Man Cats Hate Taxes

Taxes? Due when?

The thought just puts this Man Cat to sleep. I'd better call my accountant before it's too late.

~Jake

P.S. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. You all are the greatest friends a guy could have.

Man Cat Monday - Spring Has Sprung

Mom and I could not let the deadline pass without entering the Simply Siamese "Spring has Sprung" Contest. Mancats always like to help out their fellow felines; in this case it's Sammy and Miles Meezer. True mancats aren't afraid to pose with flowers since we know how popular flowers are with the ladies.

These are snowdrops.


And these are yellow crocus.

And these are miniature iris (I. reticulata).

We also have winter aconite and hellebores in bloom now in our garden.

I have a confession to make since Bathsheba will rat me out otherwise. Mom had to bribe me with treats to pose with these flowers. She tucked the treats in with the flowers so that's why my nose is stuck in the iris here.

Happy Meterological Spring!

P.S. One of these days we will complete the 7 Weird Things Meme and there will be a startling confession from Bathsheba.

~Jake

Jake's Mancat Monday

Hello, everyone! Thanks for stopping by! It's been ages since I last posted. Blame it on my worthless secretary. It's unfortunate that I'm so dependent upon her. She said that she's trying to have a "social life." I might just have to fire her and hire a new secretary--if only I could find one.

I'm dedicating this post to my girlfriend cat DaisyMae Maus who still likes me despite the paucity of my visits and posts. She's very understanding of my clerical predicament. It was a great weekend, and I spent a lot of time patrolling my deck.

Here I am checking out the bird feeders.

And here I am below the feeders seeing if I can catch any slow moving birdies. No such luck this time!

And for Mancat Monday, I show you my outdoor scratching post. I've torn it to shreds. My grandpa made it years ago (for another kitty), and it is very sturdy unlike many of the ones you can buy in the stores. I just wish that Mom would recover it for me because it's not very satisfying to scratch on the bare metal post.

Our dear friends Rosie and Cheeto tagged us for the Seven Weird Things meme. We'll try to complete that this week.

~Jake

Mancat Monday - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Everyone! And Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary to my lovely girlfriend cat DaisyMae Maus!

Big man cats start the new year with an excellent credit rating. Mine is so good that I am receiving credit card offers in the mail!
Look! Zero percent APR!

And no annual fee! Just think of all the great gifts I could order on the Internet for my beautiful DaisyMae! Now I just need that secretary of mine to verify my income and I'll be all set.

My friends Rosie and Cheeto made some word puzzles of some of our cat friends' names including my grumpy sister Bathsheba. See if you can guess this one:

plus

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

~Jake

I'm not grumpy, and I wish everyone a Happy New Year, too!

~Bathsheba

Man Cat Monday

Hey, "Man Cat!" The sunbeam has passed you by!

Serves you right for hogging the top of the stairs and not letting me pass!

~Bathsheba

Man Cat Monday - Leaves

Mom went away for Thanksgiving, and while she was gone, the weather turned sharply colder and most of our trees finally lost their leaves.
Just look at my side yard! You can hardy see the grass underneath all those maple leaves. Somebody's got a lot of work ahead.

But it's not me. Being a MAN cat, I think I hear a football game calling to me on the TV. I'll let Mom work on these leaves.

~Jake

Man Cat Monday Adventure

When I'm outside, I don't like to be coddled by Mom. I have my Man Cat image to uphold after all. She followed me down to the bottom of the yard hoping to snatch me up and cuddle.
I jumped into the empty firewood stand (Mom doesn't feel like bothering with firewood and fires now that Dad is gone).

From there I decided to hop the fence into Mr. Stuff's yard. He has something called a "catch basin" in the easement between his yard and mine.

I like to explore around the catch basin.

And sometimes I like to jump in there! If it hasn't been rainy, it's not TOO wet down there. I can follow the sewer down to the creek, or I can go in the other direction and end up at the street gutter. I'm not going to let Mom baby me; a man cat's gotta have his independence.

~Jake

Jake's Man Cat Monday

Enough sadness! It's Man Cat Monday and it's all about ME!
Look where I am. On THE BED! It used to be strictly off limits to me as was the whole room. Now Mom actually invites me in with Temptation treats at night. Usually I vanish as soon as I've had my Temptations, but I've done some sleeping there with Mom, much to Bathsheba's chagrin. Last night I slept snuggled next to Mom all night.

