Zed - the latest addition to the Kracker Cats

Here is Nabysko with Zed - the latest addition to the Kracker Cats. You will recall that Bryce, Nabysko's boyrfriend, is allergic to cats. That's why they went so long without a cat. But finally they got Juniper and, despite a bit of extra suffering, Bryce wanted them to have two cats.

Bryce liked Jim so much that he wanted that cat to be black. So, recently, they were down in Homer and they came up with this black kitten, Zed.

They bought a big, fancy, air cleaner that is going all the time. It has air-quality indicator lights - blue being best, red being worst. If the cats are a distance aways, the light is usually blue. If a cat come close, it turns red.

And here is Zed.

It is very dark in Nabysko's apartment, and I complained about how hard this made it for me to take a picture. (Oh yes, I know, I could have used flash - but I HATE flash.)

Tryskuit inserted a little light into the picture.

Tryskuit lights up Juniper.

Zed sees the light. I can't help but wonder if he saw anything, afterward.

Nabysko and Zed, in silhouette.

I call him, "Zederick."

I should note that I originally prepared five additional pictures for this post, of Diamond and Slick. However, Bill Hess needs to make a post on his blog in the parallel universe and both he and I are very tired, so we agreed that he would post the other five there, which you can find here.

However, if you click on the link and do not find the cats, that is because you have gone there before 4:00 AM AKDT, Sunday, October 25, 2009, when the Wasilla blog post is scheduled to go up. That would be 8:00 AM East Coast DT.

I could not handle this carnival of cats, so I turned it over to Royce and he got the job done. Without even trying. Royce is a genius.

First, a most serious matter: Ivy, over at ChezRanger, has been suffering some health issues. To make things worse, her beloved humans are in part blaming themselves, yet they did their very best to ease Ivy’s suffering and to make her comfortable. Let us all hope that Dear Ivy picks up soon.

For the religious among you, you might say a prayer as well. I am not religious, but I have said a prayer, anyway.

Who knows?

http://strangeranger.typepad.com/strangeranger/2009/04/a-tough-week.html

It has always been my understanding that being “full of crap” would make one’s eyes brown – and not the kind of handsome brown of my eyes, but a most unpleasant hue of brown. Yet, in Nardo’s case, it seems to cause his eyes to glow, rather devilishly, I’d say.

http://isfullofcrap.com/2009/04/upgrade_2.html

Friday has passed, of course, but it was a delightful day at Samantha and Mr. Tigger’s. Their Mom took a beautiful picture of them living in peace, and they made some new friends. New friends are always good, especially when those friends are cats.

http://jcfloresinc.blogspot.com/2009/04/finally-furiends-friday-with-samantha.html

I must agree: Kate is a pretty girl. A most pretty girl. I am ready to send her a plane ticket to Anchorage, so that I can drive to town, pick her up and bring her back to Wasilla. It would be nice to have such a pretty girl hang out with us here in Wasilla for awhile.

And that, my friends, is a very deep thought.

http://nodeepthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/04/weekend-cat-blogging-kate.html

Some humans put out a plank for the cat to walk, but the cat has seen all the pirate movies. The cat does not walk the plank. The cat is smart.

http://catymology.blogspot.com/2009/04/walking-plank.html

Teacher who abuses cats is charged with a felony. There is no humor in this. None.

http://www.detentionslip.org/2009/03/teacher-charged-with-abusing-cats.html

Got a cat video that you want to upload somewhere, besides YouTube?

http://www.videojug.com/tag/cats

I have been slammed! Stereotyped! And it hurts so bad! I don’t deserve to be slammed like this. I am very considerate of cats. I recognize and celebrate their innate superiority. I will sacrifice my sleep at night, just to ensure the comfort of a cat. There is almost nothing I would not do for a cat, and yet I have been slammed, just because I am male.

And all you males out there, you have been slammed, too!

Oh, wait. Maybe I am overreacting here. It is “The Male” who Cheysuli speaks out against. I interpreted “The Male” to mean all males. But maybe it just means “the male” in her life. And if indeed he could be so crass as to throw socks and underwear into her sleeping space, and play with the feather toy only because The Female orders him too, then I would say Cheysuli’s complaint is justified.

Damn Male, anyway!

