Word

My Cats Are Weird

Here's how Hercules gets down from his favorite chair.



I can't tell if he's lazy or just really strong and showing off!

Se7en

DON'T HIT ME [ducking for cover]:






But, for reals? Just look at that face.

This is Toothless. As you may have guessed, he's named after the dragon from the How to Train Your Dragon film.

He's as sweet as could be, a little shy, and one of the most lovable animals I've ever encountered.







Ok, so how did we end up with this cat? Well we started noticing him in November or so of 2010. He would often show up around feeding time when we were still feeding Moonie outside. They would eat from the same bowl without conflict. But he was so shy and unsure of us (worse than Moonie, if anyone could believe it), that he was literally like a shadow of a cat. He would hide somewhere until we closed the door and then he'd come out to eat. Open the door, and poof, he would dart away into the night. We started calling him Toothless because of both his look and behavior!

After we brought Moonie into our house, he started coming more frequently, often twice a day. Every few weeks I noticed that he was letting us get closer to him. One day in April or so, he actually let me pet him on the head. From that point on, the improvement in his trust in us was increasing much more rapidly. We considered bringing him in. But since Moonie was still not used to us or her surroundings, and we had reached our usual capacity of 6, AND we knew that he was not neutered yet (expense and spraying inside were big concerns) we decided that maybe we'd wait. Things were great and we were happy to feed him outside, as he basically appeared to be pretty much living on our property quite happily, safely, and comfortably. Until...

Mulder. Yes, Mulder as in Fox Mulder. In May I noticed this orange and white tabby just sitting on our lawn. An attractive cat, he had very large ears, a long body and a slightly bushier tail than most cats (especially since he's a short-hair). Very fox-like. So I just stared calling him Fox Mulder one day and it sort-of stuck. I took a picture from the window:













Well...Mulder and Toothless did NOT get along. In fact, Mulder is quite the bully. We noticed one day that Toothless had a cut on his head and another time a bite near where his ear meets his head. Whenever Mulder was around, Toothless was absent. If Mulder showed up when Toothless was there, then Toothless would run away as if the devil himself were chasing him. It was obvious that Mulder was claiming our house as his territory. Toothless started coming less frequently, and almost always in the dark. In fact at one point, we hadn't seen him in about 4-5 days. I feared the worst. But because Toothless had built up a trust with us, he actually responded to hearing his name! He would come from seemingly out of nowhere after hearing me call him. We decided that we had to bring him in. He would not survive long with Mulder around, plus the heat of the summer.

So Todd scooped him up in early July and we made a comfortable, private space for him in my knitting room. We were worried that the scars from Mulder would result in Feline HIV or leukemia or something, but after a vet visit, I am happy to report that he's completely healthy. Toothless is only about 15-16 months old. He weighs around 10 pounds. We have his neutering scheduled for July 27. The vet also told us that he's a very timid cat. Her exact words were: "He's not very brave." He's not the type to fight or spray (he has never sprayed at all, which was a miracle). She said that when confronted, he will run away or hide. :-( My poor, little Toothless.

He's still getting used to the house and his siblings. Luna is behaving most deplorably, if I do say so. I think she's a little jealous. I am most concerned about her being evil towards him. My other concern, albeit much less, is Hercules. Herc has always been rough. He's also frickin' HUGE now. I think he's got to be 20 pounds. He could really put some hurt on a cat as shy and small as Toothless. But Herc's not evil, just big and rambunctious.

So, there you have it. And UGH, I just realized that I now have to change my header AGAIN!

Finally!

I got a decent enough picture of Moonie to use in the header! She's the 2nd from the right (in between Titus & Luna). And, how do y'all like the new look?

We're still trying to get poor Moonie used to us and our house. She loves the other cats; it's Todd and I that she hates. LOL Well, maybe. I think she must have had some horrible trauma in her life at the hands of people. People are such freakin' idiots sometimes. So it makes sense that she's still so leery of us. The rest of our feline family are mostly ambivalent towards her, which is a little sad, but certainly better than hissing and fighting. So, I'll take it!

I also think she's way older than we or our vet originally thought. It's so hard to tell their ages once they get beyond about age 2. I'm thinking maybe 10 or so.

