The Venus and Mercury Cat Blog

Nadine and Mercury

2005-10-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

As promised, here are some pictures of Nadine and Mercury, since it seems this blog has opened up its membership to include the dogs. But only occasionally, understand? Don't think this is going to turn into "The Pluto and Nadine Dog Blog (featuring us cats every once in a while)". Let them get their own damn blog, that's what I say.

Invader!

2005-10-10T21:47:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

Well, a lot has gone on around here since last we spoke. Our dad had the unmitigated gall to bring a new dog into the house! Just when we finally got our old one trained nicely, in comes a great galumphing galoot of a Dalmatian/Great Dane mix named Pluto. Dad thinks he's about 8 months old, but he's guessing 'cause he was a 'Pound Puppy' (I have no idea what that is!). All I know is he's a four-footed spotted tornado.

I've tried to make friends with him, honest I have, but he jumps and barks, so I have to hiss and yowl at him to teach him some respect.

A cat's work is never done.

Mercury - Seeing-Eye Cat!

2005-09-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

Mom here -

I usually leave this blog alone, as Venus and Mercury are more than capable of managing things themselves. We have not posted in a while, because my digital camera died, and I just got a new one the other day.

But I had to tell you about Mercury.

Our dog is blind. Her name is Nadine and she is part Springer and part Border Collie. She's always been a spunky, active dog, but now that she can't see, she's slowed down a lot, because she's afraid of bumping into things. When we first got V&M, she thought he was a mouse because of his gray color (she could still see then) and chased him, so it took him a little while to warm up to her.

Well, as you may know, Mercury likes to sneak out whenever he can. Even though we try our best, with 3 kids and their friends the doors aren't always closed. This morning, he got out again. My husband came in later in the morning with an amazing story.

Nadine was out in the back yard, and she was lost. She was out by our little studio and couldn't find her way back to the back porch. Apparently Mercury saw her, and went over to her and started nudging her in the direction of the back porch! My husband said that he walked beside her and nudged her along the whole way, until he guided her up the back stairs and onto the porch.

And he did it again this afternoon when Sam, my 13-year-old, saw him do it.

I'll see if I can get it on camera some time.

Who knew beneath that granite exterior was a Boy Scout of a cat?

Comfort

2005-07-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

Free of the stupid old collars, and having vanquished the squirrel with mind-power alone, we both enjoy a well-earned siesta. Did she really think those things were going to stay on for more than a day? We wore them for a while so she wouldn't feel bad, the poor thing, but as soon as we could decently do it, we ditched them.

Vigilant

2005-07-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

Here we are defending our family from the audacious and wicked squirrel who taunts us relentlessly. Fortunately, we both speak squirrel and have let that vile vermin know that the yard will be littered with squiggly squirrel parts if he is ever unlucky enough to meet up with us face-to-face.

I think the collars have emboldened him. But we will have the last laugh.

We Are Not Amused

2005-07-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

If anyone was wondering where we were last week, we were on strike. If you look at the picture you can see why.

Really, the nerve of our mom putting collars and tags on us! Does she imagine that we are dogs?

No Cat Left Behind

2005-07-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Knowledge is Power.

A Cat's Work Is Never Done!

2005-06-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

You can see by these pictures how hard I have to work around this place. My day begins at 6:00 in the morning, waking up James for school. Among my many other duties, I am the "Alarm Cat". Sure, they have a clock with an alarm, but I don't really trust it. My motto is, "If you want something done right, do it yourself!" Here I am helping my mom hem Sam's pants for his 8th grade graduation. I'm especially handy with thread. My mom doesn't realize how dangerous it is; I have to make sure it's nice and knotted up, so it won't hurt anybody. If my family only knew how vigilantly we protect them!

We Love Our Toys

2005-06-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

As you can see, like all good little girls and boys, we have our own toys. But, as you can also see, I get some exercise with mine, while Tubs...well, I don't even need to say it, do I?

Discovery!

2005-06-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

As usual, I'm doing all the investigation, while lazy old Beefers watches from the sidelines. I think I'm on to something here, though. You never know what you can find with a little bit of detective work!

Mercury's Turn

2005-05-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

As usual, my bratty baby sister has hogged the whole blog so far, but she's busy with one of her little 'projects' so I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself, and correct some of the more egregious falsehoods that Venus has taken the liberty of perpetrating while I was otherwise occupied.

My name is Mercury, although most of my nicknames seem to indicate that I am, shall we say, somewhat corpulent. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I am not overweight; Venus is anorexic. I am a cat who enjoys the finer things in life. I do not spend every minute senselessly dashing hither and yon. I stop to smell the tuna. I lead a Proustian existence, contemplative and reflective.

