Frequent commentor and Cat Whisperer, Werebear:
I mentioned we were going to an adoption event on a couple of threads last night, and here’s the new addition:
Mithrandir (he’ll grow into it) Shelter Name: Fudge
Mr WereBear saw the announcement go by on Facebook last night, and we were there extra early because Mithrandir was in the center of the pic they used to announce the event. So we were not about to be scooped on this little treasure. He turned out to be their first adoption of the day!
I blame Mr WereBear for falling in love. AND we only got one, which was great restraint on my part.
I thought some folks might like to give him a big Balloon Juice welcome.
Our former baby, Tristan, has never seen a kitten before. And it shows.
You hit the lottery, young Mithrander. Congratulations, Werebear!
***********
Apart from warm fuzzies, what’s on the agenda for the start of another week?
SiubhanDuinne
Mithrandir (great name!) is just the sweetest thing! Obligatory and heartfelt Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
(Autocorrect naturally changed Mithrandir into Mirth randier. Which also might work.)
SiubhanDuinne
I am up at first sparrowfart this morning because I am doing a good deed for my cousin — picking her up for early-morning dental surgery and driving her home however many hours later. I didn’t sleep at all, so terrified was I that I wouldn’t hear the alarm.
Tomorrow I will be up even earlier to be a poll watcher for Georgia’s primary. I expect to have the same alarm click fears, and suspect a nap is going to be on my agenda sometime today.
p.a.
He is a Q T π!
schrodinger's cat
Squee, I want to snorgle him.
Mustang Bobby
It’s my mom’s birthday and the fortieth anniversary of my graduation from college, so today’s mood is a bit of nostalgia and good feelings. Also got word overnight that one of my short plays made the semis in a play contest; still waiting on word about the full-length.
Yesterday my Pontiac was at a car show at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami and won the prize for Best Car of the ’80’s. The trophy was an orchid.
That kitty is adorable beyond words.
OzarkHillbilly
Ehhhhh… cat. ;-)
raven
@Mustang Bobby: Damn Dawg, you’s on a roll!
TheMightyTrowel
Just had a paper published – super long one (12k words plus a 35k word catalogue) and it took two years of blood, tears and pain to get it done but I’m proud as hell. pissed at the journal though because it’s got at least 3 typos still in it that I corrected in the proof. Also their house style for possessives is FUGLY: Grimes wrote a paper; I’d say it’s Grimes’ paper – they insist it’s Grimes’s paper. SIGH.
Patricia Kayden
A kitty adoption is a lovely way to start a new week. Good for Werebear.
Chyron HR
Ma’am, we’re going to need you to sign a consent form before your kittens can enlist in the KISS Army.
SuperHrefna
What a cutie pie! Having a new kitten at home is so exhausting what with teaching the kitten the ways of the house and getting the cats to accept the kitten, but at least you get lots of blissful kitten snorgles to sweeten each and every day.
PurpleGirl
WereBear: Congratulations on getting the kitty. Very cute kitten. Hope he integrates with his new siblings without any problems.
Mustang Bobby: Everything sounds good.
Tommy
That looks like my cat, as a kitten, I got from a shelter. It is hard for me to explain how needy my cat is. Always needs attention. When folks are at my house they are like “dude your cat is stoking me.” I am like yes she is. She is a cat. My cat will always lurk around and stock you.
danielx
Clearly some handsome sibs, too.
Tommy
@TheMightyTrowel: Congrats. Congrats!
I recall writing my father letters. He’d send them back to me using a red marker. Grammar and spelling errors noted. That pissed me off. I never understood. Then I got his dissertation. 700 pages. The copy he sent to his father. He marked it up in the same way. Guess that is just how my family rolls.
Mustang Bobby
@TheMightyTrowel: Congratulations and argh for the sloppy editors.
JPL
The kitty is adorable and I expect numerous updates on Mithrandir as he adapts to his new surroundings.
It is so nice to read about everyone’s good news. Congrats Mustang Bobby and Mighty Trowel.
Iowa Old Lady
@TheMightyTrowel: Congratulations!
