My American Accent

The Big Thing: Skeeter and LC asked for a break from all the Ayla pictures and stuff, but didn't have any ideas of their own, so they asked me to explain that "My American Accent" thing I posted in the sidebar. Well, OK...

I found it on another kittyblog and took a quiz. I was not terribly surprised by the results, and thereby hangs the tale. I was reasonably confident that my accent was "American Default", in spite of my tendency to spell some words in a British style (mostly a result of international internet discussion groups with lots of Canadian and Australian friends).

I spent my first 9 years living in Boston suburbs. Now, you have to understand that back in the 1950's, Americans didn't move around as much as today. There were distinct regional accents all around the country. There still are some, but they are not as strong as they used to be. TV has, over the decades, pretty much eliminated that.

So, as a child, I had a typical strong New England (and specifically Boston), accent. When I was 9, my family suddenly moved to Petersburg Virginia! Oh horrors, a Yankee thrust into Rebel territory! ;) I was the only student in my grade school from north of the Mason-Dixon Line... One classmate was fresh from Georgia; I couldn't understand a WORD she said (and I'm sure she couldn't understand me either).

Neighbor adults were scandalized by my "rudeness". Where my word for "yes" (in response to an adult's question) was "yeah", the local kids said "yessir" or "yes'm". A female relative was "ant", not "aughnt". One difference that I can't shake even now: Highways are "routs", not "roots". I will say that living in Petersburg produced a life-long interest in The Civil War (or as the local adults called it "The War Between The States" or even "The Northern Aggression").

When I was 13, we moved to Maryland and trust me, Baltimore accents were not much easier to understand. So I made a conscious effort to change my accent. National TV evening news helped a lot, but all TV shows used a "standard" inflection (later called "Johnny Carson Midland". Heck, even Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock spoke that way. :)

So, my adult accent is indeed exactly what shows on the chart; "Midland with some New England influence". Still, if I could time travel and talk to my 8 year old self, I would understand him perfectly. If I travel to New England for a few days, the old accent returns...

Click at the bottom of the sidebar graphic to take the quiz (or here). It's brief, fun, and informative...

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Ayla In a Tree in the Rain!

AYLA:

Well there I was up in the tree. The Big Thing is getting used to it. He says there is a Bein song called “Gotta Dance”. Well, I “Gotta Climb”! Asides, the grass was all wet an icky! It was dry up the tree.

So I was up there an alla sudden, water poured down. The Big Thing ran out an called me in, and I started down but the water just poured on my face an in my nose an I couldnt stand that! So I huddled on my branch an waited fer it ta end. I yelled at The Big Thing to come an cover me, but he said he couldnt climb that high… It was horrible! I thought I was gonna drownded.

It lasted a long time. The Big Thing came out in the horrible pouring rain and asked me ta come down, but, as I said, I couldn’t. I tried twice, but my nosie just filled up with rain! Let me tell you, you DON’T want that ta happen! The Big Thing stayed at the door alla time, and when LC an Skeeter unnerstood somethin was wrong, they came over and sent purrs an “hold on” warnings ta me. I appreciated that, but like, what was I gonna do? Jump?

The horrible rain finally ended an I climbed down (fast) an ran inside! The Big Thing tried ta grab me but I dodged him cause I figured I was in trubble. So he took pictures. He says I was the wettest cat he had efer seen since LC fell inna pond many years ago (she walked out onna thin ice an it broked unner her).

Well, here are buncha pictures of me all wet. I licked it all off finally.



First, here I am up inna tree. Aktally, just before the rain came…












Here is how high I climb. That tree is wider than Skeeter all stretched out!








The Big Thing took some pictures of the rain. This is it hittin the deck so hard it is blurry.






An this is rain fallin down. Them lines is rain!











Finally, I am inside.











I licked myself…











I shook my legs…











I used my tung a lot. I haf a very long tung!











My tail was both POOFY and WET!









My new rule is to check that Mr Sun is shinin afore I climb the tree!

