Drop and Shop

Most peoples probably know that last Friday was black Friday, but it was also mama's birthday. I had a doctor pointment with my Unkl Dr. Mike, so mama and daddy and Gunnie and I all got up early and headed for town in daddy's big noisy truck. I never even howled! We got to Best Friends, and the nice people said Unkl Dr. Mike was out of town, and they had rescheduled my pointment from 9:45 to 2:15. They called mama, but she thought it was just their regular reminder message, so she never listened to the end.

The people at Best Friends offered to let me and Gunnie stay there until my pointment time so mama and daddy could do their errands and shopstering. Mama laughed and called it "drop and shop." Gunnie and I got adjoining apartments in the back, and we even got to keep our own blankets.

Mama and daddy shopped and shopped. Then mama called to see if Unkl Dr. Mike had gotten back to town. Nope, he was still not there. Mama told them she and daddy would be at Best Friends at my pointment time. Mama and daddy were 15 minutes late, but Unkl Dr. Mike was STILL not there. Another nice doctor lady said she would look at my leg so mama and daddy could take me and Gunnie home. Mama and daddy were waiting out front when one of the vet techs came out. She asked mama if she could come and get me out of my apartment so they did not have to "use gloves." Mama was perplexed because I am a very gentle kitty.

When mama and daddy came into the back, I was already in my carrier. It was Gunnie who was being naughty. He was in the back of his apartment all puffed up and hissing. In fact, mama said he was throwing a HISSY fit! Mama put her hand in the apartment, and Gunnie sniffed it and still hissed. Mama told him to "knock it off right now, young man." Then she picked Gunnie up and cuddled him. He kept hissing at mama, so she gave him to daddy because Gunnie and daddy are special together. Later daddy told mama Gunnie tried to bite him! Finally we were both in our carriers and on our way home.

When we got home, Gunnie was still kind of mad and out of sorts. He was not hissing anymore, but he told me he got REAL scared, and he never wants to do drop and shop again. Geez; it was not THAT bad.

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like Kissmouse

Wowie wow! Everything outside is all white. White things are coming out of the sky. I can't see the road going past our house or the grass in our yard. There are hardly any birdies to watch. Mama says the white stuff is called snow, and the birdies are all hiding in the evergreen trees next door trying to stay warm. Right now it is about -5 degrees here in Big Sky Country, and the wind chill is about -25 degrees. Tonight it may get to -20 or -25, and then the wind chill will be about -40 degrees. I am not sure exactly what that means, but when mama opens the back door, outside is not a place I want to go. Brrrrrrrrrr. Even with my beautiful long furs it is too cold. Mama says the weather was probably like this when I was born, but I don't remember it. I was a Kissmouse kitten; my birthday is December 23.

I catnot wait to be all grown up like my brother, Gunnie.
I think I can already whip him in wrestling, but I usually let him win because he is nice when I nudge him out of the way at our food dishes. Mama says I am like Goldi-locks. I like to try one dish, then the other one, and then usually back to the first one. I just have to make sure they are both the same. If they aren't I want the GOOD food, and Gunnie can have the other dishy.

Because it is almost Thanksgiving, I want to say I am grateful for my forever home with my mama and daddy. I am thankful for my brother, Gunnie, because he is mostly nice to me. I am grateful that I have enough good food to eat and a warm place to sleep. Mostly I am grateful because I am loved, and I know it. Every kitty in the world deserves these things, but so many never have them. I was born unwanted, but now I am a loved precious princess. I am blessed...

Gunnie Taught Me!

Mama and daddy think it is very cute because Gunnie likes to sharpen his claws on the heat vents. He doesn't like our scratchy post, so he uses the heat vents, and it sounds like he is playing music; tinky, tinka-tink, tinkety tink, tink, tink. Mama and daddy always laugh and talk about how Gunnie can play tunes.

A few mornings ago mama was washing her face, and she heard a really cool tune. When she turned around to watch, it was ME! Mama was very proud of me. She says I am pretty smart to watch and learn from Gunnie, and she also said that my tune was just as good as Gunnie's even though I have not practiced as much.

I'm a DDP!

