Wednesday, January 10, 2007
So today I was intending to start taking photographs of my retro computer and console collection to put on my website.Unfortunately, I had a little 'help' from two small furry animals.
Cat started helping by climbing up my legs and onto my shoulders... claws all the way. I figured this would be easilly sorted by shutting him in the shower room with some food for a while.
And so it was.
Trouble is, Milo, who doesn't have that climbing up people tendency, decided he was going to help too. His method was considerably less painful, but no less effective.
Kittens continually swiping at the legs of a camera tripod are quite wonderful if you have a liking for blurred photos, but not so good if you want crystal clear shots to put on a website.
I'll try again tomorrow, but this time, I'll do the shots downstairs in the living room.
It'll mean a lot more toing and froing with assorted consoles and computers, but provided I keep Max out of there, I should suffer from a lot less animal interference.
Labels: animals, cats, computers, consoles, photos
Steve 5:07 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Kittens eh?Cute huh?
A little tip... don't mix kittens with canvas wardrobes.
One of the little furballs climbed up on top of the thing and took a dump.
Way to make my clothes stink.
*walks off grumbling*
Labels: animals, annoyed, cats
Steve 3:26 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, December 31, 2006
I've mentioned the various pets in this house on occasion, so I figure it's time I formally introduced them all.This is Cat, who you've seen here once before.
He's grown a lot since the last photo I posted here, and oh yeah... that's a wardrobe he's standing on top of. He gets everywhere.
This is his brother, Milo.
Milo has a prettier face than Cat, and a less aggressive temperament, but he's not as bright
This is Whisper.
The photo doesn't really do her any justice.
Whisper's an incredibly sweet cat, with the most amazing purr... she trills when she's really happy. She's not a very bright cat, which can be funny. Fill the food bowl right in front of her, and she'll still bug you for food, till you show her that the bowl's full.
This is Farl.
For all that he may look a little like Whisper, he's by no means a sweet animal. In fact, he's usually downright horrible. He's mean to all the other cats, swipes at anyone who dares to stop stroking him, and frequently teaches Max, the puppy, exactly who is boss.
For all of that, apart from Cat, he's my favourite moggy in the house, largely because he's a really good lap cat.
This is Ellie.
Despite her expression in this photo, Ellie's a really sweet cat, but very neurotic. She'll stand on your lap, but won't sit down, preferring to walk round and round while you stroke her, sticking her tail in your face, and licking your hands.
This is Chloe.
She's an absolute princess, and woe betide anyone who forgets it.
The cat's food bowl is kept up on top of the washing machine, so that the dog doesn't eat it, and Chloe will sit on the floor looking up at it wailing, till someone lifts her up to it. However, if there's no-one around, she'll jump up to it, no problem.
Oh, and don't ever dare rub her tummy, no matter how appealingly she offers, coz she'll rip your hand off.
This is Little'n (LittleUn?)
He's a very bright little moggy, and in cat terms, something like a teenager in temperament. He'll be all over you and affectionate as you like, when he feels like it. The rest of the time, he'll completely ignore you.
And awkward? You better believe it. Whatever's least convenient for you is what he'll want to do.
This is Chester.
Sadly, this is a very poor photo of him, but I didn't want to startle him with the flash, as he's a very nervous moggy.
We don't see much of Chester, as he prefer's to stay in Andrea's oldest daughter's room.
Pity really, coz he's a really huge, incredibly sweet cat, with a head that looks like it belongs on a gorilla's body. Oh... and he's completely gay. How can such a huge moggy have such a wussy voice? The kittens have deeper voices.
And finally, here's Max, having grown a bit since the last photo I posted here.
He's turning out to be a really good dog, especially now he's mastered the finer points of house training. Lively, but not insanely so, he's learned the basic commands like sit, lay, paw, and NO!
Labels: animals, cats, dogs, photos
Steve 12:32 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, November 24, 2006
As some of you may know, we live in a seriously animal filled house.Well, recently, Tess, probably the sweetest poochy you could ever hope to meet, had become ill, being sick quite frequently. The vet said it was largely down to her age, and that her kidneys were starting to fail, but that she probably had a reasonable ammount of time left.
Unfortunatly, in her weakened condition, her hind legs gave out on her, after which she declined rapidly.
I sat up with her for most of monday night, as she was having a rough time and getting quite distressed, and by tuesday evening, the family decided unanimously that as she wasn't going to get any better, it would be wrong to let her try and struggle on.
So around 6 o'clock we took her to the local vet, who's known her for years, and he helped her to slip away peacefully.
We miss you hugely Tess. A pooch in a million.
