Tag Archives: games

23

Do They Sell Fleas at a Flea Market? Part 2

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Sgt Stripes here. After much discussion, the Communications Team agreed that it was a bad idea to have a flea market in Cheeseland. While the name doesn’t really mean that fleas are involved in the human market, there is a much higher possibility that actual fleas would make an appearance at an animal flea market. So we took another idea from the humans and rebranded it.

How Cats Show Affection Through Their Tails - Cat Explore

So I am here at the 2025 Cheeseland Rummage Sale. Thomas Tabby is here to listen to his constituents. We are going to give you a tour of what is going on.

Sgt Stripes Here’s a familiar face. We didn’t expect to find you here, Gypsy.

Gypsy: What can I say? I though Rummage Sale meant we got to rummage around looking for something that catches our eye.

Sgt Stripes: That’s pretty much the idea. And what cat doesn’t love a good rummage?

Gypsy: You better tell the guy with the meat pies. How was I supposed to know which one I wanted to buy without tasting them? He made me buy the first one I tried. And it was some kind of bird. Yuck! I hate poultry. I thought they’d be, you know meat.

North American raccoon | San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers

Sgt Stripes: I see your point about the poultry vs meat. But once you’ve tasted something, they can’t sell it.

Gypsy: Whatever. I hope they have samples at the treats table.

Sgt Stripes walks up to a raccoon family.

Sgt Stripes: How are you enjoying the sale?

Raccoon looking in mirror

Mama Raccoon: We love it. There is so much stuff to paw through. And whoever thought of the fun house for the kids is a genius. Who doesn’t love funny mirrors and tilted floors?

Papa Raccoon: They might want to rethink the balloons though. A lot of the kids are just learning to control their claws. A few of the more timid ones were frightened by all of the popping.

Thomas Tabby: Thank you for sharing. That’s just the type of feedback we’re looking for.

How To Care for Your Pet Rat | PetMD

Sgt Stripes and Thomas Tabby are pleased to see a large crowd of animals. And a lot of the tables were doing a good business. They walk up to a crowded table and find a large, cheerful rat behind it.

Thomas Tabby: You have an interesting assortment of merchandise.

Rat: You may have heard of a rat’s nest being a jumble of things. When my grandfather went over the Rainbow Bridge, he had been working on it for years. And he collected a lot of stuff. This sale is perfect.

Arizona Pack Rats | Atomic Pest Control

Thomas Tabby: Your grandfather would have been pleased to know so many folks will be enjoying his things.

Rat: You’re right. He was a great guy.

Sgt Stripes: Sorry for your loss.

The two tabbies continue around the park. There are all types of things to buy. A beaver was selling wooden toys he had made.

Here are 2 photos of a beaver chewing the bark and cambium off of a branch. Beavers eat tree product, but don't eat the wood itself. They will eat the twigs, leaves,

Sgt Stripes: These are great! If Mom didn’t have a rule against bringing more stuff into the house, I would definitely get something for the small humans.

Beaver: Thank you! I hadn’t really thought about small humans. I was looking more at the puppy/rabbit market. But that is a excellent idea!

They heard a splash and a lot of laughter.

Sgt Stripes: What was that?

Otter Contemplates a Swim in the Puppy Pool — The Daily Otter

Beaver: That’s the Otter Brothers Dunk an Otter game.It is extremely popular. Anyone who buys a piece of their grasshopper cheesecake gets a chance to spin a wheel to dump one of the otters into a vat of water.

Thomas Tabby: We should go over and take a look.

Sgt Stripes: You go right ahead. I do not like water in my fur.

Beaver: They don’t dunk you. It’s one of the otters.

Why Do Cats Hate Water? 5 Reasons & Tips for Bath Time

Nothing would convince Sgt Stripes to go near the water. He got a salmon smoothie and waited on a bench. Finally, Thomas returned. looking a little soggy.

Thomas Tabby: It looks like you were right, Stripes. They aren’t using a water tank; They are using a tub. Every time the otter goes into the tub, it splashes everyone.

Sgt Stripes: I knew it wasn’t a good idea. Where do you want to go next?

Thomas Tabby: There’s something called The Field of Dreams over by the pavilion. It’s a fundraiser for the Cheeseland Hospital.

Sgt Stripes: That sounds interesting. Let’s go!

