Fur for Trip Friday...

Mostcats will know that my tabby brother from another mother Tripper lost a lot of furs from his back a few weeks ago after attempting an under-fence mancat manoeuvre.

Well, I've been thinking.

There are quite a few of us brown tabbies in the Cat Blogosphere (Merlin and Dobby, Joey, Monty Q and SophieKitty to name just a few), and I'm sure that we all have a bunch of loose furs to spare. Here's just one tuft of my furs that Kate brushed off the guest bed last night (don't tell Nick I was sleeping there, please!!!):

If all of us brown tabbies sent Trip a tuft of our furs, his Food Lady could weave them in with his other furs... problem solved! Food Lady, you might have to sort the furs into their colours first to achieve a truly realistic effect.

Whaddya think, Trip?

Cheers,
--Pabs

Farewell to a mate...

The Pablo Fan Club and the Cat Blogosphere have lost another friend to the Rainbow Bridge. We'll miss you, Caesar. Lots of love and purrs to Prinnie and your family at this very sad time.

Thanks to Skeezix for the lovely graphic.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Faster than a speeding bullet Friday

Too quick for Nick! Happy Friday, everycat!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Me and my shadow Monday

The weather has cooled back down to normal in Hobart, which makes spending time outside a lot nicer. Here are some pictures of me and my shadow having some good times in the late afternoon sun:

Good times!! And Mao is home and Annie has been seen!! Yippee!!!

Cheers,
--Pabs

A bit of housekeeping...

Ok, so I'm running behind on a few memes and a few other bits of news, so I might kill two birds with one stone in this post (although why you'd use a stone to kill birds when you've got perfectly good claws and fangs, I'll never know).

First, SophieKitty and Gypsy and Tasha tagged me for the 7 Weird Things Meme. I'm sure I've done this one in the past, but even I can't remember my answers, so I'm happy to give it another crack...
1. When I've finished my morning and evening meals, I have this little ritual of pawing at the wall, or the nearest vertical surface (like the refrigerator or the rubbish bin), for a minute or so. I'm not really scratching, just pawing. I don't even know why I do it. It's instinctive.
2. I don't like being patted (I think you Americats say 'petted'?) by anyone, really. Except for Nick and Kate (and even then I don't like it much). I also make exceptions around mealtimes, when I'll let anyone pat me if I think there might be food in it for me.
3. I bite Nick and Kate if they try to pat me when I'm hanging out in the garden. If I let them, someone might see, and that would ruin my tough guy image.
4. I hate having to do #2s in my kitty litter. I'm not allowed outside at night (WHICH SUCKS!!!). If I have to go #2 in the middle of the night, I have to sing a very loud song about it just to let Nick and Kate know that it's not an ideal situation for me.
5. Like mostcats, I make biscuits when I'm settling down for a nap. But Nick and Kate don't call it 'making biscuits', they call it the 'Step Reebok'. That's weird!
6. I really don't like the musical Cats. I'm sorry, I just can't relate to it. Humans pretending to be cats? Please.
7. I have a kind of a hero crush on my Uncle Simon. I follow him around whenever he comes to visit, especially when he goes outside to make smoke. I even lick drops of water from his fingers!!

The rules of this meme are that you link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. You share seven random weird facts about yourself, then tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

But I feel like everycat has had a crack at this meme, except maybe for a few newbies. If you haven't done it, consider yourself tagged!!

Second, my good friend Yoggie tagged me for a New Year's Resolutions meme. Here are the instructions from his blog: When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions we seem to fall into four categories:
1. quite serious about them,
2. be flippant about them,
3. do it because we feel pressured to, or
4. do not do them.
So, the purpose of this little game is to let us know which category you are in.

