Simon's Cat...

Okay, I guess Sophie is Simon's kitty. Or he's her dog. ;) Every girl needs a good looking guy to boss around, right? ;)











(The last one cracks me up. Little flirt!)

Hello, Kitty!

Vet cleared, vaccinated, tested, microchipped, worming = expensive.

Happy, well fed kitten playing in the chair rungs = priceless. :)

41/52 42/52 (AKA: There's a sucker born every moment! )

41/52 "All the better to see you with, my dear!"



The challenge last week was a tribute shot. There was one done by a woman in my Flickr group that I loved -- it was of her adorable dog in a rain jacket.

Now, hahah, you'd think it would be easy to find a rain-coat in the Pacific Northwest, but darnit, I'm sold out at the shop! So, okay, we had to go for a parka. A red fur lined parka. Of course, I can't get Simon to look soft and pensive sometimes to save my life when he thinks something's hilarious. This he found quite funny, and of course he was laughing and then I was laughing. Not a good combo. ;) So, hey, you roll with it. *grin*

So, to her dog's sweet, adorable Red Riding hood we have Simon the Wolf in uh, Grandma's Winter Wear. Apparently he raided the back of the closet for his hood.

"But Granny, what big blue eyes you have!"
"All the better to beg for a cookie, my dear.."
"But Granny, what a big nose you have!"
"All the better to snuffle loudly in your ear and wake you up in the morning, my dear..."
"But Granny, my what short legs you have!"
"All the better to trip you in the kitchen carrying those muffins, my dear!"

Little Red Riding Hood probably is still laughing because the Wolf needs to hire better stand ins on his day off -- but that's okay, the Corgi probably ate the entire basket of goodies and was content.

Since we still had the coat, I had to go take a few more photos. This one cracks me up, he looks like a person who's off to sell fishsticks or go crabbing or something. ;)



Now for this week's shot... okay, it's not technically a grand shot, but oh man, it's so, so Simon.

42/52 "Stray Kitty..."




Huh... well, there is a little bag of bones calico kitten now ensconced in my spare room as of Friday night.

My neighbor found her in the back of a non-running truck on their property -- the poor little kitten was screaming and screaming. It saw them and ran towards them, yowling. The poor neighbor's daughter (who is not a pet person) was like "You pick it up mom! It might have rabies!"

So, of course, the baffled neighbor brought her to us and said, "I think her mommy lost her..."

Sadly no, dumped, starving, very, very desperate for love and food kitten. So, of course, we being the cat suckers we are took her in. She is not afraid of dogs, not one bit.

Simon took a bit to realize that she was actually a tiny cat. At first all he would do is poke his nose in the room and the most hilarious thing was how huge his eyes got. Kitten had NO fear and was like, "Hi!" and ran up to see him and Caleb staring into the room; quickly Caleb got all excited with the "Hey, look, Simon, it's a KITTY!" smile and pushed in to visit with her, wagging himself practically in half.

So, then the next thing that happens is that Simon goes into "Man, my brother's too friendly (note, stupid) for his own good better save him from himself!" mode and jumps in front of his brother! Our intrepid hero gives the "yipyipyip" noise as he turns around and shoves Caleb down the hall away from the kitten into the other bedroom, and won't let Caleb come out. Poor Caleb's just got the blink-blink expression on, and Simon's all stiff legged and ready to leap out to sacrifice himself for his dope of a brother.

I'm dying laughing, and Simon gives me the "It's NOT funny" glower, and then adds on a "fine, you stay in there, and wait until it becomes an alien chestburster, mom," for good measure.

It's okay though -- he finally realized it was a cat! He just didn't know cats came in concentrated form, like orange juice. Once he figured out the cat just wanted to love all over him, he was so excited, and poking her all over the floor, tail going a mile a moment with a big smile on his face. ;)

I just love this shot -- like I said above, it may not be a beautiful technical shot, and a little cluttered... but Simon is saying hey, little cat, no worries no more. It's pretty cushy here! :D

40/52 - Point and Shoot... (and a thank you)

Okay, I just have to shake my head. Week forty... and my dog is now on Auto-pose.

Seriously. This shot really sums this up. We went to the park, since it's been pouring all week, I had a tiny window to work in and I wanted to go find some fall leaves for him to play in.

I let him loose to run and he zipped once around in a big circle, and then went straight for the bench. He then promptly proceeded to walk up and down it a few times before he decided to strike a pose on his own accord until I put the camera down on the rocks.

It was a lovely pose, though. It's always funny all the things I see in his merle patterns -- see the chess knight on his haunch? Rather fitting! ;)



Of course the Zoolander himself (hahaha, several of you will understand that joke) had to get in on the posing. "Blue Steel, Caleb! Blue Steel!"



