Beatrix is SO cute! I really hope she ends up staying with you guys and becoming a reporter! “Oh, buttons.” “The prey has taken flight!” I love it all, Georgia!
I got a cute Polydactyl kitteh. He was a stray that a nice lady took in, made sure he was alright (though he had lost the use of one of his eyes, seemingly in a fight at some point), and then looked for a good home for him.
I named him Giggles, because he always gives a short loud purr whenever you look like you might give him some attention. He’s really cute.
I read that first as ‘ice cream cake’, and imagined Elvis pulling one slowly and stealthily off a counter top. I cream cones are good too, but it’s less likely that a human would turn their back on one.
Watching the adults teaching the kids how to get in to trouble is always so fun. I can see Bea’s butt-wiggle to pounce even without being able to see her backside! Pucky’s such a wonderful big brudder, not wanting his lil’ sistur to find out firsthand how awful (to cats, at least) pickles taste.
Dictated by Sparky: Now what you do, Bea, is look pathetic and cute and starving and maaaybe the Man will give you a little of his ham. Always works for me!
I’m vegan, my partner isn’t. When we’re cooking at home, we cook vegan and he adds cheese to his. When we are getting take-out, he gets meat. Ninja will come right up to him and then sit there, making a point of looking good as gold, wanting bits of his take-out. She may not necessarily eat them, of course, even after he’s carefully licked the sauce off Chinese food, or taken the batter off fried chicken. Once he was eating fried chicken and chips at the dining table, and he’d hold bits out to her, but she would spurn them. Then he put a piece on the floor. Once his back was turned, she snuck up, grabbed it, went behind the sofa with it, and ate it furtively. Apparently it’s important to steal your food.
Hah. Can’t hold a candle to my mom’s old orange geezer cat Sunny, who retired to our house. He once sailed over a dining room chair and grabbed a piece of chicken with barely a touch of the paw on the chair. (Oh, those Beatrix pawwes!!! She is such a beautiful kitten!)
My new rescue kitten seems not to have any trouble finding “prey”. As always Georgia, a gold star! You just keep getting better. Love that Puck is teaching Beatrix to the age old cat lore.
Only from a cat point of view–I love them myself! The best pickles in the world are made by my friend’s Dad in Maine. Homemade and super flavorful! I wish he would sell them, I’d probably live off them!
When I was a kid, we had a female Siamese named Squaller. She started out as Georgina because she was born on George Washington’s birthday. The name change came after her first “heat” cycle, but I digress. Anyway, she loved olives. Neither my dad nor I liked pimento stuffed olives, so we got the ones with pits. If we failed to put the discarded pits in a cat proof place, she would eat the pits. Unfortunately, her body treated pits the same way it treated hairballs!
Loved the hunting lesson. And Puck trying to save the kitten from the pickle. I’m not sure my cat Misty would agree that they are terrible. She likes things that you wouldn’t usually think a cat would.
We had an awesome hunter called Bernie. Cheeky cream persian. He was a multiple times rspca cat, who had learned to wander. We saw him one day a week, but we knew he was home, because the bathroom had presents for us. Live birds, sitting on the shpwer curtain singing their alarm calls at us. We found out how when mom went to the nearby allotment plot. He had found his way over there, and would wait by the netted over fruit trees. Once a bird came by he would scare it just so, so it ended up under the net, then wait until it tired itself out trying to escape the tree, then when it tired itself out, he would carefully pick it up and bring it home, drop it on the bathmat, and guard it til it flew up to the shower curtain rail. He only ever hurt one, and that was cos it flapped it’s wing as he was bringing it in through the catflap.
Aw, my mother’s 79-year-old housemate says “oh buttons!” in place of swearing (also “oh sugar!”). She’s originally from New Jersey, is that an East Coast thing?
And I completely agree with Puck that the pickle slice is NOT suitable for hunting, hah!
I am not certain! My best friend Preston once famously said it in front of a crowd of children while in an Easter bunny costume. As it sounds, it’s a long story, ha!! The short version is we used to work for a grocery store and Preston ended up the Easter bunny one spring. As the children surrounded him for hugs and adoration during the egg hunt, he stumbled and lost his footing, exclaiming with a quick save in front of a sea of sweet faces, “OH… BUTTONS!!!” It’s been a thing we all like to say since.
