Shawn and I had some rib eyes for dinner, along with some sweet corn and some sliced tomatoes, and then a bunch of the frat boys came down so I defrosted some ground beef and made them some burgers and whipped up some slaw and some sweet potato fries and cooked some more corn. We spent a couple hours talking and listening to music, and we watched Alonzo Bodden’s 2011 stand-up on Netflix (seriously the funniest standup this side of Craig Ferguson). Good time all around. I really do love my frat boys. I seriously think they keep me young.
At any rate, they left, and Shawn and I had to clean up the kitchen and the house, but we had some leftover steak and decided to give it to the critters. I happened to be on the floor brushing Rosie while he started to give away the food, and I caught this on tape:
Good times.
Betty Cracker
Wow, your dogs are so patient! Mine would have pounced on Steve’s share the second it hit the floor.
John O
Excellent dog control! And you can tell Steve is…uh…”less than threatened” by the doggies.
Cute.
Mary G
Adorbs.
? Martin
Rosie almost has the stare down. Lily not so much. The corgi would never break eye contact with the food.
grishaxxx
Absolutely best critter-cam ever11!1 Gee, they are all so good looking, and, as Betty notes, patient. Plus, there’s Steve vocalizing – I am blown away…
schrodinger's cat
Floofy tail is floofy
mtmofo
Nice to see Steve in motion and to hear him. Nice tribe.
MattR
@Betty Cracker:
It seems like all the creatures in the house know not to get between Steve and his food. I noticed that Shawn felt comfortable feeding Lily and Rosie by hand but dropped Steve’s portion on the floor.
ultraviolet thunder
The meows are so sweet but he’s really saying “Don’t make me have to come up there and rip the food out of your hand.”
I’m in Germany again for a week, after spending a week in Dallas. This is my punishment for being a vegetarian: only go to places famous for meat.
I’m having a veggie kebap for lunch (it’s 10:00 am).
pet update; The Congo African Grey parrot is a sweetie and we all adore each other. We got him a huge new cage and dubbed it Bird Palace. He even likes the dog.
cmorenc
My Italian Greyhound has steak night whenever I have steak night. When I’m cutting up a few pieces from the steak to put in her bowl, she watches me with laser-beam concentration and gets extremely excited (fortunately she isn’t the kind of dog that piddles on the floor or carpet when she gets excited like that).
And when I’m all done eating, if it’s the kind of steak that has some bone, I’ll hold it and let her chew the remaining scraps of meat off the bone. IGs are small dogs who don’t have very powerful jaws, so at worst I’m at risk of a very slight pinching nip – I wouldn’t hold the bone for a big dog to gnaw on.
ultraviolet thunder
Our dog Geezer has learned to search for white styro takeout containers when my wife and I come home together. He knows they often contain delicious bacon and he gets some. Bacon is a strong motivator.
TheMightyTrowel
I wish someone would hand feed me steak!
I’m making Mark Bittman’s unstuffed cabbage tonight as an experiment. Mr. Trowel is out of the country which means my diet is about to feature large quantities of cabbage, carrots, beef and frequent bowls of soup. It’s the only good thing about a month on my own.
ultraviolet thunder
@TheMightyTrowel:
I travel constantly and I have no idea what my wife eats while I’m away. I’ll be in Europe for a week now and I guarantee when I get home the same stuff will be in the ‘fridge. Maybe she goes to restaurants. It’s a mystery.
Betty Cracker
@ultraviolet thunder: Germany would be hell on a vegetarian! I loved Germany when I visited, but I think I lost a few pounds. I don’t like pickled things, and it was difficult to find vegetables that were not pickled.
ultraviolet thunder
@Betty Cracker:
It’s not easy. Every kind of meat you can think of, and salad as an afterthought. I ordered cooked vegetables once and they tasted like they were boiled in salt brine.
Mediterranean restaurants are pretty reliable if you can find one. Or Indian.
Higgs Boson's Mate
The Leland dog could care less about steak. Ham, oh yes, chicken is fine, salmon is slammin’ and grated cheese is always welcome.
schrodinger's cat
I had sugar cane juice this morning. It was the awesome. Also too, mango icecream.
RandomMonster
I love Steve lining up like “Well, I’m one of the dogs waiting for my share.” Clearly a cat who can hold his own.
schrodinger's cat
@ultraviolet thunder: Do you eat eggs?
ultraviolet thunder
@schrodinger’s cat:
Lots. Every morning and often for lunch. Gotta get some protein somehow. Spinach and feta omelets preferred. Also cheese, but I need to watch my saturated fats.
schrodinger's cat
Yogi kitteh once grabbed raw steak that I had got from the grocery store and hid it in the tub, in the time it took me to go to the car to grab the remaining grocery bags and come back.
schrodinger's cat
@ultraviolet thunder: Some Indian vegetarians don’t eat eggs but eat diary.
Arclite
Damn, that is one motherfucking big cat.
Also, whenever I read this kind of story I get a strange gay vibe. I almost expect to read “We had huge Vienna sausages smothered with creme fraiche. They just slid down our throats.” I know you guys aren’t, and would probably kick my ass if I said that to your face, but it is what it is.
Arclite
@Betty Cracker:
Apparently Australia is even more difficult. Also, I lived in Japan for six years, and despite it’s Buddhist leanings, finding food that’s not flavored with dashi (ground fish) is nearly impossible. Once I bought a tofu burger that tested delicious and meaty. My Japanese GF read the ingredients. “No wonder it tastes meaty!” she said, “It’s got horse meat in it!” Ew!
