Chat Aux Sphynx: 09/01/2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Cats on Tuesday: Burrow

We both love to burrow under the covers. We are lucky - our humans leave the futon in the family room open all the time for us, and there are plenty of nice fleece blankets on the futon for us to curl up in and burrow underneath. Now that autumn is here, along with cooler weather, we love to burrow under the fleece blankets and get cozy next to each other. When our mom is sitting on the futon, we usually curl up on our mom's lap - she puts a fleece blanket on her lap for us to get cozy and comfy on and under.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Mancat & Meezer Monday: Cuddles

We both love to curl up in a human lap when one is available. However, when there isn't a human around, we love to curl up and cuddle with each other.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Frootbat Friday

In these photos, you can see the very cool way that the sun shines through our ears. :) You can also see our highly-desirable wrinkles, and the colour of our eyes.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Thursday Thirteen: Oktoberfest!

Since Oktoberfest started last Saturday here in Munich, we thought that this week we would bring you:

13 Things About Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is a sixteen-day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and running to early October.
Oktoberfest 2008 runs from September 20th to October 5th.
Oktoberfest called "Oktober"-fest when it actually begins in September for historical reasons. The first Oktoberfest was held in the year 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17th with a horse race. In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and, later, the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September.

By moving the festivities up, it allowed for better weather conditions. Because the September nights were warmer, the visitors were able to enjoy the gardens outside the tents and the stroll over “die Wiesen” or the fields much longer without feeling chilly. Historically, the last Oktoberfest weekend was in October and this tradition continues into present times.
Oktoberfest is held on an the Theresienwiese (field, or meadow, of Therese, the princess mentioned above), often called d’ Wiesn for short.
Oktoberfestbiers are the beers that have been served at the event in Munich since 1818, and are supplied by 6 Munich breweries known as the Big Six: Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr.
Beer is typically served as a Maß, which is one litre (or 2 pints).
There are 14 main beer tents, with ownership split across the 6 breweries mentioned above from Munich.
(Food served during Oktoberfest is mostly traditional Bavarian fare such as Hendlchicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstel (sausages) along with Brezel (Pretzel), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).
Many Bavarian visitors to Oktoberfest wear Trachten - traditional Bavarian clothes: Lederhosen for men, and Dirndl for women. A Dirndl consists of a top and blouse, wide skirt and a colourful apron.
There is more to Oktoberfest than just beer and food. There are carnival rides, parades, and live music.
In 2007, there were 6.2 million visitors to Oktoberfest.
In 2007, appoximately 69.406 hl of beer were served, along with 1.269 hl of non-alcoholic beer.
Oktoberfest is a lot of fun, and is the largest fair in the world.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Meezer Rule Wednesday: Tunnels

Merlin: My Meezer Rule for today: If you have a tunnel, you can use it any way you want, including lying halfway out of the side tunnel to lie in the sun. If your sibling makes fun of you for lying that way, just get back at them by winning a wrestling match, after you've finished sunbathing. And if your humans laugh at you, just ignore them. What do humans know?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Cats on Tuesday: Cardboard Craze

Merlin: I LOVE carboard boxes! They are so much fun to play in, and cardboard is so much fun to chew! I love destroying anything made of cardboard. Here you can see I am doing a good job of destroying this cardboard box.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Meezer and Mancat Movie Monday: Grooming

Grooming your sibling is lots of fun! And it often leads to wrestling matches! Enjoy the video below!

We are sorry that we haven't been around to visit our friends as much as usual recently. Our humans are running the Munich Marathon in three weeks, and then they'll be running the Dublin Marathon two weeks after that, so they've been very busy training hard! The past two weeks have been the peak of their training mileage. We can't wait for the marathons to be over and done with, so our humans will have more time for us again!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Meow Like a Pirate Day!

Arr! Today be Meow like a Pirate Day, me hearties!

Here be our Pirate Names, yarr!

Dragonheart and Merlin are:

Captain Roger Bonney

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.

Dragonheart's Pirate Name Is...

Dirty Jack of the Baltic

What's Your Pirate Name?

Merlin's Pirate Name Is...

Cannibal Sultan of Timor

What's Your Pirate Name?

Meow Like a Pirate Day!

Arr! Today be Meow like a Pirate Day, me hearties!

Here be our Pirate Names, yarr!

Dragonheart and Merlin are:
Captain Roger Bonney

Dragonheart's Pirate Name Is...

