Earthquake Relief for Japan

Four Happy Cats Painting.

This post is dedicated to all the humans and fellow beings that perished in the catastrophic earthquake/tsunami in Japan on 3/11/11.

Please help in any way you can.  Red Cross is taking donations to help Japan - go to Red Cross.

Great blog article is How to Donate Money by Cell Phone to Quake Victims in Japan.

Another article lists Six Ways You Can Help Quake Victims with links to international aid organizations.

UPDATE
Thanks for the info on World Vets - they have a Facebook Page collecting donations for their Japan Relief and Rescue Fund.

Terry of Curlz and Swirlz has more animal rescue organizations helping in Japan.

Whatever your faith, send the people and all beings of Japan your prayers, healing light, Reiki or positive energy.  They will need every bit to recover after this huge disaster.

Go Forward With Courage

When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.
So long as mists envelop you, be still;
be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists
-- as it surely will.
Then act with courage.

Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800's to 1914)

An Award on Wordy Wednesday!

The gang over at Chancy and Company gave us this award a few weeks back. Mom is running way behind with this kinda stuff. Good thing we didn't do her report card cuz she woulda flunked! She having a blog burnout but we hope we can get her back on track!

The rules are to link up with the one who gave you the award, post 7 things about yourself and then pass on to 15 others!

We just did one similar to this but there are so many of us we can come up with 7 more things about us.

1) Yoko eats very very slowly. She can be still at her bowl 5, 10 even 15 minutes later, still eating or drinking. Mom forgets to pick her dish up cuz everyone else is long done.

2) When Woody gets excited he wiggles his butt, shimmies his tail and lifts his back feet one after the other. We call is his Woody Dance and he does it when it is food time, or if the beans are sweet talking him. He gets excited a lot so we see him dance often.

3) Al loves mom's hairspray or shampoo (we don't know which). If she sits when he is on the sofa back behind her, he rubs his face in her hair and gets so excited he bites and gets his paws stuck in her hair. Pop has to extricate him from Mom's hair. She tries to make sure he is not near her she she sits!

4) Lily nips the beans to get what she wants. It is not a hard nip - just a light one. She nips if you are not petting her and she wants it. She nips if you are going to stop petting her. She nips if she hasn't seen you in a while and you just came in. She nips a lot!!!

5) We have probably said this one before but Sweetpea falls asleep sitting up, usually on a counter or shelf. Without fail, she will doze off and then lose her balance and fall. Once when we had company over, Pop said "Watch this" and sure enough Sweetpea fell off the table! Everyone laughed but amazingly she lands right side up still half asleep.

6) Chica catches kitty toys with her two front paws. Mom will toss her one and she stands on her hind legs and usually catches the ball. She can still do that at 19!

7) Georgie is a very quiet little girl and gets lost in the shuffle of all the boys with her but when she really wants something, she tugs at Mom's clothes with her paw. She can snag you good and you are not going anywhere until she gets whatever it is that she wants.

We will pass this on to
Pip, Smidgen and Minnie of Fraidy Cats,
Devon, Tanner and Smokey of Four Crazy Cats 
Tabatha, Mewmew, Black, Tees, Ohs, Khaki, BB, Lucky, Orangeboy of Marg's Pets 
That's 15 other cats so we made our quota!

Please send purrs for KC who is sick and check out our sidebar to help out Avon who needs a home and Boots who needs money for surgery!

After the Party

Thank you all for stopping by for Mom's birthday commentathon for Marg's Pets.  We got 99 comments from both our blog and on Facebook so Mom rounded it up to 100 even.  This means we raised $55. for Marg!!!!  Very appropriate since it was Mom's 55th birthday! Thanks guys.

Mom had a great day.  When she went out to the cat shelter to feed the white kitties Pop had decorated the place with banners and signs with Mom's gifts out there.

The kitties were a bit freaked out with all the decorations.  Some were trying to get into the cabinet. Snowball was hiding under the chair - he is not afraid of the vacuum cleaner but the decorations undid him!  Silly boy.

Pop got mom some fancy chocolates form a local store and a handmade wood heart of recycled materials from the Gallery where Mom works.