Hah! What a great origin story for the term! I’ll have to ask Carolyn where she picked it up since it surely wasn’t at that grocery store {g}. I’m pretty sure I can figure out her “oh sugar” exclamation, given how easy it is to substitute a word with one less syllable….
I remember hearing my cousin start saying “sugar!” and “fudge!” in place of ordinary swearing. She was seven months pregnant with their first child at the time, and was so excited about being a parent that she was already getting into practice with stopping swearing.
I’ve never heard “buttons” as a swearword before, and the word I’d have thought it would replace isn’t used much in the US, as far as I know. (I’m in Scotland.)
When brother-in-law is making morning coffee the Maine Coon Posse line up and give him laser beam stares until he puts down an offering of 1/2 and 1/.2 cream. The You-Will-Obey stare is strong with them. That Is The Cream They Are Looking For. Hurry Up and Hand It Over.
Puck is a good teacher. Knowing the skills of the sandwich hunter is vital to housecats. But when stealth fails, do the cats fall back on nuclear adorableness to obtain ham? Mine always does.
You’re on a roll (or maybe a sammich ?), Georgia ! Beatrix is SO CUTE, fitting right in with her “adopted” home…and Uncle Pucky, mentoring her on the finer points of indoor “hunting” (NOPE…Nope, nope, nope -). Lovin’ the Boys & our new poly-baby Bea !!!
I agree with Puck cause I don’t like dill pickles either. My cats love chicken and turkey but not ham. Not even bacon, although my youngest loves lettuce.
Thanks Alison. I didn’t think of it quickly enough or i could have used Plucky Pucky instead of Purrrrrfect Pucky. Now that would have been a mouthful! hee hee
Just love Puck and Beatrix. My kitten got the hunting down perfect but not the playing. Everything we do with the toys is hunting and she does not give up the toy.
Glad to see the boys are teaching her the ways of cat. She is such a cutie.
I was out running an errand today, and came home to find my butter on the floor, mostly eaten. I have a feeling it’s my newest addition, 10 month old Velcro, who got his prey. I love your strip so much, and recommended it to my friend who works for a cat rescue organization.
Beatrix and her big ears and big paws and cute curly eyelashes is so adorable. Puck teaching the finer points of The Hunt—- what a great guy! Don’t eat that pickle—- it will take some doing to get that taste out of your mouth. The boys have taken to Beatrix and she has taken to the boys!
I love this! Our cats used to be outside cats, and they caught stuff all the time. They’re inside cats now so they obviously don’t do that anymore!
I love that you talk about special needs cats on your special report. One of our cats didn’t see to well so she had some problems. Thank you so much for making that comic!
Not so much hunting around here, but there is plenty of chair surfing. Make that chair and footstool surfing. Both Fido and O’Malley will take running leaps, with the resulting spin most satisfying.
Wonderful scene, Big Brother teaching the finer things in life. We all know that little Jean Louise will soon rule the roost.
My cat could use some stealth lessons from Puck! I moved a couple of months ago, and while we’re mostly back to normal, my cat initially decided new house, new rules, and would try to hop up onto the dining table so she could steal my dinner! Apparently the silly beast didn’t realize that I could see 10 pounds of long-haired calico right in the middle of the table…
Tammy, one of my former kitties, took up household hunting by herself. When she was small, she went after fairly big game and packed the bird around. It was good to know that, with her on the job, we were safe from marauding feather dusters.
She could also flip my other cat, Sai Sai, when they got fighting. That was quite an accomplishment as Tammy weighed about 2 1/2 pounds at the time, and Sai Sai weighted about ten pounds. I called it kat-rate or kara-paw. (Japanese: “kara” empty, “te” hand).
I am not sure if it will be on EBay at some point, ha! I wish I could give it all to charity, but the book proceeds will be part of our income to keep the comic (and the household!) going!
Of course you should keep the income to support your growing household. You already give all of us so much, including laughter, tears, whimsy, and an on line community. Time we give back to you and His Excellency. Can’t wait for the books, plan to purchase multiple copies for gifts and spread the word. You are an absolute treasure.
I once had a wonderful sweet cat named Abe who brought home a box of KFC after one of his hunting expeditions. Never had another cat that brought home his prey already cooked!