Dirty Jack of the Baltic

What's Your Pirate Name?

Merlin's Pirate Name Is...

Cannibal Sultan of Timor

What's Your Pirate Name?

Thursday Thirteen: Things We Don't Like to Hear

13 Things We Don't Like to Hear

Merlin, NO! (when Merlin is doing anything he's not supposed to)
Merlin, GET DOWN! (when Merlin is up on the table, or the treadmill, or other places he shouldn't be)
Merlin, Stop That! (again, when Merlin is doing anything he's not supposed to)
OUT! Get out, Boys! (when we're in the bathroom or the Bowflex/Comic book room, when our humans are going to close the door)
It's too early for crunchies (we only get crunchies at bedtime)
We're all out of fishy treats (Dragonheart likes to have dried fish cubes crushed and sprinkled over his stinky goodness)
Dragonheart, is your brother being a bad influence? (when Dragonheart, normally the "good boy," does something naughty, like Merlin would do)
Get off the laptop! (gee, we're just trying to blog and visit our friends)
You're supposed to be an obligate carnivore! (when Merlin tries to eat people food, like animal crackers, cheese, etc.)
Merlin, we're trying to eat. Leave us alone. (when Merlin climbs all over our humans when they are trying to eat)
It's human alone time (we aren't sure why humans need time alone apart from us)
Not right now, Merlin (when Merlin tries to climb all over our dad, and cuddle on his chest, when our dad is trying to do something)
Bath time (no explanation needed!)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Meezer Rule Wednesday: Sharing

Merlin: My Meezer Rule for today: Even when you are grown, you can still share your mom's lap. If you are feeling generous, you can even let your sibling sit on the actual lap, and you can get comfy on her extended legs. This also applies to other humans' laps as well, as long as their legs are stretched out.

Of course, when I was still a little kitten, and not a fully-grown Mancat, we could both fit on the lap part of the lap, as seen in the photo below, from January 2008.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Cats on Tuesday: Eyes

Dragonheart

Merlin

Monday, September 15, 2008

Mancat & Meezer Monday: The Old Switcheroo

We both love to lie in the sun, it feels so good on our skin! Our living room gets the afternoon sun, and it shines in through the huge windows that take up one entire wall in our living room. We love lying on our nice comfy quilts/fleece/beds in the sun.

On occasion, we also like to change places! It's fun to switch spots!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Frootbat Friday

We both love the sun! And don't we have fabulous ears?

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Thursday Thirteen: Nicknames

Here are thirteen nicknames that our humans call us, in addition to our regular names (Dragonheart and Merlin). Dragonheart's nicknames are followed by a D, Merlin's by an M, and ones that apply to both of us with a D and an M.

Dude (D, M)
Dragon-Dude (D)
Four-legged stomach (M)
Mommy's Good Boy, Good Boy (D)
Handsome, Handsome Boy (D, M)
El Destructo (M)
Purr Meister (M)
Purr Machine (M)
Crazy Cat (D, M)
Psycho, Psycho Kitty (D, M)
Silly, Silly Boy (D)
Little$h!t (M)
Adorable Little $h!t (M)

Gee, from those nicknames, can you tell who's the well-behaved one, and who's the trouble-maker? ;)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Meezer Rule Wednesday: Getting Comfy

Merlin: My Meezer Rule for today: When you are your sibling are on different levels of the cat tree, it is perfectly acceptable to jump up or down to your sibling's level, and then get comfy on top of them!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Cats on Tuesday: Sleeping Bags

We both love to curl up inside of sleeping bags and crinkle sacks! It is nice and cozy to curl up inside of a nice, soft sleeping bag.

Dragonheart in his sleeping bag:

Merlin in his crinkle sack:

Monday, September 08, 2008

Mancat & Meezer Monday: Play Fight!

Although we love each other very much, and enjoy curling up together and cuddling, we also enjoy play fighting! It's a lot of fun to wrestle and attack each other! Enjoy the photos and the video! As you can see in the first photo, it sometimes starts with grooming, but then progresses to a play fight!

Friday, September 05, 2008

Frootbat Friday

A while back, we won some wonderful prizes from Queen Snickers and Empress. One of those was a huge fleece sleeping bag that their mom sewed! It's a great sleeping bag, but we love curling up on top of it, instead of burrowing into it. Thanks again for this wonderful prize, Queen Snickers and Empress!