It’s time for the Caturday open thread! Today’s visitor is sleeping off a dose of industrial-strength catnip, explains reader N. Fritz:
Here is Mutz (rhymes with “puts”) after his yearly teeth cleaning – at 17 years, that anesthesia really takes it out of the ol’ boi. He was so stoned when he came home, I was able to clip his nails!
The second picture is of Mutz with his rock collection, most of which came from Lake Superior. He’d like to know other Cutetropolitans and their pets collect.
That is indeed an impressive collection, for which Mutz deserves an honourary degree in geology – calling him a rockhound sounds a bit weird!
I’m currently preparing for a trip to Leeds to see Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Ruddigore”, one of their less frequently revived works featuring a corps of professional bridesmaids and ancestral portraits emerging from their frames. Later this week I’ll be returning to the same venue for Benjamin Britten’s operatic version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, so it’s all go…
Mutz thanks you kindly, and wishes you a lovely week of performances.
Coincidentally, my mom (who has never met Mutz personally) is a geologist of some renown (by which I mean her book on the landforms of Iowa is in most university libraries in the U.S.).
I have a few from Lake Gichigami, myself! I think one is one of the ‘oldest’ rock types.
Happy Caturday!
The dogs were so good they got a hat!
Going to my godson’s birthday party later; he turned 10 yesterday!
Have to work tomorrow. And log in later today, as well. Boo.
Early voting starts today in NJ…planning to go Thursday because I’ll be near the library.
Voting starts today in NYC, so I will vote, vote, vote like a baby stoat.
I sent in my mail-in ballot from overseas. Now we wait…
I couldn’t believe that I could actually PARK at my local library and no line to vote early.
Last time I circled for half an hour for a space and it took 90 minutes in line. With the scariest, shortest grandma with a gun and badge keeping us in line. Suspect she keeps the rest of the US Marshalls in line that way too.
I forgot to tell Mutz that I like the stripey rock, too. Also the smooth white one that looks like a little egg.
Another great week with the dogs! I’m so glad the people who rescued the dog in the river took the time to think about their own safety. I might have just plunged in without thinking, and that wouldn’t have helped anyone.
For Arne:
Very Itt like. I can see the family resemblance, lol.
Indeed!
Very accurate imitation LOL!!
(See yesterday’s TV Secrets Revealed post if you are confused by this.)
I don’t remember if those were actually my glasses or one of my friends’.
Wow. When my hair was at its longest, it was never that long.
I cut off ten inches before I went back to school for my junior year, and it was still at my shoulder blades.
Don’t know if this will work, but it’s me in 1974, the blond one, and me on my 70th birthday, two weeks ago.
Be gentle, I’m a very sensitive guy.
I wasn’t born yet in 1974. 😜
Great to see what Cutetropolitans look like IRL. Happy belated birthday, Arne!
You look like someone I’d like to know personally.
Good morning! Poor Mutzchen, I hope you’ve recovered now. I like your stone collection. My boys don’t seem to collect anything. Well, maybe Butch does, he likes to drag around the tangled mess of all the wand toys in the basket, crowing loudly while he does so.
It’s a good day so far, beautiful sunshine, Jacques and Butch are cuddling with me in bed, I’m going to finish knitting a tiny mitten for my friend’s 6-month-old, and this afternoon I’m attending a zoom lecture on how to make vegetable papyrus. Should be fun! I also agreed to write the article about the lecture for our newsletter – not so fun. But if I do it today, it will be fresh in my memory, not to mention – just done.
Happy voting to all the USians who are voting early!
He’s collecting rocks you say, Mutz may be taking a page out of Andy Dufresne’s book and planing his escape 😉
We mustered our courage and went to get our passport renewed yesterday, since every time we went past that place it was always packed with people I had brought my rolling walker so I could sit while waiting in line because I can’t stand for long periods of time … and there was nobody there!
Right away we saw an agent who checked that the forms were filled out correctly and after paying for a 10 year passport were out of there in 35 minutes, I’m not sure but I think it’s a record for dealing with a government office.
Happy Caturday everyone!