Skeeter an LC were real nice while I was dryin off onna warm waterbed. They brought me some toys! The Big Thing brought me some treats and scratched me until I fell asleep.

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Blog Keyword Search Fun

We saw a post where somekitty (we pologize fer fergettin who) post 13 weerd keywords that were used to find their blog. So we got coorios an checked ours. Ours werent half so weerd (an a few efen made sense – we think). But we are offerrin ours fer the fun of it.

We’ll post the best three funniest, oddest, “erudite” (The Big Thing gave us that werd), , silliest, or whakiest or whatever explanations fer ours. No prizes, as we are out of Nip leafs and extra tempations right now, but we will mention the winners an try ta post pictures of them. We’ll collect them thru Wed night…

The keywords are:

1. “naturallife canned cat food reviews”
2. “can a cat go into heat right after a spay”
3. “skeeter – lc – ayla”
4. “ayla 1-4”
5. “Ayla Ice”
6. “don beins”
7. “ayla mia born”
8. “naming your baby ayla”
9. “meme haiku”
10. “a.senses”
11. “skeeter parts” (This is vaguely disturbing to Skeeter)
12. “skeeter parts” (And the 2nd time is moreso)
13. “Blank” (as in “no keyword”)

Go fer the ones that don’t have obvious connections probly, but clever alternative interpretations of sensible ones can earn points too.

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Sunday Cat Food Review

Friskies - Classic Seafood Entrée

Top 2 Ingedients: Fish/Poultry By-Products
Toothiness: Hash
Yum: 3 Paws
Oils: Some - 3 Paws
Premixed: Lots of mixing required - 2 Paws
Sauce: All Meat
Smell: Good - 3 Paws
Total Paws Up: 3 Paws

Quotes: "We like it, but the poultry fights with the fish"

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Auction Fer Lilly Lu, Mu Shue, and Iris

We were barassed that we didnt haf anything good ta auction off fer Mom Laura, Lilly Lu, Mu Shue, an Iris. So we got The Big Thing ta send some green papers.

But then we reelized we had 2 cool things to auction!

We got a great Nip plant wif lotsa leafs. Fresh Nip. Fresh HOME GROWN NIP! A dozen fresh-pikked leafs fer minimum $10. Much better than that ole dried out stuff! We haf 2 packs of nip leafs ta auction.



And we gotta great little fishin kitty that we thinks wants a new home. We'll give it a new home fer minimum $15. The kitty is 7.5" tall. An we all love fishies!



An different views...













An another...













Bidding closes at midnight EDT April 25... Cmon kitties, this is fer Lilly Lu, Mu Shue, and Iris! They been through a lot lately. Maybe efen BATHS now!

Um, The Big Thing says we can only ship domestic. That innernational stuff is too complexicated!

UPDATE:

The bidding is closed. We will hafta have Ayla knock a dice offa the table to determine the winners (there are 2 ties). We will email all the bidders wif da results tomorow.

Bids fer the home-grown Nip - $15 by Cat Naps In Italy, $15 by "A secret bidder", $20 by HotMBC (the hotties)!!!

Bids fer the Fishin-Kitty Statoo - $15 by The Meezers, $15 by Cat Naps In Italy. SOMEKITTY better break this tie as there is only one of the Fishin-Kittie Statoo!

[UPDATE: The winners (by dice roll, cause there were ties) are HotMBC and Cat Naps in Italy fer the Nip, and The Meezers fer the statoo.]


