Not exactly a cat bed

We had a monstrosity of a cabinet in our garage that we were keeping for a friend who got transferred and moved quickly. It stayed in the garage longer than expected, until a few weekends ago when they were back in town and picked it up. So while the garage is still cluttered, there's one big thing no longer there. But when it moved, the pool float that our friends the twins use ended up on the garage floor. Needless to say, I had to try it out as a cat bed.


It actually was OK, although this is one time it's probably best I am declawed in the front, since it is still inflated.

But what really makes this picture special is that I am matching Mom's original cat Fluffy from one of Mom's favorite pictures.


Here he is curled up in the inner tube for the beach. He was a pretty cool cat, from what I understand. He definitely had style. So I'm honored that I was able to do a tribute shot.

It's not ALL Dad's fault...

...but I'd say it is easily 90 percent Dad's fault.

As you know, Mom and Dad have been having to deal with some renovation issues in the house following the upstairs water pipe breaking. The master bathroom is almost done, thankfully. The new tile is in and looks good. Mom and Dad bought a new toilet, so they decided to paint the part of the wall they couldn't get to because of the old toilet. Dad did a good job painting, and didn't get any paint on the floor.

BUT, he left the paint lid on the bathroom counter right beside our water bowl. And Josie hopped up to get some water and got paint all over her side and one back paw. Fortunately Dad realized before she got down and tracked paint everywhere. She was such a trooper while Dad held her and Mom bathed off the paint. She's all cleaned up and OK, but it was no fun at all.

We're locked in the garage today (a new sequester since we started tearing up the carpet in the room we were in trying to get out). But today should be our final lock-out day. Please keep your paws crossed that this ordeal will end today and we will get our house put back together. It's about to drive Mom crazy (Dad's already crazy).

Locked in the garage!

Can you believe it? Dad's little girl, Josie, slipped past him and into the garage without him noticing, and she spent the night in the dark garage. Mom and Dad are feeding the neighbor's cats, and Sunday morning Dad was walking back to the house and heard someone meowing from in the garage. He rushed into the house and poor Josie was locked in there in the dark. He gave her lots of love and treats. It looks like her rescued her, but we all know he's the one who locked her in there in the first place. Dad's now on cat-count duty before the garage door gets closed.

Toad rescue

So the other night Dad was putting some stuff in the garage and saw a little toad in there, so he ushered it out to safety. We would have toadally helped him if only he had toad us it was out there. Seriously.

Wild Sunday

We had a very wild Sunday. Earlier in the evening Mom let us in the garage. It wasn't two minutes later she glanced in the garage and called to Dad, "There's a dead lizard in the garage!" And then she shut the door with us out there. So Dad gears up with some paper towels to dispense of the dead lizard, but when he opens the door there's no lizard. "It must not have been dead," he told Mom as he stepped into the garage to investigate. Well, after my ordeal of being locked in the garage over night last week, I wasted no time busting into the house. Then Josie was right behind me. Good thing Mom was paying attention because she called for Dad, "Josie's got it in her mouth!" Josie was trying to bring the dead lizard into the house to show Mom and Dad. Well, Dad scooped her up and she put the lizard down for him in the garage. Sure enough, Josie had found a small skink and played with it until it broke. She is a very good huntress.


Here is the broken skink. You can understand why Mom didn't want this in the house. It was about four inches long minus the tail. (Dad never found the tail.)

Well, this was just the beginning of the adventures on Sunday. Later that night our friend Samantha came over to ride bikes with Mom. But Samantha was feeling guilty about not spending time with her crazy dog Louie. So Dad offered to walk Louie while they rode bikes. That was fine, I guess, if Dad wants to show some pity to a dog. But then, after the rides and walk, Mom, Dad, Samantha and Louie all went to the back deck to hang out, enjoy the nice night and talk.