Bathsheba used to have exclusive rights to the bed as long as she left when Dad came to bed. Now she's all mad that I'm invited too and she'll usually go off in a hissy fit when I join Mom. Heck, it's a big bed, and Mom says there's room for all of us, but don't tell Bathsheba that.

In other bedroom news, this is the view from the window. The leaves are falling fast in our backyard, but the colors have been muted. I haven't been in this window much since I was a kitten and scratched up the screen. Maybe I'll check out the windowsill in the spring when the warm air returns. It's cold and dreary today and I'm probably going to nap on my favorite loveseat.

~Jake

Mischief for Man Cat Monday

I was enjoying a perfectly peaceful late Sunday afternoon in my yard when a stalker/photographer spotted me.

Uh-oh. She's creeping in for a close-up view.

Now, as a Man Cat, I don't have to put up with stalkers. I'm going to give her the slip by going into my jungle, getting on the Jake Highway

and slipping through the Jake Passageway.

My Dad made me this passageway when he built the fence. "Mr. Stuff,"* the neighbor who lives on the other side now, put this ladder on his side of the fence, but that doesn't deter this Man Cat.

Here I am in Stuff's backyard. My stalker does not have a telephoto lens, so chalk one up to the Man Cat.

~Jake

*Named because he has so much stuff/junk in his backyard--though not much is visible in the photo here.

Meezer Man Cat Monday

This is our cousin Toby who lives with Mom's brother and family in the Richmond, VA area. He used to be Grandpa's kitty, but Grandpa died ten years ago. Then he was Grandma's kitty, but he went to live with Mom's brother when Grandma went into assisted living. He would have come to live with us, but Dad knew we wouldn't get along.

So, Toby moved to a household of cats--plus one dog. Early on Toby fought with one of the kitties there who ended up biting his ear and inflicting a permanent battle scar. Toby turned 13 last month.

Why are we featuring Toby? Well, it turns out that Mom went to visit him--and her sister as well. We thought that Mom would return on Friday, but we heard secondhand--through our nice catsitter Kathy--that Mom decided to extend her trip and visit her brother and sister. She didn't even consult us!

Plus, NOW she thinks we broke the computer. It's grinding and grinding when she logs on, so she thinks it may have some kind of virus or something. It's NOT our fault!

We're glad she's home, but we don't like the way she seemed to forget about us and visited other cats.

~J&B

Man Cat Monday - Hello, Ladies!

Hello, Ladies! My deck was stained today and Mom is keeping me in the house so I won't get stained. Would any of you ladies (DaisyMae, can you hear me?) like to hang out with me on my loveseat in the living room?

Mom is going away for the rest of the week to a training academy related to her job. The training is in Virginia Beach. She assures me that she will be in class from 8:30-5 with an hour for lunch, but I can imagine that the beach would be a great place. All those fish, birds, a giant litterbox--sounds good to me--if I liked to travel. Instead, Kathy the pet sitter will feed and care for us twice a day.

We're hoping that Mom will leave the computer on so we can try our hand without our secretary's help, so who knows?

Purrs to all you lady cats,

~Jake

In the News on Man Cat Monday and Middle Name Meme

It's Man Cat Monday and I am in the news. The other day Mom was talking on the phone with Dad and they were discussing the death of some guy named Peet who had a coffee business. Dad had told her about some coffee shop by that name in Santa Cruz. Mom remembered that when she looked at some obituaries in the newspaper. (Don't ask me why Mom reads about dead people; she just does.) Anyway, she spread out the newspaper and set out to fill Dad in on some details of the dead guy's life when I said to myself, "Now who is more newsworthy, me or some dead guy?" I promptly jumped atop that newspaper and made myself comfortable. Mom had no choice but to pet me. She even let Dad hear me purr through the phone. I am NOT going to be upstaged by a dead guy. I mean, hey, I'm Jake, and I am the center of the universe. I AM the news.

And while we're on the subject of ME, as we should be, let me complete the Middle Name Game meme since Rosie tagged me a while back.