Hey, look - my leaves! (and a disgustingly slimy mushroom he perfumed himself with after.)

Ps: Thank you for all the comments on the old Merp. He's still hanging in, doing okay. I'm shocked... but really, he's a tough old bird, so to speak.



I know, I know. He's not an attractive cat in the slightest. The happy-purr drool isn't helping, but this is the best photo I could take of the old fellow. I like to think of him as ruggedly handsome. ;)

39/52 -Worship the Dog ;)

I think Simon was recalling the days back when dogs were worshipped.

Sadly, when he got home all my cats laughed at him for his grave misunderstanding of history....

(And of course, just a few more shots. Wow, Caleb's uh, looking more like a dog every day...)

Playing catch up...

Let's see... went to Vegas for Superzoo, the pet trade show. Long week -- some nice stuff there. I really only came home this time with several nice pet beds, some T-Shirts, and some very cute shampoo that has this neat 'pet freshening spray' on the bottom, and VERY nice shampoo on the top. Wouldn't use it for a show, it really softens the dog's coats, but Simon is now wafting the masculine smell of Coconut Lime. Ahhh. It's like a Cardi air freshener. ;)

So, here are my week photos...

37/52 "Luggage Inspector" (I left treats in the bag unpacking. Hahah, guess who found them!)



38/52 "Mmmmmuffins!"


Got home, have been working like a maniac. Well, got into work, turned around to let Caleb through the door and... my back went "no." So, this time went directly into the doctor and now am on muscle relaxers (still.) I will say the stim treatment though worked awesomely well, and this time it's only been a little over a week and a half and I'm nearly back to normal.

Found out that my little Arab is officially a "pasture pet" only. His knee is getting so arthritic that he's locking up a lot even loose in his pasture, and he's pitched on the ground a few times when he's got up a head of steam. Well, on a high note, he's photogenic and cute! He'll have to model and earn his living. ;) Sadly, he is nowhere as good as Simon.

Of course... getting ready for the Richland show, and I come home and my 19 year old arthritic cat's leg is swollen up like a little peg. Great. I had an appointment with my regular mobile vet (who I love. Matt and I had a mock fight and he said that if we divorce, he's taking custody of the vet. I told him no way) but he can't make it until Thursday. So I run him down to a new vet and the guy is great. He looks at it, takes fluid, tells me that the cat has cancer and without taking off his leg the cat has days to live. I pay the deposit, and take Merp home. I admit, I adopted this cat back in January... and I absolutely adore him. He's just the sweetest old cat, with everyone, including the dogs. Either that, or like some grandpas, he just doesn't care.

So, I spend a sleepless night, and decide that morning that he can't go in. He looks horrible, he's barely walking, etc... there's no way this cat can survive on three legs, none. Sigh. I call my regular vet out for Thursday... and we're all set to put him to sleep.

Well, get up this morning, his leg is way less swollen, and he's bopping around the house. Enough that he goes to get a drink of water in the other room, he lies in the sunshine and bakes himself. My mobile vet comes and we watch him happily purring and headbutting us for a while...

I've had to euthanize many of my crew over the years. You really do know when they are done; there's just something about them at that point where you realize they're ready to go. Merp decided today wasn't his day, and well... now we're sending away a test for a second opinion on the leg.

Unfortunately, my other cat walks in with his eye swollen shut last night, and he's ulcerated his eye again. Sheesh. Drops in the eye six times a day. Well, now that the cat's not in danger of dying this weekend at least, and the other one can be medicated, still preparing for Richland. Find out that a friend's dog that I've been hoping for a puppy from didn't take -- so bummed, but I'm sure not as disappointed as they are. Been looking for a pup since this spring... well, I guess that's someone's way of telling me the right one hasn't shown up! ;)

So... yeah. What does Caleb do? Cut his paw on a freshly cut branch of my Vine Maple running around after Simon in the yard... and is limping like gangbusters. It's not a bad, bad cut, but between his front toes, and bad enough for me to realize there is NO way we're going to Richland. Oh well, I'll live vicariously through everyone else, I guess, and hear how things went!

Sigh. Lovely.

Oh well! Pets happen, right? Everything's for a reason. Besides, today I can walk into the back room and the old cat purrs at me, That alone makes it all better!

Air Simon..!

Move over Jordan, for sure!



I snapped this photo when we were out playing earlier. Matt and I both were like "holy..." when he leapt into the air and did this ninja Cardigan backflip and whipped the toy into his mouth. I downloaded the camera tonight and man, I wish this background was clearer -- this is simply cool. It happened so fast I'm shocked I was still snapping and that I caught it!

For someone with short legs, holy crud... he is an athletic dog. I can't say I've had a Shepherd that was as athletic as this dog is. I still can't get over the air he got on this.