That form of the singular possessive is more common now that it used to be. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends it. It does not recommend typos however.
I signed a book contract this weekend. A small press is publishing my middle-grade novel.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Tommy: It happens to everyone. My dissertation advisor was known for looking up and confirming every footnote as well as grammar and spelling errors. I knew I had done well when at the second draft of my 200 page master’s paper, I had only one footnote incorrectly listed.
Congratulations, The Mighty Trowel. And boo to bad editors, especially those who have ugly standards for possessives and don’t use the Oxford comma.
sparrow
@TheMightyTrowel: From a fellow academic, congrats!! I know how good that feels. Have a beer or thirty. :)
Mustang Bobby
@Iowa Old Lady: Wonderful!
WereBear
@Iowa Old Lady: AND TheMightyTrowel AND Mustang Bobby. Congratulations!
I proudly state that my own Way of Cats Kindle eBook should have the lowest typos of any in their collection… because I proofed it myself and uploaded directly. Unless Kindle mysteriously adds them…
Thank you, Anne Laurie & My Fellow Juicers, for giving Mithy a proper welcome. Hat tip to SiubhanDuinne for suggesting the name Merlin in a previous thread… Mr WereBear liked it too, but went with the Elvish version, because that’s the kind of Geeks we are.
Rest assured, there will be updates and SQUEEING because he is madly adorable and a total sweetheart so you’ll just have to put up with me. All going smoothly, especially considering he had a Feral Mom and he’s a bit skittish, but I figured we could fix that, and we are.
He already climbed into my lap yesterday for a snooze, so you can see that he’s coming along great. And coming when he’s called, though I’m sure he’s just responding to a human voice at this point. He likes us and we open cans.
Gosh, he loves his cans! Getting a proper round kitten belly.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady:
True. And now you’re supposed to use double possessives when talking about wealthy people. As in Romney’s’s millions. The rich really are different.
HeartlandLiberal
Assuming he will show back up after going out after consuming breakfast, I will be taking our 16 plus year old Maine Coon mix Buckaroo to the vet today. I suspect it is time to start him on treatment for hyperthyroidism, which often hits older cats. The thyroid goes into overdrive, and they burn up their body fat, and are threatened with blindness if not treated. Followup blood test will show if he is tipping over yet into treatment range.
He woke me up about 1:00 am last night, thrashing around at the foot of the stairs on main level. I turned on the light, and at first thought he had a creature under the table by the front door. But then he raced up the stairs, and apparently was just feeling his oats, banging into stuff, and playing as if he were hunting. I got back in bed, he followed, walked up, sat down on my stomach and chest, and proceeded to purr and drool loud enough to wake the dead. I finally persuaded him to back off and curl up between my knees, and we both managed to get to sleep, somehow.
Noted Cole’s diary on grooming Steve. Keeping Buckey’s fur under control this Spring has been a nightmare. At least four times the fur knots were so bad I had to just use scissors and trim them out to groom him, furminator and comb could not do it. And he hates it when I do his rear end. I have the scars and have bled many times as proof.
debbie
@Cheryl from Maryland: I used to both edit and lay out articles for several academic journals. APA references always killed me. No matter how careful I was, I’d still have to go through the reference list a few times to make sure absolutely nothing was amiss. A real psycho must have come up with those guidelines.
J R in WV
Lots of congratulations for accomplishments! Well earned, too!!!
We’re awaiting the arrival of a generator, installed to run on natural gas. We’ve had a Yamaha the past several years, but messing with gasoline and Stabil and plugging it in and disconnecting the main breakers and still needing extension cords was a pain. Not to mention more dangerous.
The guys doing the install are retired mine electricians, used to hard work. Now I’m just hoping everything works as designed. Lots of removal of old crap. We used to have a hot tub, and the equipment for that is where most of the interior work will be done.
But a big improvement about to hatch if all goes well. Not as $$ as I feared.
We need a new kitten too, our cats are 11 or 12 years old, and we like to stage them so we’re never without cat. Plus older cats deserve kittens to teach how to be cats. Or whatever all that noise is.
