Wordless Wednesday - Undercover Kitties

Tabby Toesies Tuesday

My mom just loves Maggie's toesies! To tell you the whole truth, she loves all of our toesies, but Maggie has one very unique paw that I think my mom really favors. It's her creamsicle paw. It's so crazy -- she has three regular tabby cat paws and one ginger paw! Mom has called it her creamsicle paw since she was a tiny kitten. I guess she really is my sister if she's part ginger.

Thanks Meep!

We are so honored and humbled to be nominated by Meep for this award. It really means a lot to us over here. We really try to focus on the good things in life. Life is good for us McKitten-Cats and we can only hope to spread that love around. Thanks again Meep!

We would like to nominate all of the kitties at catblogosphere because each and every one of you have such a special place in our hearts, but my mom said we needed to pick three. So here they are....We would like to nominate William, Finny and Buddy, and Scooby, Shaggy and Scout. We picked William because he is one of the first blogs we went to and he has always been so welcoming and nice to us. Finny and Buddy because their blog makes us laugh and their mommy does very nice things for people (like her long, long bike ride for MS). And SSS and their mom - They always have the nicest things to say and are very encouraging like when my mom and dad took in Maggie and her litter. They always had good advise and encouraging words. Thanks every kitten for all the nice you put out there.

Big helpers

Mom and Dad labored on Labor Day, painting the bonus room over the garage. Maggie helped pick out the colors. Mom knows what fabric she wants the curtains made from, so we needed to match up the colors. Maggie has a good eye for that (really, no pun intended).


Maggie is very dedicated to helping match the colors. She really likes the fabric, and the strings that come off of it.


Huggy Bear helped during the painting by holding the drop cloth in place. He'd also check to see if the paint was dry yet by brushing his tail against the wall. Luckily, it was usually dry.

Wordless Wednesday

It's not our fault

It was bound to happen at some point ... it's not really our fault. You see, Mom and Dad were working out in the front yard ... Dad pushing the thing that eats the grass and Mom pulling the weeds that seem to grow when nothing else will. Dad had taken a load of clippings to the compost pile across the street in the woods and was heading back with the Gorilla Cart (one of Mom and Dad's favorite things ever!) and Mom thought she heard a "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle" ... and then Mom looks up and said "Oh, NO!" Dad came running to see that the front door hadn't latched correctly, and the door had breezed open a crack. It was enough that we were able to brave a second outside. Well, not "we" because I was sitting on the inside steps saying, "Guys, I don't think that's a great idea," but Huggy Bear and Josie and Maggie all ventured out onto the front porch. As soon as Mom yelled Maggie darted straight in, then Josie and Huggy Bear. Now, every now and then, Maggie will sit by the front door like she wants out or something. She doesn't realize there are mean dogs and fast cars and no food bowls outside.

I think Maggie has been pacified with a lot of garage time, though. Last night Dad gave us tons of garage time because Mom and Dad are painting the bonus room over the garage (we helped pick the colors and supervised a lot -- pics to come later), but when Maggie was in the garage she cornered a frog! Dad came in to see the frog hopping and hopping as Maggie watched and swatted playfully at it. Dad wrangled all of us out of the garage and let the frog escape, but Maggie and Josie have been patrolling ever since, ever vigilant for intruders!

To top things off ... Tuesday morning Maggie made another attempt at slipping out, with Huggy close behind. The termite inspector stopped her at the door, but I think she wanted to go out and hunt for that frog again.

Kitten fever

Have you been reading about Dinah and the Mites? Their adventures are too cute. Between them and the Lucy and the "littles" over at Grr, Midnight and Cocoa, I think Mom is getting kitten fever. Let's hope she eats her chicken noodle soup and gets over this fever soon ... yikes!

Good-bye Ubee, Oscar the puppycat, and Anastasia


We will miss you all...Ubee, Oscar,and Anastasia. and Brendan





Answers from Wordless Wednesday

To answer a few questions -

Are you chewing those leaves, I love to chew leaves? FAZ
yes and no - yes, I love to chew on leaves. It's one of my favorite pastimes. But no, not in this picture. My mom has a peace lily that have almost killed several times from chewing on the leaves.

