Inkblot: "We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."

Domino: "Got any ham?"

The video is hysterical! There was a time when I thought it was so cute that my cat would wake me up with purrs and rubs to say "good morning". Now I realize he was really trying to throw me out of bed. It was much softer than the floor and there was usually less foot traffic to contend with.

Inkblot: Externally concidering Life, the Universe, and Everything, internally plotting pouncing tragectories for forthcoming litter box incident #23.

Domino: Externally - Would someone move this piece of grass! Internally - wish someone would move this piece of grass.

Have a great weekend!!

Now I realize he was really trying to throw me out of bed. It was much softer than the floor and there was usually less foot traffic to contend with.

I once knew a genuinely friendly cat. It was amazing. The thing actually wanted to jump into stranger's laps, sit down there, be petted, and hang out.

I haven't known too many cats, but I don't think it's actually that uncommon, from what I've heard.

I haven't known too many cats, but I don't think it's actually that uncommon, from what I've heard.

I think it actually depends a lot on how you raise them. Cats, just like people, if they are hurt and neglected when the are very young, tend to become anti-social. Kids whose parents are attentive become well-adjusted.

The trick is just not being *that* absorbed with your child past a certain age, after which it starts to become spoiling them if you're not meting out affection and attention in doses more appropriate to the attention of children, instead of the larger doses that are appropriate for helpless babies.

Bush-league democracy:

Protestors Will Be Tried Under Iraq Anti-Terror Laws

By Cernig

The Iraqi government's spokesman Ali al-Dabagh has promised that anyone taking up Muqtada al-Sadr's call for civili disobedience will be tried under Iraqi laws that mandate a death sentence, as Iraqi officials continue to insist that the Sadrists are not the sole target of their offensive in Southern Iraq.

The Iraqi anti-terror laws passed in 2005 mandate capital punishment for "those who commit ... terror acts" as well as "those who provoke, plan, finance and all those who enable terrorists to commit these crimes." By defining even peaceful political protests as acts of terrorism, the Iraqi government is stepping towards a totalitarian regime masked by a veneer of democracy.
.

in doses more appropriate to the attention of children,

Ack, sorry-- supposed to be "the independence of children (relative to the dependence of babies)."

I'm done playing cat-psychologist for today.

Kevin, that's your best Inkblot pic to date, IMHO.

One question: Why don't you plant some catnip in that bed?

Inkblot looks Presidential.

Drum: So how's the weather in the rest of the country? A little chilly, huh?...These pictures were taken yesterday, but it's a balmy 75 degrees again today..

At the risk of being a rude Michigander, I have three words for you: Bite. Me. Kevin.

We had a snowstorm yesterday, but thankfully the sun has come out and cleared it off of the roads...it's like Punxsutawney Phil, instead of having a shadow, decided to commit hara-kiri this year.

I think it's time to revive the INKBLOT FOR PRESIDENT '08 campaign.

But just one question for Kevin. Has Inky ever been seen fraternizing with a bimbo, and does he suck on dill pickles?

Keith: There *is* catnip in that bed, about a foot from Inkblot's nose. When he's in the mood he plays around with it. Domino seems pretty indifferent to catnip, though.

Kevin, Pleast do not encourage people to come to Southern California (or anywhere in California). It's already too crowded.

Or if you're going to talk aobut the warm weather, please also include a statement that it means running the A/C all day, and that electric rates have risen and will continue to rise.

I dunno about this Inkblot for President thing. He's awful close to that tree. You sure he's not a secret Druid?

And regarding the weather: what grape_crush said.

Swan: I haven't known too many cats but that doesn't stop me from blathering endlessly about the subject. Kind of like all my other posts.

Someone call Nurse Ratched, please.

Domino and Inkblot? Cute names for very cute kitties.

The weather in sunny Florida is mahvelous.

Thersites, why do you continue to try to nip Inky's candidacy in the bud. What have you got against him? Is it because he is black, or is it because he is white, or is it because he is an it?

"In Xanadu did Domino
A stately kitty-dome decree;
where Alf, the eighties-sitcom, ran,
on tv's now unknown to man,
and catnip treats were free."

I smell a hoax, never have I seen a picture of deez katz actually blogging.

Thersites, shouldn't you be shopping on e-bay for SS daggers and uniform decorations? Talking about cats is kind of beyond your intellectual ability.

Weenie, I'm just anticipating potential problems. You're the one brought up the bimbo issue.

And while we're bringing things up, how 'bout a nice hairball?

There *is* catnip in that bed, about a foot from Inkblot's nose. When he's in the mood he plays around with it.

It seems that decriminalization really works.

How's the weather??!! I'm with grape-crush. BITE ME!

It's 28 degrees out here in central Vermont and snowing like a son of a gun. AGAIN. About 3 inches so far today, heading for 6 or 7. Cat is morose. He thinks I've permanently changed the world just to make him miserable. Arrrgggh. This is the longest winter I remember in my nearly six decades.

"Well, Domino and Inkblot invite you to fly out to sunny Southern California for a frolic in the garden and a bit of rolling around in the dirt. Or anywhere else, for that matter."

I'll fly in from Boston (high 38) tomorrow. Will you meet my plane?

Thersites,
If you send me your snail mail address I would be happy to provide you with a nice hairball.
Do you want it fresh, in a baggy, with all it's juice, or do you prefer the dried chewy kind.

hmmm, yea that weather thing

Snowing in Seattle (which seldom happens even in winter). Odd.

