Wordy Wednesday with Al

As you know we planned on seeing the Acro Cats over the past weekend.  We found out online that they were auditioning local cats for guest spots with the Rock Cats band so we took our Al in.  He is deaf but we have trained him to respond to hand signals and his lack of hearing makes him immune to the noise of the crowd.  Maybe he won't hear the music he makes but he can bang the drums!

We will share some pics of the Acro Cats in action while we finish telling our exciting story about Al.

We went the the theater early and sat thru various other cat's auditions.  When it came to our Al's turn, he did wonderfully!  He caught on quickly and never even wandered from his seat.  After answering a few more questions, we were very excited to learn they had chosen our Al to guest star on Sunday's late show!  That gave them time to work with him a bit.

Flash ahead...time for the show and the theater was filling up quickly with people of all ages.  Samantha began with the star Tuna and introduced each of the cats with a wonderful acrobatic routine.  She even has a groundhog named Garfield, some tightrope walking rats and a chicken named Gregory Peck.  All of her cats are rescues and she told us each of their stories.

Then...drum roll...the highlight of the show - the Rock Cats. The guitarist and keyboard cats came out and finally Al on drums.  He looked specatular!!  It was quite the event to see them all playing along with Tuna on cowbells and Sookie on chimes.

Al wasn't happy with the pink collar he had to wear but all went smoothly and no one knew it was not the actual Rock Cat drummer Dakota until they revealed his identity at the end of the show!  We are so proud of our Al!

This was a April Fool post from 2013 when we went to see the Acro-cats.  Al does look like their white cat but all of this was made up by our Mom!

Wordly Wednesday with Sweetpea

I wanted to show you all what I do every morning while I wait for Mom to fill up  our food plates and bring us breakfast!  I like to lay in the floor in the middle of the kitchen and play with the zipper on the jacket over the back of the chair.

Mom is not so happy I do this cuz she has to step over me when she gets our food ready.  I don't know why I like this game so much but I do.  I tug and pull on the zipper and roll over and gets all dusty!  But when the food is ready - I stop and run to my plate before anyone else can get it!

Mom thinkks this is a weird game I play but she lets me do it anyway!  She also said I could fill you in on our lives - been a busy few weeks so we have not posted and Mom has not gone to visit much.

Here goes - Mom was working a lot but then she broke a tooth with an old filling over a weekend.  She had to wait until Tues to get the dentist and then he had to pull it out (ouch) cuz the root was exposed and she was in lots of pain.  After they pulled it she had to take antibiotics and eat mushy foods.

That took up the better part of a week.  Then Pop and Mom had to get our screen room ready for winter by putting plastic up over the outside and add windows so the whitesters could see out.  This room gets nice and warm with the sun on cold days.  They still have an indoor heated room too.  Putting up plastic is a lot of work and takes about two days. 

We will show you our screen room after the plastic is up later.

We will be down in the 30s for the first time this year on Wed night!  We are ready - kerosene for the heater, all our fleece blankies washed and the plants taken inside or covered up if they will be out for a while.  Days will still be in the 60s and 50s for a few more weeks.

Everyone is doing OK!  Yoko is eating well and a bit peppier - whatever she had is gone and she seems to feel better.  Lily is adjusting to being  in the house and the whitesters have gotten over missing her.  I think that is about it for our update.  I hope Mom can get by to visit (she does lurk) but I can't make any promises. She seems to like Facebook as it is easier to comment there than on blogs but she keeps up with you guys. We love you all and will do our best to get Mom to be more regular with the blog!

Wordy Wednesday

Sorry Mom hasn't posted since last week - she has not been feeling well and had an appointment on Monday with a out of state holistic doctor to see if he can help her with her breathing issues (allergies and asthma). She had lots of paperwork to fill out and type up for him. The regular doctors didn't have anything new she could try except taking more prednisone - not a good thing for long periods of time. Her new doctor has given her a single homeopathic remedy to try so we will see. He was highly recommended by our holistic vets who Mom swears by. We will keep you posted on how things go.

