Old Year Ends, New One Begins

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
MAY 2010 BE THE BEST YEAR EVER!
STAY WARM AND COZY.

Wordless Wednesday

Till Next Year

Dad says soon we will have to take the tree down, till another one appears next year. Mom always reacts by saying "We have hardly spent any time in the Tree Room" - and "Can't we leave it up a little longer?" Anyway, since I never did show you a picture of our whole tree, this just proves that it did go all the way to the top, and even has an angel on the very top. Since there is a football game Dad will be going to on Sunday, maybe Mom will get her way and we can keep it up for one extra week.

When do the trees come down at your houses? Are they "real" trees or artificial ones? Do the kitties try to climb the tree? My human brother said he was half-expecting their doggie Josie to drag the tree across the room one day because she LOVES sticks of all kinds. But she was good.

Letting down my Guard

It is a bit of a relief that Christmas is over - no more need to constantly have to be good. Here I let down my guard and was lying on the dining room table on the clean tablecloth! A few days ago I would NEVER have done that!

How many days before NEXT Christmas do we have to start watching our behavior again?

Merry Day After

Christmas here was fun. I am not very big on toys for me, but I still had lots of fun with the wrappings, curling ribbons, and being allowed in the Tree Room. My people had a delicious roast beast for dinner and enjoyed having my human sister here (me too!). She got a great new camera and this picture is taken by her as guest photographer. Today is "recovery day". Hope everycat (and doggie) had wonderful feasts and toys and was just able to be warm inside with their humans.

Joy and Peace

This lovely Nativity was a gift to my Mom and Dad from my Mom's sister. We all think it is very beautiful. Amidst all the hustle and bustle, family gatherings, yummy meals, and Santa presents, may the true Joy and Peace of Christmas find a place in all our hearts. And may real peace come to all the Earth.

Anticipating

Hey! You there, human beans, this tree is looking very empty underneath. When is "Santa" going to be coming? Enough already with the waiting!

Wildlife in the Snow

We had a wonderful snow on Saturday night. We had some deer hanging out for a little while. The deer were actually on top of our leaf pile, so their legs were sinking into the snow and leaves. The snow was about a foot deep. We think they slept there because it was warmer than the ground.


Dad cleared a path around the edge of the deck and put some seed down for the birds. You can see how carefully I am watching this dove.

Cute little Candian Sparrow who came too.


I think this is a Hairy Woodpecker but I get confused between the different types. Looks like we will have a white Christmas this year!

Good Wishful Hunting

In honor of Hunt Week, I give you this picture taken yesterday that shows me watching the little birds that came to our deck when Dad put some birdseed down. Notice I was very careful to hunker down, so I don't think they saw me. I wish I could have gotten a little closer to them..............

Later today I hope I can post some more bird pictures with them in the snow. We have lots of it!

Whapping on Wednesday

Here is a picture of me whapping a couple of the ornaments on our tree. I am usually pretty good about leaving them alone, but I got excited with Mom trying to get a picture of the tree with me in it (in the picture, not in the tree, silly!). They mostly put the unbreakable whappable ones near the bottom, but I liked the shiny ones better. Luckily I stopped before anything fell down. But if you looks closely, you see a couple of the ornaments are blurred because they were MOVING FAST!

Mom still can't get a good picture of the whole tree - if she uses the flash, the lights don't show, but without the flash, it gets out of focus. So I will have to make her try AGAIN.

Helping

I had to help the Mom and the Dad to trim the tree yesterday, otherwise they never would have gotten it done. As it is, the photos Mom took of the final thing are not very good so I will wait to show you the whole tree on another day. But this picture just proves how much help I was. They store a lot of the decorations in green and red boxes, which means they don't have a very good excuse if they say they cannot find some of them. Duh - the colors say it pretty clearly!

Easy on Sunday

No matter how small my Mom and Dad fold up this blanket, I still like to sleep on it, even if I spill over the edges.
Happy Sunday!

