* * the book giveaway ! * *

That's right! Today I post the 3 winners of the

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Cats

giveaway!

How did I make it fair you ask?

I got the dog to do the picking . . .

But Cash got a little stressed out by the responsibility.

So Elizabeth took over.

And the Lucky! Winners! Are!

Miss Peach

oh hey, The Lee County Clowder

Niko and Cloud

So I have to write you guys and ask where to send your new books.
I wish I'd had a copy for every single one of you!

Happy Halloween Everybody!

ooh - pet ghosts?

Tis the season to get haunty. In the spirit of Halloween, here's a couple of interesting pages I found:
an abandoned pet cemetery in Sacramento (just for atmosphere)
and then a photo that seems to include a ghost dog, and actually pretty convincing!

MSNBC Travel did a piece on pet ghosts last year. I see one, a ghost cat, is here in Washington State at the Tokeland Hotel, which doesn't say thing one about that on its website. Why not!? Now I can't wait to go!

yuriko does another cool thing

I discovered she's also part of a house music project called UltraCat. Check it out!

-- If the page gets a little confusing you can find the tracks more easily here.

amazing pets by yuriko miyamoto

I haven't had time to write and ask her if I may post an image of her work, but I can't wait. I am having too much fun and happiness with the work of Yuriko Miyamoto, who paints a radiantly colored world where pets can do anything. Meet a timetraveling fish, superdogs, catworms, and then just enjoy her other vibrant work. The playful spirit she brings to her work gives me an immediate smile.



Have a peek at some work on her website (click the squares to bring up the whole image).

your new winter roomie, southeast portland!

His name is Franklin. He lives in SE Portland's Hawthorne district along with his people. However, his people need to be gone away from the house for the winter, and Franklin needs a people till they come back.

I have met Franklin during the days when I lived near Hawthorne, and I guarantee you he will stroll as confidently into your heart as he does all the neighborhood cat flaps. Drop me a comment or an email if you think you can help.

And my friend Doug sent along a clipping from the Wall Street Journal noting the US issue of Doris Lessing's On Cats (called Particularly Cats in earlier and British publication). Read the Lessing interview here. (Thanks, Doug!)

a radiantly catful post

Yes, today is the day we draw three names to be the lucky cat book winners - announcement on Halloween.

Today there's buzz about a kitty name of Mr. Green Genes, who was specially bred to glow under ultraviolet light. He's proof that a gene could be introduced harmlessly into a cat's genetic sequence - a first step down the path to gene therapy.

Green Genes was bred by the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans, LA. He's the latest (and in a way the most showy!) in a line of interesting breeding accomplishments there. When you visit their website you may feast your eyes on such rare wonders as test-tube caracals and domestic cats acting as surrogate mothers for frozen wildcat embryos. And wild kitty clones. Hooray for more wild kitties.

Oh and if you're in SE Portland OR, do I have the winter roommate for you - stay tuned.

1915: bunny tell all!

Ah yes, another find from Project Gutenberg: Mary Frances Blaisdell's Bunny Rabbit's Diary (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1915).

Bunny Rabbit gets a book for Christmas from his mom, but it's blank:

"You must write the book yourself," Mother Rabbit told him. "Then you will be
sure to like it."
So Bunny Rabbit wrote the book about the good times he had with Bobtail and Billy, and all his other playmates. He wrote about the slide they made on the long hill beside the pond; about Mrs. Duck's swimming lesson, and the kite Bobtail made out of a leaf from the big oak tree; about Sammy Red Squirrel's flying machine, and Bobby Gray Squirrel's peanut party.

Just like little kids must have filled their own diaries with their grand escapades of those simpler times. Bunny's include "Billy's Slide," "The Clover Patch," and "Sammy's Flying Machine." All plain goodness with the added twist of being told through a bunny narrator, these short stories are a fun way to learn how to be a kid without the preachy stuff.

Here's the HTML file. Hope you enjoy.

kitty light. i want one.

Doubt I'll get it though, as it dates from 1946: the new "TOY-SHAPED FLUORESCENT NURSERY LAMP."

