Blogblast for Peace, and invaders

Today is the Dona Nobis Pacem Blogblast for Peace. We usually make a peace globe to mark this event, and even though we didn't make a graphic, we are still blogging for peace today, and every day. I firmly believe that there will be a day that political callers will stop Dad's parents can turn the ringer back on their phone (they live in Ohio), that cats and dogs can co-exist (when the dogs learn that we're the boss), and, seriously, that peace is possible.

I would have had a graphic, but we've been invaded. Mom and Dad are giving a friend some much needed sanity time by keeping her twins for the weekend.


This is Elliott on the bed, trying to figure out how to get to Huggy Bear while Maggie watches from a safe distance. I've kept my distance, sniffing them from the landing as Dad up the stairs. Josie has been the bravest, actually allowing a little petting, sitting next to Dad while he gives the boy a bottle, and snoopervising in general. She's always the first to meet new people anyway. They go home this afternoon, and things will return to a more normal routine. In the meantime, we are milking this for extra treats.

And that is how we find peace in our home today...

Company coming

Mom's cousin from California is coming for a visit. She hasn't seen him in years and years, so she is very excited. But that meant a lot of cleaning around the house last night. They had to wash our furs off of the guest duvet cover. So you know where we'll be all day? Trying to fur it back up, of course! He gets in tonight, and will be interviewing for a job as a firefighter in Charleston this weekend. Please purr for him that the interview goes well, thanks!

Seriously behind on updating

I am getting way behind on updating. My assistants (the ones with the thumbs) have been very busy and haven't taken the time to help me. Mom's Dad was in for Father's Day (and Mom's birthday, and Maggie's too), and then back visiting the last weekend too. He was traveling through on his way to and from Charleston so we got to spend some time with him. He's funny because he calls us funny names.  Huggy Bear is Buggy Hair, and Josie is Jose. I know he had names for Maggie and me, too, but as soon as I started typing I forgot. But I thought Buggy Hair was the best...

I still need to post Maggie's birthday cake pictures. I haven't forgotten.

Dad got in trouble

So on Tuesday we had the delivery men coming. Well, Monday night Mom and Dad were watching tv and they both fell asleep on the couches. They slept until about 5:15 a.m. The whole time, we were playing in the garage with the door to the house cracked for us to come and go. We were very happy that they forgot the door was open. Well, when Mom woke Dad up at 5:15 and said they needed to go up to bed Dad called us in from the garage, saw Maggie, then turned his head to check on HB and Josie. Well, Maggie was quick and slipped back into the garage and Dad ended up locking her in the garage. Fortunately, the delivery guys called around 9 am and said they were on their way and Mom went to wrangle us. She was a little panicked when she couldn't find Maggie. Then she checked the garage and Maggie was crying at the door with a scared voice. (I think she was just working it for the attention.) So Dad got in trouble for that (although he says Maggie bears 10 percent responsibility).

The delivery guys took about three hours to get everything in and set up, but Mom and Dad did get a new washer and dryer, and range and microwave. So overall not too bad. But Mom switched to a gas range, and has told us to stay back from it. No singed cat hair here.

Josie was watching the washer work and she's not to sure about it. It's a front loader so we was watch things swish around. Mom and Dad must have watched it for several minutes. I don't get it, it's not like looking out the windows, or even the tv, but they seem pretty fascinated by it.

Visitors coming

We have visitors coming tomorrow -- well strangers in my book -- and Mom and Dad are pretty excited about it. Apparently some strange men will be taking out our range and microwave and washer and dryer and bringing in new ones. Mom and Dad were up late painting the laundry area. That part was OK once Dad had stopped making all the noise of moving stuff. We got to explore and sniff the opening for the dryer vent and snoopervise. But I'm not sure about people being in the house. Of course, we'll be locked in the bathroom, so let's hope they're quick.

