In memory of the lovely Mia (1994-2007)
Lots of love and purrs to Ghost, BG and Jen at this heartbreaking time.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Pink Pablo

What with moving house and Nick and Kate going to Melbourne for a holiday, I've left my run a bit late to do this, but while it's still October, I'd just like to do my bit for breast cancer awareness. Let's hope that humans find a cure for it one day... mostly so that those affected by breast cancer can live long and happy lives, but also (less importantly) because I don't look so good in pink. Think I'll leave the pink stuff to Skeezix and Daisy from now on!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Thursday Thirteen: 13 things I will miss about my old place

Here's a tribute to my old apartment and the good times I had in (and around) it. I'll count down, Letterman style, to the #1 thing I will miss the most:

13. My disused barrel-turned-into-an unsuccessful-garden-bed snoozing spot. Aah, I can still feel the hot sun on my furs!!

12. My camouflage garden bed snoozing spot on the patio. A great place to chill out incognito.

11. My bottom-of-the-entry-stairs lookout post. A great place to pose, too!

10. My under-the-clothesline lookout post. Who am I kidding, everywhere is a great place to pose!

9. The Line. Like 'The Man in Black', I walked The Line a lot. You see, the linoleum floor in front of me is the kitchen floor, and is just a few steps away from my beloved food bowl (just follow my longing gaze). I was only ever officially allowed in the kitchen when it was feeding time (like that stopped me when they weren't home!); between times, I had to walk The Line. Nick was very strict about The Line. I wasn't supposed to have even a paw or a whisker or the tip of my tail across The Line during non-mealtimes. Ha. Cats live to break arbitrary rules like that!

8. The bath. Best drinking water in the house! A great place to leave one's pawprints, too.

7. My basket near the window (you can see it on the floor to the left of the table). The perfect place to grab a snooze while keeping an eye on my territory over the neighbour's fence. Here's a shot with me in action:

6. The lovely Frankie. We had our rough times, and a few fights, but she's a great kid.

5. My mate Skinny Ginger. He was always trying to nose in on my territory, but I came to respect his tenacity and knowledge of automobiles.



4. My second-favourite vantage point: the bedroom window. We lived on the first floor, so the bedroom window provided a super view of my territory over the fence. If you biggify it, you can see that I'm in the picture above, but here's a closer shot:

3. My favourite vantage point: on top of the pillar that supports the patio. I always felt really brave up here, and it was a great place from which to survey my territory over the fence. Again, here's a closer shot:
2. My territory (a.k.a. 'The Jungle'), an overgrown backyard next door to our apartments. Unused by humans, but adopted by the West Hobart Tigers as our home ground. In the picture above, you can see Skinny Ginger (left) and Frankie (right) going through some training drills. I let them share my territory sometimes. For training purposes only, you understand...

1. My catflap. Thanks for the good times, Isaac Newton! It was great living in a home with a catflap. It was my window to the world, my independence. We sure had some good times.

As cool as the new place is turning out to be, I'll miss the old flat and my surrounding territory...

Cheers,
--Pabs

Wordless Wednesday: I'm steppin' out!

A short paws(e)

Hi everycat, just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna be taking an enforced break over the weekend cause Nick and Kate are off to Melbourne for a wedding (my sort-of-aunty Kate is marrying her beau, Herbie. I don't know him, but I'm assured that he passes the 'suitable husband' test). Uncle Simon is coming to look after me, so it will be good times all around. I'll do heaps of new house-exploring (now that I'm feeling braver) and give you a report on my new pad early next week.

Until then, take care dudes, and sorry for the lame-o post title.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Trippin' Tabby Tuesday

In honour of my Mackerel Tabby brother-from-another-mother Trip's new blog, here's my Trippin' Tabby Tuesday picture. Thanks again to Zoolatry for the image.

Pablo's post-move update: Things are going well. I'm eating and using my tray again, and I've begun exploring the house at night. I still spend my days under the blankets, but at night I come out and put my eau de Pablo around the house. It's much bigger than the old place- could be awesome, actually!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Mancat(!) Monday

Pabs again. Still under the blankets... but thanks to all the encouragement I've received from all of you, I've poked my nose out into the new place a bit. It might be worth exploring after all...

