I hate every GOP fettering gob these days. And DiFi can kiss a stoat–or rather did, in that embrace with Lindsey Graham. I’m ecstatic that Twitter is down: let tech-failure save me from myself. This XKCD cartoon from a couple of days ago completely speaks for me:
So yeah. I need a respite. How about you?
And I realize I’ve been remiss in updating the Champ saga. She’s ridiculously cute (as kittens kind of are on their default settings), and, with very occasional exceptions, she’s managed to avoid the shoals and hidden rocks as she navigates the Tikka-verse.
To lead off, perhaps the single most squee picture I’ve ever taken (sorry son!):
Then there’s the glamor pose…
And here’s Tikka and Champ, socially distancing…
This may not end well (it didn’t):
And last–here’s a couple of portraits.
First, me and the little one, and my man Oppie, keeping the morning watch. (Edited to add…this one’s for Cheryl):
And here is the once and future King, Tikka, first of his name, in all his glory. Long may he reign!
Soundtrack for this post?
“FEEEEEEEELINES…NOTHING BUT FEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINES…”
#SorryNotSorry
This thread…it is open for anything but Republicans.
jeffreyw
Back at ya with a Gabe action shot.
NotMax
Would it be, in a political sense, non-respitey to make mention of Catmando?
:)
Blackcatsrule
That fourth picture of Tikka! If a picture is worth a thousand words, that one speaks volumes! Bless all of you, two foot and four foot.
zhena gogolia
Great pictures. I love it when a little one thinks they can get away with the old paw-on-end-of-tail gambit.
FelonyGovt
Let’s see… maybe Tikka will play with me if I touch his tail…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@zhena gogolia: @FelonyGovt: That picture is so cute.
Curtis
I thought this was going to be about Joe Biden’s dog, Champ, but this is good too.
LuciaMia
I LOVE Tikka’s schnozz!
CaseyL
Champ default setting: Squee. (That glamor pose!!)
Tikka default setting: Sinister. (Face half-shadowed, only one eye visible.)
Tom Levenson
@jeffreyw: Great shot, great dog.
Tom Levenson
@NotMax: Raving Monster Loonies are always welcome, IMHO.
pat
So the little one has the temerity to put a paw (claw?) on the tail of He Who Must Be Obeyed and what happened next?
Blood or just a bit of hissing and establishing the heirarchy. Would love to see how this ends up. I predict, eventually, two black bodies curled up together….. eventually….
JPL
@Tom Levenson: So who ended up adopting the cat????
Tom Levenson
@JPL: In Old Soviet Union, Cat adopts you.
In Old Hub of Universe too.
JPL
@Tom Levenson: hah.
Tom Levenson
@pat: Mostly Tikka just chivvies Champ off the bed when he’s had enough of her antics. Very occasionally he sits on her.
MomSense
😍😍😍😍
Wag
XKCD is the best. I shared that one on my FB page yesterday
edit: And Champ is totally cute
Alison Rose
Thank you for the kitty pics. I had to help my Zoe, also a tux, over the rainbow bridge last weekend. I knew it was time, she’d been getting worse for a while and then had gone really downhill the couple days before…but damn, it’s still such a hard decision to make. She’d been my little companion for so long and was with me through a whole lot of shit. It was just the two of us here and it’s so weird without her. It’s both difficult and helpful to see other kitties, oddly enough. It makes me miss her even more, but cats are my favorite thing and alongside her memories, it’s just nice to see other people getting joy from their kitties.
I told John I’d have to wait a while before adopting another one, and he of course tried to be a bad influence on me by telling me he’d adopted Steve three days after Tunch died. I understand the inclination but I need a little more mourning time than that, heh.
Some pics here.
Raven
@Alison Rose: And your pop was a New Riders guy!
Blackcatsrule
@Alison Rose: Words are never good enough at a time like this but I’m sorry and know how hard it is.
Benw
@Alison Rose: aww, sorry that sucks. Our beloved tux, Zoot, passed about 5 years ago and I still miss her!
debbie
The entire cat spat as shown on Twitter was very funny. That Champ is no slouch!
dmsilev
Biden town hall is on now (streaming on abcnews.com as well as broadcast).
Tom Levenson
@Alison Rose: So sorry you had to say goodbye to your fine furry friend. What a sweetie!
Tom Levenson
@CaseyL: Tikka knows where you keep your soul.
Raven
It’s strange, Lil Bit has been gone almost two weeks and I feel guilty because I don’t feel bad enough. Part of it is that there was no question about her condition and, as my bride points out, the little squirt didn’t have much of a life outside eating and getting her eye meds. We have a gravesite prepared and a headstone coming tomorrow so she’ll rest next to Raven in the garden. It really is true that letting them go is a gift to them.
Alison Rose
@Raven: A Grateful Dead guy, more specifically – was their business manager in the 70s, when that amazing photo was taken :P
And just to brag about him a little more, scroll down to the personnel listing – Dave Parker is my Dad. Thanks to the family connections, my first job starting in 1997 was working for the Dead’s merchandising sector.
He’s still a cool dude, just with a lot less hair :P
Wyatt Salamanca
Tom,
Did you mean to write “festering gob” instead of “fettering gob”?
h/t Monty Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpAvcGcEc0k
Tom Levenson
@Wyatt Salamanca: Yeah.
I have a bad habit of quoting w.out checking…
Alison Rose
@Blackcatsrule:
@Benw:
@Tom Levenson:
Thanks, all. She was the bestest. I’m thankful I had 13 wonderful years with her.
