I suppose that some people might be intimidated by living with a bobcat, especially one who spends the majority of his time surveying his lands and looking down on his minions from his cat tree, but I find it oddly comforting having a benevolent kitty dictator watching over me:
I am so infatuated with this beast- his mane, his soulful eyes, his coat, his massive paws, his constant chirping. This is really quite some cat, and I love that he spends his time on the tower looking down on everyone. HE’S USING THE SHIT I PAID FOR AS INTENDED. This is new territory for me and felines.
How do I keep hitting the lottery with these cats? I should probably start a career placing cats with people.
Nate Dawg
That’s just the toxo’ talking, John.
Yatsuno
Papa Stevedore Hemingway iz benevolent Ceiling Cat.
Oh and proper authoritahs alerted.
James E. Powell
Just watched a BookTV talk by Ian Haney Lopez, author of Dog Whistle Politics. I’m putting it on my must-read and must-talk-about list.
This is a something we need to talk about with everyone we know.
John Cole
I just can’t get over how photogenic he is. He likes having his picture taken and any time you approach him he will stand up and pose, and he even knows not to look into the flash.
And I am telling you, my favorite thing in the world is at around five am when he gets tired of doing his nighttime carousing, he always comes in, jumps up on bed, and lies with his body next to my torso and both massive front paws and his chest on my left arm, and if I move in my sleep, he slowly clenches down with his 6 and 7 claws and I stop moving. He also wakes me up with his snoring when he really passes out.
And you know what? I love every second of it. Hands down the greatest 20 mins of my day, every day, is waking up with Lily in my armpit, Rosie on my hip, Steve on my left arm, and I just lie there for 20 mins enjoying it all before I have to get up before Rosie shits the bed.
I could seriously spend all day doing that.
Glocksman
The thing I realized as an adult that I didn’t realize as a kid is that the love of a pet is unconditional.
If my apartment allowed pets, I’d adopt a small dog like my friend Larry’s Luke
Ironically, despite her name Tempe barks and growls at everyone except Larry and his family.
She’s the only dog I’ve ever run into that didn’t love me on sight.
Hell, his old dog Mina would do laps around my head and shoulders while I sat in an easy chair while visiting.
My nickname for Tempe is Gateway, because she’s matured into one overweight dog that looks like a miniature cow with that white and black fur. :)
Here’s another pic of Luke that my goddaughter took.
Kristan’s Pic of Luke
asiangrrlMN
@John Cole: You were truly lucky to have Sir Willie Whiskertons III enter your life, Cole. I still miss Tunchie, and I know Sir WW III isn’t trying to take his place, but there’s a Tunchie-like spirit about Sir WW III that makes me smile. I’m glad you two found each other. Now, give the bobcat some tuna, damn it!!
Yatsuno
@asiangrrlMN: Sushi-grade ahi or GFTO.
Oh and hi hon.
Gustopher
@John Cole: No flash, if you can avoid it. It makes pictures very harsh.
Get him in the morning light, when he’s sitting on your bed or near a window, so there’s plenty of light coming in. And then use whatever camera is on hand — even a cell phone camera — turn off the flash, and you will get a better photo.
Eventually, try to capture his whiskers catching the light, or his big fuzzy feet, but for the moment, just a well lit cat.
Pogonip
Did you ever come up with a safe way to remove his dingleberries?
wormtown
I am so happy that the cat has joined (taken over) the household so well. I can’t believe that he was in a shelter.
HeartlandLiberal
Our 16 year old Maine Coon mix cat is obviously feeling his age. He never climbs up on the tree to get on either platform anymore. That is owned by four year old yellow tom Spencer, who is a short haired 14 pound piece of muscle and bone.
Buckey used to love to hop up on the edge our our big bathtub and walk around and sit on the platform under the window beside it, or sleep in the tub. Now he can’t jump up from the floor anymore. A few days ago he let my wife know he wanted to be picked up. He got down into the tub and curled up as he used to do for a nap. Nowadays I keep a plastic two foot step stool at the foot of the bed, so Buckey can get up on the bed to sleep on my feet every night. She put the stool in the tub, so he could get up and out on his own later.
I was sitting in bed reading later that day, and suddenly realized Buckey was on the floor beside me talking to me. I realized his step stool was still in the tub. I got it out of the tub, put it in place, he went to end of the bed, climbed aboard, and came up and snuggled into my left side, purring and drooling with happiness. He is one of the sweetest, most affectionate cats we have ever had.
kc
@HeartlandLiberal:
Awww . . .
mikefromArlington
Instead of Match.com. CATch.com.
