Lefty, being his handsome, charming self.
See? You didn’t really need that explanation, did you?
Lefty, being his handsome, charming self.
See? You didn’t really need that explanation, did you?
Because she was somewhat overshadowed–literally–last week, I decided that today I’d remedy the situation.
I present Her Imperial Majesty, Empress of the Meepasaurs, She Whose Toenails are Ever Pointy, Ms. Blue Eyes Herself:
Kokoro
This one’s for Jackie. I know she could use something to distract her from the Orioles’ winter maneuverings…
So how about a shot of Sir Rufus looking every inch the regal gentleman that he is?
Of course he does have his playful side. He’s quite the photobomber, as this shot of Lefty proves.
Yes, it really is a photo of Lefty, as this enhanced version proves.
Even the camera prefers to focus on Rufus. Which honestly doesn’t bother Lefty one little bit.
(By the way, all the photos in today’s post are Maggie’s work. I’ve been running in enough circles lately that I haven’t gotten any good shots of the fuzzies. Hopefully that will change soon, but many thanks to Maggie for filling the gap.)
Despite his fondness for the camera, Rufus is still a very sound sleeper. Even the shutter noise can’t awaken him once he’s gotten into deep sleep/power save mode.
When all is said, though, Rufus’ essence remains his quiet dignity and thoughtful mien.
(My favorite shot in this batch and one of my all-time favorite shots of Rufus. Handsome under any circumstances, but his shadow sets him off perfectly here.)
It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We all have our little fetishes. That’s just part of being human. Not just sexually, either.
“Such beautiful eyes.”
“I could watch the waves forever.”
“Give me chocolate, and I’ll follow you anywhere.”
And, of course, we all have our own reasons for appreciating our furry fellow-beings.
I’ve imposed on our crew to bring you a selection of feline fragments suitable for seven different fetishes. Regrettably, Kaja declined to participate, but ‘Nuki was kind enough to cover for her. Camera shy isn’t in his vocabulary.
Let’s begin with Rhubarb’s eye, exquisite in gold and black.
Wild and untamed, Watanuki’s whiskers mirror his soul.
Yuki’s ear, black and floofy as befits the handsome soot sprite.
We’re fairly sure Sachiko is an invading alien. Her antennae are a dead giveaway, after all.
The most elegantly curled tail of Her Majesty, Kokoro.
Watanuki’s toe beans are the only flaw in his dapper exterior.
And, finally, Rufus’s startlingly brick-pink nose.
We often call Rhubarb our Smoked Salmon Boy.
Not because of his appetite, though he does love to lick the lid when we open a can of salmon.
And not just because of his coloration, though he is a lovely salmon-orange and cream-cheese-white.
But mostly because he’s a cat who really knows how to put the lox in “loxing out”.
(No, he’s not fond of that pun. Or puns in general.)
A trio of updates to ongoing stories today.
First, the backpedaling has begun at KFOG. They’ve announced that Rosalie Howarth, one of the fired DJs, has been re-hired and will return to the air this weekend.
According to the program director*, this move was planned all along. I’m dubious. Who lays someone off for six weeks? It seems even more improbable when you consider that at the time of the layoffs, Rosalie was only on-air six hours a week. Even allowing for the fact that she had the longest tenure of any of the staff who were let go, if the plan was really to bring her back, it wouldn’t have killed the station’s budget to put her on paid leave for those six weeks.
* A gentleman by the name of Brian Schlock. The petty-minded are welcome to make jokes about appropriate namings…
And let’s not forget that those six hours a week were hosting the popular “Acoustic Sunrise” and “Acoustic Sunset” shows on Sundays. Wouldn’t KFOG have wanted to counter some of the ill-will generated by their programming changes by announcing that the shows* would return?
* Actually, only “Acoustic Sunrise” is coming back–and it’ll be subject to the same anathematization of pre-nineties music as the rest of the station. On the other hand, “Acoustic Sunrise” will be an hour longer than it used to be.
KFOG clearly considers bringing back Rosalie as tossing loyal listeners a bone. Given the dubious spin, I suspect most of those listeners are going to consider it more of a chicken bone than a meaty T-bone.
Moving on, remember the Bay Bridge?
It looks like the Chron has a replacement for our old friend Jaxon on the Bay Bridge Bolt Botch Beat. Say hello to Melody Gutierrez. Since her main focus is politics, we can hope that she’ll spend some time looking into those apparently non-existent approvals we’ve been asking about.
Her first bridge report is a brief update on those improperly-grouted rods. You know: the ones that anchor the bridge to its pilings.
Steven Heminger and his colleagues on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission have approved a plan to re-grout the rods to prevent further corrosion. The cost is only $15 million–a drop in the bucket (sorry) compared to total bridge budget. The commission is satisfied that the rods don’t need to be replaced, which would have cost a hell of a lot more, so this seems like a reasonable expense. So does the additional million they approved for a corrosion survey of the bridge foundation.
But I’d still like to know why the grout wasn’t properly tested when the rods were installed. Melody, keep us posted, OK?
And finally, here’s the latest in our intermittent series of posts documenting the feline campaign to rule the world.
A group of cats in Britain has decided to wipe out the British economy by targeting the advertising industry. They plan to replace the usual subway advertisements urging commuters to buy, buy, buy, with photos of, well, cats. They’re only going to take over one station, but you can be sure that’s only the beginning–have you ever known a cat to be satisfied with only one toy?
The felines aren’t about to pay for their nefarious plan themselves. There’s a funding campaign running on Kickstarter. As I write this, the pledges are a bit short. With three days to go, they’re only 53% of the way to their goal.
Whether you want to help the cats’ plan for global domination is, naturally, a matter for you to settle with your own conscience.