Needless to say, we've all been very upset, and Andrea, who's had her for 15 years is absolutely heart broken.
So, knowing full well that it's impossible to replace Tess, but also that something was needed to fill the huge dog shaped hole in the house, Andrea and I went to the local dog sanctuary this afternoon.
The idea was that we'd just look at adult dogs of around a year or so old, without actually intending to bring one home. Once there, we looked along the line of kennels, and though there were a couple that were nice, they didn't really shout out to us "I'm your dog!"
Now when we arrived, the guy who was taking us around had asked if we wanted a puppy, as they had one left from a litter, but we'd said no, we wanted something older. However, for the sake of completeness, just before we left, we decided to take a look at said puppy anyway.
You know... as we wakled up to the cage/hennel he was in, he came running up to the bars, and the instant we saw him, we knew, this was our dog.
So, welcome Max (aka Max Poopy, as he produces maximum poopage), the cutest little Staffy cross.
Labels: animals, bereavement, dogs, photos
Steve 12:50 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, November 03, 2006
Ye-gods, what a day. I've never known one quite like it for animal related mayhem.The day started being greeted by Cat, dragging his arse along the carpet. A sure sign that he'd left us a present... but I couldn't find one.
Later, he enters a battle of wills with me over where he was gonna pee. He said the bed. I said his litter tray. I won, but only after removing him from the bed in the nick of time.... 5 times.
At lunch time the dog decided to throw her guts up right in front of me, while I was eating. Needless to say, I moved upstairs to the bedroom to finish my meal.
Unfortunately, while I was eating, I spotted the gift Cat had left for us earlier.
We're now minus one rug.
So having sorted everything out, I make myself comfortable and sit down to watch a film, only to be interrupted by the postman, bringing two armfulls of parcels. Now that isn't animal related, but the feathers floating all over the place as I brought the parcels in were. One of the other cats... the small stripey one, I'll wager, had caught, killed and eaten a pigeon, and scattered it's feathers over the entirety of downstairs. I have photographic evidence to prove the scale of the featherage.
So.... what's next? The day is still young.
What next indeed.
Seems reports of the bird's demise were somewhat exaggerated.
Not a pigeon either.
Labels: animals, cats, dogs, photos
Steve 3:04 PM [+] (0) comments
So many things I should've blogged about.
Holidays and long weekends, birthdays, exotic additions to my computer and games console collection.
None got a look in, in the end. I've just been too occupied with life.
This one just has to get a mention though
After around 15 months since Stupid went awol, Andrea decided it was time I had a new cat. So along with his brother, who's gone to Andrea's older daughter, Andrea brought home this little bundle of mayhem.
His name's Cat. Pretty imaginative, huh?
Steve 12:32 AM [+] (0) comments
Friday, February 20, 2004
Stupid has a new favourite spot to nap. I laughed my head off the first time he walked across it, coz he didn't know what the hell it was.So, spot the cat...
Steve 8:03 PM [+] (0) comments
Friday, January 09, 2004
Weird.I know people say their cats understand them... but I've always tended to take it with a pinch of salt, even as a cat owner myself. Like... they get to learn your body language and tone of voice in specific situations... but the words themselves... I never throught they really mattered.
So I was sat here just now tapping away on the laptop, and looked round at my cat. He was pretty uninterested, as is his way... he doesn't care much about anything when he's crashed on the bed. So I looked him in the eye, without moving, and in a totally flat tone, like a passing comment I wasn't really interested in, I said "Would you like some food?"
Whoosh! He was up off the bed and half way down the hallway to his food bowl before I knew it.
I guess they really do learn the words, as there was absolutely nothing about my tone, body language or the situation that suggested I was about to feed him. Indeed... if he hadn't reacted the way he did, I doubt I would have fed him for another hour or so... unless he'd asked me to.
Steve 2:20 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
What a cool day.Oh yeah... it's my birthday. I'm 35.
How'd that happen?
Things started off as well as they were to continue, with some really cool pressies. Thanks Brigitte and Sis :-)
Next, the plan was to drive up the A5 to a military museum, but when we got there 75 miles later, we found the place was rather... well... crap, hehe.
Not a problem though, as on the way I'd spotted signs for Twycross Zoo, so we decided to pay the place a visit.
It's rather sad to see the levels of boredom some of the animals have to deal with, but still fascinating to see such creatures up close... and with a zoom lense, that can be REALLY close.
When we finally left to go home, I'd flattened the (new) batteries in my camera after taking 134 photos. As expected though, many pics didn't come out well, as not only having to contend with poor light, bars and glass, my camera doesn't handle moving objects too well, and do you think the animals would sit still for a photo?
