We finally understand why people delete their pages when- they leave Catster.

It's bad enough when our friends leave Catster, but we HATE it when they delete their pages. All those memories, all that history, just - gone. We've invested a lot in our Catster friendships - a lot of time, a lot of love, and a lot of Zealies. When our friends delete their pages, it feels as though they don't value our friendship, don't value us. How could they so easily discard something that means so much to so many others? We said we would never even consider doing such a thing to our friends!

Then came Helicopter Catgate.

If you don't know what we're talking about, you're lucky. For some reason, the editor in chief of Catster Magazine thinks that cat lovers would want to see a video about someone disrespecting a cat's remains. The article about the cat's skull was bad enough, but this went beyond the pale. And some of our friends were so disgusted, they left Catster. And for once, we couldn't blame them.

We unsubscribed from Catster Magazine and said it was because of those articles, but no one at HQ seems to care. Many of our friends are angry that Catster magazine used the term "WTF," and while we're not offended by the term, we do expect better from Catster. After all, these writers and editors are getting PAID to publish this magazine, and that's the best they can do? So why would we want to pay to support such sick, offensive crap? We wouldn't! Our Catster Plus membership is due for renewal on July 9th, and we just don't see how we could continue to support Catster when it publishes things it should know will offend most of its members.

On July 1st it will be 6 years since our family joined Catster. SIX years! That's 40 in cat years. A long time. A lot of memories. How would we even begin to try to condense all of that history, all of those memories, into just 10 pictures each? We couldn't. It would be too painful to even try. When a relationship goes bad, the best thing to do is make a clean break.

So we finally understand why people delete their Catster pages. We have 2 angels in the family who have been living out their 10th lives on Catster, and we wouldn't want to leave their pages just a shell of what they used to be. We also wouldn't want to dishonor their memory by associating with a site that thinks Helicopter Cat is appropriate material for cat lovers. It's not a "Video We Love" - it's not even "offbeat" - it's offensive, and we want no part of it.

July 9th is still a few weeks away, and a lot could change between now and then. Catster was our community long before "SAY whatever the fluff we like MEDIA" came along. We have no intention of quitting without a fight.

Can you believe Momma forgot my Gotcha Day?

Last week when I was Diary of the Day, Momma saw all the rosies I got and thought it was my Gotcha Day then. Wrong!

Then I was a DDP a few days later which was nice.

So you would think Momma would be able to remember my Gotcha Day but NO! When she saw all the rosies today, she thought I was a DDP again. She claims that she thought my Gotcha Day wasn't until Saturday and that's why she got confused, but I'm not buying that excuse.

Then tonight she gave me hardly any time on the computer. She was on the phone for HOURS which is unusual for her and SHE was the one who made the calls which is even more unusual. Something must be up with her.

So thank you everyone who sent me a rosie or prezzie or pmail today. I'll send individual thank yous when Momma's available.

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. In the spirit of the holiday, I decided to forgive Momma for her behavior on Friday night. Last night when SHE wanted to cuddle it was all "my beautiful orange boy." She's just lucky I wanted to cuddle too! And we cuddled half the night. She was watching something on TV called The Ten Commandments. It was looooong!

Something strange came in the mail yesterday, too. It looked like a big catnip toy, it even had pirate skulls and crossbones on it, but it wasn't catnip inside. I'm not sure what it was. She hung it on the doorknob near our cat tree and put another one on Briana's side of the bedroom door. At night when she tried to go to bed, we tried to break into the closet as usual, and when she chased us away, she took the thing off of the doorknob near our tree and hung it on the outside of her door.

I still haven't figured out what it is but this morning I heard Momma say something like, "I didn't really expect it to work on Briana anyway" and "I don't care if it's calming or repelling, as long as I can get some sleep." And she did sleep last night, for like 12 hours! Very strange.

Momma's grouchy and I'm a DDP!

Hooray for me! I was Diary of the Day on Thursday and today I'm a Daily Diary Pick! Don't worry, I won't let the fame go to my head.

Momma has been in a really foul mood since last night. She got home late last night and after checking the computer quickly went right to bed without spending any quality time with me! Well, when I realized she was actually going to bed and not just changing into her jammies, I called out to her to remind her that she needed to give me some love and attention. You know what she did? She told me to shut up! Me! Like I was Briana or something . . . Of course, I told her that it wasn't nice to say that when I just wanted to cuddle with her and she stormed over, opened the bedroom door and pushed me away with her foot! Then she closed the door again! Can you believe the nerve of her? So I gave her a couple of minutes to calm down then I told her I knew she didn't really mean it and that I forgave her, but she insulted me again! And chased me away again! And again and again . . .at one point she even let the giant shark attack me! Finally, at about 3 in the morning, she came out and curled up in a ball on the couch but she wouldn't pet me even when I snoofed her around the head and purred and purred. All she did was whimper. Then when I went to check something in the kitchen, she tried to sneak back into the bedroom, but I called out to her again until she came back, but she still wouldn't pet me. Hmpf! So when she got up early at 6 this morning, I ignored her. That will teach her.

Rufus says Momma's throat hurts really bad and she has to work today, so that's why she's so grouchy. I don't know though . . . her throat seemed fine when she was telling me to shut up! And I saw her emailing someone saying I was being a little orange PITA. I asked Rufus what a PITA was and he said pita is flat bread humans stuff with tuna or ham or turkey. He was kind of being evasive though, so I know that there's more to it than that. Maybe Momma wants to make it up to me by stuffing me with yummy food, but I don't think so . . . especially since Briana said I'm a royal PITA.

