The human thinks I'm weird ....

...... because I won't jump up on a bed that looks like this..

... or even this ...

... but only if it has my own blanket on it.

There is nothing like one's own stinks!

The Staff here: Yep he's totally weird. Austin will actually come and find me if the bed looks like 1 or 2 and ask me to make it look like 3 so he can take a nap! No, really! He will! He's very considerate like that ;)

=^-,-^=

petulant - bad tempered small insect

=^-,-^=

A Bit of a Day!

Not that I'm a clingy wuss puss or anything, but after the day I had yesterday, I am staying pretty darn close to home. It happened like this: I was taking the air. It was a warm sunny day. Birds were singing,  mowers mowing, Tiggers tiggering, sheep sheeping and all was well in Austinland. 

Then all of a sudden. ....

BLITZKRIEG!!!!

It was either those RAF chaps from Valley bombing the summerhouse or a humdinger of a storm. It turned out to be the latter!

A kitty should always carry his brolly :)

However, I disappeared for FOUR hours and the storm didn't stop. It went on and on and on ... a bit like The Staff did when I finally returned looking (she said) like a drowned rat! Cheek!! Anyways, today I am sticking close to home as I hear that there could be another blitzkrieg storm thingy this afternoon!

The Staff wants to say thank you to everyone on facebook who comforted her when I was stuck in a hedge in a neighbour's garden. She is the wuss puss if you ask me!!

=^..^=

storm - something that is better confined to a teacup

=^..^=

The Incarceration!

I don't think I can go into what happened at the Very-Excrutiating-Torture place, as I am really too traumatised. It will take years of scritch and snorgle therapy plus lavish amounts of Purina Felix Salmon and Trout Crispie treats to get it out of me. I am mute until that time.

However, I will say this. When I returned after several years hours of languishing in the place of torment I had to completely re-stinkify my whole territory both inside and out. It took hours!

Outside

every plant

every shrub

note the shaved front leg!

every pathway

every blade

checking for Tiggers!

... and for mouses

And inside ....

every room
(Turn the sound up)

You can view on YouTube here

All seemed to be as I left it, but you never know who might have moved in on my turf when I was detained at Her Meowjesty's Pleasure!!!

Have a great Sunday everybuddy :)

=^oo^=

incarcerate, in-car-cer-ate - imprisoned in a vehicle

=^oo^=

The Last Straw!

Yes, I know I look really stupid, but this is what happens when you let your staff loose unsupervised in Picmonkey! You'd think they'd get a life!  Anyway I understand it is Straw Hat day today, so I don't want to flout convention. Even though I have no idea what it is supposed to mean and why there is such a day, I wish you all Happy Straw Hat Day!

On another matter, I don't like to blow my own trumpet, but I was the first right guesser in Sammy's Tuesday Teaser this week. This is where Sammy (or a guest) post a picture of some place anywhere in the world and we have to guess where it is.  I usually don't even guess the right continent, let alone the country, but this time I got the picture right off (well, with a little help from my Staff!). Go have a look and see if you know where it is - no cheating now! This is what I won.....

Am I chuffed or am I chuffed!!!

Thanks Sammy :)

PeeEss There will be more about the enforced incarceration next time. To be frank - and who wouldn't want to be frank? - I have now put it to the back of my mind and it will probably need deep scritch therapy and a crowbar to get it out.

=^,,^=

"the last straw" - something to do with giving a camel "the hump"
(research ongoing)

=^,,^=

The Betrayal

The Indignity!

The Cold Shoulder!

I am going to let Austin tell his side of it next time, but I think the pictures pretty well tell the story! The cryo-surgery went really well.  His mouth is now minus lesions AND he still has his teeth! The vet was really pleased with the outcome and he didn't bite anyone and asked for scritches (that's Austin BTW, not the vet. Just to be clear!) Big smiles all round ... well except for the sulky tuxie!

Thanks to everyone, both here and on facebook who were so kind with their purrs and prayers. I was a basket case for some reason, more so than last time he had this done. Hopefully he won't have to have any more procedures in the foreseeable and his teeth will last as long as he does.

=^..^=

It has been sooooo long .....

...... since I've been allowed to do a proper blog post, I think I might have forgotten how it all works!!!

