You know, it’s been a little over a year since Max came home with me, and it’s kind of amazing how much the two of us have bonded over that time. He’s really an interesting beast, and so unlike all the other cats I have known. He’s stubborn and willful but also desperate for attention always, he’s independent, yet needs significant amount of petting and love. He’s ornery as all hell, but mostly in a playful sense.
He has a ton of really weird idiosyncracies- one of which is that if I call him, he comes RACING in and I can hear his little bell jingling the whole way, and as soon as he has sight of me, he starts chirping and then chirps with every step.
Another really funny thing he does is that showering is no longer a private affair. When I get into the shower, he will come into the bathroom and sit outside the shower the entire time I am in there, he will sit there quietly. When I finish and pull open the curtain, it always startles him, and he starts chatting up a storm and doing the figure eight between my legs getting hair stuck all over them. He then follows me to the bedroom, and as I am sitting on the bed putting my socks on, he chatters non stop and attacks the socks as I try to put them on.
He’s really turned out to be a first rate companion, and I am so glad he is here.
O. Felix Culpa
Max is a most excellent cat.
Virginia
This makes me very happy. Black cats are the best.
prostratedragon
Maximum Max!
lowtechcyclist
I like his cattitude.
schrodingers_cat
A post like this is incomplete without photos or better still videos.
frosty
I’m not a cat person. But for a cat like Max I could come around. I like the descriptions of chattering and chirping.
Shalimar
I assume the National Enquirer’s headline for today will be Gagged Trump screwed by Pecker
Chief Oshkosh
My wife had a cat like that, got her a couple of years before we married and we had her with us for a good, long time. Just non-stop love for over 17 years. Originally a rescue, natch.
So enriching
ETA: She was part Siamese, had the colorings and the “intelligence.” But it ended there. She was round in body and face, and sort of goofy looking. And no whiny meow – just the chirping and purring. God we loved the cat.
Poe Larity
I wonder how COTUS Socks got his name.
jackmac
In other words, Max is a typical cat!
Ripley
One of my little dogs does the same thing, then starts licking my legs while I towel off. “OK, buddy, that’s… OK, enough… git!”
Ya love ’em, but sometimes…
Barbara
Is anyone following the PA primary? Latest returns show Biden with 95% of vote, and Haley pulling above 20% in the R poll. I loathe Haley but she seems to be pulling quite the protest voting bloc.
Manyakitty
What a delightful void he is! And all full of beans. Excellent.
Baud
@Barbara:
Fascinating.
Jackie
Aaaah, Max sounds adorable! I ♥️chatty cats!
Jackie
@Barbara: MSM is more interested in TIFG and I haven’t seen any voting results AT ALL ☹️
MattF
Vote is now 75-17.
Baud
@MattF:
Thanks. Done deal. Hope it’s not too late.
Dan B
We finally have a cat who talks a bit. She often chirps when she comes in and when my partner’s in the kitchen near the treats. Silly girl.
zhena gogolia
Max sounds like my very first, dearly beloved black cat Buddy.
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
For real. He’s been very stingy with animal pics.
Westyny
Wow, this is a great cat!
laura
Man, I’m thinking of all my cats of yore and currents, and how I miss them’s that have gone and those being current- The Mink, our refined yet goofy Tuxedo; Timmy, the gentlest of Tabby’s; Mr Skippy who showed up last Summer dying of no love and heat and no hydration- who then fucked off to Jane’s where he became that Egyptian God Cat and found a deep and abiding cat friendship, and our Big Spotty Marie and little Chiona- the love child of Edward G Robinson and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Cats, Can’t imagine a life without cats.
Timill
@Barbara:
NYT Gift Link: Summer Lee wins primary
Marcopolo
As for the PA primary looks like Biden will get around 95% of the D vote (about 50% counted so far) while Trump will settle in around 80% of the R vote (about 35% of the vote in. Now someone explain to me why they’d have counted so much more of the D vote? Shouldn’t it be the same?
link to WP primary tracker: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/2024/04/23/pennsylvania-primary/
JoyceH
Can I talk dog in a cat thread? Whimsy is seven months old now and I think she’s going to be bigger than Jazzy, perhaps significantly bigger. And, this being the first time I’ve had more than one dog at a time, I don’t know if what is going on is rough play and sibling stuff or dominance-aggressive behavior. Whimsy always instigates it and there’s a lot of jumping at one another, making ferocious faces and a lot of noise. Whimsy also bites at Jazzy but not hard. I’d hate to think my lovely new puppy is bullying my sweet old dog and not sure what I should do.
