Once again, Beth S. has most graciously agreed to assemble the Balloon Juice Pet Calendar for 2014, with all profits going to Cole’s chosen rescue group MARC (Marion Animal Resource Connection). Beth’s specifications:
I’m looking for the highest resolution images possible. The photos themselves won’t be that large, but the largest and highest resolution images people can send the better. I have photoshop and can do some remediation on images as necessary.
Send your pics (don’t be shy, neither your art nor your pet(s) need to be ‘show quality’) to [email protected]. Any problems, you can also send them to me at [email protected] (or click on my name under ‘Contact’ in the right-hand column). Deadline is Thursday, October 31, so Beth has time to put the whole massive project together and get it into print in time for year-end gift-giving.
Questions, ideas, suggestions — leave a comment below.
ETA: Stories are not required. Only photos will appear in the calendar, but if you do send a story, I may use it here on the blog as a mood-booster…
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And here’s the story that goes with the picture at the top, one of the photos already submitted, from commentor Summer:
A little over a month ago I was walking my dogs at night when this tiny kitten came barreling out from under a car and stood in the middle of the street WAILING at us. When we walked toward her, she shot back under the car and continued crying in the particularly heart-wrenching manner of lost baby kittens. I sat next to the car and talked to her, and my dogs lay down near me. After a few minutes she crept out from under the car and sniffed at the smaller of my two dogs, the one to whom she’d seemed to directing her wails from the middle of the street.
Then she ran back under the car.
Two hours, part of a can of dog food, and the enlistment of my friend (who at one point scaled an eight-foot high fence dividing two yards) later, she was hiding underneath and in back of a shed near the car. Still crying. It was 1 a.m. And we gave up for the night.
The next day I messaged my neighbor that there might be a kitten under his car when he started it for work, and got his permission to try to catch her. Then I borrowed another neighbor’s trap and baited it with delicious canned dog food. No luck. But at 5 p.m. my neighbor showed up wearing heavy-duty gloves carrying a yowling, spitting kitten barely old enough to eat solid food.
My cat George disappeared three months ago, along with three other cats in the neighborhood. He was 15 and I’d had him for 14 years. I swore I’d never get another cat. I love birds and hate litter boxes. And I’d loved George.
But then, just like that, Gemma Pumpkin Sparkles joined the household. As she grew a little older, she clearly became Prince Harry Pumpkin. This photo captures a rare moment of quiet. Often she’s too busy attacking the dogs’ tails or feet to let them have a moment of rest. But when she’s not — he’s not — then he creeps close to them and falls asleep, purring as loudly as he is in my lap now. And all is well.
SiubhanDuinne
I really really really really really REALLY hope that the Mighty Tunch is prominently featured in the 2014 calendar — either an entire month devoted to him, or a photo of him on every.single.page, like a year or two ago, or on the cover, or something.
Yatsuno
Awww. Happy kitteh story is happy.
PurpleGirl
Good story, Summer, and good on you for taking in the kitten. He’s adorable. I hope he has a long and happy life with you and your other critters.
schrodinger's cat
I haven’t yet sent in my photos of the boss cat and zen cat, will do that tomorrow.
dexwood
Cool rescue, Summer, and good dogs.
SiubhanDuinne
This is way O/T, but is Charlie Pierce okay? (I have no idea why I expect you to have an inside scoop on that.) He’s posted only once today, not counting Morning Dooley, and that was at 10:30 a.m. Not a word since then. Seems odd, especially for a Monday. Hope he’s all right.
geg6
You got mine, didn’t you?
Nice kitty story. We’ve been feeding a couple of marmalade cats, one a kitten and an adult, probably the mom. They are letting us get closer every day. Been about three weeks now. They used to bolt at the first sight of one of us, but now they will let us sit on the bench where we have their bowls. Hopefully, the weather will hold up and we’ll gain some real trust from them before the real cold sets in. Maybe we’ll have kitties for next year’s calendar!
schrodinger's cat
@geg6: Orange kittehs are the sweetest, very mellow and zen like.
max
Uh, is 4928x3264x24 (6.6 megabytes) acceptable? That does seem a tad large to be emailed.
max
[‘Just checking.’]
Xecky Gilchrist
Do we need to resend pictures we sent to you?
Anne Laurie
@Xecky Gilchrist: Nope, I got Woody’s pic!
Keith P.
I can’t wait to hear what kinds of pics get sent to “BJCalendar2014”
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: This year’s calendar is (of course!) dedicated to the Great & Powerful Tunch. Exact details are up to Beth S, and I’m looking forward to seeng the final result, too!
