Björn rented a car, and we went to Fallköping and Jonköping today.
One of the things we do when we go to Jonköping is to go to IKEA.
IKEA may have discontinued their mice, but they still have rats.
There’s only one colour now, a sort of shiny beige, but Izaak doesn’t care. It’s an IKEA rodent plush…he loves it.
And Zak violently loves his IKEA rodents.
Even though we have about a dozen of these things around the house, this is now his favourite.
My birthday was a month ago, but my big gift from Björn arrived today: a Baby Yoda doll!
Izaak (rather amusingly) was quite interested in the little green doll.
The Baby Yoda doll also makes sounds.
Lorelai did not like the sounds!
I have a little Lego-compatible Baby Yoda in his Sphere, so…yeah.
He (or she) has a cup of bone broth and a Sorgan frog.
The detail on this doll is spectacular. Hard to believe it’s meant for children over three.
Rory still doesn’t trust it, though.
I love it, though. Thank you, Björn!
A friend on Facebook posted a photo of her cats today with the caption: “Is this really all we do now? We can’t leave?! When is the next cat show?! We’re tired of sitting home!!!!”
Dude…I so know that feel.
Because we weren’t able to go to our favourite show in Örebro this year, we haven’t been to a show since November, when we went with Lorelai and Izaak to Turku. It’s the one thing I really miss since the pandemic started.
So, I went back in my backlog of photos and found this set of Zak at the Turku show, after our collection of show wand toys fell over.
He was so cute, playing with the toys. We mainly only ever play with wand toys at shows, so this was a treat.
I even made a short video of it (click on the image to view it on another tab in Flickr).
The last time I took the cats outside, one of the neighbour boys was fixing a toy car for his little brother out on the lawn.
He asked me if I had a 13mm socket wrench. I don’t use those, but I know Björn has them, so I told him to wait until he got home, which was only in a few minutes.
At that point, everyone else had gone inside, and only Alfred was still outside. When the boy went to chase after his little brother, I got an idea. It took a few tries to get Freddy to pose properly (again, I was really missing Jacoby)…
…But he finally figured it out.
Today is Izaak’s second birthday!
Zak was a bit taken aback by the flame on his birthday candle.
But since we have a show in two weeks, probably best not to get his whiskers all singed and twisty.
Zak’s birthday present was a catnip fish that was supposed to flop around like a live fish.
Turns out, the site was a scam, and the fishes don’t move. They’re just stuffed catnip fish.
Luckily…
…Zak didn’t care. He loved the fish, with or without gimmick.
Unlike last year’s birthday, Zak was not as hesitant to tuck into his non-raw birthday cake.
Happy second birthday, Izaak!
Izaak loves his Ikea mice, but he also loves his Ikea rats.
The other day, he wanted us to throw him his rat instead of one of his mousies.
Which, when thrown, were dutifully returned.
Eventually, though, the whole “throw, fetch, repeat” theme didn’t seem to matter so much on the “throw” part of the scenario as far as Zak was concerned.
I guess he thought that if he killed the rat ahead of time, he wouldn’t have to fetch it and bring it back?
One of the supermarkets I shop at has old-school, red-painted metal and glass Beaver vending machines with toys and candy in them.
A few weeks ago, one of the machines was filled with Fuzzy Tongue Flickers (which, amazingly enough, is actually a safe set of words to Google). Little fuzzy balls with googly eyes and a red tongue that sticks out when you squeeze them. Yup, looks like a cat toy to me.
So, when I got home, I showed it to Izaak.
He definitely found it interesting.
Okay, get a room.
Then the batting commenced.
Apparently, the Fuzzy Tongue Flicker is an excellent toy for batting.
Oooops…
…And was the last time I saw Fuzzy Tongue Flicker. I think he’s somewhere under the sofa. I think I need to go and find him.
Warning…this post contains spoilers for the film Captain Marvel. However, if you have read the comics, it’s not really that much of a spoiler.
I am not a huge fan of superhero comics (I’m more of an Archie’s Gang kind of girl) or the “Marvel Universe.” I enjoy Deadpool (because he’s funny) and I love Big Hero 6 (because Disney animation and because San Fransokyo is awesome). And it’s kind of cool for me that I used to work with Chris Evans’ mother’s sister (she lived in Somerville) and now he’s Captain America…but by and large the who Avengers/X-Men/Spiderman movie monopoly just leaves me feeling…meh.
