Captain Whinypants Will Eat Everything

Captain Whinypants

It’s been a rough past couple of weeks in the House of Teeny, Tiny Valen, so here’s one of my favorite pictures of Captain Whinypants. His new thing is to go after organic fertilizer? Yeah, I got nothing on that one. But, apparently Jobe’s Organic Fertilizer sticks are so tasty he ripped the box open. Managed to get it away from him, but still. UGH!

Right now, all I want to do is binge watch a bunch of Miyazaki movies and call it a day, but I’m so sick of being high on Ny-Quil the idea of sitting for hours at a time does not sound appealing. Sounds like an idea straight out of Heart and Brain comic by The Awkward Yeti, eh? Fortunately, I think I’m finally over this double whammy of a virus.

Onwards!

    Mood: Zen. So Zen. Like, zen-like.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Three so far.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Hunting Pokemon
    In My Ears: the washing machine. Great, eh?
    Game Last Played: Final Fantasy X-2
    Book Last Read: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora
    Movie/TV Show Last Viewed: Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End. Um… Why was this movie THREE HOURS LONG again?
    Latest Artistic Project: Make Art Not War 2017 Challenge and Rules
    Latest Releases: In Volo’s Wake for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Unknown Armies Books 1-3, and Kobold Guide to Gamemastering.
    Current State of Projects: Read my latest project update. New project update coming when I get time.



Day Two of Squee: Lord Lardbottom

Zak the Elf

Went to bed at “I’m too old for this!” last night. A lot of my projects are overlapping for this quarter, and I’m in full steam ahead mode. So today, for daily squee? I’m going to talk to you about one of my cats. His name is Zakar a.k.a. Lord Lardbottom.

Zakar is the first cat I’ve been the guardian for, and our second pet. Our first was a dwarf hamster named Moogle, and he has long since meandered into Chocobo Heaven. Zakar, who’s named after the Mesopotamian God of Dreams, is an unusual feline. You see, he’s a Rescue with a capital “R.” When he was found, he had no tail–a genetic anomaly that classifies him as a “manx”–and six/seven toes on each paw. Because of these not-like-other-cats bits, his chances of being adopted dropped dramatically. We decided to take him in and save his life.

zakar and moogle

At first, I was a little uneasy about how best to care for him. I’d never been a pet guardian before, you see, and while I lived with other cats in the past none of them had been mine to protect. To some, Zak is very strange. Not only is he able to open up doors and is extremely vocal (I think he sounds like a duck, personally.) he’s definitely got his own way of doing things like all cats and communicates his wishes. Loudly and with vigor. But? He also watches out for me, too. He’s a people cat and runs our humble manor in his own way.

Cat Nap

One of tricks he performs has to do with Mr. Pig. I bought a stuffed pig for a friend’s baby shower, and Lord Lardbottom immediately “acquired” it. He finds and beats Mr. Pig to a pulp numerous times and carries it around like a tiger with a fresh kill. Yeah, Zakar’s not messing around, but he is definitely slowing down the older he gets.

Mr Pig is Conquered

Anyway, the point of this post is to squee but I find I’m a little embarrassed when it comes to Zak Zak. I had a lot of anxiety over bringing him into our care. I didn’t really know how to be a good guardian at first–if I was going to do the job right–and while I figured it out with a lot of help and patience from others? I hesitated to squee when I first saw him. I was fascinated by this tailless-giant-pawed-kitten-with-ear-mites-and-so-much-spunk who had taken on a great dane and wasn’t taking [Insert your flavor of excrement here.] from anyone. This tiny little being had so much personality and never faltered, despite the occasional bout of tail envy with our other cat, Rimmon.

zakar is hiding

Not ever having had any pets like this of my own, I was curious about the little guy who hid under dressers, demanded cuddles, and who’s since proven to be a Catnip Addict of the Criminal Sort. It’s hard for me to put into words due to The PastTM, even as a writer, but the point I’m embarrassed to make is that I didn’t fall in love with this cat–at least not for the first couple of days. I remember that after a week went by, I got over my trepidation by looking up kitten behavior and asking loads of questions. Falling into a routine, playing with him often, giving into his cuddle demands… Yeah, he’s got me wrapped around his paws for sure.

Zakar (a.k.a. Lord Lardbottom) is now over ten years old. He’s had some health problems over the years because he’s a manx, and our vet has been helping us to take excellent care of him. He goes in regularly, has strong opinions about the vet in general, and he’s very, very spoiled.

Zen-Zakar

When I think of Lord Lardbottom (his latest nickname) now, I squee. I squee loudly. Because Zakar has taught me an important lesson: that when something or someone enters into your world, and it’s not exactly what you expected, it’s not the end of the world and could turn out to be awesome. That it’s okay to be nervous or anxious or all of those negative emotions at first, because I’m not perfect either–because there’s no such thing.

What is “perfect” but an expectation people put on others to be statistically normal grounded in biology or some other quality as determined by…which authority again? BORING! Who has time to live up to anyone else’s definitions of perfect? Sounds painful and wholly unnecessary, because it is. That word causes hurt, confusion, pain. It doesn’t help us take care of one another; it puts walls up between us and says: “Here’s this invisible, unachievable standard!” Certainly, this cat didn’t “ask” to have no tail, digestive problems, issues with balance, and oddly-shaped paws the size of a small dinosaur. Put a kitten to sleep because he’s not quite right? I don’t think so.