I'm not sure how clear it is in this picture, but we do not approve. We disapprove like a rabbit disapproves. Josie got up against the door and whapped the door while hissing. I was very puffed up and roaming the back of the couch patrolling. Maggie was the only one who really didn't seem too concerned. I think we made it clear that dogs are not welcome on our back deck, or in our house. We were getting so agitated that Dad actually took us to the bathroom so we could calm down. When we came out later Louie was gone. Apparently he likes to be chased by cats. He thinks it's a funny game. All I have to say to Louie is this: look at that skink and consider yourself warned. (OK, he is cute, I'll give him that...)

Dad is in trouble!

Last night we were playing in the garage. When Dad called us in to shut the garage door and head to bed, he didn't do a head count, and guess what -- I spent the night in the garage! Yeah, talk about feeling the love. I apparently wasn't missed at all. Sure, usually by that time of night I have settled into a spot upstairs, but that doesn't mean he gets away with not double-checking. But I did get to bug hunt, and there is a litter box out there. But I know Dad's going the be more careful from here out. On the plus side, I got a bunch of treats for my inconvenience.

On the hunt again/food protest

A while back we were very fortunate and won some Science Diet Hairball Formula cat food from The Creek Cats. We really liked it, and there were noticeably fewer hairballs, which Mom and Dad liked. So Dad went to the pet store to get some. Admittedly, he had a little sticker shock when he realized we were given probably $80 worth of cat food to try. But he said he loves us, and bought us a big $33 bag of cat food. But Dad thought he'd tricky and get us the Light version (apparently two or three of us could stand to lose a pound). Well, Dad -- we don't like the Light version. Seriously, he's not rushing out to get the light version of his food, and I've seen the direction of his graph on the Wii Fit... I'm just saying.

So today Mom was home not feeling 100 percent. She let us go play in the garage while she was resting. Next thing she knows there's Huggy Bear tearing through the bedroom and going into the bathroom. Right behind him is Josie and Maggie. She's seen this before, and didn't like where it was heading. When Mom looked in the bathroom, sure enough, HB had brought in another skink. He had deposited it right at our food bowl, I suspect as a sign of protest to the light food. I imagine the symbolism: see Dad, even this dead lizard won't eat this food -- no matter how good for us you say it is; or maybe, how about some lizard for dinner?

I don't know what HB is fussing about, Dad's given him ham the past two mornings while making his lunch. But me, I'm getting hungry.

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.

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.

Protecting Mom from a skink

Mom's been home sick this whole week, so we've been tasked with monitoring her and making sure she gets enough rest. We've also had to protect her, apparently. On Tuesday Mom was feeling a little bit better and while she was in the kitchen she let us in the garage for some playtime. While we were out there we found a lizard. More specifically, we found a skink. If you're not too familiar with skinks, I think it's what you get when a lizard and a snake have a baby.

Here's what happened:

Mom opened the door from the house to the garage (with the big outside garage door shut). As soon as we get out there she hears all kinds of ruckus. She looks, and Huggy Bear has the skink in his mouth and is running toward the door to show Mom. Mom, less excited than Huggy Bear, quickly shuts the door -- locking us IN THE GARAGE! Well, the door to the garage has a big peep hole, so Mom is watching us play with the skink while she calls Dad to tell him he has to come home and remove the skink from the garage so we can come back in.

In the meantime, we're still playing with the skink. There is a drop cloth on the garage floor from a project Mom and Dad are working on. Well, the skink got under the drop cloth. But that didn't stop us from playing with him. Mom looked out and saw me and HB and Josie on the drop cloth. (Maggie was off doing her own thing.) After a while Mom checked on us and we all looked bored so she opened the door and Huggy Bear came in (no lizard). Then Maggie followed, hoping for some treats. I came in next -- Mom was being very careful to bring us in one at a time in case we tried to sneak the lizard in to play with later. Josie had to be coaxed in because she was determined to make sure that skink didn't try anything tricky. But finally Josie came in too.

Since we came in without the skink Dad didn't have to come home at lunch. So when Dad got home that evening he checked the garage. Apparently we broke our skink. He found a tail bit by the steps and a broken skink under the drop cloth. He has pictures but hasn't uploaded them. The skink was silvery-blue with stripes, probably six or seven inches long -- nothing Mom ever wants in the house again. (Again, because of this incident in 2008.)

