Monday, July 31, 2006

Do You Believe In Love At First Sight?

This weekend I was in PetsMart picking up a few things for our Secret Paws. Lucky Cat Adoptions was there showing cats. Lucky Cats is who I adopted Abby from. Of course I went over to talk to all the cute cuddly little poodins they had up for adoption. But it took me back to the day I found my one little priceless bundle of joy. I knew from across the room when she came into view that she was the one I had been searching for. My heart leapt with pure happiness at finding her. It has been a match made in heaven. I hope all those poodins find as happy as a home as we have.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Stretching It Out



Can you do this?

~~~
Catch all the kitty moves over at the ARK and don't forget to visit the 123rd edition of the Carnival of the Cats this weekend being hosted by The Scratching Post.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Lookalikes



I found this little Tuxie bank and it made me think of my two girls....doesn't she look like Abby?

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Sammy

SAMMY
(Sung to George Gershwin's SWANEE)

Abby's been away from you a long time

She never thought she'd miss you so

Somehow she feels that your sweetness is real

Near Sammy is where she longs to be.

The Calico Girls are singin, it is song time

Georgia, Gemini & Cheysuli are strumming banjos soft and low

I know that you R-reow for me too

SAMMY!

You're calling me!

Chorus:

SAMMY

How I love you, how I love

My dear ol' Sammy

I'd give the world to be with Mattingly and Puff and Spot in N-E-W Y-O-R-K now.

Boo, Jinx, Ping & Gracie are waitin for me, purraying for me

Down by the Genesse

Zeus, Isis Kukka & Brach will see me no more

When I go to SAMMYS!

Derby has a nice challenge over on his blog about turning a song's lyrics into a new song for your favorite poodin...so Abby came up with this little ditty for Sammy!


Monday, July 24, 2006

Dining Alone

Preparing dinner for 5 different personalities can be a small feat. There is a lot of juggling and cajoling to keep everyone happy. Both Boo and Abby take their dinner generally up on the counter and Ping, Jinx and Gracie normally eat all together off a plate I put down on the floor. As I was getting plates ready; Jinx could not wait, so he tried to get into Abby's food dish. She sat back and looked at him in utter amazement and then she reached over and nipped him solidly on the ear. He didn't take the first hint too well and she had to keep trying to nip him in the ear before he decided eating wasn't worth getting bit over. Abby definitely doesn't want to share her meals.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Explorer

I think I'm stuck. I know I'm stuck.
HELP! Well let me try the hall closet, this might be a little safer.Yeah I think so!
This will make a nice soft bed.
~~~
Now go explore all the other wonderful creatures on this week's Friday Ark and don't forget to drop by this weekend for the 122nd edition of the Carnival of the Cats at Creatures of the Earth.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Kitty Crack(er)

Falling face down in the kitty crack.
Ummm I can't get enough!
I'm totally covered in the stuff.
Oooooo this is so um um good!
Coming down off my high is sure a bummer, though. I need MORE!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

HELP KUKKA!

Ok Kukka you have Abby, Boo, Jinx, Ping & Gracie all marching in the picket line!
Efurryone join us at Kukka's.

