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You are here: Home / Archives for Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging

Cat Blogging

Afternoon Respite: Lunchin’ on the Grass

by Major Major Major Major|  March 5, 20214:20 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Nature & Respite, Open Threads, Pet Blogging, Something Good Open Thread

Samwise just loves “cat grass” (wheatgrass), but I rarely get it for him. The ones they sell at the pet store are really easy to knock over, and he’s good at making a big dirty mess. So a friend of mine got him this handsome wheatgrass planter! It will be no surprise to anybody who remembers the first sentence of this post that Samwise loves it.

Shuts him right up between mealtimes. (Yes, I know that cats can get a little sick eating this stuff, which is why he always does so supervised.)

What non-political good things are going on in your neck of the woods? And does anybody have suggestions for cat-friendly indoor plants? Our windows face north. Respiteful open thread!

Afternoon Respite: Lunchin’ on the GrassPost + Comments (115)

Always Be Grifting

by Tom Levenson|  February 12, 20217:56 pm| 101 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads, Trumpery

Donald Trump is indeed an ethnonationalist would-be dictator who, despite his defeat in November and the failure of his subsequent insurrection in January, is still preparing the ground for another run at power. But before, through and after his dreams of il Duce-hood, he’s a petty crook, a con-man. So, when he rouses the rubes to “stop the steal” or march into prison via that detour eastwards up Capitol Hill, he’s also, always, making sure he gets his cut. If he had to choose between power and cash, I’m at least 60-40 he’d grab the green.

Always Be Grifting 3

Flash forward from today’s miserable vision of Republican senators proving themselves to be wholly subject to Trumpismo to a strangely puissant date (for some): March 4.

In case y’all missed this in the pity and the sorrow–and the disgust for Republican cowardice and complicity–of the impeachment trial, it seems that the Q folks have seized on a variety of disconnected facts and fact-like statements to conclude that March 4 is the date for the true and valid inauguration of Donald Trump’s second term:

For some QAnon conspiracy theorists, March 4, 2021 is a date circled in red Sharpie on the calendar. The truly devoted believe that, on this special date, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States.

The theory borrows from the sovereign citizens movement, which espouses that a law enacted in 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation and ended the American government put in place by the founding fathers. Accordingly, the true inauguration date was not January 20, as the rest of the world believes. The conspiracy theorists contend that the real inauguration will happen on March 4, the date on which presidents were sworn in prior to the 1933 passage of the 20th amendment. Still following? QAnon followers believe that Trump will return to power on March 4 as the 19th president of the United States. The last true president, the theory goes, was Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president, who was in office in 1871 when the United States turned into a corporation. Got it?

OK. So that’s crazy, in the same vein as prior Q lunacy, with the cherry on top (as the article linked above notes) of growing interpenetration between Q and older and violent anti-government extremists. But you know what’s special?

This is special:

At the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, the least expensive room option is the deluxe king, ranging in size from 350 to 475 square feet. At this time of year, it normally runs anywhere from $476 to $596 per night.

Interestingly, on March 3 and 4, the same room is selling for $1,331 per night. That’s 180% above the base rate and more than double what you’d pay any other night in February or March, according to the hotel’s website.

As the article notes, this price hike appears to be exclusive to Trump’s property. No other DC hotels are trying to cash in on crazed delusions in support of armed attempts to overthrow the United States government.

Trump wants power to hurt those he hates. But he never forgets the real prize. There are followers to be shorn. He must shear them.

I repeat myself, but…always be grifting.

Also: for all the grim comedy to be found in the notion of “economically distressed” Trump cultists forking over serious coin for the privilege of seeing him…hang out in Marred a Lago, anything to do with that festering hemorrhoid on the body politic leaves  a bad taste. So, because I am not a gratuitously cruel human, here’s a little Champ and Tikka to chase the foulness away.

Here’s Tikka’s response to Trump’s lawyers today:

 

 

Always Be Grifting

 

Tell me that gaze doesn’t have you remembering every sin you committed in third grade…

Here’s Champ, working on the left jab she picked up watching old Ali fights:

‘Always Be Grifting 1

And here’s Tikka, letting the little one know that there are limits:

Always Be Grifting 2

This thread. It is so open.

Image: Pieter Breughel the Elder, The Misanthrope, 1568

Always Be GriftingPost + Comments (101)

Midday and Midnight Open Thread

by Major Major Major Major|  February 7, 202112:07 am| 86 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

Samwise thinks it’s time for a fresh open thread.

We’re watching Kim’s Convenience. How about you all?

Also, I like this ‘diptych’ I ‘made’ of the United Nations headquarters.

Been enjoying going south instead of north on my walks lately pic.twitter.com/Fz0jHx4AUE

— ☕️ Tynan 🍵 (@TynanPants) February 6, 2021

Talk amongst yourselves.

