04.29.05

General pics of my spoiled kitty and his stuff. I got this magical water dish so he'd stop whining at his water dish. This did nothing for him that I can ascertain. He still whines at it, all I know is it's not the water quality issue that I once thought it was, as he's now the only beast around here with triple-filtered water. And yes, that is an electrical cord. It keeps a pump going which keeps a constant water fall down that center ramp lookin' thingie. This is supposed to help naturally cool the water... I also believed this might break his fascination with the toilet as a water source, again, I was wrong.

The cat condo has several improvements over the old box. The second floor was again built with the shelf the box included, but now I have two keyboard boxes, so I cut both of them down to make supports for the upper "floor". This one I put in windows and swinging doors... he hasn't figured out the doors, but he likes to smack at them. I had to leave a couple of open doors for this reason... I think he liked the old one better, but then I haven't treated this one with 'nip yet either.

The first two were of Oscar right before I was going to go to sleep. He's all sprawled out like "look bud, if you thought I was saving this spot for you, you're dead wrong... I called it." The one on the upper right is interesting - particularly after a contrast effect had been applied... he's practically a ghost! I managed to avoid use of a flash in that one and in the bottom left giving a really good shot for his eyes. I'm holding a florescent desk lamp just over him, that's what he's looking at in the first one, in the second he gets intrigued by the other device I'm aiming at him. I had to do some a fix to the pupils in that pic since the light was reflecting a little in there, but it was way easier without the flash on, and the red glow didn't overpower the glint in the eye, so that looks pretty true to life. The last two I took today. I'm envious of anyone who can be that comfortable nearly all the time.

08.29.04

Wow... this one on the left just rules. Low light conditions are the most exquisite things for his eyes. Unlike many of the others, I didn't have to fake pupils on these two. In the larger images the damage the increase of brightness causes is far more obvious. Anyway he just jumped up there, and I knew if I chased down the light switch he'd move as I've never seen him jump up on the chair like that before. I would have tried some color correction on the left one, but the blue in his eyes was just too much and I'd loose most of it in the process. In the right one I believe he is considering a ten foot leap or so to the window sill. As always, he determined it was just too much work and plopped himself into the seat for a five minute snooze. I haven't taken many pictures lately as he's got - or had - a huge bald spot on his back. That stuff has been growing in faster than it looked though. It was hard to tell because his skin is pretty dark back there and when the hair first comes in it is also very dark. It seems to be gradually getting a lighter gray as it grows. OD - his old dad - told me long hairs have a tendency to get really badly dry skin that can cause a shed like that... seems to fit the conditions I had here. Anyhow you think he's pretty cute in that left one... but realize that he's thinking "just keep it up punk... I will kill you in your sleep." He relaxes in the next one when he realizes I'm not going to use the flash this time. Tis all for now.