Category Archives: Grendel

Loki’s recent vet visit

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Loki went to the vet on Saturday for his annual exam and shots.  He was a good boy, albeit a bit pitiful in the crying and moaning departments.  Not as laid back as Grendel, Loki doesn't like being taken out of his element (home), but he survived.

The doc said he's in great condition — teeth look good, muscle tone is excellent, heart and lungs sound fine, and the list goes on.

So he got his rabies and distemper shots and was sent home with a clean bill of health.

Because my schedule Saturday was so hectic and yesterday was even worse, there was no treat for him.  But I'm making up for that today.  You see, when any of the kids have to suffer trauma like that (although I think it's drama, they think it's trauma), everyone gets a treat to make it all better.

So tonight's treat night for the whole lot of them.

Grendel was a good boy for the vet today

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Grendel had his annual exam and vaccinations today.  Another year gone by.  At seven-and-a-half years old, he's in really good health despite his asthma and hip surgery.  In fact, the last time Jenny was over she mentioned how good he looks (mostly in reference to his weight loss after getting off of the corticosteroid and on to the inhaler for his asthma).

Despite growling at the vet for giving him two shots (distemper and rabies, one in each side), he was such a good boy.  He had his temperature taken (a clear violation of his personal space and dignity, but a necessary evil), his weight was taken, he was poked and prodded and forced to endure great hardship for the doctor, but, in the end, he survived with only a bruised ego.

Since I only get their distemper vaccinations once every three years (more than that is over-vaccinating the animal and can be unhealthy), he won't have to endure two shots again until 2007 (although, between now and then, he'll still get his rabies shot once a year).

For being such a good boy at the vet, today will be a treat day — either salmon or tuna or baby food or canned CD or something else equally as yummy.

Gee, I wish I had such a hard life…

Kako gets a gallery update

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I finally got a chance to get another gallery update done.  This time it's Kako's turn for a makeover.  Read on to see the highlights.

I'm still working through the pictures I have and am updating the galleries as I get a chance.  I just finished going through all of Kako's pictures and have put plenty of new pictures in her gallery.

Standing on the refrigerator happily waiting for some attention. (103_0334)

Kako likes to get on the refrigerator and the cabinets above it.  Almost every time she gets up there, it's to get attention.  Once I go over there, she'll eventually jump down to my shoulders for some up-close and personal attention.

She's dancing (that's what we call kneading while standing) on the refrigerator. (106_0630)

Here she's dancing on the refrigerator.  Dancing is what we call it when she kneads while standing up.  It looks like she's shuffling her feet, so it must be dancing!

She and Grendel are the only two who really like to sleep in the cat hammock. (113_1358)

Kako and Grendel are the only two who actually sleep in the kitty hammock.  Here she is hoping to be undisturbed.

Sleeping on my lap during a quiet evening in front of the boob tube. (115_1507)

Kako likes to sleep on my lap when I'm sitting on the couch.  She normally attaches herself to your legs with her claws until she's sure you're not going to throw her to the ground (referred to around here as being evicted).

Lying on her back in front of the fireplace. (115_1590)

When we first started using the fireplace, Kako hated it.  She would run from the fire and would go as far out of her way as possible in order to avoid being near it.  Well, she eventually learned to like the fireplace and to enjoy roasting herself in front of it.  Here she is in her favorite position (on her back) in front of the fire.

Either she likes the fire and warmth or she likes looking at her reflection -- I think it's the latter. (116_1648)

Once again in front of the fireplace, this is one of those pictures where it's difficult for me to know for certain what it is that she's doing.  You see, Kako likes to look at herself in reflective surfaces (mirrors, glass, etc.).  I can't decide if she's enjoying the warmth of the fire or if she's looking at that supa-fine kitty looking back at her in the glass.

She likes to sleep in the tube at the top of the cat castle. (117_1755)

Here she is sleeping in the tube at the top of the cat castle.  She and her brother Kazon are the only two who will sleep in the tube.

You can see many more new pictures of Kako starting on page 3 of her gallery.

More gallery updates

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I've had a chance to get some additional updates done in the gallery.  This particular update includes new pictures and some organizational changes to The Kids' gallery.

What I decided to do is reorganize all the pictures of The Kids into more specific categories.  For instance, I've moved all of the pictures of Grendel and Loki together into a new gallery called The Boys and all the pictures of Kako and Loki together into a gallery called The Ladies.

