Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for February 18, 2023

Kittens . . . er, little cats . . . can indeed be surprisingly strong when they see something they want to investigate (play with)!

Little cat about to get into big trouble

Fire guard needed. To take over from Elvis.

wow, big surprise that Ora is fascinated by fire. Fire I her spirit animal. how such a little cutie could be so wild. it just makes her more adorable. doubly so with her lil TOE BEANS!

For her own good, Lock Her Up!

In that first panel, it looks like a pizza oven behind Goldie!

I don’t believe for a moment there’s not a protective grill in front of that fireplace – not with all those kids and cats in the house.

I am surprised Lupin is not right there with Ora trying to get the fire.

Elvis doing his duty, yet again.

Lying on the carpet

Turning on the cat-news show

Pulling li’l cat close

Elvis just says "Whoa!

Not too close you won’t like it!"

But kitty thinks he’s a liar

When it hisses with bliss

Ooooh, fire

Late at night

A warm toasty home

She says “I wanna play”

Nosiness in her genome

She says “it won’t burn me”

But she can’t hide her desire

And when she hiss

Oh, fire

Fire

Elvis got a hold on her right from the start

A grip so tight, no one could bear it so far

His nerves all jumpin’

Actin’ like a fool

Well Ora’s hisses for the burn

But her guard stays cool

Oh meow! It fascinates

Situation gets dire

You can bet

She’s strong, he couldn’t deny

His words say help

And his words don’t lie

Whirlwind’s hiss

Mmmmmm, fire

Fire

Fire, fire, fire, fire

(Bruce Springsteen – “Fire”)

OZ is chaos wrapped in fur.

You plays with fire you gets burnt silly cat.

Just look at her li’l tail go!

Hmmm, wonder if one of our talented filkers will riff on “Ring of Fire”? My favorite fire is the one that runs on TV over the winter holiday seasons. It has the mesmerizing flames, the soothing crackle of the burning logs, and none of the awful smoke of a real fire.

This one in a nutshellPuck and Goldie: Isn’t fire magical?Elvis: SOMEONE HELP ME WITH OUR SHARED CHILD BEFORE SHE BURNS THINGS

I had a handsome fluffy boy named Otto who loved to woosh his paws through candle flame. Not cool Otto not cool. He thought it was awesome. Really scared my mom when the power was out and she had candles out all over the house and the candles in the bathroom started flickering. Woosh, woosh. Woosh woosh. Fow a few moments I think she was very very scared and she found Otto sitting on the corner of the Bath tub just playing away.

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

Serfig-Aro: Welcome one and all to Lupinium’s Multicolor Mayhem program. It gives me great pleasure to introduce tumbling sensations Lupinium, Ora Z, and Iggy Shipwright. And special shoutout to Tabith-Isis and her Red Dot Choir. Now, give it up for Multicolor Mayhem!

Enter Tumblers, Accompanied by Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire

Lupin in the pantry ’til

Jars of fruit juice, took a spill

White cat multicolor self

Who would do this, well who else?

…….

Run and tumble through the halls

Lamps and shelves all make a fall

Multicolored Lupin, and the kittens both join in

Iggy Shipwright, Ora Z, how can all this mayhem be?

…….

We’re all a wild fire!

We will jump and run, everyone have fun!

We’re all a wild fire!

No, its not a sin, everyone join in!

…….

Puckmosis, looks on all the while,

Watch performance with a smile

Elvis-Anum’s had enough,

Disapproving with a puff!

Bea, a climbing champion

Very gladly joins in!

…….

We’re all a wild fire!

We will jump and run, everyone have fun!

We’re all a wild fire!

No, its not a sin, everyone join in!

…….

Thomios bakes with contentment

Bringing fine refreshment

The Golden Queen watches them messing

And she gives it all her blessing!

Louie’s ready for the pace,

Brings some *OOPS** just in case!

Lupin’s taken a great fall

Breaks right that fourth wall!

…….

We’re all a wild fire!

We will jump and run, everyone have fun!

We’re all a wild fire!

No, its not a sin, everyone join in!

*Odorless Organic Powder Scrub

Our Dobe, Murphy, used to be that way. He’d literally crawl into the fireplace if we didn’t have the screen in front of it. More than once, there was a pattern of the screen on his nose because he’d pressed against it while the screen was hot. Then our female dobe died and now, we start the fire and he runs to the other end of the house and hides in the closet. He’s afraid of his own shadow. His confidence is just gone. Poor guy. :(

Look at the watercolor effect our talented artist used to show the glow of the fire on Elvis and Ora Zella! The yellow suffusing their colors, so clever!

Panel 5 – Puck, Lupin (sadly no longer pink), and Goldie piled on top of Ora Zella with Iggy hanging onto her li’l tail.

Ora Zella is the embodiment of all young boys who have been allowed to light a candle.

