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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Late Night Open Thread

Late Night Open Thread

by John Cole|  March 5, 201411:43 pm| 52 Comments

This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads

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Shawn found one of Tunch’s favorite blankets in his room, and he used it to cover my mother’s antique Morris chair (besides my grandmother’s cedar chest and my grandfather’s desk, my favorite piece of furniture) to protect the fabric, and I guess this was sort of inevitable:

morrischair

Steve loves the blanket as much as Tunch, and has been caught lounging there quite a few times. I know how many of you hated that blanket, but I love it because it reminds me of the magnificent fat bastard, and now the new master likes it, too.

I’d also like to note that that is his small paw, with “only” six toes. The seven toed catcher’s mitt is underneath him.

*** Update ***

All pets fed and brushed, Shawn and I are full and winding down and watching House of Cards (S1 so he can catch up), Steve and Rosie are on the couch snoring, and Lily is now on my lap snoring.

happyhousehold

Could probably use another cat or two, but let’s not overdo things.

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Next Post: The Appropriateness of Appropriation »

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    ? Martin

    March 5, 2014 at 11:52 pm

    Emoji update. Some added luck for Cole and his extended family.

  2. 2.

    Big R

    March 5, 2014 at 11:53 pm

    If his catcher’s mitt is on the right side, then we know Steve throws left.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    March 5, 2014 at 11:56 pm

    my grandmother’s cedar chest

    Nuh-uh. Nope. Not going there.

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    March 5, 2014 at 11:59 pm

    Cats like things that smell like other cats. I’m sure WereBear can explain why, but there seems to be a feeling that if another cat used it, it must be a safe spot.

  5. 5.

    kc

    March 5, 2014 at 11:59 pm

    Oh, my God, he’s gorgeous.

  6. 6.

    Ash Can

    March 6, 2014 at 12:03 am

    @Big R: You beat me to the southpaw reference. :)

  7. 7.

    Roger Moore

    March 6, 2014 at 12:03 am

    My goodness that cat is fluffy.

  8. 8.

    Mj_Oregon

    March 6, 2014 at 12:04 am

    I like the blanket and I’m glad Steve’s being indulged. He’s a beautiful kitty – all polydactyls are really special but Steve’s an outstanding example of cattitude.

  9. 9.

    Roger Moore

    March 6, 2014 at 12:08 am

    @Big R:

    If his catcher’s mitt is on the right side, then we know Steve throws left.

    But Antonio Alfonseca still leads him in total digits.

  10. 10.

    PurpleGirl

    March 6, 2014 at 12:09 am

    Love his mouth whiskers; it looks like he doesn’t have whisters by his eyes.

  11. 11.

    Blehmann

    March 6, 2014 at 12:09 am

    What could be wrong with that blanket?

  12. 12.

    Big R

    March 6, 2014 at 12:11 am

    @Ash Can: My guess is he hits right, though. Gives him more placement control.

  13. 13.

    Suzanne

    March 6, 2014 at 12:20 am

    The blanket is fine. The cat is lovely. The end tables suck. STEVE DESERVES BETTER END TABLES. This ain’t 1988. This ain’t a Nagel poster in a trashy hair salon. We are not all high.

  14. 14.

    Alison

    March 6, 2014 at 12:21 am

    He’s really quite a cat. I can only imagine the mountains of fluff you end up with after furminating him :)

  15. 15.

    Calming Influence

    March 6, 2014 at 12:40 am

    Why is he wearing a catcher’s mitt on both paws?

  16. 16.

    Comrade Mary

    March 6, 2014 at 12:48 am

    Oh, it’s so nice to see that blanket get loved by another cat.

    And that’s a lovely photo: the warms browns of Steve really work with the various blues of the blanket. You should frame that one.

  17. 17.

    CaseyL

    March 6, 2014 at 12:51 am

    That is one deeply contented cat. I’m glad he’s taken over a(nother?) Tunch relic; tradition is important.

    I’m also enjoying seeing Cole’s self-made family grow. In ten years, he’ll have a full-blown commune co-housing compound…

    … and ten years ain’t that long. It’s just occurred to me, I’ve been a BJ regular for nearly nine years. Nine years! I bet Cole never thought his blog would be around this long, much less have a community this big grown around it.

  18. 18.

    cckids

    March 6, 2014 at 1:16 am

    If I owned, rather than renting, I’d so do some of this for my cats. I’d even get a new kitten so he/she could grow up with it, it would be awesome.

  19. 19.

    ? Martin

    March 6, 2014 at 1:18 am

    ZOMG! GOP legislation is now actually turning people gay!

  20. 20.

    ruemara

    March 6, 2014 at 1:41 am

    I miss cats. Thanks for sharing.

  21. 21.

    Violet

    March 6, 2014 at 1:43 am

    Steve is gorgeous. I see that Shawn is the Rosie Whisperer. See how she’s following his every move. Lily looks nonplussed.

  22. 22.

    John Cole

    March 6, 2014 at 1:57 am

    @Violet: He is an animal whisperer. The deer have been starving around here so we have been basically dumping our compost outside the last couple of weeks, because they come right up next to the fence and eat it. At any rate, two days ago, I watched him talk to the deer and walk up slowly to them with some apple cores and carrots, and he got within a few feet before tossing the food to them.

