Wake up!

We just loved this and those of you who have (had) cats will understand :)

I hope it works (I've never uploaded videos directly from my hard disc)!

Enjoy and have a great week!

Happy Purrr-day!

It’s me again: Dale. You know… The feline. This will just be a short post. So listen up…

Today’s CS’s birthday and Friday, the 26th, is Orange-X’s birthday! They’re both turning 6 ½ year old (cat age, that is). For you humans, that’s 42 years old! Man, I could be their father – if I were human, of course! I’m 15 ½, which makes me 78 in human age. Heck! I’m older than all of you bloggers!

So there you go. Happy Purrrr-day CS and Orange-X!

Pssst... It's me... Dale, the cat!

Hey! Pssst! Over here…

scroll down….

Keep scrolling…

Lower…

Almost there....

Yeah, here.

It’s me… Capt’n Dale, in disguise. Well, not really. Just call me Dale. I’ve hung up my Captain’s hat. I guess I’m just getting too old for this dress-up stuff. Not too mention that the parrot got on my nerves!

Do you know what’s coming up in the next few days?? Birthdays AND my favourite holiday, but I’ll get back to that in a post later this week.

First of all, I’m sorry I haven’t posted lately, but CS keeps closing the lid on her laptop, and I just can’t open the darn thing. I’ve broken too many nails already. Note to self: find tool to crack open CS’s laptop. Thank goodness, she forgot to close it this morning. It was about time! Today’s Sunday, by the way and I set up the time for posting.

So first, a bit about moi. I’ve been having slight health problems lately. Nothing really serious, but it started shortly after CS and OX came back from Austria :a slight bladder infection.

One evening, I felt feverish and when I came to bed, CS stroked my head and said: “OX, we have to keep an eye on Dale. His ears are really hot, he didn't eat that well - now THAT is a sign - and he seems to look for affection a lot more that usual. Something's wrong.” Well of course, I didn't feel well. I can’t talk! I have to show it in some way!

So, the next morning, I was really in pain and walked all the way up to their bedroom where CS was getting dressed and ready for work. I came up the stairs, step by step, meowed as loud as I could, and made it sound like a cry (actually, I was a crying! My belly hurt so much, and it burned like fire!) CS looked at me in shock and asked me what was wrong. All I could do was to look for a safe place (a yellow bag that had fallen to the floor), crouch and press out 3-4 drops of bloody urine.

CS and OX immediately called the Doc and drove there directly. I didn’t even fight against being put in my carry box! Can you believe it? I was afraid, but I managed. Once there, the Doc stuck the thermometer right up there (you know where!). I was in pain, darnit! Hisssss! Why didn’t he just feel my ears, like CS did?!!?! Anyway, I got away with a few shots (which I HATE!), but all went well. At least, I wasn’t alone when I got home. Ma and Pa were there for me – even though I slept all day. They’re so sweet! Must have been the meds, that made me so sleepy.

Once that problem was solved – as well as 3 more visits to the Vets AND 3 more series of shots - my bowel started acting up (darned Meds!!). I’m not going into details here, but it took me over 3 weeks of “on and off tout de suite” and a couple of “Ooops. I missed the litter box only by an inch or two”, to finally get over it with (more) meds and a bit of fasting. However, I must say that diarrhea can be quite creative. Look at what I did!

Well, yes. I know it’s kinda gross for you humans, but for me, it’s just nature. Bet you can’t do that! I hope I’m not offending anyone with my creative “crap”, but it was the best I could do, considering the circumstances. And I think it's pretty good. Even CS and OX were impressed! Otherwise, just call it Cat-Art. I like to call it: "The natural spoon".

Anyway, I'm back to my gluttony and no more "pudding" in the litter box, so all is well. Will you be back on Wednesday? I've prepared a post for my loved ones. Purrr....prrrrr.