Yang used to go crazy for chile relleno stems. This was in New Mexico, so you’d think he was bred to spicy food, but he was actually born in Seattle, so who knows where he got it.
Georgia, what are those red things on the plate? I thought they were decoration until I saw a few had fallen off on the table..lol.. Are they pomegranate seeds? Loved the faces on the doting boys. Kind of reminds me of three men and a baby
My tripod tortie Paige successfully hunted two whole roasted chicken breasts last week. My flatmates were too busy laughing and admiring her athletic leap onto the countertop to be very cross about their lunch being dragged across the floor… The chicken was salvaged and has been doled out in portions ever since. She couldn’t have it on the day as a reward for the naughtiness, of course, but she is helpfully preventing food waste!
Just noticed (belatedly) Pucks “Pink Pads”. Unusual for a black kitty, but they come in all shades. We had a wonderful yellow kitten who came into the shelter with a badly broken hind leg. Lots of time and surgery put him back together. He was adopted by a wonderful couple and tended to get into the lower ranges of the grand piano, and loved to hang out on the couch with his (now repaired) hind legs behind him “pink pads up”. We just received a Valentine Day picture of him on the master bedroom bed PINK PADS UP! You gotta love it! It is the response from our “Alumni” cats and dogs that keep all of us who volunteer at the shelter showing up every morning before the paid staff. Hugs
I love BCN! It is the highlight of my week!
Dictated by Lily: HOLD OUT FOR PROSCIUTTO, BEATRIX! IT IS FOOD FOR THE BAST!
Lily loves to eat prosciutto and will sing and dance to get it. She especially loves to eat it while watching Scandal on TV! She is a Ticked Tabbyssinian of wealth and taste!
My partner and I split the week between our flats, and Ninja took a while to get used to this. Early on, she would occasionally hide under the kitchen cabinets when was time to load up the wheelchair and get to the other flat. So one day I lured her out by opening a tin of tuna, then put the tuna in the fridge before she could eat it. I should feel guilty, but I don’t.
These days we live in the same building, so on the rare occasions when she doesn’t want to leave her nest, we just leave her, take everything else across, and if you go back ten minutes later, she will be at the front door complaining about being abandoned.
I need to start using “Oh buttons.”
Beatrix is SO cute! I really hope she ends up staying with you guys and becoming a reporter! “Oh, buttons.” “The prey has taken flight!” I love it all, Georgia!
Beware the dreaded pickle, young one!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
I love how fluffy Beatrix paws always are. =3
(Pouncing lesson? ~_^)
I think Beatrix is polydactl.
I love “Oh buttons!”
I got a cute Polydactyl kitteh. He was a stray that a nice lady took in, made sure he was alright (though he had lost the use of one of his eyes, seemingly in a fight at some point), and then looked for a good home for him.
I named him Giggles, because he always gives a short loud purr whenever you look like you might give him some attention. He’s really cute.
Hilarious! I love the expressions on Beatrix’s face (and ears)!
Very “Awwwwwwwwwww” inspiring,Georgia!
I read that first as ‘ice cream cake’, and imagined Elvis pulling one slowly and stealthily off a counter top. I cream cones are good too, but it’s less likely that a human would turn their back on one.
He would, too. Elvis loves ice cream!
Our DJ loves ice cream. When we go to DQ, I usually get a child’s portion for him, so he can have some. Then The Man here eats the rest.
Watching the adults teaching the kids how to get in to trouble is always so fun. I can see Bea’s butt-wiggle to pounce even without being able to see her backside! Pucky’s such a wonderful big brudder, not wanting his lil’ sistur to find out firsthand how awful (to cats, at least) pickles taste.
Dictated by Sparky: Now what you do, Bea, is look pathetic and cute and starving and maaaybe the Man will give you a little of his ham. Always works for me!
Dictated by Chase: I approve of looking pathetic and/or cute in pursuit of pork products. My Woman is generally susceptible to that stategy.