Tough female. The male obeys.

http://www.chey.mysiamese.com/?p=2252


This is direct competition. The good folks and felines over at CatSynth proudly announce that they are hosting the 200th Edition of Weekend Cat Blogging, which is kind of like Carnival of Cats. I suppose some folks got time for both. Me, I have no time for anything. I do not even have time to be doing this, but here I am, doing it, because I love cats.

http://www.ptank.com/blog/2009/04/weekend-cat-blogging-200/

An Infidel likes to beg, and gets angry when begs are not heeded. In protest, an Infidel goes on strike. Who will dare to cross the picket line?

http://iinfidel.com/2009/04/03/finally-friday-11/

A cat critiques the dancing skills of her pet human and finds them wanting. The cat is tired of having her tail stepped on, that’s why. As you can see in the address, the dance is called, “Zeu Sex Cuse.” Sounds pretty interesting, but I’m not certain that you want your youngsters to visit this site.

Oh, what the heck. They probably roam around the internet, anyway. You might as well let them go watch the dance.

http://zeusexcuse.blogspot.com/2009/04/dancing-with-poker-stars.html

The mind of Mog contemplates the litter box.

http://mindofmog.net/archives/2009/03/30/litter-boxes/

The mind of Mog sees a tummy and contemplates temptation, then gives in to it.

http://mindofmog.net/archives/2009/03/31/tummy-tuesday-132/

Intermission: Royce has been on this blog quite a bit, lately, as an old man cat watching out for little Wry. It is important that all who come here understand that Royce was once not only a young cat, but even a kitten. So I dug up some pictures from his kitten hood, youth and young adulthood.

I have not yet told the story of how Royce came to be part of this family, but I will. I reserve the right to redeploy some of these same images at that time.

If a cat chases a bird in the wind, might not that cat get blown off the ground and wind up flying with the bird? And what if the bird turns out to be an eagle? Some birds are, you know.

http://imeowza.com/2009/04/03/finally-friday-12/

To keep it short, a poet twitters.

http://www.sbpoet.com/2009/04/friday-cat-blogging.html

Poet does another short, boxes it up.

http://www.sbpoet.com/2009/04/take-out-your-pen-and-paper-.html

Intermission # 2: That is not a cloud, my friends, but smoke. Smoke from a huge forest fire that destroyed many homes and buildings. Royce and Little Guy (how many tears did I shed for Little Guy? My heart, my soul, my Little Guy! Even now, eight years later, my eyes water, just from looking at this picture. He was born into my open hands, you know. That does something to a man.) are not concerned.

If I heard a woman call out, “hey Fela!” I would think she was calling to a guy - maybe me. No. Fela is a girl. Stuck in a tree, way down in what we up here consider to be the rather small state of Texas. Maybe she wanted to get away from the spider.

http://myras.blogspot.com/2008/09/there-goes-fela.html


Kosmo wants a treat. Vet says, “no.” Yet, everybody needs a treat now and then.

http://irishcoda.blogspot.com/2009/04/some-treats-please.html

She might be growing old, but Miss Chloe is The Grand Dame of Culture and Civility. At 16, she is impeccably refined and dignified. She loves to attend the opera, where, during a robust rendition of the aria, "Figaro," she once ralfed up a hairball. When you are a cat, ralfing up a hairball is a most civilized and cultured thing to do.

All the other cats at the opera pranced over to sniff it.

http://melange1.blogspot.com/2009/03/miss-chloe-grande-dame-of-culture-and.html


Warning! Do not visit this site! Please! For your own health, do not visit this site!

There are cute kittens here that will cause your heart to melt. How will you function, after your heart has melted?

http://graceandkittens.blogspot.com/2009/04/friday-flashbacks.html


There is nothing quite so nice as having toasty toes with blueberries. Once again, down in that small state of Texas.

http://txoasis.blogspot.com/2009/04/furbaby-friday-toasty-toes.html

I almost forgot: here is the home website for Carnival of the Cats, should anyone wish to host or learn more: http://carnival.catblogosphere.com

I feel so bad - prepared this and I thought that I had pasted it in, but Elisson just let me know that I didn't. Sorry, Ellison - and Rahel, too. Here is the sement that I inadvertently left out:

I need this cat here, with me, in Alaska. My feet sometimes get cold, you see. This cat would keep them warm. She could be as sarcastic as she wanted to be. It wouldn’t bother me, as long as she kept my feet warm.

http://elisson1.blogspot.com/2009/04/feline-foot-warmer.html

Rahel, I tried and tried, but I could not get your site to load. It did strange things, but it did not load. I was never able to read it.