Again, major congratulations to the authors and prize winners! Much hard work in every page and award!!
satby
Congratulations to Werebear on her new beautiful baby, and TheMightyTrowel and Iowa Old Lady on their publications! Good way to start a week: happy news and achievements.
I have a perpetual case of writers block.
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: Excuse me but one of those future pictures will have be his belleh.
Iowa Old Lady
@Baud: You put the ‘s’ in the wrong place: Romney’s millionss. Or maybe millions$.
WereBear
@PurpleGirl: I will, but I have only glimpsed it (and felt it when I pick him up.) So you will have to settle for this one:
Mithy climbs the bookcase
Which lets you see the full glory of his ears.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady:
Now I’m reading it in Gollum’s voice. Oddly appropriate.
TheMightyTrowel
@Baud: you laugh, but i’d be happier if some of my students would use two apostrophes. Most don’t even seem to know what the damn things are. I swear I had an essay submitted with the line: its clear the authors goals werent and arent believed by most archaeologist’s. SIGH
Also thanks all for the congrats. I’m actually prouder of this one paper than I was when my phd monograph was published. Amazingly, this hurt more to write.
Josie
@WereBear: He has presence. That is going to be one impressive cat.
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: He is precious.
WereBear
@Josie: @PurpleGirl:
Yes, I believe the Future Awesomeness is what Mr WereBear sensed from his photo.
Reverend Jim, our skilled Kitty Wrangler, is looking out for him. The three other cats do not want to hear that they were once that clumsy and clueless, and are fascinated by Mithy’s apparent and utter uselessness.
We expect that to change.
PaulW
I have been a cat magnet the last six months…
Scammed by a sweet little kitten mewling in the apartment parking lot… who turns out to be pregnant by the time I fully adopted her (for a young’un, she figured out right quick to find a sugar hooman). Had her giving birth right as the Seattle Seahawks won their Super Bowl (I am not lying: as the confetti dropped she hurried into her cat cave and… then… BOOM, BIRTHING FLUID EVERYWHERE), bringing in six more mewling little wriggly things. If you followed my Wittylibrarian blog you might see the pics. (five got adopted out via the local SPCA shelter)
Then I move into a new home, this villas duplex (well, quadplex) in a quiet little neighborhood. The feral cats in the neighborhood then dig a hole into my attic via the soppets (sp?) and there’s three more kittens to worry over… had to get the hole fixed… and then three separate calls to Animal Control to come out and hunt the kittehs caught in the attic before they starved to death (couldn’t catch ’em). Had to dig a new hole into the soppet and place a ladder underneath it with cat food to tempt the kittehs down (all three did, thank God).
So, yeah… adventures in kittehing.
BubbaDave
@WereBear:
That’s the first picture you’ve posted of him that I didn’t think looked like he was plotting evil*. Clearly, it’s been Photoshopped.
* Adorable, adorable evil.
rikyrah
He stood up for Voter ID and STATES RIGHTS
JUST LAST WEEK.
Next.
……………………..
Here’s How Republicans Are Trying To Solve Their Problem With Black Voters
The RNC picks fights with liberal media over race, while Rand Paul talks policy with black Democrats. But mixed signals continue. posted on May 18, 2014, at 10:57 p.m.
McKay Coppins BuzzFeed Staff
…Meanwhile, Rand Paul has taken a somewhat different tack in engaging with the black community. The Kentucky senator, whose libertarian following allows him more latitude in defying traditional GOP orthodoxy, has been an outspoken advocate for softening drug laws, reforming the criminal justice system, and creating major tax breaks for areas in financial distress, like Detroit. He has also given high-profile speeches at black colleges.
Rather than seek out strategic fights with liberal black institutions
to make a point, Paul’s aides say he tries to get their input and look
for areas where they can align. To help do that, he has enlisted Elroy
Sailor, an influential Republican lobbyist and strategist, to set up roundtable conversations with black community leaders and business owners — most of them Democrats — in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston.
Sailor said Paul has plans to meet with the NAACP and the National Urban League in coming months.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/republicans-outreach
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Mustang Bobby: All very cool. The play and the orchid car prize are for me a combination that’s hilarious. But I’m weird that way.