I’m vegan, my partner isn’t. When we’re cooking at home, we cook vegan and he adds cheese to his. When we are getting take-out, he gets meat. Ninja will come right up to him and then sit there, making a point of looking good as gold, wanting bits of his take-out. She may not necessarily eat them, of course, even after he’s carefully licked the sauce off Chinese food, or taken the batter off fried chicken. Once he was eating fried chicken and chips at the dining table, and he’d hold bits out to her, but she would spurn them. Then he put a piece on the floor. Once his back was turned, she snuck up, grabbed it, went behind the sofa with it, and ate it furtively. Apparently it’s important to steal your food.
Hah. Can’t hold a candle to my mom’s old orange geezer cat Sunny, who retired to our house. He once sailed over a dining room chair and grabbed a piece of chicken with barely a touch of the paw on the chair. (Oh, those Beatrix pawwes!!! She is such a beautiful kitten!)
My new rescue kitten seems not to have any trouble finding “prey”. As always Georgia, a gold star! You just keep getting better. Love that Puck is teaching Beatrix to the age old cat lore.
Why not pickles?
Only from a cat point of view–I love them myself! The best pickles in the world are made by my friend’s Dad in Maine. Homemade and super flavorful! I wish he would sell them, I’d probably live off them!
yeah, ours seem to love pickle juice, especially olives
When I was a kid, we had a female Siamese named Squaller. She started out as Georgina because she was born on George Washington’s birthday. The name change came after her first “heat” cycle, but I digress. Anyway, she loved olives. Neither my dad nor I liked pimento stuffed olives, so we got the ones with pits. If we failed to put the discarded pits in a cat proof place, she would eat the pits. Unfortunately, her body treated pits the same way it treated hairballs!
Loved the hunting lesson. And Puck trying to save the kitten from the pickle. I’m not sure my cat Misty would agree that they are terrible. She likes things that you wouldn’t usually think a cat would.
Well, Lucky is in a pickle!
My Koko cat once latched onto a sandwich while my brother was eating it. Hysterical!
We had an awesome hunter called Bernie. Cheeky cream persian. He was a multiple times rspca cat, who had learned to wander. We saw him one day a week, but we knew he was home, because the bathroom had presents for us. Live birds, sitting on the shpwer curtain singing their alarm calls at us. We found out how when mom went to the nearby allotment plot. He had found his way over there, and would wait by the netted over fruit trees. Once a bird came by he would scare it just so, so it ended up under the net, then wait until it tired itself out trying to escape the tree, then when it tired itself out, he would carefully pick it up and bring it home, drop it on the bathmat, and guard it til it flew up to the shower curtain rail. He only ever hurt one, and that was cos it flapped it’s wing as he was bringing it in through the catflap.
Oh, wow!! That is wild!
Ah – Bernie was trying to teach you how to hunt for yourselves by bringing home live prey. Very considerate of him.
We’re terrible cats, you know. It’s very good of them to be so patient when they are trying to teach us how to cat.
Aw, my mother’s 79-year-old housemate says “oh buttons!” in place of swearing (also “oh sugar!”). She’s originally from New Jersey, is that an East Coast thing?
And I completely agree with Puck that the pickle slice is NOT suitable for hunting, hah!
I am not certain! My best friend Preston once famously said it in front of a crowd of children while in an Easter bunny costume. As it sounds, it’s a long story, ha!! The short version is we used to work for a grocery store and Preston ended up the Easter bunny one spring. As the children surrounded him for hugs and adoration during the egg hunt, he stumbled and lost his footing, exclaiming with a quick save in front of a sea of sweet faces, “OH… BUTTONS!!!” It’s been a thing we all like to say since.
Hah! What a great origin story for the term! I’ll have to ask Carolyn where she picked it up since it surely wasn’t at that grocery store {g}. I’m pretty sure I can figure out her “oh sugar” exclamation, given how easy it is to substitute a word with one less syllable….
I remember hearing my cousin start saying “sugar!” and “fudge!” in place of ordinary swearing. She was seven months pregnant with their first child at the time, and was so excited about being a parent that she was already getting into practice with stopping swearing.
I’ve never heard “buttons” as a swearword before, and the word I’d have thought it would replace isn’t used much in the US, as far as I know. (I’m in Scotland.)
Stealthy cat:
https://www.facebook.com/thepetcollective/videos/1190512750963528/
A* pouncing there.
