EASY DANTE ON EASY SUNDAY!

Dante just takes it easy today in the back yard. First, after checking under bushes, he just lies around, and then decides to check himself under a bush.

Daddy wants to bring him in because it's about to rain, and sees his telltale red bushy tail sticking out of the bush. So, he's easy to find, and that's good because it's Sunday and eFURRYthing should be easy.

DANTE JUST CHILLS ON A HOT SUMMER DAY!

These are fresh-off-the-disc pictures of Dante lounging on the front walkway on a warmer-than-usual Ontario day. His already floofy fur seems to swell in the humidity, and creates soft, blurry edges on camera.

There are shoots of different greenery sprouting up between the bricks, many of which Dante seems to find enchanting. I think they might even be some wild catnip, because the leaves kind of look like mint (which is a relative to the catnip plant).
In any event, he definitely likes to sniff them out, nibble on them, and then seems to mellow out, completely. You can judge, yourself, from the pictures.

So, here he is just "chillaxin'". Even the sight of squirrels on the front lawn doesn't tempt him at this moment in time. He's really in the groove!

PEACE BROFUR!

P.S. We have added six new LOLs to our feature of Eric and Flynn called "Two Divine Devon Cats", currently on the LOLSpot. Click on the LOL Icon at the top right of this post to take you there.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH DANTE: SQUIRRELING AWAY!

SUNDAY IN AN EASY CHAIR WITH DANTE

Here's Dante in one of the easy chairs in the family room, making cosy with the green throw. He is having lots of fun kneading it thoroughly while he purrs away in contentment. Like Dylan, he too, melds with his background in a harmony of colour.

Isn't he the picture of purrfection for an Easy Sunday?

Pee Ess I added a couple of new LOLs today for our feature "Sunday with Milo and Domino" on the LOLSpot. To get there, just click on the LOL Icon at the very top right of this page.

DANTE, DANTE, DANTE!

I think Dante needs his own spurread in a magazine or purrhaps his own calendar! Certainly "Playcat" comes to mind -- is there such a publication?

Is there anyone out there who knows how one would proceed with getting Dante published in some manner? I suppose it's something many of us covet, in the Cat Blogosphere. Kitty fame. Or some semblance of it.

Dante does indeed already have modest fame. Like Melvin of the Mouchois blog, Dante has appeared on the popular website "Cute with Chris", many, many times. In fact so many times that some followers are all up in arms because Dante has monopolized so much of Chris Leavins' time, energy and webspace.

Chris even made up the Dante banner, which is the first picture in this current post, and left it up on his website for a couple of weeks in June. He said Dante could just take over his website! (Sounds good, but that statement was laced with sarcasm.)

Beginning on June 17th in purrticular, Chris devoted an entire day to posting pictures of Dante. Never mind that he was pretending he was sick and tired of Dante, and that I was driving him crazy by sending in so many pictures. Chris really loves Dante under all of that comedic arrhythmia!

Chris topped it off with a rant about Dante in his last webcast on June 22nd. So Dante is a little bit famous, indeed more infamous at this point in time.

Dante also appears on the Homepage of his breeder's website at www.lacocoon.com and is listed as one of their Ambassadors, as well. If you look at the Maine Coons on this site, you will note that Dante is not the exception in terms of good looks, in fact, he is the rule.

So while Dante has never been shown at Cat Shows, he is still being shown, but from the comfurt of his own home. He has never been judged, except lovingly.

That love is unCOONditional! And that, after all, is more impawtant than some fleeting thing called FAME!

EASY ON SUNDAY: SUN SETS ON DANTE!

These are pictures of Dante, "hot off the press", taken last evening just as the sun was setting. The light was fading fast so I had to be discerning yet quick with my focus.

The first picture shows the sun streaming through the bushes in our neighbour's yard providing a radiant backdrop for Dante.

I managed to get a stunning shot of Dante when he was sitting on the bench right in front of me, facing away from the sun, so that the back of his head is all alight. This picture fairly glows!

Then, as Dante decided it was time for a little refreshment, I was able to capture him from behind as the incandescent light dappled his red-hot fur. And, just as the sun was was about to disappear, one last beam caught his face and lit it on fire.

So any day can be a sun day for Dante, whenefur there's light to catch him!

DANTE: TIPPED OFF!

For those of you who don't know already, Dante is a purebred Maine Coon cat. Not all, but many Maine Coons have lynx-tipped ears, and Dante counts among them.

Although nobody knows fur sure, there has always been a suspicion that Maine Coons came about from matings between resident lynx and farm cats. Certainly, they share some features in common, such as their tipped ears, square jaw, large paws and snowshoe-like feet. However, it's just possible that regular long-haired cats developed these features from generations of living in the harsh Maine environment. Your guess is as good as mine.

In any event, this post is meant to tip you off to Dante's ear tips. Often, they are not so noticeable -- it all depends on the lighting. Much as blondes or redheads need mascara to show up their eyelashes, Dante's red ear tips require a certain light setting to display themselves. Maine Coon cats with dark ear tips look much more lynx-like. These pictures of Dante, however, do indeed exhibit his lynx tips to good effect. I, purrsonally, find them very appealing.

I was investigating the purpose of these outgrowths of fur at the top of the feline ear and read a couple of different theories. One is that the tufts on their ears are a hearing aid, which the lynx certainly requires in his hunting ventures, and the other is that they help to keep the ears from freezing in the frigid winter months. Both of these reasons make sense to me. I'm sure Mother Nature has multiple purposes for her design.

So, if Dante has one tip that you should take away today, it's that you should always cover your ears (prefurably with fur -- faux will do) in the winter!