From An Astonished MacIntosh!!! :)

Dearest Catster Kitties & many, many Furiends, old & new ~

Thank you SOOOOOO much for letting me be COTD!!!! I've lost SO MUCH time, because I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT......... Geesh! ~ It's almost 7 PM and I just found out! I am sitting on Mama's shoulders purring and admiring my page with all the treats and rosettes and gifts, and the p-mails that I got..... and all without even knowing it! Thank you all SO much ~ if you haven't heard from me already!

With many earnest loves and purrs and hugs to you all, let me tell you ~ this is the happiest day we've had in a furry long time ~ any of us!!

Warmest purrs amidst a good deal of excited prancing and bouncing,

From MacIntosh (ohmygosh, COTD!!!)

Further Info: Toulouse Is Well & Cared For

Further information from Michelle's daughter, Kimberly, which I am just quoting here:

"Toulouse is doing well and is with a woman name Betty who was very close to her at the apartment complex. They live across the hall from one anther. She too has a cat that Toulouse loved to go see."

What a joy to know Toulouse is safe & cared for & loved....

Very Sad News for Catster Friends

Dearest Catster Friends,

Although you must surely think Pixel & I have neglected you sadly, it was never our intent. Time has gotten away from us and from our mama, as we are all caregivers.

This diary entry is to tell you of the saddest news ever: Michelle, Toulouse's mama, passed away on September 7th. Our mama was just notified by Michelle's daughter, Kimberly. Michelle died of a heart attack, suddenly, and apparently without suffering.

At this time, to our mama's intense distress, we do not know about Toulouse. According to Michelle, he was doing better, and she was much more optimistic. Kimberly did not mention him in her notification to our mama, so she has written to ask.

This is all we know........ Our mama isn't even home with us this morning, though she will be tonight. Right now, all of us are weeping with sadness. I don't even know what to say........

Pixel's diary entry will be the same. I remember there is a way to light a candle for kitties; maybe I can figure out how to light one for Michelle.......

Know that we love you all, those of you who knew Michelle and Toulouse, and our other Catster friends as well.

Saddest quiet purrs for Michelle & Toulouse.......

Lovey Birthday Wishes Purred to Scooter Angel & Kazumi Joy!

Sending loviest efur birthday wishes to our Scooter Angel ~ Probably the loviest kitty on Catster! We both love you so much more than you know......

Loving birthday wishes, too, to Kazumi Joy!

All our purrs,

MacIntosh (and Pixel!)

=^..^=

***Celebrating FIVE YEARS OLD Today!!!!!***

To All Our Catster and Meezer Furiends ~

Today is our 5th Birthday!!!!!

Yup, we are FIVE YEARS OLD today, and somehow, sadly, we have missed celebrating it with our dearest furiends……

We totally blame mama for that, by the way. If she didn’t write music night and day, day and night, night and day, we wouldn’t have fallen so completely off of Catster!!

So we are furry sad, in some respects (though we think mama is actually more sad than we are), because we do miss you all, SO FURRY MUCH.

Still and all, we’re having a pretty bright day!! It’s warming up again in Seattle ~ those are ALWAYS good words around here. (Though you should’ve seen us when it was too hot recently…… We never even HEARD of 103 degrees before!!!) It was 108 in places!!!!!!!!

We want to celebrate with you, in this diary, some of the wonderful things about our lives together:

* We are fraternal twins, but actually, sextuplets!! We are “fraternal” because it means “brotherly” (!), and because one of us, MacIntosh, is pure-o Siamese, seal point, handsome, sleek, prowly, very intelligent, athletic, and snuggly…… and the other of us is Siamese Balinese, just as smart, also something between Chocolate and Seal point, FURRY FUZZY, just as smart but more adept at hiding it, much less athletic, and more one-person-cattish…… VERY cuddly with mama, but no one else can be looking!!

* We LOOK like one of us (Pixel) is a porker, and the other (MacIntosh) is anorexic! In fact, we weigh the same and if you could “feel” us, our girth and body types are about the same!

* We came to stay with Mama in October 2004. Our elder brofur, Popka (Angel) left mama after 19.5 years in October 2003. She still cries for him, sometimes, but oh, she loves us fiercely!! So we think Popka must’ve been a pretty special kitty!

* When we were little, we moved into a one bedroom apartment! Wheesh! It’s a good thing WE were small, because even as it was, we got into plenty of mischief!! We have endless photos of our redecorating with toilet paper hither and yon…… and ONE of us in all of the strangest places you could possibly imagine!!

