It’s just an absolutely gorgeous day here, so I am spending it… in agony from my second fucking sinus infection of the season. I can always tell one is about to hit when I notice I am flossing my molars two-three times because I feel like something is stuck, and midway through the third time I mutter “fuck” and prepare for a shitshow the next few days. So there’s that.
I have a special treat for you- a new picture of Maxwell Edison:
Haha, just kidding, that’s a panther. But you tell me, if that is a panther, what is this:
I’m sorry, that’s a panther. So it looks like in the not so distant future I will have a panther, a bobcat, a Lily, and a feral pig. It’s gonna be some Mutual of Omaha up in this bitch. I’m excited, if you can not tell.
BTW- wtf is up with Hu Jintao?
Spanky
Hu?
I assume the feral pug is Thurston. That’s cold.
zhena gogolia
I love that cat! (the lower one)
MattF
You’re not the only one wondering.
BeautifulPlumage
I missed what happened with Gary? Last I recall his mom & siblings had an illness that would take a while to treat?
Max is lovely! How will Steve deal with the new panther?
zhena gogolia
@BeautifulPlumage: I don’t know what happened either.
sab
I know you are of the let-the-cats-be-them school of cat rearing, and I am of the I don’t let toddlers ramble outside so why should my cats. Please keep this cat inside for at least three weeks when you get it. Preferably forever.
I lost my first two cats to traffic, first when I was twelve, second when I was eighteen. We haven’t lost a cat since and we have five.
I realize five cats inside are pretty well self-entertaining and don’t need outside. And you only have one, who gets bored.
On the other hand
Also tooCuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio had a tree with one of those two ton Bald Eagle Giant Tree Nest Trees fall over and the park people picked through the nest (newish nest, two years) and they found eighteen cat collars, and those were the cats wearing collarsETA Maxwell is phucking gorgeous. I want a cat like him.
indycat32
The black cat and her four black kittens who showed up last week are still here and have made themselves at home. And why not – there’s food every day because I’m currently caring for 5 “community cats.” Neither the Humane Society nor Indy Neighborhood Cats have responded to my pleas for help. The intact male (and probably Chloe’s father) who hasn’t been around for over a year is back. Momma cat won’t go near the trap I have for her. Kittens know there’s food in it but haven’t figured out the entrance is in front, not the back. So, my daily panic and sleepness nights continue.
Thanks for listening. Just needed to get that off my chest. :)
Betsy
Very nice.
sab
@sab: I am an idiot writing a comment to Cole without addressing him because I know he pretends not to read his own blog.
Whatever.
glc
Our dog’s name is Rocky, but when speaking to him on formal occasions, I tend to call him “Rockwell Edison.” He takes no special notice.
Regards to Edison Jr.
BeautifulPlumage
ellie
I have a house panther! They are the best!
la caterina
@BeautifulPlumage: He won’t anther!
oklahomo
He looks just like the barn monster we call Big Blackie, down to the muzzle.
la caterina
@indycat32: You’ll probably need a drop trap to catch that momma. Not difficult to use-just pretend you’re Wile E. Coyote. It costs a bit, but cheaper than dealing with another litter of kittens. I’m sorry you’re not finding any local help.
eclare
So when do you get Maxwell?
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Hu’s on first?
Third base!
eclare
@indycat32: Oh gosh, is there any hope that a rescue group will take the kittens?
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
We had a house panther show up at our back door in the summer of 2006. He decided he was going to move in with us, and we had no say in the matter. Had that little purr monster for 12 happy years before cancer took him.
Give Maxwell Edison all of the head scritches for me.
Mike Molloy
That is one handsome panther
Dan B
Score:
Sunak 201
Flobalob 53
Mordaunt 23
Panther is gorgeous!
indycat32
@la caterina: IShe sees me, she runs, and there’s no place to hide from her in my yard. The trap I have is one where the animal steps on the plate and the door closes.
Ocotillo
Maybe Hu was an American asset and Trump spilled the beans.
Ihop
I tell you what, that little black kittie will be a snuggler, and he will keep the correct time as what dinner should be, and the proper type of treats.
And he will snore, right by your good ear.
And I have never known him or any kitty like him. Well, except for my little man.
