Desktop Meme from the Cat Realm

I got tagged for this meme by Karl over at the Cat Realm! Yay!

This is my desktop as it is on
Thursday, 12th October '07.


Needless to say, it is this picture of Starbuck that caught my eye while searching for a bengal breeder. I fell in love with him and didn't imagine for a minute that he would still be available. He was and now he's mine and he's more than I could ever have hoped or dreamed of! And little did I know at the time, but I was going to be getting two! (P.S. I checked numerous countries, breeders and even breeds i.e. Savannah before deciding on my boys. It took months and months! I was amazed that I came back to the very first pics I saw! I was even on wait lists and everything before I saw him and I was immediately hooked!)

P.S. I got my days mixed up and posted my T13 on Tuesday by accident! Sorry!

Here are the meme rules:
Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop.It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun. Here’s how you can do a screen capture:
1.Go to your desktop and press the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key).
2.Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and doing a Paste (CTRL + V). If you wish, you can “edit” the image before saving it.
3.Post the picture on your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop if you want. You can explain why you prefer such a look or why it is full of icons. Things like that.
4.Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktops as well. I'm so late to be doing this, I think everyone must have already done it! If you haven't, I TAG YOU! I'd love to see more desktops! Let me know if you do it!

Torrey Up Close - T13 (My First)

The three boys were on my bed a while back and sleeping soundly. I quickly grabbed my camera and took some shots of them, trying to get some close-ups of my very shy boy, Torrey - a marbled bengal.

Torrey is tricolored, meaning he has three colours that are filled with amazing 'glitter' - which doesn't show on any pictures I have except for when he was a kitten (this pic was taken of Torrey at 8 weeks).


His pattern is swirly and very pretty! Lots of sparkly colour!




Whoops! He woke up so I backed off until he started snoozing again!



Torrey is unusual as he has rosettes starting to form within his pattern, even though he is a marbled bengal and rosettes are usually only seen in spotted bengals. The rosettes are getting more and more defined as he gets older (even though you can't see them properly in the pics!) and are now tan coloured in the centre, gold around the outside and dark brown around the gold. Very funky.



But he doesn't have any rosettes on his right side, only his left!



Here are some pics of Torrey as a kitten! The first one is the earliest pic I have! I think he's two weeks old in this pic!


These pics show you his coat at 5 weeks!


He's a really, really, really shy boy, but he's lovely! I have used some techniques on him that are used by those working with Asian Leopard Cats and they have really worked!

So, while Starbuck may look more like an Asian Leopard Cat, Torrey's personality is much more like his wild ancestors than Starbuck's! It truly is like having an Asian Leopard Cat living with me!

P.S. This was a T13 as I have included exactly 13 pics of Torrey! I hope you enjoyed them!

P.P.S. Remember to visit my friend over at her new blog, Fate of the Animals!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

A Couple of Starbuck

Here are two pics taken during our 'photo session' on my bed that I particularly like! More coming tomorrow as I've prepared a huge photo T13 of Torrey up close!

I like these two pics of of Starbuck (although I know the second one is out of focus, I still like it!). I should probably have saved the first one for Tuesday Tummies, but ah well... I case you're wondering, Starbuck in the first pic has jumped up and grabbed a tambourine. What can be seen in this pic are the tambourine ribbons as the tambourine falls on top of him! Ha ha... it was funny to watch!


"Hey! What are you looking at! I'm still a little dazed and confused from being hit on the head by a big noisy wooden thing!!!"



SNEAK PREVIEW!!!
....................................................
And here is a preview of a post I'll post later on this week. Starbuck has figured out how to jump onto the top of my bathroom door and across to the shower curtain rod. I've got the whole escapade in detailed pics! I'll post soon! I love these pics!

Evil Cat (a.k.a. "Sick of Being a Fashion Model cat!")

Leave me alone! I'm sleeping!!!


Hmm... maybe if I ignore her she'll go away!


These pics were taken of Sebastian, on my bed, in the middle of what can only be described as a 'fashion shoot'! The boys had been sleeping and I thought I would get some great shots of Torrey's coat while he was sleeping (I did and will post them soon!).

This shot is of Sebastian as he tells me he is sick of being a model and would like some peace and quiet!

P.P.S. Remember to go and visit my friend over at 'Fate of the Animals'. She has a "Art Cat Revelation" on her blog today! She is an amazing artist and loves cats!

Psst... she would really love some comments, too!

A New Blog!