* Then we moved into a brand new house that mama got Just For Us! That was GREAT fun!! Our furiend Scootie Patootie shared with us about window perches, so we had one of those, and LOTS of fun and special places in each room that were just ours ~ adopted by us.

* Pixel, in particular, had the debacle with the furnace ductwork!!! Of course, if mama had left him alone that day like she did all the other days that he pulled up the grates and went spelunking down into the ductwork ~ all would have been well!! (We don’t have time in this diary right now to figure out links again, but you can see our spelunking photos for sure in Pixel’s photo album.)

* Then, about the, we found Catster. Somehow or other, mama heard about the World’s Coolest Dog & Cat Photo Contest, and she thought we were winners (as is the right and proper thing for mamas to think!)…… So we entered…… And THEN we started looking at photos to vote, and that’s how we met Scootie Patootie, because we thought her photo in the grass was Just Gorgeous. (Yup, mama voted for HER!)

* So we started playing with furiends on Catster every single day…….. We met SO many wonderful kitties, and their families, too…….. We’re going to try to list some of you who have meant so FURRY much in our five years……. But that’s a scary proposition, because we KNOW we’ll forget some of you, and THAT’S ridic’lous; we love you all!!!

* Scootie Patootie….. Our special, firstest furiend, who with her mama supported OUR mama through many long, difficult hours of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, and the subsequent loss……. Not to mention having had to Leave Us At Home (though our elder HUMAN brofur took care of us….) Scootie and her mom were the most special people (or kitties, whichever way you look at it) on earth to us then…….

* Toulouse, who started the Siamese Lovers Around The World, and who, with his mama, also became such a furry dear furiend to our mama…… We miss talking efurry day with Toulouse. We think he’s one of the Right Special Ones…….

* Albert, whom Popka met and has played many hours with at the Rainbow Bridge and with the Rainbow Bridge Kitties…..

* SooLing, who was Scooter’s Angel sister at the Bridge…..

* Zoomie & Bootsie, both of whom are at the Bridge NOW, but Zoomie, at least, was in the dryer then!

* Butterpaw BC Ruffles, who we think is such an interesting LOOKING kitty! We’d love to see him up close…..

* Jordan, in Australia, who helped so much when MacIntosh had all those skin problems and had to wear a shirt all summer for two summers in a row……

* Louis LeBeau, one of the wisest, kindest, knowingest kitties on Catster

* And Captain Jack! Another of the same…….. (Arrr!)

* Kazumi Joy, who is one of our furry oldest furiends, next to Scooter, and who REALLY helped our mama once when she had an absolute melt-down of worrying…….

* Basil (now remembered with love) who went to Germany with his family and had adventures. After Basil came his little sister, Paula…….

* Buddie….Always Loved, Always Loved, who taught us to purray, and who taught us the very intense power…. again…… of love…….

* ……..and Shelby, who taught us the same…….. We have surely learned about purrayer, and purrs, and faith, and the Power of the Paw on Catster……

* Frankie A. Sinatracat, whom we just absolutely admire and adore!

* Liliana Houseafluff, who has been so, so kind to us both, and during hard times…….. She is one talented kitty!

* And here, with ******Stars and Fanfare,****** we have to mention our dearest and only LITTLE BROFUR, ********Mocha Latte,******** whom we adore with heart and soul. We are SO FURRY PURROUD to be big brofurs to him, though it’s Pixel, in particular, who gets that honor…… Anyway, his well-being, his achievements, his growing up, his family (kitty and human) are essential to our own well-being…..


Mama says we can’t go on with this list or this diary any more right now. She says she’s getting too teary with thinking of you all with such real loving thoughts, and such sadness that she has lost such contact with you all……

That’s okay, though. WE know you’re there!!!! We love you all, and we have some presents for those of you whom we have addresses for…….. So you’ll know where we’ve BEEN when we haven’t been HERE!! (We’ve been sitting, MacIntosh on mama’s shoulders, and Pixel on the table! beside her….. watching her write music, and write, and write, and write……….)

We are so grateful to be FIVE. We feel like we’ve joined the Big Kitties now…….. We’re both fairly healthy, and we both live, with our grandma ~ mama, too! So that’s been a major move for us…….

But more anon!!

We love you all, and we celebrate Your Presence in our lives.