TBone
@Barbara:
https://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/
In my county 😞 we’re outnumbered
Democratic
CASEY, ROBERT P JR
(Votes: 1,705)
Republican
MCCORMICK, DAVID H
(Votes: 2,238)
laura
@Timill: well hell- I was so hoping that her primary challenger would have prevailed.
Barbara
@Marcopolo: Weird, I had the same reaction. It’s been so long since I voted in Pennsylvania that I don’t know the primary process anymore. In Virginia you ask for the specific party ballot, but it’s all processed by the same machinery, so presumably counted at the same time. No idea.
Redshift
Aww, Max!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Ripley: I had a cat who did the shower thing. She was intensely territorial, so my theory is that since I no longer had her scent on me when I got out of the shower, she had to re-scent me so that any other cat I may happen to come across would know that This Human Is Already Claimed.
I agree that this blog needs moar pics of Maxwell.
HumboldtBlue
Cal Poly Humboldt Students are cosplaying 1968.
[UPDATED] The Morning After Cops Clash With Student Protesters, CPH Campus is Closed, Occupied Building Barricaded
Spanky
@Marcopolo:
Returns come in early from Pittsburgh and Philly. It takes longer for the mule to bring in the results from the Alabama part of the state.
Barbara
@Marcopolo: It could be mail in and/or early voting if allowed. I do recall from 2020 that the Pennsylvania legislature commanded that mail-in and early votes be counted last, leading to Trump’s absurd election fraud claims. Maybe they have since found the common sense necessary to count early and mail-in votes once the poll closes if they have already been recorded.
RepubAnon
According to the Superstitious Sailor, sailors considered black cats to be especially lucky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27FmIMLgna8
Mai Naem mobile
I was driving on the I-10/I-17 freeways yesterday in Phoenix when I saw one of those flatbed eighteen wheelers with police flashers on and some kind of solid dark brown possibly tank/vehicle?? I only caught a glimpse of it since I was driving and it was hauling ass. My initial thought was military but it wasn’t camouflage and it was police lights. My second thought was a SWAT situation but I’ve been watching local news and haven’t heard of anything. It was just odd and I’ve never seen anything like that before.
CaseyL
I love talkative cats. We have conversations, neither of us understanding much (if anything) the other has to say, but enjoying the effort. Oscar has become quite chatty since Jeannie died – and quite demanding. He also has a thing for the shower – but he comes in after I’ve stepped out, to look into the tub and make sure none of that horrible water is still hanging around. Having done his safety inspection, he waits outside the bathroom while I towel off.
@JoyceH: I’m not a dog expert, but I do know doggie play can look like a fight, including the growling and mouth opening/teeth flashing. Are they doing the “play bow” at all (when a dog lowers the front half of their body, head level with their front paws, tail arched high over their back)? Are their lips relaxed, rather than drawn back over their teeth? Then they’re playing.
Is Jazzy acting like she’s afraid? Does she try to escape or hide? Does she look to you for help? If she’s doing that, you may have to intervene.
I’d check with an actual dog expert, but that’s my take.
Ken
@geg6: Even the Mr. Frog series has gone on indefinite hiatus.
Lyrebird
So happy you and Maxwell found each other!
Freemark
@Marcopolo: I’m sure Dems voted by mail by a much larger proportion. Which are counted entirely at voter registration headquarters in each county. No waiting for individual precincts to report. Might be the reason.
Anoniminous
@Mai Naem mobile:
Army uses transporters to haul armor around to extend track life
Anoniminous
Senate passed the Ukraine Bill. Expect Biden to sign it as soon as it gets to his desk.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Chief Oshkosh: It sounds to me like Max has some Siamese in him, too. The chirping and general talking especially. I think he also has the long lean Siamese body.