A friend of mine has just started a new blog and I thought you may all be interested in visiting! It's called 'Fate of the Animals' and it has a beautiful pic of a kitty that she saw in Cyprus!

Go visit! It's fun!

P.S. I can't post pics at all from home. I'm going to have to be content with words from home. How boring!

Ah well, go over and check out the new blog!

P.S. Please leave a COMMENT for her! It's a long post so you'll have to scroll down a way to comment. Thanks!

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

Took me half an hour to post this one pic.
Needless to say, today will be wordless.

Top 100 Cat Sites!

Yay!!! Look! I got into the top 100 cat sites! I've been waiting for a few weeks now and, today, I finally got in! It's a nice surprise after not being able to post for a while!


I went in at 148 when I first joined up, and I've gone up everyday. I'm going to keep blogging and hopefully I'll keep going up! Yay!

I can't post pics!!!

I don't know what's wrong but I can't post any pics!!! I sometimes have this problem from home (I usually post from work). I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow (Tuesday) to post the posts I've prepared! How annoying! No posts since Thursday! Oh well... check back tomorrow.

Chim Chim - Part 2

So, Chim Chim is now happy with a family that has four children and a big house! But he still comes to visit from time to time when his new family are on vacation, which is fantastic as I get to see him! He's still fantastic and is maturing nicely.

Anyway, the first time he came to visit, the cats were freaked. They were not ready for a visit and so it ended up with three accidents on the sofa and one or two on my housemate's bed. Not fun. So, this time he came to visit I dedicated the dining room and living room as his area, and everything behind the hall door as the cats area. Life was good! But I had to take these pics of my lovely cats trying to figure out what was on the other side of the door! They could smell him but they couldn't see him. So, they camped out by the door. These pics were taken at 2am and so the quality isn't great as I had to modify them. I just thought they were too funny!

If you look carefully, you can see Chim Chim's sillouette through the door!

I'll post some pics of Chim Chim grown up soon! He's a darling!

Pictures for Maggy and Zoey

Yay! We got funky pictures made by Maggy and Zoey over at Zoolatry! I hope you all like them as much as we do! We think they are wonderful! Thank you, Maggy and Zoey!

Starbuck

Torrey

Chim Chim - Part 1

Before getting my wonderful bengal kittens, I had decided to get a dog instead as a companion for Sebastian. I did my research and finally decided on a long haired chihuahua (spelling?). You may think strange choice, but for an apartment in Hong Kong - perfect! And they get along well with other animals and, if trained properly, do not make lots of noice. I didn't actually know if any of this was true, but, for Chinese New Year, I got a tiny, black and white chihuahua named 'Sooty'. He was beautiful! A ball of fuzz! And he didn't make a noise! Yay! I had searched all of Hong Kong for him and he was perfect!

(Doesn't he look just like a toy! He loved being on his back!)

Little did I know, that I am NOT, in any way, a dog person. Growing up in Hong Kong I had pets, but all small enough to fit into a cage or a tank i.e. hamsters, fish, turtles and rabbits. Even getting Sebastian had been an experiment to see whether or not I was cut out for having pets (and I never, in a million years, expected to keep Sebastian and bring him all the way from the UK to Hong Kong!).


Anyway, I'm rambling. I got Sooty home and set up his area in my toilet until a vet could check him over - especially as I had bought him from a pet store (TERRIBLE!!! I will never do this again! Only, Hong Kong's pet industry is pet store oriented and not breeder oriented and I didn't know better!). To cut a long story short, I thought he was beautiful and perfect and lovely, but I just knew I couldn't live with him. I thought life had come to an end!


Thankfully, it was one of my student's birthdays coming up and a puppy was a perfect gift! So, my student is now Sooty a.k.a. Chim Chim's mum and he is doing great! He is still tiny and over a year old! And he is still as beautiful and as perfect as when he was a puppy! Ok..... To be continued in another post!

Sebastian on the right. Chim Chim on the left. Hmm... aren't the dogs supposed to be bigger than the cats in this world?

Fast asleep in his bed.

Torrey Close Ups

Trying to get close up pics of Torrey can be challenging as he doesn't like cameras! Usually pictures are from afar and then cropped and zoomed to get closer!





But on this day, Torrey was more interested in playing with his mouse than avoiding the camera! So, I got a few pics - awful background (my boxes of teaching resources which I store in the dining room!), but at least I got some Torrey pics without having to do the hold zoom and crop!