I guess the lesson here is, if you have a lizard or a skink to play with, check with Mom forst before inviting her to play -- especially if she's not feeling good. And be careful with your skink/lizard because if you break it they aren't nearly as fun to play with. On the other hand -- once you break your lizard you will get all kinds of treats from Mom.

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.

The Secret Project sneak-peek

Dad has been working on a "secret project" and had hoped to finish it this weekend, but it is taking just a little bit longer than he expected. Mom and Dad grabbed a bunch of cardboard boxes a while back from when the theatre got new lights. They are all uniform sizes, and Dad cut them down to size to make a mega-scratcher.


Here, Huggy Bear is inspecting some of the pieces that Dad has cut out. Huggy Bear is always a big helper when it comes to projects in the garage.


This is the scratcher with some random objects on it to weight it down. The scratching edge is pretty uniform, but Dad is trying to sand out the bottom and back to make it cleaner, then the sides will be painted. The sanding is taking more than expected. Hopefully we'll have a finished project to show you soon. This is the first attempt, and Mom and Dad have plans for shapes and designs and other things once Dad figures out the challenges and pitfalls.

Thoughtful Thursday

I know there is an awful winter storm coming through that might be affecting a lot of our cat friends. I hope everyone is safe and warm and has power during this bad weather. A few recommendations:


Find a warm bed to curl up on, or to perch on the edge, like Huggy Bear is doing here.


If you have to check out the weather, do if through the window and not out in the snow and ice.


Escape to somewhere tropical, like a bucket by a palm tree (in this case, in the garage).


Or wrap you tail around your nose to keep it warm.

Stay safe and warm everyone!

How many cats can you find?

Dad took this picture of the garage to see if you could find one of us in the picture. After he looked at he, he found another one of us that he didn't even realize was there. How many of us can you find?

Finally Friday: Flying out on Friday

Mom and Dad got up very early and flew out to Cincinnati to watch Aunt Kelly play the tuba in her senior recital at The University of Miami at Ohio. We're excited about them coming home, not just because we don't like when they are gone, but because when they come home they are putting up the Christmas trees. Yes, that's right, trees. Three of them! That's three times the tree-terror from Maggie. So even though we're not happy about them leaving, it means we're that much closer to having an indoor forest.


Unfortunately, we won't get garage time with Mom and Dad gone. This was a rare moment the other day, when I allowed Maggie to snuggle with me on an old comforter in the garage. I'm realizing that I am a cold weather cat, and I really like to hang out in the cool garage this time of year, even though Mom and Dad insist I'm nuts and that a warm blanket is better.

I guess Dragonheart and Merlin are still having some computer issues because they haven't updated in almost a month. I hope they get the issues resolved because I miss those guys.

Maggie Monday

Mom and Dad spent all weekend in the garage cleaning, consolidating and organizing. This was torture for us, since we had to sit inside and listen to them in the garage. Maggie is especially upset because the garage is her favorite place to be -- specifically, high up on the stack of boxes in the garage. The thing is, that stack of boxes is gone, replaced by just a couple of boxes. Mom and Dad made sure to leave a space for her with some blankets, but the path up is not as good, and the stack is not nearly as high. Maggie wanted to know if there was some appeal process, maybe a Cat Blogosphere governing body she could turn to, to get her boxes back, but I think Mom is very happy with the garage now, so I think it's staying the way it is.


"Mom, where did all my boxes go?"

Happy Halloween

We were supposed to be helping Mom and Dad carve pumpkins last night, but instead we decided to explore the plants that are now in the garage and hunt for moths.


I was nice and shared my box with Maggie. The box was a great place to investigate the dwarf banana tree that Dad dragged in last night when the temperature dropped.


There was also a moth, which got us excited, but then it flew up high where we couldn't go, and it became a lot less fun.


Huggy used the box to try to get a better view of the moth, but no luck.


