Archive for the ‘animals’ Category

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Bird Park

January 23, 2010

Kuala Lumpur Day 5, part one

We went to the bird park which claims to be the largest free flight, walk-in aviary. It is quite large, so I tend to believe them. It was expensive by KL standards – 42 ringgits per person (approx. $12.50), but it is worth the price if you like flora and fauna at all.

There is a large variety of birds, this is just a sampling of what we saw.
stork on its nest in a treeI did not notice the official name of this bird. I assume it is a type of stork. The one below was relaxing, although that position doesn’t look very relaxing.
stork resting on its knees

I think this is one of the yellow breasted starlings, but his back is turned to us, so it is hard to tell.

blue bird with black head

The most spectacular bird was the Scarlet Ibis. This picture doesn’t do the color justice. They were very bright red.
white ibis and scarlet ibis

This is the other spectacular bird. So spectacular that they weren’t even pictured on the signs to tell us what they were. Measles bird? The Jackson Pollock? (no, too much of a pattern for that name.)
brighlty colored bird with speckles

The owl on the right was doing a little dance right up until I hit the record button. They look almost as much like rodents as they do owls.
two owls

There were, of course, plenty of parrots and lovebirds.
bright red lovebird with green wings

This is the Southern Cassowary.
Southern Cassowary

And, last but not least, beware the dreaded Junglefowl!
sign showing a rooster labeled as Red Junglefowl

actual picture of a junglefowl rooster

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Trip Prep

January 15, 2010

Bert and Oliver have been helpful as we have been preparing for our trip to Kuala Lumpur.
one pile of laundry and two catsFirst they help sort the laundry.
cat smelling moneyThen Oliver gave our Malaysian Ringgits a thorough examination – major sniffing fest.
cat rolling on moneyThen he proceeded to roll in the money. When he began to bite it and try to tear it to bits, I had to intervene.

So with all this help, we will be embarking on our trip Saturday morning. We will have a full week in Kuala Lumpur, eating, seeing the sites and maybe a little shopping. We will have internet at the hotel, so will keep you posted as we go.

I am already suffering from separation anxiety. A friend will be checking on our cats every day, but I still worry about them and just how well they will deal with it in the long run. We don’t need Oliver developing any new annoying habits.

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New Tattoo

January 12, 2010

Apparently, Oliver thought I needed a new tattoo.
bruise
Actually, it was a somewhat amusing event. I was cleaning the bidet and this was of great curiosity to the cats. It is amazing how fascinated they are with sinks, showers and running water and how loathe they are to get wet. So, Oliver was standing on the toilet seat so that he could get a good view of what I was doing. This would have been fine, but the lid was up. I did something that startled him and made him back up. This resulted in some splashing and his foot ending up in the toilet water. This I found greatly amusing. He did not. I didn’t want him licking the blue toilet water off his foot, so I grabbed a hold of him and tried to position him so I could use the bidet to wash his foot. This is when the claw was sunk into my arm. I did manage to rinse his foot and he was greatly disgruntled about it all. And that is how I got that lovely puncture wound/bruise.

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Who’s idea was this?

January 11, 2010

bathroom sink with black marble counterSomeone thought that black marble was a cool idea for a bathroom sink counter. Clearly, this person had a maid who could spend her days cleaning it. They probably didn’t have two cats who insist on getting up on the counter to drink.

In addition to making footprints all over the counter, Oliver likes to put his paw in the water bowl and fling water drops all over the mirror. I spent Friday thoroughly cleaning two bathrooms. Had to take a picture so I can look back and remember how nice it looked for a few minutes.

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Lucky man

January 10, 2010

Daddybird, being a very lucky man married to a woman who knows where to shop and what to buy, got this for Christmas. toy castleAnd, as you can see, the castle is sometimes under the attack of a dragon.cat and toy castleThe dragons are now forbidden to get up on the table, but is it a hard lesson to learn. They do like to chew on the trees.

The castle is foam with interlocking pieces. Pretty cool toy. Of course, he wants another set so he can combine and make a bigger castle. Hmm… it’s already taking over my sewing table.

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Oliver’s 2010 Fashion Resolution

January 2, 2010

Oliver is not the brightest bulb. I heard him playing noisily with the bag for a long time. I finally looked to see what was going on and discovered he had his head stuck through the handle.

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Kitties First Bubbles

December 25, 2009

Per Granny’s request, here is a record of Oliver and Bert’s Christmas gift. Had to split it into two parts.


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Happy Cat

December 10, 2009

We ate at a Turkish restaurant which had some of the best freshly made bread we’ve had, yet. There was one piece left so we brought it home just for Oliver. He can be quiet and happy. He just needs the right toy.

Notice how my camera’s autofocus has trouble dealing with a white cat on a white background?

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Cat comparisons

December 9, 2009

We have another new favorite restaurant. This one is on Al Muteena street not far from our apartment. It is a Arabic food restaurant, but our waiter is Tunisian and loves to practice his English on us. He is very interesting and amusing. He gives us a hard time if we don’t come every few days. He counts and tells us if he knew where we lived he would have come to check on us. Our first time at the restaurant I tried to order “fool” which is a bean dish, but he told me “No, no good…Egyptian…you don’t want.” So, I guess I’ll never get to test it for myself. Not that I’ve had enough fool to know good from bad. I also ordered an avocado shake for my drink. He was taken aback by this and warned me that it is a “strong drink.” It turned out to be heavenly. It is an avocado smoothy with a dollup of cream and blanched almonds. Yummy! I finished it off and he was impressed by that. So, now I don’t have to tell him what drink I want. He knows.

Like all restaurants with outdoor seating, this one had a stray hanging around to clean up any scraps. This is the healthiest street cat we’ve seen. From a cursory examination, it appeared to be a female, although she must have been spade.
brown tabby street catShe had a sweet little voice, so we we dallied with the idea of exchanging Oliver for her. But, upon interviewing her, we found she lacked certain qualifications. She doesn’t play fetch. She probably wouldn’t let me cradle her like a baby.

When we got home, we gave Oliver the new toy we picked up at the pharmacy. (Yes, we get our cat toys at the pharmacy because he likes gel toe cushions.) He entertained us greatly reveling in his new toy. So, we’ll keep the noisy little knothead.

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Oliver the Loud

December 7, 2009

So, when we complain about Oliver, this is what we are complaining about. He does this at any time of day or night. No real reason other than he is bored and wants to be entertained. Even his playmate Bert gets tired of him and goes off to hide from him, especially when he is acting like this. We have tried “water therapy,” (by which I mean squirting him with a water spray bottle) and he does not make the connection between being sprayed and being noisy. Distraction or locking him in another room are the only working responses to date. If it weren’t for the thick concrete walls of our apartment building we would have been thrown out for noise disturbance by now.