She had wanted this heart but came in one day and it was gone - sold.  Pop bought it but no one let on that he had it.  Mom was so upset it was gone and was she surprised that Pop had gotten it for her.  Mom loves art and handmade items from the local area.

Kitty book mark and pen from UK!

She got lots of goodies from friends and coworkers.  Pop took her for a day trip too - to a town they had visited 15 years ago when they were trying to decide where in NC to move to.  It was a cute town but kinda expensive.  They had lunch and drove on a scenic drive past lots of waterfalls!  The road was curvy and narrow with a rock cliff on one side and a huge drop on the other with just a guard rail!  Scary but fun too.

We were all glad they came home safe and sound to be with us.  (W were worried supper was gonna be late)  It was a great day for all and thank you for your part in it!

Mom's Birthday Commentathon for Marg's Pets

It's me, Chica, reporting today.  Mom's Birthday is March 3 and we will be having a commentathon starting the evening of March 2 through midnight March 3 to celebrate.  Since Mom will be 55 this year, she will donate 55 cents for every comment to Marg for vet bills and care of her wonderful dogs, cats and donkeys. Go to Marg's Pets to see all of her beloved critters. Cat Blogosphere is already hosting an auction to help her with expenses so do stop by Furriends in Need and make a bid on some fantastic items before the auction ends on March 4.

NEWSFLASH  The OK Cats have asked if they can make a matching donation to Marg's Pets and we said heck yes.  So for every comment we get, they will make a donation too so keep those comments comming!

Mom can move into a place like this and have fun playing bingo!

With the information out of the way let us begin with the entertainment!  Turning 55 is a millstone for Mom - she can live in a Retirement Community if she wants to and get a senior discount at a lot of places!  Oh boy!!!  She is old, isn't she?

Back in 1956, the year she was born, black and white TVs just hit the marketplace, the President was Eisenhower and Elvis was new on the music charts releasing his first record Heartbreak Hotel.  Look at how cheap things were back then....

Costs for items in 1956

• House $11,000
• Income $4-5000
• Rent $88.00 a month
• New Car $2,000
• Milk  97 cents a gallon
• Gas 23 cents a gallon
• Bread 18 cents a loaf
• Postage Stamps 5 cents each
• Eggs 45 cents a dozen

Mom Cheri hiking - not so old huh?

She doesn't feel old and she has good company - Bo Derek, the hottie from the movie 10 is 55 this year along with magician David Copperfield, actor Tom Hanks, musician Kenny G and tennis player Martina Navratilova. 

We found this great YouTube video of a birthday cake with 55 candles on it!  If you can't take the heat, step away from the flames!  If you can't view it go here. Help yourself to the cake, ice cream and catnip treats for all the kitties! Have fun!

We will leave you with this great tune "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar!  (If you can't view this go here.) Happy Birthday Mom!!!! Let the comments begin!

Photo Hunt - Mostly Black

This week's Photo Hunt - Mostly Black was easy for us - we have lots of all black cats bu some of us are almost black.  This is Woody here.  He is a black and grey tabby.  His back is solid black with grey under. He is very good at camouflage - he can be sitting very still in the open and Mom won't even see him cuz he seems to blend in with all the surroundings.  (We think he can make himself invisible!)

 Now Chica here is a black tortoiseshell - mostly black with lots of orange and tan in her coat. She is napping so we won't bother her after all at 19 she deserves to do what she pleases.

And finally Joey is another tabby with lots of black on his back but with tan and grey.  We think they call that a ticked tabby but he is anything but...just a very laid back loverboy.

Please help us find a home for Avon - her info and photo are on the sidebar.  She still has not been adopted from a local shelter.  All her kittens found homes but not her.

Also Mom is having a birthday this week on March 3 and will be doing a commentathon to raise money for Marg of Marg's Pets so do come back by and join in.  For each comment she will donate 55cents to help our her vet bills. (Cuz that is how old she is) Recently Marg's Lucky has not been feeling well and is on meds.

Have a great weekend!

Photo Hunt

Camera Critters