They came in bear or kitten, in pink, blue or ivory, and colored bulbs to boot - all this for the not-inconsiderable-at-the-time $5.00. Wanna see it? Clicky here.

i always wondered about dandie dinmont

Every so often I bring up VitaminQ, the unparalleled trivia site that became Infowisps. I could always rely on something one leg outside the box, like "what men and women smelled of in the '50's." So I'm not surprised that even a list of dog breed names would suddenly became punchy with the Q treatment . . .

Pug – probably from its ape-like face; pug, a word for a goblin, was a common dialect name for a monkey.
Boston Bull – developed in New England from various breeds, including the bull terrier.
St Bernard – bred by Bernardine monks in Switzerland to haul carts.
Pharaoh Hound – although this breed is found on Mediterranean islands, its ancestors are thought to be the wild wolf-like dogs which can be seen in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Corgi – Welsh for watchdog.

Here's the full post.

a rabbit's reward

Over at Khandro.net, I was perusing their page of hare and rabbit symbolism when I came across the story of why there's a hare in the moon:

In one of his lives, the Bodhisattva was born in the holy city, Varanasi, as a
hare. He had three friends, a monkey, a jackal and an otter. They decided
that they would practice the Perfection (Skt. paramita) of Generosity on the
up-coming fast day, for it was said that for those who observed the virtues at
that time, the merit was greatly multiplied. . .

What did they all offer? Was it good or bad that the Hare got to have a place on the moon? Guess you'll have to go read the story! And stop off to see the very rare striped Sumatran rabbit.

owney's postal adventures

In the 1890's a little special something might have accompanied the US Post, coast to coast and north to south.

Perhaps I should say a special someone. His name was Owney, and he was a stray brown dog that showed up at the Albany Post Office in 1888. In a way, he never left. He was so fond of something about the mailbags that he followed them everywhere, even onto the Railway Post Office trains. He'd mail himself back to Albany, often with a few commemorative tags and medals on him. Over the years he amassed quite a collection, and a special harness was made so that he could wear those tags all over.

Speaking of "all over," in 1895 Owney went around the world, through the continental US through Asia and the Middle East before being delivered safe and sound back to Tacoma, where he'd started.

In 1897 Owney was old, sore and cranky, and was put down. But he's still on duty at the Smithsonian Institution, nicely preserved. His wandering spirit also lives on in the teaching program he inspired, in which a toy Owney travels from one elementary school to another, thereby making kids curious about geography: "Where's Owney been?"

(He also made "Best Animal Monument" of 2008 in the Washington City Paper!)

"also the pet is one member of the family"

"The small life which gives the serenity to our living. . . the "pet symbiotic residence" is proposed."

Or, in other words, Apartment Therapy (thanks yet again, RobinandFinchy's mom Tara) posted on a Japanese house design set intended to make life with pets not only easier but more beautiful. Main (and hilariously translated thanks to BabelFish) page here.

Oh gosh, a page full of cat features! "It is accustomed to rubbing the body, the nail grinds. The west panel which is resistant, to the scratch for the cat which loves the wall." I think it's a built in scratchpost. There's more though.

And then there's "Communication of basting and dog of dog smoothly." That is, easy clean house, easy clean dog.

I would love to live in such a happy and cheery home. Wouldn't you? Don't be shy, explore!

actors and their pets

The New York Public Library has, in its Billy Rose Theatre Collection photograph file, a series (from around the 50's by the looks of it) of actors and other personalities with their pets. (Read about the Collection here.)

Copyright issues keep me from posting the images, but you might want to have a look. After all, there's Clark Gable and his Siamese. Errol Flynn and his Siamese. Greer Garson and Margaret Lockwod and their -- wait for it -- Siameses. Huh. Seems to be a theme there.

The images are a neat blast from the past. I think you'll like them.

labeling

I was so taken with those vintage fruit and vegetable labels from the earlier post that I went looking for some more to show you.

I found LabelCollector.com, which just so happens to have a canine named Cody supervising their shipping department. (Look over to the right of the "About" page. ) And Cody has a big job to do, for as of today's post LabelCollector offered 1307 labels in over 40 categories.