Itty bitty kitty with big name – SQUEEE. I thought that was Tristan looking alarm/ed/ing.
WereBear
@BubbaDave: That photo is after he’s been home for 24 hours and has actually come a long way in his taming. So world domination can be put on hold while he samples our extensive buffet of food and toys.
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I told Tristan what fun the new kitten will be; so successfully he demanded the fun start right now… and got frustrated.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Also, congratulations to both The Mighty Trowel and Iowa Old Lady. Impressive accomplishments!
Another Holocene Human
I know Cole won’t care. But what’s missing in the Trigger Warning food fight is that it is the democratization of publishing of print content via the internet and the demolishing of traditional publishing gatekeepers, who could spike or reject (from employees or stringers) content that didn’t meet their parameters that has created the current culture of labeling, tags, and even trigger warnings.
Most of us here can remember when people would write angry letters to the newspaper, for example, for publishing graphic photos. The newspaper publisher was the gatekeeper. Today, people write angry letters to bloggers. Because they make their own content decisions. And many bloggers have chosen to put controversial images behind cut text.
It’s the online culture of fanfic and blogs bleeding via Tumblr into academia. But it was caused by the internet, where everything is publishable by anyone and the gatekeepers have been abolished. That’s all.
So everybody can go ego trip about it but in the true “olden days” that it seems like half the posters want to bring back, governments used to heavily censor print media. Writers were often persecuted by governments and ministers. Books and other publications were suppressed. You know what? Fuck that shit. Get over your ego and put tags on your posts. So the fuck what.
Another Holocene Human
I think it’s telling that the instructors who posted last night, who CURATE the class offerings, all averred that they were aware of the concept but rarely or never heard from students about this.
IT’S BECAUSE THEY ARE THE GATEKEEPER AND THE COURSE TITLE IS THE WARNING/TAG.
When a consumer has a choice in the marketplace between curated content, for example, only buying a certain newspaper at the stand or subscribing to a certain magazine, you rarely hear calls for editorial discretion.
But the internet is in a state of great flux and direct publishing is everywhere. There are thousands of clearinghouse websites where hundreds if not tens of thousands of posters have publishing privileges. And it is exactly in this situation where publishing is automated, editing non-existent, and moderation, if any, reactive, that a culture of tagging content and adhering descriptions and warning labels arose.
Another Holocene Human
And it’s not as if students never object to class content. Many a manifesto has erupted from the pen of a student deeply disturbed by their reading material. Was not SEXUAL POLITICS such a book? And how about Chinua Achebe’s criticisms of the Western canon, his rant about Heart of Darkness, for example? I know I read some such works in class. Sometimes students do indeed find their coursework very disturbing. And it’s not as if there hasn’t been a deep, far-ranging, long-raging war in academia over these issues. Let’s not sit here and pretend that never happened.
imonlylurking
OK, so, do we need some kind of balloon-juice wiki to keep track of everybody’s accomplishments? Books, plays, publications-I can’t keep track of what to put on my list to read/buy.
Another Holocene Human
@WereBear: Your blog has been a great help to me in better getting along with my cat. That and Jackson Galaxy.
JPL
@Iowa Old Lady: That really is exciting news.
WereBear
Thanks so much!
I was a bit worried when My Cat from Hell first came out, but turns out Jackson has a lot of rescue experience and he and I are on the same wavelength. I usually second his advice, and have written a few posts on the subject.
What causes the cats in My Cat From Hell?
In fact, Mr WereBear likes to refer to him as the West Coast Me :)
Johannes
Congrats WereBear (Mithrandir is a beauty!), Mustang Bobby, the Mighty Trowel and Iowa Old Lady!
I have a paper on the inconsistency of the conservative acceptance of usury and hostility to SSM coming out in the Anglican Theological Review this summer, and I’m reviewing the proofs for my first novel, which should be available in June….
ThresherK
@WereBear: We watch “My Cat from Hell” with our troublemaker–my wife’s cat–because his behavior looks so good by comparison.