Until I discovered Captain Marvel. Of course, I had heard of her, but didn’t know much about the comic. Then I discovered that she’s a Red Sox fan and she has a cat. So of course I had to see this movie, right? Well…in the movie, she’s in LA and the desert and someplace in the South, and there is no mention of baseball or the Red Sox, so it was a bit of a let-down on that front. But the cat…oh, the cat more than made up for it!
Goose the cat (a female, but played by four cats, mainly a boy tabby named Reggie, along with Rizzo, Gonzo, and Archie) is easily the best part of the film. Goose even has her own poster!
For years I avoided Funko Pop! figures when I saw them in stores, because they are a) cute, b) have something for EVERY fandom you can think of (I am not kidding…they even have a figure of Joey wearing all of Chandler’s clothes!), and c) they are exactly the kind of thing I could get totally addicted to. But after seeing The Last Jedi, I had to get a Porg figure, because the Porgs in the movie reminded us so much of Logan
And now, I have Goose the cat and Goose the Flerken figures.
Aren’t they cute?
But wait, there’s more! The Flerken version is swallowing a blue glowing cube called the “Tesseract”…which glows in the dark! There’s also a third version I like to call “The Slurp” with Goose retracting her tentacles. I haven’t gotten that one yet…but I will.
One last thing…movies like this almost always have a special extra scene after all the credits have rolled (and which most people miss because they leave to early). About halfway through the film, I knew what the bonus scene would be…and if I was wrong, Marvel would have missed the best opportunity for a joke ever. I was not wrong, and I was not disappointed. Here it is if you would like to see it (yes, it’s sideways, but it’s apparently the only one on YouTube):
I have been asked how the other cats are dealing with the loss of Jacoby. They definitely know he’s not there…but they don’t seem to miss him. He was sort of a loner, although he would sleep with the others, especially Alfred and Izaak. Jake of course was mainly bonded with me, and Zak has kind of decided that I’m his, too.
As you can see, Zak decided it was okay for Jake to let him share me with him (this was how I woke up on St. Patrick’s Day).
But since Jake’s been gone, Zak (who as we know loves playing with furry plush toys) has started playing with one of my Pusheen dolls. I found she had been dragged into the living room. And there was no question who had done it…He looked too proud of himself!
Zak has a very specific way of playing with Pusheen, too. First, he pretends to ignore her…
…and then he whips around and SMACKS her!
And after that…
…it’s pretty much on like an early video game involving gorillas and barrels.
After a brief spar, the opponents retreat into their neutral corners, eyeing each other cautiously.
And then bite,
bite,
bite,
ATTACK!
Uh oh, looks like Pusheen may be winning…
…Oh, no, Zak’s got this.
It’s so funny to watch Zak drag Pusheen around. She’s almost as big as he is!
Well…Zak wasn’t wrong. It did help cheer me up a bit.
This year, we had a small Christmas, because I bought tickets to the Red Sox-Yankees games next summer in London, and Björn bought us a new television. But we did do some small gifts and stocking stuffers to each other, and Björn’s main gift to me was a 4D Vision Cat Anatomy Model
Well, of course I loved it! In fact, I sat down and assembled it on the spot.
Luckily, living in Sweden has given me a pretty good grasp on navigating pictorial assembly instructions.
But what was really cool was the information included on the instruction sheet. Like random cat factoids.
And cat anatomy illustrated (using pictures of the model’s pieces) along with a felid size comparison chart.
Then there’s a little guide to cat communication and body language, how cats land on their feet, and an illustration of how retractible claws work.
Finally, there’s an organ-by-organ breakdown of all the parts of a cat, again using the model pieces (except for the eye).
Here is my model, completed.
My favourite part is, the model cat is a female! And she has kittens inside! Aren’t they cute? #theylooklikeabys…
Izaak wanted to meet the model.
I don’t think it went well…
…In fact, he seemed a little freaked out. Was it the kittens, Zak?