Ohhhhhhh! I just loooove Pucky’s Pink Paw pushing the Pickle Plate protectively away from his Pupil:-)
When brother-in-law is making morning coffee the Maine Coon Posse line up and give him laser beam stares until he puts down an offering of 1/2 and 1/.2 cream. The You-Will-Obey stare is strong with them. That Is The Cream They Are Looking For. Hurry Up and Hand It Over.
Love the pickle plate being pushed away. And Bea’s expressions! Wonderfully done!
Puck is a good teacher. Knowing the skills of the sandwich hunter is vital to housecats. But when stealth fails, do the cats fall back on nuclear adorableness to obtain ham? Mine always does.
You’re on a roll (or maybe a sammich ?), Georgia ! Beatrix is SO CUTE, fitting right in with her “adopted” home…and Uncle Pucky, mentoring her on the finer points of indoor “hunting” (NOPE…Nope, nope, nope -). Lovin’ the Boys & our new poly-baby Bea !!!
Camera one?
I agree with Puck cause I don’t like dill pickles either. My cats love chicken and turkey but not ham. Not even bacon, although my youngest loves lettuce.
If Purrrrfect Pucky plucked a peck of plated pickles, how many pecks of plated pickles would Purrrrrfect Pucky pluck?
Loved the Oh buttons, and don’t want to spook it! Another gem Georgia!!
Yikes! I wouldn’t even *try* to repeat that one 3 times fast – well done, Gloria!
Thanks Alison. I didn’t think of it quickly enough or i could have used Plucky Pucky instead of Purrrrrfect Pucky. Now that would have been a mouthful! hee hee
That little tip-of-the-tail wiggle, those eyes, those ears…that kitten is a scene-stealer.
Just love Puck and Beatrix. My kitten got the hunting down perfect but not the playing. Everything we do with the toys is hunting and she does not give up the toy.
Glad to see the boys are teaching her the ways of cat. She is such a cutie.
My daughter’s cat, Charlie once successfully extracted an entire roast beef sandwich from the hands of his man.
Loved it!
My cats “hunt’, too.
We have to watch all plates around here.
I’m falling in love with little Beatrix; she’s a very lucky kitty to have acquired such wonderful big brothers (and human family, too).
No pickles! Nope, nope, nope!
I was out running an errand today, and came home to find my butter on the floor, mostly eaten. I have a feeling it’s my newest addition, 10 month old Velcro, who got his prey. I love your strip so much, and recommended it to my friend who works for a cat rescue organization.
Elvis would approve!
Beatrix and her big ears and big paws and cute curly eyelashes is so adorable. Puck teaching the finer points of The Hunt—- what a great guy! Don’t eat that pickle—- it will take some doing to get that taste out of your mouth. The boys have taken to Beatrix and she has taken to the boys!
Vote me in for keeping Beatrix around or at least adopted by a near by family. Because I also want to see her be a junior reporter.
Brave Puckie! Protecting his little student from the evil pickle!
I love this! Our cats used to be outside cats, and they caught stuff all the time. They’re inside cats now so they obviously don’t do that anymore!
I love that you talk about special needs cats on your special report. One of our cats didn’t see to well so she had some problems. Thank you so much for making that comic!
You’re welcome!! Thank you! Special needs kitties are near and dear to us thanks to Lupin and Puck, and a few cats owned by family as well.
Not so much hunting around here, but there is plenty of chair surfing. Make that chair and footstool surfing. Both Fido and O’Malley will take running leaps, with the resulting spin most satisfying.
Wonderful scene, Big Brother teaching the finer things in life. We all know that little Jean Louise will soon rule the roost.
That is so fun!
My cat could use some stealth lessons from Puck! I moved a couple of months ago, and while we’re mostly back to normal, my cat initially decided new house, new rules, and would try to hop up onto the dining table so she could steal my dinner! Apparently the silly beast didn’t realize that I could see 10 pounds of long-haired calico right in the middle of the table…
Tammy, one of my former kitties, took up household hunting by herself. When she was small, she went after fairly big game and packed the bird around. It was good to know that, with her on the job, we were safe from marauding feather dusters.
She could also flip my other cat, Sai Sai, when they got fighting. That was quite an accomplishment as Tammy weighed about 2 1/2 pounds at the time, and Sai Sai weighted about ten pounds. I called it kat-rate or kara-paw. (Japanese: “kara” empty, “te” hand).
