Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Flower! 

See, Mommy!  I go potty like a big girl!

You want a slide show consisting of a bunch of pictures that change at intervals with background music?

I have the full suite of Final Cut Pro.  I can do that easily.  I can make it almost any file format you want except that I won't make WMV Windows Media files.  However, I can make files that will play on most computers.  (mp4 is an almost universal format, these days.)

What size do you want?  To play on your television via DVD?  If you want full-screen, half-screen or quarter-screen on your computer I can make those.  I can make them suitable for embedding on a web page and/or uploading to YouTube.

Tell me what you want and I'm sure I can do something you like, or at least get you on the right track.

:)

Edit:  You say you used iPhoto or iMovie to make a video that won't play on the internet?  Might be just a matter of simple format conversion.  Does the file say, ".mov" at the end or something else?

Kitty is definitely a fine looking cat but, clearly, he is an old man.

I'm sure he's still got game but, probably, not as fast as he used to be.
His surgery and his age are probably catching up to him.  His weight loss might just be natural due to old age.

It probably isn't the whole problem but I feel confident that some of this problem is because you are seeing a "changing of the guard."

Don't think of it as Kitty being "dethroned."  Think of it as Kitty training Julius to be his successor.
Kitty will fade off into the background to enjoy his retirement years while Julius takes over the job of Top Cat.

That's exactly what people do.  Don't you think?
We train our successor.  We retire and take some time to enjoy our golden years while the younger generation keeps the business running.  That's how we ensure the long term success of our species.  Cats aren't much different.  Maybe the process is different but the concept is the same.

The problem is that you're stuck in the middle of this and, unfortunately, it's messy.  :(
But, like it or not, you're knee-deep in this soap opera.  What can you do about it?
Sorry, but I don't have any specifics but I do think you should be the guide to this process.

I don't think you should take charge but I think you can help shepherd it along.
Don't try to make cats go against their nature but you can certainly set boundaries for their behavior and enforce those rules.
If ANY cat breaks the rules they should be punished or handled appropriately.  (Put outside, locked in the bathroom, hollered at, etc, etc.)  Praise and care and guidance are also necessary.

I can only suggest that you watch out for favoritism and try to treat them all equally until they reestablish a new pecking order.

Surely, Kitty is your "bestest cat" but he's not going to be around forever.  Julius is going to have to take his place.

But, do you know what?  I don't think I have ever really "lost" a pet.  They may have passed away in body but they live on in spirit.
I think the best part about having a pet is the stories you can tell after they are gone.

Here's a picture of my "bestest dog" from years ago. 

"Tyrone von Schwartz"

He's been gone for more than 20 years.  He was 14 or 15 years old when he died.  You can see that he was an old man in this picture because of his cloudy eyes.  (Schnauzers are a bit more prone to get cataracts in old age.) It's kind of sad to look at his picture at first but just looking at that picture brings back all sorts of memories and stories about him.  It's almost like he is still here.  Tyrone still lives on in my heart.

I guess, aside from regulating the cats' behavior, I don't know that there is much you can do beside be a good referee.  It might be hard to handle right now but the memories will be worth it in the end.

I saw that one coming from a mile away but I only just barely ducked in time for it to miss me.      I still got a little whipped cream in my hair as it flew by.   

That was funny!   
Thanks for the smile!  I needed it! 

Just had another thought.  You might have already thought of this but, if not, I'd like to know what you think...

Kitty is the old, "top cat" and Julius is the second in command.  Right?
Do you think that Julius knows that Kitty is getting up there in years and is beginning to make a play for the "top cat" position?

Kitty is 13 years old.  Even though cats can live a long time, at 13, he's still an old man.  Julius is a big 25-pounder.  He might be thinking he should be in charge.  If so, he probably thinks you are paying attention to the wrong cat.  His behavior could be nothing more than a call for attention in order to receive treatment as "top cat" from you.

Now, Kitty is still top cat until he says otherwise.  He's trying to keep his position.
Whenever Julius comes into his territory, he'll try to make his presence known by scent marking.  Julius, thinking Kitty should let him be in charge comes along and makes a mess on top of Kitty's mess in order to "erase" his rival's mark.

Do you remember in grade school when kids would write things on the blackboard when the teacher wasn't looking?
One kid would write his name on the board but, a minute later, some other kid would sneak in and write, "...is a jerk!" after it.  Then the first kid would cross that out and write, "...is GREAT!"