Christmas Trees on Thursday

I had hoped to be able to show you a decorated tree in the house today, but Dad still has not brought our tree in from the garage, where he has it in a bucket and is giving it big drinks of water to be sure it isn't too thirsty when it gets inside. But Mom said I could post these pictures frm the farm where they went on Sunday to choose the tree. I am glad I didn't have to go with them and freeze my feets in all that snow. But they said it was a very pretty scene.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mystery

What is this a picture of? Or should I say: of what is this a picture? (doesn't sound right either way!)

Favorite Felines on Friday - T

I haven't posted a favorite feline in a few weeks. This is my "cousin" T - technically he is my nephew, because he is my human brother's kitty. He is Josie's brother (I posted about Josie, the black doggie, a while ago). T is about 7 years old now. He used to be an indoor-outdoor kitty, but now he remains indoors. He got into too many tussles with other cats, and his humans feel he is safer inside. They made the switch over when they moved to a new city. Amazingly he doesn't seem to mind at all at the new house.

T had some life-threatening urinary issues about a year ago, and had to have a quite radical operation which we will not describe, in order not to have all the Mancats saying OWWWW. He seems to be doing fine, now.

T has a littermate called Sim, who I will introduce you to on another Favorite Feline's on Friday post.

Decorating?

They haven't started doing the Christmas decorating here yet. Time to get moving on it, I say!

Manly Monday

Mom helped me hunt on the computer for a really manly picture of me, and there are hardly any, but I liked this one. I think it makes me look regal.

Happy Monday to all you Mancats and Ladycats out there!

Camouflage

This is another shot of me on that day I helped Dad with the leaves. I am wearing my camouflage suit so you can hardly see me, right?

Fallout Friday

They said to eat and drink in moderation yesterday, but I kind of overindulged. I got actual turkey for the first time. Oh my ............YUM!
So I am going to try and sleep it off today.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Smelling

My Dad uses this big piece of burlap as a drop cloth when he clears the leaves in our yard. Here I have discovered the drop cloth and am giving it a very thorough going over with my nose. It seems I can tell the entire history of every leaf that was ever on it! And that is at least a squillion leaves.

Manly Monday - Beautiful?

Mom says the title of this photograph is "Beautiful". Do you think she means the Christmas Cactus flowers or me? (Our Christmas Cactus plants bloomed especially early this year. )

I don't think it is very Manly to be called Beautiful.

Honest Scrap

Hi, everybody. I received the Honest Scrap Award from Raymond and Busby last week and I have been compiling a list of 10 things about myself to tell you. Maybe they will help you to know and understand my purrsonality a little better.

I was adopted by Mom and Dad when I was 18 months old because my young owner was having to move in with relatives who had a child who was allergic to cats. She was very sad to have to let me go, because she loved me very much. That made my Mom and Dad sad for her. Interestingly, I do not make my Mom itchy and allergic the way many other cats have done.

I don’t know my exact birthday, and Mom and Dad only approximately remember my Gotcha Day. But I was born in early 2002, and came to live with them in mid 2003.

The only other pet I have ever had to share my home with was my brother Rusty. Since he died, it has just been me.

I do not pester my Mom and Dad to wake up in the mornings. I lie near by and as soon as they do get up, I run straight for the kitchen, but I am very polite and don’t actually wake them up, even if they sleep late.

I seem to have a circuit in the house for favorite places to sleep during parts of the day. I almost always sleep in the dining room in the mornings, but hardly ever go in there the rest of the day. And it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with sunspots, or warmth.

I don’t bother my Mom and Dad for People Food. In fact, when they are eating their meals, I usually politely leave the room. Or I lie quietly looking towards them until they have finished.

I also don’t jump up on the counters in the kitchen the way most of their other cats before me have done. Except once my Mom found me up there and it was because I was interested in some baby’s breath in a vase! I am very curious about vases of flowers.

I get lots of hairballs, even though my Dad brushes me as much as he can. If I eat even a little bit of grass or leaf, it makes me throw up and I try very hard to come back inside to throw up, rather than doing it outside. I am so considerate!

I show no interest in television at all. In fact when the tv is on, I usually lie facing away from it.

Even though I am quite a Big Boy, I love it when Mom holds me like a baby and carries me around. I could do that all day, purring all the while. And sometimes I will try to climb onto her shoulder as if I am a one pound kitten still.