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Friday's Feast

The Big Thing:

Appetizer
Name something you would categorize as weird.
Whacking mature dandelion seedheads with a tennis racket. Seriously, we saw someone doing that a few days ago.
Soup
What color was the last piece of food you ate?
Chicken-colored. I’m not sure what to call it. Chicken slow-smoked on a charcoal&wood cooker gets a nice pinkish color to it. And it tastes FABULOUS!
Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?
9, but that’s with Skeeter, LC, and Ayla around. With only other people, it would be 9 too. Without Skeeter, LC, and Ayla it would be a “2”. Maybe.
Main Course
Fill in the blank: I will _________ vote for ___________ in _______.
I will vote for Clinton or Obama in November.
I will vote for smoked chickens (and an occasional pork roast) all Summer.
I will vote for standing out on the deck watching the hummers, goldfinches, and cardinals flying around all Summer.
I will vote for watching National Geographic Channel and Science TV all year.
And I will vote for a glass of wine anytime!
Dessert
Describe your sleeping habits.
Fitful without a cat at my side purring away. Or even a cat just “being there” quietly.

Thursday Thirteen

LC observes 13 weerd things about Ayla:

1. She likes to get in the cube tent an roll it over. Usually so there is a hole in the top to jump in and out of.





2. She brings in little “acorn twigs” to drop in one corner of the aquarium.

3. She gets behind the books in the bookcase. The Big Thing likes them all even at the fronts, so there is spaces behind them.

4. She plays “hurdles with Skeeter and me! She jumps ofer us alla time and it drives us crazy.

5. She has a secret nap spot in the basement. The Big Thing doesn’t know where it is. But she will disappear fer a coupla hours and then suddenly come up the stairs.

6. She will dig sand out of any container. There is aquarium sand in small buckets inna basement and sometimes it is all scattered. She doesn’t “use” it, jus likes ta dig in it.

7. If Skeeter doesn’t cover his litterbox poop good enough, Ayla comes after and does it for him. She kinna obsessed with that.

8. She can walk backwards! When The Big Thing meets her inna hallway, she backs up carefully until she gets to a doorway. Which is weerd since TBT always waits patiently until we walk past him so we wont be affeert of his big floppy feet.

9. She likes ta patrol along the top rails of the deck, not down on the floor of it like I do.

10. She likes ta hide toys in the newspaper recycling box. TBT tries ta check, but we think that is where some toys are goin.

11. She doesn’t like Toona very much. Skeeter an I live fer it!








12. She will push ANYTHING onna table ta see if she can push it off. Toothpicks, books, bricks; doesn’t matter. “Ayla’s Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall over”.

13. She has yet to crawl into a bag. I find this disturbing. I LOVE bags!

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SQUIGGLES!

SKEETER:

Well you are probbly tired of seeing Ayla alla time (I hope), so here is a picture of me doing what I do best (inside)!




An then The Big Thing opened a package that arrived. This was a few days ago, we is tryin ta catch up... It was full of "Squiggles" from DKM. They are long an skinny, but not nervous-makin like snakes. Now, I stopped playing wif toys yearz ago (in favor of "real stuff"), but I efen pawed at them so long as The Big Thing made them move. LC did the same. She will efen still play wif toys on her own iffen she has had some Nip...

They are cool looking... But ya can guess what's comin. Ayla will play wif anything. Sometimes she plays wif stuff that isnt efen THERE. But she went nuts fer these Squigglies!!! So (sigh) heres more Ayla pictures.



Hmmm, what's this?
















It looks bitable.













I wonder if it moves...















Tryin ta get away huh?
















Take THIS!
















GOTCHA NOW!!!












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A "Senses" Meme

We got tagged fer a meme (well Efrykittie got tagged)...

Ayla answers:

1. Wif my beautiful eyes I can see

Toys, places to climb, an the outside!

2. Wif my soft nose I can smell

Toona, ham, bacon, an Nip. An mousies outside.

3. Wif my velvet paws I can touch:

Mr Softie Mouse, Squiggles, Rattley Mouse an The Big Thing.

4. Wif my sharp ears I can hear:

Squirrielies an birdies outside, The Big Thing sayin “Dinnertime”, LC an Skeeter walkin around.

5. Wif my sandpaper tongue I can taste:

Can Food, Nip, an Treats on The Big Thing’s hands.

