One of Grendel‘s nicknames is Sponge. This video shows where that moniker came from.
And yes, that’s my dorky snickering and craptastic voice in the background. Like most, I hate the way I sound on recordings.
Category Archives: The Kids Videos
Call it a blooper reel
I was capturing some video of Vazra who was sitting at the patio door in the bedroom. As luck would have it, he was doing absolutely nothing but sitting there looking outside. With less than 20 seconds worth of video of him doing just that, I was ready to give up and stop the camera.
Never one to miss an opportunity to steal the spotlight, Grendel shows up right as I hit the button. That’s how it ends. Hence, it’s a blooper reel (I assure you, I wind up with a lot of these!).
Kako was involved in a rollover
Kako was having an eargasm in the living room when I grabbed the camera. As is always the case, she promptly stopped what she was doing and considered other options. She finally resolved to get up and move on; it took one rollover before she felt it was appropriate to stand. Odd little woman, that cat. Maybe she wanted to be certain she got up on the right side of the bed — or floor, in this case.
[the video is 16 seconds long and 812 KB in size; click on the photo for the WMV version; sorry, poppets, but I found almost three dozen videos that are only in Windows Media format; they come from a collection I put together for Derek shortly before he died, and I have no way to know where the originals are; I have them, mind you, but identifying them out of the hundreds I consolidated for that CD would be more effort than I’m willing to give; instead, I’m pulling them from the original collection I made for him and will post them in that format only; get over it]
Vazra’s debut
This is Vazra‘s film debut. As far as I know, that is.
He has a desire to go back outside and occasionally stands in a window or at a door and meows while watching the goings on outside. This video is just that kind of moment taken at the patio door in the bedroom. It was captured today, only two days after he arrived home. This is still a new and alien place for him. Likewise, being inside all the time is undoubtedly strange and different, although I don’t know how long he was living outside before I captured and adopted him. It was at least long enough for him to feel that that is the safest and most familiar place for him. He’s lucky in that I know better, but he’s unlucky in that it will take time before he realizes it.
One thing you’ll notice when he turns to face the camera is that he no longer has any top canine teeth. He was missing one when I met him (as mentioned in April and again in May); he had the other one removed because of its poor condition. He’s missing quite a few teeth now, in fact, but at least that means the constant pain will go away and he’ll not be as sensitive to eating and drinking, not to mention any contact with his face.
Another trait to watch is his tail. As long as he’s awake, his tail is constantly moving. He’s quite expressive that way. This isn’t the best example of it since it’s a very relaxed moment. I’ll capture more as time goes on so you can see it’s the perfect example of perpetual motion as it’s always expressing something.
Finally, it’s now in question whether he’s a purebred Persian. Even several vets and techs can’t figure it out. He could be any number of Persian breeds, but he might also be any number of Himalayan breeds, not to mention several exotic domestic breeds. Because his face isn’t quite as smashed in as one would expect — although that is not a definitive indication — and his hair is not long enough, there’s also the possibility that only one parent is purebred and the other is a general domestic (DSH or DMH). Until he’s been inside long enough to stabilize his diet and environment, something that will cause his hair to grow back in its normal and expected condition, guessing is futile. I’ll admit it may be futile even after he’s physically conditioned to normalcy since a mixed breed will be impossible to identify.
[again, the WMV file sucks; the video is washed out and the audio lacks any depth whatsoever; I tried both of the highest quality options and still got crap in response; the MOV file is much better, and it’s significantly smaller (by more than a third); Microsoft should be ashamed]
Gettin’ some tongue
Just what I needed on a hot summer day: a glass of ice-cold water. Only, I assumed it was for me. Silly human… Instead, I get a bunch of tongue action in my glass.
Earlier today, I gave The Kids a treat. It was their favorite, and that worries me as it’s not exotic. Take two cans of the “wet” version of their normal food, prescription c/d, the dry mutation of which is always available to them, and add a seductive sprinkling of Kitty Kaviar, “an all-natural fish treat for cats of all ages … made from dried Bonito filets, carved paper thin, [with] no additives, preservatives, or by-products.” It’s that simple. And they love it. Odd little creatures… (They’ll abuse me for that remark.)
Tangent aside, they had their treat. Loki, his belly filled with scrumptious yumminess, sat on the desk beside me. Before the expected after-meal bath, is not a drink in order? Of course. A glass of ice water would be quite welcome, thank you. As luck would have it, Daddy just sat down with one.
And so he drinks from mine. But no panic. They all do the same thing. All the time. In fact, there’s somewhat of a competition about it when first I go to the refrigerator to fetch a fresh helping. Funny kids…
[I still haven’t a clue which video format to use; I like MOV for the versatility, but it’s not kept up to date automatically by Windoze and, as xocobra pointed out in his comment on the last video post, I’m using the latest version of Quicktime that requires an up-to-date version of the Quicktime player; using Microsoft’s WMV format at least means I hit a large market that has an updated player/set of codecs (at least I assume so); anyway, I’m still trying to figure out the best option…]