Kitty of the Year 2019 - Contestant #1

It's almost that time of the year again - time to vote for the annual Kitty of the Year contest.  The 2019 contest is going to be a tight race, with three strong contenders.  In this article, we will introduce Contender #1 - Peanut Briggs.

As you surely know, the Kitty of the Year title is awarded to the most popular kitty in the Briggs household.  This contest has been taking place annually since 2004.

Belle won the award every year from 2004-2018.  She and Peanut had a lot of close races between 2008-2018, but Belle always narrowly prevailed.  Of course Peanut was devastated when Belle passed away last year, but on the bright side, Peanut has one less cat to compete with this year.  (well, technically, she has one MORE cat to compete with this year, but we won't worry about that until our next article).

Peanut has made a strong case for herself to win Kitty of the Year for 2019.  She has provided some (very) tough love for the new kittens in the household, Robin and Tiny.  She has been reluctantly showing them the ropes and has taught them how to growl and tussle over food.  She always makes a point to pre-lick their food for them so they won't have to deal with too much gravy.  What a good grandmother!

Peanut has really stepped up her lap game this year too.  Whenever anyone takes a break for some reading or TV time, it won't be long before Peanut finds them and claims a spot on their precious lap.  In a pinch, Peanut will resort to snuggling up on top of the wood pellet stove, as seen in the photo to the left.

Peanut has been looking a little worse-for-wear this year, as age may finally be catching up to her. Andrea has taken to calling Peanut 'decrepit', but I like to think of her as 'wise' & 'grizzled'.  Andrea claims that Peanut is deaf, but Peanut claims that Andrea is deaf, so I'm not sure who to believe.

This may be Peanut's best opportunity to win a Kitty of the Year award, since she was the only cat to spend the whole of 2019 with us (assuming she makes it to the end of the year).

Introducing Peanut (a long overdue introduction)

Well, it's been a little while since the last entry on this blog.  A few things came up.  Children born, bought house, settled down, etc.  Oh, and Belle died.  Sweet old Belle.  She lived a good life and got considerably more plump than you may remember her.  Her coat of fur stayed silky smooth to the very end.  We'll have to do some more posts about Belle's later years eventually.  I'm sure we have enough photos to support many many more blog entries about Belle.

But for today, I have someone new to introduce to you.  Her name is Peanut, and she was Belle's bestest friend.  They lived together and "loved" each other for many many years - "the best years of our lives", as I wish I could recall Belle saying.

As with any long term feline relationship, there were some quabbles concerning food, litterboxes, comfortable spots to lie in, human companionship privileges, and most everything else.  But through it all, they tolerated each other with minimal bodily injury, and what more could we have really asked for?

Belle passed away in Summer/Fall of 2018 (it's a little foggy right now and we can't be bothered to check).  Which means that Peanut was a solo kitty for the better part of the past year.

Peanut liked her year alone well enough, but things weren't quite the same without someone to hiss at on a regular basis.  Luckily for her we got some new kittens this Summer, and now she has plenty of hissing opportunities each and every day.

These pictures were taken back in April, during Peanut's alone period, or her "glory days" as she likes to call them.  One of Peanut's most favorite things in the world is staying hydrated.  As she says, "you can never hydrate too much!".

At Peanut's behest, we purchased an expensive cat fountain last year, which she will drink from when there are no other available options.  We also regularly fill bowls of water for her which we set by her cat food, and she ignores them because they are horrible.

As Peanut tells us, she is a member of a rare breed of cats known as "water scavengers".  It has a fancy name in her ancestors native country of Ireland, but she can't remember it anymore.  "Water scavengers" prefer to drink water from any spot they can find that was not intended to be drank from.  The water in these spots is much more delicious and nutritious.

Here we see Peanut enjoying the rain water from our bird seed feeder.  She said the water had a nice hint of plastic and bird seed flavoring, and just a pinch of dirt like she likes.  What a good kitty.

Belle and Andrea's Misundersanding

Belle wishes to clear the air regarding the November 11th post of 2007, entitled "The Inexorable Subvolution". Belle wants everyone to know that said post was unauthorized and unwarranted, and also nonfactual. And she also would like to add that Subvolution is not a word, or at least not any word that she approves of.

The post in question was the result of a serious miscommunication between Belle and Andrea. Belle was telling Andrea about what her parents were going to name her if she had been a boy.  And no, her parents were not going to name her Beverly if she was a boy!  They were going to name her Bilbo Lee.  You see, Belle's mother is a huge Lord of the Rings fan and her father is a big Bruce Lee fan, hence the delightful combination of Bilbo Lee.  Apparently if you say BilboLee fast enough, it can sound sort of like Beverly.  

