On the counter

While Josie hung out on the floor, I took a commanding position on the counter. Aren't bathrooms great? 

"Maggie bias"

I was accused of having a "Maggie bias" in my recent set of pictures and neglecting Josie. I must apologize, but come on, Maggie is a kitten and kittens do deserve their share of face time on the blog! But I must also acknowledge that Josie pictures have been lacking. I really like this one, because her face is so pretty and her eyes are captured well, even if the color seems slightly distorted by the bathroom lights. We close our eyes so quickly with the flash that "natural" light captures us best, despite the sometimes sepia coloration.

Where is she?!?

Well, it looks like Mom is gone off to Iowa for a week. Can you believe that? Who could stand to leave us for a whole week? At least Dad is here, and his long day is done -- dropped Mom at the airport at 5:45 a.m., then to work since he was already right there, then teach a workshop for new patients from 6:30-7:30 p.m. We thought he'd never get home! (And I don't think he did either.) But he gives us good loving attention when he's home, and shared some pork with us. More a treat for the others. I've never been a fan of table food. Anyhow, he miss Mom and know she misses us, but she'll be home soon -- just in time for Dad's birthday.

Mom's new purse

Mom got a new purse yesterday and it looked like a perfect travelling purse for Maggie (ha!) but Mom learned better when Maggie decided maybe she should eat the handle instead. Of course, once she was in, she didn't want out either. Girls and their purses!

Face trim

This is me with my face cleaned up. They trimmed my chops a little and shaped my hair. I feel sleek and little now.

My runway

My runway ... When we went to the beauty shop they "cleaned up" our rears and belly in what they call a "sanitary clipping" but if you ask me, it's just a little embarrasing...

Letter to a dog

Dad read Mom and me this letter to a dog from Dog Eat Doug and it is very funny. Dogs are silly.

A day of beauty

We all had a day of beauty today. Josie, Huggy Bear and I all went to the groomer's and had baths and got brushed and trimmed (they did trim our butts and bellies a little more than we expected ... there's a bit of a draft, but "our runway" will grow back soon...) and while we were away, Maggie got a bath from Mom and Dad. Although Mom and Dad expected me to misbehave, it turned out that Huggy and I were very good, but Josie showed her spunk -- she hissed, clawed and give that lady a piece of her mind! But in the end, it was worth it, I think, except I really don't like the car...

Huggy in hiding

Mom and Dad kept hearing a THUMP-Thump-thump, THUMP-Thump-thump, which is usually the sound of Huggy Bear hitting one of the cabinet doors trying to open it. So dad checked the kitchen and both bathrooms, but didn't see Huggy. But the sound continued. He even went into his bathroom and opened the cabinet, expecting Huggy to come darting out -- but nothing! And the sound continued (kind of Edgar Allen Poe-ish, if you ask me). They assumed that it was the neighbor's son banging the cabinet door in their bathroom which shares the wall. Finally, Dad checked under his sink again, this time opening it and getting low to look all around. And there he was, sitting on a stack of towels and looking at Dad like, "What took you so long?!?"

Sink time

OK ... enough pictures of the baby ... sure she's cute and all, but look at me! I like to find refuge in the sink of Mom's bathroom. It's cool and peaceful, and Mom and Dad are always amazed that I actually fit in it.

Sleeping on Mom

Maggie asleep on Mom's shoulder. Just look how sweet she is...

Book time with Mom

Mom just loves Laurie Notaro's books. She is so funny. Maggie climbed up with Mom and tried to read some of the funny stories, but then realized 1) she can't read, and 2) even if she could read, she might not be able to relate to the Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, so she decided to sleep instead.

Collar playtime

This is Maggie with her collar. It's still too big for it, but Huggy Bear will get it down for her every now and then so she can play with the bell.

Sweet little girl

Mom and Dad just love this sweet picture of the little baby. She got so curled up, and even covered her eyes (or her nose, she was near Dad's stinky feet) while she slept.

Hug on the rug

When Dad got up this morning, he found Huggy sleeping in front of the washing machine with the rug all balled up. Makes you wonder what goes on all night, huh?

Bad day...

Today has been what Mom called "bodily fluid day."

You see, since Maggie has been in the house, she has had her large carrier (about two feet by three feet) so she had a place of her own, and it had a half-size litter box perfect for a little kitten. Well, despite their best efforts, Mom and Dad were unable to keep us bigger kittens from the litter box, and it became our box of preference, which was really bugging Dad since he's the one who cleans it at night, and let me tell you ... a half-sized litter box can't hardly handle what we can dish out! So Dad decided it was about time that Maggie start using the regular box. He did some serious cleaning last night, then showed Maggie the new box twice.