Happy Saturday all! Poor Mutz boy. He does look very stoned in the first pic. Did he have the munchies after the drugs wore off? Very nice rock collection too. He should meet my grand nephew. When he was between 8ish to early teens, he was obsessed with rocks. Every walk ended with him having handfuls in his pocket that he saved in 5 gallon buckets. Thankfully he’s mostly grown out of that stage and his mom has been able to start disposing of his collection. She has to do it on the sly or he claims he still needs alll of the rocks. She kinda reminds me of those prison movies where the inmates dig their way out by putting handfuls of soil in their pockets and shake it out while walking in the yard.
Nothing too exciting today. Was going to get my hair cut but my stylist wasn’t feeling good so he cancelled all appointments today. Don’t blame him, he had heart surgery about 2 months ago and he just came back to work last week. So have to wait another week and see a different stylist. I’m starting to feel like a shaggy dog but I’ll manage. Other than that really no plans, just go with the flow. Only other exciting thing that happened this week was getting a new Ipad mini 7 tablet. I had been putt-putting along with an Ipad mini 4 so the difference is amazing. Like going from a 20 yr old manual with a sticky clutch to a new top of the line Mecedes.
Alice, those trips and productions sound fantastic. I’ve been wanting to go to the theatre here but nothing has caught my eye yet. We get a lot of newer works or stage productions of movies/tv shows. None of them sound appealing. Already voted and mailed my ballot in so did my part to keep the wheels of democracy rolling. Fingers crossed for a good outcome but I’m already sensing it might be a challenging transition.
I have an old Samsung/B&N Nook tablet (it was just a regular Samsung 10″ tablet with all the Nook stuff preloaded). I found the box a few months ago and the receipt was still in it…I bought it in 2015! Pretty much nothing can be updated and I’ve had to delete several apps because they can’t even work on it at all anymore. All I use it for at this point is the alarm and reading ebooks. And somehow it still keeps telling me I’m running out of memory even though I’ve moved most of the files I wanted to keep to my computer and deleted as much stuff as I can. Might ask for something for Christmas; I just need something that lets me read my Nook books as well as library ebooks (I have another Nook Simple Touch ereader which is even older, but it only connects to the Nook store and to read other stuff you have to sideload it using a program I don’t even have on my computer anymore; I don’t care so much about other apps since I do most of that stuff on my phone. I don’t like reading on my phone though; I prefer a screen that’s closer to the size of an actual book.
I checked the postcard I got about early voting and realized it’s open until 8 on Saturday. We’ll see…but then I figured it might be more crowded on the first day, and also probably less crowded on Halloween, so might just stick with my original plan.
In case it helps, I have Nook, Kindle, GooglePlay, Books (Apple) and Libby (library) apps on my iPad, and they all work beautifully.
They all work on my iPhone, too, which is handy when I’m on a subway or bus. I don’t usually have my iPad with me when I leave home, unless I’ll need it for work. I could take it, I just don’t usually bother. I prefer to travel as light as I can.
Yeah, I use Libby on both my phone and tablet, and I have the Nook app on my phone. Plus Apple since it’s an iPhone but I don’t use that much.
I only bring my tablet to work if I’m actually reading something on it. Right now I’m reading an actual paper book!
Mutz, I feel very much like you in your first picture.
Wind, rain and mess here. Everything I got hurts, and a couple of things I ain’t got hurt anyway.
Little Duckie finished the shedding part of her moult. Now the new feathers just need to finish coming in.
Had a terrible scare earlier this week. Mom was taking garbage out, and fell on their concrete stairs and sidewalk. Gashed her head open and mangled her thumb. I wanted her to go to the hospital, but she refused. Hubby did first aid, and the rest of the family all stepped in to take over. My sisters and I are hoping this will cause them to reconsider their decision to stay in their house, but we can’t force them to move.
Mike, I am rather concerned about you. Not for the sake of this site, which is of incredible importance to your fans, but for you. The lack of Tocktober or Flurnston Boils content has me worried about your health. Is everything okay? And if not, is there anything that we can do?
