Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

T R E 4 5 O N

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

This really is a full service blog.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Let there be snark.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?

Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?

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Sometimes these decisions require a little patience:

agilitywtfisthat

A lot of my previous assumptions about cats have changed in the last two weeks, including my assessment of the limits of feline agility. Even though he was a fatbody, Tunch still had some moves and would shock the hell out of me sometimes. I realize now, after only two weeks, that Tunch was just a novice on the bunny slopes, because I’m dealing with some very serious X Games shit here. The boss jumped from behind the lazyboy, on the ground, up to the neck of it behind my head, and he did it so precisely that he never touched me and all I heard was a little swoosh.

I’ve gone from a fully loaded Lincoln Town Car to a Porsche Boxter and it’s kind of hysterical. Steve’s cat tree showed up today, and I am debating whether I should put it together tonight or tomorrow. I think maybe tomorrow, because I am watching the Pacific again.

You?

Reader Interactions

121Comments

  1. 1.

    Steeplejack

    The boss jumped from behind the lazyboy, on the ground, up to the neck of it behind my head, and he did it so precisely that he never touched me and all I heard was a little swoosh.

    Funny! You’ve got yourself a ninja cat there.

    I was going to go out for dinner, but a few minutes ago I made the ultimate loser decision to stay home and eat a bowl of cereal. That just feels like what I want (to the extent that I want anything, which may be the problem), but it has the whiff of fail all over it.

  3. 3.

    OldDave

    Pedantic mode – Porsche Boxster – /Pedantic mode

    Just saying – it’s not like I can actually afford one. ;-)

  5. 5.

    Emerald

    Hope you got him microchipped, because that kitteh is gonna take your back fence in about 1.5 seconds flat, and that’s with stopping to make a decision about where to land.

    But aren’t you glad you didn’t wait to get another cat! Steve might not even be in the world right now, if you hadn’t rescued him.

    (And, um, did sweet little Snowbell have a happy ending too? I know someone on the blog said he wanted her.)

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    @Cole:

    Put together the cat tree tomorrow. It’ll be easier for EMS to find the house in broad daylight.

  7. 7.

    Paddy

    Quiet night here, Jeff’s working until 11p and then we’ll just share some left over chili. I’ve been trying to find the first season of Broadchurch to no avail, but Xfinity now has the first ep at least. Gobbled up “Orange Is The New Black”. It’s challenging at times (I have a low gross out threshold) but the characters are fascinating. Can’t find “New Tricks” that someone here referred me to.

    Oh, and this made me sniffle- Make-A-Wish Kid Gets Last Wish: To Rock Out with a Heavy Metal God

    Quiet night indeed.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    On the family front, I am happy to report that apparently yelling at my brother (and getting a little weepy on the phone with the estate lawyer) worked, because he emailed a profuse apology to our mother today. Hopefully we can get everything straightened out once we’re all face-to-face starting tomorrow.

  10. 10.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    My cat can do anything except fetch me a beer. Thankfully, I have two kids who can do it so me and the cat don’t have to get up.

  12. 12.

    burnspbesq

    The first Klingon has gone to Stovokor.

    R.I.P., Michael Ansara, who played Kang in the original series.

  13. 13.

    mellowjohn

    the first time i went to my now wife’s apartment for dinner, one of her cats took a single leap from the floor to the top of the refrigerator i was leaning against, crawled onto my shoulder, and rode around there for most of the rest of the evening. she says that’s when she decided i was a keeper. (apropos of emerald’s comment, we later discovered he was really good at jumping fences behind the apartment we soon shared.)
    we have a great maine coon now who is still fairly agile in spite of his advancing years. glad to see you’re enjoying yours.

  16. 16.

    DaveinOz

    I’m part way the the original Danish version of ‘The Killing’. It is absolutely brilliant. I’m kicking myself for not watching when it was shown here on TV a while ago.

  17. 17.

    raven

    Watching Orange is the New Black. Sooner or later ya’ll are going to discover it and go all ape shit. It’s so much better than that stupid Kevin Spacey shit that Netflix started with.

  18. 18.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Our first apartment, we had Mrs. Fuckhead’s welder brother make us a steel window insert with a hinged door flap so the cats could go in and out to the second story balcony and watch the birds. We had ruffled curtains hiding the cat door. One evening, we had guests over and a gentleman was sitting on the couch that backed the specially-equipped window. Our large ginger tabby bounded in through the window from outside and landed on his shoulder before leaping off and he nearly had a heart attack. He literally shrieked as the cat appeared out of nowhere. That was pretty funny.

  20. 20.

    RoonieRoo

    I swear to FSM that if you overfeed Steve and get him fat so he can’t do all his jumping, then I will come up there and punch you in the neck Cole. Now go put that cat tree together.

  22. 22.