New furniture

Mom and Dad bought new furniture for their bedroom. Mom was so done with the old bedroom furniture, and since Mom and Dad upgraded to a king size bed they needed a new bed frame. So this morning at 7:30 the delivery guys were here. Obviously we couldn't be under foot, so Mom's plan was to put us in the garage. Well, it's cold out there right now, real cold. But Josie and I got swept up and escorted to the garage. But then Huggy Bear and Maggie, who are always wanting to go to the garage, didn't want to go out today. So they got put in the downstairs bathroom -- the hottest room in the house. So not fair!

The delivery guys were quick, though, and got it all set up and took off. So then it was inspection time. Maggie has been sniffing everything, and putting her stink on stuff. Huggy Bear found a spot on the bed right away. I claimed one of the bedside tables. Josie, on the other paw, decided to be mad about the whole garage thing and is staying away. She'll warm up to the new room soon enough. (Warm up, haha, that wasn't even intentional.) Pictures will follow soon.

Tabby Tuesday

We've had such wonderful weather here lately, it's meant extra open window time.


Maggie loves having the windows open. She'll snoopervise everything going on, and there's been a lot going on. Our neighbor does heating and air work, and Mom asked him to come and look at our units to make sure they were OK before the cooler weather came. He was in and out of the house, and even in the attic (Josie looked up the steps to the hatch, but didn't want to climb them). It's a good thing he came, too, because he found mold (yuck!) but was able to get it all cleaned up.

Speaking of cleaning up, on Thursday and Friday, Mom and Dad were in serious clean-up mode. Mom's brother and father came last weekend for the Alabama-South Carolina football game, but Mom's brother is allergic to cats so she had to get all our furs up (and there was a lot of fur!). We had a nice visit, even if his Alabama team lost. We got to put our stink on them when they weren't paying attention, and that's fun too.

You could tell Mom's brother isn't a cat guy because he saw Maggie in the sink and asked, "What's the cat doing in the sink?" Well, duh, why wouldn't a cat be in the sink? It's the best spot in the whole house!

Up close and personal

This is one of my favorite old pictures -- and very meaningful because it was the new camera Mom and Dad got for Christmas in 2007. I can't believe that was 2007, but Flickr says it is, so it must be. So now Mom has her early Christmas camera, and the next pictures will be from the new camera. I'll try to get something up tomorrow, but I'm not promising because -- surprise surprise -- Mom and Dad will be over at the theatre tonight. There's a magic show Friday and Saturday, so this is the tech week where they get the sound and lighting and lobby decorations up (Mom and Dad are doing lobby decorations). But with all that going on, I still think they can upload one picture!

Also this week Mom's dad and brother are coming for a visit. They want to watch the Alabama-South Carolina football game. Mom's brother is allergic to cats, so there's going to be a lot of evening cleaning going on Wednesday and Thursday. Really no point in doing it over the weekend because you know we'd just put all the hair back anyway.

So that's why you get an old picture today -- with the promise of new and exciting coming soon!

A visitor is coming? A new girl cat?

Mom told us that a new girl cat was coming and that she was going to be staying with us. She had us very nervous. First she's down visiting the "almost" brothers down the street, then she talks excitedly about this new girl. We didn't know what to think. Then she arrived ...


It was our Daisy figurine from Endless Whimy! Wheew! She's cute, and took a little attention from Mom, but at least she won't take our food.


We are very happy that we could help with this charity event, and get a cute little "Daisy" cat, too.


She's been hanging out with the little Isabel Bloom cat. I think they're going to be good friends.

Our house is our house again

Our company is gone ... they left this morning and we are now snuggling with Mom and Dad. It was nice having visitors. We got lots of garage time because they needed the outside fridge for overflow food and drinks, so the door was opened a lot. And Brittany, the 16-year-old niece, would play feather on a stick a lot. But there was a lot of feet and movement, which made us just a little nervous. On the other hand, because we were a little unsettled, we got a lot of treats (and ham) for being good.

Little visitor

We had some little visitors over the weekend. The six year old was tough, because he was fast and very interested in us. The nine month old was more our speed.


Look out, Josie, here comes Branden!

We survived the fireworks, although they do seem to keep going off randomly now. But on top of all the fireworks, we also had horrible thunderstorms! Seems we're getting loud noises coming and going.

