IRRESISTiBLE CATS

As I have searched and can find not one cat beginning with "I" I am sharing some photographs I found of some very beautiful cats.  I hope I have better luck with "J".

The head and chest of this cat are somewhat like our Precious in her wintery finery although she doesn't have tabby stripes on her body but tends to be grey with hints of tabby:

This is Precious.  Am I imagining it or is there a similarity between the heads of the two cats?

This especially for EC:

The rest are just random pics of photos I found but all very special in their own way:

and finally, some cat rules everyone should be made aware of:

HAVANESE (Dog)

I chose this breed of dog as I am rather partial to "Bichon" type dogs.

The Havanese is a breed of Bichon type and is the national dog of Cuba, developed from the now extinct Blanquito de la Habana ("the little white dog of Havana").  The Blanquito descended from the also now extinct Bichon Tenerife.  It is believed that the Blanquito was eventually cross-bred with other Bichon types, including the Poodle, to create what is now known as the Havanese.  Sometimes referred to as "Havana Silk Dogs", this was originally another name for the Blanquito de la Habana.

The Havanese is small in size and sturdy in structure with a tail carried arched forward up over its back and ears that drop and fold.  The coat is abundant, long, and silky and comes in all colours.  The Havanese has a spirited personality and a curious disposition, and is notable for its springy gait, a characteristic that distinguishes the breed from all others.  It is considered an ideal family pet and a true companion dog.  They are highly adaptable to almost any environment, and their only desire is to be with their human companions.  Because of their strong social needs, they will not thrive in an environment where they are isolated for several hours each day.

 

As stated above the Havanese is a member of the Bichon family of dogs.  The progenitors are believed to have come from Tenerife.  Ship manifests from Tenerife bound for Cuba list dogs as passengers brought aboard, and these dogs were most probably the dog of Tenerife.  Some believe the entire Bichon family of dogs can be traced back to the Tenerife dog. while others theorise that the origins are in Malta, citing the writings of Aristotle, and other historical evidence of the early presence of these dogs in  Malta.  Whatever the actual origins of Bichon dogs, these little dogs soon became devoted companions to the Spanish colonists in Cuba and were highly admired by the nobility.

As part of the Cuban Revolution, upper-class Cubans fled to the United States, but few were able to bring their dogs with them.  When American breeders became interested in this rare and charming dog in the 1970s, the US gene pool was only 11 dogs.  With dedicated breeding and the acquisition of some new dogs internationally, the Havanese has made a huge comeback and is one of the fastest growing breed of dogs in the American Kennel Club.

AND OUT IT GOES

I am breathing a huge sigh of relief right now.  Boxes of this and that went off to the op shop yesterday and this weekend our verge is hosting lots of unwanted items from our house and the shed...or at least it was!!  Nearly everything that has been put out there has gone except for a couple of bits that nobody in their right mind would want.  I am never amazed at what passers by stop and pick up from verge-side throw-outs but pick them up they do.  These are not exactly the type of things we threw out or the type of street we live on, but you get the general idea:

We are told by our Council that items placed out ready for collection from our verge should be placed in two neat piles.  People that come sorting through couldn't care less if the piles are neat or not but often distribute bits and pieces hither and yon.  I feel we are fortunate that they have taken so much of ours and doubt there will actually be sufficient left to even make one neat pile, let alone two.

I am so delighted I finally managed to gently manouvre Phil into the shed to "please do begin to sort out some of the stuff in there" as I'd been asking him this for a few years.  I did begin talking about it a couple of weeks ago and then it got very hot last weekend but then a coolish week arrived when I thought he'd begin but no, he waited till it began to really warm up again and today we nearly hit the century mark!!

He is a wonderful husband and I shouldn't complain but what is it that makes men act quite contrary at times. I am really so pleased he went to the trouble to make inroads into all the 'stuff' he no longer needs or uses but why oh why wait until it got hot again?  Perhaps, although they will react to what you want, they also need to do in in their 'own good time' so it appears it is really their own idea.

No matter what, we are finally well and truly downsizing contents of house and shed and I am sure if I go through my clothes I will find even more that come under the heading "Oh, I just may wear that again one day" and, if I do, then out it goes.  I'm a home body now as going out can be a bit of a pain (literally) so I just don't need 'all those things' any more.  I am seeing space where there has been no space for years so something must be going right at last.  Big sigh of relief.

HAVANA BROWN CAT

The Havana Brown was the result of planned breedings between Siamese and domestic black cats by a group of cat fanciers in the 1950s.  Similar to the oriental shorthair, full colour cats, also known as non-blue Siamese.  Early breeders introduced Russian blue into their breeding, however it is thought almost none remains of that gene pool.

It has been documented that self-brown cats were shown in Europe in the 1890s; one name given to these was the Swiss Mountain Cat.  These disappeared until post-World War 2, with the most likely explanation that the Siamese Cat Club of Britain discouraged their breeding.

In the early 1950s a group of English cat fanciers began working together to restore the breed.  Havana Brown is the only cat that requires brown whiskers for the Kennel Club Pedigree.  There are various lady breeders credited with the effort of producing a chestnut (chocolate) brown kitten through mating a black shorthair and a chocolate point Siamese.

While the breed developed in the UK became the Chestnut Brown Oriental and retained the Siamese conformation, it was developed in the USA to have a different head shape and became the Havana Brown.  The Havana Brown is not recognised in this form in Britain.

This is a moderately sized, muscular short-haired cat with a body of average length but they can sometimes be chubby.  They are a moderately active breed, compared to other short-hair cat breeds.  The cost colour must be brown, typically reddish-brown, with no tabby markings.  Whiskers should also be brown and the eye colour should be green.   The head should be slightly longer than wide and the nose should have a distinct stop at the eyes.  Males tend to be larger than females and are average in weight compare with other breeds.

