Mom! It's OUR Turn! (what we did while we were away)

 "Proof that I can sometimes be with my stinky brother Knives"

 "Can't you see I'm trying to groom here??"

 "But they saaaaaid it would be back by ne-ow!!" - Knives

::sigh:: "This is computer repair young padewan. There is no such thing as 'on time' with computer repair." - Star

"Zaphy has been tutoring me in Emo Cattiness."

"We would have sent you one of these but we didn't have a laptop! Dumb ole' laptop."

We Blame Corwyn!! (and a new graphic)

 "I was not the one who made mom sick!"

 "Well, it sure wasn't me!  I was here in Jennifer's bed!"

 "Why are you looking at ME??"

 "Tell them Zaphy, it was actually Corwyn!"

This is a brand-new graphic.  Mom still hasn't taken down the
Winter stuff.  We would like to know if you would buy stuff
with this graphic on it.  If so, we will put it in our store.

PS Tomorrow is Audrey's first GOTCHA DAY!!  That's right, it's one year since she came to join the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde!

Da Celebration Report! Read All About It!!

 "So, do you know why mom did bring back BBQ for us??"

 "Mom's how old??  How much is that in cat years??" - Audrey

"Don't ask, don't tell." - Star

"You know, she got that cat necklace for her birthday when she was 11 and wanted earrings to match ever since she got it." - Zaphy

 "And dad had someone called Thomas the Lapidary make

 the earrings to match.  Mom squeed when she opened

the box at Christmas!  Daddy always does good." - Star

 "I want to know why dad named his upright bass Clyster." - Knives

"It's a band member's family name." - Zaphy

"OooOOOooo." ::shakes head:: "I still don't get it." - Knives

"Now there's a shock!" - Star

"What??" - Knives

"Mom got some great paper to play with,

but we can't have the balloons."

PS thanks to everycat who said Happy Purrday to our mom!

MIA - Thomas

MIA!!!

Sir Thomas of Snuggle
(aka Thomas aka Tom Tom aka Tom)

Murfreesboro, TN

Escape Artist

Missing since  ~0745 CST Saturday July 9th

Wednesday I had a procedure done, went fine.  My laptop has been wonky.  Saturday we went to take the Horde to the vet¹ (over $300²).  Audrey & Thomas played the escape artist card.  Audrey came right to the front door when we got home.  Thomas is still missing.

¹ - We love our vet & our vet loves all of us!
² - Zaphy has a UTI, Knives has ear mites (itchy!), and everycat needed Pernicious Flea stuff!

Wordless Wednesday... Mostly

I wanted to put up new pictures but right now my computer doesn't see DVD-RW nor my camera.  meh.

Cost of Medicine...
Because of insurance, everyone has to take information in a certain order...

 

(off to my procedure!)

This & That & a Little of the Other

Gah.  My computer STILL doesn't see the DVD-RW or anything plugged into it via USB except for the mouse.  Ticked am I?  Why yes.  Yes I am.  In other news, the weather and I do not like each other and I do not want to marry it.  But I can't take the NSAID that I CAN take because of the surgical procedure tomorrow.  meh.  Ergo, I'm getting off of the computer now.  I'm not sure when I'll be back.  I wish it would start working.  I have some pretty pictures of the peahens we had in our yard today.  At first Audrey started to go into pounce mode but as they got closer she realized Just How BIG they were!!  I think it's the fastest she's gone into the house!

Someone is throwing up but hasn't be caught at it & I'm wondering if Zaphy might have a UTI.  meh.

 "I'm waiting for Jennifer to get home tonight."

The Story of the Lilac Bush...

 "mmmmm, this smells goooood."

 "Yesssss, it's mine!  All mine!"

 "But I'd better mark it to make sure everycat knows it."

  "See mom??  It made the lilac bush bloom even better!!"

"What?  Me??  Star!!  How could you tattle on me to mom!!"

"Be nice to me!!  Mom took me to the vet today because

my eye was hurting!  He gave me drops for my eyes, mom

had to pay them nearly $75.00 and they didn't even give me greenies!!  Good thing mom gave me some when we got

home.  She said I'll get more after each time I get meds."

The Bad and the Good and the Oh My!

