Weekend Open Thread

Happy Caturday! Today’s conversation cat comes from Rachel S., who writes: “Her name is Zelda, and she is definitely a feline princess.  When she sunbathes like this she goes so limp I constantly check that she’s breathing!  She is super sweet and affectionate as long as I obey her every whim.”

(Sometimes I hold my breath just to freak her out, shh…)
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29 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread

  1. Amyliz February 17, 2018 / 8:12 am

    And why would you NOT obey gorgeous Zelda’s every whim??? She clearly exists just to be pampered! 😀

    Had a long, difficult week at work but later this morning I’m getting a haircut and the stylist always gives her clients a scalp and neck massage, which will be heavenly! Other than that, no real plans for the weekend and that’s fine with me! Hope you are all well and enjoying your Saturday morning!

  2. AJ February 17, 2018 / 9:01 am

    Oh my goodness, look at that beauty!! She is the definition of a pampered princess. The one kinda white pawsie is killing me and just look at all that fluff!

    Going to pick up our new car today. Then a few errands. And finally cap it off with hockey tonight. Tomorrow hubby wants to go see the new Black Panther movie (too bad it wasn’t starring this black panther) and then who know what else.

    We also just rented a house so I got to go break the bad news to the leasing office that we’re giving our 30 day notice and breaking the lease. At this point, I don’t care I just want out. Nothing majorly wrong but I’m finding that I can’t do apartment living anymore. Plus the good thing with our new place is my commute to work will be a 10 minute walk. Whoo Hoo!!!

    Also, wish me luck and think good thoughts on Tuesday. I go in for a procedure to (hopefully) fix my finger. This is the one that’s similar to trigger finger but mine doesn’t catch, it’s just been swollen and painful to move. Dr says it will be quick but still has to knock my butt out. Well, at least I get a day off of work.

    Enjoy the weekend everyone!

    • Gigi The cat lady February 17, 2018 / 10:25 am

      Good luck on your procedure, I went for an injection for my trigger finger on Tuesday, I’m not sure it was a success, it does hurt a lot less but it still catches. They say it can take up to a week to get results so I’m keeping my fingers crossed (pun intended).

  3. Alice Shortcake February 17, 2018 / 9:04 am

    All is quiet at the Shortcakery, but here’s another little snippet from “Please Throw Two Carrots at Your Mother”. From 1889, a warning to you NEVER to let a donkey take a curtain call:

    AN amusing incident occurred at the Avenue Theatre, Sunderland, on Monday. In an interval of the performance of “True Metal”, by Mr Pitt Hardacreʼs company, Jerry Twaddleʼs donkey was sent before the curtain, at the end of the third act, to receive its share of applause. When it got in the centre of the stage, it laid down and would not move; and two carpenters had to be sent on to drag it off.

    Also, for many years one of my favourite composers has been Ralph Vaughan Williams. One of the highlights of my week was to discover, via YouTube, a piece of his music I’d never heard before. For your delight and delectation: the Romance from his 1898 Serenade in A Minor.




  4. Gigi The cat lady February 17, 2018 / 10:40 am

    I swear there is a curse on the latest Star Was movie, every time we make plans to go see it something happens and we have to cancel ou plans.
    This time it’s my sister-in-law birthday, it was actually Thursday but my mother in law decided that we have to come to lunch for it today and since my sister-in-law is one of the person we asked to come and feed the cats when we go on our trip to Europe this Spring it’s hard to say no. It’s also hard to say no to my 97 year old mother-in-law, she gets lonely since she can’t go out much because she has problem walking and she’s blind. So no movie again, at this rate I guess we’ll catch it on DVD.

    In other news, I went for an injection for my trigger finger on Tuesday, not sure it was a complete success but at least it hurts less.

    • Maia February 17, 2018 / 2:00 pm

      I can tell you what happens, if you want. 😉

      (I am JUST KIDDING).

  5. Murray C February 17, 2018 / 10:41 am

    Beautiful puss cat, best of luck on the digit front GiGi and AJ, Alice, I have to wait to listen to the music. I’m performing tonight and am babying myself. I had an aura – as in pre-migraine aura – and while I don’t get the headaches today I feel as though my head has been scraped out from the inside. I’ve been anticipating this performance for a few months and practicing for weeks, feel like I know my stuff. Then it transpires that we’re to have snow in the Lehigh Valley (the show is at a venue in Moravia College) tonight!! WAHHH! So on top of everything else I’ll be driving through snow at some point, most notably late tonight on my way home. I don’t mind driving in snow I just hope I won’t be too tired. Best lad plans.

