Cat-Friend Friday

I thought I would show a friend of mine this Friday ... This is Mia hanging out with Morgan. Mom and Dad visited Nikki and Todd in Atlanta last weekend. They are the ones who had Hokie who passed away earlier in the month. Well, this is Hokie's sister. She's probably about seven years old. She joined the family so Morgan wouldn't bug Hokie, because Hokie didn't have a lot of patience for her as a toddler. Mia was such a tiny kitten ... she slept in Dad's shoe the first time they visited her, and now she sleeps with Morgan a lot, and with Morgan being a pre-teen, there's plenty of opportunities to sleep with her.


This is such a cute picture because Mia is on the ottoman of Morgan's chair, and Morgan is listening to her iPod touch and visiting this blog. I think Mia has a little Meezer in her by the shape of her eyes and the amount she likes to talk. She's usually hiding when she's not sleeping with Morgan, so Dad was fortunate to get a cute shot of her.

Also our Aunt Kelly made this for me! Thanks Aunt Kelly!

Thursday Thirteen #14 -- Bring on Spring

Today's Thursday Thirteen is about why I want Spring to come and hurry up.

1. Early in the week, it was really warm, but last night was below freezing, and this weekend will be almost 70 again. These yo-yoing temperatures are driving Mom and Dad nuts, which makes us nuts, too.
2. The garage is just too cool for Mom to let us stay in there for a long time because it cools the house down.
3. Spring means open windows!
4. In the Spring, Mom is very happy because she can plant stuff in the yard.
5. When Dad is out working in the yard he brings back in with him smelly clothes that we like to investigate.
6. Spring means the Maggie gets to go for stroller rides again.
7. The Spring air smells so good!
8. Even as a mancat I can appreciate the fresh blooming flowers. And I want to see what all Mom's hard work amounted to.
9. Spring will brings birds and squirrels to the back yard.
10. (I hope that mean Mocking Bird isn't back, though, because he claimed the back deck and kept swooshing at us when we sat in the windows.)
11. Did I mention the open windows and fresh air? I did? Well, it's worth mentioning twice.
12. We will lose our winter coat and hopefully get fewer knots.
13. When Spring comes it means it's almost my birthday...

Wordless Wednesday

Tuxie, Tabby, Tent Tuesday

Mom and Dad went to Atlanta this weekend and returned with a cat tent from IKEA. We've loved the tent from the moment Mom put it together.


Maggie has been doing "machine paws" against the sides of the tent since she got in. I think she likes the sound it makes. She also likes to roll the tent and to scoot it around.


Look how nice I am, sharing the tent with Maggie (although briefly). If you could see Huggy Bear's face, you'd see he was surprised to see this didn't turn into a big brawl.


Josie really likes the tent, too, and we've all been nice about taking turns. Only once did Maggie try to pounce Josie in the tent, but they parted peacefully. For $7, this tent has been a great prize for us!

Mancat Monday and Excellent blog award

Mom and Dad got home last night, later than they expected, but they're here, and that's what mattered. Aunt Tish again did a remarkable job of watching over us. We had a bit of a tussle in the dining room, leaving a lot of black fur, but Aunt Tish vacuumed it all up before Mom and Dad could get home and bust us. If she keeps that up, maybe we'll be OK with Mom and Dad going away on weekend trips more often. Maybe.


Here I am in my favorite chair. This might have been my wooden PhotoHunt picture had Mom and Dad left the computer on because the seat of the chair is wooden, but alas, no computer, no post... Like how I have my back feet kicked up on the post of the chair? I always have to be at the ready to spring or rabbit kick. I like to sit here and watch when Mom or Dad's at the computer.

The computer room is about to undergo an overhaul. The desk is old, and Mom's about done with it, so Mom and Dad got a new desk at Ikea when they were in Atlanta. It's bigger than the old one, which means more room for us to stretch out on. I'm curious to see what it's like, but I like the boxes in the garage right now.

Also, thanks Jimmy Joe for the award! We think you're pretty excellent too!

I want to share this award with some other excellent blogs ... I think everyone who dedicates the energy to maintaining a blog for as long as most of us have is excellent. I'm going to highlight William, Ginger, Timothy Dickens, and Scooby, Shaggy and Scout. These are four of my first blogging buddies and I think they're all excellent!

Finally Friday already??

I'm cute

I wish it was still Thursday because my mom and dad would still be here with us. Mom and dad are going to visit a little baby this weekend. So I guess I'll have to hold down the fort here and take care of Huggy, Josie, and Maggie.

hmmph.....Whatcha say mom? Aunt Tish is coming by to play with us. Oh, OK. See you on Sunday!!

