Baldur

Baldur sings to his plants, both indoors and out. The Mills Brothers are very popular with them.

Baldur

There is some breaking news from the UK, certain domestic cats have been developing opposable thumbs. This is clearly a sign that mankind wil soon be completely subservient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOS8_ekgsno

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Zach Gowen, Jammal Brown, Norah Jones, Celine Dion, Piers Morgan, Tracy Chapman, MC Hammer, Paul Reiser, Eric Clapton, Warren Beatty, John Astin, Peter Marshall, Sonny Boy Williamson, Frankie Laine, Ted Heath, Brooke Astor, Vincent van Gogh!!!, Robert Bunsen, Francisco Goya and Ivan II of Russia.

mdawrcn

While I was busy watching that video, which was delightful, and sending it to my cat lover friends, my big bad male cat dragged an adult robin that he had killed through his tiny little cat window and into my office. When I finally turned around there were feathers everywhere and a beautiful robin underneath a chair. My initial reaction was extreme anger, then I cried, but he really was only trying to please me, the love of his life. What a dilemma. I hate it that they do that, but I don't have the heart to make them stay inside all the time, as they love the outdoors as much as I do.

indigo

Thanks for the video Baldur....so funny! I'm sending it to my cat lover
friends also. I know how you feel md, my cats ( I had two at one time, now I'm down to one) use to be very good hunter's of anything that flew, hopped or crawled. A couple of times they brought in live mice in the house because we couldn't see that they had them in their mouths when we let them in! Our yard always had little bodies of whatever and we would bury the remains under a tree in the back. We had to move a few years ago and my "hunter" is now an indoor cat because we lost him once and nearly went crazy looking for him.

marius

Hehe, Baldur, that video is priceless. I didn't let our cats see it because they already have enough in the realm of bad ideas.

Mdawrcn and indigo, know what you're talking about with cats and their culinary delights. We used to live in the country and when I'd come home for lunch there was invariably a tiny lizard tail wiggling on the floor ... with the lizard no where in sight! I'd have to dispose of the tail because otherwise I'd be sitting there eating lunch whilst the cat amused herself with that unattached tail. Eewww!

Baldur

Happy Birthday to James Jones, Eddie Johnson, Ashton Moore, Ewan McGregor, John Taylor, Ed Marinaro, Rhea Perlman, Al Gore, Gabe Kaplan, Christopher Walken, Barney Frank, Arthur B. Rubinstein, Herb Alpert. Shirley Jones, Richard Chamberlain, Liz Claiborne, Lefty Frizzell, Cesar Chavez, John Fowles, Charles Guggenhein, Leo Buscaglia, Frank Akins, Red Norvo, Jack Johnson, Robert Bunsen, Joseph Haydn, Pope Benedict XIV, Rene Descartes, King Henry II of France and Pope Pius IV.

Dragon

I had one birthday that I was celebrating alone and was feeling a little down because I wouldn't be getting any gifts until my folks got back into town when my cat brought me a lovely present. It was a half dead snake. I'm quite sure that it was half dead when he found it because he was a terrible hunter, couldn't catch a mouse if it ran in his mouth.

Baldur

Dragon. our cats have gotten good at bringing us perfectly healthy snakes in the warm weather.
Count your blessings.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Sean Taylor, Randy Orton, Susan Boyle!!!, Rudolph Isley, John Quade, Ali McGraw, Debbie Reynolds, Grace Lee Whitney, Bo Schembechler, Jane Powell, Walter Bahr, Anne, McCaffrey, Eddy Duchin, Wallace Beery, Lon Chaney Sr., Big Jim Fisk, Otto von Bismarck, Antoine Francois Prevost and Emperor Go-Saga of Japan.

