More pictures?

It's hard to do a Wordless Wednesday when I don't have new pictures. I think it is time for a photo shoot. Mom just finished some final reports for three different grants for the theatre. Dad's computer is acting up. It is running super slow, and will hang up, and sometimes goes to sleep and doesn't want to wake back up (but don't we all?) ... so Dad may be in the market for a laptop. Then he'd have no excuse to not update our blog for us. ("But the desktop computer is all the way upstairs...")

So as a sign on protest, since I have no new pictures, here's one of the oldest:

Little Jasper kitten in the sink. And apparently, a wet sink.

Now here's hoping for new pictures soon so I can go wordless again next Wednesday.

Wordy Wednesday

This should be a Wordless Wednesday, because that's how we like to do it, but Mom and Dad have been "too busy" to upload the pictures from the camera. And I know there are bound to be some good pictures. So since I don't have any recent pictures, and since I just had a sad post, I thought I would tell a nice story. The story begins many years ago, back when Dad was a young boy ...

Dad lived in North Carolina for a few years when he was little. From three to six, they lived in Cary, which used to be a small town, but now is a large suburb of Raleigh. Their neighbor had a dog named Thurber. Now Thurber was a bit of a Heinz 57, and a wild dog that would roam the ditches and anything else that made dogs like Thurber happy. Thurber was a lot of fun. He once jumped through the open window of Dad's Mom's moving car because he wanted to tag along with them and go for a ride.

Well, after a while Thurber wasn't around any more. Dad's Dad explained that Thurber had been taken to the neighbor's brother's farm where he had more room to roar and play and get into stuff. This satisfied Dad, until one day many years later, when Dad was older and more savvy, and it occurred to him that Thurber didn't go to a farm, but Thurber "when to a farm." This made Dad a little sad, but realizing that it had been decades since Dad had thought of this, he was OK.

So at a recent family gathering, Dad was relaying how he was mistaken about the "farm" when Dad's Dad corrected him, and explained that Thurber actually did go to a farm to go run, and be wild, and get dirty -- and all other dog things. And that made Dad feel a lot better.

I guess sometimes a farm really is a farm, and not a "farm."

Wordy Wednesday and Kiss the cat

I learned today from Free Kibble Kat that "In the 16th century, anyone visiting an English home would kiss the family cat to bring good luck." Maybe that's why Mom and Dad are always giving us kisses.

This was supposed to be a wordless Wednesday post, but it didn't get done, and I had some tattling to do today. But Tattle Tail Wednesday just didn't have the right ring to it so it's a Wordy Wednesday instead.

Anyway, in the morning Maggie likes to "help" Dad eat his cereal as he reads the news and morning comics online. Well, as the breakfast goes on, Dad eventually ends up holding his cereal bowl to keep Maggie out of it. This morning, Maggie got on Dad's lap and rose up right under the bowl and made Dad spill his milk. Now, there was no crying over the spilled milk, but there was some cleaning up. Fortunately Dad has learned and wasn't dressed for work yet. And Maggie still got to drink some milk and even ate a Cheerio or two. She is such a stinker, and gets rewarded for it. Sisters!

Wordy Wednesday

Remember Zak that Mom and Dad delivered from Aunt Lisa to the lady down the street? Well, one of his litter mates, Jackson, wasn't integrating too well with the other cats at Aunt Lisa's house. He was having all kinds of problems with pooping and peeing in all the wrong places. Aunt Lisa was at her wit's end and didn't know what to do. So the nice lady down the street said, "Bring him to me." So Mom and Aunt Tiffy delivered Jackson to Zak's house last night so that Jackson could get a second chance at a new beginning.


This is Jackson. He was exploring the kitchen, and working his way around to the food bowls.


He found this neat plant that hangs down. He was circus-bearing up to investigate the plant, while Zak was venturing a little closer to investigate Jackson. They're from the same litter, but it's been a while, and this is Zak's turf now, so there was definitely some hissing last night.


Zak really wasn't sure about this fast cat that's slightly bigger than him. He stayed low and defensive while Mom and Dad were there, then headed upstairs before they left.


Plus there's Zoey, the older cat, who's already been through this once a few months back when Zak showed up. She was a little more accepting of Jackson, and even snuck up behind him and sniffed his butt. But she thought the flat cat position was best to study Jackson.


Jackson did find the toy basket, so I'm pretty sure he knows he's in a good place. This might be a temporary stop and he might go with the neighbor's Mom back to Oklahoma when she comes to visit next month. Either way, Jackson is getting a second chance.