Thursday Thirteen #13 -- Helping Dad start his morning off right

First of all, thanks for all the nice comments from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday. Who would have thought that the picture without my face would get the most comments?!? I was not mad, nor snubbing the camera, but just receiving a lot of brushings from Mom while I watched It Takes A Thief with Mom and Dad.

Today's Thursday 13 is number 13 in my series, which I think is funny and should deserve something 13-ish, but I didn't think ahead that way, and have this one on my mind, so here goes ... Helping Dad start his morning off right -- it is an important job, after all.

1. Alarm, snooze, alarm, snooze, alarm ... get up already! If Dad's still trying to snooze, I'm usually the one who will walk across his head and pillow or give him a gentle head bump to stir him.
2. (On the contrary, it is usually Maggie or Huggy Bear who will snuggle against Dad and keep him in bed ... not helping.)
3. Once Dad is up, Maggie usually supervises his start. She will follow Dad as he gets his washcloth and towels and gets the shower warmed up.
4. While Dad's in the shower, Maggie and I prowl the bathroom and the little half wall by the shower waiting to make sure he emerges from all that water unharmed. Usually a head butt or breath sniff after the shower assures us everything is OK.
5. As Dad does his morning ritual (shaving, brush teeth, all that good stuff) we take turns putting our stink back on him. Josie will rub his legs, Maggie prowls the counter top. Sometimes Maggie will lay in the wet sink Dad is trying to use, but he usually transplants her to the other sink (the one with the stopper that won't stay up -- Dad, haven't you been saying you're going to fix that for, I don't know, a year and a half?)
6. After Dad's done making himself presentable, he'll scoop poop and take that out to the trash. No real helping here ... all that help was done during the night.
7. Then Dad's back in the kitchen. Here Huggy Bear, Maggie and Josie shark around Dad's feet for their treats. Since he's making his lunch and the pantry is open he'll give them treats.
8. Then Dad fixes a bowl of cereal and usually goes up to the computer room to read his news and morning comics online (Overboard, Non Sequitur, Dog Eat Doug, Lio ... he's trimmed his list down over the years.) Maggie always joins him at cereal time, and sometimes Huggy Bear or I will, too. HB used to head butt the cereal bowl, but stopped that recently, which made eating breakfast a lot easier for Dad, and less messy.
9. When Dad's done he leaves a very small amount of milk in the bowl for Maggie (and sometimes Huggy Bear, if he's in the mood).
10. The Dad finishes getting dressed by putting on his shirt, tie and shoes. Maggie or Josie will attack his shoe laces if they see them. Dad acts like he doesn't want them to do this, but deep down inside he thinks it's cute and sweet and funny.
11. Now it's back downstairs ... lots of up and down in the morning Dad! This is where we either decide to snuggle into bed with Mom or follow Dad. I'll usually take Dad's spot and sleep on his pillow. Huggy Bear will sleep on the edge of the bed with his paws hanging over and looking out the window.
12. If we go downstairs with Dad we'll hang out with him until Tish shows up (they carpool) and put some extra stink on him, and a few cat hairs so everyone knows he's ours. If Dad's waiting in the dining room, which he usually does, I'll take the window sill, Huggy Bear will get up on the table, Josie will rub against Dad's legs and Maggie is all over the place, climbing the backs of the chairs, jumping up on the window sill with me or just being everywhere at once.
13. Once Dad heads out to work he says bye to us all knowing we love him and that we'll watch over the house. Then, for sure, we go get in bed with Mom and nap because that's a full morning and we need the rest.

Wordless Wednesday

Toesie Tuesday

Mom loves to take picture of Maggie's tiny toes. I guess I understand ... every bit of her is tiny and cute.



I need some opinions and feedback. Josie, Maggie and Huggy Bear all have their claws (and know how to use them) and Mom is looking in to getting us some Soft Paws. We just need to know what people who have used them think of them, any advice, tips, feedback would be great. Thanks!

BTW -- If you have trouble commenting (no link appearing) just refresh the page once or twice and it should show up. I think this happened the other day, and I think it's just a matter of refreshing...

Midnight Mancat Monday

Huggy hanging out with mom

I think Huggy Bear looks very mancaty in this picture. You can really see his "bear" face and the reason mom and dad named him Huggy Bear. Mom really likes taking black and white and sepia tone pictures of Huggy. She says he shows up better.

Happy Midnight Mancat Monday everyone...especially to all the House Panthers!!

Easy Like Sunday

Mom and Dad spent much of yesterday working in the yard, doing some final raking and fertilizing for the Spring, so today we should be lazing around with them to make up for lost time. As part of my "read the news with Dad online" routine we found this article about a kitten lost in the subway tunnels of New York for 25 days.

Much of our day will also be spent with out new toys. For Valentine's Day Mom bought us these little bonbon toys.

They all look like little candies and came in a very cute, Valentiney package. Dad didn't let us eat the raffia or ribbon from the package, though...