I went looking for "Cat" labels, but that got everything with the word "category," as often happenes. So let's see if I can post a link to the search for "dog" ... No, apparently not, but I promise you if you search likewise you will find many bright doggie images to enjoy. If you're a rabbit type you will enjoy the label above for Up 'n' Atom Carrots (search "Atom:").

every kitten is a gift

I see in the news today that Vladimir Putin received a baby tiger cub for his 56th birthday. Reports are that he treats her tenderly, for he is said to be very affectionate to children and animals. Not that loving a 20-pound Ussuri tiger child is a tough job or anything. (The Ussuri tiger is another term for the Siberian tiger. They are critically endangered, so you might see them all die out in your lifetime. A thought which fills me with desolation.)

Every kitten regardless of size or species is a gift, though. For example, how about these babies hanging out at the Next to Nature pet supply in Tacoma? They need nice homes. For a $100 rehoming fee (it covers their fixing and shots), you can have a soft, purry new fam member.

More cell cam shots, of course.

You could wake up to this.

Even world leaders need a furry friend. They get to have a bigger variety, that's all. Then they get to give them spiffy things like coffins, such as this one for Crown Prince Thutmose of Egypt's cat, "Ta-Miaut." "I bristle before the Sky, and its parts that are upon (it). I myself am placed among the imperishable ones that are in the Sky, for I am Ta-Miaut, the Triumphant."

I would like to know who gave the Egyptian gentleman Puimre (lived during reign of Pharoah Thutmose III, 1479-1425 BC) his cat, the first pet feline with a recorded name: Nadjem, meaning either "dear one" or "star."

(editorial comment)

Yeah, I don't know why I got hit with a long political screed in the Comments either. I tried deleting it, but they just came right back and did it again, so let's leave it and move on. While I am completely opposed to tyranny, I'm not sure how a pet blog could help the cause.

a venetian dog story

From Venice: The Art of Living, by Frederic Vitoux (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1990).

The writer tells a story about a neighbor who turned out upon acquaintance to be a former senator, with a most resourceful, urbane dog:

A handsome Brittany spaniel named Sol shared the apartment with the senator and
his wife. Almost every day I passed master and dog in campo San Stefano. But sometimes the dog loved solitude and independence: he loved the Dorsoduro neighborhood. He would go off alone to Santa Maria del Giglio to take the traghetto, the ferry that crossed there, to the shores of the promised land. The gondoliers knew him and let him on board with pleasure. In the evening, Sol stood in line like the honest Venetian he is, once more boarded the traghetto gondola, and returned to the Pisani ramo ("branch" - Curator). I would hear him bark. His owners would hear him, too, and buzz the downstairs door open. Every week, the senator would ask the gondoliers how often Sol had crossed, then scrupulously pay the three-hundred-lire fare for each trip.

(a robin & finchy bulletin)

Alas, the pressures of a day job keep me so late this week as to severely hamper my best posting.

But you won't mind a bit when you head off to Robin and Finchy's page for this video of Finchy playing with an antique victrola. Be sure to have sound!

touch not the cat!

On a long-ago trip to London, I saw this badge at the Tower of London giftshop and bought it. Sometimes, when I am in need of a little attitude enhancement, I wear it.

This is the badge of Scottish Clan Macpherson. The motto on the belt tradtionally read: Touch not the catt bot a glove. That is, translated from the archaic uses of the language, don't touch the cat when its claws are unsheathed.

According to Wikipedia, this refers to the historically violent nature of the clan, though they were descended from "The Parson" -- Muriach, a 12th century lay preacher. I knew a couple of MacPhersons growing up and they were big teddy bears, so beware labeling. Yet should you like to learn more of this clan with the way-cool badge, here is their page from Electric Scotland, and here's Clan MacPherson.net.

critters in the city

On Sunday we went to Seattle for the afternoon to browse through Pike Place Market and Elliott Bay Bookstore. At an antiques store next to the Market I found a cache of antique fruit, cigar, and other labels. I'd seen this one before . . .

. . . but not this one.

Mm! Nothing says yummy sweet potatoes like a possum, huh? I laughed.

We ate our sandwiches in Victor Steinbrueck Park, where we made a bunch of new, feathery, kind of fat little friends. We ripped bits off our grilled bread and flicked them over. Don't let their rotundity fool you - those sparrows are fast.

This is painted on the wall of a garage on 2nd Avenue. Look carefully, that's a round mouse.

he followed me home. also, he's a moose.