Zakar, to me, is perfect just as he is. I like to think that I’m Lord Lardbottom’s guardian, but in reality? I think he’s been mine.

2/365

    Mood: Overtired
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two cups so far and more coming.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Typing like crazy.
    In My Ears: Blah, blah, blah!
    Game Last Played: Age of Reckoning: Kingdoms of Amalur.
    Book Last Read: Re-reading His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman
    Movie Last Viewed: Lucy
    Latest Artistic Project: Um…
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing. See also: need to write more flipping comics and exercise my art skillz again. Feh.
    Latest Game Release: Hunter the Vigil: Mortal Remains
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work, original comics, and novels.


The Story of Oscar Wilde, Stud Cat

2014-05-21_20-36-11_905

Pictured above is Oscar Wilde, who came to our door for help last week. We were hoping he’d find his way home, but after a few hours it was clear it wasn’t going anywhere, so we put out some water for him, a towel and some food. He is extraordinarily friendly, and didn’t exhibit any of the other signs feral cats tend to do. No ear mites, good teeth, etc.

He came back the next day. First, he was spotted chasing a squirrel of enormous size. (We do have rather large squirrels, mind you. Some as big as a small cat.) I didn’t see the result of said cat chasing, but when he showed up again a few days later, we finally escorted him into the Dane County Humane Society. Now, the shelters have odd hours and, as it turns out, MANY places in town either don’t take cats or aren’t no-kill shelters. In Oscar’s case, we suspect he might be local to our neighborhood, and may have been accidentally abandoned when the owners moved out. We were advised not to bring him in, especially since we have two other fuzzballs already, but we were told he’s very healthy.

So what’s next for Oscar Wilde? Well, the shelter is going to try and find his owner first, then keep him under observation for a week. If you ARE the guardian of this cat? That’s where he is, and I hope you have a happy reunion! Then, if they can’t find his owner, Oscar Wilde will go up for adoption for the next thirty-odd days. When he’s listed, I’ll post the link to share.

It’d really mean a lot to us if we can find a home for him. I’d hate to think we rescued him, only to find out he can’t be saved.

A Public Apology to my Cat, Rimmon

Rimmon

Dear Rimmon,

I am sorry I gave you a bath. I realize you are now traumatized for life and I may have to let you have some whiskey take you to the vet for doctor-approved prozac anti-stress treats. Since you are a crazy rational cat, I will explain why you needed to be hauled into the shower at two o’clock in the afternoon.

I say this with love. First, when your food is being refilled, please avoid taking the opportunity to open the door and stand underneath the stream believing that this is your breakfast, lunch, and dinner combined into one feeding. Yes, you’re a gaping maw hungry. I get that. But, the consequence of diving into your food container and acting like a kitten all over again is the terror I put you through — the dreaded bathtub.

You should have been familiar with the white vortex of dooooooom that cleans your guardian so she can be seen in public — but I guess not. No, instead your tailed puffed out, you crawled backwards and upside down like you were demonically-possessed, and then you daintily skipped out of the bathtub until I hauled you back in for Round 2.

A few rounds and a wet bath towel later, you survived only to find a comfortable position and take a nap. When you awake and clean your fur, I suspect you’ll still taste like food. You’ll still expect dinner, of course. That hasn’t changed. You bastard.

Hope you learned your lesson, Rimmon, and I’m sorry I gave you a bath. I am not looking forward to giving you one again.

Love,

Your Guardian and One of Two Food Providers

    Mood: I saw the sun. I’m in shock.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: There is no nation like caffeination.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: HAH HAH HAH HAH HA H
    In My Ears: Deadlines and Commitments by The Killers
    Game Last Played: Sonic All Star Racing Transformed
    Book Last Read: Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
    Movie Last Viewed: Transylvania 6-5000!
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Freedom Flyer
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


Two Cats in Snowsuits

Christmas Rimmon and Zak

You may recall seeing the notorious Rimmon (our black kitty) and Zakar (the orange tabby with no tail and seven toes) in this picture perfect holiday photo. I mean really, don’t they look thrilled?

In the spirit of the season, here’s another set of silly photos. Since these suits lasted all of three minutes on them, there’s no pictures of the two together. Hah! It snowed here for the first time and accumulated quite a few inches. Both cats have mixed feelings about the weather. Rimmon has become much more of an indoor cat in recent years; Zakar, on the other hand, really likes to adventure which is something we watch for. They are both very spoiled and have many admirers both here and at the vet.

Enter the snow suits. Hee. Had to do something new for the holiday photos!

Here you can see that Zak did venture out (supervised, mind you) into the cold.

Zakar in Maroon

Rimmon, on the other hand… Well his expression speaks volumes.

Rimmon in Blue

    Mood: Hobbitses!
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Quite a few. Ahem.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: I typed. A lot.
    In My Ears: The Hobbit soundtrack
    Game Last Played: Battle Nations
    Book Last Read: An encyclopedia on gemstones
    Movie Last Viewed: RED 2
    Latest Artistic Project: *Still* *still* *still* need to take pictures… It’s on the list!
    Latest Fiction/Comic Release: Last Man Zombie Standing
    Latest Game Release: Friends in Low Places
    What I’m Working On: Primarily tie-in games work and novels.


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