Anne Laurie
@Keith P.: “Cats and dogs, spooning together! Madness”
Mnemosyne
That’s essentially how we ended up with the Charlotte — she found G in a parking lot and yowled at him until he took her into his office. And then yowled some more until he went back outside to look for her sister.
We were able to get someone else to adopt her sister, but Charlotte is still yowling at us four years later. Turn on my laser! Pet me! Let me bite you! Annie’s looking at me funny!
John O
What the heck. Pictures of my boys on the way. I didn’t tell a very good story about them, but I love them both and had two recent decent pics. Is the long version of the story necessary to get them a leg up?
schrodinger's cat
@Anne Laurie: I blame Obamacare.
gogol's wife
I miss Tunch so much.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Me too, cattitude purrsonified.
raven
@John O: Leg up for what, you send em they are there.
geg6
@Anne Laurie:
What about meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?
Oh, and I didn’t tell any stories because all of BJ knows those stories, I think.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I just sent in a picture of crazy ass Yeller. I told him he might be famous. He is not impressed.
Kristine
I sent Gaby’s pic. No story.
Jay C
Adorable picture, Summer: but can you maybe explain something? Maybe it’s the resolution on my monitor, but AFAICT, the doggie at the bottom of the picture looks like it is eating another (half-a) kitteh: how many beasts ARE there in this pic?
ruemara
Aww, what a kitty. and what a great story. I want a pic of my boys when we’re in costume. We’re doing Fionna and Cakes. Last pic before they go away for a while.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Anne Laurie: Groovy, thanks!
Summer
@Jay C: I think the dog at the bottom of this picture WOULD occasionally like to eat this kitten! Just to teach him a lesson. Instead, the dog at the bottom of this picture, Buffy, will soon creep to the other side of the big dog — and hope that the kitten doesn’t notice her tail.
This morning I saw Prince Harry leap at Layla and splay across her neck like a flying squirrel. Layla just lifted her chin. She is one awesome dog.
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: Alas, I know no more about Mr. Pierce’s life outside the blog than you do. IIRC, he was on the road at the end of last week, so maybe he’s just catching up?
Karen in GA
Pic of Iggy the Wonder Schnauzer forthcoming. Three months ago he was in a rescue, having been found in a kill shelter. His coat was so overgrown and tangled that nobody knew he was a mini schnauzer.
Now he’s in the living room, sleeping on the soft mat he dragged out of his crate. He didn’t go to sleep right away — first he put his stuffed squeaky elephant and his squeaky rubber chicken on it. (Which reminds me, he needs more toys. I can still see the living room floor.)
Anne Laurie
@geg6: Yup, got your pics of Otis & Koda too!
SiubhanDuinne
@gogol’s wife: Yup. Me too.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie: Hope that’s all it is. Yes, he was in Alabama on Friday — or, as a friend of mine calls it, “Land of the Six-Toed Sisters.”
Aji
Okay, so I mostly just lurk (other than teh foodie posts, anyway). But other than when our internet goes out, I’ve lurked basically every day for years now.
Anne Laurie, I did send you a photo of my owner after your first call for pix, but that was before the other e-mail address was available. Should I send it to that address, too, or is my four-legged overlord too large to be applicable? (Well, the one whose photo I sent, I mean; we are owned by ten four-leggeds, plus four feathered ones.)
YellowJournalism
My first kitty ever was an orange cat. My grandmother gave her to me as a present. We were at a baseball park at the time watching my cousin play Little League, and the cat escaped my arms and ran onto the field. I have a vague memory of my cousin an his teammates chasing her across left field. Loved that cat.
Anne Laurie
@Aji: Horses are perfectly acceptable pets — we’ve had at least one I remember, because it was another great rescue story. Also rabbits, a bird or two, and at least one turtle…
And, yes, I did get your story & forwarded it to the Yahoo address, so your ‘War Chief’ should be in the calendar this year!
Manyakitty
When do we find out who got picked, or is that part of the fun? I know I sent you a barrage of furry little physicists, but I have so many more…
ETA: Also, I sent them to the Verizon address, still OK, or should I resubmit?
Aji
@Anne Laurie: Aw, thank you. My overlord will be very happy. Especially if he gets a little extra grain for his modeling skills. :-D
Miki
Pic of The Sullster is on the way – he’s a re-home of a rescue, with baggage. I’m thinking someone just opened the door one day and said”Git.” But he’s smart and loving and cute, all of which usually outweigh his neuroses. When I got him he was almost 3, and didn’t even know how to sit. Now he can sit and down and stay and sit/down/sit/down and “go touch” and sit pretty and sneeze and go-find-bob. He’s become a lot more confidant and trusting and capable of self-control. He’s not entirely there yet, but we’re getting closer and closer all the time. He’s my guy, and I’m his gal – S’all good.