Baldur

Baldur recommends that everyone go to wikipedia.com at some point today and read the featured article on a Miss Fanny Scratching of Victorian London. Also look at the rest of the page, they've outdone themselves today.

mdawrcn

Yep, especially this time of year I pay close attention to kitties showing unusual interest in or trying to get under something on the floor. I use caution and move the object and sometimes there is a snake they have gotten in the house without me seeing. They are excellent hunters. When that happens, this old lady moves like the wind and usually has it swept back out the door before it knows what has happened. In addition, I have been able to rescue baby rabbits, birds and lizards. Never a dull moment at my house.

Before I moved their cat opening from the bottom of a door to a window, I had to remove a possum from my house that had come in to check out the cat food situation. That was quite a scene if anyone had been watching. A hot summer night and I had showered and was ready for bed in my little nighty. I added a pair of knee high black boots and was running around with my trusty broom like a crazy woman trying to herd a hissing possum out the door. That video would probably have gone viral. Sorry to go on. Now I can laugh.

indigo

LOL! md.....GREAT story! I've had to sweep the occasional mouse (2) out through the patio door but thank goodness no snakes or possums in my neck of the woods! ;]

clorophilla

LOL! amusing stories and videos.
My she-cat Kes has'nt opposite tumbs, but she talks. She says MAMA, and TUNA (actually, she says toooooonw, but it clearly means tuna), and a lot of other words and also long sentences. Some days she make my head spin with her chatters.
About catching lizzards, I suppose that in Lizard culture I'm viewed as a goddes, for the number of lizards I daily rescue from cats' claws.

clorophilla

About cats' language, here it is another story.
When my son was about 4-5 yr old, he talks with animals currently.
One day he says to me: "You know mom? the new cat in the street said me he's named FOGLIA (that's the Italian word for leaf).
"Oh" I said "he said you just so, 'My-name-is-foglia'?"
My son looked at me with a pitiful glance and replies (with a voice "these adults-they know nothing"):
"OF COURSE no, he didn's say so! He said <<meow>>, that means, "my name is foglia"!

clorophilla

Last week, I had the ventury to stay some days at Florence, for my job. On Sunday and Wednesday I achieve to grasp some time for myself and had a beautiful walk througth the ways of this beautiful city. My last pic stems from this!
I saw piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, S. Maria Nova, and of course I stayed in awe in front of the cathedral and the baptistry, sun-soaked in the sunset.
I visited the Bargello Museum too: many amazing marble works of Donatello, Michelangelo and Della Robbia (Luca and Andrea), and some amazing marble portraits!
I was prone to the Stendal's Syndrome!
I was so lucky to visit a beautiful exhibition too: Dali, Picasso and Miro. It was very interesting, bc it was focused on their reciprocal influence, putting side by side amazing pictures and sketches that echoes one another.
well, do you believe? Whiloe gazing at those remarkable works, I was wondering in my mind: "what palette would be the best for drawing after this?"
:-D

Baldur

Good morning everyone.

clorophilla, what a joy it must be to get sent to Florence for work.
Then not only seeing Renaissance treasures but also Modernist.

It is true that children perfectly understand animal language. Why they forget it as they mature remains a mystery.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Aaron Kelly, Lee DeWyze, Jack Evans, Aiden Turner, Michael Fassbender, Rodney King!, Pamela Reed, Emmylou Harris, Reggie Smith, Linda Hunt, Leon Russell, Dr. Demento!!!, Marvin Gaye!, Whirlaway, Booker Little, Brian Glover, Carmen Basilio, Jack Webb, Sir Alec Guinness, Herbert Mills, Buddy Ebsen, Max Ernst, Walter Chrysler, Eugen Sandow, Emile Zola, Erastus Brigham Bigelow, Hans Christan Andersen, Giacomo Casanova and Charlemagne.

mdawrcn

Lol, Clorophilla, I told Burgandy I have done the same thing - while in a meeting discussing something important, I have found myself looking over a person's shoulder at a painting on the wall - trying to figure out the best way to recreate the painting in TD.

And ditto Baldur, aren't you fortunate to be able to experience the magic of Florence (never been there, but I'm sure it's magical) for work.

mdawrcn

And I've been meaning to ask, Clorophilla you found you cat that was missing, I hope?