Time For Your Closeup: Misaki

Over the past couple weeks I've brought you closeup pictures of all three kitties (links at the bottom of this post), and now it's time for Misaki the Shiba. Her face is so expressive - and full of the cute. (Yes, cute is also a noun in our household of fur, much like "crazy.")

She is also always earnest, like in the picture below. Sometimes she so wants to be doing something she can't contain herself. And if her mom and dad are being lazy when she wants to be doing something, she makes her wants known.

Now what? Take my picture? Why? What are you going to do with it?

Misaki also loves a good pillow. She has a few spots throughout the house that are now "hers" with a blanket or some kind of bed (or chair) and in each of those spots she also has a pillow. I've never before seen a dog use a pillow like a human, but Misaki does. She'll stretch out with her head on the pillow and be snoring within minutes (um, no, not snoring - I mean "making cute sounds").

Think I'll just lay my head down here...

It's pretty clear the normal goings-on of people is somewhat perplexing to Misaki. Why would you leave the house for nine hours every day when you could show her off around the neighborhood or just nuzzle up to that lush coat of fur? Come to think of it, that's a good question...

Seriously, all you need is right here.

Our little red ninja (she can literally make no sound at all if she chooses - she just appears, with a cold nose on your calf) is also quite interested in the comings and goings of her adopted Bengal brethren. She doesn't necessarily want to be involved, but she does need to know what they are doing at all times. Those three are also prone to random outbursts of violence, usually towards each other (that's another, future blog post), and when that happens Misaki has to be right there, checking things out.

What are those crazy Bengals up to?!

I love Misaki's coloring. The "red" Shibas are the most popular, but some are more or less red than others (and yes, "red" is actually orange). Misaki has very definite lines between her red and white markings, and soft, chocolate-brown eyes that sparkle in the sun.

Pet me?

Not only is she super pretty, but she's also very symmetrical. It's no wonder she spent time as a show dog, though it's also no wonder she didn't really like it, since she has to be the one dictating - not taking orders.

One of Wifey's favorite aspects of Misaki's markings is the black around her eyes. Not all Shibas have this and some that do have it incompletely, but Misaki's "eyeliner" perfectly encircles each eye in even lines. It's a nice complement to the cream colored "eyelash" markings she has that curl up and out from the inside corner of each eye.

Nope, this is natural - like that guy on LOST. None of that crazy makeup stuff for me.

Get this puppy outside and that tongue comes out. She loves running around on leash - she would probably love running around off leash too, but that's not going to happen outside of her backyard. As she powerwalks - our pups doesn't like to run or take her time and apparently has deemed herself our trainer, as if we needed another one in the house - her little curly tail wags from side to side.

When she's super-excited in the house she'll come running up to us with a giant grin on her face, mouth half open, tongue hanging out, showing all of her teeth, and I almost never know what she wants. It's usually pretty random and I think it's that she usually wants to go lay in the sun or go on a walk, but sometimes I just have no idea. That's okay, we love having a happy puppy.

And I love the beach!

It's simply amazing how fast Misaki can fall asleep. She'll lay down and be *making cute sounds* before I even sit down in a chair. One second the eyes are open and looking around...

Hmm...comfy...

And the next, asleep!

Cute sounds...cute sounds...cute sounds...

That's our pups!

Jump To:

Lilo | Sera | Moochie

Some Days...

Some days I'm just sick of doing other people's work for them.

Some days I'm just sick of being the one with all the answers - or, at least, the one from whom real answers are expected, while others skate by full of crap.

Some days I'm just sick of having to answer to people who control what I do yet don't understand it.

Some days I'm just sick of a 45-minute commute each way.

Some days I'm sick of the alarm clock going off at 5:30 in the morning - okay, who am I kidding, that's every day.

Some days...

There are days when I just want to quit and walk away from responsibility. Days when I think it would be better for my mental health if I just quit my job and moved somewhere else, somewhere simpler, where life is easier.

Ever have those days? The ones where you just want to say fuck it, what's the point? Why bother? Ever think if you would be missed should you choose not to fulfill an obligation? Would the world end? Or would no one notice?