Juniper is suspicious of the strange cat in the mirror

Nabysko called and said she would meet me at Kaladi Brothers in Wasilla. So I drove over and discovered that Juniper was with her.

This made me very happy.

We went inside and drank our coffee. We visited about many things, including Fox News. Nabykso was exasperated with Fox News.

When we came back out, we saw that Juniper was exasperated with us.

Nabysko then brought Juniper to the house.

Wry took a bath. After he was clean and dry, Juniper got into the tub. I wonder what she would have done, had we turned the water on?

Wry was pleased to have Juniper in the house.

I see Juniper in the mirror.

Juniper sees Juniper in the mirror. She does not know what to think.

The damn mouse could fly, but DBD knows how to jump

I had not seen Deborah By Default since the day Nabysko and Tryskuit picked her up in Palmer after she had been spayed, so I dropped in to see her at Nabysko's apartment in Anchorage. She looked good... real good.

She still awaited a permanent name. The name, "Juniper" had come to Nabysko, but her boyfriend Bryce did not like it, and so vetoed it.

I liked it, but, oh well. 
As she was looking good, DBD spotted something... something of great interest.... what could it be...?
Why, it was a mouse! A flying mouse! 

"Is it a bird?" 

"No!" 

"Is it a plane?"

" No! "

"Oh my gosh its MIghty Mouse!" 

DBD leaped up onto the sofa, determined to get that mouse.

She did not care how mighty it was.

The mouse got away. DBD studied it, to determine strategy for her next attack.

DBD plays it cool. She watches the mouse fly this way...

She watches the mouse fly that way. She pretends to hardly care... all to lull the mouse into a false sense of security.

But damn, if you are a cat and there is a flying mouse about, it is hard to long pretend that you don't care.

DBD leaps for the mouse, but misses.

DBD leaps again. She gets in a good swat, but does not catch that mouse.

Whoa! DBD swats that mouse again - knocks it clean up to the ceiling.

Finally, DBD catches the mouse. She bites the back of its neck to finish it off. Then she carries it to the foot of the couch, where she dozes off with the mouse at the tip of her nose.

I should not that it was boyfriend Bryce who bought the mouse toy, not Tryskuit, as I erroneously reported, back when I first introduced DBD.

Nabysko and DBD. Now, Nabysko can hardly wait to come home from work. When she does, she finds DBD waiting in the window for her. Nabysko used to come back home to Wasilla just about every Sunday.

We have not seen her here since she adopted DBD. She just does not want to leave her. Bryce fears what might happen if she were to bring DBD out here and she was confronted by Muzzy.

Of course, the truth is, she would be absolutely safe with Muzzy. She might get a little spooked when she saw his massive mass, but she would be safe.

There would be contention with the other cats, of course. Except Royce. Royce would accept her.

The newest Kracker Cat: Nabysko adopts the tabby, "Deborah by Default," whose real name we do not yet know

Had everything happened on schedule for "Deborah by Default," I would have missed this moment, as it would have happened one day earlier, when I was still in Barrow. That was when I had originally agreed to meet Nabysko at the vet's office in Palmer when she went to pick her up the new Kracker cat..

But the airport in Barrow was shut down after a big blizzard struck the Arctic Slope and raged for a days, so I stayed put. For reasons that are not clear to me, "Deborah by Default's" spay surgery time had changed as well and so she was still at the vet office, in recovery, when I arrived home.

I drove to Palmer and found Nabysko waiting in the vet's office, along with Tryskuit, who had driven her out from Anchorage. She was anxious to see her new cat.

"Deborah by Default" emerges from the recovery room, quite recovered, in the arms of Jill, who then hands her to a thrilled Nabysko. She has been waiting for this moment ever since she moved out into the world on her own... how many years ago?

Nabysko hugs "Deborah by Default" as Tryskuit reaches in to give her a stroke.

Jill explains the required medical followup as Nabysko holds her new, ten-month old friend. As I wrote before, Nabysko had gone to the Mat-Su animal shelter planning to adopt a kitten, but as she walked past the cage that held "Deborah by Default," the tabby reached out and put a paw on her arm.

