For the last time, Kate, I don't HAVE FLEAS!!!!!

Just because a guy scratches a few times, and just because it's summertime does not mean that a guy has fleas!!!

I hate having the flea medication stuff squirted on my furs. It's cold and wet. And it tastes awful. Worst of all, it makes the furs between my 'shoulder blades' stick out for a day or so. Not a good look:
I noticed something funny about the cats who are posing on the flea meds box: they're all posed like the 90210 actors or the Friends actors used to pose in all their promo shots... all draped over each other and stuff. See what I mean?
They'd have to pay me a whole lotta money (or chicken-in-kind) to endorse flea meds! Still, I guess it's better than scratching all the time.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Hey! It's my first official Gotcha Day!!!

Last week, my fellow Aussiecat MoMo mentioned that she didn't know what a Gotcha Day was before she joined the Cat Blogosphere and that she didn't know when hers was, either. Well, same for me on both counts! So I had a talk with Kate, and she decided that even though she didn't know the date of my Gotcha Day, she knew that it was on the Monday or Tuesday of O-Week (Orientation Week) at the University of Tasmania in 2002, so my Gotcha Day could be on 1) either the Monday or Tuesday of O-Week at UTAS this year (which is today or tomorrow), or 2) on George Harrison's birthday, which she knew was sometime around now. And guess what? She found out that it's George Harrison's birthday TODAY, so guess what? TODAY IS MY FIRST OFFICIAL GOTCHA DAY!!!

I've been celebrating in style...

... a little laser-eye stringplay...

... a tin of Woolworths' finest (Chicken, of course)...

... and, to acknowledge Georgie Boy's birthday, a singalong to what is arguably the second-best post-Beatles album by any of the Fab Four.

Wow. I remember that day, six years ago, when Kate came and scooped me up from my comfy spot on Heidi's porch, put me in a PTU and took me to a strange house that I'd never been to before. I was so scared that I peed in the PTU and, when we got to Kate's place, I hid inside the wooden frame of her old couch for, like, a week. But things have looked up since then. It's been the best six years of my eight-or-so years of life. Here's hoping for many more!

Cheers,
--Pabs

PS: Kudos, kudos, kudos to Jessica Alba for knowing the Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi! chant when she was interviewed by the Australian journalist on the Red Carpet at the Oscars. Nice!

Some arty night portraits...

Last night (around 9.30pm or something, before my curfew anyway), I was hanging around in the backyard and Kate came outside with the flashy box... but she didn't use the flash! She finally found out how to lengthen the exposure time, and so we did some arty night shots of me. Some of them came out a little blurry, but here are the best (and craziest) ones:




I had to keep very still for these shots to work, which is very hard for me. It was fun, although I don't know how you do it all the time, Daisy. Modelling is hard work! I didn't get any Temptations afterwards, but I did get an extra-large helping of stinky goodness. Was that a fair deal?

Happy Friday, everycat!
Cheers,
--Pabs

In my dreams

Listen up, everycat!

My mate Yoggie tagged me for the Dreams Meme. Here are the rules:
1. Post who tagged you and link back to them and then to http://www.petspics.blogspot.com/
2. Then answer this question: What three things would you do that you have never done before, if you knew you wouldn't get caught, get in trouble or suffer any consequences?
3. Then tag 3 other kitties, beans, woofies, or any other assorted animal.

This is a little tough, because there are plenty of things I'd like to do and get away with, but I've done most of them before (e.g. sleep on the bed in the guest room, stay outside at night). The meme says that they have to be things that I have never done before... hmmm...

1. OK. I would like to be able to stay outside EVERY NIGHT and host my own kitty Fight Club. I'd like to be able to fight and bite and rassle with other cats and NOT come home with injuries, or give othercats injuries.

2. I'd love to spray on the furniture; who wouldn't?

3. I'd sabotage the vacuum cleaner so that it stopped working forever, and I'd put a magical force-field around the house so that every new vacuum cleaner that came in here broke as it crossed the threshold. This way, my Sunday afternoon naps WOULD NEVER BE INTERRUPTED BY STUPID VACUUM CLEANERS EVER AGAIN!