    WaynersT

    As a kid I had a cat that could traverse the entire house without touching the ground. Bookcase to table to chair etc… the first ninja kitty of the backwoods.

    Happy for the new kitty – still full of sorrow about your photography skills.

  23. 23.

    MomSense

    My Maine Coon cat was caught out in a big rainstorm today. When he came in he looked so scraggly and pathetic. He is quite vain about his fur so he didn’t stop to say hello or even have some food. He went straight upstairs to hide somewhere. It has been a few hours and he still hasn’t shown his face.

  24. 24.

    j

    I had what I thought was a Maine Coon (but was told it may really have been a Norwegian Forest cat) and it would leap straight up from 4 feet flat on the ground while looking into another room, and somehow levitate itself up and backward onto a 3″ shelf full of wine glasses 6′ off the ground…and never make a sound, or leave a footprint in the dust! Or disturb the glasses. Be afraid, be very afraid. They can float silently around the room and watch you from above.

  26. 26.

    TaMara (BHF)

    No recipes tonight (at least from me) sorry about that, work just got away from me this week.

    I was hoping for photos of John Cole assembling that giant cat tree…but pix of Steve are much better. Miss Tunch, but <3 our new feline overlord. Tunch left us in good hands.

  28. 28.

    raven

    @TaMara (BHF):

    Ya get a chicken
    and ya kill it
    and you put it in the skillet
    and you fry it till it’s golden brown
    that’s southern cookin!
    And it’s mighty fine.

  30. 30.

    Ruckus

    Two of my landlords 3 cats can jump over 6 ft from a stationary position. And they both weigh about 5-6 lbs. The other is a fat bastard and I’ve never seen him off the ground.

  34. 34.

    RSA

    Earlier this summer our Maine Coon mix would disappear for several hours during the day, and I didn’t figure out where he was until I happened to be in the same room: he’d jump from my desk up to the top of a seven-foot-plus high bookcase, to get some sun from the window up there.

    Our cat is nimble enough when jumping around, but he’s also got a bushy tail that is easily strong enough to knock stuff off our coffee table when he walks by.

  36. 36.

    raven

    @NotMax: I read a book about Tito and the Partisan’s that talked about a whole, gutted chicken packed clay and thrown in the fire. When they took it out the feathers would stick to the clay.

  37. 37.

    ArchTeryx

    Hooray! You’re learning the joys of living with a Parkour cat. They can be fun, but they also get into places you will never dream of them getting – even if you’re used to living with such cats!

  38. 38.

    Josie

    My son fixed this Korean dish in which you grill small pieces of sirloin, wrap it in a lettuce leaf with a piece of fresh garlic and a fiery hot sauce and pop it in your mouth. It is so yummy and fills you up really quickly. Goes great with my evening wine and I am a happy camper.

  39. 39.

    phoebes-in-santa fe

    Cole. I hope you get that cat microchipped, and fast. My two indoor-only cats are chipped, in case, god forbid, they get out.

    And as for Steve’s agility vs Tunch’s? Isn’t Steve a lot younger? Now, go put that treehouse together and post some pictures.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @Josie: My favorite dish when I was there was yaki mandu(sp) . They are filled dumplings. About 20 years after I came home I learned they were Japanese! Now the www is telling me they are Korean!

  42. 42.

    Mary G

    Some cats will make it a mission to climb everything in the house, no matter how high, and they are so proud when they figure something out. Put the cat tree together and take photos; it’ll be a good place for Steve to escape Rosie if she gets uppity.

    I wish I had seen the dark blue one; with a grey cat and a tuxedo cat my beige cat condo looks filthy all the time.

  43. 43.

    James E. Powell

    @raven:

    Have you read much about the real Piper?

    I saw an interview on TV. I found her and her story kind of off-putting. It might be the blonde girl goes to prison is a big story; brown & black girls not so much effect. Or maybe the prison as business opportunity thing. Or something about the way she talks about herself.

    Will that stand in the way of my enjoying the show?

  47. 47.

    Josie

    @raven: When were you in Korea? My youngest son’s lifetime dream is to go to South Korea at some point. He is even studying the language so as to be ready when it happens.

  49. 49.

    raven

    @Josie: 67-68. During the Pueblo and Blue House Raid. It’s not the same place, it was very primitive in those days.

  50. 50.

    Comrade Mary

    @raven: Not very long. I binged the whole thing in less than 24 hours. Yes, I pulled an all-nighter for a tv show.

  53. 53.

    dance around in your bones

    @raven:

    Watching Orange is the New Black. Sooner or later ya’ll are going to discover it and go all ape shit.

    Ooh, thanks for reminding me! I put it on my instant queue and promptly forgot about it. Was watching The Italian Job for the umpteenth time, so I am happy to have something new to watch.