So, what to do? Hmmm? I guess it's best to just dive in ...

First of all I have missed you all SO much, it actually hurts a little bit.

Second of all, Tigger and I have been hanging. Well, that is to say, he's been hanging around waiting for me to move so he can usurp my nap space. Like that was going to happen, hehe ...

Since the Great Storm of 2014 there has been a stopped up cat flap to the summerhouse, so those of us needing a quick zizzz during the day when there is a dearth of humans to let us in and out have had to kip under the hebe bush. This was not acceptable in the long term, so we nagged lobbied until ... dadah ....

 Brand spanking new (well, at least the cat flap is. The summerhouse needs a paint job!)

Finally, I was sitting on the top step minding my own business the other day when not one.. not two ...not three, but FOUR pheasants marched through the garden right in front of me!! I think they were on their way to a pheasant convention or something! 

photo courtesy of Google images

They were humongous so I skeddaddled pdq, I can tell you. Happily, the Staff was not around to take a picture of yours truly skedaddling, much to my relief. A chap has his pride ya know!  

 I think that's all for now folks

I'm quite exhausted!

but it's nice to be back !!!

&

Happy Mother's Day!

(to those to whom it applies:)

=^,,^=

Message from The Staff. Austin doesn't know this ( I think he might suspect) but he is having another operation on his mouth on Tuesday. The stomatitis is rearing its ugly head again. I know he would value lots of purrs and prayers (and so would I!) Thank you so much xox

mother - someone who catches moths

=^,.^=

Language and Friendship (reblog from 2011)

subtitled The Mad Ramblings of an Elderly Nutter The Cogent Thoughts of a Wise Old Sage.

This is a post I originally published in May 2011 when I had about two and a half readers and as I have now been absent without leave for a week or three (we are fine, just tired. Thank you so much to all those who have been in touch:) I thought this wordy digression might keep folk amused for a second or two. Austin and I hope to be blogging, visiting and commenting again very soon xxx

The hiatus while Blogger was thowing a hissy fit caused me to have a thunk about how we (the cyber generation) have come to rely on the internet in nearly every area of our lives, but especially when it comes to friendship.

Actually I should admit here that I am from the pre-cyber generation, but trying hard to be hip and cool and up with the tekky stuff. When I was young there were just two channels on the telly, which my dad had constructed out of several valves and a cathode ray tube. The screen was tiny - about the size of an iPad but the box it was in, was huge.

As children we played out all day with the other kids in the street. We didn't go home unless we were bleeding really badly. We devised all kinds of games and scams; we were best friends and worst enemies. We went to school together and some of us even went to church together. We did facetime for real. To us the word "virtual" meant "not actually, but nearly".

What about now?

Well, you can be bosom buddies with someone the other side of the world you've never met and never likely to meet - other than in their "not actual" persona. You spend all your leisure time looking at a screen that varies in size from 3" x 4" to 3' x 4'. You talk and write in something called txtspk. IMHO ASAIC it's OMDB. It doesn't WFM, but RBTL WC it's WF TM. Living life in acronyms with "nearly" people..... YSW. Nuff!

So we gather in these "not actually, but nearly" communities which are based on shared interests rather than geographical location. It is global not local. It is virtual, but none the less it is the new reality. And when you get fed up with talking to pixelled faces on a time lag or txtng into the ether, you just press a button and they are no more.

So with the advent of txtspk and the community now global, deconstructed language and reconstructed friendships now inform the world in which we live.

What next do you think? Gruntspeak? It won't be long before the "now" generation will be speaking fluent troglodyte. And then before you know it, thinking will become the universal language. No need to translate as what you think will automatically transmitted through the airwaves and understood by osmosis. It's a terrifying prospect! The thought police will become a living reality and the voicebox will become unnecessary.

Yep, there is a seismic shift in the concept of friendship and the use of language, but maybe it's not all bad when you realise that the term "keeping in touch" now has a whole new exciting dimension to it. Horizons are broadened when the world can now be streamed into your bedroom through your laptop, iPhone or iPad..... and very soon it will just be a chip in your brain. Better there than on your shoulder?

The Art of Communication. My favourite clip from YouTube from the talking cats series.

What was I saying about a rambling nutter?