We are all fine - no big news to report. It is still hot here but we did get some cooler foggy weather over the weekend. Same old same old - just napping, eating and watching goats TV!

Oh yeah - Chica has a new thing now - whenever she wants to eat or some water she sits next to Mom and swats her leg with her paw, over and over until Mom finally gives in. Kinda spoiled, don't ya think?





We will stop by and catch up with you all over the next few days! Thanks for coming by to see us. Happy Wednesday!

We have a Winner on Wordy Wednesday

Our lovely elder cat Yoko won the Monty Q contest for 2009! We are so proud of her great pose and perfect form. Thanks to all who voted for her!



All the photos submitted were wonderful. We especially liked Little Bit's free form interpretation and Pemberley's winning Full Monty. Be sure to check out the other contests entries! Visit Doing the Q

Bears and Wordy Wednesday

We had a visitor the other night and we all got scared!


The woods next to and behind our shelter.


Our screen porch.


Mom and Pop had gone to bed. Pop woke up after midnight cuz he heard a noise outside. He flipped on the back light and saw a black bear rummaging thru our recyclables. He was a young yearling male - not real big but big enough. He went into the woods when the light came on.

The beans went back to bed and then Pop heard more noise - this time next to our shelter's screen porch. Mom put on all the lights in the house but we don't have any for the side yard where we are so Pop went outside banging pots and pans and throwing his golf balls to scare the bear away from us. With only a flashlight, he could hardly see as it was so dark. Mom was worried about Pop and thought after she should have pressed the car alarm and scared the bar off that way.

Pop thought the bear went away again and he checked our porch to make sure it was OK. They both went back to bed, putting all the inside lights off but leaving the outside ones on. Mom couldn't sleep cuz she was so worried about us and when it was daylight enough to see she went outside to see if we were still OK. She was upset at what she saw - the bear must have come back again and clawed and ripped all the screen down on the front and side of the porch. Pop had nailed hog wire up under the screen to keep us in and critters out - it worked. The bear bent the wire with his paws or mouth but not enough to get in or for us to get out. He was trying to get at the bowl of dry food on the table.


Pop put the screen back up right away so Mom did not get a picture of the mess the bear made but you can still see the rips and bent bars wire and muddy paw prints on the screen.






We were all hiding and scared to come out even when Mom came inside. Poor Al was way in the back room under a chair and was shaking. Mom carried him out and sat with him on her lap to let him know it was OK. He is deaf so he may not have heard the bear but saw him and was surprised!

Pop stapled all the screen back up and Mom put tape on the holes for now. Pop also screwed boards over the middle of the screen frame to keep the bear from pulling it down. They put bags of empty aluminum cans next to the screen so if the bear comes back we can hear him and maybe the noise will scare him too. We will not have food in the outside area for a while now - and Mom took in all the bird feeders too. No food - no bear! I hope we don't see anymore bears. That was so scary for us.




Mom said there have been more bear cubs born this year and so that means more bears looking for the same amount of food. We are sorry for the bears but don't want to share our food! Be careful if you live in bear lands!

Wordy Wednesday with Sweetpea

Another cat tale - this time from Sweetpea!

I first showed up at Mom's house during the winter many years ago. I was part of a feral group living outside that Mom was catching and doing TNR. I was all alone, just a tiny little kitten - I am not sure what happened to my brothers ad sisters. Big Guy took me under his protection. He was the head mancat of our group. He was a very wise, kind mancat who we all loved. Mom thought he was my mother cuz I stuck to him like glue. Boy was she surprised to find out he was the mancat!

Mom was putting food out for us but it was a very snowy cold winter. Even though we had a shelter to go inside one day we got a huge storm and we hid someplace else that was warm and big enough for all of us to fit in. Mom was so worried, especially about me cuz she didn't know where we were and didn't see any of us for several days. When we showed up again she decided to catch me and bring me inside so I would be OK during the cold winter.



