Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for December 21, 2021

Oh Lupin, always so selfless. This is why you’re on the Nice List!

There’s the clipboard!

Heaven forbid that the tree should crash through a window! Lupin MUST TEST IT!

Cats are SO helpful. How can you doubt the sincerity of that little panel 3 face?

Finally Elvis gets a kitty hard hat!

I think it’s time for Goldie to give Lupin a good swat. He’s out of hand, and the Woman is getting frazzled.

Don’t feed the troll ^

What is now our dining room has a 16ft ceiling that follows the roof. so we used to put 10 to 12 ft tall trees in there. . and yes one year a tree crashed, much to my wife’s befrazzlement. I was at work. there was no report of cat involvement. however all future trees were tied off at the top and we upgraded our tree stand to a much larger model. End of problem and worry about it.

So, Lupin carries that hard hat for safety, but doesn’t wear it when he starts the Safety Check?

Reminds me of some of our guys. When they are being watched, they wear lab coats, safety glasses, masks, gloves, etc. When they are actually working some of them are more Daredevil Lupin’s – the cat without fear.

Our family Christmas trees have always been secured to the ceiling or a high curtain rod. When we had cats who realized there was a tree in the house they could climb, that security came in handy. In a family with a Resident Tree Stability Inspector since Elvis’ kittenhood (there’s video on YouTube), I remain slightly surprised the Vegas Fir’s not secured yet!

The tree is not doomed?

And here’s the wonderful Pam Ayres.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/goodwill-to-men-give-us-your-money/

Should be toppled by now.

Finally got my Tommybaum decorated and posted to Instagram! Hope it can be accessed without an account. https://www.instagram.com/p/CXvFhcCLSdQ/ ♥

Our cats like the low ornaments and the fluffy tree skirt.

Be-leaves it or not, they has to be inspected in order to prevents tree-mendous cat-astrophies. You wood not likes if such a thing happened, wood you?

Christmas 1970, we had just moved into my grandparents’ house which was a prefab construction (Grandpa’s gunsmith shop was in one end) with exposed steel beams and rafters everywhere. Our two cats who came with us were slightly older than Grandpa’s cat, who avoided them by climbing the tree and getting up into the rafters.

It’s a wonder we got through the season without the whole tree crashing down. Maybe it was more stable because it was a real tree that Grandpa had cut down himself.

Such mock solemnity.

Thank goodness it’s cats, woman, for they inspects it. If they was dogs, they’d just marks it as their terri-tree.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

How sturdy are thy branches!

Your boughs hold keen cats over time,

So bravely inspected it is no crime

O tannenbaum, O Christmas Tree

Don’t crash through windows I beg thee!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Well, at least Lupin isn’t stealing the ornaments. Not that he would, of course. Especially not on Christmas!

One guy on the ground, looking up. One guy taking notes, with a clipboard. One gal, also looking up, I’m sure, but with a cup of coffee. And one guy, who doing all the work…typical inspection site!

I have never had a cat that climbs trees and I’ve had some pretty spectacular trees. At our last house, we had 20 foot ceilings in the great room and would buy 14-15 foot trees. Miss Molly (RIP) never bothered. Even Thing 2’s cat Garth, when they stayed with us, never bothered and he is a cat who naps on the top edge of open doors. I don’t even know how he gets on them to do that! But no trees.

The joy on Lupin’s face will hold me throughout the season :-D

And Lupin TOEBEANS!!!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elvis got a hard hat!

Not on Christmas, but if it falls over on any other day…

Also, I absolutely adore the kitty hard hats. Those little ears!

I love that old picture of 1932 Iron Workers having lunch on a beam, far above the city. Every time I see it, I think of our Cat Of Adventure and how he would love to be doing that. Lupin, hardhat on, sitting on the beam with a huge grin on his face.

I forgot what I was going to comment.

The little hats!!

OT: Michael G. Good News. There has been concern over his silence here but late yesterday Blue Iris posted: “OMC! I can’t believe it! I just heard from @Michael G!!!! His e-mail said “Just got loaned a machine. Hey, just moved to a sitting position. Been a long time; OK otherwise.” Could have knocked me over with a feather! I’m not an early bird, so you early birds feel free to spread the news tomorrow!”

OT – Dante update

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

Maat-Tilda: Who will help me hang the Yuletide Tapestry?

Lupinium: I would be glad to help. I’ll make sure it stays nice and secure.

Beatrixia: And I’ll make sure it’s displayed where everyone can see it.

Enter Thomios

Thomios: You’ll all be glad to know I have perfected my recipe for fruitcake.

Puckmosis: What did you do?

Thomios: I used candied ham and bacon in place of fruit!

Great illustration & color!

It’s tough work, but some cat’s gotta do it!

Rarest Sighting of Rear Toe Beans Hanging From Tree

I couldn’t begin to tell you how many Christmas trees just spontaneously eject themselves out of a window.

OT: Still on vacation…

Link to my original Wilamena the Radio Cat Christmas Card image “Wilamena decorates the tree from the inside.”

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dyt0n8llyqldza6/Wilamena%20Merry%20Christmas%20%28Large%29.jpg?dl=0

when my older brothers were four and one years old, respectively, my parents put the tree in the playpen to keep the boys out of it.

The Christmas tree is here

Lupin’s in high gear

Doing all that he might call

His favorite climb in years

Hangin’ without care

Baubles everywhere

Checkin’ lights – are branches tight?

Good test results to share

Woman’s in despair

Danger’s everywhere

Must confide a tree landslide

Could be a real threat there

Christmas time is here

Tree is safe, let’s cheer

Oh, that we could always see

Such drama through the year

- Lee Mendelson – Christmas Time is Here

Every year I tell myself I want a tree for the flat and every year I remember that I have cats.

My college roomate and I came home late from class….no cats waiting for us at the door per the usual routine….apartment search comences…notice Christmas tree in the corner of the room is vibrating?! Yup! Two naughty kitties were play-fighting in the tree. Fortunately we only had popcorn-cranberry strings and paper ornaments on it. How that tree stayed upright I will never know!

They are such good boys.

Lupin likes the tree because it provides handy ceiling access.

No, not gonna crash through the window. Lupin’s gonna crash it across the couch instead.

Good lord people … cats are NOT in charge! Get the spray bottle and tell them that it’s not their tree. Shoo them off. Get them away. Use mild aversion tactics. They’ll learn. They don’t own the tree. YOU do.

No wonder the Woman looks alarmed in the last panel: Lupin is hanging by his front paws from a branch.