Stop and smell the roses

I had to investigate these roses and see what all the fuss was about. I decided to smell them. Maggie was more for eating them. Eventually Mom had to trim them down, remove the baby's breath and put them in a more stable vase so we would leave them alone.

... or maybe eat them

Don't forget to stop and smell the roses ... or try to eat them. Whichever.

Mom all better

Mom seems to be all better now! Thanks for all your well-wishes. We're happy that she's feeling better, but it sure was nice having a bedwarmer all day...

Blue mouse

This blue guy was the whole package. I think it was the catnip. It got us all fired up. I think Maggie and Josie both drooled this guy to death!

The goodies

Maggie went straight to Boots and Barkley mice (Mom and Dad almost bought us some at Target the day before!) and Maggie and Josie shared the mice later.

Secret Paws gift!

Oh boy were we excited! We got our first Secret Paws package and it was from Yaffa and Sebastian. They set us all kinds of neat mice and great treats and stinky goodness. They even decorated the package with stickers of themselves. We all had to investigate the package before opening it!

Up and down

Mom has been feeling better and worse today, just not at the same time. At one point, I was lying by the pillow next to her, Huggy Bear had his feet against my back feet and his belly against Mom, and Maggie was lying against Mom as a pillow and cleaning Huggy's ears. She actually fell asleep with her nose in Huggy's ear, but we all stayed bunched up with her because we knew it was best for her.

Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes. It means so much to her...

Sick Mom

Poor Mom wasn't feeling well today so we all had to take turns tending to her. Maggie stayed constant vigil, and Huggy Bear and I rotated. At one point, all three of us were in bed with her. Josie is taking the night shift since there wasn't room for all four of us.

Mom and Dad went to Gracie's second birthday this last weekend (Gracie is the "sticky person" brushing me from before) and on Sunday Gracie and Gracie's Dad were under the weather too, so Mom probably shared a little more than pizza with Gracie.

She does seem to be up and purring a little more, so hopefully Mom will be better tomorrow.

Blingo search

Have you learned about Blingo? Mom and Dad use Blingo as their search engine and Dad won a free movie pass back in December for doing nothing but searching. No spam, no pop-ups, no obligation. Blingo is driven by Google with one extra "sponsored link" at the top and bottom, and you get free prizes. And now Blingo is giving away more prizes, faster and sooner. Plus, since Dad won, Uncle Doug won too because he referred Dad. So click on the cool cat button below, sign in and start searching (and winning!).

Secret Paws gift!

Mom and Dad checked the mail today, and guess what ... we had a Secret Paws gift from Sebastian and Yaffa! It was such a nice surprise, filled with treats and snacks and nice. Maggie and Josie got really catnipped up on one of the mice and then we all started to whig out until finally it just seemed like a nap was a good idea. Once I get going again, I'll be sure to post pictures. Thanks Sebastian and Yaffa for the package!

(By the way, Mom really liked your picture stickers of you two and wants to know where you got them. Also, I don't have the invitation link to post on Secret Paws yet, but I'll make sure I get a thank you up there too when I can.)

Funny cat video

This is a funny video that was forwarded on to Dad. He thought you'd enjoy watching this guy fend off the dog trying to take his food...

Amazing cat story

Did you see about the cat surviving the 80-foot fall from a tree? Doesn't surprise me ... I know what we're capable of. Still, the neighbor's dog should be ashamed of himself for putting the cat through all that trauma. This happened a few hours down the road from us outside Charleston, SC in Summerville. (Click here for video. You'll have to click the "Family on Cat's 80-foot fall" headline to get the video ... poor quality video unfortunately. OK... better video footage here, although you have to endure the commentary of our local anchors.)

All snuggled in

Oh Maggie can be so sweet. She cuddled up with Mom for what seemed like hours. She was fine until Dad took this picture, then she decided to get up and play. Josie was under the covers right at Maggie's hind legs for two hours also. She was so warm when she came out! I even snuggled with Dad on his pillow for an entire episode of Law & Order. It's taken me about four years, but I'm learning to snuggle in bed.

Huggy Bear's Sneaky Pete

Mom would call this expression "Huggy Bear's Sneaky Pete." Kind of has that "what're you up to, Dad?" look in his eyes.

Silly dogs

This is why I don't hang out with dogs. It's just plain silliness watching this video Uncle Doug shot of their dog Molly. The laughter in the background of the video it Mom and Dad's neice trying to strip to play in the pond with the dog...

Gracie brushes

I let Gracie give me brushes for a minute on Saturday, but you can only let a two-year-old brush you for so long. When I jumped down, she didn't quite realize that I was done, and she followed me into the bathroom and cornered me. Thankfully, Gracie's Dad scooped her up and she went and played with Maggie instead.

Gracie in the cubes

Gracie spent a good bit of the day playing with us on Saturday. She was a little big to play in our cat cubes, but she did give us bunches of treats and threw balls to us.

Aunt Tiff is here!