    He talks to the pets all day, and Steve and Rosie just follow him around and watch everything he does. At this point, Rosie spends most of the day with or near Shawn, Lily is surgically attached to me, and Steve bosses us around equally, although he does spend a quality four hours every day bleeding my hand when I dare to bump him while trying to type or use my desktop mouse and interrupt his naptime on the mousepad.

    We have a very comfortable and peaceful thing going on now.

  23. 23.

    katie5

    March 6, 2014 at 2:33 am

    Finally got over the hangover from yesterday’s NYC Meetup. Very enjoyable.

  24. 24.

    kdaug

    March 6, 2014 at 4:00 am

    @? Martin:

    ZOMG! GOP legislation is now actually turning people gay!

    Hmmm…

  25. 25.

    kdaug

    March 6, 2014 at 4:02 am

    @Comrade Mary:

    the warms browns of Steve

    Hmmm…

  26. 26.

    Bruce Baugh

    March 6, 2014 at 4:39 am

    John, it makes me really happy to see that kind of just plain domestic goodness.

  27. 27.

    MikeJ

    March 6, 2014 at 4:53 am

    Have you seen the twitter reaction to David Cameron’s tweet about Ukraine?
    http://imgur.com/gallery/XNibo

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    March 6, 2014 at 4:53 am

    @Mnemosyne: there seems to be a feeling that if another cat used it, it must be a safe spot

    It sure seems that way. I think cats are able to give off “I’m having a good time on this blanket” as opposed to the “OMG! End of the world!” which is given off at the vet’s office.

    And the cat’s incredible sense of smell is able to pick that up.

  29. 29.

    WereBear

    March 6, 2014 at 4:54 am

    I know, I got no business being up now, drinking a cup of Holy Basil tea and it seems to be working.

  30. 30.

    raven

    March 6, 2014 at 5:31 am

    Off your ass and on your feet
    out of the shade and into the. . . .well, just get up.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2014 at 5:43 am

    @raven

    *yawn*

    Five more minutes…

    Just finished resetting the recording timer on the VCR, as realized you guys change time this weekend (and we don’t), so stuff I’ve set up to record regularly airs 1 hour earlier here.

  32. 32.

    raven

    March 6, 2014 at 5:46 am

    @NotMax: I can’t figure out when the last episode of True Detective is on. The TV guide site shows 8 but it’s always been on at 9.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2014 at 5:54 am

    @raven

    Have found zap2it.com‘s TV listings handy for checking schedules, as one can customize them by ZIP code and cable provider.

  34. 34.

    gene108

    March 6, 2014 at 6:02 am

    Skirts on the Train:

    BOSTON — A man who took cellphone photos up the skirts of women riding the Boston subway did not violate state law because the women were not nude or partially nude, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled Wednesday.

    The Supreme Judicial Court overruled a lower court that had upheld charges against Michael Robertson, who was arrested in August 2010 by transit police who set up a sting after getting reports that he was using his cellphone to take photos and video up female riders’ skirts and dresses.

    The ruling immediately prompted top Beacon Hill lawmakers to pledge to update state law.

    Existing so-called Peeping Tom laws protect people from being photographed in dressing rooms and bathrooms when nude or partially nude, but the way the law is written, it does not protect clothed people in public areas, the court said.

    “A female passenger on a MBTA trolley who is wearing a skirt, dress, or the like covering these parts of her body is not a person who is `partially nude,’ no matter what is or is not underneath the skirt by way of underwear or other clothing,” the court said in its ruling.

    State law “does not apply to photographing (or videotaping or electronically surveilling) persons who are fully clothed and, in particular, does not reach the type of upskirting that the defendant is charged with attempting to accomplish on the MBTA,” the court said.

    The SJC said that while such actions should be illegal, they are not, given the way state law is written.

    http://www.wbur.org/2014/03/05/subway-upskirt-sjc-illegal

    Crazy ruling, but the lawyer earned his keep.

  35. 35.

    raven

    March 6, 2014 at 6:06 am

    @NotMax: That’s the same database as TV guide. It says 9, here’s HBO’s. Other places on HBO’s site say 9.

  36. 36.

    mikej

    March 6, 2014 at 6:12 am

    @gene108: It’s not a crazy ruling, it’s a poorly written law. You can’t charge somebody with violating what you wish the law was. It should be against the law, and soon it will be.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2014 at 6:17 am

    @raven

    (cue Twilight Zone music)

  38. 38.

    Schlemizel

    March 6, 2014 at 6:27 am

    here:
    http://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseamarshall/what-kind-of-cat-are-you

    What kind of cat are you?

    And with this comment this blogs conversion to facebook is complete!
    Its a joke JC, calm down

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2014 at 6:34 am

    @Schlemizel

    Frequent Facebook users might be sharing more than just party pictures, vacation videos and selfies – they also share a greater risk of eating disorders, according to a new study. Source

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2014 at 6:38 am

    Some Ukraine-related stuff:

    EU freezes assets of Ukraine’s ousted leader and 17 others

    NATO Suspends Military Relations With Russia

  41. 41.