I still haven't mastered light and so you can't see any of his contrast or glitter. If you get up really close, he has rosettes and what looks black is actually three colours - black lined with shimmery brown and then light brown. I'll try to get some close ups so everyone can see it more clearly.

A Big HELLO!!!

A big hello to everyone in the Philippines! My dad let me know that you'd be dropping by my blog and so I thought I would say a big hello! I'll have to come and visit you all soon!

Tagged Again! Not TMI Meme...

I've been tagged again, by the black and white beauty, Willie. Yay!

Ok, here goes... random, weird and fun facts...

1. During my first meal in Hong Kong, I made the weirdest noises like a wild animal! I don't make those noises anymore, but it sure did make everyone stop and watch... wondering if everything was ok!


2. I play with water. Love it! Especially the water fountain! My favourite is dunking toys in the water and leaving them there for later!


3. I growl... a lot! Especially when carrying feather toys... It has woken everyone up wondering what the noise was! A little scary!


4. I am scared of NOTHING!!! (except the vacuum and hairdryers!!)

5. My favourite food is pork floss (from Thailand). This weekend I grabbed a bag and clawed my way into it! (very worrying as it is so dry it can easily make him choke!)

6. I follow my people around like a dog!

7. I was born in Australia and came to Hong Kong with my brother and sister when I was 12 weeks old. My sister now lives with another family in Hong Kong!

Ok, that's all I can think of for now! Hope you enjoyed the random facts about Starbuck!

I'm tagging Sylvester a.k.a. Sly, Honey P. Sunshine and Latte the Meezer.


The guidelines for this tag:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules
2. Write some facts about yourself: some random, some weird, some just plain fun.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them)
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
Keep it interesting without making us think “Um, too much information…”

How they got their names!

I got tagged by Sylvester a.k.a. Sly for this meme about how my cats got their names. Here are the three stories:

Torrey

My breeder named him! I hadn't anticipated getting two bengals and so hadn't put any thought into 2 names. When the breeder told me she had already sent in his papers with the name Torrey, I didn't change it because I wanted him to be called the same name as on his papers. I have considered changing it to China, Echo etc., but never have. So, until I decide any different, it will stay Torrey.

Starbuck

Starbuck's name was given lots and lots of thought (as you can see, I get again ignored solid Internet advice and named him a 2 syllable name with an 'S' sound!). In the end it was Starbuck off Battleship Gallactica and my love for Starbuck's, combined with my love for Moby Dick that did it.

Sebastian

I had thought and thought about what to name him and simply couldn't decide. I don't even remember what the choices were! Anyway, I went to pic him up and at the time wasn't even thinking of a name - I just couldn't get over how this "kitten" was so BIG! Maine Coons are big! You never really get a kitten stage with them - they come out big!

Anyway, I walked into my home (I was living in Swansea, Wales at the time on a one year sabbatical from my job in Hong Kong) and put the carrier down and said something to him about being home and instinctively called him "Sebastian". I couldn't believe the words had come out of my mouth! It wasn't even a name I had considered (read online and you'll find out you are 'advised' to use something one syllable, not beginning in an 'S' sound!!!). Anyway, that was it. He was Sebastian - and he learnt his name very quickly, although I do tend to call him Sib for short.

They all know their names, although "Sib Sib" is now almost a generic term for "Food's Coming"!!!

I am going to tag three cats. They will have to tell the story of how they got their names, and then tag three other cats. You should announce which cats you are tagging in your blog, and then let them know by commenting in their blogs.

1. Perfectly Parker
2. Mr. Chen and Ollie
3. Noa and Ash

More On Top of Doors!!! (Mancat Monday)

Starbuck is obsessed with doors: climbing them, jumping up onto them, scratching at the top of them and generally being as high as he can get! These photos were taken of Starbuck as he first walked past me on the dining room cupboards towards the door.


He then anticipates his next move while checking out the kitchen door incase it opens and he gets to run in illegally!


One more quick look to his left and then he jumps and lands on top of the dining room door.


"Yay! I'm up! Now I can really see what's going on below me! Especially the kitchen door!!!"


After a little exploring to find a comfy place to settle...


He changes his mind and gets ready to jump down! (his left ear looks really weird... who knows why!)

"Ah... that was boring! On to more exciting things!"



I think that Starbuck's spots will look strange in photos because of the flash: I guess it reflects off the spots giving them more light and not the dark contrast that they are in reality! I'll keep trying to hone my photography skills to get some better shots of him soon!