Barbara
@Freemark: That’s it. Nearly 2/3 of Biden voters were by mail, and it’s 20% for Trump. It’s nearly 50% for Haley.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
@HumboldtBlue:
The fools. Don’t they know its Taco Tuesday.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
@Lyrebird:
It was a Smart connection
Martin
Usually not. The two main variables are where Democrats live, and how Democrats vote.
Democratic votes in PA are _really_ heavily concentrated in Philly and Pittsburgh. If those counties count quickly, then those votes will be reported sooner. Philly used to be very quick. Democrats also more likely vote by mail/vote early than Republicans and those ballots could be counted sooner or later depending on laws and just general process.
Here in my county (Orange County), there’s no real pattern to which precincts will come in earlier or later. But votes come in 3 general waves. Early votes received prior to Election Day get counted early but not reported. So when polls close, those counts drop immediately. The registrar takes the day before and through Election Day to reorganize their equipment away from mail ballots to same-day ballots. So the next wave is the same-day counts which usually continues through the day after (wed). They then take a day off from these near 24 hour shifts. Then they reorganize equipment again and start counting the mail in/drop box ballots that were received after that first count and which will continue to come in for the next week. This is normally a larger count than the first count.
So watching races like Katie Porter, which have always been close, involve seeing the relative mix of D/R votes in the first mail in which favored her, then taking the same-day which disfavored her and usually had her losing, and then watching the late mail/dropbox pull back in her favor. From the size of the outstanding ballot numbers and the performance of that first mail-in group, I can usually predict pretty well whether she’ll pull it back or not.
Voter behavior and knowing how different areas count.
JoyceH
@CaseyL: They do bare their teeth and make ferocious faces. Jazzy seems more exasperated than frightened. Sometimes she’s wanting to sleep when Whimsy starts a ruckus.
frosty
@TBone: In damn near every county in PA we’re outnumbered.
CaseyL
@JoyceH: I think that’s just play, and at 7 months, Whimsy is basically a teenager – too much energy, and no place to put it. (Jazzy is the middle aged lady who is no longer interested in this sort of thing.)
You might try seeing if there are dog parks nearby you could take Whimsy to, where he can burn off some energy. Or get one of those gadgets that spits tennis balls by the carload for him to chase :)
Eolirin
@laura: Biden endorsed her. And her primary challenger had a ton of right wing billionaire money behind him. It’s much better that she didn’t lose.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
Another overwhelming bipartisan victory for Biden.
Master of the Senate
Melancholy Jaques
@Eolirin:
Have any savvy political writers figured how it’s bad news for Biden?
JoyceH
@CaseyL: Yeah, I need to get her more exercise – but I’m old too! I tell Whimsy to give us a break “everyone else here is old!”
JoyceH
I do see Jazzy play with toys sometimes which she’d pretty much abandoned before the puppy. And sometimes she comes back into the house with dirt on her nose. Like granny finger painting with the toddler, she’s rediscovered the joy of digging. Dang it.
TBone
@frosty: yeah I know, it just sucks when I’m reminded by the numbers how many more of them live here. We didn’t even have a Dem candidate for one of the PA Senate districts on my ballot. I know Biden and Casey will win in the general!
Kelly
Phoebe likes Mrs Kelly to thoroughly massage her with wet hands and a damp towel after her shower. Not after my shower only Mrs Kelly.
Quinerly
❤️
Gvg
@Chief Oshkosh: original Siamese breed was round until ruined IMO by people who decided they should be long and skinny. The old style was called apple heads and some people still breed to that standard. Yours sounds like the original Siamese.
Becoming popular can ruin a breed.
Jackie
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch:
👍🏻 👏🏻👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻 👍🏻
Jackie
Another Union win for Biden!
Scout211
Reposted from the dead thread (discussion started with smith)
ABC
rikyrah
Awe Max🤗🤗🤗🤗
smith
@Scout211: I’m a little skeptical that they are just now starting to plan for this. You would think a security force would look at the full range of possibilities once he was indicted for offenses that could lead to being jailed or imprisoned, if for no other reason than avoiding having to scramble and do a sloppy job at the last minute.