Jeter, I asked Kate, and my new place isn't in the great state of New York (although Kate would love to move to a nice loft in the Village...). The new place is still in Australia... still in Tasmania... still in the city of Hobart... still in the suburb of West Hobart! Turns out we've moved about two blocks from the old place, which is great because it means that I don't have to transfer out of the West Hobart Tigers. That would have meant a lot of red tape.

Anyway, I've put my nose out there... maybe the rest of me will follow in the days to come. But I'm not making any promises.

Cheers,
--Pabs

An undercover update

Hi. It's me. Pablo. I'm the lump under the bedclothes. This will be my blogging location from here onwards. In fact, it's going to be my living location from here onwards. As promised, here is my moving update. They've moved me to a big new house with new smells and sounds and frankly, I don't like it one bit. I don't even know how long I've been under here. Who knows where I am now? I don't, that's for sure. So here I am, in denial under the blankets. And here I'll stay. Maybe if I stay here long enough, everything will go back to the way things used to be.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Tuesday newsday

What's all this?

Empty cupboards...

Empty bedroom...

Oh no! We're not...

...moving?

This looks pretty full-on, everycat. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Pablo's outback adventures

Look at this amazing portrait that the Zoolatry cats made for me! It's a tribute to the desert heart of my country, Australia. See the big rock that I'm sitting on top of on the right? That's Ayers Rock, which the Indigenous people of Australia call Uluru. It's a very sacred place for them.

As you can see from my body language and facial expressions, you have to be very alert in the desert, cause there are vishus animals there like dingoes and snakes. Daisy, I think you'd like it there, because it would be the kind of place that lizards hang out. Maybe you could go there and make some scientific observations?

Thanks for my portrait, Maggy and Zoey, I love it!

Cheers,
--Pabs

The screengrab meme

So here's a screenshot of my computer desktop today. Nick and Kate are pretty slack at filing all their files in the appropriate place (truth be told, they're mostly Nick's design files), which means that the picture on the desktop is a little hidden. But it's cool, so I'll tell you who the people are.

The third person from the left is my mate Anthony. He's a musician who lives in Hobart. He's kinda famous and is even going on an international tour later in the year. You can check his stuff out here. Anyway, the picture is taken in his lounge room, which he's turned into a recording studio. He records local musicians for a living. One of the 'local' musicians he records from time to time is none other than Brian Ricthie, the bass player from the Violent Femmes! That's Brian second from the left. He lives in Tasmania now. How about that?
... and the ladies on the far left and far right? Well, they are Kim and Kelly Deal! Kim is the bass player from ultra-influential indie band The Pixies. She and her twin sister Kim were also in the band The Breeders. Kim was in Tasmania for a Pixies gig earlier this year and I guess Kelly came along for the trip, so they dropped in to do a spot of recording at Anthony's place. How cool is that? Famous rock stars just down the hill from my place! They probably tried to come and visit me but got lost or something.

Thanks for tagging me for this meme, Faz! Here are some of the others who've done this meme: Francine of La Place de Cherie Chez Francine Bloggishi Unchained Melody LadyJava’s Lounge Mariuca Revellian Dot ComDesktop Emila’s Illustrated Blog Spiff, The Spaceman Rolando Brown Baron The Kat House MAX Mother's Home! I Was Born2Cree8 Skittles' Place Faz the Cat

I hereby tag anycat who wants to do this meme. Go for it!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Life after footy...

Last week me old mucker Faz asked me what I'd do with myself after the AFL season finished. Well... meet Pablo the Viking!

That's right, everycat! I've selected the Minnesota Vikings as my team for the National Feline League season. Following them will keep me occupied until February, when Aussie Rules will be close to starting its pre-season again. Why the Vikings, I hear you ask? Well, Kate's boss is originally from Minnesota, so it just seemed fitting. Thanks so much to Maggy and Zoey for the great Vikings artwork.

I know that the Vikings haven't had the best start to the season (we're 1-2, and lost our home game against the Packers 23-16 last weekend- congrats Zippy, Sadie and Speedy!), but I'm hopeful that things will look up. Especially since they've got me cheering for them now:
Skol Vikings! Let's win this game
Skol Vikings! Honor your name.
Go get that first down
Then get a touchdown
Rock 'em, sock 'em, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! FIGHT!
Go Vikings, run out the score, you'll hear us yell for more!
V-I-K-I-N-G-S
Skol Vikings, let's go!

Cheers,
--Pabs