Pssst, Georgia, um, is the book coming out available on Ebay as well? Will the proceeds go to charity ?? Can’t wait!
I am not sure if it will be on EBay at some point, ha! I wish I could give it all to charity, but the book proceeds will be part of our income to keep the comic (and the household!) going!
Of course you should keep the income to support your growing household. You already give all of us so much, including laughter, tears, whimsy, and an on line community. Time we give back to you and His Excellency. Can’t wait for the books, plan to purchase multiple copies for gifts and spread the word. You are an absolute treasure.
Thank you, Martha! <3
I am loving Beatrix, the Cat of Many Toes. Such big, floofy paws!
ROTFL! Buttons!
“Oh Buttons!!!”………….. love it, I need to start using that one.
A Ham Sandwich……. got to agree with Elvis there.
I love that Puck is the one teaching Beatrix how to hunt.
Gerkins – the preserved remains of the Cat’s greatest nemesis – the Cucumber! Keep a safe distance, little one!
I once had a wonderful sweet cat named Abe who brought home a box of KFC after one of his hunting expeditions. Never had another cat that brought home his prey already cooked!
I would love to know the story on that “hunt”.
Yang used to go crazy for chile relleno stems. This was in New Mexico, so you’d think he was bred to spicy food, but he was actually born in Seattle, so who knows where he got it.
‘ The prey has taken flight ‘ – ha ha! love that line
Georgia, what are those red things on the plate? I thought they were decoration until I saw a few had fallen off on the table..lol.. Are they pomegranate seeds? Loved the faces on the doting boys. Kind of reminds me of three men and a baby
Oops! They are meant to be decoration, a few dots may have strayed from the brush, ha!
I just figured the little bit of red was the toothpick decoration the Man removed before eating.
My tripod tortie Paige successfully hunted two whole roasted chicken breasts last week. My flatmates were too busy laughing and admiring her athletic leap onto the countertop to be very cross about their lunch being dragged across the floor… The chicken was salvaged and has been doled out in portions ever since. She couldn’t have it on the day as a reward for the naughtiness, of course, but she is helpfully preventing food waste!
The hunt is still on. Wonder what Puck has up his sleeve.
I’m calling the new kid Scout. I believe that’s where her personality will be. She’s a Scout.
(3
Just noticed (belatedly) Pucks “Pink Pads”. Unusual for a black kitty, but they come in all shades. We had a wonderful yellow kitten who came into the shelter with a badly broken hind leg. Lots of time and surgery put him back together. He was adopted by a wonderful couple and tended to get into the lower ranges of the grand piano, and loved to hang out on the couch with his (now repaired) hind legs behind him “pink pads up”. We just received a Valentine Day picture of him on the master bedroom bed PINK PADS UP! You gotta love it! It is the response from our “Alumni” cats and dogs that keep all of us who volunteer at the shelter showing up every morning before the paid staff. Hugs
I love BCN! It is the highlight of my week!
Dictated by Lily: HOLD OUT FOR PROSCIUTTO, BEATRIX! IT IS FOOD FOR THE BAST!
Lily loves to eat prosciutto and will sing and dance to get it. She especially loves to eat it while watching Scandal on TV! She is a Ticked Tabbyssinian of wealth and taste!
Oh, yes. I recently tried a prosciutto and I-did-not-hear-the-name-clearly cheese pizza, and it was greater than great.
My kitties used to love cheese. When they learned that I was fair about handing it out, they quit growling and gulping it down.
I can’t wait until Puck teaches Beatrix about hunting bed mice!
If I open a can of tuna, there is usually a riot!
My partner and I split the week between our flats, and Ninja took a while to get used to this. Early on, she would occasionally hide under the kitchen cabinets when was time to load up the wheelchair and get to the other flat. So one day I lured her out by opening a tin of tuna, then put the tuna in the fridge before she could eat it. I should feel guilty, but I don’t.
These days we live in the same building, so on the rare occasions when she doesn’t want to leave her nest, we just leave her, take everything else across, and if you go back ten minutes later, she will be at the front door complaining about being abandoned.
Please have an Our IX Lives episode .. Or wedding!