Tent Poop

Last night I pooped in my new purple pop-up tent. I've been hearing bits and pieces about an upcoming Mommy vacation so maybe the tent poop was my thoughts about Mommy's trip. Or maybe not. I'm not telling.

love,
Lucy

Countdown

Well, the countdown is on. Mommy is going away at the end of July for 48 HOURS! Can you believe she is deserting us for SO long? This will be her first trip away from the boys. That's right, friends, she hasn't gone anywhere for over 2 years. I'd also like to mention that she has cancelled multiple trips over the years because I tend to get sick and lick off a bunch of hair (usually the night before she's supposed to fly away). For those of you with long Catster memories, Mommy even cancelled her Christmas trip at the last minute because I licked all the fur off my back leg.

Nuk thinks I have superpowers- I can sense when Mommy is about to leave and then I figure out a way to make her stay! MOL!

Mommy's beloved baby brother is turning 21 years old and Mommy will be going to Vegas for a weekend; Mommy's parents, siblings, extended family and friends, and very best friend will all be meeting her there! It will be lots of fun...If Mommy can stop worrying about us for 48 hours.

My regular (if you can call no need for a pet sitter for 2 years as regular) professional pet sitter is out of town. Mommy almost had a panic attack at that news! So a Catster friend (and former co-worker of Mommy's) will be stopping in twice a day to feed and love on me and the boys.

The trip is 2 weeks away. Mommy is freaking herself out. She's worried about all 3 of us (What if Lucy gets a big lesion? What if somekitty gets bitten by another kitty? What if somekitty gets bladder problems? Crystals? And on and on and on). So the anxiety countdown is on! Feel free to reassure Mommy that we will all be fine? And should Mommy pull out her suitcase now, 2 weeks early, to help ward off any last minute Lucy superpowers?

Yikes! A whole 48 hours?!

love,
Lucy

Anonymously Strange!

Any kitties in Catsterland getting strange comments on your photos or pages? In the last 24 hours I've had some bizarre Photo Comments. Not really sure what to make of them! One may be a compliment, although it refers to "ppl" with "branis" and I'm actually a "cat" with "brains". MOL! Betty, I'm not sure what you are referring to but thank you :)

The other comment seems to be in code and I haven't quite cracked it yet. Anycat able to break that code? It could be a very nice, coded compliment or I could have a strange Catsterland stalker. I've decided to go with a very nice, coded compliment. I think the message probably refers to how smart and pretty I am, maybe something about my big blue eyes? Please let me know if you are able to crack the code or if you know what the heck Betty is referring to!

love,
Lucy

Another Reason Why Catster Friends are the Best

Mommy got home from a long day at work on Friday. She walked in the door with a package! And as if the box it came in wasn't awesome enough, check out what was in it! Here's a close up and here's the soul of the surprise!

The most amazing thing about this beautiful surprise? It was a collaboration of a group of Catster and FB friends who got together and made this special surprise happen! And an amazingly talented artist, Catster mom to Tyler- Mr. Boombastic Angel and family, who did the painting!

Mommy got tears in her eyes and a smile in her heart. Thank you, friends!


love,
Lucy

P.S. There are some photos of the boys checking out the surprise, they are in the same FB photo album as the links above. I don't like the flash on the new camera so I am currently boycotting all photos until Mommy stops trying to use that darn flash with me. My baby blues are sensitive!

Rest in Peace, Indiana

Catster is an amazing place- I love seeing all my friends' photos, reading about their daily adventures, and celebrating when a new family member comes home. But, in my opinion, the most important part of being a member of the Catster community is also the very hardest part- falling in love with kitties around the world and then saying good-bye when they make their journey to the bridge. Sometimes kitties are older or sick and we know that their journey is coming. And sometimes, even though it's totally unfair, kitties get sick suddenly and we are shocked to learn that they have made their journey.

I just found out that the feisty and handsome Indiana suddenly made his journey to the bridge today. Any loss, any good-bye is absolutely heart-breaking, whether you know it's coming or not. To lose your baby suddenly is a blow that is difficult to describe in words. We lost our beloved Sally unexpecetedly and suddenly and from experience, I can attest to the absolute devastation that a sudden loss creates.

Our hearts are absolutely broken for Indiana's mom and his sister Kitty P.

Indy was a feisty little tabby boykitten who looks like our Charlie (and acts like him, too!). It's obvious in their little boykitten pestering his big sistercat antics that Charlie and Indy are related- probably cousins :) And obviously related to the original feisty tabby godfather Nuk! :)

It was too soon for Indy's journey to the bridge and we are so sorry. Sending all our love and purrs.

love,
Lucy

Hello from the desert!

Hello friends!

I haven't been around Catster much lately. Mommy's fault, of course. I sure hope all is well for all my Catster friends and their families!

Things are good here. Mommy is recovering from the flu and the boys and I are recovering from a 5 hour handyman electrician visit yesterday that included installation of two new ceiling fans and two new smoke detectors and hammering and all kinds of crazy beeping noises. Charlie guarded underneath Mommy's bed and Leo and I guarded underneath the guest bed. We are happy to report that our jobs as guardcats were successful, the handyman electrician didn't stick even one toe under either of the beds! MOL!

Some of you may know that Mommy has had difficulty sleeping upstairs in her bedroom for a couple of years. It started after Sally died- Mommy started sleeping on the couch. Then she moved back to her bedroom. But then the scary neighbor incident happened and Mommy moved back downstairs. Then Sophie got too old to go up the stairs and Mommy wanted to stay close to her so Mommy continued to sleep downstairs.

Good news is that Mommy is sleeping upstairs in her bed again! The bad news is that Leo and Charlie have been curious little monkeys, inspecting every inch of the bedroom that they can reach! Charlie even tried to do a tightrope walk across the curtain rod. Mommy had to rearrange the furniture so he couldn't reach the curtain rod because that is very, very unsafe. And today Mommy had the screwdriver out, trying to anchor a couple of pieces of bedroom furniture since the boys insist on jumping to the tops of everything they see- Mommy was afraid they might get hurt!

Besides all that craziness, we are all very happy to sleep upstairs. Leo likes to stretch out on the bed and expose his floofy tummy. Charlie sticks close to Mommy and his favorite blankie and meows at Mommy if she moves around too much! I sleep on the nightstand near Mommy or on her pillow. It's very nice and sometimes I groom Mommy's hair to let her know how happy I am to be sleeping upstairs.

I'm hoping to keep in better touch and be a little more Catster-active! I miss my friends!

love,
Lucy

Good and Titled (Thanks, Nuk!)

Thanks so much for the DDP love and for watching the video of Lucy and Leo (with a little bit of Sophie)! To answer some questions, yes that was the dishwasher going in the background :) And the light up ball was purchased on it's own at Petco and then used to replace the boring, non-light up ball in the track.

We are all doing okay. Sophie's ashes came home on Wednesday and that helped to have her home with us, where she belongs. Lucy's leg is better and she's been playful and doing okay. Charlie is still extra feisty.

Leo has camped out in the kitchen by the backdoor. He spends lots of time there, watching (for Sophie?) out the back door window. He's also showing some weakness in his back legs. He is at risk for a flare up of his neurological condition, particularly when under stress. I'm going to keep a close eye on him this weekend and if he continues to show some concerning signs, he'll go see the vet. Hopefully he's just sleepy and I'm reading into things.

I know the last video was dark and it was hard to see Sophie. Here's a much more clear video, previously unpublished, that was taken about 2 years ago (when Sophie could still jump on the couch). Be prepared to have your heart melt as both Lucy and Sophie are especially adorable in this clip! Sophie and Lucy Lovefest!

In case you could use a smile!

Uploaded a new Video! There's a little clip of Sophie with a kitty audience and the rest of the video is Lucy and Leo involved in play and shenanigans! Near the end, I finally caught Leo as he tries to get Lucy on the counter- he does this all the time and now he's busted on video! Be prepared for the sweetest, most falsely innocent "Who, me?" look from Leo!

Checking in

Hi everyone,

This is Lucy's mom. For some reason, when one of my babies crosses to the bridge, I can't seem to write any of their diaries from their point of view. So you're stuck with an update from me.

We are doing okay. Thank you for all the love and support. The Catster community is amazing when it comes to supporting someone through the grief of saying good-bye to a furry loved one. I'm so sad and missing my Sophie but I'll be okay. It's the little things that hurt the most, one less spoon needed to feed the animals, no clicking Sophie paws on the hardwood floor, not needing to take Sophie outside for a quick potty break before I leave or when I get home. Taking care of her has been my routine for my entire adult life. It feels surreal. And of course, I miss her so much.

I had scheduled her appointment with the vet for April 9th and then cancelled and rescheduled for April 23rd. I got to have two extra weeks with her. All those extra kisses and pets and love. I spent time cuddling with her on the floor. Each time I laid down next to Sophie, I could immediately hear little kitty paws hitting the ground from all over the house. They each came to rub and love on Sophie and me and it was very sweet.

The two weeks went too fast and I knew they would. I almost cancelled the appointment again but it wouldn't have been fair to Sophie. While she slept nearly 23 hours a day she looked so peaceful but it was such a struggle for her to move around. She was quickly losing interest in her favorite things. She could no longer wag her tail. Life had become difficult for her. So I did the only thing I could to protect her from pain and suffering. I know it was the right time but it was still so hard.

Lucy loved her SO much. From when I first brought Lucy home until Saturday morning when I brought Lucy and each of the kittens individually to Sophie to say their goodbyes. Lucy's sad now. She started licking the fur off her back leg on Saturday night. She's been waiting in the window for hours a day, not even coming to eat her food for hours. She's still eating and I'm caring for her leg and I know she'll be okay. We are all just so sad.

Lucy and the boys have only known life with me AND Sophie. She was always here. Leo reminds me of a prairie dog. I'll be sitting on the couch and feel eyes on me and find a wide-eyed Leo peering at me over the arm of the couch or from the stairs or under the big chair. Charlie is having a hard time. He's the one who keeps going to Sophie's favorite spots and howling at me. He's also pestering Lucy quite a bit. Trying to give them all lots of extra love.

I don't know when I'll adopt another dog. I waited a year after Sally's passing to adopt the boys. And I've never integrated a new dog with the kitties, just integrated new kitties with Sophie. But I've only lived for 22 months of my entire life without a dog and it was awful. And there are so many sweet dogs who need a forever family and I think I'm a pretty good mom. But I'm in no rush and I don't tend toward impulsivity (I'm a planner :). I'm hoping to volunteer for the animal control in my county by taking photos of the adoptable dogs and cats to help network them on the internet. Maybe that will help me to heal from the grief of saying goodbye to Sophie, by helping find homes for the animals who need to be rescued.

Thanks for reading and listening and supporting me and the little ones. Once again, I can't imagine processing my grief without my Catster friends.

Take care,
Molly

Rest in Peace, Sophie

Sophie made her journey to the bridge today. It was a very difficult decision and it was a very difficult day. Our goodbye was peaceful as we looked into each other's eyes.

I knew this was the right decision about two days ago. I took time off of work to spend with Sophie and we did some very special things together. This morning the kitties and I gave her lots of love. Lucy loves her so much and I know this is going to be very difficult for her.

I brought Sophie's big dog bed to the vet with me to give Sophie comfort and the scent of home as we said good-bye. I brought it home, along with her collar and some other things, and have it in a place for the kitties. All three were sniffing it and rubbing on her collar, very sweet.

Charlie keeps biting me today :) Feisty boy is sad and that seems to make him even more feisty. Lucy spent a lot of time on Sophie's bed. Leo is scared by my crying. He is slinking around, staring at me with big eyes. Looking forward to snuggling with him and taking a nap.

Thanks for all the love and support. Sophie has been with me for so long, all of my adult life. It was hard to say goodbye and I know that the next few days will be heart-breaking. She was such a sweet girl.