What happens when the teacher comes back into the room?  She erases the blackboard and makes both kids go sit in the corner.

So, basically, you've got two grade school kids writing their names on the blackboard, trying to get one-up on each other, erasing things and writing over top of each other.

Well, YOU are the teacher.  You're going to erase the blackboard and send BOTH kids to the principal's office.    

I guess the question is how to do that.

Erasing the blackboard is the easy part...  clean up the pee.  (I didn't say it would be fun...  )
But, what can we do to appropriately discipline both cats?  I don't know.  That's where somebody who speaks "Cat" comes in. 

If we were talking about dogs, I'd make them BOTH sleep in the garage for a while and only let them in the house one at a time until I have established the fact that *I* am the owner of the house and that *I* am the only one who gets to say who is allowed to come inside and when they are allowed to come inside.  If either one of them acted up, both of them might find themselves outside.

Basically, treat them like fifth graders. 

For cats, the specifics will be different.  Maybe you don't make them sleep in the basement.  Maybe you lock one in the bathroom for an hour and then lock the other one in the bathroom for an hour, taking turns until they both understand that you are the boss.

Anyway...  That's just an idea...  I don't know...  Just thinking out loud. 

You're the same as me.  I grew up with dogs.  I practically speak "Dog."  It's not difficult to solve most dog problems.

Cats are weird.  Instead of being pack animals like dogs, they are territorial loners.  Although dogs can be territorial, they have a more fixed sense of territory.  A dog thinks, "This is my yard.  I own all this land.  Everybody else keep out."  A cat's sense of territory is more fluid.  They don't think in terms of strict boundaries, they think in terms of situations.  "This is my territory as long as my smell is on this chair," they might think.  Wherever that chair goes, that is their territory.

Cats can also "time share" their territory.  They might perfectly well allow some other cat to come into their territory as long as it is at some specific time of day.  Have you ever seen two cats take turns sitting on a window ledge?  See if you can't notice a pattern to the time.  You might find one cat gets to use the window in the morning and the other gets to use it in the afternoon.

Look at how dogs establish dominance over one another.  It's simple.  They just use their might.  They bark and bite and chase the other away.  It's like "King of the Hill."

Cats often claw and hiss and bite but it's a lot more subtle.  A cat might establish dominance simply by being where other cats can see him.  A cat might think, "I own this window ledge.  I am king of all that I survey.  You are other cats are my subjects."

Still, when it comes down to it, the "big cat" rules.  The cues might be more subtle but it's the same basic principle.  I guess the simple answer is to pay attention and learn to speak "Cat." 

You might be right.  It might be a social problem where one animal is trying to establish dominance in the house.  If that's the case, you might have a long row to hoe before you solve it.

I don't want to sound disparaging but it seems to me that animals are running your house.
I've seen this happen before.  I know a woman who had eight dogs.
Feeding, cleaning up, grooming, exercise and discipline...  They ran her ragged!

Finally, one of the dogs started attacking the others.  Not just "play biting."  Snarling, growling and baring teeth.  One of the dogs had to go to the vet after being in a fight with this dog.

I told her that she was either going to have to take control and learn to be the "biggest dog" in the house or else she was going to have to find new homes for one or more of the dogs.

I don't think your situation is nearly as dire but I think that some more assertion on your part might help in this situation.
This isn't meant to be a quick fix.  It's a long-term solution.  One that will take weeks to put in place and months to have full effect.  Just be the biggest dog.  (Or in your case, maybe you should be the biggest lioness!  )

But, if you can't find a solution, don't be afraid to make one or more of the cats live in the garage or the basement, etc.  If that doesn't work, don't be afraid to find a new home for one or more of them.

I know it's not a nice thing to think about.  You want your animals to live in a happy home, don't you?
If they can't be happy in your home, maybe they can be happy in another home.

But, first, by the sign of the blood and the pee-puddles, I think you have some medical problems to rule out first.
Start there and take it one step at a time.

Well, at 13 years old, I'd consider that the cat is incontinent rather than spraying.

Yes, I agree that he needs to visit the vet.

He should probably live in the basement or the garage until this all gets sorted out.  I know it's not a nice thing to think about but not only is it smelly and unsightly, it's unsanitary. 

