Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for December 19, 2022

Look, that’s a totally valid question from Elvis. Humans are weird.

That bowl of popcorn looks good. Do you think the birds would share?

Ooh, I think Homestyle and Thimblefist would like that special treat, too!

Following with interest! Love having some crafty stuff to do with the kiddo over break!

Oh, Elvis, you old softie!

We hope it’s not a tree that eats birds. Some trees produce birds ( they’re a kind of fruit) so there might some that eat birds. It’s wise to be suspicious of trees. I’m sure they are up to something.

Elvis looks so distressed. Bet he’s relieved that it really feeds birds, instead of feeding on birds.

It’s okay, Elvis. It’s only a seasonal kind of bird magnet. (The glass will still be in the way, though.)

I’ve been thinking of stringing popcorn with the niblings this year. We did it a few times as kids. Since I’ll be off for my office’s winter break at the same time Niece is off of school and there’s an open invitation to drop by whenever, I just may run it past Brother and Sister-in-Law.

If Ora Zella, Iggy and Lupin are in the tree, the birds may not like it.

My Mom used to make those for the birds in the winter here in Florida. They used to be bell shaped if my kind of fading memory is correct. I remember how her cats would make strange clicking noises from the lanai and south facing windows in our house when they saw the birds feeding on the holiday/winter treat. Man I miss my Mom this time of year and time flies by way too ****ing fast does it not……..

Hey, at least Burt is acknowledging Elvis’ hard-hitting journalistic abilities!

(What? Sarcasm? Does Burt do that?)

That’s possibly worse, Puck, m’boy.

OT

It was a one pine cone, peanut butter, tree bird feed-er! One pine cone, peanut butter, tree bird feed-er! And it sure looked good to eat!

Be careful, Elvis. Once the birds and other wildlife start eating the tree, they’re going to know your business.

Elvis has the best questions.

What a wonderful idea!

Happy Chanukah!

but it does eat cats who try to climb the tree to get the birds, elvis be very afraid.

Why do birds suddenly appear

Is it what Elvis feared?

Just like kitties, they long to be

Fed by you

Why do jays fly down from the sky

When your tree they do spy?

Since Homestyle sees the chickadees

She’ll come, too

On a day that winter’s here you got some snacks together

And decided to create a dream come true

So you sprinkled bird seed in your tree out there and hung popcorn on its branches, too

That is why all the birds in town

Are so glad you’re around

Just like me, they want to be

Thanking you ❤️

- Burt Bacharach / Hal David – (They Long to Be) Close to You

I have heard of those bird-feeder trees you put up in the yard. It is a fun project for the kids to do.

We all know that Tommy likes to play with the birds.

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

At the Artisans’ Studio

Iggy Shipwright: It’s almost lunchtime. Is there anything you’d like?

Adobe Style: I like peanuts and berries.

Iron Glove: And I like any kind of vegetable.

Matt-Tilda: My favorite is ham with a side of bacon.

Sophititi: And I like fish.

Iggy: I’ll see what Thomios has prepared.

At the Royal Kitchen

Iggy: Ora Z, I’d like to prepare a surprise luncheon for the Artisans. Can you help?

Ora: Sure I’ll just zoom through the pantry and see what’s available.

Iggy: But it has to be special. I have a scroll of each one’s favorites.

Ora: That might be a bit of a challenge.

Sound of giggling in the background

Ora: Or maybe not.

Puts a whole new slant on “partridge in a pear tree”.

I feel for Elvis’ distress in the third panel.

Sounds like a squirrels stripped it bare tree to me

Panel Three: Disconcerted mouth or drooling?

Wow, it’s rare that Burt uses the chyrons to agree with Elvis instead of needling him. Elvis better get on his slicker and umbrella so he can report on the chickadee and cardinal fronts.

Grammatically speaking, Elvis, I would think that if it was a tree that eats birds, it wouldn’t be called a bird feeder tree, since the use of “feeder” implies the birds are the ones being fed, not the tree.

At most, it’d be a tree that birds eat (which, going from Puck’s explanation, seems to be not far from the case).

I knew a kid who had a problem with kite-eating trees, but that might just have been a “him” thing.

So we’ve got oranges, a bowl of popcorn, a bowl of dried cranberries(?) and a bowl of brown stuff.

So – was he concerned for the birds, or not wanting the competition? (Had to ask!)

https://www.gocomics.com/wumo/2022/12/19

O/T: We have a foundling! A local stray who’d been showing up on the trail camera occasionally since late summer finally got hungry & lonely enough to come meowing for a meal. Right now, he’s in an outbuilding with a heated catbed and an electric heater, safely out of this week’s sub-zero temps, getting 3 hots-and-a-cot. He seems pretty young, and he seems to like us. Have a vet visit scheduled this week. We’ll see how it goes for the guy we call Oliver (before we knew better, we thought that “Big Fluffy” was a shecat we called Olive.)

Cute Kitten Toebeans against a window (CKTAAW) Alert in Snow Sez this morning. EEEEEEEEEEEEE!

OT: Whisker fatigue…

Ooh, a bird feeder tree. I’m down with that!

I put one of those suction cup feeders on my window about six feet off the ground. I was puzzled over the next few weeks when I would see Vivekat out on the patio leaping as part of her daily workout. One day, while I was on the phone, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Vivekat leaping and coming down with a bird in her mouth. “Gotta go.”

I moved the feeder up as high as I could but eventually had to take it down – because it had become a cat feeder.

Vivekat was an amazing cat who taught herself to hunt when she was three years old, would walk with me on the late night streets of Santa Cruz and along the cliffs of Capitola, would get down from the roof by riding down on a cardboard box, as though it were an elevator, and let me stuff her in a backpack when she got “stuck” in a redwood tree 30 feet off the ground. She would also host catnip parties on the patio for up to seven cats at a time. We were together for an interesting 17 years.

A bird-eating tree is not near as bad as the kite-eating tree from Peanuts !! … :)

Sounds like a squirrel and other less cute rodent feeder.

Oh the werewolf is just going to love that one. The chittering from the others is one thing, I picture the werewolf taking a more active role in dealing with the birds. Hampered by the window, of course.

The tree that eats birds is just outside Hogwarts castle.

Well, there are kite eating trees.

OT: can’t believe this is happening