Do you dig the soil out? We would. Eric and Flynn
No I don't dig in the dirt. Since my sisters and brother were feral cats to begin with, they sort of liked the dirt. And one time one of them pooped in the plant when they were kittens. (I'm not naming names....) But mom put pebbles in the dirt and we never had that trouble again. Plus I have never done my business outside. I was born in a no-kill shelter and my mom and dad adopted me from there so I have also had the luxury of a litter box.

Does that make good camel-flage to hide out from the youngsters? Scooby, Shaggy & Scout
Not really...they always find me.

What are you hiding from? Henry Helton
And as to what I was doing in the palm tree...well I was smacking the branches and Maggie was getting them. You can't see her but the staircase is on the right and she can reach her little arm through and get the palms if someone pushes them down. Just being a good big brother! Also I like to practices my balance beam act by walking around the edge.

Thanks everyone for your questions and comments. You guys and gals ROCK!!

Please know how much all us McKitten-Cats (and our mom and dad) love being part of the cat blogging community. We can cheer for the winners of the Monty Q and mourn our friends who have gone over the Rainbow Bridge -- through the good and bad times we all stick together. Thanks again!

Wordless Wednesday

Kitten Pictures

After looking at Dinah and the Mites pictures, I started feeling a little nostalgic so I thought I would post our baby pictures.


baby Jasper circa August 2002

Mom and dad have lots for baby pictures of me but they were taken with an old timey camera...you know one with film. This picture was taken with our web cam so mom could show me off to her friends back home. Sorry the quality is kinda bad.


baby Huggy Bear and Josie October 2004

Look at those little cute babies. How could you just not fall in love with them?? For those of you who don't know their story, you can read about it here, here and here.


baby Maggie August 2005

The first picture is just after Maggie had her surgery. You can still see how swollen her little cheek was. She was so tiny and sweet - mom and dad just fell in love with her. (They also spoiled her rotten, but that's ok since she was such a sick little kitten.) As you can see by the second picture, I sort of was protective of her. Look at that little stinker! (Here's a picture of most of Maggie's litter.)

Well I hope everyone enjoyed my trip down memory lane.

Nobody puts Huggy in the corner

Nobody puts Huggy in the corner
Originally uploaded by jenianddean

Ok Mom's been watching Dirty Dancing too much. Huggy Bear loves to sit in corners. His favorites are the one the living room where his kitty cozy is and the one at the end of the hallway near the office. And every time he's in the hallway corner, mom and dad both say "Nobody puts Huggy in the corner" and they just laugh and laugh. I didn't understand it until the other day when Encore was doing a Dirty Dancing 20th Anniversary special and played it all day long. Need I say more.....

Mom's favorite thing

Mom was lying in bed watching something on TV while Dad proofread a post on their (boring) people blog about how we've been in the house a year (blah...blah...blah...they don't even mention us in the post! But I digress...) So while she's sitting in bed watching TV, I figured since it was just a silly show anyway I'd lay beside her and let her pet my tummy. So as she is petting me, I gently flick my tail across her arm. It's my less-toothy way of telling her I love her.

Cat rides cross-country

This outdoor cat from Wisconsin hitched a ride in the back of the neighbor's moving van as they packed up and moved from outside Green Bay to Roanoke, Va. I rode in the cab of the truck when we moved from Iowa to South Carolina and let me tell you it's not a lot of fun. I couldn't imagine being in the back of the truck for three days, hot, with no food or water. At least they managed to get him home after a brief ordeal, but can you imagine!

Full/Floofy Friday

Since my mom goofed up and didn't my pictures to Monty Q on time for the Do the Q contest I thought I would just post these . These are old pictures from my house in Iowa



These are three of my mom's favorite pictures of me. The first because I'm smiling, the second because she says I look like Alf (whoever that is) and it makes her laugh, and the third because you can see my white spot on my tummy which is the first part of me my mom fell in love with.

A cat and his comics

I enjoy my comics, but maybe I wouldn't swipe the leg with my claws ... bite maybe ...

This is from Lio, a fun, quirky comic.

Wordless Wednesday

Maggie's stroller adventure

Maggie has now been on two strolls, a shorter initial stroll with Mom and Dad, then a longer stroll with Mom, Dad and Aunt Tiff.

Mom and Dad made sure to put in a Kitty Kozy for Maggie so she felt more secure on her trip out of the house. Here, she's checking things out as they head down the street. I think there was a baby in a stroller walking a dog on the other side of the street.