My brother moved into an apartment that had a "cat problem."  They scrubbed the walls, shampooed all the carpets and deodorized the whole place but the place STILL smelled.  They had to rip out all the carpets and scrub the floors.  When the carpet layers came to pull up the old carpet they were literally gagging, the place smelled so bad.

Even now, a year afterward, if you catch it just right you can smell a whiff of cat pee every once in a while.

Surely, you love your cat but you can't let him ruin your house.  Quarantine the cat until you figure this out.

That's something that peeves me off!

When people hit animals on the side of the road like that!
They are either driving too fast, acting recklessly or else they did it on purpose.  There's no damn excuse!

I don't mean to imply that drivers should swerve to miss every last squirrel and rabbit that darts out in front of them.  Some times there is no avoiding it.  However, killing somebody's cat is over the line... WAY over!

I'm not a big cat lover.  I like cats but I like them as well as any other pet.  I like cats and dogs and rabbits and horses and all sorts of animals.  It bugs me to see any animal dead on the side of the road regardless of what it is.

Like I said, I can not imagine any reason why somebody would not be able to avoid a cat that wanders along the side of the road or even runs into the road.  If you can't stop, slow down, swerve or otherwise avoid that cat, you're doing something wrong 90% of the time.

If you AREN'T doing something wrong...  driving too fast, recklessly or willfully targeting the cat... you would have stopped and done something to help the cat.  Wouldn't you?  Even if the cat was a goner you would have moved it off to the side of the road so that other drivers wouldn't accidentally run it over again.  Wouldn't you?

Maybe you would have even called the owner (anonymously?) if you could and apologize.  Woudn't you?
(Yeah, I know that's a tough call.)

No matter how you slice it, even if it was an accident, hitting somebody else's cat with your car then driving away is a callous, thoughtless thing to do!

What is that cat was some young kid's pet?  (It probably was!)
I would feel bad for the kid who has to face the fact that some IDIOT killed his or her cat and drove away.

I think that people who do that should have to face the kid and apologize.  They should have to look into that young child's crying eyes and say, "I killed Fluffy."   

Okay...  Enough ranting for one day...

Holy smoke!  That's awesome!
30 Bears!  Your house must be wall-to-wall fur!  :lol:

If I got an order that large I'd have a hard time deciding whether it was a blessing or a curse!  ;)
Of course, it's a blessing but it's a lot of work...

Anyway, keep up the good work!  All the Bears in this den are pulling for you! 

Agreed!   :thumbsup:

Any artwork will not sell for more than what the market will bear.  You could create the most awesome Bear in the world and you could claim it's worth a million dollars but if nobody will buy it is it really worth a million dollars?

Yes, you have to set a price that the market will bear... for your Bear.   

So, I'm guessing that the boy Bear's name might be "Harris" and the girl Bear's name might be "Twee?"
Say it really fast...  "Harris and Twee.."

Whenever I price something I created I figure out how much materials cost me and double that.  Then I figure out how long it took me to make the thing.  I add in for my time, usually $10.00 per hour but some times more and some times less, depending on whether I'm giving the "Friends and Family Discount" or not.  I add it all together and make it something nice and round.

If I make a photo for sale the paper costs me about $40 for a pack of 25 sheets.
Film costs about $2.00 a roll.  Chemistry costs about $5.00 including film developing and printing.
A frame can cost anywhere from $25.00 and up.

For materials, I have
Paper = $1.69
Film = $2.00
Chemistry = $5.00
Frame = $25.00

TOTAL = $34.00
Double that and it's up to $68.00

When you consider my time in the field, taking a picture, time in the darkroom processing and printing and time preparing the photo, I probably spend 5 hours on a picture.  So, at $10.00 per hour, that's $50.00

Add it up and we're up to $118.  Let's round up to $125.
If I was to offer the Friends and Family Discount, I suppose I could let a photo go for $100 but I could never go below $75.  If I did, I'd end up losing money on the deal.

I don't do photography for profit very much.  I'm mostly a hobbyist but I do sell a photograph on occasion.  If I was a professional, my price might be even more than $125.00 but, given my status and the fact that I don't have a following I can't expect to get more than that...  Maybe some day...  ;)

So, take a look at your Bears and think about how much it cost you to make them, how much time you put into them and how much your time is worth.  You shouldn't have too much trouble coming up with a number.

All the bears are saying, "Make it look good!  We've got an audience!"

