We are OK

We just wanted to let everybody know that we are OK. Baton Rouge was severely affected by Gustav. Most of the city does not have power and might not have power for several more days, maybe weeks.
At my apartment we were extremely lucky to get power back within 24 hours. However we have no internet. At the moment I'm posting from my office on the LSU campus. Most of the campus also lost power, but some buildings got power back yesterday and we have intermittent internet on campus.
Thanks for all the good wishes. We were pretty lucky. We lost a lot of tiles from the roof and it is leaking in the bedroom and living room, but it is not too bad. At least we have power!
Once the internet is more reliable I will post some pictures. I'm not sure how much you see on the news, but Baton Rouge have a lot of damage. There are long lines for gas, ice, food and tarps. More than 90% of residents are still without power.
Well I will post more once we are "connected' again.

Gustav

We are still here (and connected!). So far we have only had rain and some wind gusts, but nothing serious. They say that we will probably lose electricity soon, so I just wanted to post before that happens. Luckily it looks like the worst will miss Baton Rouge and pass to the south of us. We hope so.

UPDATE: We are still here and all is good. Bubbles wants to go outside!

UPDATE: The weather is getting much worse. It's a wonder we still have electricity. More than 30,000 homes have already lost power in Baton Rouge. It looks like the eye of Gustav is going to pass very close to BR. We are expecting to have very high winds and a lot of rain in the next few hours.

Waiting for Gustav

Hello Internets. We here in Baton Rouge are just watching the Weather Channel and preparing for Gustav. This is the current projection.

This is what the weather looked like this morning in the direction of New Orleans.

We had no serious damage during Katrina or Rita, we just lost electricity for about a week every time. So we hope it will be about the same this time. I will post more pictures during the storm if the electricity and internet stays on.

~ Graphic by KC. ~

It's 8 pm. Do you know where your kitty is?

Years ago there was a National Geographic special about cats, called "The Secret Life of Cats". During the intro to the program this is the question they asked: "It's 8 pm. Do you know where your kitty is?"

About a week ago I woke up to Madness and Bubbles growling. They were looking through my window, so I got up to see what it was. Outside I saw a ginger cat sitting and looking at them. I've never seen this cat around here before and it just hung out in front of my apartment for quite some time.

Eventually I got up and took some food outside. It ran down the stairs, but returned to eat the food once I went back inside. So a few days later, I saw a sign close to my apartment about a missing orange cat. I called the number and the people said they moved away, but I should send them a picture and if it is their cat they will arrange to get it to them. Unfortunately the cat only comes by at night and runs away when I go outside, so I had a lot of trouble getting a picture.

So naturally, the geek in me decided: Motion detection camera!

So I set up a cheapo wildlife camera and here is what I got.

Unfortunately it turns out that this was not the missing orange cat that the owners were looking for. In any case I set up the camera again last night in the hope to get a better picture and I got: Another cat!

And a little later this cat. Remember him?

And eventually the ginger showed up also.

It's amazing how the other two found out so quickly that I put out out some food! I don't usually put out food right at my apartment (the landlord and some tenants complain about it), but I guess I'll continue to feed them until I move away at the end of September. Anybody want a stray kitty? Or three?

Mancat Monday

I know Mom likes to post cute pictures of me, but I'm a very fierce Mancat.

Just look at my muscles as I climb this tree!

Here is a close-up. I hope the lady cats don't faint.

It runs in the family

Apparently love of condensation runs in the family. Those of you that have been around the cat blogosphere for some time will remember my brother Dobby aka LT. Well, he liked to lick cans and I like to lick bottles.


Mom thinks it's very cute. Well, she thinks pretty much everything we do is cute.

My Gizzy Quilt

Madness here. My Gizzy Quilt arrived from our good friend Millie! Remember I kept stealing Bubbles' quilt? Well, it seems he is paying me back!

Bubbles: No Madness, I'm just testing it for you. You know, to make sure it is safe (snickers).

The Smell Test

The Stress Test

The Roll Test

The Wash Test

The Stretch Test

(notice Madness in the corner?)

The Nap Test

Jeez, is it safe now? Can I get on MY quilt now?

Oh, Millie smells so nice. And look at the pretty colors! And it is an African theme! Grrrrrr.

Oh, this feels so good on my tush.

Oh yea, this is so comfy. Don't I look pretty on my quilt?

Ahhhh, my very own Gizzy Quilt. Now all is right with the world.

Thanks a lot Millie. We LOVE the Quilt.

Help Internets!!

Madness: Help Internets, help! We are moving to Greece! It's across the water! I'm gonna drown.

Mom: No Madness, calm down. We are not moving to Greece.

Madness: But Mom, I heard you on the phone and you said Athens and I may be young but I know where Athens is. Greece!

Mom: No, we are moving to Athens, Georgia.

Madness: Georgia? ... Hmmm, where is Georgia again?

Mom: Well, see we are here in Louisiana, then it's Mississippi, then Alabama and then Georgia.

Madness: That looks far away.


Mom: No, it is not very far.

Madness: Is it as far as the vet?

Mom: Ahmm, it's a bit further than that.

Madness: I don't want to go!

Mom: Well, we have to.

Madness: Why?

Mom: Because here I get paid peanuts and there they pay heaps and heaps of temptations.

Madness: Really?

Mom: Ahhmm, yes really. And then we can stay in a house with our own yard.

Madness: Is Bubbles coming too? And Mrs. B?

Mom: Yes we are all going.

Madness: Bubbles doesn't look very happy about this.

Mom: Well, he just doesn't like to ride in the car.

Madness: Do I like to ride in the car?

Mom: Ahhhm, not really.

Madness: Can I bring my toys?

Mom: Yes.

Madness: What about my outside climbing tree?

Mom: Ahhhm, Madness the trees are stuck to the ground, they have to stay here.

Madness: But I like to climb! I wanna climb the tree!

Mom: Well, there are trees in Georgia.

Madness: Trees I can climb?

Mom: Yes.

Madness: OK then I'll come. Lets get my toys and go.

Mom: Well, we are not going right now. Only in October. It is still many thousands of cat naps away.

Madness: But I want to have heaps and heaps of temptations now!

Mom: *sigh* No Madness, we will have heaps and heaps of temptations later, in Georgia. Now just take a little nap.

Madness: I don't want to nap. I want to go to Georgia!

Mom: Ahhhmm, but the time will go faster if you start taking some of those naps now.

Madness: Really? OK. ZZZZzzzzzz.

Cold box meme

We were tagged by Missy and KC for a "what's on your cold box" meme.

Well, here is our coldbox (click to biggify).


- As you can see there are lots of catfeets! We thinks it might be Madness who is running on the coldbox at night.

- And Mom loves "Ode to Rascal".

- This is our Mom's moto: "Life is all about making cats happy". We like that.

- And a friend sent Mom the "Spoilt rotten cats live here".

- In the top right corner is a picture of Kalahari, the first stray Mom took in here in the US but she got hit by a car. That was a long time ago, even before Mrs. B came to live here.

We are tagging Rascal, Millie, Grr and Merlin & Dobbie.