About a year and a half ago, Skövde got a Flying Tiger store. If you haven’t gotten one of these near you (there are something like 900 stores in the world and counting), you have missed a treat. Flying Tiger stores are filled with awesome things you never knew you needed. It doesn’t help that everything costs 10kr/$1/€1 – 40kr/$4/€4…
So, of course, I had to buy one. I stashed it away and ended up putting it in Jacoby’s Christmas stocking. Today, I brought it out.
It was a thing full of dry cat food. What’s not to like?
Of course, it attracted an audience.
Including Izaak, who doesn’t eat dry food and only eats raw.
Jake cottoned onto the system pretty quickly. Instead of chasing the pellets being shot from the gun, he sent straight to the source.
He basically went up to the crunchy gun, licked it, and tried to open it. That’s my boy.
Lorelai especially loves to hunt and catch the dry pellets. We have played “chase the dry food” many times, but it’s way more fun to use the gun.
At least we had a better response to it than this Sphynx blogger in Finland had with her cats.
Here’s a video of everyone chasing little bits of kibble all over our kitchen.
I’m sure you remember last Saturday’s post about Izaak and his IKEA mice. Well, every time we go there, and we see the huge bin they have in the toy department, we very understandably wish we could bring Zak in and put him in there with all those mousies. He would love it! Sadly, however, despite their charming television advert, IKEA doesn’t allow you to bring in your cat (we’ve tried).
So I did the next best thing.
Back in April, I posted about Malt, a Japanese Singapura who loves to drag his favourite toy all over the house.
It seems Izaak and Malt have something in common.
Zak absolutely LOVES IKEA mice and rats.
LOVES them.
He also loves to carry them around.
We are always finding them in our bed.
Apparently, this is the best place to play with them.
It’s tempting to call his mousies his “friends,” but he doesn’t see them that way. When he picks them up, he tends to go for the backs of their necks. And then he shakes them. So…probably not friends.
Whatever they are, he loves to carry them around the house.
What’s funny is, we had a load of mice and one rat that lay around the house for over a year, because nobody ever played with them. The best they could hope for was to end up helping to bury the food bowls when Alfred was done eating. So now, whenever we go to IKEA, we of course have to get Zak some new mousies.
The last time we went, we got one of each colour mice, plus a black and a grey rat. And a lion, because why not?
Zak immediately decided he liked the big grey rat the best.
He picked it right up and carried it off.
He had a bit of a struggle with it on the balcony floor…
…and then he carried it into the living room.
His ultimate goal was this little tent we have set up in the living room.
There was a little bit of distraction involving a brown mouse from an earlier IKEA trip.
But in the end, Zak got his rat into his tent.
So the last few days, I have had a lot of word-heavy, photo-light posts.
So I think we both need a little break.
So here is Alfred.
Going crazy.
With a Jackson Pollack catnip kicker toy.
You’re welcome.
I think we are in a golden age of cat toys right now. There is a lot more attention paid to the unique needs of cat toys vs dog toys these days, and toys are designed with an increased focus towards cats’ specific needs. But do the things we think are fun for cats to play with the same sorts of things that cats actually think are fun to play with?
Back in the States a few years back, Petco came out with a collection of Star War toys and accessories. They have just arrived in Sweden, apparently, because I have seen them in several shops here. Most of the cat toys are along the lines of mice dressed like Luke and Leia or C-3PO and R2-D2, but this one really caught my eye: Han Solo mousie in carbonite crinkly cat toy! It’s basically a crinkle toy, with a mousie. Dressed as Han Solo.
Mousie Han also can come out of the carbonite.
Lorelai was…underwhelmed.
Oh, she tried to make it be fun…
But it kind of just wasn’t.
So then I showed Rory the Grumpy Cat toy. This one is basically a furry rattle ball with a tail.
Now, that’s what I’m talking about! says Rory.
Rory freaking loves this toy!
Awww…look at poor Mousie Han Solo over there. Does Rory feel bad about snubbing him?
NOPE.
Finally, I showed Rory what I thought would be the winner: the chirping bird toy.
It’s definitely one of the prettiest cat toys I’ve seen. The tail feathers are lovely, and the fur used for the body looks feathery. When moved, it makes a variety of different, very realistic birdsong sounds.
