat. There is a cruel killer behind those pretty eyes!

Zorro and Turnip

_/\_/\_

Cats Tuesday: Matilda

Matilda and her son, Turnip

I want to tell the story of Matilda and the moth. When I taught in the inner city in Connecticut, I found Matilda behind the school. She was just about the cutest thing I had ever met. Her huge eyes enchanted everyone and her sweet, outgoing personality endeared everyone. As young as she was, she quickly became the mother of all the cats in the house. We learned very soon after rescuing her that Matilda was going to be a mother for real!

Young Matilda

Matilda was the best cat mother I have ever observed. She taught her family of five kittens how to drink from a water bowl by having them sit around the bowl while she drank. I then watched as one by one they tried to drink it. Repeatedly Matilda would demonstrate the technique for them as they struggled with this new skill.

Another day as the kittens were lined up on the kitchen floor (how did she get them to do this?), Matilda brought a huge moth into the kitchen. We lived in the city then, but had built the cats a large and safe run so that they could be outside. Occasionally different animals like moths, earthworms, snakes, and even birds were killed and brought into the house.

Using the live moth, Matilda demonstrated her hunting skills for the kids. Some were horrified and cringed in fear of the moth. Others tried to jump in and play. But Matilda kept them all in control until she let them kill the moth with their play.

I miss those days with Matilda and the kittens. I kept all the kittens except one which I gave to my son. There are only two left now: Zorro and Turnip. Zorro you have seen before in my photos. Turnip is in the first photo of this post with his mother.

Matilda died the day after Thanksgiving 2005, from a severe case of ECG, an auto-immune disease that is not controllable forever. Even while in severe pain, Matilda was kind and gentle to others and slept in my arms all of her last night. I was unable to let Matilda suffer any longer and tearfully let her go in peace.

Even dogs trusted Matilda and allowed her to nibble their mouths.

_/\_/\_