You can see Maggie's playing with the Love bonbon right now. Mom and Dad put some extra catnip on them, so now we really do love our new toys.

PhotoHunt: Free

The PhotoHunt Theme for today is FREE, so I'll feature kittens who are not us. Not saying that we are pretty much free to do pretty much what we want, even if Mom and Dad aren't always happy about it, but today I'm going to feature some Free Range Kittens.

When Mom and Dad went to visit Lisa and Brian and Gracie and Clara Ann they also visited some kittens (I thought they smelled different). Lisa and Brian have several outside kitties who come to visit and get some food. These two tuxies are Xedo (pronounced like tuxedo, without the tux) and one of her babies from her first litter.

Here's Xedo with two of her most recent kittens sleeping on top of Lisa's SUV in the garage. (SUV too big for the garage to shut ... hehe ... so they have free roam of the garage and everything in it.) Apparently if that little gray tabby wasn't so feral it might have come to live with us, but alas, it didn't work out.

This beautiful free range kitten recently showed up at Lisa and Brian's. They call him Kingpin, because he's big and is probably the boss-man in the area. He reminds Mom and Dad a lot of Mom's first cat Fluffy in the way he is built and behaves.

Now this little orange free range tabby came to visit us yesterday. She caused quite a fuss when she decided to lounge on our deck furniture, chairs that we've never been able to put our stink on!

Mom stepped out to get a picture, but she got a little startled and hopped down.

The she darted under the deck. (I've never seen under the deck ... that looks like a fun place to sleep!)

And here she is back on her front porch, safe and sound. She's usually an inside kitten, but sometimes she gets free when their dogs go out.

Finally Friday...

And then there were four....

and we can have our dad for the whole weekend starting at 1:30! Yipppeeeeeeeeee!!

And mom is thinking of opening the windows this afternoon. We are so excited.

(Sorry about the messy room, but mom had to take the picture when the opportunity arose. It's pretty rare to get us all in one picture.)

PS Thanks everyone for the very nice Valentine's Day messages!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! I thought of writing individual Valentine wishes to everyone but I was so afraid of overlooking any kittens and hurting someone's feelings that I'm just saying, real big and real loud

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We do have one special Valentine for a special friend... Maggie worked real hard on this one. She made a special Valentine's Be Mine wish for her best buddy Scout, who could be his twin if he wasn't so so far away!

(Apologies to Scooby, who got booted from this picture to make room for Maggie...)

Also, we've been doing some serious investigating and thinking, and I have a guess who our SECRET ADMIRER is ... we think it might be that silly little Daisy the Curly Cat! Just a guess, though...

Hope you have a wonderful, love-filled Valentine's Day!
Purrs and kisses,
Jasper, Josie, Huggy Bear and Maggie

[BTW -- from Wordless Wednesday, Huggy Bear was telling Maggie that there were treats downstairs waiting for them!]

Wordless Wednesday

Maggie, I have a secret for you
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Tuxie Tuesday

Mom shot this picture of Josie and we are all truly captivated by it. The way Mom was able to focus on her eyes and face with the soft focus on the foot in the foreground, but the primary focus is almost off the frame. I feel drawn deeper into the picture beyond the edges of the frame. It doesn't hurt that it's Josie, and she's just a sweet beauty.



(I had to brag on Mom a little, because she deserves credit for this picture, as well as Josie for being a super model.)

Doing better like a Mancat should

My eye is doing much better ... thanks for everyone's concern. I think Mom and Dad are done pinning me down and tormenting me. I took it like a good Mancat, though.

Mom and Dad goofed off yesterday and visited Lisa and Brian and my favorite sticky person Gracie and her little sister Clara Ann so I didn't get to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to AUNT TIFFANY! She's halfway to 70 now...

Anyhow, here I am the other day with my eye wide open as if to say, "Hey, it's OK, leave me alone." Although I did start squinting again after this photo shoot. But I'm much better now!

(Not So) Easy Like Sunday

It seems I have aggravated my right eye. I've been real squinty yesterday and some today. Mom and Dad had some cat eye ointment and they've been putting it in my eye, which might be helping my eye, but it sure isn't helping my mood. Mom and Dad are real super cautious after all of Maggie's issues and the multiple times Maggie got Josie's eye when Maggie was a kitten. I go through moments like this, though, where I squint for a little while, then I'm OK. I just wish they'd stop pinning me down and prying my eye open to look for goop.

I just need some sink time. Everything's better after sink time...

PhotoHunt: Heavy

Today's PhotoHunt theme is Heavy. Now Huggy Bear and I are big boys, we know that. I'm a little bigger in frame than Huggy Bear, and carry a few extra pounds than him, but my body is also built that way. Mom and Dad say we're "just right" so to meet the theme, I'm referring to the classic hit from The Hollies: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother...