Lovingly,

MacIntosh and Pixel
*****FIVE YEARS OLD*****

In Honor & Tribute, With Love to Miss Scootie Patootie

We met Scootie when she peered at “us” though the green grass in one of her World’s Coolest photos in 2005! Wow!! We thought we were winners until we met Scooter!!! Only then did we learn what “winner” might mean….. a standard so high that we fall far short! Scooter is a winner…. a furiend…. a dear confidante…. a kitty as well loved in our family as anyone we know.

Miss Scootie Patootie and her mama, as well as her dad and her older sister SooLing, have been endlessly kind to us through those years. The care taken, given, in guiding us through Catster, html code, music, photos, groups, forums, diaries, and extras…. meant everything! ~ and those things were, of course, in the Greater Scheme of Things, nothing. There was so much more, beyond just what can be mentioned here. Kindness was invented, or re-invented, in Scooter’s home. She and her family have been excellent, kind, caring furiends of a kind impossible to describe…. impossible to thank….. impossible to tell how dearly they are loved.

Among other things, Scooter carried us, and our mama, through loss after loss. Our grandpa, in particular, was so hard for us….. Our mama disappeared, and we had no idea why. Scooter stayed in close touch, purring, encouraging, offering loves and head bonks ~ and she kept promising our mama would come back to us!! And then, at the same time, our mama, who was staying at our grandpa’s house….. Every single morning, during months of intense caregiving and working at the same time, often sleeping no more than two hours in 24 ~ every morning, she would log on to Catster, and often, often, there would be an encouraging word from Scootie. These were the most devastating days of her life, and Scooter “loved” her through them…. How could we not mention that, when it so surely pasted Scootie and her family into the depths of our hearts and being………

Too, Scooter even gave loves to our dearest elder brofur, Popka, who was already at the Rainbow Bridge. Somehow, that was another lasting grief that Scooter made bearable for our mama….. She encouraged Popka to write his stories!! [And he has, at least, made a good beginning.] Popka was in front of the throng of kitties gathered at the Rainbow Bridge to ‘specially greet and love Scooter as she arrived there on February 5th. Scooter’s spirit is soaring, as her mama said; and when Popka can catch up, he romps and plays with her, and his joy is more complete as they wait there at the Bridge for the rest of us to catch up with them.

We loved the Summer of Scooter….. and the next Summer of Scooter…… and her diaries, and p-mails, and videos, and music…. But mostly, we have loved, and love, Scootie herself.

We have no words, no whispers, even, to really tell Scooter and her family how much she has meant to us; how much we each adore her; how much more than she / they know we will miss her bright face and remarks…… How much the silence and space ache in our hearts, and how much we know that the aches are the merest shadow of what her mama and daddy have experienced. Maybe it is because of our own multiple griefs that she has come to hold such a dear and special place in our hearts. But we think it’s really “just because” she’s the one-and-only, quintessential, beloved Scooter!

Words that we think of when we try to think of how we love Scootie Patootie……. [Note: These were written in three columns, but Catster won’t let us format it that way!]


Cherished
Loving
Unique!
Inspiration
Purring

Unique!
Inspiration
Purring
Summer
Playful
Kind
Gener ous
Quicksilver
Caring
Baby Food
Brilliant
Leader
Catnip!
Beacon of Light
Guardian
Crazy!!
Pawsome!
Purrayers
Fun
Loquacious!
Greeter
Balloons
Gorgeous
Teacher
Floating
Cute
Mentor
Memories
Loved
Dearest Furiend
Silly
Beloved
Inspector General
Enduring
Adored
Curious
Assured
Gifted & gifting
Gracious
Present
Soaring
Clever & Cunning…..
Ham!
Talented
Blessing
Blessed
Diplomatic
“Specialest”
Angel
(Possibly also “Specialist”)
SIAMESE!!! If you please (and if you DON’T please…..)


Our dearest furiend…… We love you, completely. We wish to comfort your family, and to thank you, dear heart, for all that you have meant and continue to mean in our lives.

“Loviest purrs” to you, Angel Scooter…. backatcha, from whence the concept first came into our lives…… May your spirit, indeed, soar free, with gladsome song and joy, until we meet you some day, with great delight, to romp in a meadow filled with rainbow light, dear love, and warm peace…….

MacIntosh & Pixel
Popka
[ & Katharine ]

To The Dearest Meezer Group In The Whole Wide- World!!!!!