Ayla In A Tree

THE BIG THING HERE: Ayla scared the "Dickens" out of me Saturday evening. I had decided it was still light enough for the cats to go outside. LC and Skeeter are OK to be out in the dark. Skeeter likes the quiet (no little sticky Beins outside yelling and no lawn mowers running). It's his favorite mousie-time. LC doesn't go far. Ayla usually comes back in a few minutes. It is one of the nice things about having a tall fence around the back yard.

I stood out there a few minutes myself, looking around the yard to spy out any "visiting cats, raccoons, or opossums. I was about to go into the house when I heard an odd "scritching" sound too heavy for a squirrel. I knew exactly where it was coming from. You don't live 20 years in one place and not know the details of the sounds and sights.

I could tell it was Ayla n the back of the nearest large tree. She had taken to climbing up about 6 feet and then hopping down. I smiled. But then the sounds were higher. And higher. I saw her on a narrow branch 30 feet high!

I have a fear of heights... And Ayla is "kittenish-clumsy". I've seen her fall off of tables and lose her footing on 8" wide boards. She was creeping down a 3" branch with no place to turn around!

Ayla is fine; I don't want to scare anyone or make the story overly dramatic... But I had no ladder that tall and coulnd't do anything about it. I had an attack of vertigo and my skin went all cold-clammy. There are situations in life when an event must simply play out and all you can do is await the outcome.

I took a picture of her up in the tree. Its not a good photo, but my hands were shaking and it was getting darker out. I went inside and cried. Not manly, but hey, she's my kitty and my responsibility and I couldn't do a thing for her.

My previous experience with cats in trees has not been good. When I was young, a family cat fell out of a tree, another stayed in a tree for 8 hours crying. And Ayla has shown no great signs of depth perception. A couple of weeks ago, she chased a squirrel right off the deck (from 10' up). The squirrel ran down a post, but Ayla couldn't manage that, so she just charged straight off it...

So there I was unconfident in her tree-climbing ability, watching her 30' up in that tree and afraid for her. I looked at where she had been, then all around the ground beneath the tree. That's when I looked higher. She had climbed another 10'!

The only thing I could do was go inside and obsessively clean the kitchen. She was either going to get down herself or gravity would do it. She has jumped down to me from some inside places and I wouldn't put it past her to try it from way up in a tree, so I thought it best not to encourage her to jump. I would recover from the claws, but I didn't think I was a soft as all the old leaves on the ground.

After 15 dreadful minutes, I looked at the tree again. I had to use a flashlight by then. She wasn't on the 30' branch, she wasn't on the 40' branch; I expected to see her higher up. I couldn't...

Then I heard some noise on the ground. It was Ayla following LC around. On the ground! Safely on the ground... Running normally... Apparently, she is just fine at climbing down a tree backside down. Skeeter and LC never managed that.

It has taken 2 days to put this fear into words.

Sunday Cat Food Review

Friskies - Turkey & Liver in Gravy

Top 2 Ingedients: Turkey/Meat By-Products
Toothiness: Bits
Yum: 3 Paws
Oils: None - 2 Paws
Premixed: No mixing required - 4 Paws
Sauce: Gravy
Smell: Great - 4 Paws
Total Paws Up: 3 Paws

Quotes: "Turkey is good, liver smells were great"

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Another First!

AYLA: Naturally, I watch Skeeter an LC a lot ta learn whats "right" ta do, they bein so old an all. Um, I mean "they havin lots of sperience livin wif The Big Thing". I've only been here 3 Big Moons...

One thing they do is wrassle. I was terrible upset at first cause I thought they was mad at each ofer. I mean, there was fur floatin in the air sometimes! But then I realized that they would be all curled up together or groomin each ofer 5 minutes later...

LC splained to me a few weeks ago that they been doin that fer play fer all their years. Its kinna weerd ta realize that they been livin together wif The Big Thing fer over 14 years. Im not efen 1 year yet an it seems a long time! But she said they nefer hurt each ofer an its all in fun. LC started wrasslin if Skeeter when he was a big mancat an she was a kitten like me. He weighed 3 times her weight then!