Rest in peace dear friend...

Hokie - 1994-2008

Note from the McKitten-Cats' mom: Our friends, Nikki and Todd, had to say good-bye to their beloved Hokie. My heart breaks for them. Hokie has been a member of their family for as long as they have been a family. When Nikki and Todd were dating our friend, Lisa, gave them Hokie. Hokie was one the cutest kittens I've ever seen. That weekend we all loved on Hokie and wished he was our kitten, but at the end of the weekend he went home with Nikki. As Todd and Nikki's family grew from two, to three, to four, to five - Hokie was always there. I know he will be missed greatly.

Hokie - go to the Rainbow Bridge and find Fluffy and Mandy. They will take good care of you. Rest in peace.....

Thursday Thirteen #12 -- Open Windows

I'm not trying to rub it in, because I know there's some real crappy weather around the rest of the country (Dad used to go to that mall in Memphis all the time when he was in high school...) but when Mom and Dad and I were moving from Iowa back to the South, people kept asking us this silly question: "Aren't you going to miss winter?" It's really a silly question to ask someone who is from the South (OK, I was born in Illinois, but by default, I'm a southern kitty, too, because of Mom and Dad). You move to the South because you don't really plan on missing winter. Tuesday and most of Wednesday we had our windows open. Tuesday night, we actually slept with our windows open! February 5, and the windows are open! So for this week's T13, it's why having the windows open rocks!


1. We are inside cats (for a variety of reasons) so having the windows open lets us smell the outside.
2. We can get a better idea of what all the neighborhood dogs are up to (reason #1 we are inside cats).
3. We get to sleep against the screens, which feels really cool.
4. It's another reason to go from window to window, because, of course, we have to inspect all the windows.
5. The wind sometimes freaks Maggie out, which is funny. (OK, sorry, Mom I shouldn't think it's funny that Maggie is freaked out by the wind.)

6. I get to do my Big Stretch and Paw at the Window Trick. I pull and tug at the window on both sides, which I get away with since I'm declawed and my siblings aren't.
7. We can hear what's going on outside better, too. The trash truck yesterday freaked us all out!
8. It rained yesterday afternoon and Maggie got rained on a little. She's still young and stubborn and didn't want to leave the window. (Again, sisters are silly.)
9. The wind blew lots of paper around, too, which is like a whole new game.
10. When it was raining, Mom left one set of windows open because the wind wasn't blowing the rain in, and that's really cool because the rain smells a lot better than the dogs.
11. Mom and Dad are happier when the windows are open.
12. Open windows mean nicer days are coming.
13. We all get along when the windows are open. We'll even share the window. Wednesday morning, Huggy Bear and Maggie were in one window and were even trying to make room for Josie. Wonders will never cease.

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Tuesday

Look what we received in the mail: a card from a Secret Admirer! Who could it be?!?


The front...


The inside...

It's so nice to have an admirer. This is going to drive me nuts! Maybe I should nap and think about it a while...

Thanks Secret Admirer!!

Easy Like Sunday

Something's going around, a certain alignment of the planets maybe, but there's something. I saw where Scout and Scooby were snuggling together the other day, but it doesn't stop there ...


Last week I was snuggled up against Dad's leg on the couch watching some TV when Maggie literally walked across my head to climb up on the couch with us, and preceded to curl up behind me. This move would usually immediately eject me from wherever I am, but maybe I was into the show because I didn't move at all.


Even more remarkably, two days later Maggie did essentially the same move to Josie. Josie is usually even less tolerant of Maggie's intrusions into her napping space than I am, since Maggie is notorious for pouncing Josie when she is most relaxed, but here's proof ... Josie stayed right where she was and let little sister snuggle in real good. Amazing! Oddly enough, Maggie and Huggy Bear get along the best but there's no picture of them snuggling together...

PhotoHunt: Narrow

Today's PhotoHunt theme is narrow. There are several options, and Dad even tried taking a picture of Josie in the garage through the narrow opening in the door when we are in the garage, but he wasn't real pleased with it. Then, while watching Monk and Psych last night, Josie got up on the couch with Dad and Dad snapped this picture.


And look in the background ... a painting of a very narrow Palmetto tree, right there on the wall! So here's narrow, and a really cute Josie at the same time!

PS. Happy Belated-Blogoversary to the Cat Blogosphere -- connecting cats everywhere, thanks for your tireless work!

Stinky goodness....well it's good!

As most of you know, we don't get stinky goodness very often. It's only a "special treat." Well a couple of days ago, mom was feeling a little guilty about leaving for a whole day, and locking me in the garage for a couple of hours, so she gave us some yummy goodness. Then she decided to take a ton of pictures of me eatting it.






Yummmm....stinky goodness!!

Happy Friday!!