Elvis and Me as That Cool Cat That Wears Boots

Well, the lady won't say how many hours she spent on this. The phrase, "get a life" comes to mind.

For Elvis, she cut and pasted his fur from different photos. He looks kinda weird, so don't look too close.

Hey, Elvis. You're like Frankenstien's kitty.

Now, for me, she tried "cloning" my fur, but that didn't work out too well (she needs lessons in this Photoshop Elements thing). So, she just painted a body for me over the "real" Puss in Boots. Sheesh. Rip off. I do like how she matched my scarf to the feather in my cap.

Okay, if you'll excuse me, I have damsels in distress to rescue and some salmon to skewer.

Puss in Boots

There's something about cats wearing Three Musketeer style clothes (even I think it's cool). Maybe it's the boots, the hat with the feather, or the ruffled collar. The lady doesn't know if the style is medieval, renaissance , or something else. She did find out a little bit of the history of the Puss in Boots story, and, as with all fairy tales, it has many twists and turns.

The lady bought the old, framed print (shown above) of PiB about 15 years ago. She found it in a consignment shop and it now hangs in the bathroom, standing guard over who knows what.

She has a close friend, JD, who is always finding things for the lady...all the gifts have a special quality: whimsical, useful, and sometimes beautiful. Well, most of them. Once in awhile, there's a dud. Take this little PiB "action figure" for example. When you put it in water and let it sit there for about five minutes, it is supposed to double in size. Hah! The only thing that happened was that it got some kind of slimy granules all over it.

Yeah, I know. The "after" PiB looks smaller than the "before" PiB. But, it's not. Just look at the tape measure. It's the same size as before, just slimier.

Now, the next PiB-related item that JD got for the lady is pretty cute. Not useful in ANY way, and Elvis is scared of it, so it sits in an out of the way corner (not in the bathroom). This is a motion-activated, talking Puss in Boots. It is fourteen inches tall and it speaks in a Spanish accent (it could be the voice of Antonio Banderas, who knows?) and says things like, "I have traveled through many lands, but I would give all that up if you will just keep petting my head", [whistles] "Stop! there is no need to walk by, for Puss in Boots is right here", "Give me your hand, baby, I will keep you safe." You can't shut him up (except for the "off" switch, of course).

For you fans of Antonio Banderas as the voice of Puss in Boots (in the second and third Shrek movies), Puss in Boots will be starring in his own movie. The lady thinks PiB was the best character in the Shrek movies, so she may actually have to go and see it (she usually waits for Netflix--too much loud popcorn chewing going on in the movie theater).

P.S. I told the lady it would be okay to make a picture of me in Puss in Boots attire, but she says she needs to work on her Photoshop Elements skills.

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On another topic:

We thank the people who kindly passed along the following awards. We think all the cat bloggers we have met are deserving of these awards and since it is very hard to keep track of who has already gotten what award, please feel free to accept one. There are rules and lists of things to do with each of them, but to be honest, I can barely get the lady to do a couple (or maybe three) posts a week, so as usual, she didn't do what she was supposed to with them. You can find the rules for each one by visiting the blogs who awarded them. Thanks again to the people who thought of us.

• Thanks to Cat with A Garden for the Bubblin' Over Award
• Thanks to Housecat Confidential for the Kreativ Award
• Thanks to The Whippy Curly Tails for the Lemonade Award
• Thanks to Ginger Jasper for the Proximity Award

Take Me to Your Leader

Okay, the lady is going a little kooky because she just got Photoshop Elements 7. She's wanted Photoshop since she took a Dreamweaver website design class at a Community College a year and a half ago, and they had Photoshop on the computers. She kept telling herself she would save up for it. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen.

She mentioned to Mishkat that she was saving up for Photoshop and Mishkat gave her some good advice--that she should check into Photoshop Elements. Now, the lady had some vague memory of hearing about Elements, and she thought it only did a few basic photo editing tasks, so she never even investigated it. But, this time she did some research and was surprised to find out how much stuff could be done in Elements. Plus, the cost was very, very reasonable ($99 with a $20 rebate versus about $600 for the "big" Photoshop).

So, she bought it! She is having fun exploring all the cool stuff you can do in it. She thinks it is like the "big" Photoshop, but without all the stuff you never use. I mean, it has layers, filters, effects, and every tool you could want! She knows that she has a lot to learn, and she is experimenting with photos as a way to learn how to do stuff.

So, dear blogger viewers, I fear you may be subjected to her strange photo manipulations and odd creations for awhile. Because I need her secretarial skills in order to post to this blog, I will have to indulge her enthusiasm. As long as she doesn't play me for the fool.

Wordless Wednesday

Thyme for Weeding

The sun was shining the other day, so I told the lady I'd help her do a little weeding. I checked out the area and found the spot where we should start.



I find that she works best under my guidance because she is apt to make mistakes, like here, where she is about to pull up a thyme plant instead of the obvious weed right next to it!



I decide to keep track of the thyme, er...time, and let the lady play in the dirt. I'm going to have the lady move this sundial as too much shade defeats the whole purpose!



When I decide that we have done enough weeding for the afternoon, I walk over to let her know that she can take a break, but advising her that she still has a lot of work left to do.



She thanks me for my benevolence with a nice head scratch. Those gloves tickle.
Hey, lady. I just noticed something. In this photo you look like you have "man-hands." Heh, heh.



Elvis was his usual helpful self.

hangdog

Adjective
dejected, ashamed, or guilty in appearance or manner

Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006

Woody, the landlord's dog, is a bit depressed. I guess his feelings got hurt when he found out that I named the landlord's two cats in a post, and the only mention he got was in the post that had my list of 10 honest things about myself, and his name was not even mentioned--he was only described as "the landlord's dog". To add insult to injury, I said that he yelped when I jumped on him with my claws out (well, he did!!).

And that is not the only reason he is moping around.

He now has to be on a long leash while the landlords, S and J, are at work. Woody used to have the run of the place up there, but he blew it, man! There is fencing around a large area near the landlord's house. This helps deter deer and other creatures from venturing in. Unfortunately, no matter how S and J tried to Woody-proof the fence, he kept escaping and running down the road to the neighbor's house to visit his dog girlfriend, Lola. And, when they get together...whoo-eee. Trouble. At their latest tryst, just for fun, they killed the landlord's chickens.

Now, Woody is sort of okay for a dog, although I don't quite trust him. I mean, as indicated by the aforementioned chicken episode, he can easily fall prey to a bad idea. A few times when he has been down here, he kind of tries to corner me...sort of like he wants to play (oh, he always acts all innocent), but I can never quite tell what his intentions are. I'm afraid I have to err on the side of caution (or, clawtion [heh, heh]). Which brings us back to the claws-in-the-back incident. I was up on my deck, minding my own business, when Woody walks up the steps and is looking in the screen door. First of all, that is MY job. Secondly, he just stood there like he owned the place, and way past any grace period I might have given him. So, I took a flying leap off the table right onto his back. Ooo-wee. You should have heard him yelp. He ran down the steps and headed toward home. Total overreaction (on his part, not mine). I didn't draw any blood. It was just my way of telling him to get off my balcony. Well, it must have worked, because he has never come up those steps again!

Anyway, I do sort of feel sorry for him. He is a good watchdog--he barks to keep away the bobcats and mountain lions, raccoons and who knows what else.

So, Woody. As my way of making amends, I am calling you by name in this post and I am including some photos of you. But, you still can't come up the steps. Seriously.

Wordless Wednesday