Hmm. I've always been in category #4. I've never made New Year's Resolutions in my life. Let's see how I go:
1. I'm going to try and make some New Year's Resolutions. (Tick!! Hey, this is easy!)
2. I'd like to try and raise my profile in the local media a bit more, try my paw at a few commercials...
2. I want to try and find a way to convince Kate that she DOESN'T HAVE TO GIVE ME FLEA MEDICATION 'JUST IN CASE'!! I DON'T HAVE FLEAS, WOMAN!! KEEP THE COLD, SQUIRTY STUFF AWAY FROM MY NECK!!!!
3. I'd like to try and spend some more quality time with my Uncle Simon. I think I need to find out what his interests are and get interested in them.
4. I'd like to recruit some newcats to the West Hobart Tigers Football Club. I haven't met many newcats since we moved house.
5. Speaking of which, I'd like NOT to move house this year. Or ever again. I need to find a high-paying job and help Nick and Kate to buy a house so we don't have to live at the whim of landlords forever. Maybe achieving resolution #2 would help. Any other ideas?

Ok, that's enough resolutions. I made five resolutions, so I'm gonna tag five cats to do this. I tag:
MoMo, Trip, Phoebe, Monica and Joey.

Big post, sorry. At least I'm catching up.
Oh, and one more thing: GO HOME MAO!!!!

WAY too hot for cats... and Kates...

Boy, was it hot last Saturday! Officially, the top temperature was 35C (95F), but Kate told me that the digital thermometer on a building in the city said 38C (just over 100F!) at 6pm. This is what Kate and I looked like at around 11pm that night:
For the record, she copied me. But I was too hot to care.

Cheers,
--Pabs

More cards from my blogging mates!!

As well as my AWESOME Secret Paws gifts and card from Poppy Q, I've also received some GREAT Christmas cards from my friend Adan in Taiwan and also from Gypsy and Tasha in Melbourne, Australia! Adan's card just arrived yesterday.

Wow! That's Adan on the front of the card.

... some kind words from Gypsy and Tasha!

I LOVE having blogging mates interstate and overseas! Love it.

Cheers,
--Pabs

A hot way to end the year

After a reasonably mild Christmas period, the weather has really warmed up in the last few days. Today, it was particularly hot - 32C (that's almost 90F!). While the heat makes me grumpy, I also like to toast my furs on the hot hot concrete.

But one can only roast one's fur for so long. Now it's off to my secret snoozing spot in the neighbours' garden for a well-earned nap.

Happy New Year, everycat!! 2008's gonna be an awesome year. I can feel it in my well-toasted furs.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Hey Adan, look what I got!!!

My very own miracle grass!!

The cat grass was a late housewarming present from my friends Owen and Yvonne. They were the perfect housewarming party guests, because 1) they obeyed my instructions and didn't come to the party, and 2) even though they didn't come, they gave Kate a gift to pass on to me! Thanks, Owen and Yvonne!!

Here I am pretending to be a tiger, letting out a mighty roar from behind the jungle camouflage of my awesome new cat grass. Cat grass ROCKS!!

Cheers,
--Pabs

A Furry Merry Christmas!

Well, Kate didn't have much luck getting me to pose in the Santa hat from Poppy Q... so this is my Christmas portrait for 2007. I hope that everycat and everybean and everydog and every bun and every... everything(!) has a great Christmas. Lots of love and purrs to you all. I'll try and get around the blogosphere and say hello to all my mates, but if I miss you, Merry Christmas from Pablo Downunder!! Hope that all your stockings are filled with juicy morsels of chicken.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Thank you, Poppy Q!!!

When Nick and Kate (and Kate's dad. And the d-o-gzillaz.) came home from the cricket yesterday (see my previous post), my Secret Paws present was in the letterbox!

It was from the lovely Poppy Q in New Zealand!
Wow! So many presents!

Let's see what I've got...

Hey everycat, Secret Paws rocks!! I got three different bags of kitty treats, some kitty toys, a feather mousie... and a Santa hat! Good luck getting the hat on me, Kate!

That feather mouse is asking for it...

I had to teach him a lesson straight away. He's definitely my favourite pressie so far.

Poppy Q even got my beans some presents! Nick got some chocolate and marshmallow fish (but because they're from NZ, you have to say 'fush')...