Just a paw, no claw. So Nabysko asked to hold her. Once in her arms, the tabby purred; it climbed up to her shoulders and lightly stepped from one to the other. At no time did it dig in with a claw. The tabby was gentle, and mellow; Nabysko knew they were right for each other.

Jill continues to explain. I am not certain that Nabysko is listening, so joyous is she to be reunited with the cat that she is about to take home for the first time.

Important: Please take note of the dog pictured on the calendar that hangs on the wall...

Nabysko and "Deborah by Default."

Nabysko brings "Deborah by Default" out to show to her mother. Sunflower is still burdened by her cast and brace and this is the first time that she has been out of the house since February 2 - Tryskuit's birthday. Banged-up and in pain though she is, Sunflower was not about to miss this special moment.

Tryskuit gives "Deborah by Default" a kiss.

I give "Deborah by Default" an affectionate pet.

Remember the dog on the calendar? The one that I told you to take note of? Look through the window of the car parked behind the new cat! It's the very dog! How does such a thing happen? 

This dog is jealous; jealous that it cannot be a cat - jealous that Nabysko cradles a cat that Tryskuit pets.

The dog wants to be cradled. The dog wants to be petted. But no one cradles it. No one pets it. The dog wants to be a cat. But the dog is a dog. The dog can never be a cat. Unless reincarnation is real. If so, then perhaps this dog will yet meow.

Nabysko carries "Deborah by Default" through the headlights of our car to Tryskuit's, so that they can drive back to Anchorage. About three hours later, my phone will ring. It will be Nabysko. She will report the drive home to have been an excellent one.

At first, "Deborah by Default" wanted to explore a bit, to climb upon the driver's lap and cause her to crash, but Nabysko kept her away from Tryskuit (had they told me they did not have a travel kennel for her, I would have brought one). 

Then the kitty settled down on the lap of her new lady, Nabysko. She gave her nudge after nudge; she purred, she was happy and sweat.

Once home, "Deborah by Default" vigorously attacked the new mouse-dangling-from-stick toy that Tryskuit had given her as a kitty-shower gift. Tryskuit quickly grew worried that this was too much exertion for a cat that had just been spayed, so they took that toy away and opened up a box filled with about 30 fake mice.

"Deborah by Default" was pleased. She dug in. Not a single mouse survived.

And what about Nabysko's boyfriend Bryce, the one who, as we saw in this old post, is savagely allergic to cats?

No bad reaction, so far. He loves "Deborah by Default" and has been caressing and holding her.

As for "Deborah by Default," no one knows her real name yet. Once she reveals it, Nabysko says, the default will be overwritten by the real name. While no one knows what that name will be, everyone is pretty sure it won't be, "Deborah by Default."

I am struck by the similarities between this post and another that details a day that happened 17 years ago. If you have time, please check it out and see for yourself.

Nabysko adopts a ten-month old tabby cat

Last night, as I was busy photographing the Eskimo dances at the great celebration of Kivgiq, a message appeared on my cell phone from Nabysko. She has adopted a tabby cat. No name yet. She went to the shelter intending to get a kitten, but this ten month tabby reached out and put a paw on her.

I will photograph the tabby after I go home.

I respond to an urgent email

Last night, I was sitting here at my computer, earnestly working away, when I heard the "ping" of an incoming email. I checked. The subject read, "right now cats". The sender was my own daughter, Tryskuit, who I knew happened to be sitting no more than 12 feet away from me, in the house, on the living room couch.

It sounded urgent, so I opened it to find the above picture.
As you can imagine, I rushed into the house with all diligent haste. And this is what I saw, less than one minute after Tyskuit took the first picture on her iPhone and emailed it to me.

Well, in just one hour, I must drive into Anchorage and catch a jet to Barrow, where the current, mid-day temperature is -43 and the windchill -68.

I am very sorry to have no choice but to leave Sunflower behind in her condition, but I have to go. I must leave my children to watch over her. During those moments when I am not worried, I expect it to be a fun trip.

I will be busy day and night, and I don't know if I will see a cat.

If I do, it will wind up here - time permitting.

If not, this blog will be on hold for awhile.

Merry Christmas from the Kracker Cats!

Royce feels the spirit: Christmas Day, 2008.

Royce gets photoed twice at once.

Jim enters the scene.