This week we were privileged to interview Elvira, Mistress of the… Oh, wait, she’s not the Elvira of horror story fame. The Elvira we spoke with was Elvira, Mistress of Felinity, and her young sister Sneakers, from The Opinionated Pussycat blog.
Funny Farmer Felines: Please introduce yourselves and your dad.
Elvira: I am Elvira, a 4 yr. old Tortie. My young protégé is a Tuxie named Sneakers, born last September. She is smart, outspoken and talkative, curious, and playful.
Our human, Daddy Kiril, is our official research assistant and liaison with humans (sometimes there are places and things even we can’t go or do!), photographer, kibble, treat, litter, toy and belly rub provider. He is very versatile, linguistically, not only in Felinese and Caninese, but other animal languages much like Dr. Doolittle.
Funny Farmer Felines: How did you come to live together?
Elvira: I was found on the 2nd floor doorstep of Nikita & Daddy’s California apartment at 5 months. The 3 of us moved to Houston in September 2012.
After Nikita’s passing, Sneakers walked out of bushes, next to Daddy’s mailbox. He made her a permanent part of our lives when no one claimed her or even bothered to look for her.
Sneakers: Yeah! I was hungry and confused but not so confused that I didn’t see help staring down at me with a smile, so stuck up my tail and looked as cute as I could muster.
Funny Farmer Felines: Do you have any nicknames?
Elvira: I am the “Mistress of Felinity,” the “Sassiest Lady Cat on the Internet.” (I have more hair and tons more sass than that other, human, Elvira!)
Sneakers: I am the “Texian Tuxedo.” Daddy says that’s not just a silly name, but special. I don’t want to be “special.” I just want to be me. Hmph! Daddy says I have my whole life ahead to be both.
Funny Farmer Felines: What kind of mischief do you like to get into? Separately or together?
Elvira: Let’s just say that wrassling and chasing Sneakers around keeps me reasonably fit and trim , though I AM 2 lbs overweight.
Sneakers: Elvira says I am part Retriever. My favorite toy is a little ball daddy will toss so I can run like mad to pick it up, and return it to him so he can toss it again.
I lie on the desk, when Daddy is online, watching the cursor move. I often try to stretch out and lay on the keyboard as it allows me to better view what Daddy is doing; He gets cranky about this last.
I also sometimes will leap onto his back and shoulders if available. Nice view!
Elvira: She also gets on the kitchen counters, even when he is trying to cook. Daddy doesn’t know how to teach her to stop before she gets hurt without hurting her feelings.
Sneakers: The smells and those cool things he does just make me go insa… um, get curious. I just want to help!
Funny Farmer Felines: Elvira, you like to ride in a stroller, as did Nikita. Have you had many exciting adventures? Which was your favorite?
Elvira: The stroller was broken on the last stroll Daddy and Nikita took on Nikita’s last day so Sneakers has never been in one. For me, though, the favorite has to be “The Great Kitty Play Cube Hunt of 2011″. I wasn’t getting my usual 3 Squares a Day to romp around , nap and snooze in, due to them getting broken, so we walked and took the bus to several stores to find new ones.
Funny Farmer Felines: Your big brother, Angel Nikita, blogged for a number of years before you came along, Elvira. Did he teach you everything he learned about blogging and you’re now passing on to Sneakers?
Elvira: Yes. My mentor was a part Maine Coon born in 1998, who went to Rainbow Bridge last October.
I am indebted to Nikita for so much. Sneakers and I have huge paws to fill. He would be so proud about this interview.
Nikita had been online since a kitten, blogging since 2002, and a part of the pet blogging community since 2004. He set the bar high, especially once he was set loose on a blog of his own (this one) on New Year’s Day 2010.
The original Opinionated Pussycat, he did so much that helped set our blog apart from others. Now, it’s time for me, with Sneakers, to continue his legacy and expand on it, in our own ways.
Um, let’s move on before I have to ask for tissues!
Sneakers: My greatest achievement so far has been, Elvira says, not breaking the computer!