I'm not talking about depression - I'm not depressed. Stressed perhaps (okay, no perhaps), but not depressed.

But there are days - and there seem to be more of them lately, and more often than not - when I really want to step back and ask myself what am I doing all of this for? What am I accomplishing? What's the goal?

Sure, there's the obvious. I need to go to work so I can pay for the mortgage, so Wifey and I have a place to live, a roof to put over the heads of our kids. So we can pay for the food jaunts all over town we do enjoy. So we can pay for electricity, gas, and water for the home; gas and insurance for the car; the cost of cable, internet, and cell phones. Occasionally we might want a new toy or clothes.

That's the simple answer.

Ten - heck, four or five - years ago I would have told you that's enough, but I don't think it is anymore. I used to shrug when people talked about enrichment and fulfillment from their work. To me work has always been the paycheck that allows me to look elsewhere for the enrichment and fulfillment. It allows me to explore the world, to take a trip, to try the food, to have a little fun.

Maybe this is a product of getting older. Maybe it's values changing and I'm no longer satisfied with just putting in the hours at a job where there are few thank yous and little respect given (or, in my case, two jobs - yay me). It seems that more and more lately the concept of respect and acknowledgement for quality produced has been lost, instead replaced with the request more and more be done with less.

Global business acknowledged the recession with a need to cut costs by shedding jobs, but instead believes the answer lies in producing more with less, even if it's unrealistic because workers were taxed at full production before the cuts. And yes, I'm being deliberately vague; the who and the what aren't important here, because it's not a situation unique to me, my place of work, my industry, or my locale.

Now I find myself thinking at least once a day about what could I do without. What would I have to give up if I walked away?

No, I won't do it. It would be absolutely fiscally irresponsible of me and unfair to everyone else in my life, but perhaps it's enough that I can simply acknowledge the desire for change in a healthy way. Well, that assumes putting these thoughts out there for just anyone to see on the internet is healthy - that in itself might not be.

Still, it's something I think about. After all, there are plenty who are happy with less, you know? Happy with less home, with less things, with less constraints on life.

I miss college, actually. Or, more accurately, the responsibility level of when I was in college - I don't miss homework and hangovers. It was the last time I really had little responsibility. I remember a conversation I had with a couple of my housemates back then about this very subject where we talked about the balance of time and money, and the needs and availability of both during college years and after, when we would each have jobs and be on our own separate life paths, only intersecting occasionally. In all honesty we probably thought they would intersect more than they do, but c'est la vie, you know? That's life. It happens.

We grow up, we move on, and we seem to only gather more and more responsibility as life goes on.

What would I do if I walked away? Who knows. Maybe then I could find enough time to write my novel. :)

Anyone else ever feel like saying screw it and making a major change? Anyone actually done it? Do you regret it at all, or was it the right decision?

Perhaps, just perhaps, by my making this acknowledgement it could a simple first step. Or maybe I just need to vent.

Time For Your Closeup: Moochie

Last week I offered up closeups of Lilo and Sera, and now it's Moochie's turn.

Moochie, Sera's twin brother, is eight years old and spotted like Lilo. He also loves the camera - we joke that he must have been a model in a previous life.

Trying to act like he's sleeping and doesn't care.

That love for the camera really comes through on photos of Moochie. He has charisma, I guess you would call it, and makes eye contact. Plus, he can be extremely expressive in the looks he gives.

Oh, you want to take pictures of me? Well, I suppose...

The most interesting thing about this is the eye contact. While the other two won't always look directly at the camera, Moochie's green eyes are always on you.

We call this his "come hither" look.

I think I mentioned before that Moochie loves football. When the game comes on he's on our laps as fast as possible. The only think he seems to love more than sitting on the couch and watching football is the camera.

Oh yes, the camera loves Moochie!

He can also be a little sneaky. Moochie is the kitty most likely to be hiding under the bed and grab your foot, or to surprise one of his sisters by jumping around a corner of the couch. But the thing is that he doesn't quite get, is that if he can see you then you can see him. He absolutely believes he is always hidden, even if he's not, like this next pic.

