Good companions

Chows Bella and Fun, left to right, 1997:



Chows Bella and Fun, left to right, 2008:

The loyalty and devotion that dogs demonstrate as part of their natural instincts as pack animals closely mimics the human idea of love and friendship, leading many dog owners to view their pets as full-fledged family members. Conversely, dogs seem to view their human companions as members of their pack, and make few, if any, distinctions between their owners and fellow dogs. Dogs fill a variety of roles in human society and are often trained as working dogs. For dogs that do not have traditional jobs, a wide range of dog sports provide the opportunity to exhibit their natural skills. In many countries, the most common and perhaps most important role of dogs is as companions.

"Dog." Wikipedia.

Gato on guard duty

Been a while since we've had any Mister Gato photos around here. Time to rectify that.

Our menagerie includes not only one irascible tomcat, but two Chow Chows.

An important part of a Chow's job description is to always be between you and the front door. They were bred as guard dogs, and those instincts run deep. Chow Bella and Chow Fun trade off on door-guard duty as a general rule.

But now that Mister Gato is a full-fledged member of the household pack (and universally acknowledged feline badass) he takes regular shifts guarding the door too.

Mister Gato on door duty.

Of course, he's not without backup. Here's a little more context on that photo:

Chow Bella has Mister Gato's back.

Be sure to check out The Modulator's Friday Ark for other pictures of bloggers' pets... and the Carnival of the Cats, this Sunday, at Bad Kitty Cats.

The sleepy, peaceable kingdom

Chow Fun on couch 1
Originally uploaded by CWCampbell.

Chow Fun and Mister Gato share a quiet moment of naplitude on the couch. (Cat is in background, on his Army blanket.)

Photo credit: Carrie

Good to be home again

Earlier this week, electricians visited our apartment to bring us into the mid-twentieth-century, wiring-wise; the entire 110-year-old building is being rewired and brought up to code, and we now, mirabile dictu, have enough oomph in the amperage department to run the toaster oven *and* the hairdryer at the same time, should we so choose.

And we have a dedicated 20-amp circuit just for an air conditioner. You can't imagine how luxurious that feels. (12,000 BTU window-unit air conditioner: already on order, scheduled to arrive next week. They're cheaper in the fall, you know.)

At any rate, this all involved punching a lot of holes in some very old plaster, installing conduit and wiring, and then doing a fair bit of rework with plaster, sheetrock and all the trimmings, so Mister Gato and the Chow Chows spent some time at "camp" this week.

And Carrie and I spent a couple of days moving furniture, cleaning up, and so forth, and while we had the furniture moved out of the living room for the electricians to work there, we even managed to put down the FLOR carpet tiles we've had sitting in the hall closet since last December.

Your humble correspondent, in the renovated living room/home office (note new carpet)

We were very pleased to be able to retrieve everyone on Friday morning and bring them home. Gato was especially chuffed to discover that, despite the changes in the apartment (does anything discombubulate a cat more than rearranging the furniture? You might as well toss him in a sack and move him across town under cover of darkness) we had not done away with His Box.

Taking care of business atop a much-loved Box

The Chows were very glad to learn that the bed was still in the same place.

It would not be inappropriate to bring us pig ears now.

Everyone's happy.

"This is satisfactory, but a little more to the left with the chest-scratching, please."

Lots more animal-blogging to be seen at The Modulator's Friday Ark, and don't miss the Carnival of the Cats this Sunday at Curiouser and Curiouser.