The Peruvian Llama - Lima Spanish House

The field was very crowded. They finally got to the pavilion. There was a llama directing some other animals.

Sgt Stripes: This looks exciting. What’s going on, and who is in charge. Is it you?

Llama (laughing): No, I’m part of security. You want JJ Gorilla. He’s the brains behind it.

Sgt Stripes: Mr Gorilla, this looks very interesting. Can you explain what is going on?

Gorilla: Please call me JJ. With all of the budget cuts we’ve been going through, the hospital needed to raise some money. A treasure hunt game sounded like a different, fun way to do it.

😻Cats at the Spa😻 - Funny Cats Doing Human Things

Sgt Stripes: Can you explain how it works?

JJ: We got animals to donate some really nice prizes. We have a heated cat condo, and all-you-can eat dinner for six at Freddy’s Fish Factory, and a custom burrow for winter, and a couple’s spa day at Ruth’s Premier Salon and Day Spa. All told, we have ten excellent prizes.

Sgt Stripes: That does sound nice.  Did everyone here have to buy a ticket? How do you decide who wins?

Differences between cats and dogs: Cats Are Not Small Dogs

JJ: Most of them bought a ticket.They were given an envelope. Ten envelopes had a gold printed map, and the rest had a black printed map. The gold maps each lead to one of the prizes. The black maps lead to a bag of treats.

Sgt Stripes: Why are there so many animals here?

JJ: A lot of the animals who got treat bags are trying to help the lucky winners find their prize. The gold maps are very tricky.

Thomas Tabby: It looks like some of them have family and friends helping too.

How often do you find yourself talking to your pets?

JJ: That’s true. Since each map leads to a different prize, there’s no reason to fight.

Sgt Stripes  and Thomas Tabby returned to the main selling area. There were animals everywhere

Thomas Tabby: This didn’t turn out the way I expected it would. I thought it would be just animals bringing in old stuff.

Sgt Stripes: That’s true. But this is so much better.

Pictures courtesy of Google Images.

31

Cat Forum: Taking Care of Your Human

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Kick back and enjoy the weekend!!! - Vital Pet Health - Ask the ...

Greetings. Snoops and Kommando Kitty here. As you probably know, almost all humans have been forced to stay at home by some sort of invisible “bug”. Our human works at a place that sells kibble, so she’s still working. But we can imagine how traumatic it must be to have all your humans around all the time. They’re in your space, complaining about how they can’t go to out to play with their friends anymore. Or even worse, roaming around the house doing all sorts of stuff that upsets your routine. We have some ideas that might help you deal with the situation.

Writing and photography for great cat adoption profiles | Chew On This

Play Fetch

If your human is working at home, you’ll probably see pens and clips and other office supplies lying around that you can use. You want to sit close enough to reach the toy, but not close enough to be caught.

Take your paw and give the pen a strong swipe. You want it to skitter across the floor, preferably under something. You may need to do this a couple of times before your human realizes it’s a game.

singing memes - Album on Imgur

Sing for Their Friends

Your human may talk to other humans on those computer thingeys that they work with. A lot of the time you can see the other people. You can help them when they start to get bored. First try talking. It’s easiest to do if you are sitting in your person’s lap.

Your person may rudely put you on the floor despite the other people talking about how cute you are. Obviously, they want more of you. This is when you sing. While the others enjoy your musical talents, your human may accuse you of yowling and throw you out. No accounting for taste. They’re probably jealous.

IRTI - funny picture #2350 - tags: cat keep it down on the phone ...

Play Hide and Seek

Usually this game is most fun when you play it with their keys. But now that they won’t go anywhere, you probably want to use their phone. This game is best when they don’t realize you have touched the phone. (Ours loses hers a lot and never thinks it might be us.)

You can slide it under a chair (leave a little bit showing) or put it behind something. We have found that the very best place is to lay on it and pretend to sleep. They usually think we’re cute and don’t want to disturb us.

If they are being particularly annoying (spending too much time with it and not enough with you), we recommend you hide it under the refrigerator or some other hard-to-reach spot. They won’t be able to find it until it rings.

How to find a lost remote control « Appliances Online Blog

Watch TV Together

We’re not talking about the regular sitting in their lap and watching their shows. You should help them watch something different. Maybe a three-hour documentary on the history of kibble.

