My Rastafarian cat; my post-review glow

          Little does my cat know, but he’s going to the groomer today. On his chart at the vet it says he’s a “Domestic Medium Hair” cat, but he turns into a Rastafarian cat about once a year. His hair is really fine and silky, like a bunny’s, and he gets petted kind of a lot (that’s the whole point of cats, really, isn’t it?), plus he likes to roll around in the dirt in the garden, and he’s a little on the fat side, so he can’t groom every bit of himself. All of which has contributed to the fact that he’s now sporting orange dreadlocks. He wiggles ceaselessly when I try to brush him, but his personality almost completely vacates his body when he goes to the vet—he goes limp as a sock from the sheer horror of it all—and it’s the same at the groomer, so he’s easy for the groomer to untangle. He won’t like it one bit, but he’ll come home fragrant and probably a little balder than he was before, and he’ll forgive me in time for his dinner.

          Domenic (my cat), on the whole, likes to participate. When I run on my trampoline at night, he barrels enthusiastically up and down the hall the whole time and banks off the trampoline en route—I’m guessing because he doesn’t want to be left out. And when I do crunches on the carpet in front of the television, he climbs into his boot box next to the television (I bought a pair of boots some time ago and in the manner of cats, he co-opted the box) and he rolls around in it with his catnip eggplant. (It’s an eggplant. Made of flannel. Stuffed with catnip.). I imagine that’s what he thinks I’m doing down there on the carpet: rolling around with catnip. So since I’ve embarked on my own sort of groom-athon in preparation for the RWA conference, far be it for me to leave him out.

          In addition to getting the cat shampooed and shaved, also on the agenda today: tan my shins, answer emails, work on revisions, scrub the shower. Among other things. Not necessarily in that order. Some simultaneously. (I’ll let you guess which.)

          And I wanted to share with you all an early, wonderfully enthusiastic review of WAYS TO BE WICKED: Check out the very cool blog, Where’s My Hero? I have to tell you, I started my week with a little glow when I read it. :) I meant to update my website with a WTBW excerpt this month, but now it looks like the beginning of August is more likely. After all the conference festivities.

Comments

[Isabel]

Julie, you'll have to post an update and perhaps pictures of Domenic after he returns from his grooming appoitment.
I wish we were so lucky, when I ask the vet to give my sweet kitty a bath they flat out refused...claiming she's too difficult :(

[Ranurgis]

I was thinking the same thing as Isabel: before and after picture but please both with heads--or is he that camera-shy? I mean, the body looks nice and woolly but I'm sure the head shows more of his "personality". He looks like one more "cushion" amongst others there.

I posted the following link at Divas today. I'm not sure if you were one of those interested in "Project Runway" which we discussed there a while ago. But until July 31 you can enter here to win a DVD of season 2. You can enter daily. Also wrote some other notes there.

http://thecelebritycafe.com/contests/project_runway.html

[Ranurgis]

I was trying to figure out how "Rastafarian" related to your cat. I guess it must be the woolly hair of Emperor Haile Selassie or Bob Marley that is the connection. I guess I'd previously only associated it with a religion.

I was just reading up on it a little on Wikipedia and it's very interesting to say the least.

[Ranurgis]

Sorry, but I have to bother you again. Although acronyms are great when you now what they mean and most of them I don't know, I haven't a clue what this one in the review of "Ways to be Wicked" means. "The heroine is not TSTL..."

Could you please enlighten me? I can't post there because I'm not a registered blogger and I can't register because they've already got my e-mail address in their system. Sure, make it easy for people. Just the sort of thing that will totally set me off at the moment. At least most people who blog there don't let only registered bloggers comment.

Thanks, Julie

I really like this system, although I needed 3 tries on the verification to get it through.

[Haven Rich]

Julie, I have not one but two hairy kitties. The odd thing is one (Amie, queen brat, tortie-long hair) has silky soft fur and she has never had knots but does have fur balls..yuck. The other (Demon Child, thinking he's a maine coon) has long fluffy type fur and is forever getting knots on his tummy.

The funny thing is, of all the cats the one I hate giving a bath to is Star...she is a tabby short hair with a HUGE attitude. Typically shes a sweetie except after a bath. We are talking the most evil critter of all the lands. And she is so tiny, its kinda funny.

BTW Julie, we are almost finished unpacking, thank goodness. I so wish I could go to Nationals but I'll have to settle for next year (I'm hoping anyhow). It's kinda bumming because this was to be my year. Turning 30, become an RWA member..go to Nationals. But the only thing working out so far is the turning 30 thing lol. (counting: 1 month and 1 1/2 days til 30 haha)

[Julie Anne Long]

LOL! Ok, that photo up top is an older photo of Domenic, and his head is at the top, under his outflung arm—if you peer very, very closely, you can see the tip of his pink nose. His chin is peach colored, and you can see the underside of it.

But he came back BALD from the groomers!!! Or—well, let's just call it a *serious* buzz cut. ROFL! It's a look only a mother can love!! They shaved his sides and his behind, which was VERY fluffy, but not knotted!! He's *nekkid,* practically! I guess they did that so that his hair would grow back evenly, but STILL! I can't take a photo, because my camera phone is broken, and besides, I want to spare you. LOL. He seems perfectly happy about it, however. The nudie! Downright cheerful, strolling about, la la la. He's still very soft. Well, it's a good summer look, I suppose.

Isabel, I had a "difficult" cat, too. LOL. A female cat (like your kitty Star, Haven). In my experience, female cats really don't put up with much. Domenic is one of the mellower cats I've ever lived with, and in general, I've found male cats mellower, and female cats just a little smarter. :) Still, I can't get Dom to hold still for me when I attempt grooming, and he's a BIG cat. And he's the first cat I've had who really matted up, and I've always had long-haired cats. His hair is very fine, very soft, and a bit like cotton candy. Poor nudie.

Maine Coon cats are beautiful. When I was growing up, we had a cat who was part Maine Coon, and he used to ride around in my bike basket and open the cupboards at night with his paws to rattle the dishes. We had to rubber-band the cupboards closed.

Ranurgis—you're like me. I Google EVERYTHING if I want to know it. I just love Wikipedia. You guessed it—Domenic had Rasta hair, mon. :) Glad I could add to your knowledge today! LOL. You never know what you're going to learn from a blog. ALso, TSTL means "Too Stupid to Live," apparently, for heroines who are embarrassingly stupid. And apparently Sylvie isn't one of those TSTL types. :) I never did get into Project Runway, though—I was too deadline-addled, working all the time, and for months I allowed myself only two tv shows—American Idol and House. :) *Now* I get to decide which tv shows to add to my schedule.... :)

And happy almost birthday, Haven! :) Hope to see you at Nationals next year! Thirty is a good year. :)