Marie and I like a fire on cold evenings.

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Don’t play with me, ‘cause you’re playing with fire.

Elvis should be plenty experienced from his years of protecting Lupin from dangerous situations. Thinking of that makes me eager for Ora Zella to discover the laundry chute and meet Tabitha.

To every log: burn, burn, burn

It’s warm hearth season: burn, burn, burn

And it’s time to help Ora curb fire obsession

A time to warn, a time to comply

A time to play, a time to sleep

A time to teach, a time to try

A time to shout, some help to seek

Ora’s new hot thing, Elvis concerned

Flickers like demons: burn, burn, burn

And a time to turn down her volume to just eleven

A time to scold her, a time to restrain

No time for chance, a time to explain

A time for fun, a time to behave

A time to save her, we know it’s not too late

- Pete Seeger – Turn! Turn! Turn! – The Byrds

Ora Z, honey, you’re going to get badly singed if you’re not careful!

This little cat will be a handful!

First, the freezing cold; now, the burning heat. If she gets loose, will she “nope, nope, nope” all the way back to Elvis? (Our cats were all highly suspicious of the fireplace, and preferred to admire the flames from afar – 10 feet or so.)

Fire’s one of those “look but don’t touch” kind of things, Ora. Trust us on this.

Cat kittens, like human kittens, sometimes have to singe a paw to learn their lesson… but they never make the same mistake twice.

Followed by a nice cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows!

One dark night

When we were all in bed

Little Ora Zella got a notion in her head.

She played with the fire

Thank Cat she isn’t dead!

There’ll be a hot time

in the Big Pink House

tonight!

NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!

It’s maybe 5ºC outside right now (about 40ºF) and the cats and doggos are all gathered in front of the fireplace in a big cuddle puddle. Except for Fred, the tux, who insists on always helping me type. And sticking his nose in my tea mug.

When my golden retriever Molly was tiny, she saw the remains of a Portuguese man-o-war on the beach. The sail looked like a ball. She went for it, I went for her and grabbed her just as she reached it. Between my “noooo” and my horror, she realized it was a very bad thing. She never even looked at one again. That’s a primary difference between a puppy and a kitten.

How in the heck did I miss that “Coming up Beatrix” was on preorder???? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1524879746/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dad cat to the rescue!

She has the impulse control of a kitten. Oh, wait…

Both my sisters were like that as little kids. Pyros. One of them is like that still as an adult.

His Majesty wonders if his name is actually No No No half the time.

And while you’re at it, Elvis, explain about gas stoves. Nyla keeps jumping on mine – and it’s usually cold. One of these days…

I tried to show my cat a roaring fire in the fireplace once. Once. I still have the scars from it.

Nummy would get within 5’ of the fireplace and stretch out in front of it, slowly rolling over so each side remained toasty warm all evening. She hated to be disturbed, even when we had to add more logs to keep the fire going.

I burst out laughing so loud at the second panel, then totally lost it on the last panel! LOLOLOL Little Ora Zella, I love you more and more with each strip. Your spirit and, dare I say, fire(!), are wonderful.

The kitten DH#1 had before our marriage once jumped onto a just-opened hot oven door. She made a four-point landing, did a 180-degree turn, and jumped back out. As quickly as she escaped, she still had slightly burned toe pads.

I have the power to make Mickey decide where he’s going to camp out for the day. If I turn on the fireplace, he lies on the couch. If I don’t, he hangs out on the bed in what is nominally our guest bedroom but has been The Woman’s office since about three weeks after we moved in.

The Girl has noted this preference and will usually ask me to turn the fireplace on so that she can sit on the couch after school and play on her phone while using him as a body pillow.

Follow up: I was trying to add a comment to my thread about the fireplace appearing to be an Inglenook fireplace when I somehow accidentally deleted the whole thing. (Danged overly sensitive touch pads!) Anyway, the folks who suggested it was just a closer look at the fireplace opening than we usually see were right. I could have sworn the known fireplace opening was square, but I found the evidence proving me wrong. So I’m still hoping that they WILL discover an Inglenook Fireplace while adding the rooms from the old addition into the existing apartments. I do wish GoComics would add a confirmation pop up such as “You are about to delete a thread. Do you wish to continue?” before permanently deleting a whole thread.

https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2017/05/29

No, no, Ora, baby – stay away from the fire. Just look!

My tuxie boy Lucky was only about 4 weeks old when I found him on a freeway shoulder on a blistering hot July day. After a visit to the vet for his eye & respiratory infections, where we found he also had a broken nose & was covered in fleas, I brought him home to find that his paw pads were singed from the hot asphalt! My mom (living with me at the time) coated his pads with Neosporin and put my nephew’s baby socks on him. Lucky put up with it until his pads healed. Even after that, he still loved to explore our fireplace!