SPRING TAG

If you would like to play the Spring game, just copy my diary, change the answers to yours and tag five of your furiends!

Five Things I Like About Spring:

1. Everyone has mentioned birds, but no one has mentioned…frogs! I LOVE the little froggies in the spring!
2. And moths – especially the big fat ones.
3. I love laying outside on the catwalk in the cattery when the weather is warm – ummm…
4. Walking in the garden
5. Rolling in the fresh warm dirt after the Mama has raked up her raised garden beds

Thanks, Jezzie for asking me to play.

I am tagging:

Raj
Xena
Hunter Dreamboat #82
Tiny Tot
Zoe

A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE

I get to report this, because neither one is admitting to it - Samhain and Fearless actually curled up together on the Mama's bed last night!
The Mama couldn't quite believe it when, first - Fearless woke her with a gentle pat-pat-pat. Not typical behavior for the Midnight Marauder, who's former approach used to be something more like a sledgehammer head bonk in the face, though she hasn't been doing that either for awhile now. The Mama rolled over to pet her and she lay down quietly with her chin on the Mama's thigh.
But the real surprise was when Samhain came up on the bed beside Fearless. The Mama expected her to leave in a huff when she realized HER usual sleeping post was taken, but instead she lay down! And her back was actually touching Fearless's back!!! So, for a long time the Mama was afraid to move and ruin this happy family get-together.
A postscript to this is that the Mama noticed Samhain later this morning lying near Owl, who was in one of his favorite spots on top of his condo! She was so concerned at this un-Samhain-like behavior that she had to go make sure she wasn't sick!!!
Could it be that the Queen of Snark is mellowing?

CAT OF THE DAY!

Wow! This was certainly a big surprise! Here we are in the frozen northlands, afraid to spend too much time close to the woodstove because of that creature in the kitchen…but I’m getting ahead of myself. More about that in a minute.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifties!
From Manytoes and WeBeesSiamese we received some beautiful mementos – too bad the Catster fleas won’t let them show up yet. :(
Also Tundra and Manytoes gave us some shrimp.
Reanan and family – shrimp
Patches, Coda, Lucky and family – shrimp
Midnight and family – shrimp! So come on down, we’ll supply the shrimp sauce!
Tate, Harley Dreamette #2, Anna and family, and Sonny Bono and family gave me lovely red roses – thank you!
Benson and Napoleon gave me snowmen – fun!
Frankie Adopted at Last and family and Blizzie and his family gave me trophies – that was sweet, guys!
Gleek gave me a heart,
Monster and Xena Princess Warrior and family gave me pretty pink rosettes,
And Smiley Casanova gave me an Adopt a Pet rosette (how did he know???)
MILO and Mallee gave me a rainbow star – I love it!
And kisses to you, Zachie, for the diamond…or was that from Gris? (he thinks I have gorgeous eyes)
Tiger and his family gave me Hot cocoa – delicious!
And Blade gave me a ball of Yarn – but didn’t include the instructions of how to get untangled out of it – tee hee!
Oh, and cats gave us loads and loads of fishies - yum!

And the creature I was referring to is a kitten (3 mos. old or possibly younger) who apparently got dumped on our driveway. (It’s the pawrent’s fault for posting those signs that say: “SLOW NEUTERED FERAL CAT ZONE”.) He came running up to the Mama when she was leaving the cattery last Weds. Too tame to be completely feral, and his fur doesn’t seem thick enough for him to have been outside all this time. But he’s malnourished; his bones can be felt too easily through his skin, and his belly was the bloated potbelly of a kitten with worms. The pawrents have wormed him and have been feeding him up, but they have to be careful, because he won’t stop eating any food that’s where he can reach it. The Mama picked up all our bowls and put them up on the window ledge and the dresser where he couldn’t reach them!

Right now he’s in a kitty condo – it’s huge! We’ve all, including Socks investigated it when he’s been out of it, but we prefer to get on top of it and growl down at him. Who asked him here, I’d like to know! Don’t know if he’ll be staying – it’s making me nervous…(We’ll post some pics when the Catster fleas get under control.)

THIRTEEN FOR DINNER

For the record, thirteen was the number at the evening meal. Socks, who chose to eat with the ferals ( fine by us inside girls); Big Mama looking like a wooly bear in that gorgeous winter coat of hers; Aunt Bobbie; the two Sevens: the original female by that name, and the look-a-like male we’ve taken to calling Seven Point One (we think this is the former Igor); Star – as skittish as ever; Becca; Little Mama and all 5 of her kittens, who are definitely not so little anymore. No Marble tonight, though he was here for a late breakfast. Everyone appears to be doing well.

