January 31, 2005

Great Gray Owling

I went up to Duluth, Minnesota over the weekend to see the invasion of Great Gray Owls.

Posted by oko at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2004

White cats do White Stripes

I love cats and I love the White Stripes, so what's better than watching cats rock out to the White Stripes? Nothing. Exactly. (Thanks to Joel Veitch and rathergood.com, creators of the immortal Viking kitties, which you can see doing Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song here.)

Posted by oko at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2004

Pippin my puppy kitten

Second in my scintillating series of animal vignettes, including the arcane rituals of dog worship. Read on if you dare.

Pippin is my seven-month-old white oriental shorthair kitten. He is huge cat, a real bruiser, already bigger than my other adult cats. He has large pink ears and enormous eyes, one of which is blue, one of which is green. He happens to be Blue's brother, but he looks like a giant white lamb next to a skinny blue rat when they're together. I got Pippin first, but he was such a handful that I knew I needed another kitten to keep him busy, which is why Blue entered the fold two months later. Pip rarely meows, which is odd considering he's an oriental breed, famed for its talkativeness. Sometimes he makes a meow like he has laryngitis, but compared to his brother, he's very quiet.

Pippin is a fetch monster; he will fetch anything, from toys to socks, and bring them to you over and over again, or lay them in your bed if you're sleeping. He's especially fond of those little fur-covered mice you can get at pet stores. He likes to chew off their tails, but once that's been taken care of, he'll bring one to you, lay it at your feet, or on your empty shoe, and wait patiently for you to throw it for him. Sometimes he puts them in his food bowl, sometimes in his water dish; I guess it depends on his mood - does the mouse eat and live another day, or does it deserve death by drowning?

An avid dog worshipper, Pip makes figure eights around my dog's legs and jumps up to try to hold his head with his paws. He also enjoys having large amounts of dog saliva drooled upon his head and body. Following the way of the dog, he prefers sitting at, or across your feet, just like a good doggie should. I've also managed to teach him to come when called, and he has a fairly reliable "sit," as long as a dollop of baby food is involved.

Here's a picture when he was three months old. He's almost grown into his ears since then.

Posted by oko at 06:50 PM | Comments (0)

Blue, you're my boy!

OK, OK, so I'm going to do the standard boring blog entry about one (don't ask) of my pets, but at least you get an Old School reference to help you deal with your pain and disappointment. (Anyway, you know you want it, so shut up already.)

Blue is my seven-month-old gray (known in the animal world as blue) oriental shorthair kitten. He slinks around the house like a wasted, anorexic rock star, waiting for his next fix. Open the fridge, and from rooms away, there he is, loudly demanding that small town taste. Meat is heroin to him. He will bite at your fingers with his sharp, white teeth for an atomic-sized sliver of chicken, all while yowling at the top of his arena-filling lungs.

Here's a photo taken a few months ago at his breeder's house. (He doesn't really look like a rhesus monkey, well, maybe a little, but only in the same way that rock star royalty like Steve Tyler or Mick Jagger do.) The breeder fed him raw elk meat, which started him on his meat-junky ways, just like Ted Nugent. (From my bored, dispassionate tone, perhaps you can't tell that I weally wuv my widdle addict. Awwwww....)

Posted by oko at 01:31 AM | Comments (0)