We So Need One of These

Think I could get one of these at the after Thanksgiving Shopping Insanity?

Bitty:Feet Under Blanket as Fox:Mouse Under Snow

So Bitty is a crazy beastie. Her latest game, the game of greatest fun, is to hunt the wiley feet. Now, this is cute now, when we are buried under blankets, but it won't be so fun come summer, with only a sheet to protect us.

What's so amazing to us though is that she is so ferocious. We have no doubt that she would actually be able to hunt and kill a mouse in the wild. Unlike Pele, who has servants to do those sorts of things.

Let Sleeping Cats Lie


When Kali, MD (mini-destroyer), aka Bitty, sleeps, she really sleeps. Like dead to the universe sleeping.... Don't believe me? I have photographic evidence!



Here, she really stretches out. If you open the picture in a larger window, you can she she sleeps with her mouth open just a wee bit....







And here she is, doing the bunny feet o' tremendous cuteness.....



The Cuteness! It burns!!!

Roundup

Just a couple of quick pictures today, because my throat is a bit sore and I have to save my energy for some other stuff.

Despite pepper thieves, we have had a fairly decent harvest... this is from mid-August, and right now some of our spaghetti squash and maters are pretty much ready....


And this is life in our household...

Ah, cats....

So, peace is coming to our household. Pele has given up being offended all the time, and she and Lil Bit have actually, OMG, touched on a couple of occassions. Pele is still refusing to sleep in the bed, but at least she is coming out of her cave more. Lil Bit is not so high-energy obnoxious all the time, but is still kittenish. She has seemed a little off the last couple of days, but I am hoping it is just a minor set-back and not an illness. We will watch her closely to make certain.

We have had a couple of potty problems with Lil Bit. Last week, one evening not long after Lil Bit had been allowed to join the whole house rather than languish in quarantine, Boxer and I were getting ready for bed and smelled a horrid smell and discovered that lil Bit had pooped on his side of the bed. We stripped the bed and sprayed with anti-stink spray, but then she did the same thing in the morning. Perhaps tummy troubles? Perhaps she was still a bit scared of the boxer? Perhaps she wasn't sure how to get over the babygate?

No idea, but she is now in love with the dog and can hop the gate no problem, and we clean her three boxes everyday, and there has been no more pooping. Thank god/dess. Of course, we also keep the bedroom closed off, except when we are in it.

There has sadly been one episode of peeing. Boxer was busy sorting laundry on the bed, and Lil Bit was hanging out with him and peed on my side of the bed. Again, no idea what that was about. It's always so hard to know with cats. So we cleaned the bed and all that, and I just got the shelter to agree to spay her early (thank goodness!), so if it is a marking issue, hopefully that will also be solved.

Man, cats is some crazy!

Our First Child

As Dear Readers know, I lost Leo not long ago after a devastating battle against a chronic long-term illness. I was very sad. Pele was bored and sad. So, I have thought about a new kitty for a long time, to help Pele, ayup. But I have stopped at adoption events and either cried or the cats didn't really like me all that much, and so I didn't take any home. After Boxer moved in, we would also stop and the cats at the adoption sites were starting to warm up to me, but we still hadn't really found one that Boxer liked as much as I.

This last week, we saw a pretty Bengal mix that Boxer adored while looking online, and we went on Saturday to check her out and, just our luck, she had already been adopted. So, we looked around and saw some we liked but not enough to really want to take home. And then one of the techs said, "Did you see Jody over there?"

And there, hidden in the window behind a sign, staring out into the mid-morning sun, was a little grey cottonball of fluff with dark gold eyes. Obviously yearning to break free. We went over and opened up her cage and she grabbed onto me and instantly turned her belly up to me for scritching. Then she grabbed onto Boxer and noodled all around his chest.

And so it comes to pass that Boxer and I have been adopted by our first child, a squirmy wyrm of a beastie who was stuck with the terrible name of Jody.

Now named Kalidas (meaning either "Servant of Kali" in Hindi or "Most Beautiful" in Greek), our kitty was born sometime in the height of winter and brought to the shelter on February 2, when her human family moved and decided to take the mom with them and leave the kittens, sadly not long after they were born. Little Kali (as she is nicknamed) was apparently not the cutest of kittens, what with the flyaway fur and all. Long after her brothers and sisters went to new homes, she languished at the shelter and then in foster care and then back to the shelter.