Funny Farmer Felines: You often host a cat carnival. Do you also get to participate in blogosphere events such as Dr. Seuss Day, Peace globes, Meow like a Pirate, etc?
Elvira: The Carnival of the Cats is not just ANY old share-fes. It is the longest running weekly event in the pet blogosphere, begun in 2004, with a site maintained by the human mom of Angel Meowza and Miss Ritzi.
OK, this is embarrassing: For Meow Like A Pirate in 2010, I was the inspiration for an “International Do Pirates Get Embarrassed Day,” due to a string up my butt that could have killed me.
In 2012, Nikita encouraged me to do Dr. Seuss Day and I wrote a Seuss-type poem inspired by his once making PETA get mad at him, yet call him clever despite themselves.
We are a loose and funny family, not all serious, see!
Despite these I don’t know about most such events or how to participate.
Sneakers: What’s a pirate? A string up your butt? You never told me about this.
Elvira: Young lady, if you had spent a little extra time on your studies and less risking your 9 lives around the apartment, you would have discovered this story on your own in our archives.
Funny Farmer Felines: Your blog centers around you kitties, but it involves more. It’s multi-faceted – fun, interesting, but sometimes you have long and serious posts. We assume you envision yourselves as more than bloggers?
Elvira: We are journalists, commentators, reviewers, humorists, photo-subjects and photo sharers of cats and other animals on the street! We are poets, song writers and storytellers, inventors of the 100, 200 and 6 Word Cat Story genre. Sneakers began learning to contribute as of New Year’s Day. We have a unique collection of special feline resource pages and a huge, growing, collection of cat related books.
Has this diversity been popular? Yes, but it may be intimidating for some, especially our longer posts.
Though we have much to learn, our aim is to move in new directions, including even books at some point. Human friends tell us we have lots of book worthy material and that Nikita’s 31 part 100/200 word cat story epic, called “Aubrey” is the most special of it all.
We encourage those interested to explore our blog at your leisure and then spread the word about it. We have confidence that you and your human won’t regret it.
Funny Farmer Felines: You have a sidebar badge asking for news, stories and hot tips to be sent to you; would you explain what type of submissions you are seeking and why?
Elvira: We use certain search words to find stories for our World News Repurrt, Feline News Network and Elvira Factor posts. Our archived content and Special Pages, listed in the sidebar, gives you an idea of what we have covered and would like to get leads about.
Read an interesting piece? Send us a link!
Written something you think others would find worth reading? Submit it to the Carnival submission email or send it to US (don’t be afraid to do both!). We give credit where credit is due.
We do product and book reviews and encourage sending us press releases and event notices, especially for Houston and Texas.
We like adding new links to our resources and to our Catnip Acres Towncenter page of online stores we like.
Funny Farmer Felines: Your dad has traveled a good bit and you have shared his experiences on your blog - Blog Paws, the Red Carpet, bus rides, etc. Is there a Flat Elvira or a Flat Sneakers so you can travel with him? If not, will there be?
Elvira: Daddy passes out our card, and he wears a T-shirt with the original sidebar image Anne of Zoolatry made for Nikita and I, the image of Daddy and I on his Debit Card, and of Nikita and Daddy on his Credit Card.
We do not know how to make “Flat Cats”. They would be useful for daddy to take to events, including if he read our poetry at open mics or stood up to speak at a city hall, or community meeting.
Thank you, Funny Farmers, for this wonderful opportunity to introduce ourselves to possible new readers.
Funny Farmer Felines: Thank you, girls. We can tell you have become quite the public speaker, Elvira. Sneakers, you introduced yourself on January 4th, so you’re still a novice at blogging, but we’re sure you will soon be as vocal and confident as Elvira.
You can visit Sneakers and Elvira at The Opinionated Pussycat.
You might also like:
The Werking Feline … Mariodacat
Mum’s Camera-Shy Helper … Alice Marie
Living and Laughing With Loulou
Purrs and Fur … Everywhere
Not the Chocolate … Truffles the Tortie
The post Elvira With Sass and Sneakers with Dash appeared first on Cat Lifestyle: Mousebreath Magazine.