The Way of Cats has been on our list of go-tos since someone pointed us to the “Alpha-Beta-Gamma” link. Had no idea it was a Balloon-juicer.
ruemara
@Johannes: oh my. Post a link to that when it comes out? Sounds fascinating.
Grats to Werebear, TMT, IOL & all the other superhumans of this blog.
This week, I oversee my first ever product launch. Terrifying, but I think I’ve got all the dominoes lined up. And it looks like I’ll be working on another film project with a friend, plus doing part 2 of my own on the drought. Making plans for converting my first novella to e-book, now that I know the ending.
And I have been all over the Mith pics on fb. He looks like baby Takkun. People ask if I’m going to get my cats back & I’m not comfortable doing that until I feel more secure in my job. But that could be awhile. I fear another move in a year could be too stressful & they probably have forgotten me by now. Maybe I get a rat?
Karen in GA
Welcome, young Mithandir. And congratulations to Iowa Old Lady and TheMightyTrowel!
WereBear
I doubt they will forget you. But when the time comes, you can assess then. Who knows? I’m just so happy you are busy and more secure, now.
Roger Moore
@PaulW:
Soffit.
catclub
Great kitten. Name too difficult to say quickly…. or I could be wrong.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
One could always use Gandalf or Olorin for short.
Villago Delenda Est
The cute! Overwhelming it is!
WereBear
@catclub: We’re sticking with Mithy for the moment. Don’t want to put too much pressure on him too soon.
Destiny is heavy on little kitten heads.
Mnemosyne
Cute! I look forward to many pictures of Mithy and Tristan tackling each other’s heads.
Though I wonder if Tristan will have the same reaction to a new kitten’s games that Keaton did. Keaton’s favorite game in the whole world was Surprise! (jumping unexpectedly onto Boris’s back) until Annie did it to him. Then, suddenly, that joke wasn’t funny anymore.
WereBear
This was one of the selling points I used on Tristan, but he remains skeptical. At this point, he’s like the CEO who got sold this great new program and arrives as the cubicles are being set up.
Not seeing what he was sold yet.
kc
Adorable!
Pogonip
Did Elmo ever find a taker for all his kittens?
cckids
@WereBear: So adorable. I love the thoughtful, pensive little look on his face. One of my guys (Gryffindor) has it too, even as an adult. Something about that look just makes me want to snuggle him.
Darkrose
KITTEN!!!
Congratulations! He’s absolutely adorable.
Freemark
Congrats, so cute, WereBear!!
I have a question for anybody who can help. I am leaving for Puerto Rico for 11 weeks and my parents are going to take care of my kitty Natasha. I took her up there yesterday and put her in a quiet room for most of the day. I thought I would take her up everyday until I left for her to get used to it. I was with her for the first couple of hours left for a little then came back. I spent 3 hours tearing apart the room and the furniture and until I found her.
My question is should I put her with my parents and leave her there with me visiting frequently this week, or should I bring her back home everyday as originally planned? Also any way to make this less traumatic for her. Any GOOD suggestions appreciated.
Pogonip
@Freemark: Give her to the parents, make sure she knows where the litter box is, make sure the parents know not to let her out, and stop worrying. She’ll come out from under the sofa or wherever when she’s good and ready.
Johannes
@ruemara: Will do!
WereBear
@Freemark: I have someposts on the subject:
When we go away
and posts linked from it
Mnemosyne
@Freemark:
IMO, the better way to do it is to take her to your parents and NOT visit. I promise that it will be harder on you than it will be on her to do it that way. When my cat Boris was temporarily confiscated by my brother (long story), it seemed to be more stressful for him for me to come by for a visit than it was for him to just accept that he was staying at a new place for a while but he would be home soon.
You should probably do it at least a few days before you leave so you aren’t all stressed out when you drop her off. The fact that she’s already been there will help since she’ll be like, Oh, okay, I know this place and where I can hide.
ETA: Also, the Feliway plug-ins seem silly, but they do seem to work for calming anxious kitties down. Amazon has the best price, but you should be able to get one at any big box pet store (Petco, PetSmart, etc.) If one of your parents is willing to go into the room she’s in and just hang out (reading, watching TV, whatever), that will help her settle in.