I did it! That was fun. Especially that last one. Very cathartic. Now I have to tag three othercats. I tag Mick, Gypsy and Tasha.

Cheers,
--Pabs
[PS: I have no idea why Blogger published this post twice... Kate must have stuffed up. Anyway, I've deleted the post with the fewest comments... sorry to the three kitties who commented there!!!]

Spot the Pablo

I'm so, like, totally invisible right now! This is how I like to spend my sunny summer Sunday afternoons.

Cheers,
--Pabs

28 years of Nick...

You kick me off the bed when I curl up on your side;
You kick me off your trousers when I curl up on them
after you've folded them neatly on the dresser for reuse the next day.
You swear when my furs get on your clothes
and make your eyes water and itch.
You spray me with water when I sing you songs in the middle of the night;
You prefer not to feed me because 'it encourages me'.

But deep down, I know that you love me
because you let me come and live with you in the first place;
and sometimes you play Stringplay with me
and Attack of the Blue Feather
and you change the lyrics to popular songs
so that they are about me
and because we are Kate's boys.

Happy 28th birthday, Nick!

Cheers,
--Pabs
[EDITORIAL NOTE: Nick made the point that he doesn't swear when my furs stick on his clothes, he said that he 'might say (with an upward, pleading inflection) "man", or even "sigh" '. I don't think he's ever heard of poetic license. Mick and Marilyn, I think you might need to teach him a thing or two!]

Superbowl Sunday

Now that's a SUPER bowl!!

Happy Superbowl Sunday, everycat! I'll always be a Viking at heart, but today... go Patriots!!

Update: AARGH!! They lost 14-17. The only game the Pats have lost all year. Man, that must suck. But congratulations, NY Giants and Giants fans! Only a month or so until Aussie Rules Football kicks off for season '08...

Cheers,
--Pabs

Tabby Tuesday: My stripes

(with apologies to the Black Eyed Peas)

"What'cha gonna do with all those stripes?
All those stripes that are on your furs?"

"I'm a-make make make make you purr, make you purr, make you purr!"

Cheers,
--Pabs

Two GREAT reasons to celebrate

Great reason to celebrate number one:
26 January is always a day for celebration in Australia, because it's Australia Day, which marks the anniversary of cats coming to Australia. 220 years ago today, the first kitty set a paw on this wide brown land. And I'm glad they did, because I couldn't think of a better place to live (although I'm sorry that the Europeans who brought the cats to Australia didn't ask the traditonal owners of this land if it was ok for them to live here too. That's just Bad Manners).
So in honour of the 220th anniversary of cats coming to Australia, I'm gonna teach you all an Aussie chant. If any of you watch sports like cricket, tennis or swimming, you will have heard this call-and-response chant before from Australian fans in the crowd. It needs a Chant Leader (me, in this case) and then a Crowd (that's you, everycat). So, it goes like this:

Pablo: Aussie! Aussie Aussie! Everycat: Oi! Oi! Oi!

Pablo: Aussie! Aussie Aussie! Everycat: Oi! Oi! Oi!

Pablo: Aussie! Everycat: Oi!

Pablo: Aussie! Everycat: Oi!

Pablo: Aussie! Aussie Aussie! Everycat: Oi! Oi! Oi!

Awesome! Now you're all honorary Australians.


Great reason to celebrate number two:

It's Lucy's birthday!!

Lucy the cat lives with a friend of mine named Sue, who comes to feed me sometimes when Nick and Kate are away. Guess how old Lucy is today?

20!!!

Seriously. Twenty years old. She's amazing. Still active, still snuggly. And she even got special birthday mail from her friends:

And her mum gave her a special party this afternoon with tea and scones! (I hope there was chicken, too!) Please join with me in wishing this lovely Aussiecat a great birthday, and many, many more!

Cheers,

--Pabs

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