Grace Under Pressure


One year ago today this is what I wrote in my journal. We were so upset about missing Button and we had tried all the things that you do when a pet goes missing and finally we had decided to go to the ACC and this is what happened that day.

~~~~~~




Wally called me on the way home from work and wanted me to go with him to Animal Care and Control to see if Button could possibly be there. What a trip that was. Oh my god. I cannot describe how awful the experience was, how deplorable the conditions were, and how sad to see those beautiful animals in those locked cages knowing what fate is going to befall them. I got so upset and I couldn’t stop crying. This place is definitely not for me. I couldn’t take the injustice of it all.

Of course Button wasn’t there. I don’t think she will come back, it’s been 5 days. I wish I knew what happened.

At the ACC, there was this young grey female tabby that was outside the door. They said she had just come up and had been there about a week. She was so friendly. She reminded me of Ping. I was so sad about Button, and watching her through the door, it just made me sadder and sadder. Nothing though prepared me for the jolt of seeing all those animals. I just lost it when they reached through the cages to me. After we had gone through and hadn’t found Button, we looked at the little girl tabby and decided to take her home with us. They gave us a carrier, and we scooped her up and went home. She was so hungry when we got her back to the workshop. She ate an entire can of food, half a bowl of dried food and some cookies. She had been starving. But, she is such a friendly cat, she just craves attention. I know I lost my mind in taking her on, but I just couldn’t walk away and leave her there. Well, she is with us now, no going back.

She’ll have to go to the vet tomorrow.

We are nuts!

When we got through with all of this, I was emotionally spent. I tried getting some comfort from Boo, but I spooked her so bad, she didn’t know what to do with me. Ping and Jinx came up to me, and understood I was upset, they didn’t know what to do with me either. I finally calmed down, and let Abby out of her room. She was in there longer than normal today. So, I know she needed to be let out to roam around. She didn’t want any part of me either. I was really blue about everything.

Finally Wally went and got Abby who was roaming all over the house and put her in my lap. She settled down very quickly and I had my lap kitten. It calmed me down. What a day.



And so that is how Gracie first day with us went. She was saved from being put into that inferno, and I don’t regret one moment of that decision, even though it was made under the worst circumstances. But, I could just not leave her there by the door begging for any kindness. She is still as sweet and innocent as she was this day one year ago. She is in a far safer place and she is well cared for and very loved.

So out of one tragedy there was a happy ending.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Just Remember This



Things a Cat Must Remember:


A: I will not stand on the bathroom counter, stare down the hall, and growl at NOTHING
B: I will not puff my entire body to twice its size for no reason. - I will do neither A or B especially after my human has finished watching a horror movie.
I will not lean way over to drink out of the tub, fall in, and then pelt right for the box of clumping cat litter. (It took FOREVER to get the stuff out of my fur.)
I will not drag dirty socks up from the laundry room in the middle of the night, deposit them on the bed and yell at the top of my lungs so that my human can admire my "kill."
I will not perch on my human's chest in the middle of the night and stare into her eyes until she wakes up. We will not play Herd of Thundering Wildebeests Stampeding Across the Plains of the Serengeti over any humans' bed while they're trying to sleep.
Screaming at the can of food will not make it open itself.
I cannot leap through closed windows to catch birds outside. If I forget this and bonk my head on the window and fall behind the couch in my attempt, I will not get up and do the same thing again.
I will not assume the patio door is open when I race outside to chase leaves.
I will not complain that my bottom is wet and that I am thirsty after sitting in my water bowl.
I will not intrude on my human's candle-lit bubble bath and singe my bottom.
I will not stick my paw into any container to see if there is something in it. If I do, I will not hiss and scratch when my human has to shave me to get the rubber cement out of my fur.
If I bite the cactus, it will bite back..
When I am chasing my tail and catch my back leg instead, I will not bite down on my foot. This hurts, and my scream scares my human.
When it rains, it will be raining on all sides of the house. It is not necessary to check every door.
Birds do not come from the bird feeder. I will not knock it down and try to open it up to get the birds out.
Yes, there are still two very large dogs in the backyard. There have been for several years. I don't have to act as if I've just discovered the Demon Horror of the Universe each time one of them appears in my window.
I will not play "dead cat on the stairs" while people are trying to bring in groceries or laundry, or else one of these days, it will really come true.
When the humans play darts, I will not leap into the air and attempt to catch them.
I will not swat my human's head repeatedly when she's on the family room floor trying to do sit ups.