Montarvillois
Growing up poor as poor kids, these critters remind me of my sister & I awaiting our T-bones in celebration of daddy hitting the Daily Double.
amk
LOL. Great video. Patient critters. I don’t know why you bitch about them constantly.
ultraviolet thunder
One thing Germany has going for it: beer dispensing vending machines in hotels that have at least 3 decent brews you’d actually drink. I’m not a big drinker, but it’s nice to know I could walk down the hall in my socks and drop Euros in a slot to get a frosty one if the mood struck me.
This is civilization.
ultraviolet thunder
@amk:
Complaining about house pets is how fortunate people celebrate not really having much to complain about.
Betsy
“Can’t steal Steve’s” LOL
Betsy
My boycat is a lot like Steve (I have thought previously).
He also wags his tail about things he is interested in / eager for, like Steve does in this video.
Betsy
“Wahyamean ‘Rowrr’? What does that mean? Does that mean give me some steak?”
“Rowrr”
LOL
Anya
I think I missed all of JC’s past posts about this, since he usually posts after midnight, but when did he started dating Shawn? It’s kinda fast to move in with someone you’ve only started dating recently, specially for a commitment phobe like JC. So…I am assuming you’ve known each other for much longer.
Anyway….I am happy for you JC. You deserve to be this happy and relaxed. I must admit I was tad worried about you.
Glidwrith
@Anya: Did you miss the whole visiting-army-buddy-has-uncontrolled-diabetes-and-I-saved-his-life-by-utterly-deconstructing-his-diet saga? Not that John will admit he probably did save Shawn’s life, but a few months back both of them decided having another warm body that could relate and talk to them was a good idea.
Ash Can
What good pets! So patient. The kitty I grew up with would have been jumping up on the counter.
MazeDancer
That was such a wonderful video. Just fabulous. Laughed so much.
The dogs looked like TV trained stunt dogs. Their attention was unblinking. And Steve’s conversation with Shawn was adorable.
And with a pool of frat boys to add to the mix – seriously, sit com pilot on it’s way. Or just go indie, start on YT, new episode every week. Offers will abound.
Forked Tongue
THAT CAT HAS DEMON EYES!!!
Anya
@Glidwrith: they’re just two army friends rooming together?
WaterGirl
@Anya: Yep. Two army buddies rooming together. Great friends.
As someone who just had an old college roommate stay with me for two weeks, I’ll say that one shouldn’t underestimate how great it is to share a home with someone you have known since you were a pup. If she sold her home and said she wanted to be roommates again, I would say yes in a heartbeat. But it only works because we lived together when we were young and everything falls right back into place.
Marcelo
I said this to my wife when we met at the Austin BJ meetup last year, you have an awesome bass voice. You could do VO/radio no problem. And that’s a lucrative money-making business. Just sayin, if you ever get tired of your current line of work…
Your animals are just the best. So patient. And Steve is great to see in motion. :)
Biscuits
Yours is a good home John Cole, for critters and their humans.
Yutsano
@ultraviolet thunder:
And they love pig. I was a practising Jew when I visited Germany in 1995. I had to get…creative with my food options. But honestly a loaf of good bread and cheese makes a fantastic meal pretty much anytime.
StringOnAStick
Our kitty looks a lot like Steve, but smaller (of course). Similar voice too, but ours doesn’t allow a word in edge-wise when she has something she wants to talk about.
shelley
Hmmm, I see Steve decided to cut in line. But as someone said, such patient critters! (Steak , yay. But does anybody else’s dog go crazy over plain tuna?)
And for those who’ve tried sweet potato fries. I can never get them as crisp as regular white potato ones. Even with the double frying. Just the nature of that tuber?
WaterGirl
@shelley: I wonder if you have to let the sweet potato fries “sweat” after you cut them, before you cook them.
Josie
@shelley: My son and I were just researching how to get oven baked sweet potato fries crisp. We have tried soaking them, sweating them, etc. – nothing worked. I found a site that said to coat them with spices mixed with cornstarch and we are going to try that. Don’t know if It would work with actual fries, but it is worth a try.
ruemara
Not to be that person, but I am. You sure not to give them steak with any onion or garlic on it, right? Them’s toxic to animals. And this is why my pets don’t get human foods or snacks off my plate. The less they connect what I eat with what they can eat, the less I’ve had to worry about them snagging my chow from a grocery bag, trash bin or countertop. But it sure does make them happy to get a treat.
@Josie: I found seasoning mixed with cornstarch and a bit of cornmeal gave a good crunch.
Josie
@ruemara: Mmmm, that sounds good.
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
I’m guessing that John’s dogs learned early on that Steve has pointy things at the ends of his paws.
@StringOnAStick:
Our kitty Annie could be Steve’s half-size twin — she’s only about 8 pounds. We call her our miniature Maine Coon.
gogol's wife
Better than Citizen Kane, in my book.
Ann Marie
This post made me so nostalgic. I grew up in Virginia, just outside DC, and summer always meant sweet corn and sliced tomatoes. I could live off those all summer. And whenever my Dad was cutting any meat in the kitchen, he would give little tidbits to the dog and cat. You have a great household, John.
Ruckus
Yutsano
40+ yrs ago in the navy we’d stop a ports in northern europe and the first place I’d go was a bakery for a loaf of bread and some pb&j. Heaven compared to the
shitship food. And yes lived on that.ETA Yutsano, your name is still causing my links to you to fail. So still FYWP
My Truth Hurts
Steve really is a magnificent bastard.
David Koch
√
Lynnell Mickelsen
They are all so awesome……..this is the first time I’ve seen a video of Steve—wow! What a cool cat!
Culture of Truth
Cat Eats First!
Kris Collins
Steve is The Cat!