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

New toy Tuesday

Hey everycat! Check out my new toy! It's a nip bee from IKEA! My good friends Sarah and Macsie bought it for me as a housewarming present. It's kinda special, 1) cause it's from my good friends Sarah and Macsie, who live in Melbourne (in mainland Australia, 1hr flight from Hobart) and 2) cause it's from IKEA, my favourite Swedish furniture and homewares store, and we don't have IKEA in Tasmania.

Here are some more pics of me and my new nip bee: one is serious and one is fun...

And guess what? Someone else has a new toy. It's my good friend Daisy, with the pink feather that she won as part of my AWESOME footy finals competition! Look at how much she loves it:
Happy new toy Tuesday, everycat!

Cheers,
--Pabs

Easy like Sunday morning...

Hope all you Americats are having a great Thanksgiving holiday [11/19: whoops, just realised that I'm a week early with these wishes. sorry. The thought of all that turkey just got me a bit excited!]. Me? I'm just having an extended Sunday sleep-in. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Tabbying it up on a Tuesday

Here I am tabbying it up on the oriental rug in our loungeroom. Even though it's nearly summer here, I'm just practising lounging in front of the fire so that I've got a good look ready for winter 2008. A mancat can never be too ready for next season! Hey Trip, if you biggify this one, you can kinda see my FURCHIN.

Aah, it's great to be a tabby on Tuesdays!

Cheers,
--Pabs

PS A big shout out to my very good friend Phoebe, who's not feeling so good at the moment. Please stop by her blog and send her your best purrs!

Famous Friday!

Check out this AWESOME tag that Kate discovered on a container at a construction site on her way to work (on the city end of Regent St, for those of you familiar with Hobart):
It's lucky that Nick was driving, cause Kate went crazy when she saw it! The funny thing is, at work the the day before she had been reading a paper on tagging as a social literacy practice among young people (whatever that is). Here is a quote from the paper: 'Tags can be a youth's signature moniker, a slogan, a protest, a message, and occasionally a lengthy tribute.'* Well, this one isn't lengthy, but it's obviously a tribute.

The Legend of Pablo continues to grow...

Cheers,
--Pabs

PS I did not do this tag, by the way. I find it too hard to hold a spray can in my paws.

*MacGillvray, L. & Curwen, M.S., 2007, 'Tagging as a social literacy practice', Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, v.50, n.5, pp.354-69.

A curious similarity?

Hey, I was just reading all about the Kitty Kookies that Parker's family made (check them out, they look AWESOME), and I noticed a curious similarity between the shape of the 'Kookies':
and the shape of my home island, Tasmania (I live in Hobart, the capital city):

Map of Tasmania by Tourizm Maps ©2006

What do you think? Am I the only one who can see the resemblance? Have I got Tasmania-mania?

Cheers,
--Pabs

My favourite spot in the new place (so far)

Well, after almost a month of shedding my furs and rubbing my signature scent around the new place, it's finally beginning to feel like home. Here is my favourite spot so far, in a corner of the living room:

It's a great place to relax...

...except for when Mr Evil Blue Feather shows up!

Hey Parker, see my Paw of Death?

Awesome!!

Looks like I'll have to stay on guard, even when I'm chilling out!

Cheers,
--Pabs

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