The other issue is getting her to use the cat door into the garage where the litter boxes are. See, we have been leaving the flap up for her since February because she didn't seem to know how to use it any other way. Normally, we could just gently get behind a cat and help them go through it until they learn (which is usually immediately; we've never had any issue before). But she hates us and won't let us get within 10 feet of her, let alone touch her. This wasn't an issue until the last month or so when it started getting VERY warm. The litter boxes are more stinky than usual and they attract flies. Todd is pretty meticulous about keeping the boxes clean. Bless his heart, he sifts them out twice a day. But it's still getting to be a problem now that summer is almost here and the hot weather will be more prevalent. We've always prided ourselves that, upon entering our house, nobody would ever be able to guess that we had even ONE cat, let alone 6.

Anyone know of any good ideas how to get a shy cat to use the cat door without traumatizing her further!?

In knitting: I'm almost done with my Helix scarf. It looks great and it's a simple pattern to learn, but it is tedious! Lots of short rows makes it take 3x as long to knit! Plus, I'm knitting it with sock yarn on size 5 needles. Hey, less time in purgatory. It's a free pattern too, but I think you have to sign up for a newsletter to access the patterns on the site. Here's the link.

I finished my alpaca socks, they turned out loverly. And I cast on another pair of socks in the Deborah Norville yarn because that yarn is nicer to work with in the summer. I like to always have a pair of socks on the needles!

I am going to make this mosaic scarf for my boss, who is stepping down as the department chair (and therefore won't be my boss anymore either) on September 1. I'm extremely nervous, but the person replacing him is VERY competent and seems really nice. Anyway, I'm using Rowan Felted Tweed yarn in a midnight blue and a sagey gray. The yarn should arrive any day in the mail.

I've made a few Christmas ornaments for a disaster relief package that my friend Marsha will be sending to a close friend of hers whose family was deeply and devastatingly affected by the Tornadoes in Joplin. These were a quick and fun knit! I might make more for myself and family members too.

These are the balls (Free pattern from DROPS):















I also knit up a ball using some left-over mohair/wool/acrylic yarn with sequins that I used to make a shawl. I improvised this a little by adding some rounds in the middle to make it bigger. This was a little painful to knit because I held the strands doubled, and used size 1.5 needles, and the yarn has absolutely NO stretch or give to it at all. Also, I had to finish it with the wrong-side out because that's where all the sequins seemed to want to land! Not sure if I will give this one with the package. It might be too weird for the tastes of Middle America!
















Then there is the Oisin Owl. Another free pattern (link is through Ravelry). This was super easy and fast to knit. Everyone that sees this falls in love with it. I have like 4 family members who all exclaimed "AWW! I want one!" I embroidered the eyes, beak and feather details on the front afterward.




















I'd like to knit myself a couple shrug/bolero/cropped cardigan kind of things. When the scarf for my boss is done, that's probably what I'll try next.

Times, they are a-changin'

Ok so I am going to change the look of this blog very soon and upload some new photos of my cat family (since my poor Sophie is no longer with us and we now have Moonie, who we rescued in January).

And I think I will use the Instagram pictures from my iPhone. I love the look of those photos. Here's a preview of a couple!

Orson

















Luna

















Titus

Sadness

Life's been hectic for me over the last several weeks, so my apologies for not being an active poster!

This time of year is pretty hellish for me with regard to my job. It's when everything happens at once, you know? Then there are the students...oy. Plus I was sick all last week with what seemed like the flu, but I know it wasn't actually the flu. Since moving to Delaware, I've developed painfully severe allergies and they flair up big time in the fall and spring.

I haven't really been doing much knitting lately, only enough to finish one generic sock of a pair that I'm using the Deborah Norville yarn to knit. And I'm almost finished one sock of that houndstooth pair (Talbot pattern). I just haven't had the energy to cast on either of complementary socks to finish either pair. Sigh. Maybe this weekend.

Now, I must try to muster the emotional energy to post about my deep sadness. The short story is that Todd and I had to have our lovely, sweet Sophie euthanized on Monday, 3/29. Painful as the decision was, I know deep down that it was the right thing to do for her. I just could not bear the thought of her in pain, suffering, and wasting away.