Jeepers, I am one of today's daily diary picks, and I never even mentioned poo! What's up with that? Is the new password "staples?" I've mentioned that word lots lately. Those STAPLES look look yucky, and they make your leg bumpy and itchy, but they are not so bad after all, specially now that they are goned!

Unkl Dr. Mike said my furs are growing back at "an alarming rate." It is not alarming to me at all. Who wants a cold bare little leg through a Big Sky winter? Besides, my bloomers look lopsided.

Thanks to the kitties who have sent me presents. Mama is trying to keep up with the personal thank yous, and in a few days we will add a thank you list to my diary.

Staples All Gone!

I was just minding my own busyness yesterday when mama scooped me up and put me in my carrier. Then we were headed to see Dr. Unkl Mike at Best Friends Animal Hospital. The nice ladies there said Unkl was running late. Mama got a shocked look on her face and said "No; that's impossible!" Unkl is always running late. Mama says Unkl moves at warp speed all day long, but he is very gentle and takes his time with all the pets.

When we got into the room, mama got me out of the carrier and started fluffing my fur. That helped keep my mind off any scary things, and I looked purrfect when Unkl came in the room.

Unkl got some kind of tool to take my staples out. It didn't even hurt. I just laid on the table while mama petted me, and Unkl held my leg and got those nasty staples out. It didn't take long because almost half of the staples had mysteriously disappeared from my leg. Gunnie and I aren't talking...

Before I knew it, we were finished. I guess I should have been more difficult; nobuddy even offered me a treat.

Mama is starting to get the hang of this retirement thing. This morning after breakfast she played games with me and Gunnie. We have some little squishy foam balls, and she was throwing them so we could chase. Mama says we remind her of dawgs the way we will chase a ball, so we have to make sure we never bring it back like dawgs. This reminds mama that we are CATS, and it also makes mama exercise right along with me and Gunnie by retrieving the balls.

Poor Gunnie. Mama threw the ball down the hall. Gunnie was in the living room, and he started running, but he miscalculated or maybe he is just a klutz, and he ran sideways into the Chinese chair. Mama saw it all, and it scared her. Gunnie even moved the chair a couple of inches. Mama hopes it just knocked the wind out of him. Me too because even though Gunnie can be a pain sometimes, I really love my brother. He seems OK; mama will keep an eye on him today just in case.

Little Helpers

Gunnie and I helped mama today. We helped her talk on the phone to the insurance lady, we helped her eat her lunch, and we helped her clean the house. She said we were so much help it only took her twice as long to do everything.

Don't tell Gunnie I tattled on him, but when mama goes into a room and closes the door, Gunnie wails like a banshee. If that doesn't work, he whines like a girl trying to make mama let him in. If that doesn't work, he starts pawing at the door and mama hears "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," which she usually ignores. Finally Gunnie goes off somewhere to pout for awhile. I am little miss independent. I just go find a nice napster spot and sleep until I hear mama out and about again.

Tomorrow I get the staples out of my leg. Mama says my leg is healing up perfectly, and it is time to get the staples out because there are already about three missing. She found one on a chair seat, and it was not even twisted or pulled apart. Mama wonders how Gunnie and/or I managed that, but we will never tell.

Priceless Versus Pricey!

I have been a sick little princess. A couple of weeks ago I got very, very sick. Mama made grampster take me to Best Friends Animal Hospital, and my doctor, unkl Mike, called mama and said something "weird" was going on with my leg, and he wanted to operate on me the next day. Mama could have brought me home and taken me back, but (I can't believe this) she said it would be easier on me and on Gunnie if I stayed there so mama could "rescue" me after my operation. It was very terrible; I was scared and hid under my blankie all day. Then the next day I got real sleepy, and when I woke up my leg felt funny. Mama came and took me home after she paid lots of $$$$ to get me back. ;)

I was so happy to be home. Gunnie told me I smelled funny, but he was very nice to me. He didn't hiss or slap at me, and he didn't chase me either. It was a good thing because I could still run WAY too fast for him to catch me. My leg looked funny; it had stitches and staples all down the back of my leg, but it felt fine. Mama tried to get me to settle down, but I was so glad to be home, and I wanted to explore everywhere and make sure everything was the same as before. I have been a very good girl, and I actually cry for my medicine every morning. Gunnie and I did work on the staples, but unkl saw me for something called a "postop check" and said I had stitches in my skin underneath the staples anyway. My leg is healing up fine, and I get my staples out next week. Gunnie is chasering me around the house again, and we wrestle just like we did before.