This morning, there is quite a poop stench that Dad noticed as he was getting ready. He looked around, checked out the big litter box for deposits that missed or were kicked out, looking in Maggie's carrier (sans small litter box), sniffed Huggy's butt (just in case) and deducted that someone REALLY needed to go. A little while later, Mom instant messages Dad at work and reports that someone used the plant again, and did it big time! So big time, that she has ruled out Maggie and suspects a disgruntled bigger cat who liked the little litter box. So Mom had to clean the plant, and did manage to stop Maggie from using the plant and got her to the box just in time.

To top things off, I threw up two hairballs in Dad's bathroom and one got on the bathroom mat. And Mom found that and had to clean it up too. And she was not happy about it.

Great day

We had a great Labor Day ... an extra day with Dad and the weather was so nice that we were able to open the windows.

Dad also did something funny today. He was helping clean a cast-iron skillet (I guess that's not the easiest kitchen task, especially for a Dad) and he forgot he had filled a pitcher with water for the plants. Well, he hit the pitcher with his elbow, spilled a bunch of water trying to catch it with his one free hand (other hand holding heavy, hot skillet) and then set it upright, but not completely so the sloshing water upended the pitcher again and Dad caught it again, spilling more water. This startled Huggy, who is usually a good kitchen helper. Dad cleaned up all his watery mess, then took the throw rug out of the kitchen to hang so it could dry and, to Huggy's excitement, he revealed a hidden straw to play with. Everything for a reason, that's what I say...

A game worth napping through

Maggie watched the Tennessee/UAB football game with Dad Saturday. Well, Dad watched. Maggie decided to sleep. She got bored watching Tennessee struggle to a 17-10 lackluster victory. I'm Dad's "Big Orange" cat. I sat in the chair by Dad and watched the whole game with him.

Getting the blinds

Huggy Bear has taught Maggie to get the twisty rod of the blinds in the office. The futon was down after Aunt Tiff's visit, but Mom and Dad set it back up this morning and Maggie wasted no time getting the rod swinging.

Sleeping under the bed

Huggy slept under the bed last night. He doesn't hide too well though. His back feet were sticking out.

Hiding from Maggie

After Mom and Dad vacuumed, a few things ended up on the table. The box provided a good hiding place for Josie while Maggie (climbing on the back of the chair) looked for her. They play well together, but I think Josie had had enough and needed a break.

Busted!

While Huggy and Josie had their naughty moments, and I ate my share of power cords, we never did this: Maggie pooped in one of the plants! Mom and Dad have river rocks in the plants to discourage that kind of behavior, but I guess she's so little that it didn't deter her. (The pile of rocks was a bit of a giveaway, though.)

Sleeping baby

She's so cute when she's sleeping...

Photo lineup

Mom tried to take a "photo lineup" of us, from smallest to biggest. It kind of turned into the opposite of Dog's Playing Poker.

Belly scratches

I was being so good that Mom gave me some good belly scratches. I love belly scratches!

Napping together

I took a nap with my new little buddy. To be fair, I never really cuddled the same with Josie and Huggy, but Maggie is pretty persistent, so I stop fighting and just enjoy the company. Isn't she tiny?

Hello, again

Well, I can't explain what I did different. Maybe it was the fear of the wrath of a big orange cat, or maybe the people at Hello wanted to see more pictures of the baby kitten, but it's up and working again. So say goodbye to blah blah blah text only and say Hello to some cute pictures!

(Sorry ... I reposted the pictures of Lizzie and Alpine scratcher so I lost your comments ... but we're all back to normal now.)

Alpine scratching

The two girls have been having a lot of fun with the Alpine Scratcher. Maggie really enjoys climbing the scratcher and jumping onto the chairs or trying to pounce one of her siblings. Josie is being very good about teaching her to scratch the scratcher instead of the chairs. Let's just hope she learns good habits from Josie, and not bad habits from Huggy (he's already teaching her to eat eat eat...)

Licking Lizzie

This is Lizzie. She is Morgan's dog. Lizzie was a rescue puppy and was adopted by the Kings last Christmas. My mom says she is a very sweet girl and loves to lick, lick, lick. She is laying in one of her favorite spots...the A/C vent. 

Picture trouble

Although Hello seems to actually work for others, I am still having trouble and Dad wrote to Hello to see what's up. In the meantime, I am using Blogger to post pictures, but it appears that with Internet Explorer, the picture dorks up my titles over my posts (although it looks fine with Firefox) ... so who knows? So please bear with me while I try to keep things looking right as I work through this photo issue (and Dad works through his frustrations).