  56. 56.

    cbear

    @raven: Japanese dumplings are usually called gyoza and they are awesome—first had them in Japan in the 70’s and couldn’t find them here for many years—they’re pretty widely available now.

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: There was a period of time when GDP was greater in the North than in the South, probably still when you were there.

  62. 62.

    raven

    @Gin & Tonic: When I was there we were worried that they were coming to get our sorry asses. It was only about a mile to the Imjin!

    I was reading about the 3 ROK Divisions in the Nam and I learned that they got paid what we did but, what I didn’t know, was that the money went to the government.

  63. 63.

    Betsy

    D’oh CUTE KITTY d’oh oxytocin rush, lose words, turn to jelly. cute kitty cute cute kitty. Lookitda so cute kitty .. cute keety

  66. 66.

    AliceBlue

    I’m reading David Sedaris’ latest book Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls (while interrupting Mr. AliceBlue’s teevee watching by reading passages out loud and laughing hysterically).

  68. 68.

    Josie

    @raven: The movies do look quite different from the current conditions that we see in the news. South Korea has really come a long way since those days. Those dumplings sound really good. The flavoring is very similar to what my son used on the meat and in the dipping sauce.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Majority of cultures have some kind of filled dumpling

    Pierogies, kreplach, etc.

    One of the touchstones (for me) of grading a Chinese restaurant’s dim sum is the sumptuousness of the dumplings.

    One local convenience store chain here offers a dumpling they call pork hash alongside the ubiquitous spam musubi.

  70. 70.

    Paddy

    @James E. Powell: Jumping in on a Raven Q, but after a while I basically shrugged off the Piper character and glommed in on the others. Piper is vain, shallow and borderline narcissist, but the other women make up for it.

  71. 71.

    Botsplainer

    Posted earlier today, here’s my photo from “Took My Puppy to Work Day” yesterday.

    http://i.imgur.com/EGW4MzS.jpg

    He was an angel. Behaved well with everybody, slept quietly at my feet at my desk, only peed outside, listened to commands.

  73. 73.

    raven

    @Josie: Amazing what 45 years will do! The bike races in the Seoul Olympics went right up through my old AO and I watched with great interest. There was nothing but gravel roads in my day, by then there were super highways.

  75. 75.

    CatHairEverywhere

    I don’t know how you feel about NinjaSteve leaving your yard, but I am thinking about building one of these cat enclosures for my kitties after one of them crawled home with a broken pelvis a few weeks ago, and another got stuck in the neighbor’s attic for a week last year. I stress out whenever they go outside now, and they are tired of me disturbing their under-the-shrubbery naps with my concern. (they vehemently refuse to be indoor cats, and sought revenge at every opportunity when we tried it)

    http://cuckoo4design.blogspot.com/2012/05/cuckoo-for-my-cats.html

  77. 77.

    Betsy

    I had a good kitty with no claws (I DID NOT DO THAT TO HER) and she could get onto the wooden piece that made the bridge over a screen porch door, which piece was 4″ wide and about 7’5″ from the floor.

    Now I have a super-fuzzy Maine-Coon-but-not-so-large type cat, but he is kind of cow-hocked and the least noiseless
    |\ _,,,—,,_
    /,`.-‘`’ -. ;-;;,_
    |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `’-‘
    ‘—”(_/–‘ `-‘\_) kitty I have ever known. We call him Thudward Wrongshanks.

  78. 78.

    Comrade Mary

    @Paddy: And they have her number. She gets dressed down *exquisitely* by someone she wronged late in the season.

  82. 82.

    Comrade Mary

    @Betsy: Text that has proportional spacing. You need Courier or another monospaced font to make ascii art work.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Did you happen to see the link to Thumper’s Wikipedia page from yesterday? (Was posted for any who might have thought the name was apocryphal.)

  86. 86.

    Betsy

    |\ _,,,—,,_
    /,`.-‘`’ -. ;-;;,_
    |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `’-‘
    // ‘—”(_/–‘ `-‘\_)

    Ok, the ASCII art of a cat that i was trying to send to my little niece last night is now what my ipad substitutes when I type the word “noiseless”. Boy is this weird. It also suggests the ascii art when I mistype a word. .?????. What are the odds.??

  94. 94.

    Chickamin Slam

    Currently I have a cat on me. It’s been a stressful couple days with friends and family dropping by unexpectedly from out of town. A mad rush to clear and clean. Sadly kitty’s nest I had made for her got tossed as did papers I was working on for a project. I was not in charge by then. The cat was upset as was I. Now that they have left it’s kitty time.

  95. 95.

    scav

    Ok, I’ll try, do we still have access to code?

    | _,,,—,,_
    /,`.-’`’ -. ;-;;,_
    |,4- ) )-,_..; ( `’-’
    // ‘—”(_/–’ `-’_)

    Eta. Closer? in theory at least.

