The Conservative Cat

Special kudos to AC Missias (acm) at Just Between Strangers, who submitted We could all use some kittens right now. Not only does the post contain two cat pictures, but also links to all of her other cat pictures. This is a brilliant idea, and the only improvement I could think of would be if the pictures were of me.

Elisson of Blog d'Elisson submitted two pictures of his owner Matata doing a Tassel Tussle. This is an excellent example of feline superiority. Matata has Elisson completely mesmerized with a few rolls and some minor batting. If Elisson were doing the rolling, you can bet Matata would not be standing there taking pictures.

By the way, Elisson actually has two cats, and in Standing Guard you can see the other one, Hakuna, doing the evil eye trick while watching over Matata while the latter recovers from a trip to the vet.

SRP at Melange submitted Envy, showing his owner Miss Chloe demonstrating proper relaxation technique. All of you should study her methods, which are pretty close to flawless, and of great help in keeping a level head when things seem to be spinning out of control.

Storyteller at Scribblings submitted Feline Friday: Hide & Seek II. Hide and seek is a fun game, enjoyed by many cats. I love it. In fact, I play the game every time The Interloper comes out from her domain upstairs, and I don't stop playing until she goes back upstairs again.

From Skør i Skralden, we have Black is Good. Be sure to click on the thumbnail image so you can see the picture full size.

Our close friend and frequent commenter maggie katzen at maggies meanderings and shameless plugs sent Cat Bed. The cat bed in question belongs to RTO of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, who is currently deployed in Los Angeles doing training. Normally, I wouldn't countenance removing cat bed materials from a cat's home, but I make an exception when the U.S. Armed Forces are involved.

The Robot Vegetable at Middle-Fork presents Tinker's Purple Aura. Middle-Fork is a photo blog which features all sorts of exotic nature photos. Many of the photos are of landscapes or insects, but some are still lifes of food, such as this one.

Brendan Loy at The Irish Trojan's Blog submitted a very unusual entry called Friday catblogging. What makes it unusual is that it's billed as a "Best of", even though none of the pictures have me in them. Hopefully Brendan will be correcting this problem soon.

My entry for this week is Wishing With Sunlight, a poignant, moving tribute to the spirit of hope that serves as an important thematic element throughout the history of western civilization. This picture is so good, that I've decided to link to it twice. If you can't find the other link, try this one.

Debra at Manxmnews submitted Be Prepared, which in addition to four pictures of cats features information on how to make sure your cat survives a hurricane evacuation plus links to useful charities. The pictures are quite beautiful (which is hard to do when I'm not the subject) and worth a look. Unfortunately, if you're a Firefox user, you probably won't be able to see all of them. This is an excellent example of why it's a good idea to use multiple browsers. When you use only one browser, you are continually risking the possibility of not being able to see a picture of a cat.

Blueberry at Texas Oasis submitted Friday Grand Chat Noir, which contains pictures of a cat named Samson that Blueberry rescued from an animal shelter.

PJ at No Deep Thoughts submitted Friday Cat Blogging, which includes four cat pictures as well as more tips on protecting your cats when you have to flee a natural disaster.

Jeff at Athenamama submitted Missing Mama, a tribute to his late owner Athena. Unlike dogs, cats are not built to love. As a result, when they do show affection, it is a special gift, and a hard thing to lose.

Kimberly at Music and Cats submitted Feline Friday: Fluffball at rest. Note the positioning of the front leg in front of the eyes. I do this all the time, so I'm guessing Fluffball's pet has the TV going. It's probably the news or a reality show. I've noticed that neither of these types of shows feature cats, so it's a complete mystery why they remain popular.

Brian at Lunar Obverse submitted Smacky, playful and sleepy. The article features two cat pictures, BUT, the link at the bottom of the article will net you no less than 16, so be sure to check out the link!

NYCBabylon at NYCBABYLON presents Catblog Friday: Starring MJ Cat. The thumbnail in the article has text blocking the face of her owner MJ Cat, but if you download and run the movie, you can see multiple pictures of MJ without the text. Unfortunately, the pictures of the birds made me hungry and The Girl Who Feeds Me is already asleep for the night.

Julie at i-pets.com/blog submitted Smoke, caught in the act!, in which she solves a mystery involving bits of flowers and a crumpled tablecloth. Apparently, she's been smoothing her tablecloth and Smoke has been fixing it for her out of pure altruism.

Dolphin at Where the Dolphins Play submitted Feline Friday - Katrina Edition. The article also contains a link to the website for the ASPCA Disaster Relief Fund.

Tommy at Striving For Average submitted The Evil Eyes. By the way, I can tell you that in fact Tommy's owner Chocolate Chip is not tired of the camera. A cat is never happier than when he's the center of attention.

Mitch Geller at DubiousProfundity submitted Recovery of Nine Lives. This is an excellent example of something I've always believed: the best way to cheer yourself up after losing a cat is to get yourself adopted by another one.