So, the passed few weeks, I been doin a little wrasslin wif Skeeter. LC is right, its wicked good fun. I flop down on my back in fronta Skeeter an whap him wif my paws. He just grumbled at first, but hes been whappin back lately.

Well, today we hadda real active wrasslin! We both twisted around wrasslin an whappin an pouncin, all in one spot, ya know? I efen got ta bunny kick him a few times. Hes strong, but Im fast!

Then he turned away. I did a little butt-wiggle, then CHARGED him. You may not beleeve this, but I KNOCKED HIM OVER! All 13 pounds of him! (I only weigh 5)

I was SO ecited. LC was amazed too. Well, of course Skeeter was most surprised an he whapped me good as I ran away. But it felt great!!!

LC came ofer later an congratulated me. She said she does it ta remind Skeeter that he isnt all powerful efen if he IS lots bigger. But she said not ta knock her ofer cause she would BITE me - HARD - onna tail.

That doesnt soun good. But I may try it anyway cause she hasta catch me ta bite me.

Hee-hee!

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Ayla Almost Caught A mousie!

SKEETER: I catch a lotta mousies, an LC has been doing better lately (she FINALLY started listenin to me about techniques). But Ayla has been watchin me lots an askin questions. LC might focus on the froggies, but Ayla seems most innerested in mousies. I think thats GREAT.

Well, today she almost got one. I was watchin her from up onna deck and made sure not ta interfeer. She has ta learn on her own of course. I just watched carefully so I could give her some advice about her chase if she asked...

I first got alerted when I heard her slappin at the ground. That was a surprise. She's also real big inta flying buggies right now so I dont pay too much attention hen she whaps in the air. But whappin ground is differnt! That means mousies...

So there she was, whappin at the ground. She "invents" mousies sometimes, but I heard squeek! She started movin forward an around whappin the ground (way too energetically, I noticed). I gotta mention that to her. Ya dont swat mousies, ya just hold them down!

I could see the mousie scurryin around a few times (hard among all the leafs an grass). She kep tryin ta bite it, but she couldnt figure out how to bite it wifout movin her paw outta the way. MOL! Typical novice problem... An of course, efry time she moved her paw away, the mousie would scurry away.

Then she would whap it down again and try to bite it. That went on fer about as long as it takes fer her ta eat her breakfast (which is not TOO long, but SOME time). She sniffed aroun the area, but the mousie had gotten down a hole, I expect. There are several holes right there.

She DID sit nice an quiet fer a while, but finally came back up onna deck. She came over all proud tail-high an all, saying "Did ya see me catchin the mousie"? Well, drat, I WAS kinna proud, but Im her teacher, too... So I (hadda) say "Well where is it"? Her tail went straight down. I felt bad about that, but teachin is serious stuff.

So I gave her a coupla head licks and tole her she did a good job CHASIN the mousie, but not a very good job aktally CATCHIN it. I tole her the chase is fun, but the eating is better. She is real cited about THAT. I'll hafta show her some paw/mouth coordinashun tricks tonight (usin the toy mousies). Its not easy an takes practice (an a lotta lost mousies). I hadda teach myself, so I KNOW about lost mousies!

Ya see, Ayla is very good (impressively good) about handlin her toy mousies. She bats them around, pounces on them, flips them inna air and snags them with backflips an stuff I cant efen do. But when she takes her paw off them, they dont run away. And this confuses her with real mousies. They ALLUS run away if they can!

So, she has finally held down, sniffed, and chased a real mousie now. Thats a big step I gotta admit. Its the first time shes managed THAT part. Now I gotta help her wif da "end" part.

I expect that, one day soon, she will bring a mouse to the deck door ta show me an The Big Thing!

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I Caught A Mousie!

LC: It was my 2nd in one week!



Well, The Big Thing said it was aktally a "vole", but all them little furry things are "mousies" ta me. I brought it inside when The Big Thing opened the door. He was nice about it an helped me play wif it, but he made me take it back outside onna deck.