Last night I was sent a series of unusual photos regarding the perils and eventual happy rescue of a poor lil' moose. He got separated from his mom, it seems, and stumbled into a creek, where a nice man found him and changed his luck.

Not strictly a "pet" story, but check out the family dog being benevolent to our starcrossed Bullwinkle:

Mooselet ended up living with a new fawn friend at at a lady's house. See the story and and whole string of pix here. By the way, where in Heaven's name did this actually HAPPEN?

And just because I CAN, here's the link to Bullwinkle Studios: Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends.

it's a pet museum giveaway!

When cats aren't ruling the world, they're charming the hearts of the people who care for them, as chronicled in the new release Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Cats (Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, August 2008, $14.95, paperback). Their newest pet lovers title bundles tales about cats who healed their owners, rejuvenated relationships, gave new meaning to life and mended family rifts.

This is an excerpt from the press release for the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul title. There's lots more: inside this book you'll read about "Oscar, the garbage can kitty who won the heart of one dog-loving dad," and "Star, the cat who is celebrated every Christmas with an ornament in her likeness." 101 stories over 12 chapters cover everything from "The Power of the Bond" to "Hero Cats" to "Saying Goodbye."

As it happens, I have three copies of this nice book courtesy of Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists. My job is to give 'em away, give 'em away, give 'em away now (I can't help sneaking a Red Hot Chili Peppers reference in there).

Lucky me! And soon, lucky three of you!

Leave a comment saying "I want a shot at that book!" or that kind of thing. Can't leave a comment for some reason? Drop a line at thepetmuseum@gmail.com . Three winners will be chosen at random on October 24th 2008 and announced on Halloween, Friday October 31st.

newfoundland anecdotes

Some improving tidbits upon the fine character of the Newfoundland dog, taken from
ANECDOTES OF DOGS. BY EDWARD JESSE, ESQ. MDCCCLVIII (1858 -- I had to look that up. Curator) Courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

* * *
When we reflect on the docility of the Newfoundland dog, his affectionate disposition, his aptitude in receiving instruction, andhis instantaneous sense of impending danger, we shall no longer wonder at his being called the friend of his master, whom he is at all times ready to defend at the risk of his own life. How noble is his appearance, and at the same time how serene is his countenance!

A Newfoundland dog, which was frequently to be seen in a tavern in the High Street of Glasgow, lay generally at the door. When any person came to the house, he trotted before them into an apartment, rang the bell, and then resumed his station at the door.

On Thursday evening, January 28, 1858, as the play of "Jessie Vere"was being performed at Woolwich Theatre, and when a scene in the third act had been reached, in which a "terrific struggle" for the possession of a child takes place between the fond mother and two"hired ruffians," a large Newfoundland dog, which had by some means gained admittance with its owner into the pit, leaped over the headsof the musicians in the orchestra, and flew to the rescue, seizing oneof the assassins, and almost dragging him to the ground. It was with difficulty removed, and dragged off the stage. The dog, which is theproperty of the chief engineer of Her Majesty's ship Buffalo, has been habitually accustomed to the society of children, for whom he has on many occasions evinced strong proofs of affection.

The Romans appear to have had a dog, which seems to have been very similar in character to our Newfoundland. In the Museum at Naples there is an antique bronze, discovered amongst the ruins of Herculaneum, which represents two large dogs dragging from the sea some apparently drowned persons.

* * * Goodness, we could go on and on - the book listing in Project Gutenberg is here.

now why had I never heard of this?

The Glendale, CA central library houses in its Special Collections Room the Cat Collection. As the Library website says,

This outstanding collection has drawn visitors, telephone and mail inquiries from all over the United States and Europe, as well as been featured in the Glendale News Press in an article entitled, "Purr-ient Interest."
The beginnings of the collection were given to the Library by the Jewel City Cat Club. In addition to the large number of books, the collection consists of paintings of champion cats, over 400 photographs by Hans Bomskow, posters, cards, stamps and stud books back to the early 1900's.

The collection was largely amassed through legacies left by local cat enthusiasts, but gets a little bigger every year -- by contrast, Yale's Collection of American Literature put the kibosh on accepting anything new of that persuasion. Here's an article about the Glendale collection. I can't believe I didn't know about this!