THE SUMMER IS OVER

Low twenties last night. The Mama had worked some more on the feral shelters during the day, and felt pleased that cats were using them. All in all, they will probably be better than the large strawbale shelter for the very reason that they are smaller and can more effectively hold the body heat in. Most of the Styrofoam containers are old Omaha Steak shipping crates which the pawrents have been picking up at thrift stores. Some of them are more than an inch thick! The bad part about them is the little pieces of Styrofoam that result from cutting openings in them. The Mama keeps a dispenser roll of tape beside her and quick whips off a piece to pick all the crumbs up – the stuff is magnetically drawn to our fur, and she doesn’t want anyone licking it off and swallowing it. She also covers any new cuts with duct tape. She was not pleased when Fearless decided to sharpen her nails on them a few times, making new shreds of Styrofoam all over the place. :(

A few of the cubicles are bigger and have space for more than one cat; the one which the kittens sometimes sleep in being the biggest. And they ARE sleeping in it, though not every night. Not sure where they go on the nights they aren’t here – back to the barn across the road maybe. They are getting big! Here’s a pic of two of them checking out the new shelters (the bigger shelter which you can’t see is across from them closer to the house.) kittens exploring the newly finished multiplex

As you can see in the pics, there’s fabric over the openings to keep the wind out when it really gets blowing. Later, the folks will try to rig up a better wind break with straw bales – hard to do as they found out last year. This porch is on the north side of the house, but it is still the best location for the shelters. The worst of the wind is that blowing from the west; the house stops some, but it still comes roaring through the porch area like a freight train. Ah well; they will do the best they can.

the file cabinet double shelter

the multiplex before the fabric door was put on. The two cardboard boxes are shelters opening to the side.

the completed multiplex shelter with fabric door

Sock's house out of a rose cone

Sock's house after insulation

OUR NEW MAT FROM ZACK AND ZOEY!!!

Well! When Zack told us he was sending us some little something for Halloween, we said That’s so sweet!, but we had no idea it would be something so WONDERFUL! Here is the pic of me, looking lovely on our new mat from “Rough around the Edges:
me in our new mat

And then there’s Samhain as she first looked when she greedily snatched our present before the rest of us could enjoy it!:
Samhain being Samhain

Thank you so much Zack and Zoey for such a great Halloween surprise!
our Rough around the Edges mat and an orange friend in the garden

The Mama says she is going to order us some more for Christmas since we love it so much! And Fearless and I are going to get THOSE ones first, Samhain! MOL!!!

NEW TAG GAME!

In honor of Skylar’s CAT OF THE WEEK status, Zachery Kolohe Rider has started a new tag game called: "Who are you really?" Answer with your alter ego or as yourself.

The questions are below - just copy and paste. And tag 5 kits to play along. For you who may not be familiar with doing the links, don’t worry about it; just add the names, but don’t forget to p-mail your taggees to let them know.
Oh, and anybody else who wants to play, go ahead, tagged or not! Let the games begin!

1) Tell me your funny Christmas story.

Christmas?! It’s August, Zachie!!! Oh, OK…funny Christmas story, hmmmm….Well, there was that time that you came up to see us; that was before Ingen moved, remember? And we called her up, and Gump and Nadia came over too and we all went saucer sledding on the hill at the back of the property. Then you dared Gumpy to hang "20" on the saucer, standing up like he was surfing down the hill. It was all going well till he hit that rock. But Gumpy has always been a good sport, up for any dare! And who knew Nadia and Ingen could sing Christmas carols so well?

2) Where's your favorite hiding place when playing hide and go seek?

I’m not telling ‘cause then everyone would know!

3) What did you dream of being as a young kit?

I was rather partial to the idea of being a ballerina. You should see me do my high jumps!

4) What's your favorite hobby? Anything goes.

Hunting – moths, frogs, shrews, snakes – basically anything that moves. So you’d better be REAL still, Zachie! MOL

5) What’s your one "bad habit" that you love and your Mom hates?

Chatting up the Mama when she’s busy trying to fix dinner for her and the Papa. Teehee…

6) If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

Palace at Katni, India to see my father, Siddhartha, there on the estate of the Maharaj.