I stared at the open door ta see if I could get it back in, but he was blockin the door. I wanted to put it in my food bowl for "later".





But I hadda keep it outside, so I checked it carefully.










Then I ATE it. It tasted real good!

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Ayla Discovers NIP!

SKEETER: It seems ta me that Ayla is growin up... Ya see, she hasn't liked Nip leafs. I dont care fer them much myself, but I do indulge sometimes an I feel the effect. But Ayla been backin away from the stuff like it was a week-old dead mousie.

Until today! The Big Thing had put the indoor Nip plant outside yesterday fer the year, an today Ayla got real innerested init!



She suddenly looked at it...












She sniffed...












She chewed! (Note that the pot is away from the deck rails)










(Note that the pot is AGAINST the rails) She bunny-kicked the whole pot.

Then she ran allaroun the yard. I couldnt get a picture of that cause she was runnin too fast.

So what happened next? She discovered trees. Alla sudden, she was up one twice as high up as The Big Thing is tall! She got down real easy (tail first). Then she went an ran up another! Jus sorta hung there fer a few minutes, then climbed down a went inside fer a nap. An she whapped my TAIL on the way in!

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GOOD NOOS!

We are SO happy to see today that Lilly Lu, Mu Shue, and Iris were rescued from their burned home and are safe! Hurray fer the Rescue Beins!

We haf writ a leter to the nice Rescue Beins:

"Tunaday -

Dear Joe Godino and Pamela Buffoed,

On Sunday April 13, you rescooed 3 kitties (Lilly Lu, Mu Shue, and Iris) from a burnded apartment. Well, we 3 kitties (Skeeter, LC, an Ayla) would like ta thank you so much! It was SO brave of ya to go in there an find them. An it was nice that ya left them some food an water until they could be returned to their Mom Laura. We were SO worryed hearin about the fire and that the kitties were in there!

Mom Laura was so dissedrat, um, disterout, (oh mouse-droppings!) “upset”! An we kitties onna innernet were so sad that they might be all hurt (or werse)! So, thank yoo so much…




Skeeter, LC, an Ayla"

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In Memorium - Miral

We are all sad to learn that Ruis's sister Miral has gone ofer the Rainbow Bridge...

Takin It Easy Today

First though, we are purrin VERY hard...



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AYLA: Its rainin off an on today, so we're stayin inside an relaxin!



LC showed me a cool way ta relax. She called it the "Spa Method".









Then she set her self up with it on her favorite chair.







Skeeter said "NO WAY! I'm not wearing no turban or vegetables."



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Cat Statues!

LC:

Well, the cat statues The Big Thing wanted for the front steps arrived yesterday! He had heard of some Beins hafing lions, an figured we should haf cats. He needed some guard cats cause we arent allowed inna front yard (its outside the fence).



I gotta admit, they ARE pretty cool-lookin. They are red-brown an made of aluminum so they can be outside. But they gotta stay inside until TBT figures out how to secure them. We dont want them "wanderin away"... He thinks he will drill a hole in back and put a cable loop aroun the metal rails.






They are just about Ayla's size.









Camies Kitties gave us the site we foun these at. We sendin them some treats!

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Ayla's New Gizzy Quilt - Thursday 13

AYLA:

I am SO THRILLED! I got my VERY OWN Gizzy Quilt from Darling Millie. Skeeter an LC already had their own (an werent happy when I got up them), so it was so GREAT to get my own! So I am doin a Thursday 13 about it (them)...

1.

Here is the quilt front.











2.

And the back!











3.

Here I am walkin onit!












4.

And again!












5.

Skeeter liked it too.











6.

I loved it lots...











7.

And more.











8.

Again











9.

And again











10.

And again...












11.

I rolled up in it REAL CUTE, but I made sure ta do that only after the camera was all filled up. MOL!






12. The fronts of all (Skeeter's is the green, LC's is the red, mine is the blue)









13. The backs.

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