The bad news is I have something called eosinophilic granulomatous disease complex. From what Unkl said, I have the linear kind. Unkl and mama do not know what caused it. It can be from allergens (something I breathed, touched, or ate) or genetic. Unkl sent some of the nasty stuff that was in my leg to a pathologist,and it was just what he thought.

We are all hoping (me most of all) that it never comes back, but mama and Unkl are ready with a plan if it does. For now, I am a happy little precious princess. I have a mama and daddy who love me very much and a brother who bathes me, sleeps with me, and lets me shove him away from the food dishes when we eat. What more could a princess want?

Catnipshun

Ummmmm...I think I'm in trouble. Last night I was rolling around on the dining room carpet acting all goofy. Mama was looking at the mail and reading the newsypaper. I kept rolling back and forth, getting up, saying "trrrrrriiiiiiiillllll," and then throwing myself on the carpet again and rolling around. Mama was watching me and thought it was real cute until something caught her eye. Mama got up from the table and went to investigate. It was in the corner. It was in a bag. Well, it HAD been in a bag, but the bottom of the bag was all ripped out, and there were toofie marks all over it. There was stuff all over the carpet. It was mine and Gunnie's catnipshun. It is special because mama grows it for us. She takes care of it all summer. When it starts to get tall mama harvests it. She brings the stems inside and sits and carefully cuts off each little leaf. Then mama dries our catnipshun until all the little leaves are very, very hard. When it is dry, she puts it in a plastic baggie to keep it fresh and yummy for me and Gunnie. Mama planned to give us catnipshun now and then all winter long, but there is lots and LOTS of catnipshun on the floor in the corner. Mama turned and gave me the "look," but I tried to look as innercent as possible. I hoped maybe mama would think Gunnie did it, but I was too drunk on the catnipshun for mama to believe it was not me.

Woe is me; I am a bad, bad little girl. Next time, mama, please do not leave the baggie where I can find it. I am just a little nipaholic, and I catnot resist.

Deeeeee-stressing

We are having Indian Summer here in Big Sky Country! Mama is starting a new job soon, and there are lots and lots of things she has to do, rearranging something called bank accounts and deductions, training, getting new equiper-ments, signing up for health benefits (what's a benefit?), and stuff like that. Things have been crazy here, and our house is messy with mama trying to work at her old job and get ready for the new job, daddy coming and going, mama and daddy running off for the day sometimes, and me and Gunnie leaving our toys all over the house.

Mama says she has too much stress. She needs to do something called deeeeee-stressing. Know how she does it? She plays with Gunnie and me. She harvests our catnipshun and sits at the table cutting all the little leaves off. She plays games with us. She brushes my gorgeous long soft fur. She takes us for stroller rides. Yay, stroller rides!

Yesterday mama worked 10 hours with two coffee breaks. Then she scooped me up before I could get very bizzy and run off and put me in the stroller. Zip! went the zipper. Then mama got Gunnie and stuffed him into the stroller real quick before I could jump out and run off. Away we went out the back door, down the driverway, and out into the beautiful Indian Summer day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the breeze was warm on mama's face and our fur.

I have never seen fall before. I was not even borned last fall. The trees are starting to turn cool colors. I like the red viney stuff and the neighbors' little tree that turned red. Gunnie says it looks like Howl-ween blood. EEEK! My favorite trees are the golden ones. I love how they look against the blue sky. I think they are very beeee-utiful.

I wish we had a punkin patch I could sit in. I would be real sneaky and hide in it and watch everything out there in the dark. Mama says some day when she gets to reee-tire, maybe we can have a garden with a punkin patch, and I can have the biggest punkin all for my very own.

Thank You!

Jeepers, thanks to all the kitties who have been leaving those cool kitty hearts on my page. It makes it look so nice. Thank you for thinking of me!