...and Kate got this most beautiful necklace (in Kiwi colours! Lucky she didn't wear it to the cricket... hey, see her cricket sunburn? On her neck. And she sat undercover all day. I'm so glad I've got furs).

And she also sent me a crazy card, and a lovely portrait of herself so that I can always remember who my awesome presents were from. Thank you so much, Poppy Q, from all of us... glad you were ok after the earthquake in NZ!

Did I mention that Secret Paws rocks?

Cheers,

--Pabs

Where are those crazy d-o-gzillaz now?

Oh wow! They're at Bellerive Oval in Hobart, watching an international cricket match with Nick, Kate and Kate's dad! (For those who don't know, the d-o-g-zillaz were a prize I won in a competition held by the great Jeter Harris. Nick and Kate have been showing them the sights of Tasmania since they arrived here in winter)

See that bunch of guys in green huddled in the middle of the ground? That's the Australian team, celebrating a wicket (that's when you get a batsmen out). You can see the guy in black with his head down walking out of the left of the frame... he's a New Zealand player- he's the one who just got out. The guys in red are the umpires.

Hey d-o-gzillaz, why aren't you watching the cricket?

Oh, they're just trying to get a glimpse of the action up-close on the replay screen. (PS I would NEVER go to the cricket... too many people!!)

Here's Nathan Bracken in action (he's the bowler, centre of the photo).

... and here's the great Mr Cricket himself, Michael Hussey, in the outfield near the d-o-gzillaz.

Looks like a great day was had by all, especially Australia, who beat New Zealand (sorry, Poppy Q) to take a 2-0 lead in the best of 3 series and regain the Chappell-Hadlee trophy.

Thanks for coming to Hobart to entertain the d-o-gzillaz, Australian cricket team! Come and visit me next time you're down. Bring chicken.

Cheers,
--Pabs

I read the news today, oh boy...

This was on the front page of my local newspaper on Thursday! Vishus snakes!! You can read all about it here, but basically, Jelly the cat, having just been on an adventure, wandered back into her family's yard in a nearby country town called Sorell (about 30 minutes' drive from my place) with this copperhead snake twisted twice around her neck and knotted under her chin! Here's a closer look:

Crazy stuff!

Hmmm... says here that some reptile rescue guy came and removed the snake from Jelly's neck, and that Jelly seemed fine... until the next morning, when she was paralysed by the vishus snake's vishus venom! They took Jelly to the vet for treatment, and she's fine now.

This story was big news in Hobart, and around the country! My good friend Felicity even did a story on it which was broadcast on a national current affairs radio program on the ABC (that's like NPR for you Americats and BBC for you Britcats). You can listen to it here. I'm very proud of Felicity- finally, after covering small-time issues such as the federal election and the controversial pulp mill development in northern Tasmania, she's been handed the cutting-edge scoop of the year. She interviewed Jelly herself (wow!) and found out that Jelly bit the snake before the snake bit her.... but she forgot to ask Jelly what the snake said to her to provoke the bite. Never mind, Felicity... better luck next time.

Be alert, but not alarmed, everycat. Mao and Rocky, the cats of Tasmania need some Vishus Snake Repellant, stat!!

Cheers,
--Pabs

It was warm already

Nick and Kate had a housewarming party last weekend, so that all their friends could see our awesome new house. For the record, nobody asked if it was alright with me to have a million people come and invade my personal space for a whole afternoon/evening. But Kate must have felt a little guilty, because she gave me the task of putting together an invitation for the party. I think I did a pretty good job of making it as appealing an event as I could:

Despite my attempts to keep people away from the party, they actually came. Can you believe that they thought that the invitation was a joke? So I spent the day in self-imposed exile on Uncle Simon's sleeping bag in the guest room:

Sleeping bags are the COMFORTABLEST BEDS EVER! Big shout out to Uncle Simon for making it available to me (feel free to leave it at our place when you move into your new apartment...).