The long story is:

Sophie had been ailing with hyperthyroidism for the last few years. She was once a 22-pound cat, which I know is appallingly overweight for a house cat. We noticed right around the time we moved to DE that she looked, well, good! We took her in for her annual check-up and she was down to about 18 pounds. On another vet visit several months later she was down another 1.5 pounds. (She was prone to respiratory infections because as a stray in the years before we got her, she had a horrible case of pneumonia, which left her with a chronic respiratory issue.) Then she needed to have several of her teeth removed because they were so bad, 8 or so. Down another 1/2 pound or so. Blood work indicated that she had hyperthyroidism, so we began giving her medication to get that under control. Over the last 2-3 years, she'd been on a steady decline of weight loss, infections, UTIs, cataracts, dehydration, etc. It's hard to imagine any human being, let alone a cat, dealing with all of these problems without any complaint at all. Yet that is just what Sophie did. She was exceptionally smart and often a solitary animal, despite the other 5 beasts that she ended up sharing her home with. Sophie had a gentle and charming disposition; she was a lady, though certainly not aloof or haughty.

Because of her thyroid condition, she required quarterly blood work to check her T4 levels. Every time we did this, she weighed less and less. We never seemed to be able get the dosage right, despite tweaking is several times, as recommended by the vet. She had another series of blood tests done in February (by a vet that we don't usually see, and never will again if I have anything to say about it) and, for the first time ever, all seemed normal with regard to T4 levels. A minor victory, though, as she was now down to 10 pounds, 15 ounces. March 15th was her "birthday," as we celebrated it. We also had to take Sophie and all her siblings into the vet that day for their annual check-up and shots. Sophie was down to 10 pounds 3 ounces. "Is she eating," our vet asked? Most certainly. Sophie had a voracious appetite and ate pretty much whatever you put in front of her, unless you tried to conceal medication in the food. She could sense it there and would not eat it. Smart cookie, my Sophie. But even lately, when we powdered up her tiny thyroid pill and put it in her food, she ate it. I don't know why this didn't set off any alarms in my head. In retrospect, it should have (as you will see).

At this time Todd noticed rather curious lump in her neck. It didn't feel like a tumor or growth of any kind. It was sort of soft and could easily be shifted around. Our vet aspirated the contents and it reduced its size by 75%. What the hell was it?? All blood. Our vet asked, "Did she have an injury to her jugular? Because this is a large hematoma." We couldn't for the life of us figure out what happened to her to cause that. Then our vet asked, "When she had blood work a month ago, did Dr. ^&$*%)@ (not mentioning the name here) take it from her neck?" And after thinking on it a little I realized that the other vet DID take it from her neck! So, that other vet DAMAGED MY SOPHIE'S JUGULAR VEIN. I can't tell you how infuriated I was, and still am, about this.

In the two weeks between her annual vet visit and her last day, she seemed completely normal, by Sophie standards. The night before, she crawled up on top of me while I was asleep and sat with me for a while. I was only vaguely aware that a cat was on me, Todd was awake and confirmed that it was Sophie. She hadn't done this in quite a while. Maybe she was trying to tell me something? While getting ready for work in the morning, I happened to be in the hallway and noticed fresh, pink, wet spots on the carpet in a couple of places. I saw Sophie sitting up near the guest bathroom cleaning herself. Then I saw more pink droplets on her fur. She had been attempting to urinate and it was blood. She would walk a few steps, then stop and try to pee again, only to have a dime-sized amount of pink fluid released. She laid on her side at one point and I was petting her. She must have been in agony because she kept contracting up her back legs, almost like a spasm, and she was breathing heavily. I think I knew at that moment that she would be leaving me forever that day. I broke down and cried as Todd called the vet.

We went to the vet, and thankfully it was our usual vet who we like very much. First thing: the scale. Down to 9 pounds 11 ounces. She lost half a pound in 2 weeks. That is a disastrous amount of weight for a cat to lose in 2 weeks, especially one that eats very well. She had a fever. Her hematoma had filled up again, too. Our vet examined her and told us that Sophie's kidneys were failing, basically breaking down from the inside. They were hard, misshapen, and atrophied. This is what was causing her urination problems. There was little they could do to alleviate that situation, as no antibiotic or medication could improve failing kidneys. Then she took an x-ray.