Pictures of dogs wearing sunglasses always make me smile!   

Hot dog.

How much do you want to bet that the piggie's name is "Wellington?"

You hold the copyright.  She does not.

However, this might not be a question of copyright but of "Doctrine of First Sale."

For example...
You are a book publisher and I buy one of your books.  Once you sell that book to me you do not have the right to stop me from selling it to somebody else.  This is why it's legal to buy and sell used books on Amazon.

However, I can NOT copy the book and sell the copies.  I must sell the ORIGINAL book in complete form.

So, here is the question:  Is she simply reselling a book or is she copying a book and representing it as her own?

I'm going to say that she is in the wrong because she is not selling the complete book.
If she is representing the work as her own she's violating your copyright.

I say you should report it to Ebay and let them handle the questions.

My first cat, "K.C.," was a short haired tabby like your new kitty.

I gave my cat "letters" instead of a name.  It was just K.C.
People used to ask me what "K.C." stood for and I told them it could be anything they want.  I had people calling him, "Kitty Cat," "Krazy Cat," "Killer Cat," "Kansas City-cat" and even "K.C. Jones."

When I took him to the vet for the first time, the girl asked me what my cat's name was.  I said, "Kay-See."  She started to write down "C-A-S-E-Y."  I said, "No, it starts with a 'K'."  So she scratched it out and started to write, "K-A-S-E-Y."  Finally, I said, "No, no!  Letter-K, then a period...  Letter-C then a period...  That's all."

K.C. the cat always seemed to like the fact that he had letters instead of a name.  It made him unique because the letters WERE his name.
Mind you, he didn't have initials because initials stand for something.  He just had letters that didn't have any special meaning unless you wanted them to.

There are all kinds of letters that could be great cat names. "B.B.," "C.C.," "D.D.," "J.J.," and don't forget the ever famous, "D.C."
("That Darned Cat" of Walt Disney fame!)

The next time I get a cat I'm going to call him "P.T."    

Big nose.  Close-set eyes.  Big, round ears on top of the head.  Short arms and a big, transparent ribbon bow.

Either Ty or "Animal Alley" (from Toys-R-Us)

Our Bears are all laughing, mainly because they know that, if they want a sandwich, all they have to do is pester their humans enough until they go get one for them.   

It's cute when Bears have their own pets! 

The Bears do live all over the house but they also have their own room.  Apparently they hold their monthly organizational meetings there where they discuss all the important Bear issues of the past month.  Humans aren't allowed but, from what I hear among the whispers, meetings are the first Wednesday of every month at midnight, after all the humans have gone to bed.

Bears Brian did not all come from the same store.  We got Baby Bear Brian first, I believe.  At that time, he was just "Bear Brian."  Then we found the middle sized Brian.  He came home and became "Big Bear Brian."  Finally, we found the "Bigger Bear Brian."  They all got together and became Bear brothers.  That's when they all decided that they wanted to be known as "The Bears Brian."]

The Bears Brian portrait is actually a warm up series for another part of this project...  The Snuffs!

We have several Gund Snuffles Bears.  Probably a couple dozen.  Don't know exactly.  We lost count.
However, there are all different sizes of Snuffs.  We have snuffs that are only a couple of inches tall on up to about 3 feet tall.  (They like to be called the "Godzilla-Snuffs!"  ;)

Anyway, I have to figure out how to photograph all the Snuffles Bears.  I'm thinking about lining them all up in a row and showing all the different sizes as a group.  The Bears Brian are helping me work out how to arrange the different sized Bears so they make a good photo.

Snuffles Bears are somewhat hard to photograph because of their shape.  I'll have to figure out how to photograph them for the most flattering portrait.  They wouldn't want to look like just a giant lump of fur in their Bear portrait!

So, that's what me and the Bears are up to with all these photos. 

Thanks!  The Bears Brian say thanks, too!

We're starting a Bear photo gallery on the wall going up the stairs to where the Bear's room is located.  These are some of the photos that we plan to put up there.  We wanted to try them out on your guys to see which ones are best.

We're glad you like the photos because it will help us make our Bear gallery even better! 

I could win money in a "Bad Boss" contest.

The best thing you can do is document everything, regardless of how trivial.  Keep scrupulous records, send a copy to your boss and keep a copy for yourself.

And, if you want to swap bad boss stories, let me know...