Here are the rules:
List one fact that is somehow relevant to you and your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.When you are tagged you need to write your post using your middle name and facts about it.At the end of your post, choose one cat to tag for each letter of your middle name. Be sure to let each cat know she/he has been tagged. (It's okay if you don't do this... tag who you want to tag.)

Well, I have a complex name. I was named for my great-great grandfather in Germany. His name was August Jacob Julius __, but I don't know if that's exactly how it is spelled. Grandpa was supposed to have been named for him, but he was relieved that his parents decided on Karl Heinz instead of that long distinguished name. Mom thought that it was perfect for me and decided that she would use a nickname for my middle name Jacob. That is the name I'll used for this meme.

J for joyful because Mom says that I bring her a lot of joy.

A for alluring because of my pretty eyes, long white whiskers, and silky soft striped fur.

C for very cute and charming (see previous letter).

O for original. There is only one ME.

B for bothersome because Mom says that I bother Bathsheba too much, and I'm also bothersome when I want to go out or want to eat. Hey, I know what I want, and I want it when I want it.

I didn't want to do that last one, but my secretary said that I have to show that I'm not perfect. If Bathsheba and people would do what I wanted, then I wouldn't be bothersome and would be perfect after all. See, it's all Bathsheba's fault.

The meme has been around a while so if anyone would still like to play, join in!

Happy Man Cat Monday!

~Jake

Man Cat Monday's New Car

As a Man Cat, I had to check out Mom's new car. You know the stereotype that men like new cars and new technology.

Here's a closer view of me. I must say that the dashboard has plenty of room. If I didn't think that I'd be catnapped, I might take a snooze on it. But it is a car after all, and I don't like to go for rides in cars.

Mom apparently got over her aversion to the space age design of the Prius and broke down and bought one. At least it's better than that Camry she drove that was as old as Bathsheba.

~Jake

Flower Friday with Jake

When Mom got home from work tonight, and after I had my dinner, she wanted to do a photo shoot for Flower Friday. I had to humor her. She put me atop our fence and asked me to pose with the dusty rose-colored Joe Pye Weed, a native wildflower that grows tall and is a magnet for tiger swallowtail butterflies. Mom even saw some monarch butterflies on them a couple of mornings this week.


Once up there, I wanted to explore the arbor. The darker purple flowers are New York ironweed which is just beginning to bloom. It also attracts butterflies. The orange flowers are trumpet vine, and they attract hummingbirds.

It's actually a bit treacherous up here as you can see from this photo taken from the back yard. I'm way high up! The birdhouses are what Dad dubbed the "chickadee condo" that he built a few years back. We get birds nesting in them every year, and this year we had both wrens and sparrows, but not at the same time.

Mom says that because she's going out to California on Monday she won't be able to post a man cat Monday photo. I think that this one would have been an excellent choice for the occasion, so I couldn't resist posting it today.

My older sister Bathsheba keeps talking about being "Sweet 16." Her birthday is Sunday. She may be 16, but she's not sweet to me.

~Jake

Man Cat Monday

When you're a big man cat, you're the center of the universe. You demand to be noticed. So if you feel like sleeping in front of the stairs and people have trouble passing, so what? You are not to be disturbed. They can either step lightly around you, or just wait.

Here's a close up that shows my manly mussed up furs. I also have my long tail in the "Reverse Latte."

Happy Man Cat Monday to my fellow Man Cats!

~Jake

Man Cat Monday

Men must have their toys.













And naps.

Fierce Man Cat Monday

I am sad. Dad stayed an extra day and left early this morning, but now Mom says I have to be strong. I am the big man in the family now.
Here I am demonstrating a ferocious face that should ward off predators and evil spirits.

Thanks for your well wishes.

~Jake

Man Cat Monday

Now THIS is a big man cat-sized water dish perfect for me!

~Jake

ManCat Monday

Though this dark photo doesn't do my stripes justice, I think that I look rather manly here.

Don't forget our 200th post contest! Details are outlined in this post.

~Jake

Fierce ManCat for Monday

I may have a soft side for DaisyMae, but I am a fierce ManCat. I've been known to use my irrisistable tummy to lure in the unsuspecting Mom or Dad, only to put the fierce bitey on them. Here I've reserved my attack mode for the annoying camera strap.

~Jake