    Alice I adore the story about the donkey – maybe I’ll try pulling off a similar escapade tonight. Oh, and in case anyone’s wondering, the concert is the music of Ned Harrigan, whom I believe I’ve mentioned before – “Aitch -A- Double R-I……” very esoteric, his work represents the very beginnings of the American Musical Theater, 1860-1890-ish, and he wrote a lot about the Irish immigrant experience in New York’s Lower East Side.

    I’ll be back tomorrow at some point – have a great day, everyone, – oh, AJ, congrats on the new car, the new digs! Fabulous.

  6. tara February 17, 2018 / 11:44 am

    Hello Wonderful Cutetropolis world! Oh isn’t Zelda a gorgeous kitty. So much floof! I hope all the trigger fingers heal well and that Murray C your head feels better soon. This has been going on for a few days now, hasn’t it? Maybe it’s a weird presentation of nerves before the performance? I hope it goes well and also hope there won’t be too much snow to navigate. It is bright sunshine in Philly at the moment, so maybe the weather won’t happen until after your home safe and sound.

    I could use a little sympathy and healing thoughts today as well. I slipped on my back porch stairs yesterday morning. They are wooden and were slick from the rain we had all night. I landed so hard on my tuchus and bounced down two more stairs that I completely knocked the wind out of myself. Nothing seems to be broken though, thank the heavens, but the bruises are stunning. Everything was pretty sore yesterday and after a good night’s sleep I’m feeling all the other muscles that got wrenched while I was trying to catch myself. No lounging on the couch knitting for me this holiday weekend! I’ve got to find a stool to sit on. Of course I realize it could have been much worse and so I’m grateful it wasn’t. 🙂

    If it snows tonight, and sticks a little, I’m totally making a hedgehog for my kitties tomorrow. I don’t know what they’ll make of it but with greenies for eyes? They might be interested.
    Happy weekend all!

  7. allein ? February 17, 2018 / 11:50 am

    Today I plan to hopefully get something for my 30% off at Kohls, stop and pick up a book at the library, maybe a couple other errands. I didn’t find anything on my Fossil store excursion last week, and the only other Fossil store in the vicinity is at the other outlet mall and I’m assuming they have the same stuff so not worth a half hour drive. There’s a DSW nearby and they apparently carry Fossil and maybe some other decent brands so I’ll check that out. Of course, now that I want to splurge on something I won’t be able to find what I like! There’s a bag on their website that looks promising but no one actually has it in stock (Macy’s also carries their stuff but nothing in any nearby store.) Not something I really want to order online without being able to look at it first; I really hate dealing with online returns, and I’m kinda picky about bags.

    Then we’re supposed to get rain/snow tonight. I have to do fun stuff like laundry and changing my sheets.

    • allein ? February 17, 2018 / 7:16 pm

      So I went to the bookstore, got some tea at Starbucks, then went into the bookstore and got to talking for a bit, then went to Kohls. Got two pairs of pants and three shirts for just over $100 (unfortunately, those coupons don’t apply to Levi’s, but they were still on sale at least). Then I went to get something to eat next door, and by the time I got out of there it was snowing, so I just headed home. DSW and bag shopping will have to wait until tomorrow. Now listening to podcasts and am about to put in some laundry before it gets too late.

  8. murkle46 February 17, 2018 / 12:19 pm

    Saw this on IWSMT,and I think it speaks to us on many levels because when you get down to it,what we all really want are waffles.




    • dubravkamcvmd February 17, 2018 / 8:01 pm

      At first I thought this was a joke of some kind but that’s a real child! I’m astounded that such a creature exists. How was this produced? Are other children like this?

  9. Duckie ? February 17, 2018 / 12:19 pm

    Greetings, all.
    This Duckie desperately wants to hibernate. Temperatures are hovering just above zero, and it’s raining. No weight loss this week, but it was a somewhat emotional week (partially dealt with an issue that’s been haunting me for years), and I tend to hold weight during things like that.
    I DID enjoy one thing this week, and probably more than I should have. I got an email from our university, asking me to do a survey on the policies of the program that denied me my English Major. I completed the survey, failing the program on everything but the quality of the instructors, and in the comments section at the end, let them have it, with both barrels. I got a rather startled email back, telling me that such surveys aren’t usually responded to, but in this case, with my permission, they wanted to send my comments to the dean. I said please feel free to do so, and to include my contact info. Looking forward to THAT email reply.

    Zelda is absolutely gorgeous, just the kind of cat I would love to have to walk around.
    AJ, I am rejoicing with you on the getting-a-house thing. I completely understand where you are coming from.
    Tara, you may want to get your tuchus X rayed. I fell off a chair about ten years ago, and had the most stunning bruises. The pain was incredible, so I got it checked, and found I’d broken my tailbone.
    Murray, good luck with your performance tonight.
    Gigi and AJ, take care of those fingers.
    Have a positive week, everyone.

