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Critters

Clutterbug

My desk is a little cluttered. Nail clippers? Check. Ye Holy Packers mug? Check. Advil? Check. USB-to-whatever adapters? Check. TARDIS console and knocked over Cyberman? Check. Cat with a buzz cut?

Maria

Check. Good night, little fat feral cat. Don’t drink my mug full of watered-down pomegranate lemonade, please. It won’t help with the fat part. Trust me, I know of what I speak.… Read more

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Critters

Wee sleekit cow’rin timrous beastie

MariaHow do you solve a problem like Maria? Well, when the poor kitty gets so tubby that she can no longer effectively clean herself, and a killer summer is just around the corner, you get her a buzz cut.

She’s having a really hard time getting over the anesthetic – she’s reverted to being feral, more or less. Seems like she should be out from under the drugs by now, but she’s still not herself. I don’t know if she partook of the kitty equivalent of the brown acid, or if it’s just wounded pride at this point. She’s very sleek and soft, on those rare occasions when she’ll allow herself to be petted. Right now, the only one she’s allowing to have any contact with her is me. No other kitties and no other humans. I’m a little worried about her.

I’d planned to make this a whole week of posts about various creative endeavours I’ve been involved in, but this very strange bout of kitty behavior has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works. Sorry for the lame post today; we’ll try to resume normal programming tomorrow. In the meantime, I can offer up my TV production history section or my packaging design portfolio as consolation prizes.… Read more

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Critters

Sister vs. sister

It all started with a paw batting a cat from below. Then another paw batting that cat from above. Sister fighting sister. Thus did the catgirl wars of 2012 commence.

Catgirls

No lives were lost, but fur was. The lesson: don’t screw with Olivia when she’s sitting on a piece of furniture that she’s already not supposed to be sitting on, looking regal. Never mind that she has no claws. She will own your ass.

Also: which way is up? Are these M.C. Escher’s cats?… Read more

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Critters Funny Stuff Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Meet Explorer Earl

Dork HelmetOkay, I only thought this stuff was buried under a mile of soft peat somewhere.

Sometime in 1994, at the first TV station where I worked, I got shanghaied into being on-air talent during kids’ programming. Our kids’ club talent had just left, and there was a perfect storm brewing:

  1. The Humane Society did pet-of-the-week spots in our kids’ programming, which helped the station to fulfill its “local public service” quota. Those spots now had no host.
  2. The station had just gotten a pith helmet in a National Geographic promo kit.
  3. I was already on the payroll.

With no contract, no additional pay, and no perks, I was suddenly… Explorer Earl. … Read more

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Critters Home Base Serious Stuff

A Saturday of ADVENTURE!

How you been doin’? Here’s a quick rundown of the things I’ve done today:

  1. Babel fishSat back, obeyed the rules and did nothing as Mrs. G and Little E fished in the mon & son fishing tournament at Carol Ann Cross Park. No fish were caught by this family on this day. Man, I wanted to jump in there and help… but the rules specifically forbade it. I just had to sit back and shut up. Now I’m jonesing to go fish rainbow trout on the White River. Just me, a boat, a rod, a reel, some bait, some lures, a hat big enough to keep the sun out of my eyes, some tunes, absolutely no cell phone signal whatsoever, no wi-fi, no nothing. If you don’t hear from me in a few days, I’m probably sleeping with the fishes. In a good way.
  2. Went to the Fort Smith Public Library for the used book sale and, just as we pulled into the parking lot, saw a wheelchair-bound woman zip down the access ramp, way too fast, and took a tumble out of her wheelchair when she hit the curb instead of the ramp across from her. She landed in the grassy divider and not concrete, which is a good thing, but that scared the hell out of me. Bet it didn’t do her any favors either. Me, a mail carrier and one of the library employees tried to help her up, but her daughter showed up in a panic and told us that either the fire department or EMS has to help her with that; we would’ve just injured her worse.
  3. Woofles McBarkleberry, Ph.DogAs if that wasn’t enough to draw a crowd, among the crowd were two big, friendly stray pit bulls roaming around in front of the library. I stopped and petted them for a bit until they moved on, mainly to keep them from freaking folks out. Since Xena and Gabby were crashed when we all left at the crack of dawn, these two were the friendliest dogs I saw all morning. They had very obvious dogfighting injuries, and yet they were all over me, stinky-breath dog kisses and all.

    Pit bulls aren’t bad dogs. Some pit bull owners, on the other hand, like whoever’s obviously keeping two injured fighting dogs around and letting mange eat them alive, are real pieces of shit. If not for the likely conflict of personalities with the existing canine security staff at my place, I might’ve taken them home. Great dogs. Didn’t ask for whatever’s happened to them. I couldn’t get them to stay long enough for animal control to show up. Good luck, pups. I want to find your ex-owner and keep him from ever breeding again (whether you read that to mean breeding dogs to fight or breeding more people like himself, you didn’t land too far from the truth). But I’ll settle for you two love-starved mutts finding a loving home.

    Sadly, the BS myth about pit bulls being four-legged killing machines across the board will probably prevent this from happening.

  4. Gargoyle gargling GershwinGot soaked in pit bull slobber right before walking in for the library book sale. Also, next stop after the book sale was my niece’s birthday party at Fuji Steakhouse. Woohoo! Uncle Earl showed up smelling like pit bull slobber! Happy birthday! 😆

Little E got a book about doggies at the book sale; I was sorely tempted by the big box of old Star Trek novels, but I passed. Perused the LPs and tapes to see if there were any out-of-print, not-released-on-anything-but-vinyl movie soundtracks (library and estate sales are awesome for finds like that). No dice, or someone got there before me. (You know, the one other soundtrack nut who lives in this area, if indeed there is one other.)

Next week is the “mostly non-fiction sale.” As the former governor of California once said, “I’ll be back.” Hangin’ with my dawgs, no doubt.… Read more