But he’s grey and white, totally different.
indycat32
@eclare: I talked with a woman at my vet’s office who does animal rescue. She said there are so many kittens and not enough foster people. Shelters here won’t take kittens that aren’t socialized and they’re almost too old to attempt that, according to her. I’m tempted to try it although with 4 indoor cats, a small house and one tiny bathroom I don’t know where I’d put them.
realbtl
I’m one month in with my new right out of the pound dog, a #10 Peke/Long Hair Chihuahua/? about 2 yo. After my Weim passed at the start of the summer I kept telling myself “You’re 74, you don’t need a #65 dog.” First small dog and it is working out well.
Martin
My guess: Hu is a reminder that China used to have changes of leadership. Xi has a new vision in mind for China. And Hu as a former premiere was a potential credible critic of Xi that Xi doesn’t need to risk being criticized by. Now that risk is gone, as is that reminder.
Another Scott
@MattF: Yeah, Hu apparently got on the wrong side of Xi.
AlJazeera:
The cell phone video seems to show that it wasn’t part of the highly choreographed meeting that Xi wanted…
It looks uncomfortably like that famous grainy video of the 1979 Baath Party Purge when Saddam took over and people were led away to be executed while he sat back and smoked a cigar (but Hu obviously won’t suffer that fate).
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
He looks so much like my ornery kittums, Luna.
Faithful Lurker
@indycat32: I’ve socialized adult feral cats with a lot of patience, good food and time. Don’t give up on them yet.
Jackie
Hello Max!
He’s so handsome! I had a black floof-ball named Edgar – in honor of Edgar Allan Poe… and for my most favorite ball player ever, Edgar Martinez.
sab
OT I am retired and married and just lolling around but not wanting to bother with dinner. ( I love to cook, but not every night. Good cooking takes hours.) Husband just popped saying there’s lots of leftovers. Why do you want to cook? I don’t , not tonight. Yay.
What a hero.
eclare
@indycat32: Gotcha. Thank you.
sab
@indycat32: Where are you geographically?
indycat32
@Faithful Lurker: It’s not giving up so much as I just can’t deal with 10 cats. I can manage financially, it’s just too much. My yard is beginning to smell like a litter box.
sab
@Faithful Lurker: We have three ferals amongst our five who never wanted to be housecats. Only one still has issues, but the transition from wilderness to you-can-actually-trust-these-people is a hard slog for cats. They aren’t wired to trust. But they can learn to trust. Just another survival instinct.
indycat32
@sab: far east side of Indianapolis.
different-church-lady
Ah, so that’s what I got yesterday.
trollhattan
Panther. Checks out.
Hu Jintao might be a Xi major flex to close out this party congress–warning to any who would ponder challenging his accumulation of power and authority. “See, just don’t.”
indycat32
And the dumbest part of this entire saga – the low cost spay/neuter clinic, starting this year, is by appointment only. How do you make an appoinment for a feral cat?
WaterGirl
@Another Scott:
Shit, I would be “reluctant” to leave, too. Is there any reason to believe that he won’t be murdered or imprisoned?
sab
We have our usual flea problems because the dog goes out. Flea problem in house. Five cats need Frontline. Three boys are “Hate it but okay.” Two girls are ” we always knew you wanted to kill us.” This goes on every phucking year. I have been dosing our two feline princesses with flea stuff since forever. If I don’t get them then we all have fleas all winter. Alternative is drop them into deep water in the stationary tub in the basement like my grandfather always did to the cocker spaniel.
Straighten up cats! Behave, get dunked, or hunt mice in the woods.
WaterGirl
@sab: Well, if he’s able to “pop in” rather than hobble in, I would say that is cause for celebration.
sab
@WaterGirl: You have been following our saga of his horrendous back surgery.
He has been great. Jumping at every chance to save me work. Makes me want to cry. He is a mess and he is trying to be so helpful.
Dan B
@Dan B: Oops, correction,
Sunak 125
156 Tory MP’s have not decided.
WaterGirl
@sab: I had a flea problem one year, and it turns out that Frontline had stopped working in our neck of the woods.
Maybe change up your flea protection?
MazeDancer
Contact WaterGirl to start a fundraiser for you.
Also, if you show up with a big donation a shelter might be persuaded to take the kittens and let their volunteers socialize them.
sab
@WaterGirl: You and I disagree with our vet.
Some of the others are toxic to cats, so he is wary.