    • N. Fritz February 18, 2018 / 5:51 am

      Duckie, I hope your comments pave the way for changes in your college’s policies! Good on you!!

  10. Rachel February 17, 2018 / 1:34 pm

    My girl! Thanks so much, Mike!

  11. Maia February 17, 2018 / 1:38 pm

    Hello, everyone! I feel like Zelda; the sun is finally out (figuratively speaking, that is, it is actually gray and blustery here in the Puget Sound region of Washington) after a couple of weeks battling depression. I am in the middle of a job hunt, which has been discouraging, but today I feel energetic enough to try again. This place has been a lifeline even though I have only been able to lurk a few times.

    I would like to echo what Duckie said, and wish AmyLiz a better week next week than last week. Alice, thank you for sharing the music! I love hearing new (to me) pieces. Also, Duckie, I totally understand how satisfying filling out that survey must have been!

    My very best wishes to everyone for health and success, safe driving and happy adventures this week. Thanks for being here. 🙂

    • Maia February 17, 2018 / 1:58 pm

      I forgot Allein, Murkle and Rachel-

      Allein, good luck with the shopping (I hate online returns, too)! I hope that you find what you want.

      Murkle, I so want waffles now. 🙂

      Rachel, thanks for sharing Zelda with us. She’s gorgeous. Keep checking that she is breathing. I do that with my cat, too.

  12. Laura February 17, 2018 / 4:57 pm

    Hi, everybody. Sorry I’ve been missing for a while; I needed a break from the computer after a particularly brutal chunk of work. And then we’ve been worried about Melody, who’s been *very* slow to heal, plus she got a nasty sore spot on her front leg — we have *no* idea how! — and what with everything, she ended up really depressed and miserable. And who can blame her? She’s finally doing a lot better, but it’s been incredibly slow. She’s going to be in the Cone of Shame for at least a couple more weeks, unfortunately, but she was finally able to go on a therapy visit this week, which cheered her up immeasurably, as you can imagine — she’s really missed all her friends at the various places she does her therapy work!

    I’ve just been knitting baby stuff, gifts for various new babies born to friends and relatives. It’s a lot of fun, and there are certainly a ton of wonderful patterns out there. And of course I’ve been watching the Olympics; I have to confess to being a lifetime Olympaholic. 😀 And that’s my exciting life.

    I hope everybody stays or gets healthy, and congrats on new cars and houses and anything else good. And of course I’m very happy to see Zelda’s picture here; I hear regularly about how beautiful and demanding she is, and how much Rachel enjoys her, so I’m glad she was able to share her with everyone else. Have a good week, everybody!

  13. Patty February 17, 2018 / 5:30 pm

    I wish I could lay in a sunbeam like Zelda does.
    I am still having financial difficulties, am job hunting, but apparently being a 59 yr old woman who has not had a job in over 20 yrs, and all previous employers are dead or gone out of business, doesn’t make one all that desirable. We have managed to stay afloat by selling some of my Black Hills Gold jewelry, well, all of it other than my engagement ring and wedding band. I am avoiding selling off my brooch collection, but if worse comes to worst, I will tearfully do just that. I only wish the husband was willing to part with some of his collections. There are thousands of dollars worth of old crank phones hanging on my wall, and a partially restored 1937 ford in a friend’s garage, but I get “Those were my grandfather’s and my father’s.” Yeah, but some of those rings I sold were my mother’s. He is the one who insisted I get a job, as he is self employed and business is pretty non-existent right now. During an argument, I told him perhaps he should be job hunting too. When the warm weather returns, his business will pick up, since it is in construction (indoor construction still slows down in winter).

    • Alice Shortcake February 18, 2018 / 3:14 am

      Crank phones – ideal for making crank phone calls.

      Yes, I know what a crank phone is but I had no idea people collected them!

      • Patty February 18, 2018 / 11:42 am

        His father was a telephone lineman. The small town he was raised in (current population is 129) was the last Kansas town to stop using the crank phones. The old wooden phones were taken out when my husband was like, 10. When his best friend next door got chicken pox and was not allowed to play outside, my FIL installed the old phones in their houses (a direct connection) so they could talk to each other without tying up the home phone. Fond memories make a collection, I guess.

  14. debg February 17, 2018 / 7:16 pm

    Hi all! I’m late checking again this weekend as it was a busy morning.

    Zelda is a knockout, and she’s very good at being a cat, from Rachel’s description!

    Hugs to all of you with aches, pains, bruises, and other injuries, whether they’re physical or emotional. Congrats to everybody celebrating something wonderful. And best wishes to everybody hunting, whether it’s a bag or a job.

