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Please Buy a Copy A Cat Compendium DVD by the Museum's Video Unit  |
February 2009 Archive 28 February - Tail-Wary  Natasha emerges from the Old Hollow Tree and warily eyes Nutmeg's dangerous bandaged tail, so painful to be swatted with. link home 28 February - The Brave Little Tortie  Poor little Cat Nutmeg showed up one day with a cut on her tail, its origin unknown - she was taken to the vet, where her tail was shaved and bandaged, and antibiotics were administered. She seems to be bearing up bravely - Maxine was sniffing the injured part yesterday in a rude sort of way, and Nutmeg whacked her with it, which shocked Maxine extremely. The bandage comes off Monday, I think. Here's a song for put-upon cats everywhere - Don't do That to the Poor Puss-Cat (streaming MP3), sung by Billy Murray, 1928. link home 22 February - Crocus Report  Here is the annual first crocus sighting of the year - let joy reign unconfined, but let joy scrape its boots before it comes inside - damn muddy out. I'm sure these climactic observations are terribly important, what with the global warming and all. A little Stimulus cash would certainly help us keep up this vital service. And the Janus Museum regents have asked me to state that the Museum is absolutely Shovel-Ready. Previous First Crocus Sightings: 2008 - February 24 2007 - March 3 2006 - February 5 2005 - February 12 2004 - February 29 2003 - March 14 link home 22 February - Fashionable yet Practical This is just strange - our Video Unit, taking advantage of maintenance man Gus's obsession with Theo von Wallingsfurt's pickelhaube, has produced the film shown above - Gus goes about his boring daily routine while wearing the pickelhaube. Thus demonstrating that the pickelhaube is fashionable, yet practical wear for one's everyday chores, or something. Do we really need a Video Unit? And yet I'm obliged to state that one may view the video here for the full HD effect. link home 20 February - More Vanishing Cats The Museum's Video Unit has churned out yet another catwalk epic featuring its increasingly hackneyed vanishing kitty effect. View it here for the full HD effect. But the soundtrack music, Mozart's Variations in G, KV 180, is very nice. We've received the usual dread warning that our stingey bandwidth allowance is almost exhausted for the month. So, once again, the site may tragically go off the air at any moment 'til the turn of the month. See you in March. link home 16 February - Cat Climbing and Cat Grouping  Natasha is getting into spring tree climbing practice. As mentioned previously, she has fine pluck and dash on the ascent, but could still profitably work on her dismount. That's Bittersweet Cottage and the Historic Cottage in the background.  Later, during the catwalk, another splendidly tight cat grouping - Natasha in front, then Nutmeg. Leroy, as usual, is Tail-End Charlie. link home 16 February - Dire Video It's been a while since the last sighting of the rare elusive dangerous Gray Dire Cat in the Museum's forest preserve, but Josh of the Video Unit got a glimpse yesterday, and was able to get the video shown above before legging it to safety. View it here for the full HD effect. It was a near run thing for Josh - late winter's a hungry time for Gray Dire Cats. link home 15 February - After the Ball  Friend of the Museum Hope Hare has dramatised the pathetic old ballad After the Ball, starring her own talented repertory company. It's a heart-breaker, but steel yourself and watch it here. Here's a slightly twangier cover of After the Ball (streaming MP3) by Tom Darby and Jimmie Tarlton from a fine recent box set of their songs. link home 14 February -  Leroy takes a moment to admire some Oh yes...  Happy Valentine's Day. * Thanks for the correction, mss. link home 13 February - Our Missile Gap  In collections acquisition news, the Janus Museum has an opportunity to acquire the superb Polaris missile shown above for our aerospace collection. The only problem is - where to put it? It won't fit in either the Historic Cottage or in the East Wing. I proposed that we erect it outside, in The Circle - Our intern Zoe even photoshopped a nice rendition of how The Circle would appear with the Polaris:  Nice, very nice; but we're already encountering neighborhood opposition. Which I totally don't understand - how many Maryland towns can boast their own ballistic missile capability? link home 13 February - Cats and Music  Here's a very fine ex voto, currently available on eBay, illustrative of the power of music to soothe the feline mind. Here's the translation of the inscription: When my husband went to work to the north of the country I was very lonely and in the afternoons I came out to the garden to play my guitar and to sing. And little by little my songs went attracting the neighborhood's cats that listened to me fascinated. And not only I attracted the cats but also to a boy that came from some place around and played his flute with me. I thank to the Virgin of Zapopan because now I have a lot of company.Here's a tune that I bet would attract Mexican cats - Cat Maxine is actually sitting on my lap as we listen to it - El Guapo - Villanos (streaming MP3), played by Ensamble Continuo from their excellent album Laberinto en la Guitarra - I really recommend this one. Previous Cat-Related Ex Votos: The Miraculous Milkman, and Big Weird Colored Cats Kitten Rescue Miracle Saved by Perseptive Cats El Regreso del Gato Brave Cats/Ugly Cat Miracles Miracle of Feline Augmented Literacy Pretty Hairy Kittens Miracle Demonic Fear of Kitties Cat Scratch Fever Miracle Miracle of the Cat Husband The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link home 8 February - Cats and Beer  An unseasonably warm February day here brought the cats out for a stretch and a scamper in the Circle, and us humans to the porch of the Historic Cottage for a picnic lunch. There's nothing like a February beer on the porch (a dark wheat beer in this instance), I maintain.  I also made a quick Photosynth of the cats gamboling around the Circle's historic marker. View it here, on the Microsoft Photosynth site, for the magnificent full effect. link home 7 February - Gagglephobia  Gaggle Advancing, Accokeek, 1982 How I survived this, I'll never know. There I was, in Accokeek, Maryland, minding my own damn business, when this gaggle suddenly forms up a defensive square - then the designated berserker goose charges me, honking like a banshee Citroën. I believe I honked back - I certainly retreated - the berserker goose honked in triumph - oh, god, they were all honking. It was truly humiliating and it's only now that I can bring myself to talk about it. Oh, I see our time is up. I think we've really made some progress, this session... link home 6 February - Meet Curtiss  A friend who works at one of DC's major museums - let's call it the National Museum of Chopped Liver - sent snaps of an early morning visitor: One of my neighbors identified him as a young Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), also known as the chickenhawk. He showed up around 7 AM, and stuck around 'til 10. He wasn't frightened by us gawking at him on the other side of the glass - seemed jolly interested, in fact. Someone suggested that he couldn't actually see us, with the light shining on the glass, and us in a darkened room, but he was following my movements with interest, like I might be a big pigeon. We're calling him Curtiss Hawk, and hope he'll be a frequent visitor, though not the sort of visitor who leaves bits of rats and pigeons around the place.  Curtiss even took a little nap. link home |