WOW! I'm Diary of the Day!

When Momma checked her email during lunch this afternoon and saw that I had gotten a bunch of presents and comments, you know what she thought? She thought she had forgotten my Gotcha Day! Well, she did forget my Gotcha Day . . . forgot that it's next week!

Thanks to all of my friends for helping me celebrate being Diary of the Day. Who knew a diary entry about spring cleaning would help me win such an honor? Or maybe it was the talk about the new litterbox . . . I've heard Diary Gal loves a good poop story!

I hope you all have a very Happy Easter or Happy Passover, whatever you're celebrating. In any case, have a wonderful weekend!

Spring cleaning

Change is in the air. Momma's doing her spring cleaning. At least that's what I hope it is and not that she's getting ready to go on vacation and leave us all alone with only the cat sitter to feed us.

About a week ago, she bought us a new jumbo litterbox. We love it! It took the whole 25 lb. box of litter to fill it, which Momma didn't love. MOL.

Then yesterday she brought home this big ugly black rug and after doing some more cleaning, she put in the entryway where our litterbox is. She was afraid we wouldn't like the rubbery smell on the back of it, but it doesn't bother us at all. In fact, Jack's been sitting on the rug to hide - he blends right in!

Now we just need the warm weather to come back. We had temperatures in the 70s a couple of weeks ago, but now we're back in the 50s and might have snow flurries overnight. Bah!

Merry Christmas to me!!!!

Momma was gone all afternoon yesterday and when she came home... she wasn't alone! I ran over to greet her and was surprised to see a brand new cat tree! It looks just like my old cat tree except much taller! One post is sisal and one wood but the third is carpet, just what I like! The woman carrying it looked familiar . . . maybe it was Mrs. Claus? I don't know . . . maybe Santa has so many presents to deliver that he needs help from his wife and is starting early this year? She was definitely too tall to be an elf! And probably too young to be Santa's wife... This is puzzling. I would think that maybe Momma bought it for me, but she didn't have any shopping bags with her and I know she couldn't have been shopping all day and come home without anything else! I guess I should just be happy with my new tree and glad that Momma didn't go to the pet store... at this time of year they always have those ridiculous Christmas costumes that people use to torment and embarrass their cats. I need to keep Momma away from the pet store for a few more weeks. I think we have enough kibble to last us, and if not, Jack can cut back on his portion for awhile.

Merry Christmas to me!

Note from Momma:
I've been looking for a replacement for Hamlet's cat tree for AGES! It's falling apart - or rather, all the carpet is falling off it. It sheds worse than the boys do! I was hoping they would like the taller sisal post and use that for scratching, but no! I should have known the Hamster would go straight for the carpeted post! This was way too tall to hide anywhere, and after losing Rufus shortly before Christmas a few years back (has it really been 4 years??!!), I figure life's too short to wait for the good stuff.

Oh, and I left all the bags in my car. I was too tired to deal with unpacking them. *evil grin*

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cameras and fleas!!

Momma got a new camera that's supposed to be good for taking pictures in low light. I posted a picture of me taken with the new camera, but Catster refuses to make it my profile picture! I'm guessing it could be Catster fleas, but Momma says that even the computer can't help but admire the picture of me in the window with the snow.

Wait til you see the new picture of Briana . . . the new camera has something called a fish eye effect. *giggles* If that's what she looks like to a fish, she could scare them to death just by looking at them! And then I could eat them. Sounds like a plan to me.

P.S. Momma posted new pics of Jack, too. She told someone she got the camera to try to get a decent picture of him. Good luck with that!

Oh no! My brother's a pain!

I mean, my brother's IN pain. Momma caught Jack copping a squat on her bag under the kitchen table. He was trying to make logs but he couldn't and Momma could see a big piece of log was "stuck." She tried to help him but he growled at her viciously so she threw him in the bathroom. She gave him lots of Laxatone. She looked online to see if she could find anything she could do to help him. She called the ER at the animal hospital but they were useless. She got back online and then she heard Jack scratching in the bathroom. He had made giant logs on the bathroom floor and was trying to bury them with a pen and some coupons and ads.

Momma's so glad the crisis is over but she worries that Jack's butt may be sore or that he may have another "logjam." She's going to talk to the vet tomorrow, but he could use a few purrs now. Please no rosies or anything like that - he would KILL me if he knew I was telling you.

Not a good day!

Momma took me and Briana to the vet today! I was not happy! It was hot in the car and Briana was loud and obnoxious as usual. Then the vet stuck a giant Q-tip in my ear.

This afternoon Momma was watching TV. They were talking about something called tornadoes. Momma kept getting on the phone with Not-the-Momma telling him about tornado watches and tornado warnings. Momma cleaned out the closet which was strange.

Then tonight a big storm came through. There was LOTS of thunder and lightning and rain. Momma put Briana in the carrier and put her in the closet, which I thought was a weird thing to do. I hid under the kitchen table until the storm passed.

***Note from Momma***
There were 7 tornadoes in the western part of the state this afternoon. So far there have been 4 confirmed fatalities. We had a very scary thunderstorm here in Boston, but we're fine.