I've also started new galleries called The Stepbrothers (Grendel and Kazon), The Twins (Kako and Kazon), The Buds (Kazon and Loki), and The Lovers (Grendel and Kako).  As soon as I finish getting these galleries organized and populated, I'll make them public.

In the meantime, here are some highlights from the most recent gallery updates of The Boys and The Ladies.

Some of the original pictures from The Kids gallery have been moved to the new galleries.  You'll see some of the oldies like this picture.

Grendel and Loki wondering why the bright light keeps flashing inside the house. (the_boys_01)

You'll also see some new photos like this one.

Loki and Grendel (left to right) hanging out on the back of the love seat. (110_1010)

Those are from the new gallery of The Boys.

I then took the same idea and created a new gallery for The Ladies.  You can undoubtedly guess that Loki won't appreciate being called a lady since he's a male cat, but he's always been a prissy cat who spends quite a bit of time worrying about how he looks.  Since he is a beautiful cat and he is quite concerned about his personal appearance, we simply assumed he was gay and therefore wouldn't mind being called female.

In this new gallery you'll once again see some of the original photos like this one.

Loki on the top and Kako on the bottom of the Loki Dream Home

But you'll also see some new photos such as the one below.

Kako and Loki (left to right) sleeping on my bed. This picture is shocking in that these two rarely get this close without some kind of ugliness between them. (120_2018)

What makes that photo so interesting is that Kako and Loki are not known for being nice to one another.  In fact, any time they get that close, there's normally some ugliness between them (some hissing, some slapping, some growling, and so on).  The fact that they could both fall asleep so close together without a cat fight erupting is a rare event indeed.

Part of this reorganization of the galleries is to help me stay better organized and to help you more easily find specific pictures of The Kids.  It's also going to allow me to begin removing some of the older pictures that were originally posted out of a lack of other options.  I want to make the galleries more entertaining by reducing the clutter and leaving the better content in place.

So, take a look at The Boys and The Ladies and stay tuned for more updates and other new galleries.

A refreshed gallery for Grendel

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I finally got some new pictures of The Kids posted.  Well, it's actually a lot of Grendel and one miscellaneous shot.  I'm still working on all of the new pictures I have.

There are plenty of other new photos of The Kids, but it's taking me some time to get through them all to determine what to post and what not to.  As I've been tinkering with my new digital camera quite a bit, I literally have hundreds of photos.  I generally take several photos of the same shot — using different camera settings — so I can learn what works best and under what conditions.

I'm still hoping that getting these updates done will inspire me to get going on the others.

This update was almost entirely of Grendel.  Somehow a single picture of three of The Kids wound up being included.

The one miscellaneous picture is the last picture on this page.  It's a photo of Loki, Grendel and Kako sleeping on the back of the love seat.

As for the updates to Grendel's gallery (the updated pics start with the second picture on page 3), here are some highlights.

Look at that face! (105_0508)

I absolutely love that picture!  As the caption says in the gallery, "Look at that face!"  I had just stopped petting him, so he turned and looked at me just in time for the camera flash to go off.  The result is priceless.

How many people who own cats don't have a picture like this? (105_0513)

If you've ever had a cat and tried to take pictures, you have undoubtedly found yourself in possession of just such a photo as the one above.  In the time it took me to get set and take the picture, he had come about and was heading directly for the camera.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but we share everything. (106_0636)

As you can tell, we share everything around here.  A cup of water is always a special treat as you can count on it to be ice cold.

I love this picture! I decreased the shutter speed on the camera and took the picture with incandescent light in the background -- and what a result. Oh, and he's very happy. (107_0712)

This picture was completely unintentional but is one of my absolute favorites.  Using a slow shutter speed with background light, it really turned out well (of course it's not what I was trying to accomplish, but oh well).

A very soft, natural light photo of him looking outside. (118_1865)

I was sitting at my desk when I heard Grendel walk by behind me.  When I turned, that's what I saw — so I grabbed the camera and captured it.  Yes, it's OK to say it was blind luck because that's exactly what it was.

Grendel likes to help with computer stuff; he's very computer savvy. (118_1869)

Grendel likes to help me when I'm using the computer (as do the rest of The Kids).  Grendel's very good with computers and can often solve complex problems that I'm just not able to resolve.  As you can see, he doesn't like for me to disturb him when he's busy.

There are plenty of other new pictures of Grendel starting on page 3 of Grendel's gallery.