Svein Tuft

Svein is my new favorite Olympian right now (he passes Johan Olav Koss for a couple hours)...but don't worry, JOK, you'll regain #1 in about 7 hours..once the men's road race is over.

Svein is a guy that went cycling with his dog for a couple years (towing him in a home built trailer) because the two of them wanted to see BC and the west coast of North America.

He never really planned to be an Olympic athlete; in fact he never intended to be great at what he does...he just became great.

He may not win today's race, but he is a champion in my mind.

Here's his story if you want to read it
http://www.bcsportsbeat.ca/More/olympian_svein_tuft_story_719.htm

PK

2008 Olympics

Well, it's 8-8-08 today and the 29th modern Olympics opened in Beijing (I think the Middle-Cat is over there organizing the games).

The Big-Cat just taped the opening ceremonies and we watched it (taped delayed) while eating dinner (with Lainey Gossip inspired chow mein).

It was quite the spectacle, and I really liked the drums and the guys in neon outfits covered in tiny light bulbs. It was pretty cool, but there was a serious lack of cats during the ceremonies.

The Big-Cat told me that he was going to visit the Middle-Cat in Beijing in six days and that he would bring me back a souvenier.

I hope that he brings me back a Fancy Feast; which is how I celebrated the opening ceremonies (see below).
PK

To sleep, perchance to dream

I love to sleep.

I don't think of it as being lazy, I think of sleeping as restorative and rejuvenating.

Even though I am old enough to get a Class 7 driver's license in Alberta, I'm still spry enough to run around and chase birdies, string, and the occasional toe.

I have been know to sleep all day, get up to eat, then go back to sleep.

Weekends are always tough on me. The big-cats are usually home, and they make so much noise that I can't get my 22 hours of daily sleep. I like it best when they go out all day and then come home with crinkly plastic bags and Fancy Feasts.

The only bad thing about sleeping? It sometimes gets in the way of my naps.
PK

He thought it would be bigger

Over a year ago, the Big-Cat went in a panic to Home Depot to buy the last awning they had in stock so that he could put it over the back door to enable him to barbeque in the winter time without getting wet.

The Big-Cat was concerned that if the awning wasn't put up correctly, it would fall down on someone's (his) head.

He asked his friend Dave how he put up his own awning. Dave explained that he used lag bolts to bolt a 2-by-6 to the frame of the house...then bolting the awning to th 2-by-6....but that the lag bolts needed to go into the wall studs, so you needed to somehow look under the siding to find the studs....so the awning sat in the Big-Cat's garage for the next year.

Fast-forward to BC day, 2008 and the Big-Cat decided that since it is the "Summer of Chris" (that's the Big-Cat's human name) it would be time to throw caution to the wind and put up the awning.

Well, for the better part of two days, the Big-Cat has been very busy with his awning project.

Yesterday he had the awning up (in a different location) only to discover that he was missing the four screws that attach the arms to the awning; but that didn't really matter since he had put the awning up in a place where one of the arms would have been attached to the house in the middle of the glass pane of the sliding patio door. Let's just say I heard some human words that I don't often hear (I'm still looking up one of the words in the dictionary). And with that (after saying goodbye to his friend Kingie who he had been talking with via IM), he left the house to go to the Turner's house (nice people, they have two cats) for dinner

So this morning, the Big-Cat decided to take down everything he had done yesterday and move the 2-by-6 over to the left and about 6 feet higher; but he was faced with a dilema...how to put up the 2-by-6 and the awning (which weighs about 50 pounds) that high up on the house.

Well after a trip to the hardward store, the Big-Cat set up a rope system using the Big Cat's bed as a pully and then he threw the two ends of the looped rope out of the window...then tied one end to the 2-by-6 and then pulled the other end of the rope to raise the 2-by-6 up to the required height. Then using a ladder under the other end of the 2-by-6 he climbed up and bolted that end to the wall...then moved the ladder and bolted the rope-end of the 2-by-6 to the wall (and then added several other lag bolts in the middle). The 2-by-6 was now firmly attached to the house...and in the correct spot.

Then the big-cats' friends Laura and Colleen (from Molly Maids) arrived and the Big-Cat told them that they couldn't go in the Master Bedroom for about 20 minutes while he used his pully-system to haul the awning up like he had done with the 2-by-6. They looked surprised but agreed to stay out of his way.

The awning eventually was put in place and then the Big-Cat discovered that he didn't have the right screws to attach the arms to the wall, so he went back to the hardware store (during the time he was gone, Colleen and Laura chased me around with the vaccuum and tried to pull my whiskers...I hissed at them a couple times and hid under the bed until the Big Cat arrived back home).

He then bolted the arms to the wall and unrolled the awning only to be less than awed with the size of it.

It will only just cover the barbeque...I think he wishes the arms were longer.
PK

PS And to think this all would have been unneccessary if the big-cats just ate Fancy Feast in the winter ( like I plan to) instead of barbequing.

I want to go to Beijing too

I'm starting to wonder "What's the deal with Beijing?"

First, my middle-cat said that she is going there for a month; and now my big-cat is going there for a little over a week.

The Big Cats told me that I wouldn't like it...they told me that it's a very long plane ride away, there's lots of air pollution, that over 7.5-million people live in the Beijing urban core alone (is that more than two? that is how many Big Cats I live with), and there is going to be a lot of fireworks while they are there (which I must admit, scare me).

But if my Big Cats are going, I'm sure it will be fun for me.

Look, I'm already packed...I've got my Fancy Feasts, my box of sand, and my tent (see previous blog on April 23/08) already packed.

Big-cat, what time do we leave?
PK

Saturday morning

There is nothing I like better on Saturday mornings than to help the middle-cat read The Globe and Mail. She likes to sit on the floor with her coffee and I help spread out the paper.

Since the middle-cat is in Beijing this month, I had to read the paper by myself; but with no one to turn the pages for me, it was nowhere near as much fun for me.

The big-cat tried to help me out by reading the paper this morning, but I could tell he was only going through the motions. He only read one setion (Travel..about Beijing) and sat on the couch while he was reading it.

Come back soon middle-cat, I miss you.
PK

Where are the birdies?

Well, my middle-cat is in Beijing for the next month and I already miss her. The big-cat tried to make me feel better by giving me a Fancy Feast last night, but now that is gone too.

I have attached a picture of the national stadium in Beijing; affectionately known as Bird's Nest Stadium. The stadium is very large and can seat as many as 91,000 spectators during the Olympics.

It makes me wonder how big the birds that built it are.
PK