Kali is currently residing in our guest room, where she will have to stay until she has her Feline Leukemia test in September when she is spayed. As much as she is a good kitty, if she is positive, she will have to go back to the shelter, and I will cry. However, she and Pele can at least look at each other, if not really interact at this point. And, she and Pele have seen each other. Kali could care less; Pele was offended.

Boxer and I take turns going in and visiting with her. She uses the litter box well. Her current favorite toy is a dried leaf. I am using Lion Mother Goddess techniques to train her to not insist on snuggling next to my face. This mainly involves using a gentle paw to push her over and firmly hold her when she is doing something I don't want her to do. Nova - it is a wonderful thing....

I know Boxer really had his heart set on a Bengal or Bengal mix, but that day will have to wait, as a little squirrel has wiggled her way into our hearts.

See, beyotch, better listen to me next time. I'm a supersoft early warning system!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!


So, my cats have been acting strangely the last couple of days. Pele in particular has been driving me absolutely bonkers. Refusing to leave my side. Crawling down my nightgown. Jumping, and yes I do mean actually jumping, on my head in the middle of the night. Racing through the house like a mad fiend. She even attacked Leo last night, with her tail all puffed like she was pissed and meant business.

All this is totally unlike her. She can be playful and obnoxious but nothing as bad as this. And she will wrestle with Leo but she never initiates it. She is very protective. This behavior was completely out of character. This was naughtyness to the nth level.

This morning in the wee hours, I woke to both of the beasties in bed with me, crying as if the world were ending, trying to burrow into my skin. And then the house started to rattle, just a little bit, kind of like it does if the furnace is really cranking and sets the pipes to shaking. Which was strange as I have the furnace turned very low this time of year and I knew it wasn't on.

So I listened. Maybe the trash truck had flipped over outside my house. Maybe the neighbor's son had his bass turned extra special loud just for my morning listening pleasure. And then it stopped. I smelled no smoke and heard no sirens and the cats had mostly settled down so I turned over and went back to sleep. When I left for work this morning, Leo was curled in a ball on his favorite spot on the raditor - the one where he can be warm and watch birds. Pele was zonked out in the front window with her head in her favorite plant.

In the way to work this morning, I found out the reason for the strange behavior and the rattling during the wee hours. We had an earthquake! 5.4 - decent sized if not California-grand.

Damn Dog Tagged Us

So, Logan over at Boxer Rebllion put the tag on us to play along with this meme. We must reveal seven untruths about ourselves. So here goes...

Pele says:

1. I am not the most gorgeous, softest cat in the universe.

2. Squirrels respect my authority.

3. I never, ever knock things off the dresser when I want attention in the middle of the night.

4. I feel perfectly calm and at ease when human feeder #1 is in the shower.

5. I never cry when human feeder #1 goes to work as I am perfectly self-sufficient.

6. It is certainly some other evil cat who digs in the potted plants.

7. I am never frightened when the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

Leo says:

1. I am totally smart.

2. I mean it, way smart.

3. I don't like beer!

4. I enjoy the great outdoors, especially in winter time!

5. Someday, I will be able to go through the magical barrier and destroy that squirrel that taunts me.

6. I have fantastic depth perception.

7. Have I mentioned that I am very smart?

6.

Cutest Thing Ever

I was heading off to work this morning. I always head off south down my street. it isn't a main street, but there is generally less traffic than there is on the other main road south. Anyway, all the little kids stand at the end of the block in order to wait for the bus.

This morning, I got to the intersection just as the bus arrived frm the East. It stopped and put out its stop sign arm, so I waited patiently as the little kiddies boarded the bus. The last to get on the bus was a little Latino girl, maybe 6 or 7, cute little round face with major pigtails. Her mom has been waiting with her at the stop.

And so was her kitten.

As soon as the little girl got to the second step, her little kitten made a mad dash for the bus and tried to hop on.

Yes, the little girl's kitten loved her so much, it wanted to go to school with her.

It was adorable. It got to the first step and the little girl must have seen it, cause she yelled, "No no gato!" And the little kitten turned and ran back to sit at the mom's feet, looking entirely anxious and sad.

Happy Birthday, Mom!



May your day be filled with many hugs!