Thank you Raymond and Busby very much for thinking of me. I am supposed to pick 7 more blogs to receive the honest scrap award. If you have already received it, I apologize for not knowing.

Cheysulli and Gemini http://www.chey.mysiamese.com/

Daisy and Harley http://daisythecurlycat.blogspot.com

Rumbles and Inigo http://rumble-bum.blogspot.com

The Gang at Cory's house http://corycattalks.blogspot.com

Misha and Cosmo http://gorgeous.co.nz/misha/

The Gang at The Pouponette http://thepoupounette.blogspot.com/

William and his Siblings http://williamthecat.blogspot.com/

Saturday at the Movies

Rumbles and Inigo said I should post some VIDEOS! Videos are a new thing at my house, so please have some patience with us. Mom was surprised when she viewed this video taken by Dad, because I don't usually spend so long washing my face. Usually just a quick spit and polish. Though I think it is evidence she doesn't really pay close enough attention to me, because you can hear her voice in the background at the beginning, so I know she was there! Happy Saturday!

Feeling Frisky on Friday

I will be honest, my Mom is only letting me look on her laptop for photos today, and there are not too many of me. So this is a photo from earlier in the fall, when the leaves had just started coming down. Now they are almost all off the trees. But it is a really nice day today. So I am feeling Frisky, knowing the weekend is coming. I plan to manipulate a few extra meals, get extra brushing, and maybe even get a little deck time! Happy weekend!
Edited to add: Sorry for the confusion caused by the grammar of my first sentence. The real truth was that Mom was posting for me at work, and so could only select from the few pictures she had of me on her work laptop. Really, they are so besotted about me, they do take many pictures, but most of them are on the home computer.

Tricks for Temptations on Thursday

Temptations are my favorite treats. I am willing to sit up on my 'tocks and beg to get them - it is rather fun to reach up and help Mom put one in my mouth. I grasp her hand and full it firmly to my mouth, and hopefully I don't drop it before I can eat it all up.

Hunting

Yep. You read the title of this post correctly. This little visitor to our yard was "busy" hunting. S/he was concentrating intently on a hole in the ground that belongs to some chipmunks. (Mom used a telephoto to get this picture). She stayed stock still for about 30 minutes, but I don't think any chipmunks appeared. She ended up lying down in the same spot and going to sleep! She stayed there while my Mom went out to do errands and till it was dark and my Dad came home from watching a football game. We have seen her before, watching the same hole. Mom says she thinks she must have had success there at least once, otherwise she would not come back so much.

Looking Mean and Scary on Monday

Mom says the Apple people discriminate against cats. Here is why. On her computer, there is a nice tool for reducing red-eye on photos taken of people using a flash. But there is no such thing to reduce laser-eye on cats. Hmmmpffff. So I have to have a photo of me looking mean on my blog instead of one with nice warm eyes.

Sleeping

It is Saturday. It is raining. I am Sleeping. Any qweschuns?

Puppies on Friday

Mom has had a little project going lately - she has been scanning some slides taken many years ago by my Grandpa. This picture was taken in about 1962. Their female cocker spaniel Taffy had 8 puppies and to take this picture, he had to get them all lined up and nomming at the same time. I think they are pretty cute, though I wonder what I would do if I actually met a little puppy face to face! Mom is enjoying the scanning project because it brings back a lot of memories.

Coming soon.........

Can you believe how fast this year is going? It doesn't make much difference to me, as I don't have to worry about much preparing or shopping. But Mom is starting to get a bit twitchy. The amount of time our computer is connected to amazon.com or landsend.com is increasing, and it cuts into my blogging opportunities. There is a lot of staring at the screens of US Airways and Continental and muttering about how the airlines are playing mean games with their fares for the holidays. For example, Mom says it costs more to take a direct flight for a shorter trip than a longer trip with a stop in it at the same place the shorter trip starts. Now even I know that is not economically logical.

I am not one for wearing cat clothes, but I did wear this Christmas neck embellishment a little last year, and my Mom snapped a couple of pictures. I think it looks festive.