CaseyL
In other feline news, Oscar today – for the first time ever! – climbed into my lap on his own.
He loves being in my lap, but I always have to pick him up and put him there. Jeannie made it very clear that my lap was “hers,” and it’s taken a year and a half since her death for him to decide to try climbing in on his own. Very proud of my old boy!
Hope he makes a habit of it, rather than me having to ask “Lap? Do you want lap“? and pick him up seven-plus times a day.
Mai Naem mobile
@Anoniminous: it didn’t look like your typical military transporter. We have a base here and I often drive near the National Guard training area and I’ve seen the transporters. They’re usually camouflage. This wasn’t camouflage. And the police flashers looked like they were built into the vehicle not the temporary ones. Like I said it was an odd sight.
NotMax
@Mai Naem mobile
Limited time BOGO sale at the donut shoppe.
:)
RevRick
@Barbara:
@TBone:
It looks like President Biden will garner at least a million votes, while the GOP vote total will not add up to that much and 16% of the GOP voters picked Haley. Casey has garnered about 150,000 more votes than McCormick statewide.
I think that PA Democratic voters have accidentally stumbled upon the best regional combination of statewide candidates:
Casey the northeast, Kenyatta, Philly, and DePasquale and McClelland the west
KrackenJack
@TBone: There is an amazingly dumb analysis of the PA primaries in the WaPo that talked up GOP hopes for the Senate race. They have a hedge fund billionaire who lives in *Connecticut* and came in *second* to “TV Dr” Oz in the last primary. He’s challenging an incumbent from the most politically successful family in the state – who BTW already has a seven point lead.
RevRick
@KrackenJack: McCormick advertises the Senate is full of weak people and he will make the tough/hard choices. Given that he’s a hedge fund guy, it’s not hard to translate that claim. In line with the 2025 GOP agenda, he will be all in on privatization of Social Security and Medicare, gutting Medicaid and the ACA, and shoveling a ton of money into the laps of those who already have a ton of money.
KrackenJack
@RevRick: Amazing how the “tough” decisions always involve making other people suffer or die…
Shane in SLC
I’m delurking to ask: WHY ARE THERE NO PICTURES OF MAX IN THIS POST?!?
Odie Hugh Manatee
Voids are great cats. We had one years ago named Sammy. Very personable cat and loved to talk all of the time. We have always talked to our cats which is probably why our cats like to talk to us. Morty and Chuckie are the chattiest cats we’ve ever had, with Chuckie the leader by more than a few whiskers. They are both Scottish Folds and have some Thai cat in them, which is the old school Siamese cat. Morty bitches so much that I call him Elton Cat (as in The Bitch is Back) but Chuckie mrrs and chirps every time he sees someone as he is passing through the house.
If I’m up too late Chuckie will find me to complain about it. I’ve tried to catch footage of it but he clams up with the camera is out (so far). He will stand at the door with his head level, eyes screwed upward to look at me while making a kind of clicking/murring noise while his left lip goes up and down, showing his fang. It’s really weird and cute.
I’m glad you’re loving your void, John. It sounds like he’s quite smitten with you so you must be doing something right! ;)
Moar pictures! Jeez…
pinacacci
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I have not heard them called voids before- I refer to my little inky one as a puddle of dark. I love it! My little void.
TrainedWreck
Ahhhh! I loved this post! As a husky owned HOOMAN… I can 💯 relate all of it! The ornery, stubborn, mischievous, independent mindset, coupled w loooook @ meeeee, Total Love/ genuine Trust, let’s snuggle cuddle fuzzy bum &/or always at least one of the 4 feets he insists be connected … wrapped in also too 💯 immediate total fuzzying precisely moment the briefly defuzzed bits necessary (or so we assumed) to continue Being the treats/ love provider… sooo much looove ty! 🤩🐾💯💗😂🌀🎶
Chief Oshkosh
@Gvg: I did not know that – cool!
Betty
Late to the thread, but it struck me that you and Max have a lot in common, ornery but in a good way.
TerryC
@Ripley: My Texas Heeler, Bobbi, loves licking my legs while drying off but she also traps me on the potty for leg-licking. Quite annoying.