ETA My grandfather used to dunk dogs in the stationary tub in the basement until all the fleas drowned. I can’t see even how to do that with cats
ETA But there are all sorts of fleakillers for dogs, but cats have sensitive kidneys.
indycat32
@sab: That’s funny. My four indoor cats act like I’m killing them. The 4 (actually 5 but the lone female won’t let me near her) outdoor cats said whatever. They just continued to eat their breakfast.
indycat32
@MazeDancer: thanks, but money is not the problem and the male cat belongs to someone, an irresponsible someone, but someone. Offering money is my next on my list. There’s a shelter on the southside I may be able to bribe, I mean make a sizable contribution.
la caterina
@indycat32: You may be able to run the string to set off the drop trap into a window so you could be inside and she couldn’t see you. I’d be happy to talk you through it. WaterGirl has my email address. And WereBear may have some tips too.
sab
@indycat32: I suspect you don’t believe my ” hunt mice in the woods” threat any more than my lady cats did. The boys did. Guys are idiots.
ETA I have wanted a black cat my whole life but at 68 with cats having a 20 year life expectacy wanting anything but a very old cat seems irresponsible.
la caterina
@MazeDancer: Great ideas!
indycat32
@la caterina: thanks. I should have ordered one of those instead of a second box trap. Problem is, as I said earlier, the spay neuter clinic requires an appointment. “Excuse me, Millie (yeah, I named her) we have an appointment for Wednesday, would you kindly enter the trap.” I sound like I’m shooting down every idea and suggestion. I need to be less negative.
MTCinVA
I’ve always loved black cats and currently have my 3rd and 4th of my lifetime to date, along with a tabby to keep things interesting, one of which is definitely a house panther. Hamish’s weight has fluctuated quite a bit but he’s definitely in the panther category. Congrats on the addition to the household!
glc
@Dan B: So when does the Penny drop?
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Yes. That’s not what they do to former leaders. At most it would be a glorified house arrest.
IIRC, Hu was one of the old guard who was very much against Xi having more than 2 terms. So it’s not surprising that Xi would have some sort of public event to show that Hu’s side lost. But the ham-handed way this went down is not a good look.
I’m no expert though. So, grain of salt, etc.
Cheers,
Scott.
la caterina
@indycat32: Yeah, I hear you. Rescuers doing TNR are used to this. You have to make the appointment and then hope for success trapping the cat(s). One year my group trapped 47 in a couple of different locations. We checked out almost all the traps from the trap bank. We trapped for a few days, held some of the cats in traps for a couple of nights, and then ASPCA sent a truck to pick them all up!
Sherparick
Max looks like a beauty, John. We have had two sweet black female cats. Charlie Charcoal in particular kind of owned us for the whole 14 years she spent on this earth.
indycat32
@sab: One of my outdoor cats (Nicky) is a neutered male who showed up earlier this year. Obviously belonged to someone. He’s black and huge, no idea how old he is. He likes nothing more than being held. I pick him up, he puts his head under my chin and purrs. He’s also a vampire kitty.
dww44
@indycat32: You are entitled to get this off your chest. I am in awe of your dedication.
Another Scott
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@sab: I don’t believe that Cap*Star is hard on kitties. That kills all the live fleas right away, which gives you a jump-start on the flea problem. You still have to use something that gets them at all the cycles of life, but it’s a big piece of starting to get control.
indycat32
@la caterina: You can hold them in the trap? I did not know that.
bbleh
@Martin: concur. It was a pure power play — out with the old man and his old ways, all power to the emperor.
@WaterGirl: I’d doubt it; I think the show was enough. It’s not like Hu has any power, at least not to rival Xi.
@Another Scott: I’d guess the ham-handedness was part of the point. Transgressing norms is part of the standard rulebook for authoritarians. (In all countries, ahem.)
sab
@indycat32: What a guy. I want someone like him. And I have great cats at home, but StarScream isn’ thriving. Hyperthyroid we thought was controlled, but he is eating voraciously and losing weight at an extemely alarmimg rate.
sab
@WaterGirl: Is Capstar same as Frontline?
indycat32
@sab: I’m just saying.
la caterina
@indycat32: I wouldn’t consider it unethical to neuter a free roaming tomcat who hangs out on your property. Would the “owner” of the cat even notice
ETA: neutering is best for the cat’s health
glc
@MattF: Apparently the actual title on that article was considered a bit much for their main page. Odd.
prostratedragon
@Ocotillo: If so, 1) the cause of yesterday’s leak, or the reason for it? 2) one less thing DOJ needs to worry about in deciding how to structure a case.
bbleh
@Ocotillo: @prostratedragon: I strongly doubt it, but if indeed it were the case, I think the show would have been much flashier. I think it would have been uniformed police who took him out, and I don’t think he would have been permitted a casual touch or word with the emperor.
la caterina
@indycat32: You can hold ferals for a night or two in one of those 3-foot long Tomahawks. You keep newspaper at one end or a shallow box with some litter. Food at the other end. Works best with smaller cats. You use the “comb” to keep them at one end of the trap while you clean the other. Males can typically be released as soon as the anesthesia from surgery wears off, it’s females who need a few nights to recover. I usually keep females in a dog crate with a cat carrier inside. You can rig the carrier so you can close it while the cat’s inside when you want to move her. I know way too much about this stuff!