Happily, a few people took the 'presents for Pablo' portion of the invitation seriously:

Here's the loot I scored from the party: an awesome new bowl from my friend Kath, a Hobart Cat Centre card and a bag of crunchy treats from my friend Possum (who used to blog, but is now helping her mum and dad get ready for the arrival of their baby boy!), and a can of chickeny, stinky goodness from my friends Penny, Martin and Hannah!

Hey Kath, it works!

So even though a thousand million people ignored my wishes and came to the housewarming party, the fact that I got a few cool presents out of it, and got to snuggle on Uncle Simon's sleeping bag, meant that it wasn't such a bad party after all. And housewarming parties only happen once, right?

Kate, I thought I made you promise not to post this photo?!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Pablo's political post

[The K-Rudd's campaign logo]

Not sure if you've heard, but it's been a big week in Australian politics, everycat. After 11-and-a-half years in power, Prime Minister John Howard (the leader of the Liberal Party, which, for you US cats, is a bit like the Republican party) was voted out by the Australian people last Saturday in favour of a brand new leader, Kevin Rudd (leader of the Labor Party - think Democrats). Somecats might have seen a clip of Kevin (or the K-Rudd, as I like to call him) eating his own earwax that was shown recently on both Leno and Letterman. So what? I've eaten worse...

During the election campaign, Nick and Kate watched a LOT of news and current affairs shows (they're politics nerds, embarrassingly), so I managed to pick up on a few key election issues. Unfortunately, neither party had an explicit Vishus Deer policy, from what I can gather... but I did learn that 'ratifying the Kyoto Protocol' was a very important issue. Howard has refused to do it for YEARS, many beans believe that Kevin's promise to ratify this document was one of the reasons that he won. For those of you who don't know, to ratify something is to chew it up 'real good' as if it were a rat. Now, I happen to be very good at 'ratifying' documents. And I'm willing to offer my services to the new administration free of charge, for the good of my country. Especially if it means I can get a paw in the door with the K-Rudd on that Vishus Deer policy...

I have a lot of experience ratifying document, even political ones. Here is an example of my work ratifying a newsletter sent to residents in the Hobart area by Labor MP Duncan Kerr. I think you'll agree it's quite a comprehensive ratification:


So Kevin (I'm sure he reads this blog at least weekly), just send me an email when you need that Kyoto thing ratified -- I'm your mancat!

[I was with you all the way, K-Rudd!!]

Cheers,
--Pabs

Thursday Thirteen: Thanks!

[A picture of me with Uncle Dave's shoes. I'm going to miss them - I mean- him. See below.]

Happy Thanksgiving, everycat! I know we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, but why should Americats have all the fun (and all the turkey)? Here is a list of 13 things that I'm particularly thankful for at the moment...

1. That Nick's brother, Uncle Dave, came to stay with us for a week or so. He lives in northern Tasmania, and I don't get to see him that often. Come and stay anytime, Uncle Dave, and bring your sneakers. They smell GREAT!!!
2. That Nick's other brother, Uncle Simon, is staying with us now, while he's between rentals. Not sure what his shoes smell like yet. He needs to leave them lying around in the living room more often (are you reading this, Uncle Simon?).
3. My new nip bee toy from IKEA - thanks, Sarah and Macsie!
4. That my good friend Phoebe is feeling a little better.
5. That it is only 2 sleeps until the Australian election... I'm sick of Kate yelling at the TV!
6. That it's nearly summer here in Australia, which means that the sun gets up nice and early so Kate lets me outside early and I can stay out until late hanging out in the garden with Kate.
7. That I've got an awesome new backyard to play in and explore.
8. That I haven't had a fight with any of my new neighbours... yet...
9. That I have an awesome big new house. With awesome wooden floorboards on which I can practise my Tokyo drift.
10. That my NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings, beat the Raiders 29-22 last weekend. Skol, Vikings, skol!!!
11. That God made chickens and turkeys and cows and tunas and sheeps and pigs... yum!!
12. That I have a great life in West Hobart with Nick and Kate.
13. That I have so many awesome friends in the Cat Blogosphere. Thanks for being my mates!

Cheers,
--Pabs