we spend ridiculous sums of money on fancy toys and treats… and zeke’s favourite diversion?

discarded bottle tops, wadded balls of tin foil, and empty cardboard boxes.

our cat is so white trash, he’d hang bedsheets over the windows if we let him.

they might be giants – take out the trash

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this morning while i was having my coffee, a pigeon came and landed on the balcony.

like a flash, zeke was at the door, eyeing it hungrily, doing his little chirping routine. that was amusing

he then tried to full-body launch himself at it *through* the glass door – that was freakin’ hilarious.

so no, zeke will never be going out on the balcony again.

and in the ultimate display of pathos, he’s taken up sentry at the balcony door all evening, watching for even the slightest hint of feather or wing. what a sad deprived life he leads.

…

going away for a weekend music festival tomorrow, so zeke will be holding down the fort and protecting the flat from invading pigeons all by his little lonesome.

califone – wingbone

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zeke chirps at birds outside the window. it’s hilarious, and we wake up every morning to zeke chirping on our windowsill at the birds in the treetops.

this afternoon, 2 pigeons landed on the balcony, and he was talking to them for a good ten minutes, so i tried to video it. our camera’s video function isn’t great, and he’s not very loud, but if you listen closely (especially at the end) you can hear him. my theory is he thinks he’s going to lure the birds close enough to eat them.

asobi seksu – lions and tigers

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zeke is meowing annoyingly

j: will you talk to your cat please? in a minute he’s going to be doing an “r. kelly”.

me: what’s an “r. kelly”?

j: he’ll believe he can fly… as i push him out the window.

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j: “heh heh heh heh heh”. that is my eddie murphy laugh, zeke. *you* cannot do it because you are a *cat*.

zeke: meow

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(cat mewing piteously at the cupboard holding the food after *just* finishing his breakfast.)

j:”zeke, it’s a shame there are no oscars for kitties because you would surely win.”

cat mewls forlornly in reply.

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Oh my life. my cat plays fetch. up until now he’s played “football”, batting his little ping-pong ball around. and now, he brings the ball to j to throw. in his mouth, like a dog.

he’s officially a freak.

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okay, i’ve really tried to avoid turning this into a cat blog, but zeke just makes it damn near impossible. my cat is a porn star. that’s right – this is how he spends much of his time. Legs spread, showing his goodies (or lack thereof) to the world. he has no shame.

and thus, j calls him “zeke the freak”.

the new pornographers – mass romantic

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now that zeke will sit still for more than 5 seconds, and occasionally emerges from under the bedclothes…

song of the day: cat power – the greatest

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my final list of names for the cat:

paco
pickle
fido
yoda
kermit
zoinks

j’s final list of names:

sebastian
alexander
several native american names i couldn’t pronounce

you see where i am going with this?

and after protracted negotiations on the scale of the marshall plan, we finally christened the cat…

zeke!

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so a little more about “bob” (paco? taco? bingo?)

we got him through an ad we’d answered – some family in a council estate in Tulse Hill. The guy called J on his way home from work, so we hiked over there around 7pm. He’s 1 and a half, and used to being an indoor cat. I was a little worried when we picked him up – he didn’t want to meet us, was running all over the house, running away from us. Right now he’s really skittish – spending the night under the dresser, cowering behind the curtains and seeking shelter under the bedsheets. But slowly he’s getting braver – and he really likes affection. He vacillates between hiding in the tangle of cords behind the television, and brazenly strutting around the house, head-butting you for a stroke or tickle. J is already calling him ugly and smelly… which means he likes him. I took a half day at work and came home early to be with him and found him wet and shivering in the tub. but he didn’t utter even a peep of protest when i took him in my arms with a towel and held him until he warmed.

he’s getting more comfortable. i’m sure it’s a huge adjustment. But just when I think he’s getting used to things, some sudden noise will send him fleeing into the corner. and i have to sigh.

I’m trying to be patient. coaxing and cajoling are really not my style, and after diving under the dresser for the third time this morning, dressed in office clothes, only to emerge with a fistful of dustbunnies, i was getting a wee bit frustrated. but the thing about cats is that, unlike dogs, they don’t seek to please. you accept them on *their* terms, or not at all.

i have a feeling “bob” never really got that kind of acceptance from his previous family. maybe i can learn to be that for him.

dumb guy still won’t let me take a decent photo though!

song of the day: the weakerthans – plea from a cat named virtue (and yes, i really did have all these cat related songs in my library!)

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so we suddenly have a cat!

he’s pretty shy at the moment. he’s spent the past 2 hours hiding behind the curtains, making a photogenic snap damn near impossible.

not christened him officially yet (his given name, “sky”, is just out of the question). for now, we’re calling him “dumb cat behind the curtain”. and “bob”.

he’s very cute though. not that you can tell from the photo.

song of the day: cowboy junkies – hold on to me

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