Category Archives: The Kids Videos

Ooh, ain’t she a fine cat!

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When Kako first was introduced to the fireplace, she ran like a wild woman.  It scared her for reasons I couldn’t possibly understand.  She’d never been around fire, never been hurt by it, yet she was the epitome of pyrophobia.  If the fireplace was active, she made a point of going around it by whatever means would take her the furthest from its reach.  She’d climb over furniture, she’d slink around the perimeter of the room, and she’d dash by it as if pursued by the devil himself.  In one way, it was funny; in another, it wasn’t funny at all.

But time took its toll and she eventually came to enjoy it.  Most important, I’m sure, was the heat.  She’s the smallest cat in the house and has fine hair as a coat, so she tends to get cold easier than the others.  Once she realized the fireplace would not reach out and grab her in paws of fiery fury, she began investigating it.  She grew comfortable around it and, before long, fell in love with it.  The transition provided a wonderful process to behold.

When she overcame her phobia and reversed it into mania, she then became obsessive about being near the fireplace when it was active.  This video shows just such a time.  What you’ll notice is that she sits there—just sits there and stares at the flames.  Ah, but things are not always as they seem.  Kako loves her reflection.  She thinks—no, she knows she’s the hottest momma on the planet, the purtiest feline ever to set foot on Mother Earth.  Nothing will convince me she wasn’t sitting in front of the glass looking at her reflection while simultaneously bathing in the warmth it offered.  You can almost hear her bestowing all manner of praise on that fine-ass feline she saw in the reflection.

A few notes: I had to lighten the video, so keep that in mind as to its somewhat washed-out quality.  Loki makes a very brief appearance as he walks by and slips through the bottom-left corner of the frame; he’s almost unrecognizable because it’s so quick and you see so little of him.  That is an episode of Stargate SG-1 playing in the background.  Finally, the video is three minutes long for those who want to see the full thing; for everyone else, you can watch the first minute or so and understand what’s in the last two minutes.  I already said she’d just sit there and stare at herself.  What were you expecting, a song and dance routine?

Kako in brief play

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How about a brief video of Kako playing in the living room?  Sound acceptable?  Good.

There are no decapitated bodies, no bloodshed, no wailing or gnashing of teeth.  Surprisingly, she’s just entertaining herself with a toy—until the end when she hears someone else playing in the kitchen.  Since she stood and ran away at that point, the video is short and sweet.

Two in the closet and only one comes out

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Almost two years ago, I posted a video demonstrating Kazon‘s door-opening skills, not to mention Kako‘s proclivity to sit on the sidelines while her brother gets into trouble only to rush in once he provides an opportunity for mischief.  He’s much bigger and stronger, after all, and is more likely to gain access to things she couldn’t otherwise get to/into without his help.  At the end of that video, once Kazon had the door open and had entered the room, Kako zoomed in from behind me and rushed through the open door behind him.  This video picks up immediately following that video.

I was shooting video to see if they would come out once they realized what was behind the door was nothing new (it was only the small laundry room and both had been inside it many times).  When they didn’t exit, I tapped my foot.  That spurred Kako to decide no fun was to be had and boring closets with laundry machinery had nothing to offer her.  Kazon, on the other hand, is not so easily persuaded that the same room over and over again will still offer the same mundane attractions it always has.  One can never be too certain that something new hasn’t been introduced that will need thorough investigating… or to be played with.  Also, he knows if he waits long enough, Daddy will be forced to come look for him.

[I did have to lighten this a bit, so bear that in mind when considering the grainy and slightly washed-out quality]

Box full of bliss

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Cats love boxes as much as they love bags and anything else they can get inside of to sleep or play.  Better than even those options is one of them with a toy inside.  Loki finds a toy in a box and promptly turns it into the kind of fun that only a cat could enjoy.

By the way, because of the quality of the original video (very dark), I can’t really tell whose head that is on the left side of the screen at the very beginning of the video.  Also, I’ve had to lighten it tremendously to make it viewable.  With Quicktime, I have more control over that process and can manipulate the contrast along with the brightness, so the MOV version is a bit better than the WMV (Microsoft only lets me lighten or darken the video, but there is no way to control the contrast).  Nevertheless, both videos are the video is a bit washed out because of how much lightening I had to do to make them it usable.  Sorry.  This video was recorded in December 2003 when I was not very familiar with the new camera or its various settings, so that means a lot of the photos and videos from then were more experimental and of lower quality than what I’m able to do now.  Live and learn.

Just a little bit will do

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I said before how happy I was to learn Vazra was quite comfortable drinking from my glass of ice water.  They all do, but I was especially happy to see he would from the moment I brought him inside.  Well, here’s proof.

[by the way, the song playing in the background is “The Kill” by 30 Seconds to Mars; I may have mentioned them before considering that hunka burnin’ love Jared Leto is the front man for the group and is a lyricist and musician to boot; be still my pitter-pattering heart…; dare I say finger lickin’ good?; anyway, the song is from A Beautiful Lie, their most recent album, and I can’t recommend it enough; there’s not a song on it that I don’t like; oh, did I already mention Jared Leto?; mmmm mmmm…]