Alfred actually checked the bird out first, while Rory was still busy with Grumpy Cat.
Finding that it wasn’t food, Freddy soon lost interest.
Finally I got Rory’s attention and she came to investigate the bird.
I think at first she was a little afraid of it.
She played with it for a while…but eventually went back to her bestie, Grumpy Cat. Out of the three, that seems to be the favourite. The bird is great, too – it’s my favourite (as if that counts for something). As for Mousie Han Solo…yeah, I think that toy was made to appeal to the owners, not the cats.
Mere photos could not capture the hilarity of Rory playing with the bird, though. Here is a video of her playing with it that I dare you not to laugh at.
I know Playmobil has kind of “Poor man’s Lego reputation, but they have got a lot more choices in the cat department. Playmobil Purrfect Stay Cat Boarding set.
Not gonna lie; overall, I prefer Legos. But Playmobil has some interesting pieces, and I have been known to mix Legos and Playmobil pieces in the quest for the perfect Strollercat action figure.
It kind of started when Björn bought me the Playmobil Woman with Cat Family set as a surprise. After that, I dragged out all my other cat pieces and scoured eBay for more.
Then we saw this ad for a contest in Kattliv where the prize was this set. Well, I needed that shiny device! So we found one in a toy store.
Alfred was eager to help me build it.
It’s actually a pretty cool set.
Hauspanther would be proud of all the catification going on up in here. And the detail is fun, too. There are stickers to put on little cans of cat food as labels and a sticker for the litter box that looks like (clean, unused) litter!
Only one problem: not enough kitties! So I added all the random Playmobil cats I had collected and added them in.
Like this small cat tree (with carpet stickers for the shelves).
And these two iterations of Strollercats. The little grey one is, of course, Lorelai.
This one is my absolute favourite, though. Somewhere along the line I picked up a veterinary set which included this patient, complete with Cone of Shame.
But the best part is, she even has stitches! I’m not sure which set this goes with; I must have gotten it as a random cat piece on eBay. I can find the cat with stitches as a part of this set, but she hasn’t got the cone or the bed.
Here’s the house again with the extra cats added in. Much better.
Oh, wait! Here, let’s add two more cats…
Suddenly, the poor cat boarding house was attacked by Roryzilla!
She’s already using her grabby Aby hands to pick things up, as you can see.
Oh well. At least Freddy didn’t sit on it…
Logan playing with his favourite fishes.
I did a lot of work comparing the body type differences between Abys and Singas, creating the cartoon “characters” of Logan and Alfred.
And also comparing them to the established characters of Angel and Jacoby.
I wanted to make sure that Logan’s profile was Singapura, not Abyssinian.
This one is my favourite, though. Logan’s telling Björn, “No, mamma hasn’t given us any food!”
Personally, I think cat skeletons are kind of cool. You may remember
my roughly life-sized skeleton cat, Os-car I found at CVS one Halloween. So when Björn showed me a picture of Re-Ment’s Pose Skeleton Cat, I had to get one.
It’s one of those typical cool Japanese toys with tons of special touches. The cat comes with a litter box (I think…it might be a bed), a typical Japanese wand cat toy, and a belled collar. I added a Schleich cat tower and some food and water bowls I had from another set, and it seems that the scale on all of them is roughly the same.
The amount of detail on this little thing is incredible. The collar has stitching marks and a leather look, and the bell has a seam and the hole at the bottom to let the sound out.
Of course, when he heard the camera, Jacoby had to come see what I was taking photos of…and why I wasn’t taking photos of him.
Jake was very curious about the little cat skeleton and tried to pick it up.
He only succeeded in knocking over the cat tree. Then he wandered off.
Thanks a lot, Jake!
It’s really a tiny figure (as you can see compared to Jake’s paw), but it has eight points of articulation (tail, both hips, mid-spine, both shoulders, neck and jaw)! I really adore this little thing.
Alfred loves bones. He loves chewing. Whenever we have lamb or beef ribs, he gets a few more chew toys. I have actually bought him chewing things meant for dogs…and he has loved them.
So this is a doodle I did in class one day about the OTP of Freddy and the bone.
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