I'm so hidden on this chair that's only a foot off the floor.

When he's not trying to hide and pounce on someone and it's a nice day, Moochie can be found in the sunroom on one of the chairs, soaking up the rays. The sunlight really captures the gold tips of his fur and the emerald in his eyes.

I am pretty damn cute, aren't I?

Occasionally Moochie also gets to go outside on the deck. We use a portable exercise pen to block off the yard and let the kitties run around. Once Moochie snuck outside on his own - we accidentally left a window open in the sun room. Instead of taking off - thankfully - he hid under the sun room and mewed mournfully. That big, big world was too much for him.

Don't believe him - that never happened. I am the master of any domain!

Here's another pic of absolute focus from the Mooch.

Yes?

Unlike Sera Moochie doesn't have any special markings on his forehead, but those lines do flow all the way to his tail. In fact, the spots on his side also seem to flow in lines towards his tail - it's almost as if they aren't spots at all, but instead broken lines.

Sera has nothing on me.

Moochie loves to clean himself. All cats are naturally fastidious, but Moochie takes it to another level He loves his tail, which is proportionately longer on him that on either of his sisters. Check out those ears too - one of the most expressive parts of a cat.

Want to see my knives?

This is perhaps my favorite picture of Moochie, and the one that prompted this entire series. It's not even his whole head, but it's got a little bit of his tongue and twinkle in his eyes, almost as if he's contemplating really hard what he should do about the given situation. Which, honestly, is quite funny, because he's not much for just reacting. Most of the time he ends up waiting too long to do something, and any opportunity he may have had to take action disappears.

Hmmmm....

And this one? It just cracks me up. Moochie has a habit of falling asleep and then moving - still sleeping - into a position that pulls his mouth or eyes open. It's quite disturbing to see, actually, so of course we had to capture it with the camera.

Snore....

It is a little disturbing, isn't it?

Jump To:

Lilo | Sera | Misaki

Royalty Approves of Royal Meow

When you have kids you expect - and I am not speaking with a voice of experience here, more an assumption - that as they grow up things will have to be replaced. They will outgrow clothes, their interests and tastes will change as they age, and they will wear things out.

When you get a pet, that's not necessarily something in the forefront of your mind. Sure, you may know on some level the dog will chew up a toy or a cat me shred a tiny little mouse toy, but that is probably the limit.

Well, I don't know about other people's cats, but we apparently were woefully unprepared for our wild little Bengals. We got Moochie and Sera when they were about three months old and roughly a quarter of their full-grown size. Having grown up with indoor cats we also knew they needed something to scratch on, so we bought them this cute little scratching post, probably at PetSmart or Petco.

Moochie demonstrating how to use the first scratching post.

We also decided that since we had two kittens we should have two scratching posts. That first one was pretty basic, so for the second one we bought something a little more fun for them. Look at all those balls to bat!

Sera on the second scratching post.

After the the twins were full grown it quickly became obvious these just weren't going to cut it. For one they weren't strong enough to support an adult Bengal, and for two they were simply too small. Poor Moochie would stretch his back legs as far away as he could and arch his back the wrong way just so he could scratch on them. It looked horribly uncomfortable and made us feel like bad cat parents, so we decided to spend a little more money and get them something bigger.

Moochie, who conquered the larger post.

Well, that worked for a while. Then the upper part of the structure - on the floor on its side in the picture above - started to wobble under their weight. Because it wasn't the best building materials - screws and cardboard tubes, mostly - there wasn't anyway to tighten it up.

Then, one night - it's always the middle of the night, isn't it? - we heard this tremendous crash from upstairs, where the cats have "their" room with the scratching post, food dishes, and bathroom. I leapt out of bed and ran upstairs to see what happened, though I figured the structure had finally broken - I just hoped no one was hurt. (Yep, great parent aren't I? "Hey kids, I know this isn't safe, just stay out of the way when it breaks, m'kay?") Thankfully they were all just a bit freaked out, and sure enough the upper part was on the floor. With no damage to the cats and no damage to the walls, I turned off the light and went to bed. Deal with it in the morning.