WaterGirl
@sab: No, it’s not a preventative.
Cap*Star is a tiny white pill that kills all live fleas – it starts killing them in 30 minutes and they are all dead in less than a day. Then at least they can’t reproduce and you have to deal with the babies who are hatching. The other flea stuff kills them at various points in the cycle.
indycat32
@la caterina: Interesting. When I had Callie (my lone female and Chloe’s mom) fixed two years ago when I picked her up in the afternoon of her surgery they told me to just let her go, she’d be fine. And she was.
ETA: would you like to come to my house and solve all my cat problems for me? I’d be eternally grateful and will make you a quilt. :)
la caterina
@indycat32: They are ok most of the time.
la caterina
Heading upstairs for the postcard party!
MazeDancer
@indycat32: Seen sizable donation work before. And why not? They need money.
Many blessings to you for doing such good work.
SiubhanDuinne
@MTCinVA:
I had a black cat named Hamish! He was a total love bug. I miss him.
SiubhanDuinne
@glc:
Hahaha, well played!
CaseyL
@sab: I have also reached that age where adopting a younger cat isn’t a good idea.
My current cats… I was hoping they’d make it to my 70th Birthday, at which point they’d be about 20. Oscar still might, but Jeannie’s cancer means she’s unlikely to make it to Thanksgiving, never mind 4 years from now.
Re the flea problem: Capstar does seem to be the best solution for ferals, and it’s supposed to have no ill effects on them. Just, you have to keep giving it to them because it only kills adult fleas – but it does do one hell of a number on those!
prostratedragon
@bbleh: I’d watch DOJ rather than Xi.
Josie
@la caterina: I had two neighbor cats spayed at one point after they reproduced and the stupid neighbors never even noticed the shaved tummies. That’s how much attention some people pay to their animals. The dad was a state senator, and I saw later that he had been given some award by the local humane society. I was tempted to object, but my husband talked me down.
hells littlest angel
@Ocotillo: That that is plausible makes me sick.
sab
@Josie: I love my husband because I love him, but also husbands are are sometimes good at talking wives down.
Josie
@sab:
Yeah, He was consistently a nicer person than I am.
sab
@indycat32: What are you saying?
indycat32
@sab: that I have just the cat for you.
Tom Levenson
@Dan B: The Grauniad has Sunk at 126; is there an update I’ve missed?
Gvg
My neighbor and I caught several ferals for snipping and we had to hold them in the traps for the appointment. She kept them in a shed and we fed and watered them, cleaned under the traps. Mom and pop were to cautious to catch though and we were really trying for no more litters. Later we made another try with only food in the traps for a week. By the end of the week she was really hungry and not having anything to do with the traps. She was hanging around my porch where I had been feeding her before and I tried something unusual that worked. I put food inside the house where she could see it, and hid behind the front door. When she slunk in to eat, I shut the door. I then had to heard her into the bathroom to live for almost a week till we could get an appointment for spaying and the hearing was kind of wild. So was catching her in a blanket to get her in a carrier. She was really feral. Half grown kittens tamed, all bit one though. He still hides after 2 years but he is safe in the house. Others cuddle just fine. Pop is still up caught but feral population is way down in area. Catching any of them helps, though it can take awhile to be noticeable.
YY_Sima Qian
WRT to Hu, the official explanation is out, with Xinhua News Agency claiming Hu had suffered a health episode, and was escorted to an anteroom to rest. Where that is the real story, we will know if Hu shows up to any major CCP events in the future, & whether his name still shows up in CCP propaganda & party documents.