Maggie likes to look up through the sun roof to check on Mom as she pushed the stroller. She just likes knowing she's there.

After Maggie's big adventure, we all came down and inspected the stroller. It smelled a little different than before, more like the open windows smell, and after some detailed sniffing we OK'd it.

Since her last stroll the temperatures have been hitting the 100s, which is just way too hot to take her out. Hopefully we'll get some cool air blown in from the storms in the Gulf and cool things down so Maggie (and maybe Josie) can go on a few more strolls.

Mancat Monday

I just can't understand why mom thinks she needs to take this float to the pool, I think it's just fine right here in the garage. I'm enjoying it immensely.

Trash can

This comic just about sums up Maggie and the trash can...

New baby!

I just saw over on Oscar's blog that his Mom had her baby and is home now. And there are baby pictures (not quite as exciting as cat pictures, you know, but still...) We're very happy and excited for them!

Mom's coming home soon!

Mom has been away for what seems like forever ... she went to Atlanta last weekend, then came home Sunday only to turn around and go down toward Charleston with Aunt Trinity's family (and Aunt Tiffany, too) on Monday. She's been down playing in the sun, getting tan and burnt and having a good time with friends so old they might as well be sisters. Dad's been hanging out with us -- we played feather last night and he even gave us some (hot) garage time and lots of ice cubes and treats. Dad's a fine stand-in, and with Mom gone there's more room in the bed for me to stretch out and get belly rubs while Dad reads Harry Potter to me, but he has to work, too, so we'll be happy when Mom gets home and can hang out with us during the day.

Jasper Potter and the Toothy Death

I'm still working on getting through the last Harry Potter book. I mean, really, 759 pages is a lot, even for a big cat like me. But I've only got about 200 pages to go, and it's getting good!

(I guess considering how many pages are in this book, this post could pass as a "Wordy Wednesday" instead of a "Wordless Wednesday" ...)

Kitty Limericks about us!

Karen Jo works so hard on her limericks, and we appreciate her tributes to all of the cats in the Cat Blogosphere, so you can only imagine our excitement when we saw we were featured in her limericks! And not just one big limerick about the four of us, but instead we each had our own ... and she does the back story about us and everything. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
My limerick
Josie's limerick
Huggy Bear's limerick
Maggie's limerick

Still hot, but Mom's better

Mom is feeling much better ... she and Dad went to Atlanta this weekend to visit Aunt Nikki and help paint her nursery (she's due with number three in October and doesn't need to be around those paint fumes -- and besides, Mom and Dad enjoy painting). While they were there, they spent some quality time with Mia, one of Nikki's (technically her daughter's) cats. They took a quick nap break and Mia sneaked into the bedroom with Lizzie the dog seeing her and she got up in bed with them and purred and drooled and curled up and napped with them. Usually we'd be a little jealous, but this poor cat is loved to death (much to her disliking) by the dog, so she needed this attention.

It is still hot here, but starting to break a little. Don't know if that'll mean any garage time this week or not. We did get a few minutes last night since Mom and Dad had been out of town, but it was miserable, and we'd rather be with them after a trip anyway.

It's about nap time ... take care in all this heat. And thanks for all the well-wishes for my Mom!

Mom's sick + it's hot = no garage time

Mom has not been feeling well since Monday, with yesterday being the worst day since. She hasn't been able to eat until late last night when Dad made her some chicken noodle soup (Campbell's Soup is good food!). That's meant that we have been holding constant vigil -- sometimes even crowding her a little -- while she rests and recuperates. We hope she's on the mend now.

With Mom being sick and the temperatures being upwards toward 108 degrees, we haven't had any garage time at all. This is probably a good thing, but it is going on almost a week since we've been able to hunt for the toad, lay on the cool cement floor and climb boxes. In the meantime, I am spending a lot of time sinking to stay cool. If I'm not in the sink, I'm either on the tile wall between the tub and the shower or in cat stand (a wire mesh plant stand that I have claimed as my own -- lets the cool air blow on my belly).

I do worry about our old feral friends in this hot and humid weather. Everyone keep cool out there and be safe in this heat. It should break this weekend for us, so I hope that means it's breaking for everyone else too.

Tabby Tuesday

This is picture of Maggie with our PawPaw. He came to visit last month with our Grandma Sue, Aunt JacJac, and the allergic one, Aaron. Our PawPaw is so silly - he kept calling us dogs! Can you believe it! D-O-G-S! He is soooo silly. But I know he liked us because he would give us ice cubies and garage time.

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.

Maggie's stroller adventure

Maggie went on her first full successful walk last night with Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad had returned from the grocery store and there was still some daylight, so they put most of the groceries away quickly (a little too quickly -- Dad left the milk sitting out in the garage all night) then loaded Maggie into the stroller with one of the Kitty Kozies from Timmy Grammie and a toy and some treats and they were off. Mom and Dad took her around the block and halfway up another street before they got close to a yard with a barking Bassett Hound and decided it was about time to turn around. Maggie saw four dogs on her walk, including two big pit bulls. When the guy came jogging by with the pits, Maggie raised up in her stroller and watched them carefully as they jogged past. Mom and Dad were very proud of how she carried herself. Most of the stroll she was lying flat with her paws in front of her in her Sphinx pose, sniffing the air and looking around. Dad took a few pictures of her, but they're still on the camera. Mom and Dad are hopeful to start taking us on more walks after seeing how well Maggie did. (I don't know if I'll go ... I'm still leary of the thing, but Josie and Maggie probably will, maybe even together.)

Widebody Wednesday

Does all this laundry make my butt look big?? :)

PS - Mom calls this my Superman pose. She says she wants to get me a cape. I think she's crazy.

Mancat Monday

This is one of my favorite places. It's the wall between Mom and Dad's shower and bathtub. I love hanging out up here because I can monitor all that is going on in bathroom and bedroom, and if I turn around I can monitor the whole backyard. Plus the tiles are really cool on my belly on the really hot days.

Proverb

Baby Mao tagged us with the proverb meme, which has us thinking...

One of Dad's favorites is "Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" which really doesn't apply to us since we're cats and why would we curse the darkness, except when it means that Dad locked one of us in the garage again. So I give you a cat-version of an old proverb:

A cat in bed is worth two in the sink.

I lose track of who's been tagged and who hasn't, so if this looks fun for you, consider yourself tagged and share your proverb. Enjoy!

Blogathon

Aunt Cathy and Uncle Doug are doing their Blogathon today. She even made a post for me, and the kitties at STAR. Go visit and say "HI" while they blog for 24-hours straight!

Tuxie Tummy Tuesday

I found this Tuxie Tummy Tuesday picture I had saved in drafts from April and don't know how I never posted it. Isn't she just too sweet? I know brothers and sisters don't always get along, but Josie is a wonderful little sister. And look how content she is in the ray of sunlight under my cat-stand. That's one happy cat.

Dog Eat Doug

One of Dad's favorite comic strips is Dog Eat Doug. Sometimes I'll read them with him in the mornings. I thought this one was pretty funny...

Cat art

Mom found some really cool cat art...

She bought this one (Wiping the egg off his face) and it's already in the mail. She is so excited! These other two below are up, also, plus Mom thinks the artist has some more in her store now. That Etsy website has occupied a lot of Mom's time this week, our time, but since she bought a cool picture it's OK -- this time.

Scrapbooking cat

Apparently this cat tried to help scrapbook and things went awry. There are some great pictures and touching stories, too. (Another cute picture of this beautiful cat.)

Huggy Bear Scare

Huggy Bear had been out hunting in the garage with Maggie but it's pretty hot and humid, so Mom wanted us all to come back inside. She got the treats and shook them and called us, which usually sends us all running, but Huggy Bear didn't come. She called all over the house for him, checking his favorite corners and under-beds (and even looked on the front porch on the off-chance that he snuck out when she took come trash out) but there was no sign of Huggy Bear anywhere. She'd even turned the garage light off and shut the door, which usually gets us out of the garage pretty fast, but still nothing. Finally, she went back into the garage and Huggy Bear came out of his hiding/napping spot, covered in cobwebs and a little sleepy. He'd given Mom quite a scare -- a Huggy Bear Scare -- but he was OK. Guess he'd been hunting in the garage and got tired and was napping so hard that even treats couldn't get him up and moving. Silly Ol' Bear!

Blogathon

Aunt Cathy and Uncle Doug will be participating in the 24 hour Blogathon on July 28. They are doing this to raise money for a very good organization called STAR. I try not to pimp my blog, but this is a good cause (and the Barn Kitty at STAR will be participating, too, so, as a cat, I give this more credence...). Check it out, enjoy the fun, help if you can, but mainly just tune in and enjoy.