Elroys Lunch
Ah, long live our feline overlords. In our house, three.
pinacacci
This post was perfect in every way. All hail Tikka the Austere and Magnificent! Thank you, sir.
HumboldtBlue
@Alison Rose:
Bye, Zoe.
Catherine D.
@Alison Rose: So sorry! My mare died in 2017, my dog in 2018, and my father in 2019. I am glaring at my 87 yo mother and 16 yo cat (tuxedo!) saying “nobody die in 2020”
Raven
@Alison Rose: I’m dyin over here! My first show was at the Fox in St Louis in 72 and made a good number over the years.
Central Planning
My wife, daughter, and I dropped our ballots off today at the board of elections. “Vote blue all the way through!” It’s a great feeling to get the early vote in.
Since this is a cat thread, I have a friend that got some “cat furniture” from Catastrophic Creations. I’m seriously considering getting something for our cats.
Raven
@Alison Rose: This ain’t a Dead show but you get the idea. We was flashin sunshine children!
Blackcatsrule
@Raven: Yeah I’ve come to realize this is a good thing. The pets I feel the worst about are the ones where I keep thinking I should have done something different, seen what I was missing, let them go sooner, etc etc. As you said, it is a gift to them.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Tom Levenson:
Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts prevented me from attending your two book talk events that you mentioned a few weeks ago.
Do you know if either event was recorded and posted online?
Raven
@Blackcatsrule: I think it’s normal to second guess yourself no matter what you do.
Sure Lurkalot
My respite is reading Money for Nothing. I highly recommend it!
Wyatt Salamanca
@Alison Rose:
Wonderful photos!
Was that as much of a blast as I’m imagining? I always loved the iconography associated with the Grateful Dead in addition to their wonderful music.
Tom Levenson
@Wyatt Salamanca: I believe both were recorded. Let me have a rummage…
Here’s the one I did for Harvard Books with fellow science writer David Dobbs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0DNIWhuqDI
Can’t find the MIT Museum event with Carl Zimmer, but here’s a podcast interview I did that was a lot of fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd2hmprPB7M
Tom Levenson
@Sure Lurkalot: Thanks!
Blackcatsrule
@Raven: Too sadly true. I’m glad Bohdi is doing better.
Raven
@Blackcatsrule: thx
Alison Rose
@Raven: Awesome :) I love seeing pics from back then. Just looks like it was always such an amazing time.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Tom Levenson:
Thanks Tom and good luck with the sales!
Alison Rose
@HumboldtBlue:
@Catherine D.:
Thank you both <3
Alison Rose
@Wyatt Salamanca: It was pretty damn cool for a 17 year old, that’s for sure…I mean, getting high out back during the work day made it immediately the coolest job ever.
(Teenage me would find it hard to believe 40-year-old me hasn’t smoked weed in over a decade.)
But seriously, it was pretty great. I worked in the shipping department so it wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was a great company and I got to meet a lot of cool people.
Aleta
Tikka, Distinguished member of the Cat Thespian Dramatic Society
Raven
@Alison Rose:
Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, A time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories; They’re all that’s left you
Raven
@Alison Rose: I hear ya, I’ve been totally straight for 27 years! I would never have believed it.
Aleta
@Alison Rose: What a beautiful special cat. My sympathy.
Kim Walker
I finished reading your new book last night and loved it. How clever of you to pace out the chapters – each one just long enough for bedtime reading.
Just One More Canuck
@Blackcatsrule: It really only says two words: “Fuck You”
Wyatt Salamanca
@Alison Rose:
I think I belong to one of the smallest minority groups:
I’m a passionate fan of psychedelic and reggae music who has never once used a mind altering substance of any kind.
Mel
@Alison Rose: I’m so sorry about your little one. She was such a lovely kitty.
Raven
@Wyatt Salamanca: I remember my first Petty show when I got sober. “Goddamn this is really good and I remembered it the nest day”!
opiejeanne
@Raven: Paul Simon. Great lyrics.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Raven:
For whatever reason, I never had the urge, desire, or curiosity to try any of these substances. I don’t have anything close to a perfect memory, so I’m glad I didn’t do anything to worsen it.
For any Deadheads who haven’t seen Long Strange Trip, it’s time well spent!
Raven
@Wyatt Salamanca: It’s as much of a mystery to stay fucked up for 35 years and walk away from it in one day.
Blackcatsrule
@Just One More Canuck: 😀 I think Tikka is a deep thinker, realizing that the adorable Champ is not to blame but the human…but then the human is the one who can open cans…oh the dilemma!
ThresherK
The kitten paw on the cat’s tail “will not end well”? Sometimes the oft-told tales are the best.
Ihop
Ok hmmmm, how to say this…
That little kitty is such a near carbon copy of my dear little princess psychopath, sophie, it’s far too much for just this comment to contain.
I refuse to believe that there is another. God be with you.
WaterGirl
These are great pictures, Tom!
Alison Rose
@Raven: <3 <3 <3
Alison Rose
@Aleta: Thank you <3
Alison Rose
@Mel: Thank you <3
randy khan
We have a new kitten, too, and she is endlessly entertaining, although not to all of the other cats. That said, our difficult cat has taken to her, and clearly thinks of her as his kitten.
Kayla Rudbek
Respite videos: the NY Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck!) is running online this year. They have videos up, and one of the videos is of spinning wool straight off an angora rabbit. https://www.virtual.sheepandwool.com/40yearsofrhinebeck/video-demos?i=9UgfMynQilGHnHc_JH1KEbDwUbNRvFTU