Cat icons

If your beans like to customize their icons on the computers, check out these cat icons from the Icon Factory.

And here's an article about Hollywood's anti-cat agenda.

Box, part 2 (and a funny story, continued)

The box from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday was officially claimed by Josie. She normally doesn't get in the mix with that stuff, but she made sure this one was her's. At least until company came and the box had to leave the kitchen and go up to the office. We don't like it as much in the office.

Remember a while back, I told a funny story about a friend's dog who likes to eat the mail as it is passed through the mail slot in the front door? Well, the dog, Mary Gertrude, just hates the mail slot. When that little flap gets flipped she just goes nuts. And recently, Mickey, our friend's 12-year-old cat, has gone through a bit of a mid-life crisis. After years of being a laid back, cool cat, now Mickey is slipping out through Mary Gertrude's doggie door, bringing in prizes for our friend Randy (including a live baby rabbit the other day, which Randy rescued). One day Randy was up on the roof fixing something and he looked over and there was Mickey. He's just turned into a rascal lately.

So the other evening, Randy is in the living room and Mary Gertrude hears the tink-tink of the mail flap and just goes nuts. Randy knows it's too late for the mailman and opens the door to see who is out there and there's Mickey, sitting at the front door. Mickey has learned that it gets the dog all kinds of crazy when he plays with the mail slot flap, and does it all the time now. I think we know who the smarter animal is in that house.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Mom and Dad came home!

Mom and Dad came home after a wonderfully beautiful wedding in Marietta, Georgia. They kept talking about some Big Chicken, which I'm very interested in. Any place that is famous for a big chicken is worth visiting. I'll make Dad get the pictures off the camera so we can all see, but he told me not to get too excited, that it's not the eating kind of big chicken. The weather was perfect for Dad's cousin's outdoor wedding. Despite a 70 percent chance of rain, it stayed dry when it needed to. Hopefully things will start to slow down for Mom and Dad soon so we can visit my cat friends more, and spend more time with Mom and Dad (and post pictures!).

Huggy Bear perched on the bed

This is Huggy Bear's favorite pose -- he loves to perch on the edge of the bed, especially in the morning while he snoopervises Mom and Dad. The Beans are heading to Atlanta for Dad's cousin's wedding, which means Aunt Tiff is going to come over and squeeze on us (but mainly Maggie).

Yip got adopted!

Remember a while back when Mom was at work and found a sad scared kitten? The kitten ended up being named Yip because he yipped all the way to the kitten rescuer's house. The nice lady who fostered him said Yip was the best little kitten she'd ever been around and that he had the best personality and would just sit in her lap and look at her and talk to her. Well, Midlands Kittens had their adoption day the other day and Yip was adopted out to a nice mother and daughter. And better yet, Yip was adopted with a little sister cat named Pooh, so he'll have a companion. Yip was very very very close to becoming our new tee-tiny little brother (close call!). We are very happy for him and his new forever home!

Strange hissing monster in the closet

So yesterday Mom and Dad were rushing around getting ready for the Willy Wonka opening night at the theatre, Mom was putting on the opening night party and Dad was going to be juggling during intermission. So Dad was downstairs getting some stuff together to go, when Mom was upstairs about to get dressed so they could leave. Mom stepped into the walk-in closet to get her clothes when all of a sudden she hear a ::hiss:: ... Mom stepped back, looked around to see where it came from. I sounded like it was coming from the shelf where Dad had hung Mom's pants after they were ironed. She didn't see anything and stepped forward and again ::hiss::! Again Mom steps back nervously. She does a quick scan and doesn't see any of us. She was thinking maybe we were hurt and in hiding in the closet, but doesn't see a cat.

She calls for Dad and he rushes up. Mom says, "I think something's in the closet. It keeps hissing." The attic access is in the closet, you see, so Mom was thinking some critter had gotten in the attic, then made its way into the closet, maybe a possum or a mean hissing lizard. So Dad slowly inches into the closet and sure enough ::hiss:: again.

He steps back quickly, tells Mom that she may want to go to another room, and he starts clearing items away from the closet floor (like the small dirty clothes pile) that something could hide in. Dad is looking around the closet trying to come up with a plan: trash can to catch "it" in (whatever "it" is), or "do I grab it?" He even considered bringing us cats in to hunt. And then he saw it -- saw where the hiss was coming from -- right there on the shelf: the IRON was letting steam out after ironing Mom's pants!

(Seriously, if there was a critter in the house, did Mom and Dad not think we wouldn't be all over that in a heartbeat? Humans can be so silly.)

Willy Wonka

Mom and Dad have been very busy doing projects for the play Willy Wonka that is opening tomorrow at Mom's theatre (OK, it's not HER theatre, she just spends most of her life there or talking about it). They were in the garage a lot lately painting stuff, which meant that we couldn't be in the garage. To make matters worse, when Dad was outside he thought he saw a flea on his arm (it is that time of year) so it looks like we will be barred from the garage for a little bit. Probably a good thing since it's been in the 100s this week. But after this weekend we should get Mom and Dad back, which makes us very happy.

Empty nest syndrome

Well, Mom and Dad went to check on the little baby birds that were up in the hanging fern and this is what they saw:


The nest was empty! I guess those little birds decided it was time to take off and explore. I hope they're doing OK and not playing with the wrong sort of cat.

Happy Fourth of July

I hope everyone has a Happy Fourth of July! (or to our Canadian friends, I hope they had a Happy First of July.) We had some fireworks around our neighborhood last night, but not too many. And fortunately no fire trucks. Amateur fireworks make me nervous. We had such nice weather last night that we actually got some open window time, which is unheard of in Columbia in July, so it was a good night even with all the noise. Be safe, and I hope you all get some picnic treats from your beans!

Finally Friday

After the water bottle incident, Dad felt kind of bad. He needed to get us treats at Target, so while he was there he and Mom also picked up some Fancy Feast Appetizers that were SO yummy, and a new toy for us too.


Josie was quick to claim the toy. She laid on it to make sure no one else would take it from her.

Tattle Tail Thursday

Dad owes Maggie a big apology. The other night Maggie, Josie and Huggy Bear were all huddled around the entertainment center. It seemed apparent that there was a bug they were hunting. Dad came over and inspected. He even pulled out a flashlight. But he couldn't see anything. (Of course not, he's not a cat!) So he figured we were after the cables and cords behind the TV cabinet. Then Maggie got excited and started clawing at the carpet. So Dad got the squirt bottle and sprayed Maggie to make her stop. Well Huggy Bear kept vigil, and a few minutes later this HUGE Palmetto bug (aka roach) ventured out. Huggy Bear was quick to pounce, swat and play with it. Dad scooped it up, praised Huggy Bear, and gave us all treats for a successful hunt. But we still feel that Maggie deserves an apology for the water -- even if she was digging at the carpet.