Harvest Fete Follow-Up

My harvest fete was on Saturday and what an interesting Saturday it was! It actually started on Friday, when the plumber came to see why my tub was draining slowly. He water rammed to no avail, and then had to take pipes apart and auger. But eventually he managed to get the problem solved. While he was heading out the door, I noticed my kitchen had started to drain slowly and asked him if that could have been caused by the work on the bathroom, and he said there was no possible way it could be. So, I ran to the store and bought Draino and poured it down to no avail. Still, a slow drain is not a plugged drain and I had other things to worry about.

I woke up early Saturday morning as the dish guys were supposed to be there. I started doing some housework while waiting for them and noticed that my kitchen sink was not draining at all. In fact, it was backing up the most interesting sludge, a bit like the ooze one finds in the saltwater swamps of Maine. So, I actually took the pipes apart and used my baby auger to see if I could fix the problem myself (see, I watched the guy while he was working so I could do it myself in the future!). No beans. Still backed up. I called the plumber, and he happened to be nearby and ran over and had to auger the kitchen line. But, all my draining problems seem to be solved now, although I am $210 broker than I was on Friday.

Of course, while I was on the phone to the plumber, the dish guys showed up - an hour late but finally there and fixed my problem in five minutes, for which I paid them a disgusting amount of money. Bastards.

All in all, my fete went very fine. I had to do some last minute changes on the food, due to ingredient unavailability (what I thought was a venison roast in the freezer turned out to be a freezer burned hunk o salmon - gack!), but everything really came together in the end. About 15 or so folks came out and we all had a good time chatting and eating. We actually ran out of almost everything, which is great, as I don't have enough plastic containers to do leftovers anymore (GladWare, here I come). I did not get to mingle as much as I would have wanted to, as I was behind due to the plumbing disaster, and I can't figure out what happened to all the cds in my cd player and therefore, forgot about the music. My pumpkin turnovers did not work, and so the recipe here is what I would have done instead of what I did.

The food stars of the evening were the wild mushroom French onion dip (to quote one guest, "I can't stop eating this!"), the salad dressing, the potatoes, and what one person called the "vast crock of meat." The pilau was tasty good, and some folks like the turnovers and other folks did not. I stole my bread pudding recipe from the Mennonite cookbook, but forgot to add the sweetener. The texture was great, but my brain went, "Huh?" on the first taste. For the recipe listed here, I actually put in the sweetness I left out. I also made whipped cream from scratch for the first time, adding vanilla and cinnamon to the heavy cream and using my in-kitchen outboard motor to whizbang it all together.

Pele and Leo were incredibly well-behaved, much to my shock and outrage. Leo didn't try to crawl into anyone's plate, which is quite likely a miracle. And Pele had to sit on everyone's lap to be patted and adored.

Anyway, on to recipes!

Herbed Honey

Take 1/2 cup honey and a large handful of fresh herbs of your choice. I used golden sage, thyme, and one spring of rosemary. Wash and then dry herbs. Add herbs and honey to a small pot. Add 1 t lemon juice. Put the heat to the lowest possible flame and let the honey get bubbly good. Turn off heat and let herbs step for at least 1 hour. Heat the honey again to make for easier removal of the herbs. If you are worried about herb flecks in your honey, strain through a fine mesh sieve. Drizzle over brie or other pungent cheese.

Wild Mushroom French Onion Dip

3 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4.5 ounces dried mushrooms
2 T red wine
2 T olive oil
1 package of low-fat cream cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Rehydrate the mushrooms according to the package directions. Once pliable, chop the mushrooms into small pieces. Reserve the soaking liquid for later use.

Put the olive oil in a pan and add shallots and onions. Cook until the shallots are soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms and the wine as well as about half of the reserved soaking liquid. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add in the cream cheese and stir. The mixture should be thin enough to dip a chip or cracker into it but not so thin that is runs off the spoon. If it is too thick, add in a bit more of the reserved liquid. Put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill overnight.

Braised Fall Flavors Venison

4 pounds venison stew meat (or use beef or lamb, if venison is not available)

Marinade/Braising Liquid:

1 bottle maple syrup and fig dressing
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple cider
1 cup pomegranate juice
¼ cup maple syrup
3 T each of dried minced garlic and dried minced onion
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and set aside. Place meat in roasting pan and then pour marinade over it, just until the meat is barely covered. Let marinade for at least 2 hours. Place the roasting pan with the meat and the marinade in a 350 degree oven and cook for approximately three hours.