    JPL

    March 6, 2014 at 7:00 am

    Crimea has elections planned for March 16 on whether or not to join Russia. What could possibly happen with that? It will be interesting to see how the market reacts.

  42. 42.

    Elizabelle

    March 6, 2014 at 7:09 am

    The nation’s paper of record.

    Yesterday’s vote on Debo P. Adegbile to head DOJ’s Civil Rights Division: all Republicans opposed; 47 of 54 Democrats voted for the nominee.

    NYTimes headline this morning: Democrats in Senate Reject Pick by Obama.

    All seven of them.

    Fuck the New York Times and the limo they rode in in.

    I think they’re borrowing an online headline writer from the Washington Post.

    WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Wednesday rejected President Obama’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in an embarrassing rebuke of the president on the choice of a key legal adviser and one that left senior White House officials “furious” with members of their own party.

    The nominee, Debo P. Adegbile, was litigation director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund when it represented Mumia Abu-Jamal on an appeal of his death sentence for killing a Philadelphia police officer decades ago. He could not overcome a campaign by Republicans, conservative activists and law enforcement organizations still infuriated by the murder of the officer, Daniel Faulkner.

    But it was the votes of seven Democratic senators to reject Mr. Adegbile that doomed the nomination despite what White House officials described as a sustained closed-door effort by Mr. Obama and his top aides to save it.

    Because it’s just natural for every presidential nomination to come down to partisan lines, period.

    Again, fuck the NY Times. Although it does provide fine examples of GOP grandstanding — check out Mitch McConnell’s, in particular.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    March 6, 2014 at 7:21 am

    @JPL

    Second time a previously announced referendum has been moved up, and also the questions on it have been changed.

    The latest is now to be conducted only in the Russian language, and was voted on by the very recently altered Crimean Supreme Council as gun-toting soldiers in unmarked uniforms surrounded the chamber.

    Current authorities and courts in Kiev don’t recognize the legitimacy of the process or the procedure, including the original May referendum.

  44. 44.

    gogol's wife

    March 6, 2014 at 7:42 am

    Very sweet pics. The story of you and Shawn is heartwarming.

  45. 45.

    WereBear

    March 6, 2014 at 7:44 am

    It worked! The Holy Basil calmed down my brain and I got back to sleep.

  46. 46.

    raven

    March 6, 2014 at 7:57 am

    Cool article and pic of the World Trade One.

  47. 47.

    gene108

    March 6, 2014 at 7:58 am

    The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Barack Obama’s signature health law, is already boosting household income and spending.

    The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending rose a better-than-expected 0.4% and personal incomes climbed 0.3% in January. The new health-care law accounted for a big chunk of the increase on both fronts.

    On the incomes side, the law’s expanded coverage boosted Medicaid benefits by an estimated $19.2 billion, according to Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The ACA also offered several refundable tax credits, including health insurance premium subsidies, which added up to $14.7 billion.

    Taken together, the Obamacare provisions are responsible for about three-quarters of January’s overall rise in Americans’ incomes.

    SNIP

    On the spending side, the BEA is assuming Obamacare is responsible for a $29 billion increase in health-care services. Separately, spending on utilities also saw a big jump due to rising demand for heat during the cold stretch.

    Outside of the two categories, consumers spent less: Overall spending on goods declined for the second straight month.

    “So there is indeed evidence of a shift in the composition in spending — consumers in January spent more on heating bills and health care at the expense of other goods and services,” said Michelle Girard, economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/03/03/obamacare-effects-account-for-most-of-income-spending-increases/

  48. 48.

    Boudica

    March 6, 2014 at 8:00 am

    @Violet:

    Steve is gorgeous. I see that Shawn is the Rosie Whisperer. See how she’s following his every move. Lily looks nonplussed.

    Didn’t we have this discussion the other day that nonplussed means confused, not “without a care”?

  49. 49.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 6, 2014 at 10:35 am

    Steve has a floofy.

  50. 50.

    muddy

    March 6, 2014 at 11:48 am

    @Boudica: I didn’t see the other conversation, but in this case Lily does look nonplussed to me!

    “Where in hell is my lap? Daddy’s always messing about with the flashy box these days, I am lapless! At least Daddy’s friend should slide down to have a dog on each side? I’m the cutest one, why don’t I have a lap? Why do they make me so sad? I’m the good girl, wtf. Please excuse my language, I really am a good girl. But I don’t have a lap! This is just wrong, I don’t get it. What universe is this to be so cold to meee?”

  51. 51.

    MomSense

    March 6, 2014 at 11:55 am

    Nice to see such contentment in the Cole home. Well done, John!

  52. 52.

    StringOnAStick

    March 6, 2014 at 6:27 pm

    Shawn is definitely an animal whisperer; he can play his bass and they don’t all run screaming from the room! It doesn’t matter which instrument either of us picks up (all unamplified), the second we do our cat gives us a completely crusty look of disgusted betrayal and slinks out of the room. Everyone’s a critic….

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