In the end, we all came back inside from the chilly garage and the jack-o-lanterns went out for a test run. We just did three this year, and sadly no cat pumpkins like last year, but this is a busy Halloween (being on a Friday) and Mom won't even get to hand out candy, and Dad will only be able to give some to the early ones. But it will still be fun to see the little trick-or-treaters come around.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Easy Like Sunday

Thanks again to everyone who came by and enjoyed the Week of Jasper. I think it's time for me to find Josie and Huggy Bear and Maggie and see what they've been up to all week. It's been a nice week with the windows open, so we've had a lot of patrolling to do. I had to look around the house to see where everyone was.


Then I saw that the garage door. "Anyone out here?" And then I saw them! "That's where you've been hanging out all week!"


Josie likes to stretch out on the cool garage floor.


Huggy Bear was sitting by the pile of boxes. These boxes were for a friend who was moving, but who never came to get them so hopefully one day they will become a super cool cat fort for us.


Maggie is in her favorite high perch on top of some boxes. This is where she always goes in the garage.

Welcome back to the blog guys! I know you've got some pictures you want to share next week.

Tattle Tail Tuesday

This should have been a Tuxie Tuesday and a Tabby Tuesday all wrapped up in one talking about strollers and walks and good stuff like that. It was all planned with pictures of Maggie and everything. But then Monday's "Garage Incident of 2008" happened. I guess I'm partly to blame, but I'm putting most of the guilt on Mom. Here's what happened...

See, our prediction on the end of the garage embargo was correct. Come Saturday Huggy Bear and Maggie had persisted enough that Dad caved at allowed us back into the garage. So Monday morning Mom was giving us some garage time. She had an errand to run, and she saw that Maggie and Josie and Huggy Bear had come in from the garage. Now, I had been spending most of my time upstairs on the craft table (my new favorite spot) so Mom didn't even suspect that I was in the garage when she shut the door and turned off the light! And then she left me out there while she ran her errand. Then, once she returned, she called Dad and while she was talking she commented that Maggie was pestering her and biting her and been especially needy. Sounds like Maggie was trying to tell Mom something, if you ask me.

Suddenly, Mom realized that she hadn't seen me in a while and opened the door to the garage and here I come, trotting in. On the plus side, Mom did give me some Temptations.


This is Maggie doing her re-enactment of trying to tell Mom that I'm shut in the garage.


Here I am back on my new favorite spot. I guess I should just stick to the table for a while, huh?

Thankful Thursday

We received two awards on Tuesday (Two for Tuesday?)

Thanks to The Island Cats for giving us the Gold Card award!

I want to pass this along to Ginger, William and Scooby, Shaggy and Scout because they've been there since the beginning.

Sweet Praline passed on the I Love Your Blog award.

I'm supposed to pass this on to seven others. (I hope I'm not overlapping anyone.) First, Gandalf and Grayson for their interactive Tuesday stories, Four Furry Cats for the Story Chair, Victor and Nina, Chase, Kaze and Latte all together, Diva Kitty and the buns, meep, Twizzler and Bear, and PB&J! I could link everyone, of course, because I love all of your blogs, but I had to pick seven.

And while we're giving thanks, how about a big "thanks a whole lot" to Dad, who told Mom about the dead lizard he found in the poop room. We have a boot mat that is supposed to be to put your muddy boots, but since Mom and Dad have no muddy boots they have it in front of the litter box to catch the kick outs. Well, we hid the "overplayed with" lizard under the mat so Mom wouldn't find it. But Dad was cleaning up and lifted the mat and there it was, looking like a used up toy. He grabbed it real quick in case it was playing possum (can a lizard really play possum ... good question for Daisy) so Dad grabbed it with a paper towel and put it in the bag with the scooped litter. "Tough guy" acted so quick that he didn't even take the time to get a picture of our big game hunting.

So the "thanks a lot" is because, now that Mom knows of a second lizard in the house, that means no garage time until it cools down some and the lizards find some other place to hang out. (We'll see how long this lasts ... I say about a week.)


Here's Huggy Bear guarding the crack that lets the lizards (and spiders and frogs) in. He's been like a gargoyle in the garage guarding the two edges of the door whenever he can get in there.


Maggie's always ready to help in the hunt, but she's giving Dad that innocent, "I'm just watching" look. Since we've been banned from the garage, now we're just staring at random corners around the house to freak Mom out until she lets us back in the garage.