Cats, of course, curl up and doze.

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor." - Voltaire

You misunderstood me, Weenie. I was offering you one of Shadow's. She's given us quite a supply.

Well, it's the high forties in Eugene, OR and the weatherpeople are threatening snow this evening instead of the usual winter or spring rain. But the sun has come out this afternoon, and my dog and one of my cats is out on the deck soaking up the rays. 75 sounds lovely, but I'm not coming back to SoCal. I remember only too well that it takes an hour to drive five miles on the freakin' I-5. I'll just wait another month or so till the warmth makes it up here.

Thersites,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. No, I do not want one of Shadow's lovely presents. I have enough of my own.
Everybody have a nice weekend!

Not so chilly some other places; here in SE VA it was 82° F around 5 pm. Speaking of warmth: AGW skeptics are again plying confusion between long-term trend lines and short-term fluctuation to sow confusion and doubt (since recent cooling spell claimed relative to overall climb.) Just consider fluctuations imposed on a trend, look at graph of e.g. formula like y = ax + bRND(x).

This Friday catblogging made me see cats through a completely different lens. Hard not to wonder what is Inkblot thinking about.

78 and cloudy here in Houston. Bugs of various kinds are hatching and when one makes it inside, it gets stalked and eventually taken out by two of the most aggresive hunter kitties I have ever known.

FYI: Tomorrow is the next step in Texas' delegate selection. These are the (state senate) district conventions where all the folks chosen as precint delegates are to show and choose the delgates to the state convention.

And on it goes.

What I never see in these pictures is any clutter. Do you clean up before shooting, or are you an all-around clean freak?

Are you a delegate tomorrow, Keith?

So how's the weather in the rest of the country? A little chilly, huh?...These pictures were taken yesterday, but it's a balmy 75 degrees again today....

It's just about perfect here in central Virginia - Sunny and about 72 degrees. My condolences to all of you up North (suckers).

Kevin Drum: There *is* catnip in that bed, about a foot from Inkblot's nose. When he's in the mood he plays around with it. Domino seems pretty indifferent to catnip, though.

I've read that only half of all cats are susceptible to catnip. We have two of the lucky ones and lots of it planted around the garden.

Kevin,

I really like your blog. I enjoy your commentary and visit the site every day. But you need to understand something. Cat blogging is...for lack of a better word...gay.

I don't mean that as an insult to my homosexual friends. I have a great deal of respect for them. But sometimes there just isnt another word for it.

Friday afternoon rolls around and I come to your site looking for insight, opinion, interesting humor or factoids. But as your site caches into my memory I scramble for the 'minimize' button so someone over my shoulder will not think I have gone to www.catfancy.com

There. I said it. Thank you for your website and keep up the good work. But please recognize this fact, which in your heart-of-hearts you know: Friday Catblogging is gay.

Great pictures, hilarious video.

The best cat we ever had used to do exactly that (sans the baseball bat). He would stare at my husband and tap, tap, tap him on the eyelids until he woke up. Then he'd switch to "cute mode", rubbing, purring, kneading...although at 4 am, it wasn't quite as cute it might have been at a more decent hour.

Thanks for the laugh.

yep: Friday Catblogging is gay.

Someone has issues. And it isn't Kevin.

Inkblot looks like a superdelegate hiding from Donna Brazile.

Friday catblogging is not gay.

Friday catblogging is the new gay.

Sunny and 60s in CO, so not jealous.

Simon's kitty in that video was so abused. Hardly any cat toys.

Domino: "It's GOOD to be a black kitty in the sunsine."

Here in NoCal, it is officially spring when my black Edith - AKA the Professional Heat Sink - abandons her winter post draped over the cable modem, and instead concentrates on soaking up all the solar energy she can find.

(I have a concrete terrace, backed by a white-painted, south facing house wall, that serious Feline Research has determined to be the optimum spot for black-kitty sunbaths. )

If you're lucky enough to be within a few miles of the coast (but far enough in to avoid the fog) California summer weather is just about perfect -- no need for A/C except when the Santa Ana winds are real strong.

So all you folks with weather envy should come on out and help support the collapsing housing market out here.

Rainy and cool in southwestern PA, with a supposedly sunny Saturday. It is always so dark here. Sun is rare, at best.

"Keith: There *is* catnip in that bed, about a foot from Inkblot's nose. When he's in the mood he plays around with it. Domino seems pretty indifferent to catnip, though."

I have yet successfully grown catnip around my cats. I've even tried growing from hanging baskets. I don't know how they manage it, but once catnip grows above dirt it's chewed down to the nubs, and I have "very happy" cats. I've considered growing it in the basement with grow lamps. Maybe then it will survive - only because my cats are "banned" from the basement.

The True Beginning of Spring for me is the "First Spider in the Bathtub", or "Ants on the Kitchen Counter". That's when. Calendars should be marked to forewarn the newly unsuspecting.

I have always to go find out what 75 degrees Fahrenheit is in real terms - subtract 32, divide by 1.8. It turns out it is about 24 degrees Celsius.

I have always to go find out what 75 degrees Fahrenheit is in real terms - subtract 32, divide by 1.8. It turns out it is about 24 degrees Celsius.

In real terms, you then have to add about 273 to make it 297 degrees Kelvin.

AJ:

It's 297 degrees K then. Sounds hotter than it feels. And this is the non-inflationary exchange rate?

Nice pic.