Uneasy like Sunday morning

I'm not proud of my actions, but I was a little on edge Sunday morning and did what comes natural. Mom and Dad's friends Nikki and Todd spent the night on their way home from vacation. They have three children, Morgan (12), Evan (6) and Branden (9 months). Well, Evan really wanted to pay attention to us, a little too much attention, I guess. He tried to "hug" me, and I decided to try to bite him, then chase him down the stairs and hiss at him from halfway down the stairs just to make it clear that upstairs is mine, and he can stay downstairs. I've only hissed twice before today, once at the vet and once at Maggie, so not my finest hour.


Mom, will you forgive me for chasing Evan and hissing?

Introducing Topi

We have a new "cat" in the family ... it's Topi, the topiary. Mom is very excited about Topi (not as excited as she is about us, but still excited). When she was up in Virginia helping out Lisa, she visited her friend Betsey who owns a nursery and they had these great topiaries called Green Piece Wire Art and Mom just fell in love with Topi. Now Topi sits in the front of our house guarding the front steps. She's the only cat in our family who really likes to get wet.


Isn't she cute?

Mom worked her tail off yesterday getting ready for a dinner meeting last night for a group she volunteers with. It was a great meal according to everyone who was there. We wouldn't know, we were locked in the master bathroom. They only let us out at the end, when everyone's getting ready to go, and there's chaos, but everyone wants to see the cats. And someone even had the nerve to call Josie a big cat!?! That's when I decided to stay upstairs by myself.

Now that things have finally calmed down Mom promised to let me visit all my friends and make comments. I'm sorry I've been absent from the comments lately, but sometimes I needs Mom's thumbs to help me comment and use the mouse.

Special visitors

We had some special visitors Saturday night/Sunday morning. Mom and Dad's friends Lisa and Brian came for a visit to celebrate Lisa's birthday and Gracie (4) and Clara Ann (1) came along and got to spend the night. They were very good, and Dad showed Gracie our new trick of eating treats out of his hands. She liked doing this a lot, which was good for us because, even though we had to work for it some, we got lots of Whisker Lickins.


You can see here Gracie is demonstrating to Maggie how she should open her mouth to get the treat .


Gracie was very sweet with us, even though she did shoo me away from the dining room when she was helping Dad set the table. I guess she hasn't learned that I'm allowed in there because I don't beg like some other Mancat in the house does.


Josie showed off a little for Gracie. She did the circus bear pose (Mom's favorite) to get her treat. Josie is very agile.


Josie is probably the most cautious of all of us. She was very good with Clara Ann, though. She would let her get near, but not too close. Clara Ann is just mastering this whole two-legs thing, so Clara Ann would approach Josie, then Josie would give her a sniff and head off, which would lead to a whole "wobble after Josie's tail" adventure.


Josie figured out the Clara Ann couldn't quite follow the maze of under-bread-cabinet to the stools. This didn't stop Clara Ann from trying!


Even Huggy Bear got in the action of the treats. I think he was Gracie's favorite.


There was one issue, though. It seems that Gracie ended up in Mom and Dad's bed. When Dad first cleared the space and put pillows up so she wouldn't roll off, I tested the spot, but left when Gracie showed up. Huggy Bear hopped up, took one look at Gracie between Mom and Dad, and left. Josie spent a little time under the covers as close to Mom as she could get, and sheltered from Gracie's feet by Mom's arm, but she got hot and left. I think Maggie got a little jealous, because in the morning she was sleeping so close to Mom! I think she was sending a message that this was her Mom, and she'll share her with Josie, HB and me, but that's it.

It was a very nice visit, and Gracie asked when she could come visit and spend the night again, so maybe soon. If she keeps feeding us treats, she's welcome any time.

A very scary moment

The weather has been so nice here that we've been enjoying some open window time. Tonight Mom had opened the front windows in the dining room that are low to the ground. Mom and Dad were eating dinner while watching some TV when suddenly there was this crashing sound. They rushed in to see the screen pulled out, bent toward the outside, and with Maggie near the windowsill. It was dark outside and Mom and Dad couldn't see if any of us had jumped out, but a quick headcount revealed all but Josie. Mom went outside to look and Dad got a flashlight. Mom found a cat (Zoe, the neighbor's cat) and Dad found Josie inside (thankfully). Apparently Zoe saw Maggie and pulled the screen out trying to visit. This screen wasn't in the best shape, Dad suspects, which is why it could be pulled out, but now Mom and Dad are on high alert with the open windows. And with that screen messed up that means another closed window...

Maggie's close encounters

Maggie is getting all the fun close encounters lately. We had some little sticky people come visit and we were all a big hit. Their mom kept saying "they're so big" about Huggy Bear and I -- she even said HB looked like a bear before she knew his name was "Bear." But the funniest encounter was between Maggie and the littlest one,around eight months old. He was getting his diaper changed on the floor and Maggie was investigating when suddenly he reached out to investigate her. She jumped back, then darted for the open coat closet door and safety. She also had an exciting encounter on her second stroller ride. She saw a fire truck go roaring by, and she also saw some sprinklers running. (She didn't really trust the sprinklers, even though they were on the opposite side of the street.) Mom and Dad (and Maggie, too) are really enjoying their evening walks.

Company gone already?

It seemed like everyone was gone just as they arrived, although Mom's family stayed six days. Overall we had a good, uneventful visit. We were definitely the hit of the visit, especially Huggy Bear who really took a liking to Mom's Dad and followed him around and hung out with him. We also got tons of garage time because with extra people here they had to us the garage refrigerator, which meant if we camped out long enough we'd get a chance to slip out into the garage. (OK, I did hiss at Mom's step-mom twice, but I was just asserting my authority, although now I know it wasn't necessary.) I can't wait for them to visit again.

Company coming

Mom's family is coming for a visit, which means she's cleaning like crazy (crazy, because we think the house looks fine decorated with cat hair). Her brother and nephew are both allergic to cats so Mom's really trying to get everything un-cat-haired-up. This will be their first visit to the house, and the first time meeting all of us, so we're very excited. We'll have a lot of new people to put our stink on, and that's one of our favorite things to do. Like last night, Mom and Dad's friend Tish came over for a quick visit and I had to sniff her (it's my thing) and she leaned down for me to smell her breath, but then I smelled the chlorine in her hair from her pool and I couldn't get enough. I had my nose buried in her hair for almost a minute sniffing. She got tickled and I didn't get to put my stink on her, but I kind of liked her stink as it was anyway.

Company for dinner

Mom had a group over for dinner last night (chicken breasts stuffed with herbs and goat cheese, but did we get any? no!) so we spent a good bit of the night curled up napping in the big bathroom. I was already asleep in the sink when Dad carried Maggie in. Josie came along beside him as he talked to her and Huggy Bear pranced in right behind because he knew something was going on. Of course, it was treats and a shut door. But things go better later because Mom and Dad let us out to socialize after dinner was done. We had eight new people to sniff at, and to pick us up and oooh and aaah over us. As usual you hear the exclamations of "look how big he is" (me), and "how cute" (Maggie), "she's so pretty" (Josie) and "what a sweetie" (Huggy Bear). The visiting makes the bathroom time worth it, for sure...

Crazy Sunday

Sunday started as a crazy day and just kept on being crazy. For starters, Maggie was playing with the blinds in Mom and Dad's bedroom windows and one of her claws got stuck. She let out the most awful cry and I came running with the low run and gave a defensive growl. Huggy Bear was right behind me, also coming to the rescue and Josie was hurrying up from downstairs. Dad released Maggie from the blinds and freed her.

But then, later in the evening, just to keep the crazy going, we had an uninvited visitor. Now you know we try to be hospitable, but Mom and Dad were working in the yard and had the big garage door open and out of the blue this stranger cat comes into OUR garage and sprays our stuff! The nerve of him! Now we aren't allowed in our own garage until Mom and Dad are able to de-stink it so we don't suddenly get the urge to spray it ourselves.

Hopefully the rest of the week will be more normal...