7) What is your guilty pleasure? Food, skirts and suits or cars? What?

I’m afraid food is my guilty pleasure, as my, um…little weight problem can attest. MOL!

8) What is your favorite make believe monster? And yes girls, unicorns and fairies are included. Post a pic of this mysterious beast.

Oh, definitely the leprechaun who stopped by the cattery back in March! Fearless hasn’t used the magic hat yet that she got from him… And what do you mean – make believe?!

9) What is the one dreaded thing you have to do at home? Babysitting, taking baths, entertaining guests....what is your dread?

Getting my nails clipped! The Papa has been threatening to do it again – I just hate it!!!

10) Zach and Zoe are going to have coed ships this year so which ship do you want to be on: Zach’s, or Zoe’s? Gris will be having a small ship (more like a dingy) for all our kits to be on.

Oh, I think I’ll keep with my Capt’n Zoe – I thoroughly enjoyed my tour of duty on board the Blood Thirsty Princess!

I tag...

Keisha
Mallee
Kringle
Oscar
Timmy Tomcat

A RAINY DAY

It’s a cool, rainy day. It’s been raining all day long. Nice sleeping weather… OK, that’s enough! I want to go OUT.

A little while ago the Mama came home from work and put away her purse and workbag. She changed into her lounge-around-the-house clothes and turned on her computer. I sit patiently….

OK, patience is over: Me-ow-w-w-www, why aren’t you getting our leashes?!
She tries to put me off: “I don’t think we’ll be walking today, girls; it’s raining.”

What? Maybe I didn’t hear her properly. Me-ow-wow-wow! I put my paws on her knee, in case she missed that I was addressing HER.

She tries to placate me: “Why don’t you go out in your cattery? It’s so nice and cool out there right now. You can sit on the ledge and watch the rain.”

Go out in the cattery?! It’s only 100 sq ft with some grass in it, and no frogs! Well…not any more.

She tries to reason with me: “It’s not like you really walk around a lot - not like Samhain who drags me on a 5 mile hike through shrubbery and grasses taller than my head! You more often either paw in the grass or lie there staring at the scenery.”

But that’s my hunting technique – I paw around in the grass until a frog jumps – which, eventually, one will – as this is the Season of Little Frogs. THEN I make my move; why waste energy beforehand with all that wasteful to-and-fro-ing? And besides, I crave DIFFERENT scenery.

She is not listening to me; she is typing…I’m bored. I think I’ll go out in the cattery…

14 AND A HALF LBS IS NOT FAT!!!

I just want to set this story straight. I did NOT fall off the cattery ramp because I am too fat; Fearless PUSHED me!!! Well, she didn’t mean to, but we were playing and she was moving so fast; she bumped me and I lost my balance and went flying. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

And I think it is totally uncalled for that just because of that, the Mama should put me on a diet. The nerve. I’m not fat, I’m big-boned. 14…and a half…lbs is NOT too heavy!!! A lot of that is fur anyway. My fur is WAY thicker than those skinny, black-furred, wanna-be panthers. They have no idea how I suffer. Of course, I’ve got the upper hand in the winter…heeheehee!

NEW FRIEND AND JEZBELLIE STROLL REMINDER

Two things to report:
(1) Just a reminder that Jezebel's birthday is the 16th! We've got a Birthday Stroll started for her if anyfur would like to post their pic or pics to it. It's simple - here's all you do: when you are loading your pics to Catster, there is a place to fill in "tags" which are words like "cat sleeping" or "black kitten", etc. Just add as a tag the word "Jezbellies". You can do this on any pic you've already loaded to Catster. This will add your pic to the Stroll. To see the stroll right now... WE INTERRUPT THIS DIARY TO GIVE THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Alright, we had a link posted here that clearly didn't work because the Catster computer keeps changing it - leaving out a space. Well, OK - here's a link to Samhain's diary. If you scroll down through the comments, you'll find multiple links that Zack posted that say Birthday Stroll - click on one of them! (He battled with the Catster system and won, so Yay!!!)
If all else fails, just go to "COMMUNITY" - "See the Cats" - "Advanced Search" (it's way down at the bottom), and fill in Jezbellies - the page will come up! Make sure you don't insert a space between "z" and "b".

(2) The second thing - we have a new friend: Socks! And, no, this is not the Little Socks that is the feral boy living on our porch, but a female Socks who lives in Finland. She's very cute, and new to Catster if you'd like to stop by and say "hi!"