Needless to say, there will be some very cool new photos in my online album very soon.
Just as a taster, here's one of my fave pics of the day.
Steve 11:04 PM [+] (0) comments
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
I wish I'd had my camera with me when I nipped down to the garage at 4am this morning.Sniffing around in the grass not 20 feet from where I stood was a fox.
Now I've known there are foxes in MIlton Keynes for years, having seen the occasional one knocked down by the side of the road, and hearing their calls while out night fishing, but this was the first time I've seen one up close.
I stood watching it for maybe 2 or 3 minutes before it spotted me and bolted.
The way it moved was really something. Not smooth and stealthlike, like a cat, or anything like as bold as a dog... more quick and darting... amazingly alert.
What a beautiful creature.
Labels: animals
Steve 5:24 AM [+] (0) comments
Saturday, April 26, 2003
What is it with my cat? He doesn't seem to be into any of the typical cat things. He doesn't catch mice, sit on people's laps, drink milk, or do drugs.Eh?
Yup, that's right. We got him a little fuzzy toy mouse on a string, covered it in catnip and dragged it about in front of him. Instead of going into the expected mouse chasing frenzy, he simply turned his nose up at it, as if to say "I'm not that kind of cat."
Wierd moggy.
Steve 10:02 PM [+] (0) comments
Sunday, March 09, 2003
What a busy weekend.Saturday was mostly taken up buying a whole new wardrobe. This new job requires smart casual attire, and while my typical dress style is certainly casual, you could never call it smart. So, 7 new tops, including polo shirts, long sleeve t-shirts, and sweat-shirts, 2 pairs of trousers, a jacket and a pair of shoes, all in colours and styles that I would never previously have considered... I think I'm all set. Expensive? Hmmm... £135. That's more money on clothes in one day than I've spent in the past year, but still a lot less than I was expecting. There may be photos forthcoming if I can get round to it.
Sunday morning... Grand Prix. Woohoo!
As has been pointed out in yesterdays comments, my semi-prediction was entirely wrong, and the Ferraris didn't wander off into the distance. I have to say, though I do love Ferrari road cars, I'm thrilled that they didn't dominate the race, 'cause last years races got so dull, I stopped watching. This race was a whole different kettle of fish, and very exciting. Lets hope they're all like that.
Sunday afternoon started out with a trip to visit Brigitte's parents on their narrow-boat, but when we arrived at the arranged place at the arranged time, they weren't there. One phone-call later, finding that they weren'y going to arrive for another couple of hours, we pootled off down the road to this fancy country shopping village thingie. It's like a small group of shops selling country crafts, arts, and garden related goods, aimed very much at the horsie set. Very up-market.
First things first of course, it was around 2pm, and time for breakfast *chuckles*. We went into this little cafe/resteraunt, where we had 2 coffees, Brigitte had some coffee/almod cake, and I had a chilli. Yummy... except the chilli was £6. Fair enough, if it had been the huge plate full I'd been expecting, but good lord... it was maybe enough to feed a baby mouse with stunted growth. Now I don't know what kind of prices horsie/country folk consider acceptable, but if they think £6 for a tiny plate of chilli that tastes no better than the frozen £1 chilli I buy in town is reasonable, they're completely demented.
So, extorsionate late breakfast consumed, and expensive country shops browsed, we went and met up with Brigittes parents. This involved a very enjoyable ride in the narrowboat, which for myself, someone with no boating experience at all, was very educational. Provided it was possible to hook up some kind of half decent net connection, I could quite see myself living on a narrow-boat one day, as having spent a little time on theirs, I can really see the appeal.
What had been a very active and enjoyable weekend was rather marred on the way home. We were sat at the exit of a petrol station, waiting to pull onto a very busy road. All of a sudden, Brigitte calls out "Oh no... it's not going to... look... that cat's not going to make it."
This black and white cat that looked very much like my own had made a dash to cross the road, running into very heavy oncoming traffic. Now I've seen plenty of dead cats by the side of the road in my time, including more than one of my own, but this was the first time I'd ever see it actually happen. The poor thing ran top speed, head first into the side of a car that was easily doing 50mph. It didn't stand a chance. I was horrified to see it tumbling head over heals down and across the road, coming to a halt in a crumpled bundle of twitching limbs. I was torn, wanting to go over to see if there was anything to be done for the stricken creature, but it was laying in a very dangerous spot, especially as it was dark, and not easily reachable from our location... and we didn't know the location of any vets in the area anyway. In the end, we thought better of risking life and limb to get across the road to it, and drove away with very heavy hearts.
Steve 11:24 PM [+] (0) comments
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