SiubhanDuinne
Normally I wouldn’t share my dreams, but I just woke up a couple of minutes ago from dreaming that Wiley Cash and I came to visit you, and I spent the whole time putting scritches on Steve (also Lily and Rosie, but mostly Steve). There was a car parked outside your house with a license tag WQXR, and neither you nor Wiley could understand why anyone would have that as a license plate, and I kept explaining that it was a venerable old classical music radio station in New York.
West of the Cascades
@John Cole: that is a GREAT photo, and a nice way to start the day out here on the West Coast. Steve looks so content and definitely in charge of all he surveys. We’ve had a snowstorm here the last three days, with about eight inches of snow and now about 1/2 inch of ice, and I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to see if my cat Margie wants to go out on the balcony and investigate the weird white stuff. Rain is coming today to wash it all away.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: What a great dream!
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl: Yes, I thought so too! The better because it makes no sense at all! :-)
different-church-lady
Dude, you didn’t buy it for him, it was just already there. If you had bought it for him he never would have gone anywhere near it, and instead decided the china cabinet was his perch. That’s just how cats operate.
J R in WV
I think the lesson to be had here is that nearly all cats will blossom into great companions if given a chance before they develop problems relating to others from hardship and mistreatment.
We’ve never had a “bad cat” from the many cats we’ve lived with, even the most odd and short tempered ones have been good friends eventually.
stinger
“I am so infatuated with this beast- his mane, his soulful eyes, his coat, his massive paws, his constant chirping.” Perfectly describes my feelings about our gracious host.
Pogonip
@stinger: I knew John had massive paws, but this is the first I’ve heard about chirping. How about a recording?
It is fvcking snowing AGAIN. During the last blizzard I was sick and so could stay home without feeling guilty. Now I am restored to health and I gotta slog through the snow with the rest of the Eskimos.
Comrade Mary
I think that’s the best pic of Steve yet — well done!
stinger
@Pogonip: I was taking the word metaphorically — short, frequent blog posts, for example. And I have no idea about his eyes and “mane” — it was basically the massive paws bit that got my attention. But I check this blog so frequently that it must be infatuation!
John Cole
@different-church-lady: No. I bought this for him. I gave away Tunch’s tower to the lady who took ZsaZsa because even though I had Steve, seeing the old cat tree was killing me. So I bought Steve a new one.
Pogonip
@stinger: I check it a lot too; I like sites that put up new topics frequently. Since this one has so many writers, there’s almost always something new.
Ted and Hellen
It seems I am the only one here at BJ who, every time you gush about Steve who does appear to be awesome, can think only of the beautiful and charismatic Tunch, how he was gruesomely murdered by your sister’s fucking piece of shit pit bull, and how that issue including the resolution of the PB’s continued existence or not, has all been swept under the rug as though it never happened.
Perhaps it’s only because I’m a creative/depressive type, but every time you post about Steve, it seems a slap in the face to the murdered Tunch. Well, I haven’t forgotten Tunch, how he lived and died, and I think, given how much you shared about him with your readers, we deserve to know what became of his killer. Sure, you can say it’s none of our business, but most of what you write is none of our business, and you regularly mock other writers who tell half-stories, ignoring inconvenient realities like gorgeous, snow white cats torn to shreds and buried in a back yard.
How about every time you post about Steve’s incomparable perfection, you mirror it with another post about Tunch? It just seems weird how Tunch and his violent death and how it came about have all been disappeared.
demit
Writing this long after the fact so probably no one will see it, but for the record: To the Ted and Hellen person: What a cruel thing to write. You are horrible.
Ted and Hellen
@demit:
Cruel in what way? You idiot.
Ted and Hellen
@demit:
Cruel in what way? You idiot.
BeezusQ
Winning the cat lottery has NOTHING to do with us… it is all the CATS.
Quinerly
I’m on a yearly month of February visit to Santa Fe and just had to put my dog…11 year….traveling companion to sleep yesterday morning. Leo was fine Saturday morning and at 1 pm but definitely sick by 6 pm. Got him to the emergency pet clinic…tumor on his spleen had ruptured. The tumor probably was there for months but I didn’t know it, of course. Never traveled in the ‘Ru without Leo or before him Buddy….never vacation without a dog. Fucking surreal and the drive back to St. Louis on 3/2 is going to be rough. I’m devastated.
Quinerly
Oh, and Ted and Helen, you are not only horrible but despicable and loathsome.
Jebediah, RBG
@Quinerly:
dead thread, but in case you see this – very sorry about your dog. I think it is worse for us when there is no warning, no slow decline to help us prepare. If your dogs were also your traveling companions, I am sure they each had a really wonderful life. Focusing on that has sometimes helped me a little when grieving a pet.
And yes, T&H can be really nasty – if you aren’t already aware of it, the pie filter can help with that.
Quinerly
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve followed this blog for years so I know all about the Ted and Helen show. I’m mostly a lurker…few comments ever from my end. They are loathsome people…if they even are people.