Farrah at fader77 presents Sleeping Arrangements. Farrah's owners are extremely tolerant, even to the point of allowing a dog to stay with the family. My favorite place to sleep is on top of the Gremlin, as you can see in the picture. She's not as powerful as Bruce's wife or as important as The Girl Who Feeds Me, but boy is she WARM.

Jan of Cascade Exposures submitted Furry Friday, which features a duel between Spectra the cat and one of those laser pointer dot things. I've played with a laser pointer dot thing myself, and the problem is that you can't eat them. As a result, afterward I always demand a cheese snack. It's probably the lack of the post-laser cheese snack that is responsible for Spectra's angry expression in the last two pictures.

Zed Pobre at Resonant Information submitted Kittens and Helicopters, which features some post-Katrina pictures from Louisiana State University.

Susan at pages turned submitted Nicholson and the Bard, which features Nicholson the cat sitting on the works of a well-known human playright, plus a poem containing an important warning to people who hurt cats.

Jazz at Running Scared submitted Prison Break! which features a conversation between two superior life forms, as well as an update on their recent health problems. It is good to know they're getting better.

Leslie of Leslie's Omnibus (who happens to be a friend of the Gremlin's godfather) sent us this important warning about a pet welfare law currently before the Senate. This law is so onerous and pointless that even the Humane Society is opposed to it.

Reverend Scar of Curiouser and Curiouser submitted Catblog Friday on a Saturday, which shows Scar's owner Harley exploring his new home. I'm pretty sure that Harley recently adopted Rev. Scar, since I know Scar to be a very smart guy and can't imagine him buying a new house without consulting the cats first.

Josh Poulson at Josh's Weblog submitted Feline Friday, which features one of those infinite cat things using a camera and a computer monitor. I'm a huge fan of infinite cat things, but Bruce refuses to try it. He it will make his laptop explode, but I think he just doesn't want to admit he lost the computer cable for the video camera.

Christine at BTW submitted Cats on Cars. I think Christine is really onto something here. I know a lot of car ads involve beautiful women, but if you look at these pictures, the cars look much more inviting with cats on them. I hope Christine thought to copyright the idea so that she can get a little money out of the deal when the carmakers come to their senses.

BicycleGirl at Trail Grams presents Panda watches the skies, which shows her owner Panda playing in the grass. I used to play in the grass myself when I was younger, but mostly I enjoyed hunting things. The problem is, I'd bring the kill back into the house to eat it, and Bruce's wife would get angry about the little piles of bone and feathers on the staircase. Really, when you consider all the advantages of having me in the house, I don't see why a tiny bit of extra cleaning every now and then would be such a problem.

Mog from Mind of Mog submitted Kat Blogging, which is actually a Katrina article with a picture of two cats. This is a wonderful idea, and we need more of it. I'll bet if CNN did this with their hurricane coverage, it would help with their declining ratings.

John at StrangeRanger submitted the blogging of the cat. This article shows a picture of John's owner Maddie training for the possibility of a snake invading the house. What all of you consider to be play is actually training of this sort, and it's extremely important. Bruce, for example, never worries about snakes, and the main reason is all the time I've spent training with the stereo cables in his spare parts box. Many is the time I've watched him putting the cables and other parts back in the overturned box while thanking me profusely in a very load voice.

Mensa Barbie at Mensa Barbie Welcomes You presents Butterscotch Make-over. The final picture shows Butterscotch wearing a motorcycle cap and collar. Some of you may find it hard to believe a car would be willing to endure that sort of thing, but keep in mind that this is at the end of hours of pampering, and even the most hard-headed cat is going to get soft when hours of pampering are involved.

Sissy Willis at sisu submitted Water, water everywhere, which shows a feline hurricane survivor and also contains information about the Animal Rescue League of Boston. She also submitted this article in which, ARL of Boston thanks Sissy for the results of her efforts on their behalf, and this one which talks about last Thursday Blog for Relief effort.

Martin Lindeskog at EGO submitted HUNGARIAN CATS, which features six cat pictures. I know a lot of people who travel around the world taking pictures of ancient ruins and national monuments, and most people find these boring. Martin shows us how it should be done.

From Mira's Oubliette, we get liveblogging from Huntsville Alabama as the hurricane passed through: 00:31, 05:57, and 19:36.

BJ at Quite Early One Morning submitted Pets In Need, which contains important information about the Houston SPCA.

UPDATE Rahel Jaskow of Elms in the Yard submitted Cats in my Life. Rahel's neighborhood is full of cats, and she frequently includes photos of them in her pictoral articles. Long-time readers will know that I have an enormous amount of respect for Rahel because she thinks I'm beautiful. The fact she placed her home in an area frequented by cats is further proof she knows what she's doing.

That's it for this week! Thanks to everyone who participated, and be sure to use our Carnival Submit Form to get into next week's edition at Blog d'Elisson.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat