Happy birthday Josie and Huggy Bear!

Happy birthday to my wonderful sister and brother Josie and Huggy Bear! I can't believe they are eight years old! My how time flies (so fast, that I missed posting this on their actual birthday on Saturday ... oops.)


Here we are back in the day, when Josie and Huggy Bear were still tiny and recently came to live with us. You can see how happy I am to have a new brother and sister. My life has gotten so much better because of having them around.


They were very cute and playful kittens. Josie and Huggy Bear were two of four kittens that Mom and Dad brought in to foster and find homes for when we lived on our apartment. Mom fell in love with Josie the minute she saw her. (Yes, we loved Huggy Bear too, but there was something about Josie that reminded Mom of Fluffy who came before us.)


It's hard to imagine Huggy Bear being this tiny, since he grew into such a big mancat, but he was originally my little buddy. He's still the friendliest, lovingest cat in the house. And he still purrs the instant he enters the room that Mom and Dad are in.

This weekend was very busy with the show at Mom's theatre starting, and Dad going to see Neil Gaiman speak and hosting two of the other participants in the event. To top it off, our fridge went on the fritz. Fortunately we have an extra refrigerator in the garage that is now stuffed. So we'll be getting birthday cake later this week when live gets back on track.

Thanks to the Cat Blogosphere for always being there and remembering our birthdays, even when we get behind and (almost) forget. As always, you are the best bunch of cats out there!

The smell of dogs...

There's a little bit of outrage in our house right now. Apparently Mom's theatre is doing Legally Blonde, the Musical, and this show has two, yes two, dogs in it.


This is Cabo who plays the chihuahua Bruiser that Elle carries around. There is another dog named Ella who plays a a boy dog named Rufus. I'll be sure to upload a picture of Ella, but she is part chocolate lab and part something else.

It seems that Dad has been recruited to be "dog wrangler" backstage during the show. That means he sits backstage and pets these two dogs for hours. Seriously, that picture is Cabo sitting in Dad's lap. Do you have any idea how much work we have to do when he gets home to cover him on our stink so he no longer smells of dog? I don't think he considered this at all.

New nip mouse

Dad went to the pet supply store to get our cat food and picked up a purple Kong corduroy mouse that you can refill with catnip. He is on the hunt for a new favorite mouse because our favorites are no longer in the store and one day they will have to go. (We still have a wish list for some toys from William's Feline o' Mine store, if Mom and Dad would just get around to ordering them.)


Here's Josie meeting the new mouse.


And of course, you can't have a new toy without a new toy standoff.


Huggy Bear was very happy with have a new mouse to hunt. He likes to hunt throughout the night and bring toys to Mom and Dad's room.


I even got a turn with the mouse. (I'm not sure why my picture has an orange hue to it. I guess my orange-catness just overwhelmed the camera.)

The nice thing about this mouse is that, when the catnip loses its potency, Dad can empty it out and refill it. We're hopeful that this will become a new favorite.

Pet Photo Contest

So I got an email through my Flickr account about a pet photo contest. At first I thought they wanted a picture of my Mom and Dad, but then I realized they were talking about me. According to the website: "MyApartmentMap is looking for the ultimate pet friendly pad in America. Send us photos of your pet friendly place and you'll have a chance to win a $1,000 prize. A $250 donation will also be made to the animal shelter or rescue group of your choice. The winner will be determined by online voting so tell your friends!" There are only five entries so far -- good odds, really. But I wanted to share this with my other cat friends. I'm thinking of submitting a picture, but I want to find a good one.

[Updated the link...]

Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my (extreme) close-up

Dad really enjoys using the macro setting on the camera. I decided to help him by waiting for the camera to focus, then coming even closer to the camera (although I did not put my nose print on the lens like HB likes to do).


It's a good thing I didn't have any boogers.

Happy 3rd Birthday Maggie!

Today is Maggie's third birthday! Now that she's three, Maggie insists that she is a big girl. But Mom told her that she'll always be her littlest baby kitten, no matter how grown up she gets.

Since Mom and Dad are gone on vacation, we want to invite everyone over today to help us cat-hair-up the house. Feel free to put cat hair on everything you can imagine. We want this to be a hair-raising party for Maggie! (Plus, we know Aunt Tish is a good person and will clean up for us so Mom and Dad don't find out...)

Now, since it is Maggie's birthday, and I'm a little proud of my sister, I want to show some of my favorite pictures of her.


This is Maggie's first portrait. Please don't be sad, even though her eyes are all infected. If she hadn't had the eye infection she probably would have found another forever home. So good things can come out of bad situations.


Maggie is a quick study. She has learned tricks from Me and Josie and Huggy Bear, like sleeping in the sink, or synchronized sinking.


Even with just one eye she is the most agile and daring of the McKitten-Cats.

She's also pretty smart...

She started playing Trivial Pursuits as a kitten...


She even helped Mom and Dad paint (that's primer on the walls, by the way...)


She even likes to read with Mom. See, smart from the start.


Although I'm not sure if every move is smart ... I never figured out how she ended up in the hole of the alpine scratcher. I don't think I was ever that small!

She's pretty loving, too ...

Maggie snuggling with me...


... and with Josie ...


... and, of course, with Huggy Bear.

Finally, I think this is what Mom fell in love with first when she met Maggie...

... her little polka dotted belly!

There are only like 169 pictures of Maggie over on Flickr, so I'll stop here.

Thanks for coming and helping celebrate Maggie's 3rd birthday! (And for helping us spread cat hair everywhere... we'll be back visiting everyone's blogs again real soon, promise.)

P.S. It's also my Mom's birthday. She thinks it's neat that they share the same birthday.

Finally Friday...

Maggie snuggling
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

YIPPPEEEE!! It's finally Friday and we have mom and dad all to ourselves this weekend. We are free snuggle all weekend. It looks like Maggie has already gotten a head start on snuggling with mom.

Easy Like Sunday

The weather has been warming up. Sure, yesterday we had some crazy storms, including a few tornadoes in our area, but overall it has been a lot nicer. We even all gathered in on place by the guest bedroom window to enjoy some of the nice weather. A definite sign of better days to come!


A very rare sighting indeed ...
---

Also, yesterday Dad was looking at the stats on our Flickr page because he finds it interesting to see which pictures people look at more, and where people come from to find our pictures. Well, from our stats he found this one site that had used a Flickr hack to use several small pictures to create a big picture of Gene Simmons from Kiss. It's kind of cool, but the cool part is he used pictures tagged "kittens" to do it, which means that some of our pictures were caught in that net. Since Saturday was "I Spy" on PhotoHunters, it was kind of ironic that Dad ended up doing an I Spy on this mosaic to find us. (Mousing over the pictures says where the pictures came from, and this kind of use of our pictures doesn't bother us, unlike Max's issue earlier this week...)

Here's a link to the full sized picture.
You can find Josie 11 rows down from the top, and 6 over from the right.
Maggie is twice, black and white, 13 from the top, 4 from the right, and 14 from the top, 5 from the right.
Huggy Bear was the first one Dad was able to find, 5 from the bottom, 6 from the left.
At first I thought I was left out, but I'm in there too, 9 up from the bottom, 3 from the left.

Wordless Wednesday

River Otter II
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Midnight Mancat Monday

Mr. Yellow eyes
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Huggy Bear loves to help out. When mom was cutting out the million rubber duckies for Clara Ann's birthday party, Huggy would keep the scrap paper under control by laying on it. Good job!!

The yellow paper really intensifies his beautiful yellow eyes.

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!!

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!]

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!!

Wordless Wednesday

Huggy Bear goes "river otter" (aka Full Monty)
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Fluffy Friday

I thought I would feature the one who came before. Mom scanned in some old photos of Fluffy. He was a regal gray and white tuxedo who roamed the neighborhood, and also came in when he felt like it. The side garage door was always propped open for him so he could come in, but he'd also come to the back window of the master bedroom and "ask politely" to come inside. He would even "ask politely" for some milk by nipping the back of Mom or Dad's ankle.


Mom says that this was Fluffy's spot. He would perch in the front yard and patrol the street. He was the prince of the neighborhood. Everyone knew Fluffy. The neighbor across the street would even put tuna out for him and he would lounge on her front porch in the afternoon sun.


This is one of Mom's favorite pictures of Fluffy. He would curl up in the center of the innertube and sleep. I wish we had one of those, because that looks like a great napping spot!


I guess Fluffy liked to get up on high spots too. He must have been pretty spry, because he had to jump straight up there without the help of a counter or a step stool!


This photo does concern me a little. I think Fluffy may have had a drinking problem. Just kidding... he did love a suitcase, though. But, then again, who doesn't?

He was a good cat, and did a good job of training Mom and Dad on how to properly care for us McKitten-Cats.

Tabby (Towel) Tuesday

Maggie just has to be in the middle of everything. Just last night, Josie was enjoying some time behind the books of the bookshelf (Dad pulled a few out so she could hop up) and then Maggie tried to crowd herself in which turned in to a big, growling, chase-Josie-fest with Huggy Bear and Maggie. She's just being a playful, affectionate little sister. I try to be a little more patient with her because I know Josie isn't (maybe it's a sister-sister thing between them).

In today's picture, I was up in the linen closet when Maggie decided to come up with me and hang out. Mom feels compelled to sing the Brady Bunch song when she sees this picture. Apparently we look like two Bradys stacked on top of each other. (But of course she sings, "It's a story, of a cat named Jasper...")

Mancat and Midnight Monday

Today you get a double shot of McKitten-(Man)cats ...

Midnight Monday -- Huggy Bear


Huggy Bear was enjoying a corner nap on his Kitty Kozy on Saturday. He was very patient and sat real still for Dad to get a few pictures of him with natural light so you can see his face real good.

Mancat Monday -- Jasper


I surprised Mom the other day by claiming a spot on top of the fridge. This is not a normal perch for me, but once I got up there I did it up right. I supervised Mom in the kitchen to make sure dinner was just right (it was, of course) and really enjoyed being up high. High spots are always best...

Christmas gift wrapup

We get so caught up in the daily theme posts that we've not taken the time to post about the great Christmas gifts we received. That, and Mom and Dad's new camera has a giant memory card that can hold 951 pictures at the high quality setting so there's less urgency for them to transfer pictures to the computer so I can post them (I'd do it myself but I can't get the push-and-slide door to open).

Here are most of the cat gifts we got ... a cool Tick Tock Teaser toy (on the left, looks like a big wedge of Swiss cheese with a little mouse and ball inside), The Ultimate Cat Treat Cookbook and some Playmobil cats, all from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Doug, plus a Bad Cat desktop daily calendar from Aunt Jackie and the We Are The Kitties book from Chop-Chop Sue.

Here Maggie is showing Huggy Bear the Tick Tock Teaser. In front of the teaser is this really cool navy blue leather mouse with a little rattle in him. Huggy Bear likes to toss him around. Josie is also coming to investigate the Tick Tock Teaser. It took us a few minutes, but we quickly learned how to pull the velcro mouse off the pendulum. But Dad was good and put it right back on for us. The mouse makes the tassels on top shake back and forth, and theres also a red ball inside that's fun to hit.

Remember I talked about Aunt Tiffy giving up four million balls ... well here's Josie investigating the stockings before the toys were all pulled out.

And here are all the toys lined up for us to take inventory. Huggy Bear was happy to do the inspecting. It's important to check out all the toys to make sure they pass a fine approval process before play can commence.

Overall we had a great Christmas haul and we've been playing hard with all these toys since we got them. (I didn't even include the catnip candy canes or our awesome Secret Paws stuff in this, too. Just so much to be thankful for...)

Floofy Friday

Mom keeps telling me I have my winter floof, but I'm not sure what to do with it. South Carolina doesn't really get that cold in the winter. It's 63 degrees here today, but rainy. I guess I could let Maggie snuggle with me since she doesn't have much floof. Any ideas?

Tabby Tuxie Tuesday

Aunt Tiffy came for New Year's (this could get confusing with an Aunt Tiff and an Aunt Tish, I know Dad gets tongue-tied sometimes when they're both around), but Aunt Tiff has known Mom for 30 years and came in from Atlanta to celebrate New Year's with us. She brought us some great toys, too! Tons of toys to play with, including a great feather wand that Josie took off with after investigating it with Maggie.

You can see Josie putting the bite on the feather wand here as Maggie circus-bears to get to it too.

So many possible titles for this post, really, because we had Tuxie, Tabby, Toys, Tennessee (beat Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl -- go Vols!) and Tiffy.

We had a good start to 2008 so far. Hope everyone had a great New Year and didn't have too many fireworks near them to freak them out (pretty quiet here, thankfully). We look forward to getting back to a routine so we can start visiting everyone's blogs again and getting some good posts up. Sorry for being lax on the comments lately, but we'll be back to normal as this week wraps up.