Wordless Wednesday

Supervising

It was a big weekend of clearing leaves here. Dad said he thinks this year there were more leaves than ever before. Also, this year we seem to have had a record acorn crop. Mostly I watched through the windows or napped and ignored it all, but I did get a couple of chances to be outside checking out the leaf piles and supervising the goings on. While they were supervising me too, of course!

You can see I said "no thanks" to wearing the harness.

Sulking

Sometimes my Mom insists that I wear this green harness, but I really do not like it. I walk all funny, with my belly low to the ground, when I have it on. I won't walk with a leash attached to it at all. I think it is stupid. So I am sulking.

Favorite Felines on Friday - Flossie

Flossie is my real cousin because she is my Mom's sister's kitty. She is quite a senior girl. I think she is 13. She adopted her Mom many years ago and has stayed ever since. She is very loyal. Lately poor Flossie has had lots of trouble with bladder stones and infections, which is a persistent worry for her Mom. She even had surgery a couple of years ago to remove a big bladder stone. Changes in her diet don't seem to quite fix the problem.

I have never met Flossie and I guess I never will, because she lives in a Faraway Country. But I still love her very much.

Waiting

When I sit or lie on the arm of this chair, my Dad brushes me. It is the only place I like to be brushed. It makes me VERRRRRRRRRY happy. I much prefer Dad to brush me than Mom. I am inclined to put the bitey on Mom when she does it (because she tries to sneak in some brushes on my floofy belly and that is a no no).

C'mon, Dad! Finish raking the leaves and come and give me some brushing! Otherwise I will hack up a huge hairball just to show you how much loose fur I have.

Wordless Wednesday

Fall-ing Leaves

Somebody better get off his 'tocks and get the rake out!

Purring on Sunday

My Mom and Dad just got home after being away for a little trip. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - need I say more?

Feathered Friends Friday

Sometimes I think my Dad loves birdies more than me. Every evening he fills up the bird feeders and in the summer he fills the hummingbird tubes, before he pays any attention to me. Sometimes that Hurts My Feelings. This pretty birdie is a barn swallow who was at the lodge where my Mom and Dad stayed near Glacier Bay Alaska. She/he is pretty sweet! I hope you Othercats watch birdies but don't eat them! Unless you are feral and then it is okay, since you must be very hungry.

Wordless Wednesday - Ball of Fluff

More Cousins Monday

I introduced you to Audrey last week. Just to show that not all my relatives are cats, here is another "cousin" of mine, Josie. Today is close to Josie's second birthday. We think she is a cross between a black lab and a border collie. That little "hat" on the grass is actually her hiking water bowl. She enjoys going on hikes with her bean parents when they have the time.

Josie had a rough start in life. She came from an animal shelter at about 2 months old, and she must have already caught Parvo virus before she got there. Very shortly after arriving at her forever home, she became sick and had a spend a lengthy time at the V-E-T's. Parvo virus is a nasty illness. However she is a healthy girl now.

Next week I will try to introduce you to another of my relatives.

Edited to add:I have never met Josie in the fur; she has 2 kitty siblings, so I think she would play nicely with me if I ever did get to meet her.

Resting on Sunday Morning

Let me rest, please. No photographs! Yes, I know I have a very floofy belly!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....................

Favorite Felines on Friday

Meet my cousin Audrey, She is a sweetheart. Technically she is not my cousin, but my "niece" but cousin seems simpler. And she is a little older than me. Or at least her Mom got her before my Mom and Dad got me. She is named Audrey after Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey is a very snuggly kitty. She loves to snuggle with her Mom, in her catbeds, in catblankets, in human blankets, with almost any other human, you name it. She has a very big heart. She has a very good appetite for foodies, so her Mom has to carefully control her portions and access to food, otherwise she would become a Little Bit Fat. Because the foodies doesn't only go into feeding her big heart, but also her sides.

I have never actually met Audrey in the fur, but I feel as if I know her very well, as if she is part of my very own family. Which, I guess, she is! I hope I get to meet her for real soon. I think we would get along very well.

Audrey has her own blog, and has even written some Haiku poems on it, but she hasn't posted in quite a while. If you like, you can go and leave her a comment to tell her to start blogging again. Her blog address is http://audreythecat.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday - My Little Patch of Grass