No photos lately

Dad has been trying to help me get Hello to start working again. It's not communicating with Blogger right now, so I haven't been able to put up pictures. I actually saw how to use Blogger to do pictures, but Dad and I would like to know what happened with Hello ... I just want to know. It bugs me. Has this been happening to anyone else who uses Hello?

Sleepy girl

Baby Maggie got all hunkered in Mom and Dad's comforter the other night and took a good nap while they watched TV. She has been playing so hard with us that when she gets tired, she crashes, but when she's awake, look out!

Big night for Maggie

Last night, little Maggie spent her first night out of her carrier and hanging out with us. she did so good. She slept with Mom and Dad some and didn't get into any apparent mischief. I bet she sleeps good today, though.

Blingo is my name-o

Mom and Dad have found a new search site called Blingo that uses Google and gives prizes randomly with your searches. The search results are just like with Google (with a few "sponsored links"). And if you CLICK HERE to sign up, when you win, Mom and Dad win too. So sign up and invite your friends to sign up under you and win cool stuff.

All in the family

Maggie has really taken to being a member of the family. She is really keeping Huggy Bear and Josie busy. Huggy pretty much hovers around her like a curious big brother and Josie has settled down from her hissing and even gave her a bath today. And this afternoon, after a lot of hard playtime, Maggie curled up and took a nap on Mom. I'll post some cute pictures soon.

"Down" right naughty Huggy

Sure, it may have been Josie, but Huggy sure looked guilty the other night when Mom saw him investigating the down comforter. So when Dad moved it today and feathers went a-flying, you can guess who got the blame. Mom and Dad calmly dealt with it ... Dad gathered as many of the feathers as he could while Mom stitched the two neat gashes. It's up high now, and considering that it was 101 degrees with a heat index nearing 119, I don't think Mom and Dad will be needing it right now anyway.

Brief introduction

Maggie got a brief introduction to the rest of us today. She's had a few moments of quick sniffs with Huggy when he darts in or she darts out, but today she got to freely roam from room to room. Mostly Huggy stuck by her side, sniffing at her, patting her and directing her. At one moment, Maggie pounced him from the side and despite being outweighed by 10 pounds, she managed to make Huggy roll. It was very funny.

She caught me by surprise and being a wise and cautious cat, I found a comfortable chair to watch Huggy and Maggie's antics. Josie, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with any of it. She went in to Mom and Dad's room and curled up safely under Mom's chest of drawers.

She's back in the bathroom for now. She's going to get a flea check later tonight, then maybe some more exploration.

Visiting with Maggie

Huggy Bear has shown why, before Mom and Dad adopted him, they called him Bullet. He is quick to dart into the bathroom and sniff Maggie and try to eat her wet food. Maggie is due to get her distemper shot this weekend. Then Mom and Dad will be more comfortable with us visiting her.

By the way, it's obvious Maggie has the same mom as Huggy, because she's just as quick to try to dart out when Dad steps out of the bathroom. She almost got her head shut in the door last night!

Maggie and the toilet paper roll

Maggie has been playing in Dad's bathroom while she recovers from her surgery. She has been staying most of the time in a large carrier, but she gets a lot of "out of the carrier" play time. Yesterday, she discovered the toilet paper roll and unrolled several sheets of TP. She had a blast chasing and wrestling the paper and Mom and Dad would dangle it for her and she would to the spread-eagle leap at it and rip it from their hands. Bring back memories, doesn't it?

Big day for little girl

Maggie's surgery was scheduled for Tuesday when the vet planned on coming in on his day off to do it, but plans changed and Maggie was slipped in today. She got her right eye removed successfully, and the doctor said her eye stitched up well and will look smooth and neat when her swelling goes down. She's already eating and playing and purring like nothing ever happened. Mom and Dad are very proud of her for being such a good trooper.

(The vet went ahead and spayed her while she was under so she wouldn't have to be anesthesized a second time, so that's out of the way too. She's so little that her incession is just so tiny!)

Fuzzy underbelly

Dad really gets a kick out of my fuzzy underbelly when I'm on cat stand. Look at all my hair!

Cat stand

Today was a great day for a nap in the cat stand.

Helping Mom in the kitchen

Mom has been baking individual-sized breads for Dad's patients as part of their Patient Appreciation Week they are doing at his office. Huggy likes to help mom by laying right in front of the kitchen sink where Mom wants to be standing.