Aunt Tiff is here for a couple of days! We love when Aunt Tiff visits, even if she's allergic to us and "her" bed gets hermetically sealed to keep our stink off of her covers. (It was so funny watching Maggie attack the fitted sheet that covers the made bed and pillows ... it gets pulled so tight it's like a trampoline and Maggie pounced it all over last night.) Aunt Tiff gives us good loves, even with her allergies...

A bad day for the troll

This was just a bad day for the troll. It appears that after years of peacefully perching atop the computer desk (aren't trolls a requirement for a computer desk), Huggy Bear noticed our troll, got him down, and brought him around for all to enjoy. Josie investigated his hair and took him for a little trip around the apartment. He is now safely inside the pantry. Now, Huggy Bear has discovered the cache of Sharpies...

Sharing my box

I submitted to Maggie sharing space in my box with the agreement that she keep a bag between the two of us. Of course, this has become a box in concept alone since I have essentially crushed it to a flatness with corners.

Joining up

We're trying to get more involved in some of the cat blog online communities, like Josie and the Tuxedo Gang, or me and the Gorgeous Gingers ... if Mom and Dad would get around to helping us email out some pictures! Hurry up! (Oh, our Secret Paw gift just went out today... it was fun shopping for another kitty.)

Josie's great spot

Josie found a great spot to snuggle up ... on a lazy Sunday, Mom and Dad watched the entire season of Firefly. It was cool enough to cover up on the couch, and Josie got under the overhang of comforter on the floor beside Mom.

Mirror Image

Huggy Bear sits in the bedroom window, his position mirrored by Midnight outside. Midnight is this black feral cat who visits us every once in a while. When the windows and back door are open, we will watch for him and he will sometimes come to our back porch and we will visit at the door. He is one of the many cats that live around our apartments. He has Dad's schedule figured out and will greet Dad in the morning and often at night. Dad will feed him a little to make sure he is well-nourished, but not dependent. They started feeding Midnight some when he showed up looking rough from a fight. Mom and Dad wanted to make sure that he didn't get ill from struggling to get good food. Now he comes for snacks and visits. But we've also figured out that Midnight is no fool ... he has connections at other buildings too. Dad will take the trash out and see Midnight coming from across the parking lot to walk him home (and score a snack). I've included links to past Midnight posts for those interested in learning a little more about our friendly visitor.

Midnight in the Garden of Good Steaks (7-10-05)
Midnight (10-6-05)
Midnight Visitor (10-8-05)
Give Me Shelter (11-19-5)
Midnight Waits for Treats (11-24-05)
On High Alert (2-25-06)

Party recovery

I haven't said much about Magoo's party because we've all been recovering from the long trip and catnip. But let's just say we all had a good time and leave out the gory details. I did have fun playing tub hockey, even if we had the scrap a little. It's the nature of the game, I guess.

And then there were four...

This was a great day. We had the windows open, Midnight was entertaining us outside and the air smelled great. It was nice enough that we all agreed to hang out at the window together. 100 percent catpacity here! (You can see our new bench just below the window's edge, too.)

Sassy Josie

That Josie! She was feeling a little sassy, stuck her tongue out and sent a big "neener-neener-neener" to all the boys!

Bubble wrap

Maggie contemplated the bubble wrap for quite some time before deciding to walk around it on the armrest of the futon and sleep up on the back of the futon instead of on the bubble wrap. Good call.

Rolling the cubes

Maggie and Huggy Bear have a great time in their cubes. Their latest thing is to roll the cubes. You can see the half-twist here. Maggie is in the closest cube, Huggy Bear is between the middle two.

Huggy in his cubes

Huggy Bear just looks so right in his cubes. Sometimes he just disappears in the blackness of them and you don't realize he's there until a quick paw gets you.

The Joy of Catblogging

I was commenting over on Mattingly's blog to Athena and Katonia, two non-blogging cats, about starting a blog and it got me a little retrospective. I remember when I started blogging in October 2004, I was motivated because Mom and Dad had a blog and they had seen a "best of the blog" site that listed cat blogs as a category. Although we didn't see any cat blogs to visit at the time, I dove in and started mine. I wasn't really sure what I would write about at the time, other than my story of being adopted and about this little litter of kittens (Josie and Huggy Bear). I wasn't sure if things would even continue from there. Then William found me through Blog Explosion and commented. Then Ginger and Timothy Dickens and Poi Rats and Cats and PsychoKitty Max and well, things just rolled on from there. I am continually amazed at how our catblogging community continues to grow, and how satisfying it is for me to blog, and read my friends' blogs. Sometimes I feel guilty because I have so many I want to read, and so little time, but I'm sure we all go through this, and I catch up and try to participate as often as possible. The blogging alone is so personally satsifying, but the community of blogging magnifies the enjoyment. Thank you all for helping make this such fun for all of us! (OK, that was more than I meant to write... Can't wait to see everyone at Magoo's birthday party!)

Watching for outsiders

You just can't beat having the windows open in late February and early March! Huggy Bear and Maggie spend all kinds of time together when the windows are open, usually patrolling from one room to the next, watching for "outsiders." Our high temperature today is supposed to be 81.

Undercover Maggie

Maggie loves to cuddle with Mom. She gets so warm under the covers, it feels like an oven.