If they try to turn on the news or anything else that stresses them out, turn off the volume. If they don’t get the message, hide the remote. You want to protect their mental health during the crisis: they need to be able to feed you and cuddle upon demand.

How to Cuddle a Cat: The Ultimate Guide

We hope you will find these suggestions helpful.

We wish health and happiness for everyone during the crisis.

Cat Memes You'll Laugh at Every Time | Reader's Digest

Pictures courtesy of Google Images.

 

 

15

Felines and Friends Academy Elections

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Image result for bears and cats

Bella Bear: I am so mad!

Daphne Bear: What’s wrong?

Bella: Those stupid cats think they run everything.

Daphne: Anything in particular? Or is this just a generalized rant?

Bella: The Student Council has decided that the end-of-the year trip should be to the State Park.

Daphne: What’s wrong with that?

Image result for cats jumping

Bella: Nothing, I guess. But the games are all about running, and jumping, and catching mice.

Daphne: They won’t care if we don’t participate.

Bella: I know. But what about the rest of us? The squirrels don’t want to chase mice. They’re cousins or something. In fact, we used to have mice in school. Until the cats made too many jokes about lunchtime.

Daphne: That was in extremely poor taste.

Bella: And what about the other animals? Sheep don’t chase mice, and neither do goats. It’s ridiculous.

Image result for cats chasing mice memes

Daphne: All right. What are you going to do about it?

Bella: What do you mean? They’re in charge. What they say, goes.

Daphne: Have you told them how you feel? Do you have better ideas for the games?

Bella thought for a few minutes.

Bella: I guess I don’t. It’s hard to think of things that everyone can do. But they should think of some things that don’t only appeal to cats.

Daphne: If you’re that upset, you should talk to them. They seem like nice kitties.

Image result for bears and cats

Bella: I don’t know. They intimidate me.

Daphne (laughing): Seriously? You’re, like, 10 times as big as they are.

Bella: But they always hang around in a group. It’s like they’re in a gang.

Daphne: You’re being ridiculous. They won’t hurt you. They’re kitties, not ogres.

Bella (sighing): I guess you’re right.

Bella got up her nerve and went to see the cats on the Student Council. The leader was Cherie, a beautiful Maine Coon.

Image result for maine coon cats

Cherie: Hi Bella. What’s up?

Bella: I was wondering if we could talk about the picnic?

Cherie: Of course.

Bella: It’s just that the games all seem to be cat-centric. The rest of us won’t have anything to do. It happens a lot around here. We can study cat dialects, but there aren’t any classes to learn bear or anything else. And most of the music classes are cat music. We need more diversity.

Image result for cat music

Cherie: I understand what you’re saying, Bella. But this school was started by cats, for cats. There are a lot more cats. We don’t intentionally leave you out. But we don’t know anything about bears, or most other animals.

Bella: Almost every animal in student government is a cat. And all of the leadership.

Cherie: That’s not our fault. The only animals that ran for offices were cats.

Bella: Oh, that’s right. I forgot about that.

Image result for bears and cats

Jasmine Calico: If you’re so interested in changing things, you should run for office. The elections for next year are coming up.

Bella: Oh, no. I couldn’t do that.

Jasmine: Then you can’t complain about what we do. We work hard to do what we think is best for the students. If you don’t think we’re doing a good job, then try to change things. You won’t get anywhere just by complaining.

The other cats nodded in agreement. None of them looked angry or intimidating. In fact, they looked like they thought they were giving her good advice. Bella thanked them and left.

Image result for angry bear

Bella: I am so frustrated. Those cats are so arrogant!

Daphne: What now?

Bella: Would you believe that they said the whole thing is my fault?

Daphne: Really? Why would they say that?

Bella: They said that if I wanted to change things, I should run for office.

Daphne: So they won’t change the games?

Bella: I forgot to ask them about that.

Image result for cats making a decision meme

Daphne: What did you talk about?

Bella: I told them that the school is too cat-centric, and that some of the other animals needed to be considered when important decisions are made.

Daphne: That sounds reasonable.

Bella: I thought so. But then they told me that they’re cats, and they think like cats. If I wanted things to change, I needed to get involved.

Daphne: Were they mean about it?

Bella: No. But they’re in charge, they need to change things.

