hummingcrow: one squall voice » cats

Attraction

cherylcolan — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:17:30 +0000

@DailyShoot – #ds587 – Make a photograph today that illustrates attraction.

My big fluffy cat is attracted to the lap of anyone wearing black.

Afternoon Snack

cherylcolan — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:50:17 +0000

Mr. C. opened this bag of cat kibble around breakfast time to give the outdoor cat some food. It took until noon for our indoor cat to figure out the bag was open and learn how to help himself. I’m impressed enough to document this for two reasons. One, that he can get the food out without knocking the bag over and spilling the contents. Two, that he can eat hard dry kibble with no teeth.

Cuddle Cat

cherylcolan — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 02:17:16 +0000

This is happening now. Our little stray is growing more and more trusting. Maybe he understands that we helped him. He’s become a truly great companion.

Cloud is dreaming

cherylcolan — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:28:36 +0000

Dreams of a toothless cat. Dreams I wish I could see. Continue reading →

Squeaky-Mouse Time

cherylcolan — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:58:55 +0000

This is just for my mom. She needs a cat fix. 4:30 of me playing with my cat using a squeaky mouse toy on a string – he likes any version of “thing on a string.” And mom, the bed isn’t made because he likes to play better on a surface that has some topography to navigate. The bed’s made now. I swear.

Hungry!

cherylcolan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:52:36 +0000

Because what the internet really needs is one more cat video.

I can’t help it, friends. He’s still new to us, and it’s a delight getting to know this little guy. I may as well share my delights. I hope you understand.

semi-conscious

cherylcolan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:27:18 +0000

Our cat sleeps with his eyes open a lot. It’s always a mystery whether he’ll wake up and react to being messed with or he’ll just lay there in his tranced-out state.

Sorry about the low light and autofocus. I was afraid he’d wake up if I got up and turned on a spotlight. I justified it – out-of-focus looks like semi-conscious. But it doesn’t. It just looks like amateur. But I don’t care, I got the shot before he woke up.

Kit-Cat Clock

cherylcolan — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:36:08 +0000

My mom bought me a Kit-Cat clock. On the one hand, it’s silly. But on the other hand, it’s a memento of my dear departed friend Merrill, the polydactyl tuxedo cat who loved to play fetch:

When I was a kid I was fascinated by moving clocks. One of our neighbors had several that were mesmerizing, including one of these. Overall, it’s a great gift and now lives on my office wall, where it can watch over me while I edit video.

The Queue

cherylcolan — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:30:20 +0000

For awhile, I fed two neighborhood cats. “White Kitty,” the one appearing second in this video, and “Silver,” a kitten I caught and had neutered, then re-released. Silver was carried away by a bird of prey, probably a hawk. A few new cats have turned up to take his place, but White Kitty is still the Queen in our yard. So a little queue has formed around feeding time. I hope I eventually gain these new cats’ trust so I can whisk them to the vet and make sure they’re healthy, and not reproducing more strays.

Name suggestions are welcome, by the way. I don’t think “Fraidy Cat” is fond of the moniker, and “Ring-Tail White Kitty” is just not a name. Not at all.

Last Days with Rosie

cherylcolan — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:29:48 +0000

I met my cat Rosie in 1993. Friends had taken her in off the street when she was about 6 months old. They took her to have her spayed, and during the process discovered she was pregnant – her kittens were lost. Their friend Ai, a poet, decided the kitty should be named Rosie. I spent an evening at their house, and Rosie spent the entire time purring in my lap, which convinced my friends she should go home with me. So she did, along with a case of Fancy Feast.

She was my faithful friend, always happiest when sitting on me, as close to my face as possible, purring like anything. Last year, Rosie developed cancer in her jaw, and it spread to invade her nasal passage and eye socket. When she could no longer enjoy her life, her vet came to our home and euthanized her as she sat in my lap for the last time. I spent as much time with her as I could in her last days, and documented our friendship.

One good thing about knowing the end is coming … you can prepare, and spend time together. Looking at this video makes me cry, but I’m glad I have it. I’ll never forget the little whistling sound she made when she drooled and purred at the same time, how warm she kept my feet on cold nights, or the soft feel of her fur. Godspeed, my little friend, until I meet you again.

Last Cat Standing

cherylcolan — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:53:52 +0000

I moved to this house with three cats. Only one is left. Of course, the house came with cats of its own. Some of them have gone as well. But the replacements keep turning up.

Here are a couple of the newcomers that turned up around All Hallow’s Eve:

Dinner by Twilight
Flash through Screen
FraidyCat Ran but Tang Stayed

lumiere 002: Skritch

cherylcolan — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:27:20 +0000

Update: January 17, 2008

I created five Lumiere videos between June 27 – July 22, 2007, in response to encouragement from fellow vlogger Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen. It was fun. My videos, along with those of many others, were linked to from videoblogging.info.

In August 2007, Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen and Brittany Shoot published the Lumiere Manifesto. I wish to publicly state that I disagree with most of the manifesto content, and that my Lumiere videos should not be construed as an endorsement of the manifesto. I am not interested in engaging in a conversation about the manifesto’s relative merits, or what I view as problematic. I simply wish to disassociate my work from it.

Original Post

After the last Lumiere video, I had to make one that was happy.

Bottled Sunshine

cherylcolan — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:19:14 +0000

This is for Jen Simmons, who wanted to see the sun today.

Cat Hair in Eye

cherylcolan — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 20:30:32 +0000

Click to Play

This just happened. It sucks. Even if I wash my eye with saline solution, it stays swollen. I have to use special allergy drops, which clears the problem but dilates my pupils for hours.

Bright side? I’ll look like Ze Frank (different sized pupils)

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by cheryl colan with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

Driving Miss Rosie

cherylcolan — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:55:47 +0000

I shot this footage a few weeks ago and am just now making time to edit it, so it looks like my theme for Videoblogging Week 2007 is “getting caught up on editing.”

I don’t have a lot of years left with Rosie, my true companion. It makes me want to document her personality while I still can. In this video we were on our way to the vet’s office for getting stitches removed. If you have cats, turn up your volume. They’ll probably go running around the room looking for my cat.

If you don’t like cats you should probably skip this video.

Five Things Vlog #4

cherylcolan — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 22:51:35 +0000

My husband and I bought a home together a few years back. The couple that lived here before us were retiring to a cabin in the woods. They had been trapping and neutering feral cats, then releasing them and providing food for the colony. They trapped all the cats they were feeding, and took them to their new home, where they had build a “cattery” for the cats. They caught all but two of the colony, and the woman requested that we continue feeding the two wizened older cats too smart to be caught.

We agreed, though one of the cats died several months after we moved into the house. There is one left, and we’ve had to work to gain her trust. We call her “White Kitty” and you’ll meet her when you watch this Thing:

I am slowly taming a once-feral cat

Five Things Vlog #1

cherylcolan — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:16:11 +0000

Jan tagged me with the five things meme. Perfect timing, as I have been in a vlogging slump of epic proportions. I have taken my video camera to lots of places and recorded many things, then never edited the footage into vlog postings. For some of the footage, it’s too late – the moment is over. But some of the footage is Five Things fodder.

To get me back in the vlog groove, I’m going to vlog one Thing per day for five days, momentshowing style. On the last day I’ll tag some unsuspecting souls and spread the meme some more. Thanks for the motivation, Jan! Without further ado, I present: