~playing tag ~

Dear Diary,

That lil’ rascal PIXEL snuck up on me and meowed, ‘TAG!!’ There’s a list of 10 questions and I’m to meow out my answers to them. So here they are……

1. What is the color of your collar? My collar with my tags on it is blue & the collar I wear from Miss Hazel Lucy is blue & a manly shade of pink. *grins*

2. What kind of food do you like? I like Natural Balance dry food & a variety of Natural Balance and Wellness canned foods.

3. What are your favorite treats? I like most brands of kitty treats, but they must be the crunchy ones.

4. Do you have a Valentine or a significant other? I’m not the kind of kitty to get tied down, but I do hold several pretty kitties in my heart. SIAMAMA & STORY are two of them.

5. Do you get table scraps? Well, I wouldn’t call them scraps. I do occasionally get offered what meat mom’s eating for dinner. If she forgets to offer me some, I try and steal it! Mol!

6. What is your favorite toy? I love paper bags and boxes. My favorite thing to do is go for box-car rides!

7. When is your Birthday? My Birthday is April 18th. Mom cannot believe that I am going to be 10 years old!

8. How many times a day do you eat? Several. There’s always plenty of dry food around, and I get offered wet food twice a day. I can only eat a little of the wet food at a time though because I scarf it down too fast & then mom has to clean it up off of the carpet! *blushes*

9. Do you have a favorite color? Not really. I do seem to be attracted to Muppet’s HL tranquility blanket, so I guess if I had to choose a color I’d have to say blue.

10. Do you hope all your pals put this in their diary? If they would like to, go for it!

Thanks PIXEL for thinking of me to play this fun game!

Headbonks & Purrs,
Sampson

~ this mighty hunter has returned ~

Dear Diary,

This mighty hunter has returned to the outback! *puffs up chest* Yep, mom’s been having to spend every evening out there watering our hunting grounds because of a broken water pipe of an extreme drought. After the wicked widow tried to take down Armani late last fall, no one has been allowed to return to the treacherous outback. But now, 8 months later, mom has been allowing us to once again follow her out and romp around in our outdoor territory.

Things are not the same in our outback. The drought has almost killed our green lawns and shrubs hunting grounds. Most of the critters have packed their bags and left in search of the nearby neighboring wetlands, however some have chosen to stick it out and little do they know that I have them in my sights and that they are all mine!

I once again can look forward to my evening romps in the outback! Hurray! Nakita and Armani have one end of the jungle to tend to and the other end is all mine! *sheepishly grins* Muppet is always welcome to join me, however her main quest is to drive mom completely nuts by always trying to escape to the forbidden outlying jungle areas! *sighs for Muppet as she always quickly gets captured and has to return to the indoors*

Purrs and Prayers for all of the ill kitties and doggies, for the families who have had to say goodbye to a beloved fur friend, and to the ones roaming around lost.

Headbonks & Purrs,
Sampson
*the mighty hunter once again*

~ 16 year old mystery finally solved ~

Dear Diary,

My sissy C has finally solved the 16 year old mystery of what huge creature snuck up on mom from behind and wrapped it’s front tentacles around her bare ankle!! Since we live next to the infamous Area 51, odd things that can’t be explained always get blamed on that test site! *giggles* But now we have an answer. Hurray!*

Mom and her friend had stopped by Uncle G’s house to check on his cat, Eric, because he was out of town for a few days. They were standing out on the front porch letting Eric romp around the yard when simultaneously mom felt something tickling her ankle and her friend’s eyes completely bugged out of his head! She looked down at her ankle to see what it was to find something BIG (6 to 8 inches long) with hairy front legs wrapped around both sides of her ankle like it was either hugging her or getting ready to bite her!! She shot straight up in the air screaming and the creature shot off with lightning speed in the other direction! She asked her friend if he knew what that was and ,with his mouth still dropped open, shook his head no. All mom could say was that it must have not been aggressive because the way she flipped out it would have bit her if it was. When Uncle G returned and mom asked him about the mysterious thing, he reported having a few sightings of them and he had no idea what they were either.

Sissy C came home the other day and told mom that a co-worker had discovered a large and strange creature in her yard. She had a photo of it and was asking people if they could help tell her what it was and if it was poisonous. Sissy C said that it fit the description of what mom and her friend had been describing for the past 16 years! She was right, it’s a CAMEL SPIDER! Reading up on them, mom was glad to find out that they are not aggressive unless provoked and non poisonous. They can move at speeds of 10 miles an hour, which is very fast. They live wherever there is desert and the hotter their atmosphere is, the larger they get. In Iraq they claim that they’re as large as a dinner plate!!

Wow! It took 16 years to finally find out that the spider just came up and gave mom a friendly hug! *giggles* People keep these spiders as pets! OMC!!! I hope that I never encounter one of these icky things! Thanks for reading about mom’s mystery hugger!

Headbonks & Purrs,
Sampson
* It’s 10 pm here and 93 degrees outside. I’m going to go find a cool spot to take a nap. I hope that I don't dream about monster spiders! :)*

~company & a muddy pool party~

Dear Diary,

We had company! I love company! My Aunti M was in town so mom made a big dinner Thursday and Auntie M, Auntie P, and grammy came over. I couldn’t choose which lap I wanted to sit in so I honored them and let them all have turns. I don’t know what was up with Lil’ Mupp but miss social butterfly hightailed it and hid when she saw Auntie M?? She did not come out until after she left.

I had all of the attention until Armani decided to bravely come out and steal the show! Just because his suit is marked so gorgeous doesn’t mean people have to swoon all over him about it! Humph! I had already left my little gifts of white fur on all of the company anyways, so I guess it was no big deal to share the attention.

After everybody left and I was helping mom to do the dishes at the sink, I spotted something interesting out the kitchen window. We have neighborhood watch duty on our next door neighbor’s house until they return from their vacation. Since this window faces their house, Mom started looking out the window to see what I was so curious about. Something didn’t look right about their above ground pool but mom couldn’t figure it out. She finally got at the angle I was sitting at and then she saw the nightmare!

Water was guzzling and shooting out at a huge rate from the overflow unit! Then it sunk into mom’s head that the pool was full to the rim, that‘s what had not looked right about it! She discovered that the neighbors had left a hose in the pool turned on! Chico, Armani and I all watched out the window as two neighbors and mom tried until it was pitch dark outside to stop the flooding. The overflow unit, which was a good foot below the rim, was not going to stop guzzling until the pool water was below it. The back yard was already flooded and had turned into a muddy sink hole around the pool. A couple of gallons a minute were coming out and it still had a zillion gallons to go. We watched as they tried in vein to come up with every possible solution to plug up the overflow unit or find a way to hook a hose up to it. We also watched as the flooding had now reached our fence line!

Mom called the sheriff’s office and asked if the fire department could come suck the water out. She explained how this had already done a lot of damage to the neighbor’s yard and now it was heading for our yard. A tremendous amount of water needed to be removed and quickly. They said that the fire dept. couldn’t respond to water overflowing out of a pool! Humph!

Finally the neighbors and mom were able to get the overflow unit plugged up with towels and a brick. Now we are all just praying that the pool can withstand that much pressure as the water is still only three inches from the rim. Three inches did that much damage…… it’s a huge pool! And we are praying hard that their pool does not burst and turn our yard into a moat! Camille and Jay and their doggies are being happy campers right now up at their cabin ..... with no cell phone service. They are not going to be happy campers when they return home tomorrow evening! *feels bad for them*

So that was our excitement. Company and a muddy pool party! *giggles*

Purrs for all of the ill kitties and to the families of those who have recently had a sad loss. Extra prayers for TONY and his sweet family. We love you Tony!

Headbonks and Purrs,
Sampson

~ Fly Free Tom Kitty ~

Dear Diary,

The little neighborhood girls came callin’ the other day. They said that they had accidentally knocked their ball into our yard. When they went to retrieve their ball, they told mom that they had discovered a dead raccoon! A raccoon! *scratches head - raccoons do not live around our area* They explained to mom that it had a huge striped tail, long sharp claws and very sharp teeth. Oh my! What could that be? Mom asked the girls if it was possibly a dead mole and they said, “No Cheryl!! It’s HUGE and it’s a raccoon, we know what we are talking about!” All mom could muster up to say was, “Where did it come from and why did it have to die in my yard?” To which they replied, “We don’t know, but it’s all yours now!” *giggles how cute little kids are*

Mom put on her shoes and I demanded to go with her, but she said that I better stay inside. We watched out the window as mom slowly crept down the walkway in-between the neighbor’s fence and ours. As she approached the unknown critter, she sadly discovered that there lie the neighborhood feral Tom Kitty! Oh was mom sad!

Tom Kitty had shown up nothing but a bone with fur awhile back. Mom and a few neighbors put yummy food out for him every morning and night, and although he didn’t like me or Armani, he was never a nuisance around the neighborhood. He didn’t potty or mark in anybody’s yard, and he never jumped up on vehicles. He was just wild Tom Kitty and mom was the only one whom he ever even allowed to cautiously pet on him. She had an igloo house with cozy blankets in it for him outside for shelter. Although he seldom used it, he could be found sleeping in there on the coldest nights or when it rained.

So today mom held a funeral for him. Three people helped bury him and all of us kitties around the neighborhood watched out our windows and said our farewells. Fly free Tommy!! Although you were a loner in your Earthly life, we’re sure you’ll fit right in with all of the beautiful kitties at the Rainbow Bridge! You are Home and are alone no more.

Sad, Respectful Purrs,
Sampson

~ may I borrow your wet food ~

Dear Diary,

Today, like most days, I have set out to irritate every fur and human in my kingdom. *giggles* I started out the morning by waking mom up because I needed my king’s feast of that yummy wet food. I’ve become quite fond of that stuff and search out clever new ways each day to eat as much as I possibly can of it. Mom says that I can only have small portions at a time because I eat too fast like a pig mighty king and I commonly up-chuck it back up on her carpet. *sheepishly grins* This highly agitates her and, as she’s cleaning it up, I hear her mumbling insulting words behind my back! Also something about wasting the kingdom’s gold coins.

Mom was not herself this morning and did something she rarely does. She put down our plates of wet food, put Muppet and her plate up on the counter, and wandered off! Yes! My perfect chance to quickly scarf up my portion, Chico’s portion, Armani’s portion and Krikit’s too. Then I jumped up on the counter, pushed Muppet aside and began eating her food too! That’s when mom suddenly appeared and, by the look on her face, I thought it best to retreat and scamper off. She had no clue that I had gobbled up every fur’s portions until…. ‘Oh no! Tummy not feeling so great!’ and I threw back up all what I had cleverly stolen. And naturally partially on her carpet. Mom stood there in shock and claimed that there was no way that I could have eaten that much! She said that there was no way that much food could even fit in my belly! She came to the conclusion that I had pigishly mightily consumed every fur’s portion and she was not happy at all. More insulting words behind my back and more whining about wasting the kingdom’s precious money! Humph! She gave everybody else more yummy wet food and I didn’t get any! So not fair!

I ‘m off now to go take a long nap and dream up how I’m going to conquer eating every fur’s portions this evening. I don’t know why everybody gets so upset! Come on, I’m just borrowing it! I always throw it back up give it back! *giggles*

Purrs & Headbonks,
Sampson

~ kingdom mayhem ~

Dear Diary,

Mom has been having quite a time with us since that icky blockage knocked me off my throne over New Years. I seem to have fully recovered and once again staked my claim as the King, however there is still mayhem amongst us furmates. Nothing is as it once was.

When nightfall arrives we all used to know our positions to assume. Queen Nakita, Princess Muppet and Armani retreated to master mom’s bedroom. Krikit and Spunky would retreat to the spare bedroom for the night. That left Chico and myself to watch over the rest of the kingdom until morning. Now no one seems to be able to sleep peacefully with each other in the same room except for Chico and I. Mom repeatedly has mixed up the other furmate’s sleeping arrangements hoping to find a solution, but was at her wit’s end last night. So guess what she decided? That I, the King no less, had to sleep with her!! Yep! How disgraceful is that I ask you?! And not because Muppet was with us, but because I was locked up in her room! Armani and Krikit were locked up in the spare room, and all night long we all got to hear Nakita, Spunky and Chico racing around having a blast partying and shouting, “Tuxedos Rule!!” Humph!!

I showed mom all night long that this was not the permanent solution to our problems. I repeatedly plopped down on her feet, her legs and walked across her pillow making sure to step on her hair every time. *giggles* I also kept her precious Princess Muppet on her toes by demanding to lay in every cozy spot that she curled up in to fall asleep. Finally she slept under the bed, which I’m sure made mom feel sorry for her and upset with me. *my plan exactly* I think tonight mom will come up with other sleeping arrangements for us, and I will be back out with Chico to roam freely in my kingdom! Tuxedos do not rule here, I do!

Loud grumbling purrs,
Sampson

~ Step aside boys, the King is back! ~

Dear Diary,

Mom took me back to the scary doc place yesterday. I jabbered the entire way to have her reassure me over and over again that she was not going to leave me there. While waiting in the front room, I spoke to another kitty who had just been tortured there. They had cut all of his knuckles off and told him he was now declawed! He was crying in pain and bleeding and his stupid human wanted to know why! Him and his sister, who they also did this to, are six years old! I felt so bad for them. *tears*

Once back in my doc’s exam room, I was placed on the weight scale. It read 11 ¼ lbs so I only have about a pound that I still need to gain back. And after checking my, ummm, ‘infected area’ *blushes* it was determined that the infection has cleared. Hurray! I was given the all clear by my doc to come home and resume my rightful title as the King! *look out boys, the king is back -giggles-*

Thank you to everyfur who kept me in their prayers. I appreciate you all so much! *big Sampson smooches & hugs* Mom opted not to give me those harmful steroids they sent me home with or put me on a prescription food that was no more than a bag of bi-product garbage, and I recovered just fine! Imagine that! *giggles*

Off now to go have another spar session with Chico!

Loads of grateful Purrs,
Sampson

~ thoughts of reclaiming my throne ~

Dear Diary,

I’m feeling so much better! That icky bug mom said that I had seems to have decided to disappear. Not that it was ever visible in the first place, I never could locate it. I still have one more week on the Clavamox, but that stuff doesn’t taste too bad compared to the witch-potions that mom brewed up while I had the cold.

I’m still not up to my daily spar sessions with Chico, but I have let Armani know that I am still the king and my throne is not up for grabs. Sometimes that boy gets too big for his furry britches and thinks he can take over my position. Humph! Youngsters, they don’t have a clue what it takes to keep a kingdom running smoothly.

Just take a look at the chaos that’s been going on since I’ve had to take a leave of absence from my duties. Muppet is feeling a bit better and is now trying to act like the queen of the house. Queen Nakita tries her best to ignore this, but at times feels the need to attempt to smack Muppet back into reality. This causes Armani to step in and battle with the Nakita, which usually ends in Nakita’s retreat. That causes Gentleman Chico to step in and battle with Armani because guys do not pick on girls, not ever! Spunky, the one who never gets into it with anyfur, has now learned to literally throw his weight around. He’s winning the playful spar sessions with Armani and Chico by jumping in the air, tackling them and then sitting on them! He then feels macho and while they’re laying there gasping for air he marches around saying, ‘Who’s the man-cat now?’ *giggles* This has now led to slightly more aggressive spar sessions between them as Chico and Armani are not used to losing to Spunky. I really need to step in at some point and get my kingdom back in order. *yawns* Well, maybe tomorrow. This is going to be a big task and I feel the need to rest up a bit more. :)

Purrs and Luvs,
Sampson

~ why doesn't my mom like me anymore? ~

Dear Diary,

*Ahhchooo!! Sniffles and wipes runny eye* Mom says that I seem to have caught a bug during my recent stay at the hospital. I keep on telling her that there were no critters there, that I didn't see a one, but she insists upon it. She said the bug has obviously given me a virus and she prays that I can keep it to myself and not share it with my furmates. *Looks confused, checks his fur thoroughly again, scratches head and concludes that he didn’t bring home any concealed critters. And if he had, they would be all his and that he definitely wouldn’t share them with any of his furmates! Ahhchooo!!*

Mom keeps ranting and raving something about how the kitty vaccinations haven’t been revised/updated in so long and that they do nothing to protect us kitties when exposed to all the new strains of viruses. She didn’t rush me to the doc so I could be exposed to bugs and get sick! She says that I haven’t been sick since the time she pulled me out of the shelter when I was a baby. She’s now busted out her holistic kit and I don’t think that’s going to be anything fun for me! *gets worried and frantically checks fur again for any bugs* “Mom! No bugs here! I’m critter free! What’s that in your hand? What’s in that syringe, Mom? Oh no! Patooee! Yuck!”

Why doesn’t Mom like me anymore? First, she leaves me at that scary doctor place, then she locks me up in a kennel, now she constantly follows me to the potty box, and she stares at me the entire time I eat. And now she insists I have invisible, contagious bugs and is shoving icky stuff down my throat trying to get rid of them! I just don’t get it! I’m going to go hide now, take another long nap and think about this later. *yawns - ahhchoo! sniffle, sniffle!*

Hugs and Luvs,
Sampson
*the one feeling a bit under the weather but eating and peeing pretty well now* :)