She left a doggie kennel cage out next to our food station and covered it with blankets and it was all snugly. I went inside there and she shut the door. I was not happy and howled and bounced off the walls but I was caught! My buddies all ran off. They were so scared, even Big Guy.

I came inside but was so wild that the vet had to sedate me to examine me. I got all my tests done and got sent home still sleepy. The vet said to bathe me now - I had bad skin and rashes so Mom and Pop did. They washed me in the bathroom sink, holding me up out of the water since I was still sedated. I knew what was happening even tho I was sleepy so I would not go near that sink for a long time after.

Mom kept me in a small room with a window and a nice comfy bed, litter box and food. I was lonely so I let them pet me and play with me. Pretty soon I could come out to meet Yoko and Chica who were much older than me. I was used to taking care of myself and being pretty aggressive to get my food and attention with the other cats so I scared the older kitties. I was always "in their faces" as Mom says. I wore them down eventually and we all got along.



Now we have lots of kitties in the house I can play with and more my age. Some even lived outside with me long ago. We are all kinda middle age now - I am ten but still very little. I only weigh five pounds. I have long fur and a spot of white on my chest. People still think I am a kitten! I love to eat, nap and play with our toys. I get very excited sometimes and try to boss the other kitties around but they don't pay much attention to me cuz of my size!

I am very happy with my home and all my brothers and sisters. It sure beats living outside in a snowstorm!

White Wordy Wednesday - Lily

Lily wants to tell her story today!

I am the momcat for all of the white kitties plus Woody and Tabitha. I showed up at the old general store across from Mom's house one summer a few years ago with a litter of tiny black kittens and one white one. The beans at the store fed me and tried to catch my kittens. I was not happy and teached them to not go in that cage even if food was there. My black kittens disappeared - I hope they got nice homes but I never saw them again. Snowball was the only one left and he stuck to me like glue.

The store closed for the winter and we were left with no food and were very hungry. It was cold and snowy outside and our stomach grumbled empty. Someone told Mom and she started putting food out on her back deck and even made us a place to sleep safe and warm, out of the snow and wind under the house. She tried to catch me and Snowball too but we were smart and escaped. Mom firmly believes in TNR - that means trap, neuter and release! But I got pregnant again and had another liter of all white kittens this time with one tabby - Woody. I am a very good mom so they all grew up and looked good. Mom made a place for the kittens to play on the deck with a kitty condo and stuff.



Those mancats would not leave me alone and I got pregnant again - all this time poor Mom was desperately trying to catch me to stop me from having kittens. She was so nice to me but I would not go near her or let her pet me. I was afraid. Being a mom is my job so I would not go in the trap no matter what. I would pull the food to the side and pull it out with my paws.



Mom did catch Snowball first then all the others at once - Norm, Woody, Sam. Since Mom was moving to another town she could not TNR us and leave us outside cuz no one wanted to take care of us. She asked all the neighbors too and shelters. The shelters were going to put us to sleep. I didn't like the sound of that. She knew she had to take us all with her when she moved, so she put the kittens in their own special indoor space with a screen porch.



Finally I had one more litter under the house - again all white cats with one tabby who is Tabitha. These guys were real cute and by now Mom was getting friendly with me and the kittens. She caught all of us a few months later by propping open the door to the back porch and enticing us with food and toys to come in. Then she pulled the piece of wood holding the door open and we were caught! It was scary when she and Pop tried to catch us and bring us inside but now we are happy and safe and no more babies for me.

We live in a nice shelter with a screen porch and have lots of toys, treats and food. The chipmunks and birds play outside and we can watch all day. Mom and Pop spend lots of time with us and we love it. We are all friendly now except Smidge and Sam sometimes. I guess we are pretty lucky.