Catnappings, home invaders and cat prints

Uncle Doug's cat suffered a catnapping last week from a case of mistaken identity. Apparently, the lady thought she was her missing cat, and her pet psychic had pointed her in the direction of Uncle Doug's street, where she saw his outside cat and home protector. Knowing the personality of this cat, we're all amazed the lady was able to snatch this cat with all her limbs intact.

Also, check out the animal adventures at Neil Gaiman's house (Dad's favorite author and dad to Fred the Unlucky Black Cat, whose home was recently invaded).

And finally, these cat prints are pretty cool. This lightbulb, the fortune teller, the fat cat vino and the cat chasing dog are my favorites (OK, I like all of them, and it was hard to whittle it down to four, because I also should mention Sniff because we can all relate...).

Mancat Monday

Happy Mancat Monday! Mom took this picture of Huggy Bear one night when he was hunting his pink mouse. It was completely dark and mom crawled over to the top of the steps to try and see what in the world Huggy was doing and this is the picture. Mom says he looks like he is about to do something naughty.

The stroller

I've talked about our stroller several times, but I realized I haven't posted any pictures of us with the stroller. I am still cautious about the whole thing. Dad tried to show off and put me in it, but I was a Jasper in the Box and sprung right back out of it.


Maggie really has taken to the stroller and will nap in it and play in it. Here, I think she got a little confused and climbed on top of it instead!


Huggy Bear tried out the stroller once. He's almost as cautious as I am about it. Mom and Dad are trying to leave it sitting out so we can get used to it. HB did stay in for a little while, until Josie came and took his spot.


You can see little Josie here, napping in the stroller (just on the edge of the frame is Maggie, wondering what Josie is doing). There is a front, back and top entrance to the stroller compartment, with netting almost all the way around so we can see. There's a sun roof for Mom and Dad to look in on us and even a place for treats. Once it cools down again, I think Mom and Dad will try another short walk with us.

Secret Paws

We got a wonderful Secret Paws package from His Royal Highness Yao-Lin the other day! It came all the way across the Atlantic Ocean from Great Britain just for us, and that really means a lot. HRH Yao-Lin went above and beyond to send us some really cool stuff. We got a long black and white stringy toy with feathers on it to chase, and a bunch of mice and some fancy European treats that we don't have here in South Carolina, and a wicker ball with feathers and there was a picture of him and a really nice note and a funny magnet that says "Cats adore obedient people" (very funny, of course we do!).


Josie was a big helper (she likes mail) and helped Mom open and empty the package.


Then Huggy Bear inspected the goodies. He really liked the green mouse and has already been hunting it at night.


While Maggie liked the goodies, she also liked getting the wrapping.


She read the card, then kissed Yao-Lin's picture to say "thank you."


Maggie is a great jumper. Here you can see me watching Maggie in action, jumping into the air to get the feathers on the end of the black and white string. We're going to have all kinds of fun with that!

Thanks again, HRH Yao-Lin for the wonder Secret Paws gift!

Rockin' Girl Blogger

Hey, this is Maggie! I took over for Jasper for a sec because, guess what, Ginger nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! Me, Maggie ... a Rockin' Girl Blogger! I am so thrilled and excited. I went all over the house telling Jasper and Huggy Bear and Josie how much I rock! (Then demanded their share of their treats because of how much I rock -- Jasper was nice and let me have his since he doesn't eat them anyway.) Thanks, Ginger!

Secret Paws

This is a quick post, with photos to come, but our Secret Paws arrived from over seas -- thanks HRH Yao-Lin! (and we mailed out our Secret Paws package out...)

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.

Cat light

Maybe Mom and Dad can buy me a cat light ... that's a cord I won't chew on because it would be for me. Now I just need to figure out how many dollars equals 590 DKK.

Disapproving rabbits

Dad pointed me to the Disapproving Rabbits website, and although I am a cat, I approve of the Disapproving Rabbits website. It just makes me laugh, and I can't even explain why. Check it out. Also, there's a Disapproving Rabbits book coming out that you can get personally autographed, too. (I guess this is from the Bird Chick blog, which makes me wonder why dad is reading about birds, except that she maintains Neil Gaiman's bee hives.)

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.