January 24th, 2009

OhmydearestMeezercatsandkittens,

I am overwhelmingly flabbergasted at the kindness that caused you send me and my family such a heartwarming and stunning gift! For anykitty who doesn’t know about or HASN’T SEEN my gorgeous scrapbook ~ !!!!! ~ I wish you could see it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, mama went outside to look at the (problematic) garden, and lo and behold! There on the front porch by the door was a Box with My Name on it!!!! I was quite captivated at the notion, and rushed to open it…….. And there, this loving gift from so many dear furiends!!!

If Liliana’s meowmie, and Blue Coyote, give permission, I might scan and show bits of it on my page. But I have to get permission first; this is a Most Special Scrapbook!!!

I truly do not know how to thank any of you, let alone all of you…….

But because I want to try:

To all the kitties who sent their love, and have sent it and supported me ~n~ Pixel and our mama, I can only tell you that you hold the specialest place in all of our hearts…… Our day brightens whenever we get to communicate with our furiends on Catster. Hopefully you already know how furry dear you are to us ~ but how could you, given our long “pawses” and silences…….

I, and Pixel, and our mama, LOVE YOU:

Dearest Toulouse!!!!! And his mama, as they apparently instigated this joyful gift
Blue Coyote, who did all the artwork and poetry in my gorgeous scrapbook of love
Liliana Houseafluff, Tico, Daisy Mae Sunday Times, and their WOW talented Meowmie, who was directly involved behind the scenes
And the So Many of You Meezers, who contributed photos, purrs, and loves!
Frankie A. Sinatracat
Macaroni
Hailey
Annie
Harley
Jenny Lou
Jingle Bell
Harmony
Marina
Osiris
Piper
Kenna
Tosca
Scootie Patootie and her mom and dad

I am so sorry not to be more present on Catster. Pixel and I would send loves every day if we could, but mama says there just aren’t enough hours in the day, even though she doesn’t sleep much At All!!!

I wish I could think of a gift to give back to each of you, but the best I can do is to post on my Catster page the music mama is working on right now ~ and hope it gives you any pleasure. She has just finished a major piece, and now she’s taking an orchestration class ~ because she hasn’t known how to write for strings or percussion. If you don’t know, our mama writes music…… mostly the kind that wouldn’t probably give pleasure to a lot of kitties or families, because it’s kind of church-type music. But today we’ll post a bit for strings that she’s working on, as the best thank you we can think of!!!!

Because we, I, truly, truly truly love you all dearly, Each and Efurry One!!!!!

With all my Gratitude for the Power of the Paw, which is indeed both “Paw-erful” and Healing, and with all my dearest love,

MacIntosh
Along with Pixel
And mama (Katharine)

Now You Know What Happened………….

I got HURT!!!

I Don’t Even Know How It Happened!!!!

(Well, I will say, Pixel ~n~ I moved in with our grandma a few weeks ago, along with mama, because our grandma broke her hip…. And we’ve been ‘sploring this Big New House with both Great Trepidation AND Great Delight…….. So I guess that’s the Prologue.)

ANYway…………

A few days ago the Furnace Broke. Mama went to turn it up and poof, nothing, just like that. She had to call the furnace fix-it people. And THEN, she said, she had to rush downstairs and fix it so that the fix-it people could get AT the furnace to, well, you know, FIX IT!!!

Any self-respecting Meezer knows that THAT means she needed Close Supervision!

So while she was moving boxes that were in the way, I {apparently, she says, as SHE didn’t see me} climbed up on top of two file cabinets right beside where she was working. There were Christmas boxes on those file cabinets, though, so I was {apparently, she says, as SHE DIDN’T see me} in a Pretty Precarious Position.

And APPARENTLY, she says, though SHE DIDN’T SEE IT, I crashed some boxes Right Off The Top of those file cabinets.

It scared me meWOWless!!! You’ve never heard such a racket!!! WHEESH!!!! I LEAPED off those file cabinets and I RAN UP THE STAIRS as though I were chased by an Unmentionable, Unfathomable, Undesirable SOMEthing…………

And THEN mama heard a GREAT AND TERRIBLE BIGGER CRASH!!!

She came TEARING up the stairs after me. She found a HUGE jigsaw puzzle container and two TV trays tipped over, with the greatest clatter imaginable…….. But I was Nowhere To Be Found.

Yup. I Dis. App. Eared. Tot. Ally.

At first, mama didn’t worry.

Then she started to worry.

Then she started to HUNT.