That is, unless I am attacked by my sister, who misguidedly feels that she needs to goad me into useless and unproductive activity by flinging herself upon me while I am enjoying a well-deserved siesta. I have a rich inner life, which demands a great deal of mental activity, something a pedestrian intellect like Venus's would never understand in a million years.

Speaking of my rich inner life, I do believe that it is time to return to it.

I shall continue to update my acolytes periodically.

Yours most cerebrally, Mercury

Well-Trained

2005-05-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

I have a very well-trained family. I've taught my mom to throw! If I bring her a 'fetch' (a coiled-up pipecleaner) she will throw it. Sometimes I have to show her where the fetches are kept, but if I meow at her enough, she'll get one for me. Mercury does not like that game so much, which is one reason that he is not as svelte as I am. Diet and exercise, I tell him, diet and exercise is the key; but he never listens to me.

I'm Ready for My Closeup

2005-05-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

I thought I'd begin by putting up a picture of me, without the distraction of anyone else.

This is a Cat Blog, see?

2005-05-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Venus here -

When I saw my Mom spending so much time at her computer, I just had to know what she was up to! I got up on her lap and put my paws on the keyboard all the time like I saw her doing. Well, I found out what she was doing. She was blogging! So I knew I couldn't rest until I had a blog, too. Naturally, as soon as Mercury found out about it, he wanted one too, the copycat!

After a good deal of persuasion, Mom finally said we could have one. She wouldn't give us each our own, though - she said we had to share. I hate sharing! But, since Mercury is sort of lazy anyway, I figured that I would take charge of it, so I guess it's OK.

So, I start by figuring out what you're supposed to do with a blog by looking at my Mom's. Jeez Louise! Is hers ever stupid! Going on and on about totally useless stuff. And what's more, she lets just anyone write back to her! Even if she doesn't like what they write! I tell you what, people can be so stupid sometimes. What a mealy-mouthed pushover. No self-respecting cat would let people get away with that, I'll tell you right now!

So let me make this clear right now, people. This is a Cat Blog, understand? The only comments I will allow on my blog are those that are complimentary to the point of obsequiousness and respectful to me and my friend. Sycophants only are welcome here. You come here to worship the Goddess, or you take a hike, got it?

I knew you'd understand.

About Us

2005-05-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hello -

My name is Venus, and I'm a sable Burmese. My friend here is Mercury, and he's a blue Burmese. Since I pretty much run things around here, I'll be doing most of the talking while Tubs takes a nap.

Yes, our given names are Venus and Mercury, but we have lots of other names. I often go by Senorita Brown, Beenus D. Cat or Bean. Mercury is also known as Captain Granite, Beefy, Beefers Boy, Tubbers D., Dubbers T., Tubby or Tubs. Collectively, we are sometimes called "The Burrito Twins, Beef and Bean".

We moved to our current home in January, 2004, when our mom and our Sam picked us out. My mom was lonesome for a Burmese, because one had her for 15 years, and got lost after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. After 10 years without a Burmese, she couldn't stand it any more and searched the Internet for a Burmese breeder close to L.A.

That's where we came in! Mom and Sam (her 13-year-old son) came out to where we were living in Lancaster. She had talked to the breeder lady about a neutered male, which was what she had before, but then the lady told her about me! When I was little, I got an upper-respiratory infection, and when they gave me medicine for it, I had a bad reaction to it and lost the sight in my left eye. The lady was having a real hard time finding a home for me, and when Mom and Sam came over, she said that I could go home with them for free! So Mom put me and Mercury both into the carrier and took us to their house.

So, how did we get our names? Well, on the drive to our new home in Sherman Oaks, Sam asked Mom what they were going to name us. Mom said she didn't know yet, and that we would probably let them know what our names were (a wise decision, don't you think?). On the way home, Sam wants to stop at the In 'n' Out Burger. We pull into the lot, but the line is really long, so they had a server outside to take orders from the cars. The girl that comes up to our car was a 6-foot tall Amazon built like a linebacker, and her name tag said "Venus". My mom thought that was really cool. About 5 minutes later, Sam says, "Venus and Mercury!" My mom said, "What?", and Sam said, "Venus and Mercury! That's what we should name the cats!" We thought that those were excellent names, as Mercury is a beautiful silver color (at the time he was a little more quicksilver-like, but that's another story) and I, of course, am the Goddess of Love.

Well, I've done enough talking for now. It's time for me to go and supervise the household. I swear, they can't do anything without me. I'll tell you more later on if I feel like it.

Welcome To Us!

2005-05-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hello.

Welcome to the Venus and Mercury Cat Blog, a blog about us and only us, Venus and Mercury.

If you visit here, you will know more about us than you would ever hope for.

We will be putting up our pictures and information soon.

Stay tuned!