So you may be wondering, why did Belle's parents choose the name Belle?  Well, in addition to being a big Lord of the Rings fan, Belle's mother was also a giant fan of a little movie called Beauty and the Beast.  Maybe you've heard of it.  

You may also be wondering what Belle's middle name ended up being.  The answer, of course, is Yun Fat.  So putting it all together, Belle's full name is 'Belle Yun-Fat Poley-Briggs'.  It just rolls of the tongue, wouldn't you say?

The Inexorable Subvolution

Let it be known that I now wish to be addressed solely as Beverly.

Forlorn

Poor Belle. No one has posted any entries to her blog for almost a whole month. This lack of blogging activity has made Belle rather depressed. She claims that she doesn't have much energy these days. As Belle puts it, "why should I bother doing anything cute or adorable if no one is going to blog about it?" It's a valid question.

And so Belle has been lying around on the floor day in and day out, looking supremely pathetic, as you can surely see yourself from this picture. She barely has the energy to drag herself over to her food bowl at dinner time. As Belle put it, "why should I eat, when no one will ever read about my adventures again?" Nevertheless, Belle always DOES end up dragging herself over to her food bowl, where she slowly forces down her food, only because she has "a small and constantly dwindling hope that my blog will be resurrected and that I will return to my rightful spot as the Internet's favorite kitty-cat".

And so, here I am writing Belle's first entry for August, and we're only 25 days into the month. Not bad, eh? Fortunately, I do at least have multiple excuses for this inexcusable offense. First off, Andrea and I were on vacation from August 1-11. And no, Belle did not come on vacation with us. But please, let's not get into that -- it is a sore subject around the apartment (who knew Belle liked the ocean?). My second excuse is that I started working again on August 13. So whereas before I used to have approximately 16 hours per day to write about Belle, now I only have about six. And trust me, it's tough to write a good blog entry in anything under seven hours.

But August has not been all vacation and work, no sir! As a matter of fact, August 2007 is somewhat of a historic month for Belle the Kitty, as her first [short] movie premiered at a film festival, where it was very warmly received! More details to come in my next post, which will occur before the month ends. Guaranteed!

Long Day On The Set

Belle has recently completed filming her first major motion picture, which is titled 'Belle'. The filming was quite an ordeal, so much so that the budget nearly tripled and the filming schedule went from two weeks to two months. Whoever said kitties were easy to make movies with was a big fat liar. This picture was taking during a particularly long day on the set. Belle was yelling at me to get her some bottled water in between takes. Now that she's a hot shot movie star, she refuses to drink tap water, the little prima donna.

'Belle' (the movie, not the cat) is a short film, about seven minutes long. It was written, directed, filmed, and edited by Andrea. It stars Belle and some Barbie dolls. The voices are done by Andrea, myself, and our friend Hans. If I were not so prevented by my extreme modesty, I would tell you that it is a work of cinematic genius. It will very likely win the Academy Award next year, but we decided to start small and just show the film here in Troy for now.

Yes, that's right, 'Belle' (the movie, not the cat) is going to be screened for the very first time right here in Belle's hometown of Troy, NY by the Troy Visual Arts Group. Needless to say, Belle is very excited about the premiere, but she has been non-committal in regards to whether she will be in attendance. Andrea and I have been encouraging her to go, but Belle complains that she doesn't have a thing to wear.

In order to get Belle to attend the premiere, Andrea and I got her a fancy new purple collar, which you can see in the above photograph. We felt it was appropriate for evening-wear, especially for occasions such as film-premieres. Belle very much enjoys her new collar, but she's not sure that purple is the right color for summer -- she seems to think that a teal collar would be better. Belle is nothing if not fashion conscious.

Wire Toy

This is Belle with her favorite toy. Her favorite toy consists of a piece of wire with some bits of cardboard at each end. Belle is very frugal when it comes to her toys, and she won't have us spending oodles of money on the latest and greatest kitty toys. Wire and cardboard, that's all she wants, and that's all she needs.

I used to try and get Belle more expensive toys. I once got her a little kitty house, which had various little shiny plastic toys attached to it for her enjoyment. Belle did not like the kitty house much at all. She said, "I did not ask for this kitty playhouse, and I do not want it. The colors are garish, the architecture is ostentatious, and I would not be caught dead in such a structure! Remove it at once, and bring me my wire toy post haste." Belle can be quite harsh at times, but I will admit that she tends to get her point across, if rather bluntly.

You may notice that this photo is fairly old, based on Belle's adorable little shaved stomach area. This photo is from early 2005, back when Belle had just been spayed. What a trooper -- she managed to get in some playtime even after a major surgery. I remember I told her she should take it easy and she said, "I'll take it easy when I'm dead. But right now, I'm gonna play my little heart out, you got that?" And so I let her play.