We knew now we had to really spend some money on something for this little beasts, because these relatively inexpensive things simply didn't cut it. For awhile we hoped this other post we bought for them would be enough, but as you can see this also couldn't stand up to the now-famous Bengal claws.

Moochie: What the hell am I supposed to do with this?

At this point we were kind of stuck. We needed something that was "industrial" strength to handle the strength and ferocity of the Bengal, but you don't find something like that in your average pet store. However, since Portland is a city where people love to spoil their pets there are plenty of specialty pet stores around and we started taking notice of these cat trees at some of them produced locally by a company called Royal Meow.

Royal Meow doesn't call these pieces "trees" - these are "castles." If you click around their website and view the various products you will see that is an extremely apt description. There was no doubt in our minds this is exactly what we needed for our Bengals. The sturdy construction would be able to support their weight and the height of the taller ones would be much better for a super long kitty like Moochie to properly stretch his legs and still do sharpening as needed.

The castles are made from recycled tires, solid plywood, and extensive use of sisal rope, which our cats love. All of that adds up.

Of course, you have to spend money for quality - these aren't cheap. When you buy something like this it's something you have to plan for, rather than just making a snap decision (well, at least in our tax bracket). It seemed perfect, but would it really be justified?

Well, we decided after a bit, there would be no more half-assing it. I mean, we love our cats like kids, we spoil them with high quality food (I really do believe they eat better than we do - healthier at least), so why wouldn't we get them something like this?

So one day at Sellwood Dog Supply we decided to take the plunge and bought a slight variation of the Critter Burrow. After wrestling it into the back of the Escape we brought it home and put it in the living room for the cats to check out. For reference, that lamp on the right is six feet tall.

Moochie checking out the new toy.

As we predicted, they were thrilled. In addition to the turret at the top there are two platforms for a cat to stretch out, which Moochie takes advantage of whenever he can. From the turret they can see everything in the living and dining room, and they enjoy judging and yelling from this vantage point.

Lilo observing.

The turret has an access point from underneath on one side, which they usually use. However, both Moochie and Sera think it's much more fun to climb over the top from the side.

Sera, checking things out from the side access.

We also decided to give the castle a bit of it's own flair. See those pink strings? Well, we had these wand toys for the cats, a plastic arm with a bird or mouse attached on a string, that they love to chase. The only problem is these weren't designed for the strength of a Bengal and inevitably they get broken. Then what do you do with them? Well, we decided to take the string and tie them in a knot around some of the brace posts, which gives the cats something else to do when they are bored.

With getting Misaki we weren't quite sure how she would respond to this new cat toy, which ideally she would leave alone. Of course, she's also the same size as the cats, so we thought she might try and climb up.

Misaki checking out the new cat castle with Moochie (above) and Sera.

Thankfully she has been good. She goes over and lays at the base while they play, but overall leaves them alone. Well, as much as any other time.

The cats have also learned to share a little bit. The turret is big enough for all three of them to be in there if they like.

Moochie and Sera in the turret: What do you want?

It's become a bit of a sanctuary for the cats. It's high enough us short people can't easily see in - we call it their Ivory Tower. Partly because of the cream color, but also because of how they - mainly Sera - will sit up there and look down on the general goings-on with disgust, like she can't believe how the rabble acts.

Then, of course, there is the cute factor. Check out these two:

Sera and Moochie, Yin and Yang, sleeping in the turret.

Here's one last picture, one which really allows you to see the size of the Royal Meow castle. That's Sera at the top, taking advantage of the height to finally see what's in the lamp, while Moochie stands in the middle and Misaki curls up at the base.

Sera making sure the lamp is acceptable. It's probably not.

THE VERDICT

If it's not clear by now we heartily recommend the products of Royal Meow. We've had this for two months now and it will absolutely stand up to the needs of three Bengals (well, really two, since Lilo doesn't have claws). Yes, it's expensive and yes, it takes up a decent amount of space, but it's well worth the cost.