When my human is typing at the computer, her forearms are not a hammock.
Computer and TV screens do not exist to backlight my lovely tail.
I will not eat spider plants and hallucinate behind the toilet.
I will not drag the magnets (and the papers they are holding up) off of the refrigerator and then bat them underneath it so that they adhere to the underside.
I will learn to relax at the vet's office so they will start writing things in my records like "Good Kitty" and "Sweet Kitty" instead of the stuff that's there now like "MEAN!!" "BITER!!!" and "GET HELP!!!!!"
I will not be miffed at my human all day and then kiss her on the nose at 2:00 a.m. to tell her that she is forgiven and can now pet me.
If I MUST claw my human, I will not do it in such a fashion that the scars resemble a botched suicide attempt.
If I must give a present to my human's overnight guests, my toy mouse is much more socially acceptable than a big live cockroach, even if it isn't as tasty.
I will not soak my catnip toy in the water bowl to make tea. I will not get high and sit there drinking my tea and kneading the floor afterwards.
I will not then get delusions of grandeur and make tea in the toilet bowl or the tub. And I will not try to make tea with used socks, dirty panties or hair scrunches when my humans take the catnip toy away from me.
A warm pepperoni pizza is not a good place for a nap.
What does your cat(s) need to remember?

Monday, July 17, 2006

One Year Ago Today

This is from my diary one year ago today.

In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckageof your silent reverie
you’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort there
~ANGEL BY Sarah McLaughlin


BUTTONS STORY

Button had a sad story, I ‘m afraid. Last December, right after Christmas, one night I thought Boo had gotten out of the house, because I had looked everywhere for her and she wasn’t anywhere to be found, and Wally had been in and out the back door and I was sure she had gotten out. So, in my nightgown, I go out looking for her. I went behind all the buildings that are on the one side of our property. It was dark and I only had a small flashlight. As I was coming to the end of the buildings, my light caught the eyes of a cat, and at first I thought it may have been Boo, but it wasn’t. I went towards the cat, and she came to me, so I petted her, and since I had gone as far as I could I started my way back home. The cat followed me. When I got home, Wally was really taken by this straggly looking tortoiseshell cat that was thin and unkempt. So, he named her Button right then. We got food for her and put her in the garage. She ate hungrily. (The good thing was Booz was in the hall closet, safe and sound. MOM was a mess but the Booz was fine!) We took her to the vet and had her checked out to make sure she was OK. She had LOTS of ticks on her and she just looked like she felt terrible. Once she settled in, she because the workshop cat. She didn’t want to be near the house at all. She didn’t like the other cats. She wouldn’t even come into the garage because of how strong the cat smells were to her. When she first arrived, Wally was home and with her all day, and I think she liked having that company, but he went back to work 4 days out of the work week, I think she grew lonely. She always had this little pitiful meow. She had a look of sadness about her. We had to take her back to the vet, because I saw a wound on her and I wanted it checked out, plus she needed her booster shot. Off we went in Friday afternoon traffic up to the vets. I asked about her hips, and her walk, and we talked about spaying her. The vet checked her and said she thought she had been spayed, so that solved that. We decided to get an X-RAY of her hips, and then the vet told us, she had old injury that had heeled nicely, but she surmised she was probably hit by a car, or thrown from a car. So how she survived, I just don’t know. As spring settled into summer, Button grew and she filled out well. Her appearance had greatly improved, her coat was shiny, and she looked great. Wally saw her before he left for work on Saturday 7/16/05 in the grass between the workshop and the house, but when I got home Saturday evening, she was no where to be found. She didn’t come home, and we don’t know what happened, as she was very territorial, and she rarely left the yard.

I can only hope that where ever she is, she is safe, and happy. We tried our best to make her as comfortable as we could and I think we did. She was a sad little cat who had much misery in her short life. Rest in peace little girl.

Button has never come home and we still miss her greatly.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Play of Light

She sits and ponders in and out of the shadows.
She waits and she watches.The real Catwoman waits.
Suddenly she springs to life....
Alright enough already -- time to quit with that flashy thing!
~~~
It's time again for a visit with all the other animals with superpowers over at the Friday Ark and also it's the 121st edition of the Carnival of the Cats being hosted this week by For the Junta.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Just A Little Something...

Kukka just a little something for your anniversary....

Please Take Your Seat




Abby surveying over her domain.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Clean







Abby says it's the BEST efur feeling to wash up in the sunbeams!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

The Many Faces of Boo

Love the whiskers!
What is it?
Inquistive.
Perplexed.
Strike a pose!
Watchful.