Happy New Year - Welcome 2016!

Snowball

 

Our Mancats are all spruced up for the festivities of New Year's Eve. Don't they look suave and debonair in their feathered top hat and sparkly tie?  Sorry for the blur of Two Spots photo - he doesn't sit still long enough for anyone!  We will party with the humans, watching the crystal ball drop in Times Square on our new HD TV!

Two Spot

We want to end this year on a fun, not sad  note -  it has been a tough year for us as well as many of our friends and family with illness, hardships and losses.  Our hearts go out to everyone.  So without further ado - here  are the most unusual drops in the US for New Years Eve.

• The town of McVeytown, Pa., will ring in 2016 with the second annual Ice Cream Cake Drop - a Baby Cake ice cream cake from a local sub and malt shop. 

•  In Bethlehem, PA, home of the sugary Peeps Easter treat, a 4.5-foot tall, 85-pound lit PEEPS Chick will drop at 5:15 p.m. on December 31.to welcome the New Year.

•   In Mobile, AL they usher in the New Year with an unusual event - MoonPie Over Mobile new Year's Eve Celebration which includes the drop of a 600-pound, electric MoonPie drop, laser light show and fireworks overhead.

• The harbor town of Port Clinton, Ohio, celebrates the New Year watching a gigantic, 20-foot, 600-pound fish fall from the sky at the Walleye Drop.(We'd like to see this one!)

• Las Cruces puts a New Mexican flourish to the New Year's tradition with its 19-foot chrome Chile Drop, illuminated with 400 feet of programmed LED lights. (Info courtesy of USA Today)

Mr. Kitty

 Our wish for you is the best of everything in 2016 - we love you all.

Happy New Year!

Wow - another year has come and gone!  For us this one has been much better that 2013.  We have had fun reviewing products, visiting other bloggers, celebrating Gotcha Days and remembering our kitties who came before.

Let's skip thru 2014 and reminisce on the fun we had - in January we all enjoyed hamming it up for Rubber Ducky Day!

Darby

In February we got a free consult with a pet psychic.  Nancy talked to Ivy, Darby and Albert.  It was very exciting and Mom learned some fun facts about each of us.

Ivy with bunny ears.

In April we all got silly wearing bunny ears for Mom!

In May we joined Black and White Sunday for the first time with Mom's shot of Mamacita snoozing on the chair next to the TV!

Pop and Al

Pop had surgery in June but came thru with flying colors.  He is cancer free and doing well.

We had an unusual visitor in our yard in July - a turkey!  She stayed around for a week or so, eating from our bird feeders!  Great bird TV for us!




In September, Callie volunteered to do the Mice Bucket Challenge in honor of Mamacita and Rosa's Gotcha Day!

Lil Bit and Gertrude at Marg's

November was a super fun month - Callie celebrated her first Gotcha Day with us and then the beans went to visit our friend Marg of Marg's Animals.

Georgie (left) with her momcat Lily.

December brought some changes to our household of cats - Georgie was diagnosed with diabetes and now has to have a special diet and insulin shots.  We had a auction for her vet bills and are so very grateful for all the help we got!

We had a good year ...all of us are still here and doing OK.  So many we know have lost beloved pets and people - we know that heartbreak.  Let's send healing thoughts to those who are ill and sympathy to those who have lost loved ones.  Our wish for you all for 2015 is for a year filled with love, laughter, contentment, and most of all... peace.

As New Year dawns may it lead you to the path of beautiful tomorrows. 
I wish you happiness and blessings of the New Year.
~Unknown

Happy New Year!

Lily by the tree

We hope you all had a lovely holiday.  For many of us we will be glad to see 2013 end - a bunch of kitties, woofies and peeps have been ill and too many have gone to the Rainbow Bridge.  We had planned a year in review but it would be too sad so instead we will celebrate the coming of a brand New Year with ways to bring good luck.

There are many strange and funny ways to bring good fortune to a New Year -  see how many you can do!

Callie eats round kibbles in a round dish!

1. Cakes, pastries, cookies, and round fruits like clementines are often enjoyed on New Year’s Day as their shape signifies the old year has come to a close, and the coming days hold the promise of a fresh start.

2. In Spain, when the clock strikes midnight, the people eat 12 grapes. One grape for every stroke of the clock to represent each month in the year. Each grape is said to bring good luck in the new year.(For humans only - Pets cannot eat grapes or raisins as they are toxic.)

3. Striking the walls with bread to ward off evil spirits (Ireland)   Sounds like fun! 

The whitesters snuggling in to see the New Year come.

4. In many countries, it is thought that a person can affect the luck they will have throughout the coming year by what they do on the first day of the new year. For that reason, it has become common for folks to celebrate the first few minutes of a brand new year in the company of family and friends. Kiss your significant other  to seal your relationship!

Ivy has healthy kale on her plate

5. Eating foods that are rich emerald green like kale, spinach and collards bring wealth

Darby is embarrassed to have her picture taken in her red undies!

6. Wearing red underwear, a symbol of good luck (Spain, Italy and Mexico)

7. Tradition says buttered bread placed outside the door symbolizes an absence of hunger in the household, and presumably for the year to come. (Ireland)

8.  As pigs root forward while they forage for food (as opposed to cows, who stand still, or chickens, who scratch backwards), pork in all forms (think ham!!!) is eaten hoping to embrace the challenges and adventures that await them in the coming year.

9. In Switzerland, they believe that good luck comes from letting a drop of cream land on the floor on New Year's Day. Sounds good to us...yum cream.

10. In Belgium, farmers wish their animals a Happy New Year for blessings.

 (from parade.com and english-zone.com) 

Wishing all of our dear friends and fellow bloggers a peaceful New Year filled with love, laughter, joy and everything that does a heart good!