  96. 96.

    dance around in your bones

    I’ve hated The Three Stooges since I was a kid.

    Watching Orange is The New Black and liking it…..the yoga jones lady looks like Edie Falco on meth….also, American Pie guy? Whatever.

    p.s. – a really good “women in prison” show was Capadocia, Un Lugar Sin Perdon on HBO – all in Spanish, though.

  98. 98.

    Betsy

    @Steeplejack: yeah, thanks. The weird thing is, I did not try to paste that in my comment the first time it appeared. It popped in when my ipad did “suggest” for a mistyped word.

    Same thing second time too, but diff word. IT’S MAGIC …apple magic

  100. 100.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @Botsplainer: That’s great. My friend’s rescued one and he is the best family dog. He “shepherds” the whole household. And when I lost two of my Great Dane’s 2 weeks apart, he sat on my lap (all 70 lbs of him) for an entire evening. He knew I needed some puppy love.

  102. 102.

    The Moar You Know

    I had a sixteen pound cat, and not the brightest cat either, but she could move. I’m a very light, poor sleeper. She could get into bed and walk around on it, and I wouldn’t notice until she meowed for attention.

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yeah, pretty much. We (the fam) watched the Three Stooges remake and my daughter and I howled while mom looked aghast. Raising a little Bart, I am. But come on, Larry David as a nun? Give it up, already.

    Also, too, went to the local nanobrewery tonight and the usual parking lot food truck was instead a trailer with a wood-fired pizza oven, turning out amazing thin-crust pies. Even as our country heads to hell on a handcart, the real food renaissance is keeping me happy. Back home blasting a Blasters el-pee because it’s bachelor night.

  105. 105.

    dance around in your bones

    @BillinGlendaleCA: The Three Stooges are just stupid and senselessly violent. I just hated them punch-popping each other all the time.

    Even as a little kid (girl, but no woman involved yet) I found them sort of sickening. I never felt that way about Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, so go figure.

    eta: where the hell is everybody? this place has been dead for an hour. Friday night shenanigans?

  110. 110.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Josie: Sounds like ros gui, though kalbi(Korean BBQ) can be eaten that way, though always with rice included. Ros gui is thinly sliced beef either cooked in sesame oil and seasoned with pepper or may be cooked and dipped in sesame oil with pepper. Mandu is the Korean version of a wonton, the Japanese call them goyza and Malaysians have Curry Puffs(yum). The fillings can vary quite a bit depending on what culture and even part of each country.

    @raven: I’ve been to Korea 3 times, the last time 15 years ago. Each time, Seoul has looked very different from the last. You would not recognize the place, lots I wouldn’t either. Until the late 70’s Korea was still a 3rd world country, very poor.

  111. 111.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Yatsuno: Sounds like the way my wife makes them, except the fungus. Is Maangchi trying to teach the Hangul(the Korean alphabet) as well?

  112. 112.

    dance around in your bones

    @SiubhanDuinne: Not just you. The Three Stooges just made me feel sick in my tummy.

    Didn’t know it was a gal thing, per BillinGlendaleCA :)

  114. 114.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Sounds like a normal cat to me! ;)

    Our ol’ Maine Coon,Tommy, just had to launch himself over me when I went to take a nap on the couch. I would always flip up “The Annex” (footrest) and Tommy would jump up onto the back of the couch and walk over to where he could jump over me to The Annex (which would then close unless I held it up while he jumped).

    Wait until he starts opening cabinets and sliding closet doors. My wife had to move her ‘lady supplies’ because he thought they were puffy mice with cotton tails. Nothing like seeing your cat dragging one of those up the stairs only to chase it back down again.

    And again… and again… :)

  115. 115.

    dance around in your bones

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    FWIW, I always laughed at Benny Hill. Just goofy-foofy-ness, not mean-spirited like those other guys.

    I don’t know, this goes way back. It was a visceral feeling, ya know?

  116. 116.

    FlipYrWhig

    I’m a man, or at least a male, and I have never found the Three Stooges remotely funny. Also I never liked Tom and Jerry. Fucking Jerry gets away with everything. For what? Why does he deserve it? Bullshit.

  117. 117.

    Violet

    @dance around in your bones: I was never a Three Stooges fan either. Just don’t get them. I don’t hate them and occasionally they make me laugh bit mostly I just don’t get the appeal. Now Charlie Chaplin or Keystone Cops or Buster Keaton will leave me laughing until I’m crying.

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    @Violet

    Rarely shown, unsung Keaton: a color short he made in the 1960s for the Canadian railways system. Many of the antics are, as was his wont, ad-libbed.

    There’s also a video out there on the making of this short, showing the heavy directorial influence Keaton had on this short, even though he was not the director, but no time to find it right now – gotta scoot and do some fast dusting, as guests coming in like 10 minutes.

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