    I’ve now been at my job for a month, and at my probation meeting, my two bosses indicated they’re pleased with my work and intend to have me keep on–not just with the special short-term project, but with the long-term stuff I’ve been doing.

    Going through the last big push on a big freelance project with a due date of March 1. Once that’s over, I can spend my weekends *not* working for a while!

    Now I’m off to scour Home Depot for bathroom ideas. If I sell the house as I’m planning, both bathrooms need to be fixed up. And there’s a rush on the upstairs bathroom faucet. Two of my girl-cats like to sleep on the counter, and one of them keeps hitting the faucet handle with her pudge, thus turning on the water. When I worked at home yesterday, I must have turned it off at least 8 times!

  15. Murray C February 18, 2018 / 1:07 pm

    Hi, All! I’m Ba-a-a-ack. What an adventure it was last night! The snow had just begun when we got to the theater – two hours early – but by the time we had to pack up and leave it was thick on everything – winter wonderland but treacherous. My husband was beside himself since he’d gotten badly stuck in two different places on the way to the theater because an accident was blocking the normal route. Fortunately, he brought up two friends and one of them rode with me on the way home and she knew a route that didn’t involve hills – Bethlehem is a VERY hilly town. But it was snowing like mad most of the way – we were very fortunate that it didn’t freeze – that would’ve been really nasty, like black ice nasty.

    Today I’m happily ensconced listening to the Ralph Vaughan Williams music, thanks to Alice. My husband’s aunt was among his coterie of friends – she played harpsichord. His family is SO much more interesting than mine. When I first met his mother in her beautiful house in Washington DC, near all the embassies, I sat there nervously clinking my teacup, looking at the Aubusson carpets sitting on delicate down-filled settees and whispered, “Christopher, you’re so Oleg Cassini and I’m so BVD”. (I stole that from a Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews TV Special)

    The show went OK – my friend who put it all together, as someone once nailed it – “knows too much for his own good”. I had to talk him off a cliff of having a show that was about 8 times longer than this one. He doesn’t really know how to be entertaining, he just wants to impart how much he knows. He’s great if it’s scripted by someone else. Anyway, we did fine, I didn’t have the feeling of elation that sometimes accompanies a performance well done, but my voice held up reasonably well. I started losing parts of my middle register toward the end – my sinuses still are not completely cleared up. I’m just going to putter today and look to the future. And watch the Olympics.☺️

  16. Murray C February 18, 2018 / 1:14 pm

    Tara, I hope your injury isn’t serious but I agree that maybe you should have it looked at if it continues to be painful. I’m so sorry about Melody’s injury and having to wear the CoS, poor doggie. Good luck to Maia and Patty on the job front. Hope I haven’t missed anybody – but if I have, keep on keeping on and have some fun if you can while you’re doing it.

  17. Not That Mike The Other Mike February 18, 2018 / 2:56 pm

    Hello, all! Ani and I did something we’ve never done before: We went on an outing to a grassy area near my house. I put her in the carrier I got for Christmas and took an old folding cage. She was overwhelmed by the experience, and for a long time just sat there breathing heavily, but she didn’t thump or grunt to express displeasure.

    I took her out of the cage a couple of times to hold her and walk around the area so she could see different places. Back in the cage, she finally started to groom herself and chew on the cage bars, which I took as a sign she was calming down. Finally back at the house, she went to her favorite porch spot and laid down. So I guess this worked out well enough that I could try it again.

    • dubravkamcvmd February 18, 2018 / 3:56 pm

      It sounds like a successful first outing to me, but I don’t have bunneh experience. I’ll be interested to hear what the bunny parents think. You’ve said that she does go outside and interacts with the neighborhood cats so I’m guessing she might enjoy wider vistas.

    • Murray C February 18, 2018 / 4:41 pm

      Sounds like she had a great time. It does take buns some time to get comfortable in new circumstances. Do you think she’d be amenable to a leash? You might train her to one, then you could walk around outside whenever you liked and not worry about her. I only caution to be on the lookout for mosquitoes and ticks, especially. Anything that can cause illnesses. She is quite the handsome bun.

      • Not That Mike The Other Mike February 18, 2018 / 4:44 pm

        I was also thinking of getting a portable enclosure that has mesh all around. The cage is bulky and also she did manage to jump all the way to the top and almost got out.

        But I am thinking again about a harness. I tried it once and she freaked out, but I think it’s because I didn’t use a strategy of getting her used to it gradually, like draping in on top of her but not trying to fasten it.

  18. fkaWaldenPond February 18, 2018 / 10:22 pm

    Hi everyone\! At my Dad’s for the long weekend, writing on his crazy keyboard- lurking and reading all. \hang in everyone re depression, tumbles, fingers out of sorts, dogs not healing. and i\f \i missed someone sorry, just this crazy keyboard and computer.

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