I’m off to do absolutely nothing. Have a safe weekend, everyone.
Did Mutz really collect the stones? Love the pic of him sleeping—he looks so cuddly. Don’t blame you for taking the chance to clip his nails!
Allein, that really does look like Cousin It!
And reading books on iPad is ideal. I can’t imagine reading something on a phone. Too small by far! Get a used iPad. You don’t need much space just for book apps, and I have loved all 3 of the iPads I’ve had. Worth the money IMO.
I agree with Duckie! We’ve only had 1 Tocktober and 1 Flurnston Boils—just didn’t realize.
I plan on voting next week. Hope there’s not a line cos I can’t stand for long—very bad back. I am looking forward to it being done, and there’s nothing more that I can do about it. Seriously concerned that half of the U.S. thinks trump is a viable candidate. Last time it was such a shock, but this time we KNOW what it will be like if he wins and I am very worried!
I simply cannot wrap my head around the election being as close as they say. I just hope there are a lot of people saying one thing to pollsters and then doing the opposite in the privacy of the voting booth.
Happy Caturday, everyone! Hope Mutz recovered quickly from his surgery and I love his rock collection. My cats do not collect anything except cuddles and kisses.
Sounds like people have had a lot of drama in the last week–or will have it next week!
My car saga is moving along. The collision shop has submitted an estimate that will almost certainly mean the car is totaled. I will hear by Wednesday, I hope, then I have to rush to the Hyundai dealer before they change incentives on Friday. First big accident. First totaled car. First EV and first lease.
FWIW, I read books exclusively on my iPad–the words on a printed page can’t be resized and books take two hands. I do everything else on the iPad too because the screen is big. I’ve got a 10th gen normal size one. If they still make the Paperwhite tablets just for books, they were really easy on the eyes.
I’m also done with all my election stuff. I voted by mail and my ballot has been accepted. I’ve mailed the last batch of postcards, as of yesterday. All told, I wrote maybe 200 to 250 cards for candidates here, in Arizona, and for voters in Pennsylvania, and I donated most of the stamps used. I dropped off literature locally. Now all I can do is wait. After I finish up Parks and Recreation this week, I’ll rewatch LOTR and then Ted Lasso. We won’t know results for a few days after election day, because of some states’ rules about when they can process mail-in votes. Might need a big supply of Ben and Jerry’s to get me through this.
Hugs to you all. Stay safe, and remember to take care of yourselves while you’re caring for other people.
Peeps, if you find life intolerable after the 5th, come to British Columbia. We will all move more north from here, and set up Cutetropolis for real. Deb can help me with the alpaca farm. We’ll garden and stuff, live in Hobbit houses, and all sorts of things. Mike, you can be the mayor.
I am so tempted.
One of the candidates is threatening repatriating foreigners and if they check, I did NOT take or pass my naturalization test.
Ok, I was THREE at the time but not sure if some parties will care.
Duckie, I love this plan. I can make all our clothes. We may not have much money but we’ll be warmly and stylishly dressed!
I’m in!
Deb, I just came from a ten-year-old’s birthday party. It is windy and I am still cold. I could use some warm stuff!
I’m in too. And I already have my Canadian citizenship/passport so Custom Officers have to let me cross. Seriously, I’ve been thinking very hard on how to make the move. If we dodge a bullet this time, I’m still making plans to retire up there in a few years. I’ll have to come say hi Duckie.
Oh I wish Canada would really let us all in! That does sound dreamy, Duckie!
AJ, I envy that Canadian citizenship. Could you rent a van, and we could all pile in the back?
Thank you for the kind invitation Duckie! If things go sideways, us childless cat ladies are really going to need a plan B.
We’ll have an orchard, beehives, a small lake, vine fruits. We’ll make and sell our own wines. We can grow truffles, have nut trees, all sorts of delightful plans.
I’ll be working on the secession of NYC from the USA. Perhaps we could become a Canadian Territory. That said, I certainly support Mike for Mayor. Either in Cutetropolis, BC, or Cutetropolis, NYC. We really need to get rid of the loser we have right now.