First the bad so we can get it out of the way and then feel better by looking at pictures of sweet babies.  This message was passed on from on of the blogs I read regularly (I actually read a lot but don't have the energy to reply but we purr & pray for everycat that needs it!).  It seems that Caboodle Ranch, a no-kill home for kitties with no other place to go may have become a hoarding situation.  Here is some more information about it.  I don't have absolute proof, but if anyone does, please please let me know!  This is very sad and we are purring & praying for the sweet cats there.

For the good.  Well, there's a bit of bad.  Somehow we can't find Audrey's harness & leash!!  Fortunately she has a backup harness and I was able to cobble up something to use as a leash.  She doesn't like this harness as much since it's an H as opposed to a Figure 8 which is what most cats prefer.  I hope we find it!!

"Hey mom!!  I'm ready to go ou-ut!!

What do you mean I need my leash??"

"Mmmmmm, open window... mmmmmmm"

"So-oo what are you guys doing to my bathroom??"

"Okay Audrey, mom & dad are trying to get the house in shape so they can have the house appraised so they can get the house refinanced and pay off some stuff.  That'll mean more treats." - Star

"More treats!  More treats!!" - Knives & Audrey

"Now if mom could just afford a cleaning team.  I have no idea

why she keeps complaining about me spraying everywhere.

It was not me.  No, really!!" - Thomas

::yawn:: "I'll help by taking a nap.

I'm sure that will be very very helpful." - Zaphy

Crossing Our Paws So Mom Can Go Hear Dad Play!

 "Guitar pick?  Gee, no dad, I haven't see it.  Why?"

 "Hey!!  Was it a mouse?  A bird?  No!  It was a speeding kitten!!"

 "Whassa speeding kitten??  Ooooh!  Hair band!!!"

"Man, the lengths I have to go to just

to get away from my baby sister!!"

"Mom!  Hey mom!!  Are you resting??  Dad has a gig tonight!!"

Three Weeks with Audrey!!

 "I'm soooo exhausted from running all over the house!  I love this chair in the living room.  When Corwyn is home from school he'll be in one and I'll hang out in the other one beside him.  I love him a lot!"

 "Hair ties are still my most favorite toys!  I broke one and mom made sure to throw it away immediately so I wouldn't accidently eat it!  I like to get onto mom & dad's bedside tables and steal them.  Especially dad's because he'll take one off at bedtime.  ::giggle::  Then he scolds me in the morning for stealing them!"

 "See me looking at my twin brother of another mother?!  Star and Zaphy and I are getting along pretty well now.  Thomas isn't tooooo bad.  I'll hiss at everyone when my stinky yellow brother Knives is around.  He still isn't happy I'm around and we get into it.  He likes to lay in the doorway wherever I am and LOOK at me.  So I go tell mom that he's looking at me again and she tells him 'no'.  Harrumph!"

 "Yep!  Hair bands are my favorite!  I also like to come up and get petted.  I'll stand up on two legs and I look sooooo cute!!

All the Feeders I met love me!"

"Okay, I'm still working on this one.  But I'm getting better!!  When I first came home mom & dad (and Jennifer & Corwyn) had to say it a lot!  I didn't know what they were saying as they scooped me up and put me on the floor.  But now I realize that I'm supposed to stay on the chairs.  I still get up on the table sometimes though."

PS "I've been a big help to mom too.  She went and had an MRI on her cerv... cerv... neck this morning and it gave her a migraine.  But I was so sweet when she got home that it made her feel better."

Housebound...

 "You can't see it, but where the fur isn't thick is where mom found a bump on my face last night.  Mean mean mommy!!  She cleaned it with stingy stuff and then sqeeeeeezed it until all the icky stuff came out.  And now she says I can't go OUT until it's all healed up!!  Mean mean mommy!!!  She made me stay in her bedroom last night with Audrey so stinky Mister Knives wouldn't fight with me or even paw at me like he's been doing to everycat the last few days. "

 "I stayed in mom & dad's bedroom with Star and

I was really really nice.  Besides, I can't go outside either!

I don't know what the big deal is!!"

 "I knocked and knocked and knocked on mom & dad's door and they wouldn't open it!!  Not only that, but dad put something heavy so it wouldn't make noise anymore!!  NOT FAIR!!  Mean ole' daddy."

 "We would have posted for mom yesterday but Zaphy messed up the computer."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not..."

"Since Star isn't able to go out right now,

Zaphy and I have been taking turns going in and out for him."

