Vicious Elk?

Mom and Dad drove home from Tennessee through the Smoky Mountains and stopped to take some pictures along the way. Mom was hoping to see some bears and had her camera ready. Well, she didn't see any bears, but she did see this...


A vicious elk! I figure since deer are vicious, then this elk is surely vicious too. Dad got out of the car to take some pictures because the battery died in the big camera so he had to get a little closer. The ranger said they should stay 50 yards away, but everyone was about 30 yards away. Close enough, if you ask me.


There was a field full of them at the feet of the mountains, but only the only big male with the rack.


Isn't he magnificent? I wouldn't want to head-butt him.


This is Mom and Dad at the football game. They look happy even though the wrong team was winning (Mom Paula's team). It's just nice to be surrounded by 100,000 friends for a football game.


Mom and Dad love the drive through the Smokies. Dad climbed down to the creek and took this picture with a long exposure to give the cool water effect. He's pretty happy with this one, and lucky to not have a lot of motion because he didn't have a tripod. It looks cold to me.


They also saw a squirrel and took a picture of it for us, because you know how much we all like to keep an eye on the squirrels. The last time Dad tried to take a picture of a squirrel at a park it jumped at him, so Dad was sure to stay back this time.

Let us at 'em

Mom and Dad are growing vegetables this year. It's the first time they've tried a garden. It doesn't sound too exciting to us, but they seem pretty happy with it. They planted a bunch of tomatoes -- Mom really likes tomatoes. A little while back they had two that were almost ready to pick, but then when Dad went to water the garden he noticed they were gone. Then this week there was another one that was almost ready, but last night Dad saw it was gone. Obviously there's something out there dining on Mom's delicious (?) tomatoes. We suspect the squirrels, because really if you are going to suspect someone it's best to start with the squirrels. Clearly, they're never up to any good. Too bad for the garden that we are indoor cats, because you know we'd be patrolling the heck out of the back yard and there would be no squirrels. In the meantime we'll be watching from the windows and Mom and Dad will be trying to figure out a way to actually get to eat a tomato.

My very own login

In all the years that I've been blogging I've piggy backed on Mom and Dad's gmail login for the blog. But today Dad was going to finally let me have my own login. He went to gmail and was doing all the steps, but then he goofed and put my birth year and Google denied it saying I'm too young. They don't realize I'm a cat and they need to adjust for my cat years. He cleared and tried again with an adjusted year but it got kicked out again. Dad's just going to wait and try again tomorrow. I'm so excited!


Oh, and look who's back... these guys keep coming back and hanging out on our porch. They better be glad we're inside cats. They get us all worked up and huffing and running from window to window!

Wordless Wednesday

Tuxie Tuesday: Josie versus the squirrel

OK, it wasn't only Josie who noticed the squirrel, but she was certainly first and the most animated about it.


As soon as Josie saw the squirrel on the deck out back she stood up on the back of the couch and started pawing at the window frame, just itching to get out and chase the squirrel.


We all got very excited and rushed over to see what the commotion was -- well, all but me. I was just hanging out in the kitchen hoping for some chicken. (You see, I know we're indoor cats, and there's no use getting overly excited about an outside thing -- especially when the windows are closed.)


But this is what all the fuss was about. And even with Josie attacking the window and huffing and generally being upset that he was there, this little guy still hung out, scratching himself furiously, for a good minute or two before disappearing high into a tree.


As a reward, Dad got us some fresh nip from the pot out back. Mom and Dad get nip every year to grow, but this is the first time it has made it past the July heat.


It was some good nip, too. HB ate his, Maggie and Josie tussled over some more. As Josie shows here, it was nose-licking good!

The Squirrel Incident

Last weekend, Mom and Dad flew up to Cincinnati to go to Aunt Kelly's graduation (Dad's little sister). Aunt Kelly graduated from Miami University, which has a nice campus in Oxford, Ohio. At one point everyone was taking pictures with Aunt Kelly when they noticed a squirrel (Kelly called it a "campus squirrel" like that makes them OK -- you and I know there are no OK squirrels). This silly squirrel hopped up on a trash can, sniffed around, then disappeared into the trash can. Then, a second later reappeared, only to go back in. This attracted the attention of everyone, and they decided to snap a few "cute squirrel" pictures. (Again, we know there's no such thing.)


Here's the squirrel and the trash can. I mean, really, it eats trash! What more do I have to say?

So Dad tries to get a better picture, thinking it would be good for my blog. But he forgot how much he had zoomed in for the previous picture, and it was bright and he didn't size the picture up very well. This is what he got:


Half a squirrel is no less sassy than a full squirrel. But Dad insisted on getting a better picture of the squirrel, and you can see he was being pretty agreeable about the whole thing. So Dad lined up to get a better picture, when suddenly the squirrel leapt at Dadand landed on the back of Dad's hand. As the squirrel landed on Dad's hand, Dad continued the squirrel's momentum off of his hand and down onto the sidewalk and away from him.


The funniest thing about this is that Dad managed to snap a picture as the squirrel propelled itself at Dad. I wonder is vishus deer repellent would have come in handy here? Dad was fine, not even a scratch (or rabies, or Miami squirrel flu), but I think he learned his lesson. All weekend, every time another squirrel was around, Dad had to endure, "Look out, there's your squirrel friend!"

Tuxie Tuesday

Josie was really fired up this weekend, rushing around patrolling the windows.


There's definitely something out there, but it's hard to see in this picture.


Of course! It's that sassy squirrel again. He is a big tease, flicking his tail on the wrong side of the window. One of these days...

Happy New Year!

I can't believe today is New Year's Eve ... where has the year gone? So much has happened in one year, and much too much to try to recollect, but to say we've had ups and downs, but more ups than downs. Thank you all for bringing that special something to our lives that we never knew we were missing until we had it.

I know I've been lax on visiting and commenting lately with the holidays and such, and I promise to get back on track in the new year (no, not a resolution -- those you break, this I won't). To make up for not visiting as much as I should be, I offer you the following photos of us watching squirrels:


We all got very excited -- the yard was full of birds and a squirrel was digging in the flower bed just in front of the dining room window. It takes a special event to get us all in one window.


Maggie was very intrigued by the activity of the squirrel, who was either burying or digging for dinner.


Look at him giving us the business! Sassy squirrel!


I decided to give him the business right back.


Look at him, Bear!


Bear found another squirrel on the back porch. (The dead plant isn't really there, and is just a figment of your imagination. It's Dad's fault...)


Mom's sister-in-law said we had a lot of squirrels. Dad said he thinks it's just two squirrels, over-and-over again. Either way, it's fun for us to watch.


He's even taunting us from the tree!

OK, enough squirrel pics for now, I guess ... it was a busy day of squirrel watching, really, and not a bad way to kick off the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Be safe and watch out for the fireworks!