Midday and Midnight Open ThreadPost + Comments (86)

A Frosty Respite

by Major Major Major Major|  February 1, 20214:48 pm| 64 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Nature & Respite, Open Threads, Pet Blogging

As you may have heard, there’s a big nor’easter parked over the, er, Northeast right now. Huge volumes of snow, high winds, and even some thunder are expected throughout the region. New York City may see upwards of two feet over the course of the thirty-six hour storm. Here’s the view from my window right now. Samwise is loving it. We just moved, and have a good street view for the first time, so this is sort of his first big snowstorm.

A Frosty Respite
A Frosty Respite 1
A Frosty Respite 2

He’s just been watching it all day, when he hasn’t been sleeping. Some pigeons came to chill out on the windowsill for a while. Being the big city pigeons that they are, they were unfazed by a cat staring at them with murder in his eyes.

Anyway, we’ve been staying in, and would have been even if there weren’t a raging pandemic. Did some work. Made some pasta. Going to do a Chinese cumin beef thing we like tonight. Nothing to report, really. Just thought we could use a nice thread.

I have this song stuck in my head at the moment. I think of it whenever there’s a big snowstorm. What are some weathery songs you all like?

A Frosty RespitePost + Comments (64)

Respite Open Thread: Kamala and Doug Sunday Morning Interview

by TaMara (HFG)|  January 17, 202112:21 pm| 72 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Duck Blogging, Nature & Respite, Something Good Open Thread

Vice-President Elect and soon to be Second Gentleman:

Enjoyed every bit of this while drinking my morning coffee.

Just Some Fuckhead sent along some cute kittehs, Monkey and Jumbo, that I’m happy to share:

Respite Open Thread: Kamala and Doug Sunday Morning Interview

 

And here are some winter ducks for you. Unlike those crazy Vermont ducks who run inside at the first sign of snow, mine love snow. I often have to shovel a path so they aren’t up to their little eyes in snow, but they do love it. I also shovel out the area under the bushes so they have somewhere to warm their feet.

Respite Open Thread: Kamala and Doug Sunday Morning Interview 1

Something good open thread

 

 

Respite Open Thread: Kamala and Doug Sunday Morning InterviewPost + Comments (72)

Open Thread: The Case For Hope

by TaMara (HFG)|  January 16, 202111:13 am| 183 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

Full video at @MSNBC: https://t.co/JM6em7GNou

— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) January 16, 2021

It’s scary out there right now. It’s going to be scary for some time to come. What has been unleashed, what has been revealed, is ugly. It is what makes democracies die.

In the despair, it is easy to lose perspective. I certainly do all the time. But from time to time, I step back and try to remember where we are as a country on the arc of things.

And I see then that this is both a very dark time and, potentially, a very bright time. It’s important to hold these truths together.

When I look down at the ground of the present right now, I feel depressed. If I lift my head to the horizon, I see a different picture.

This is not the chaos of the beginning of something. This is the chaos of the end of something.

 

When I’m not overtired and overwhelmed, this has been my feeling. I keep hoping to have the energy to turn back to climate solution research and action.

Here’s a kitty, hoping against hope it will be warm enough for the patio door to be opened (they won’t stay outside if the door is closed because, I don’t know, cats?) As long as they stay in the backyard and come when I call, they will continue to have backyard privileges. Just not when it’s 30 degrees out.

Open thread

Open Thread: The Case For HopePost + Comments (183)

Let’s Talk Poultry

by Tom Levenson|  December 26, 20203:10 pm| 64 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Food & Recipes, Open Threads, Recipes

Clearly we need more thread. Also, while I’ve sucked as a regular poster here for quite some time, I am, of course, the resident roast chicken obsessive, so as a way of overcoming my COVID-induced poster’s-block and in serving the jackaltariat, here’s a recently added recipe to the repertory that I can recommend without reservation.

My only edits are to add a tablespoon, more or less of Ricard (or any other anise-flavored digestif) and maybe a teaspoon or so of ground fennel, to kick up that flavor a bit. And I can emphasize the need to spread out the onions to get that richly caramelized effect. In our household, there are only two customers for this dish, so we usually cut the recipe in half or three quarters, and that works just fine. It’s really fast, really easy, and because of the tarragon/fennel combo, tastes very chic indeed, thank you very much.

Other than that? Like some here, I think, I’ve been spending most of my energy fighting off (or trying to) both targeted and free-floating dread, which is why I’ve been mostly absent. But yes: the world is better today than it was before 11/3–and even if the forces of darkness remain, and remain powerful, we’ve landed some shots. Which is, as they say of such things, a good start. (Note my careful tiptoeing around insulting the lawyers here. ;_)

So here’s looking for a much better 2021…and in anticipation of that consummation devoutly to be wished, here’s a little Tikka and Champ action to help the mood to the turn of the year:

First, one taken just a couple of minutes ago.  I am a man rich in cats:

Let's Talk Poultry

Next, how mountaineers are made.

Let's Talk Poultry 2

Let's Talk Poultry 3

Let's Talk Poultry 4

Finally, here’s a portrait, to prove that I really suck at those “some assembly required” holiday gifts:

Let's Talk Poultry 5

Here’s to better days, and the animals who help us get to them.

Open thread.

Let’s Talk PoultryPost + Comments (64)

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