PS Our friend, the author Sara Harvey and her husband have found a shelter that will take their woofie Javert, but they'd really really rather find him a home with a family who will love and pet and care for him. His continuing story can be found here. Because of biting issues he's not considered adoptable but they've worked really really hard with him and those issues have gone down. As someone who has rehabilitated feral animals I think he has a good chance if placed with the right family so long as there are no young children. If anyone could boost the signal, I'd really appreciate it! (and so would they!)

The Whys and Wherefors of Cat Names...

 "Me-om!!  Whadda mean I have to play nice with her?!"

There are times when cats change and when this happens their names change as well.  There are also times when you can help them through a crisis or change a behavior by changing their name.  This is one of those Great Cat Mysteries™.  Now when Mister Kitten was first brought home by Sarah, everyone thought that he was a she (and I've been sexing cats for... a long time).  She named him Vicious Miette Pumpkin Thunderblaster Knives Pterodactyl.  Once it was discovered  that she was a he Miette no longer worked.  Then he became the Kitten aka Trouble aka Oberon aka Cat with the Identity Crisis which eventually became Mister Kitten.  I am of the opinion that he needs to go back to his original name.  So we are going to try Knives for a week and see how that goes.  If that doesn't work, the next thing to try is Miette, even if it is a girl's name rather than a boy's name.

 "Well, we all like her!!  And she pretty much likes all of us!  Naturally she like me the best!  I'm her brother of a different mother.  She likes Zaphoid the next best and then Thomas.

But as you can see, she lets us all onto the bed now."

 "hehehe  Can you find me??  I'm hiding!"

 "Me-om!  Me-om!!  Zaphy's looking at me!!  Oh!  My daddy has given me a new name!!  He said on the way home that I looked like Audrey Hepburn because of my beautiful black furs.  I love it!!!  Daddy called me Audrey this weekend and I bounced right up to him!  Mommy called me that and I came right to her!  Please call me Audrey now!  Mommy says that my full name will be Lady Audrey Nova StarWatcher.  YAY!!!  Oh, and I love love love the window seat and I'm starting to explore the house.  A big kitty litter is now the hall outside my room for me to use and the itty bitty one in my bathroom is gone.  Now I just have to do something about that stinky yellow cat."

Audrey has been with us for a week and a day now.  She is integrating well into the Horde.  Yesterday she touched noses with both Star and Zaphy.  Certainly she pulled back and gave a delicate Princess hiss but this is an excellent sign!  I have often found that cats who have not reacted well with other cats just need a different environment.  Sometimes just dropping into a smaller number of cats or a cat/dog household can do it.  I've been working with my aunt Susan to help her two cats interact with each other.

Audrey had her nails clipped again yesterday and was determined that she would let me know that it was Not Fun™.  I now have three good sized scratches on my left arm!  However, I'm used to it so I already had treats for Audrey for the ::hand to forehead:: trauma and alcohol wipes & triple antibiotic cream for me.  Then I did Da Boys' nails as well.  You have to be SUPER careful when clipping a cat's nails because if you clip into the quick it is VERY VERY BAD.  So if you should decide to do this for yourself make EXTRA sure that you only clip the translucent/clear part of the nail and I would suggest only clipping the front nails.  That's what I do.  If I sound a wee bit... ummmm... stringent about that it's only because I've seen what can happen to a poor baby whose nails have been clipped too far back.

So, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty Horde are all doing well.  My son has grown another half inch since the first of the year.  My daughter is going to be going to night school Tuesdays & Thursdays.  Now this wouldn't be too much of a problem except that my husband is taking a Tuesday night class and my van has a short in the rear lights and I can't drive unless it's... sunny.  Fortunately he can fix the passenger side window which wasn't working when he came out from a concert last night.  I've been very glad to have Audrey here because she has lifted my spirits through a fibro flare.  She's a darling!!  She's been playing with her new toys from Noodle and Olive while Da Boys adore the fountain they sent.  With the donation from the Califurrrrrnia 5 Petey, Jack, Spunky, Tabitha, Madison LaRue & Momma Pam she has yummy kitten food that must be defended from Da Boys.  The kids and I had physicals last week and I had another doctors appointment which wore me out.  So Audrey kept coming up to me and headbutting me.  She is such a delight and darling and winning over everyone who sees her!!

Please Please Please

Take some time and support a shelter!  Time, coupons, blankets, towels, money, adopt, whatever you can do!!  There are so many who need so much.  And take a minute to love your companions!!