Note: I got my maple syrup and fig dressing at Wal-Mart of all horrible places. You can substitute a good balsamic vinaigrette instead, just increase the amount of maple syrup to at least ½ cup. You could also make this a Moroccan style dish by adding cinnamon, cumin, and coriander to the marinade.

Wild Rice and Barley Pilau with Sweet Potatoes and Golden Raisins

8 ounces wild rice
8 ounces barley

Cook wild rice and barley according to the package directions. Set aside. This step can be done up to three days beforehand.

4 medium sweet potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
3 yellow onions, rough chopped
3 T smoked paprika
2 T ground cumin
3 T cinnamon
3 T olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Wash, peel, and chop sweet potato into bite sized pieces. Rough chop three yellow onions. Put the sweet potatoes and onions on a flat pan like a cookie sheet (use one with edges). Drizzle with olive oil. Mix the spices together and then sprinkle over the top of the onions and sweet potatoes. Mix with your hands until all pieces are evenly coated. Back in a 350 degree oven for about one hour, or until the sweet potatoes are soft and starting to caramelize.

1 cup golden raisins
2 T olive oil
3 T Balti seasoning (from Penzey’s)

Add the wild rice and barley into a large sauce pan and start to heat the mixture, stirring often to prevent sticking. When the mixture gets close to being hot enough to eat, fold in sweet potato/onion mixture and add in about 1 cup of golden raisins. Stir in olive oil and then add Balti seasoning, making sure to mix thoroughly.

Maple Syrup-Pecan Mustard Vinaigrette

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup olive oil
3 T Terrapin Ridge maple syrup-pecan mustard
1 T maple syrup

Put all ingredients in a container with a tight fighting lid. Mix until emulsified. Serve with a sweet lettuce mix.

Rosemary Roasted Yellow Potatoes

3 pounds baby yellow potatoes
3 T olive oil
3 T dried rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Wash potatoes and cut into quarters or halves, depending on size. Place in a roasting pan. Mix with olive oil and rosemary. Put into a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour, or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.

Note: You could also roast these at 400 degrees, which will reduce cooking time and lead to crispy edges.

Curried Pumpkin Dumplings

3 cans solid pack pumpkin
2 large shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. ground coriander
3 T sweet curry mix
3 t of ground chipotle powder

1 package egg roll wrappers

Put pumpkin into a mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients. Mix well. If you don’t like spicy food, leave out the chipotle or add it a bit at a time, tasting after each addition, until it achieves the heat level you desire.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Take an egg roll wrapper and add about 2 T of the pumpkin mixture in the center. Moisten the edges of the wrapper with water and then pinch the sides together to make a triangular shaped packet. Drop the triangular dumplings into the boiling water. Once the dumpling starts to set up, remove from water. Then coat a large fry pan with oil and pan fry the dumpling. Dumplings are done when they are golden brown and delicious. Makes about 30 dumplings.

Autumn Fruits Bread Pudding

6 large eggs
6 cups 1% milk
4-6 cups French bread, at least day old, in 1” square chunks
2 apples, cored and diced
2 pears, cored and diced
2 T vanilla
3 T grated ginger
¼ cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan with non-stick spray or butter. Put bread in the bottom of the cake pan. Use less bread if you want a very moist bread pudding; use more bread if you like a drier pudding.

Core and dice apples and pears. Put pieces in with the bread pieces, making certain to distribute evenly.

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla, ginger, and honey in a bowl. Pour mixture over the bread and fruit pieces. If any bread pieces are above the liquid, press down to make certain that each piece is covered. Put in the oven and bake for about one and a half hours, or until a knife pushed into the center of the pudding comes out clean. Serve hot or cold.

Note: Using a higher fat content milk will increase the creaminess and richness of the dish.

Cats and TV

Since my dish did not get fixed again this weekend, I read a lot and also watched the movies Netflix sent me. I have had some recent good luck in regards to my Netflix movie - Last King of Scotland and Year of the Dog are two recent notable watches. I was somewhat nervous about this week, as they sent me 28 Weeks Later and The Number 23. 28 Weeks Later definitely wasn't as good as 28 Days Later and I certainly didn't think the political allusions were as great as the critics kept making them out to be, which is sad because zombie movies should always be either political or pure camp. And The Number 23 was just, well, bad. Not even a good plot twist. Still, good time wasters.