The Havana Brown is an intelligent cat that often uses its paws both to examine objects and to communicate with its owners.  (Our Precious may be just a moggy but she uses her paws to communicate by waving them at us as well).  The mostly likely explanation of the breed's name - and the one most believed by Havana Brown devotees - is that its coat colour is very similar to that of Havana cigars, however some have also argued that the breed's name is also derived from the Havana rabbit which also shares the same colour.

The breed has been recognised for championship competition in both the US and Britain since the late 1950s.  It is considered an endangered breed since the breeding pool is very small.  In the late 1950s, there were only 12 Cat Fancier's Association-registered Havana Brown catteries and under 130 unaltered cats.

Thank you to Wikipedia for the information about this breed of cat although they do say they would like more citations.  I doubt though that there is very much that is incorrect here.

THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY (running terribly late)

It's been a busy day today but I felt I should pop this one in before I go to bed.  It is now 10.55pm so must be quick.  I, of course, try to find something that is 'right' in my day each week and I have found FOUR really 'right' things today.

1.  Our temporary cleaning lady was here for an hour and left the house looking great (our permanent lass comes back on 30th Jan after her holiday in the UK).  It does feel 'right' to have a nice clean house.

2.  The car is filled with boxes to go to the op shop tomorrow and it always 'right' with me when I am able to lessen the load in the house.

3.  Phil and I both had appointments with our podiartrist and John always leaves our feet feeling so special and that's a 'right' for both of us.

4.  My lovely daughter rang me late this afternoon (they had been without power since 2.a.m. this morning (their area is always suffering power outages for some reason) to tell me she had seen her specialist and he is very satisfied with the way her knee is progressing.  That made me feel really 'right'.  Hopefully she will soon be able to hand her elbow crutches back 'cos even though they were very necessary, they don't do her shoulders a lot of good.

How wonderful to have a day with four 'rights'.  Not huge ones (except of course the news from K) but at our age we can't expect miracles all the time....just occasionally!

We are now headed into a mini-heatwave over the coming week.  We've been fortunate to have a few mild days following the heat last weekend and those dreadful fires in the hill.  Now our thoughts are with those in south-eastern Australia where, as not only are they experiencing horrendous heat, but fires in both South Australia and Victoria are quite bad.  We can only hope everyone will remain safe. We've had heatwaves over the years in Australia and managed to survive and hopefully we all will again.

FACEBOOK FUNNY

I don't know how many of you are on Facebook but I thought this cartoon rather said it all:

I do use Facebook, not as a social media so much but I love to play Scrabble with my daughter and others Facebook friends.  It is also one way of keeping up with those we know and how they are faring.

I always laugh at some of the things people put on Facebook about their daily lives but if they enjoy it then that is all that matters.

HONEY BEE and our NATIVE BEE

Class: Insecta.  Order:  Hymenoptera.  Family: Apidae.  Genus:  Apis.  Species:  mellifera

Although the honey bee is familiar to all of us it is such a vital component of the horticultural and farming industries I felt it deserved to be included in my 'insects'.

Honey bees are introduced insects.  They are dark brown with yellow bands on the abdomens.  Their legs are hairy and the eyes also have hairs on them.  They are social insects that live in large colonies.  They feed on nectar and pollen and their usual size is 13-15 cm.  Honey bees on bottlebrush flowers:

Honey bees defend their nest aggressively.  The bee dies after stinging, as the sting is left in the victim, tearing out part of the bee abdomen. The sting, with venom gland pumping, is left in.  Honey bee stings cause intense local pain and swelling, and some people have severe allergic reactions.  (I do have bad reactions from honey bee stings but fortunately not too severe).

This honey bee shows collected pollen in a sac on its hind leg:

Australia does, of course, have its own native bees; in fact there are over 1,500 species of native bee in this country.  They can be distinguished from flies in that bees have four wings, whereas flies have only two.  These bees collect pollen from flowers to feed their young.  Wasps and flies don't do that although they may be seen eating pollen, so identification is not always easy.

Ten of the native species, the social native bees Trigona and Austroplebeia have no sting.  Of the remainder, which live solitary lives, none are aggressive, and most cannot actually use their sting on humans because they are too small to do so.  Larger examples of Australian native bee are capable of stinging if handled or squashed.  The stings of most Australian native bee species will cause relatively minor discomfort to most people - "not as painful as those of a bull ant or paper wasp and last only a few minutes".  However, they may sting more than once, and can cause an allergic reaction - increasing effect associated with repeated exposure to the antigen.

Social species of Australian native bees do produce honey, but not much, as they are relatively primitive bee species.  In cool climate areas of Australia, all the honey the bees produce is needed by the swarm to live through the winter.  Collecting honey from these native bees can cause many of them to drown in spilt honey.  Thy honey is tangy in comparison with commercial honey taken from the European honey bee  The bees store their honey in "small resinous pots which look like bunches of grapes".  This is a cloak and dagger cuckoo bee:

The different species of Australian native bee have different habits and preferences in gathering pollen, so different species are better pollinators of a given plant than other species.  Research is currently underway into the use of Amegilla ("blue-banded bees") for use in pollinating hydroponic tomatoes, while some hydroponic growers are petitioning for introduction to the Australian mainland of the European bumblebee, Bombus terrestris - the island continent Australia has a history of sensationally poor outcomes from introduced species, the most famous being that of the cane toad - Bufo marinus - so the question of the use of native vs introduced bees for pollination in Australia is very controversial.  These native bees are forming a hive in the brickwork of a house in Darwin, in northern Australia: