Happy Thanksgiving From Our Family to Yours

Happy Thanksgiving From Our Family to Yours

We are going to be one of the few American families who will stay home and spend the holiday with our small family — our adult son, my wife and I, and our six cats: Emily, Polaris, Jessica, Athena, Lily, and Daisy.

We plan to have a very simple Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. And of course, after dinner we will have pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

AAA says nearly 82 million Americans are projected to travel over Thanksgiving. They also project that at least 73 million people will travel by car — that’s nearly 90 percent of all Thanksgiving travelers, and about 1.3 million more people on the road compared to last year. That number could end up higher if some air travelers decide to drive following recent flight cancellations.

https://newsroom.aaa.com/2025/11/aaa-thanksgiving-travel-forecast-2025/

Please drive carefully. Here is a brief weather prediction from Weather.com.

Thanksgiving Week Weather Summary (U.S.)

Thanksgiving travel begins under mostly calm skies, but several regions will see weather that could slow things down.

Saturday:
Mostly quiet nationwide. Morning showers and patchy fog in the East and South may cause delays in airports like Atlanta, NYC, and Washington, D.C. Storms in southern Arizona may bring heavy rain or hail near Phoenix. Light rain moves into the Northwest later in the day.

Sunday:
Storms move into Texas and Oklahoma, bringing heavy rain, hail, and possible delays in Dallas–Ft. Worth. The Northwest remains wet with coastal rain and mountain snow. Light snow may brush upstate New York and northern New England.

Monday:
A large storm spreads from Texas to the upper Mississippi Valley. Cities such as Dallas, Austin, and Little Rock may see strong storms with hail, damaging winds, or even a possible tornado. Heavy rain could cause flooded roads. Snow and strong winds impact the Northern Rockies and Cascades.

Tuesday:
Rain spreads across the Midwest, Southeast, and East Coast. Thunderstorms are possible in the Southeast. Snow may develop in the Northern Plains and northern Great Lakes. The Northwest receives more rain and mountain snow.

Wednesday (Peak Travel Day):
Rain may linger in the East, especially in the morning, creating possible airport delays from Boston to Washington, D.C. Lake-effect snow begins near the Great Lakes, making travel risky in northern Michigan. The Northwest stays wet with potential heavy rain.

Thanksgiving Day:
Lake-effect snow continues in the Great Lakes snowbelts, along with strong winds and possible whiteout conditions. Snow falls in the northern Rockies and nearby High Plains. Chilly winds linger in the Northeast. Seattle may see some weather-related delays.

If you are like us and preparing a Thanksgiving dinner, we have a couple of videos that may be helpful.

Thanksgiving Music Video: Music to Relax To

And to help with a stress-free Thanksgiving meal:

Thanksgiving – Stress-Free Holiday Dinner Tips

We will not be posting or making videos again until after the holiday. Again, Happy Thanksgiving.

How Our Cat Compilations Got Their Humor

How Our Cat Compilations Got Their Humor

By Serenity of the Mind

🎬 Watch the Short: Cat-titude Compilation — The Feline Mix of Personalities

How we first started four years ago on YouTube

When we first began on YouTube, there were a lot of people promoting the idea of using free copyright-free platforms like Pexels.com. The advice was simple: depending on the type of video you wanted to create, just paste together a bunch of clips until you reached the length you wanted.

For example, if I wanted to make a calming river video that was 15 minutes long, I would collect enough river clips to fill that time, and then go to YouTube Audio and add some music to match the mood.

Of course, these early videos never did very well. They were boring and repetitive. They were repetitive because everyone who was just starting out was using the same free footage and the same free music. Nothing about our videos stood out.

I don’t know if we ever would have changed direction if YouTube hadn’t introduced the Shorts platform. That new platform completely changed what we were doing on the channel.

We originally started with calm videos because all the YouTube influencers insisted you could “make a mint” with calming content — just paste clips together from Pexels.com and add free music. No one ever mentioned cats.

But I love cats, and one day I found a really cute clip of a cat walking on a piano. I thought, “Maybe I can use Shorts to advertise what we’re doing on the channel.”

Our very first Short was actually about a product we no longer have — the Mood Room — but the second one had that cat walking across a piano. It was promoting “Healing Sounds at Serenity of the Mind.”

Here is the video if you want to see it.

It was also the first time we got a reasonable number of views: 645 views and 25 likes. That’s when I realized — by accident — that people on YouTube really love cats.

The other thing I realized was that stitching together random clips with free music was boring, so I tried something new just to see how it would go. I started using our own cats in Shorts, at least here and there. But our own cats are actually pretty mellow. My wife began making costumes for them, so those videos did a bit better — like “Polaris Cat Stole the Christmas Gift.” That one showed our Siamese actually stealing a toy out of one of the stockings and playing with it. It got 354 views and 3 likes. Better, but still not like the piano-cat ad.

Then I got the idea to make the Shorts funny. “Cat-titude: The Feline Mix of Personalities” was one of our early attempts. We used AI voice-overs because so many YouTube influencers were pushing AI at the time. Later we found out people really don’t like AI, and once YouTube started adding banners to mark AI-generated content, we had to stop doing that. We were also still using free videos from Pexels, which meant we quickly ran out of unique cat clips to build Shorts from. And we were still using YouTube Audio.

But this was a turning point — it was the moment I decided to use humor in the cat Shorts.

And that idea came from my older brother… He and I have always had a fun relationship, and humor came naturally. (We were in a large family, too.) I learned from him to look at the funny side of life. So I’ll see, say, a cat climbing a screen door, and it becomes Ninja Cat Training.

We grew up in a household that ALWAYS had cats! Our two Siamese were a major part of our childhoods. We witnessed literally thousands of cat behaviors. Our Siamese (a neutered brother and sister) would sit in the front yard, waiting for the neighborhood dogs to walk by. One (the brother) would challenge the dog, and when it entered the property, the sister would charge it, blindsiding it with catlike fury!

Those cats were wise souls, too. They would tolerate childish behavior only for so long; at some time around 6 or 7 years old, they would Give Us The Word. Then we all got along, very well.

When I moved to another state we continued texting funny jokes until he passed away; I like to think I’m honoring his memory through our funny cat compilations.

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Watch More Funny Cat Moments

🐾 Kitty Chronicals: A Tail of Laughter and Cuteness – YouTube Playlist

The Problem with YouTube

 The Problem with YouTube

Newest Cat Compilation – Funny Cat Compilations: Crazy Cats #shorts

Our latest short is up! 🐱🎉

This video showcases just how YouTube’s algorithm change has impacted small creators like us.

Watch below:

It only received 562 views (formerly called reach) and 305 engaged views (formerly just views). Since

YouTube’s major policy change in July 2025 and the algorithm change starting March 31, 2025, we’ve

seen steep drops in visibility and engagement.

How YouTube’s Algorithm Change Hurt Our Channel 

Before the March 31 update, we were doing much better. One of our most successful Shorts was

📺 Funny Cat Compilation: Cats in Trouble #shorts

d

This video received:

6,300 views

51 new subscribers

803 likes

But after YouTube’s policy change in July 2025 and the algorithm change reclassifying metrics, we lost

visibility and couldn’t see what used to be called reach. Now only one number is shown, and our numbers took a hit.

Other Problems We Faced   

We also endured issues unrelated to algorithm or policy changes:

We received a content strike because YouTube’s automated Content ID system mistakenly

flagged the Koran being read in Oromo as piano music.

Someone stole our avatar, causing our channel to become hidden in searches. YouTube

eventually fixed it after we complained, but by then we had changed our avatar—and stabilized

our channel visibility.

During that period, this Short: 📺 Funny Cats: Cat Compilation #shorts

Received:

607 engaged views

613 total views

Every disruption can reduce reach and engagement, making it harder to grow.

The July 15 Disaster: YouTube Content ID Claims 

On July 15, 2025, YouTube enforced one of its most devastating updates: it began issuing claims on

Audio Library music. They had previously told creators that YouTube Audio was safe. Three years ago,

we trusted it.

Suddenly:

We got 50 content claims.

One video had 5 minutes of ambient wind claimed, even though it was self-recorded.

The fallout:

📺 Funny Cat Compilation: Cats Being Cats #shorts

This video dropped to:

62 views

28 engaged views

If you want to know how to protect a YouTube channel, this is a key lesson: without proper licensing,

there’s no recourse.

What We Learned – Advice for Small Creators

Because of all this, here’s how to protect your channel going forward:

Use licensed music vendors like TunePocket or Artlist—they give you formal licenses you can

use if YouTube issues a Content ID claim.

Use licensed sound effect vendors too. Without a license, even original recordings (wind, street

noise, birds) can get flagged under Content ID.

Remember: Without a formal license, you have no legal standing with YouTube.

If you want to learn more about how to protect a YouTube channel in 2025—especially after the

algorithm shift and policy changes—we can help walk you through it.

What’s Next?

We’ll start publishing our Shorts here on the blog too, so even if YouTube hides our avatar or limits our

account visibility, you can still enjoy our videos.

Meta Description (for Blogger sidebar or SEO settings):

Discover how the 2025 YouTube algorithm and Content ID changes have affected small

creators. Learn how to protect your channel, deal with claims, and understand recent policy

changes including those from July 2025.