Keyword searches

I love reading through keyword searches and here a few I recently found in my stats counter:

• the value of salt and gold in 2007 - This one obviously lead the person to one of our Salzburg trips
• musik orangex - Looking for a Dutch band, maybe?
• counting sneezes - You have to look up the web for that?
• had a white dental filling and its too high can this be fixed - Can a filling be too high??
• fridge makes a buzzing sound and click - In that case, I'd suggest getting a new one.
• sound guys tell me my guitar is buzzing blue light - What did these sound guys smoke?!
• blue light bouncing sightings - Must be the sound guys from above
• buzzing sound in my ovation guitar - Is there a blue light, too? I'm starting to wonder if this and the previous two searches were written by the same person
• 101 things to do to annoy people at a theme park - Pull the plug out of one of the rides?
• zurich airport christmas gifts - Much too expensive!
• cat muscle spasms while purring - Maybe Dale can answer that one.
• nicest montreal girls massage - Hey! This is a clean blog, buddy!

Did you have any interesting keyword searches lately?

And now, for something completely different... Austria

With all the visitors we've been having since we came back from Austria (Ma & Pa for 3 weeks and Jaap for 3 days), Markus and Paolo's post wedding party, a weekend in Holland, working on a translating a website, and normal work and house chores, I have been neglecting my blog a bit. I sometimes wonder what the real jet-setters do (or don't do... like eat and sleep)!

Anyway, I've been preparing this for a while, and I know that Pinki, Andrea and Chris are keeping a close eye on my blog to see when “their” post is up.

Well, (drum roll, please) here it is!

We arrived in Bad Fischau on Wednesday and after a warm welcome and a drink, we drove to Wiener Neustadt to meet up with Harry and Michaela for some dinner. We went to this really great Greek restaurant. The weather was lovely, the food was fabulous and the portions were huge! We had much too much fun to even think of taking pictures (except for Pinki playing around with our little camera and snapping this shot of OX, Michaela and Harry). After dinner, we went to an ice cream parlour for some desert: a big iced coffee! I thought I would burst after that, so we decided a walk would help the overly eager stomachs to digest the many calories we had just indulged in. Later on, we found a lovely wine bar where we enjoyed a nice glass of wine on a hot summer evening. After a drink or two, we retreated home and sat on the terrace.

The important thing to mention here is that we were there for a very special event. No, no. It wasn’t for Wiener Neustadt’s open air cinema; we wanted to see Chris play live at Pinki's backstage bar on Thursday! We even brought our video camera. We had a quick dinner, got there early to sit in the front row and set up our little video cam up in one of the alcoves in the wall opposite of where we sat. It was a very hot evening, and even hotter in the bar. The rain was pouring outside. Good thing, because the people who had been looking forward to an open air cinema, suddenly needed shelter. The doors opened and the people came rushing in. We also had our lettle camera with us, but darn... If that kid could only stop moving!! ;) Low lights, movement = blurr...rrrrrr!

The concert was absolutely fantastic. Both OX and I were totally absorbed in the music and Chris’ guitar playing skills. And let me mention another thing. I’ve heard this guy sing before, and he does have a good voice, but this time…. I was amazed! No, flabbergasted at the power he had that evening. Everybody was cheering him on and his humour kept entertaining us all evening.

Alas, the film did not turn out too well. We were too wrapped up in what was happening on stage to focus in/out, the little screen was just too small to see what we were filming from that distance, and the battery gave up after 30 minutes. Maybe I can try and put a short cut up for you. Would you like that? - Of course, only if Chris agrees. At least we took a few decent picts!

After the concert, we sat together with Michaela and Harry who were also present, Chris and his girlfriend, and a few other new faces for a nice chat, some finger food, good laughs and … well… quite a few drinks until the wee hours.

This stay was definitely too short. But aren't they always like that when you have such great friends around you? I always hate leaving them.

On Friday, we drove back to our idyllic Mondsee for an overnight stay before moving on to a small town in Bavaria to visit Andreas and Suse.

More to come... uhm... as soon as I'm ready :)

PS: Pinki - To answer the questions to your comment in the preious post:

a) Yes, we will definitely be back, but not before Jan/Feb '08 (Pa and Ma are coming over for X'mas/New Year).....

b)Too long ago??? We were just there 8 weeks back! ;) ....

c) *Sigh* You always have good concerts!

and....

d) Just for the record: We miss you guys, too!