Image result for bears thinking

Daphne: They told you they think like cats. If you want them to think like bears, or sheep, or whatever, you need to teach them. We don’t think like cats.

Bella: I guess. But I can’t run. No one will vote for me.

Daphne: Why not? You’re passionate about it.

Bella: I don’t know what to say.

Daphne: You’ll think of something. Do you want things to change or not?

Bella: I need to think about it.

Next week: Will Bella have enough confidence to run for office?

Image result for bears thinking

All pictures courtesy of Google Images

6

Do I Know You?

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I decided to get back on Facebook. This is my third attempt. The first time a few years ago resulted in a serious addiction to Farmville and its various relatives. I was away for eight months and came back “clean”. I lasted a couple of months and got bored. So I went away again. I started feeling  bad about asking people to read the blog without showing any interest in what they were doing. I thought it might help if I went back and started reading their posts.

It wasn’t difficult getting back it. I’d been getting emails every day (it seemed) that I had “notifications” waiting. The notifications usually seemed to be someone inviting me to a game I had never heard of.  After going cold turkey a couple of years ago, I’m afraid to even look at another game. What if I fall prey to a dancing cookie or something?

The other type of notification was someone asking me to “like” some obscure page. While I have no issue with the “Don’t Bludgeon Baby Animals” type, I have no appetite for the “Like Dr. Smith. He Has the Answer to All of Life’s Questions.” From what I can tell, if I like something it goes up on my wall for everyone to see. It also goes on that crawl on the right side of the screen, although things pass through there fairly quickly. What if the world knows that Dr. Smith has just been arrested for fraud? Will my “friends” still “like” me? Will they respect me in the morning?

About those “friends”. I forget how I originally started, but a lot of my first friends were people I had known in high school. The last time I was back, my daughter taught me how to “un-follow” people without “un-friending” them. It worked really well. When I came back there were only a couple of people in the feed who I really didn’t know. One of them, I have no idea whatsoever who she is or where she came from.

The last time I was on, I got a feed question from someone thinking it would be interesting to find out where she met her “friends”. Oddly enough, I had been trying to figure out who she was for a couple of weeks. I responded with that answer. I don’t think we’re friends anymore. (Am I missing the point of Facebook in only connecting with people I actually recognize?)

Now that I have winnowed my feed to the people I actually know, I have discovered that the vast majority of my feed is from the same few people. Some of them have lives that are interesting enough to fill the space. A few search the web for pictures and quotations they like. A few seem to use it as a way to share every thought they have.

I don’t have a problem with any of that. I just don’t know how to join. My life is not that interesting, and I really don’t have any fun pictures to share. Does anyone really care that I almost ran over a bunny yesterday morning (not really)? Or that the cats have caught three mice in the last week (really)? Things that would be a throwaway in person seem to have an increased sense of importance when you write it down.

Worse yet, I really don’t get the “liking” idea (I have the same problem on WordPress). I haven’t fully accepted the concept that people have no idea whether or not I have read what they have written. “Liking” is not required to avoid hurting their feelings. Conversely, I guess I could write whatever I want since very few of my “friends” would see it anyway.

When you “like” someone’s post, do you actually have to like it? Is it like nodding your head to indicate that you are paying attention to what the person is saying? Or is it full buy-in for whatever they are talking about?

If someone “likes” my comment does it mean that they agree with me? Or do they just like the way I said it?

How many cute pictures of their families do people really think everyone wants to look at? On a daily basis? Do people ever think about their audience?

If someone sends me a link that doesn’t work, do I tell them? One guy sent me a link to like his company. When I followed the link it took me to a page for something else with a pop-up to go to the page to like his company. I didn’t like the company that much and left.

I didn’t give them much personal history to use for advertising. My location matches the information I gave them for high school and college. So I’m not really getting personalized ads companies want. I’m just getting a lot of them scattered all over the place. My friends and likes are pretty esoteric too. I am not a marketers dream. I’m guessing that the longer I’m on, the more the ads will standardize. I can hardly wait.

The one thing I do like about Facebook is the chatting. It’s great to be able to actually “talk” to people I never get to see. However, being on at 3a seems to have cut down on the number of people I can find to chat with. I need to get some friends overseas.

So I’m friends with people I don’t know and like things that are merely statements of fact. No wonder they call it virtual reality.