As for the space issue, it actually fits in with our general decor pretty well so the size is less of an issue. It matches the carpet and is pleasing to look at.

And the cats love it, so that's about all that matters, right? If royalty like ours approves of it, I'm sure other cats would too.

Two paws up.

Pac-10 Week 5: Early Season Showdown

With last week's predictions I felt very strongly about five of the six picks, with choosing Oregon State over Boise State the one most likely questionable. As it turns out that was true, but I couldn't have been more wrong about choosing Texas over UCLA.

Apparently it's time to re-think the position that UCLA is going to be a doormat. Either that or Texas was way overrated to begin with - likely some of both.

The end result is I went 4-2 last week, putting me 27-7 on the season.

This week there are only four games - Arizona and California have the week off - but there is a doozy. Stanford is visiting Oregon in a matchup between the two teams who look like the class of the conference so far (it's hard to tell, since Oregon hasn't actually been challenged yet - ASU did a little, but turning the ball over seven times gave the game away) in Eugene. It's also a serious mismatch in styles. Stanford is a smash-it-down-your-throat team who controls the tempo and mixes it up with deep bombs from stellar quarterback Andrew Luck, while Oregon's spread offense is all about scoring as fast as possible.

Can Stanford contain Oregon's speed? Can Oregon answer Stanford's power?

It's really too bad this game is happening in Week 5 - it just feels like the game that could go a long way in determining the race for the Rose Bowl should be a little later in the season.

Just up the road in Corvallis the Beavers will be looking to get well against the ASU Sun Devils. How good are the Beavers? Do we know after their tough early schedule? And what of the Devils? The hung around for a bit against Oregon after almost beating Wisconsin on the road.

Once again, I can't wait.

I'm rethinking my tiers also - this week they look like this:

Tier 1 - Oregon, Stanford

Tier 2 - Arizona, USC

Tier 3 - UCLA, Oregon State

Tier 4 - California, Arizona State, Washington

Tier 100 - Washington State

UCLA goes up, Zona drops a tad, and so does Oregon State and California. A win by the Beavers this week would put them back in Tier 2.

One more thing I want to say about the Beavers, now that they have played both TCU and Boise State. The Broncos are without a doubt a much, much better team than TCU. There is no way the Horned Frogs should be part of any BCS bowl conversation as long as the Broncos remain unbeaten. But do we really know what the 2010 Beavers are about? They haven't turned the ball over, Ryan Katz has been solid if inconsistent, Jacquizz Rodgers hasn't busted loose yet, and the defense hasn't shown the ability to enforce their will. But then again, they've played two top-five teams. Should there be concern at 1-2? Or has their schedule just been that difficult it's hard to guage?

And as for the Broncos, I really feel the winner of this week's Oregon-Stanford game should knock them from their third-ranked perch.

On to this week's schedule. As always, all game times are Pacific time, followed by the network and the pick. Also, the network and whether or not it's on TV is for Portland - some games may be televised regionally, so if you live in a home market, check your local listings. Rankings are in parentheses (AP, USA Today).

SATURDAY

12:30pm - Washington State at UCLA (33, 37), Fox Sports Northwest - UCLA
3:30pm - Arizona State at Oregon State (34, NR), Fox Sports Northwest - Oregon State
5pm - Stanford (9, 13) at Oregon (4, 4), ABC/ESPN2 - Oregon
5pm - Washington at USC (18, *), ESPN2/ABC - USC

* USC is not eligible for the USA Today Coaches Poll because of NCAA sanctions

One quick note on the game of the week pick: I'd be picking Stanford if that game was in Palo Alto. I think Oregon lucked out on the scheduling this year.

MISAKI

No dice on finding the shot glasses for the Misaki picks. Might have to do some research into coming up with something else. If anyone has a suggestion, feel free to leave it in the comments below.

She'll take OSU over the Devils too.

And I know about the time I spend money on something, the shot glasses will magically appear like they have been right under my nose every time.