Netflix also sent me Apocalypto. Yes, they sent me a Mel Gibson movie. Yes, I watched it. It wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be. It is really a very basic action drama plot. There were certainly some moments of excessive and uneeded violence. I found the insinuation that the Mayans and Aztecs set themselves up to be destroyed by Europeans to be offensive and inaccurate. I actually liked the way he had the entire viewpoint be from the main character's point of view - when he was confused, you were confused; there were no attempts to explain points of view outside the main character's; you felt like a prisoner in an alien world.

The film also highlighted the worst animitronic animals in the history of film as well as the best use of a bee hive as a weapon against one's enemies ever.

What was most interesting, however, is that Pele sat and watched the whole thing.

Now my cats don't often watch tv. They might doze while I am watching tv, but they don't tend to actually look at the screen. They are not even terribly interested by birds on tv. They do enjoy watching elephants on tv for some reason. When the elephants come on, they usually perk right up and pay close attention. Maybe they speak Elephantine or some such.

But for Apocalypto, Pele nestled herself down on the cushion and watched. She was even tracking action and everything. She behaved for a whole two hours. It was a miracle.

On the other hand, Pele is an cat of truly bad taste. Her preference in music runs to Depeche Mode and Conway Twitty. Go figure.....

Kitten Free

So last night, I attempted to make friend with my new kitten family, and gave them food and sat very quiet and got them used to me. Momma was having none of it. As long as I didn't move or come within two feet, she was fine. Otherwise, she hissed like a cobra. The kittens were interested but a bit skittsih. I watched and watched, and then went inside to watch. Momma finally decided that it was safe enough to go hunt, and I decided it was time to make a move and catch the babies.

I put on my trusty gloves and took a cat carrier out with me. I even managed to pet the heads of two of the kittens. But the instant I grabbed one, it was like holding a live firecracker. Never heard such spitting and yowling in my life! Not even when I had to give Leo a bath.

Well, momma was not as far away as I had thought and she came at me like a lightning bolt! I screamed and ran like a little girl, leaving the cat carrier behind. This morning, I looked and I don't see them anywhere. Maybe momma decided that my house actually wasn't the kind of neighborhood she wanted to be in and moved them elsewhere. And I hope that a skunk hasn't taken up housekeeping in my abandoned cat carrier. I certainly don't want to capture one of those.

Below is Pele not giving a shit:

And here's Leo suggesting that those things are fine to look at from afar but how dare you actually get close to one!

I Have Kittens!

Last night, as I was sitting and reading, I heard a cat cry outside. I figured it was just one of the neighborhood cats walking by, saying "hi" to Leo, who has been stationed in the front window for several days. Enjoying the sun, I thought. Leokin loves him some sun.

This morning, I headed out a bit later than normal. I had been waiting for AT&T to actually come and hook up the phone, which they were supposed to do on Tuesday but apparently gaked it up. Anyway, I headed out the door and looked over the railing and the evil evergreen bushes in front of my house, wondering when the damn tree guy would call me back so we could get something scheduled for the removal of the ugly shrubs. Sunddenly, I saw movement. And more movement. And even more movement!

Yes, dear reader, yours truly, had kittens. They look to be about 6-8 weeks old. Their eyes are open and they scoot around like crazy. Apparently, Leo has not been enjoying the sun so much as he has been enjoying the theater taking place in my ugly shrubs. Which is funny, 'cause Leo is not so fond of other animals, except his sister and, of course, fish, birds and squirrels. And sometimes bugs, if I have them.

So, I called mia madre to see if she had any hints for what to do, my first instinct being to feed them, which of course would mean that I would officially become their human feeder #1 and they would never go away. She suggested live trapping and a thick pair of leather gloves.