Twice she ALmost found me, but I RAN from her. From HER!!!

THEN the furnace fix-it guy came. He was real nice, and fixed the furnace.

In the process, he found me again ~ and I RAN again.

Finally, mama found me. She carried me upstairs to see grandma, and she looked me over, but somehow she missed the hurting spot. She just knew I was SCARED MEWOWLESS, because I took off and hid again. I was having none of her, nor of anything or anyone.

She called the Cat Doctor and talked to them about how scared I was, but she STILL Didn’t Know I Was Hurt.

FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY, late at night, I came out…………… And she realized I had the cut on the bridge of my nose.

My poor mama. She cried when she saw me. She was fierce worried. She thought the cut was full thickness. She called the Animal Emergency Clinic, but they are an HOUR away!!!

Finally, at about 10:00, she decided to take me in, ANYway.

I was Not Happy.

But I saw the emergency doctor. And for once, I WASN’T the sickest kitty there!!!! ☺

Mama did let that Dreadful V-E-T try to GLUE the cut together, but it didn’t work…… That lady had to get the glue back OFF of me, and SHAVE a little bit to get it off, and EVEN put eye drops in my eyes because of washing off the GLUE.

When we got home, I wouldn’t sleep with mama. I didn’t sleep with her for TWO NIGHTS, but last night I did, again.

The v-e-t said I might have a scar that looks like my photo……….. I might have scraped ALL THE HAIR FOLLICLES OFF MY NOSE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!

(Looks Very Very Sad)

all my natural beauty is gone……………..

(***Droopy Kitty***)

The Prequel

I have been sick. Since yesterday morning. Mama has been very scared. I've been nauseated, feverish, droopy, and generally lethargic. She hates, hates, hates taking me to the v-e-t. But she DID; nasty Mama. She says she hates it because I almost died when I was so little, and because of Popka's long, l-o-n-g history.

But still, she was awfully scared 'bout me. So she said I had to go.

:(

The Update / Post Script

Hi everykitty,

Well, I am home ~ just now. That was terrifying, and I am exhausted, wiped out, distressed......

I meowed vociferously all the way there, but only the second half of the trip home. The first half, I was numb with terror, I guess.

The new doctor doesn't quite know what to think of me. She thinks I might have chronic pancreatitis, which was also thought last spring. My own Dr. Joy went with her family to Hawaii today, and was not available! :( She is (was) Popka's special doctor, and has been mine, too.

So..... I had a fever; up a degree. (Mama can't remember exactly; silly mama. Maybe 103.4??) And I have lost a pound. So I got fluids, and an injection for the nausea, and they Took my Blood, and I felt like a pincushion!!!! :(

I tried every single minute to hide in my carrier. They let me ~ except when they wanted to bother me or turn me into a pincushion! So that carrier was No Good At All.

Neither was mama. She didn't even rescue me.

I cam home with the usual cyproheptadine.... Mama says Popka took that for years. And a whole bunch of foods to try to tempt me. Hah. I've ALWAYS been a picky eater; it's practically the only forum I've ever posted in, about the picky eating ~ when I first joined Catster.

Well anyway. I need to pace, my furiends. The idea of a chronic illness at age 4 leaves me strangely anxious.....

(Brightens) Mama showed them my lullaby. She talked with two of the techs about how I ALWAYS want to sit on her shoulders and either bite her ear or chew her hair, and how I constantly get myself into trouble. She has been scared for a long time that I am depressed, and......... Sounds like the tech, at least, does think that might be contributing to the whole picture of my health.

Certainly, my MAMA is depressed ABOUT the possibility of me being depressed!!! She's used every behavioral skill she knows, she says ~ to no avail..

Well, 'course not. That's 'cause I'M THE ALPHA CAT, HERE.

But right now, I feel like a sorta droopy alpha cat......

Thanks for the Meezer Support. I do love the kitties in this group, most 'specially.

I'll try to keep you all up to date. But my voice is hoarse from all the meowing plus this long "dictation"!!!

MOL

>^..^<
MacIntosh

Happy TWENTIETH Birthday Scootie ~ With Blessings, Purrs- & Love!!!

Happiest Happy Happy Happy Happy TWENTIETH Birthday to our dearest furiend, Scootie Patootie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With all my adoringest meows, purrs, & love,

MacIntosh!
>^..^<

P.S. Yup. We changed the photo. We had to add the date! ~ a Remember Furever Date!!!