I have seen all of the speculation outside of the Great Fire Wall, & some in private w/in China, I do find the health explanation to be the most plausible, due to a number of reasons:
1) Hu is obviously frail & in ill health, far worse than his age might suggest, rumored to be suffering from Parkinson’s; during the 1st few days of the Party Congress he had to be helped to & from his seat by aids; if you see the longer high res footage from AFP, when all of the top leaders in the 1st were seated, Xi and Hu had exchanged pleasantries & appeared quite relaxed; when the aids were helping Hu up, he seemed very confused, as in suffering from dementia, rather than caught by surprise
2) There is zero evidence Hu or his Communist Youth League clique had ever resisted Xi’s consolidation of power or most parts of his policy agenda; Hu did Xi a huge favor by relinquishing all titles during the leadership transition in 2012, unlike his own predecessor Jiang (who held on to the Chairmanship of the Central Military Commission for 2 years after the transition in 2002, & continued to exercise influence via his Shanghai clique throughout Hu’s 2 terms); the turn from collective leadership of the Jiang/Hu era to that of a single supreme leader was a decision made by the collective leadership, to invest enough centralized authority to correct the commonly acknowledged consequences of collective leadership: rampant corruption that was threatening the legitimacy of the regime & allowed penetration by foreign intelligence (especially the CIA) deep into the central bureaucracy, policy inertia & paralysis that allowed deep socio-economic imbalances to develop & grow, loss of relevance of the Party to society; of course, many in the upper echelons of the regime probably have been surprised at the extent, the thoroughness & the skill w/ which Xi has consolidated power; Hu himself likely chafed at the constraints imposed by the collective leadership throughout his time in office
3) When Xi finished his report on the 1st day of the Congress, he & Hu had exchanged relaxed smiles to domestic media cameras up close, as Xi sat down next to him; Xi’s report still refers to the concept of “Scientific Development” that was the main slogan of the Hu year, & it is still in the amended Party Charter as Hu’s contribution to the CCP’s theory of governance; not likely to have happened if Xi wanted to publicly purge Hu in a few days
4) The list of new Central Committee members clearly show that Xi has a firm grip on power, & that older non-Xi factions are no longer meaningful forces of potential dissent & this should no longer be the framework to study elite CCP politics, senior leaders not yet of the unofficial retirement age are retiring, & a few of Xi’s associates & trusted technocrats are staying in despite exceeding the unofficial limit; Xi does not need to take the risk of popular/elite backlash out of sympathy to Hu by humiliating him is such public manner
5) Such public spectacle is not how elite CCP operates; what if Hu refuses to play to script, & shouted or physically resisted to all of the cameras, he would have nothing to lose; when top leaders are purged, including in the Xi era, they simply disappear, then some months down the line there would be state media announcement that so & so is under investigation for mistakes, before showing up on TV in court to be convicted
6) If Xi wanted to purge Hu, Hu simply would not have appeared in the Party Congress; Jiang (rumored to be in worse health than Hu) has not appeared in these meetings; even if Xi wanted a public spectacle to make a point to the rest of the regime, his audience would have been all of the Party leaders & delegates in the hall, not everyone in the world, he would have removed Hu before all domestic & international media have been seated in the balconies, too much risk of unscripted happenings beamed across the globe
7) The entire episode is excised from Chinese media & social media w/in the Great Fire Wall, this would not have been the case of Xi wanted to make a point to the entire country; OTOH, VPNs have not suffered significant disruptions during the Party Congress, so any Chinese so inclined can go over the Wall & read all of the speculation outside, some people are talking about it; these speculations (all evidence free) are not to the benefit of Xi or the CCP regime, which strongly prefers to maintain a façade of seamless unity to domestic & international audiences
Elite CCP politics has always been opaque, including during the Jiang/Hu years, but now has turned into a black box in the Xi era, which naturally encourages speculation & conspiracy mongering. However, that that does not mean evidence free speculation & conspiracy mongering are more than what they are, even if they come from the so called China watchers.
lowtechcyclist
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
I don’t know…
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: Thanks. Very interesting and informative.
Timill
[deleted by author]
lowtechcyclist
We’re in Ocean City, MD this weekend to celebrate my wife’s birthday. One thing about OC is that practically all the dining establishments have bars. Even the Denny’s has a bar, and I’ve never been in a Denny’s before that served alcoholic beverages. But we went there tonight because that was what the kiddo wanted, and we were tired, and he’d put up with our choices all weekend.
At one point, a waiter was going between tables hawking three-dollar Jello shots, marked down from $5 because apparently they weren’t selling as anticipated. (Even with a bar, Denny’s is NOT a happening place on a Saturday night in Ocean City.) I’d have tried one, except I’d already ordered a margarita, which turned out to be surprisingly good. And strong. Good thing it was my wife’s turn to be designated driver!
rikyrah
@indycat32:
You are good people🤗
Paul in KY
@sab: My house just cannot handle a cat or cats being inside 24/7.