Anyway, I decided to take some food and water out to them because it has been hot and all my birds have disappeared. I took the dishes around the side of the house only to discover that momma kitty is actually around. She looks a little worse for wear. She is definitely pissed off and might be feral. It's hard to tell when they are being all fierce about their offspring. It looks like there are 4-5 kittens. It can be hard to tell when they get in the thick branches. They are all various shades and degrees of grey and white, and there looks to be one that is a long-haired dilute tortie and is just gorgeous. One appears to have a leg injury of some type, perhaps broken. I will spend the next few days attempting to befriend them, so hopefully I can capture at least the kittens and take them to the no kill shelter. If they are healthy and FIV-negative, I might even agree to foster them until they can find homes. I don't think I will be able to capture the momma without a full suit of body armor, though.

Sadly, I find myself tempted to keep one, maybe even the tortie. I guess I am an old softy. Leo, however, gets a little worked up when new animals come into the home and it sets off his IBD. Then again, he has been watching them. Maybe he would think it was an old friend. Pele would just love to have a kitten in the house. Hell, I had to grab her by the scruff of the neck this morning as she attempted to scape through the front door and go mothering.

Some Pictures at Last!

So, I finally got my pictures downloaded and I hope you all enjoy what you see. The first set are some of the before pictures. The first is looking into the dining room from the living room: Then, the evil pumpkin colored office:

Soon, Heather begins to paint. God, it took forever! And really, I need to do some additional coats. At some point. Like right before I sell or something.

Then! Voila! Due to the miracles of modern technology, the house is ready! First, my room. Notice how I only painted two walls. Am I being artistic or just lazy? Will we ever know the truth? To the left, notice the nice flowered cutain. I made that out of a table cloth.

Then, the office. Notice it is still pumpkin colored. However, considering how tired I was and have been, it remains unpainted. Someday, it will be a tranquil sea green.....

Below, the quest room. This paint was truly horrible. It was rather like troweling mud onto the wall. But mia madre, did an excellent job of painting, did she not? And all of those books for my non-existant children! How hilarious!

A view of the living room though the dining room. So cavelike. So yellow.

And here, a look at part of the living room. It is rather a serene space, actually. Of course, getting used to almost no tv has been interesting. I saw a part of Conan the Barbarian. In Spanish. And then Tank Girl. In Spanish. And then, get this, Kung Fu. In Spanish. Triple dubbing! Seriously, though, I don't get all that many channels with my little antenna, but I get several Spanish channels and one multi-ethnic but mostly Indian channel that is quite interesting.

And here, the beautiful dining room. Which actually doesn;t get used all that much. As I get almost no visitors. This means you, dammit.

Finally, the cats see to really enjoy it. here's Leo stalking out his end of the couch.

And Pele, basking in the glory that is the East window.

I think my cat is an alcoholic


When my cat Leo was just a wee tyke, he used to share a daily beer (Guinness whenever possible) with one of my roomies. I never thought much about it. Leo never had many brain cells to begin with, so I knew the beer couldn't make him any stupider. And he was a happy drunk, much given to snuggling.

Alas, into ever renter's life a little moving must fall, and after the move, Leo got no more beer. He actually hasn't had access to beer in more than 7 years.

Until last night.

Feeling totally lazy, I decided to have a lazy woman's dinner. I opened a can of baked beans (Bush's Homestyle - my favorite!), a bag of chips, and put some bratwurst on to boil. Now, my favorite brats are Johnsonville but I can't always find those in Boston, so I settled for some Kayem brand made with Boston-brewed Indian Pale Ale.

When I opened the package, I almost got drunk from the fumes! They were that redolent of IPA! And the fumes reawakened that demon that had just been waiting inside of Leo.

Coming out of a deep cat nap, he sauntered into the kitchen and sat at my feet, looking up at me with a little cat-smirk in his eyes. "Is that for me? Sure smells like it's for me."

No bratwurst for little kitties! Nyet! To get him to forgot about the beautiful smelling IPA brats, I opened a can of his favorite canned cat food - Royal Canine hypoallergenic venison. Normally, when I serve this, I have to lock him out of the kitchen until I get it into his dish because he tries to stick his head right in the can. Which then, of course, gets stuck, leading to cat panic and human mirth.

No luck. He looked at the dish and proceeded to jump on the stove and attempt to hook a boiling hot brat right out of the pan!

Since I am still bigger than him, I scooped him up and locked him out of the kitchen. Then, against my better judgement, I cooled one of the brats and smushed some of it up and then gave him some.

Honestly, I think he enjoyed his brat more than I enjoyed mine. Then again, maybe it was just the alcohol.

I wonder if they make brats with Guinness.....