After an agonizing wait for the results, the vet showed us the x-rays. She pointed out 2 masses in 2 different places in Sophie's stomach. Cancer. I felt like someone stabbed me in the neck. One mass was quite large (about the size of a mouse) and the other was smaller, like a large olive. It all became clear to me why she was hungry all the time and eating as much food as possible. Sophie was, essentially, starving all the while feeding her tumors. She was getting little to no nutrients from her food intake. This news hurt worst of all, I think. Sophie looked forward to feeding time and I always assumed that her healthy appetite meant that she was healthy in general. So not only was she having severe kidney problems that we were unaware of, but also she was eating and never feeling full for God only knows how long. :-(

Todd asked the vet about 1000 questions to see if there was any other viable option to help Sophie get better. There wasn’t. It was time to let her go. After her initial sedation Sophie became very relaxed and calm. It was as if I could feel her pain slipping away from her as she stretched out her front paws a little. Sophie’s loving, gentle heart stopped beating within seconds of the lethal injection and she was finally at peace.

I am only now just accepting that she’s gone from my life. We loved her like a child, especially since she was our "first-born," per se. We had Sophie for nearly 10 years. She was 14.

My beautiful Sophie, as I will always remember her:

Sophie in her younger, sillier days:

Which picture?

I think it's finally safe to say that Orson is a permanent addition to the Waters' family of felines. So, I need to update my header to include a picture of Orson. Which of these do you like better?

Orson 1:












Or Orson 2:











Or should I try to take another photo? He's not easy to photograph. He's the kind of cat that wants to rub his face on the camera instead of stand in front of it and look good. I'm torn. Orson 1 captures his personality better, but the photo is a little grainy. Orson 2 has better photo clarity, but doesn't really say "Orson" the way I know him.

I promise I will post some updates from the last 2 months or so of my absence. UGH. I am so fired.

It's Official!

Cat #6 is named Orson.

Thoroughly Insane...

...on many accounts, not least of which is knitting.

On Friday I decided to knit something for my friend Yuko. She's leaving the USA in July (maybe for good) to go to Southeast Asia (I think Cambodia) to work with Team Boravuth, a group that promotes child education. She's a very sweet, kind, lovely person. All who know her will miss her terribly, but we understand that the work she will be doing is very important.

So I wanted to make her something very nice. Where she's going, I doubt hats and scarves would get much use. Dishcloths/washcloths? Meh. So impersonal! I decided to make her a tank top. I searched on Ravelry for some patterns and decided on this one. I just so happened to have 6 skeins of Patons Grace yarn in a light pink color, which would be perfect both for Yuko and for this pattern. I grabbed the yarn and cast on. I have knit 2 of the 3 bottom repeats so far. It seems to be going ok. Size looks good. Yuko is easy to knit for; she's quite petite. So small is always a good bet.

Ok, well sounds good so far right? Why does this make me insane? Well, we're having a farewell party for her in June. Yeah...so...will I get this done by June?? I realize that it's not even May yet, but I am a SLOW knitter.

I will be spending several days in North Carolina, visiting my sister in early May. Maybe this will be a good opportunity to work on this. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

And for the second bit...

Allow me to present to you cat number 6:



Come on, y'all. How could anyone resist such a face? Here's the short story:

On Saturday, Todd and I were in PetSmart buying supplies for the other beasts. I asked if we could walk by the shelter cats to say hello, which is something we often do. And this cat was there. He just looked up at me and I died in a fire. I went in and held him for a little and just knew that he needed to come live with us. We filed the application and we picked him up last night.

Details:

He's 4 or 5. We checked his teeth to be sure that he wasn't really like 17. He's a Snowshoe mix with light blue eyes. He only has 3 toes on each of his front paws, which actually looks really adorable! He's fairly large, but not enormous. I think he weighs 13 pounds. He's super chatty, very "chirpy," friendly and lovable --- very lovable. He likes the other cats, even though they aren't too fond of him yet. Well, Titus is fine with him and, believe it or not, so is Sophie. But the other three (particularly Fi Fi and Luna) aren't happy. Give it a couple of days though, and he'll start smelling like the rest of them and I think all will be O.K.

He had the most GOD-AWFUL name that could ever be given to a pet ever: Sudoku. I have NO idea who decided that would be a good name for him. But it's got to go.

So what to name him? We're still tossing around some options, which include the following:



Orson, Caesar, Henry, Wolfgang, Ivan, Oscar, Julius, Ash, Teddy, Vulcan, Cupid, Kuma, and Todd's offering...


Lando Catrissian.



But I don't know if any of these names really suit him. Although Lando Catrissian isn't half-bad! I was pretty much dead set on either Orson or Henry when I first started thinking of names for this little guy. Any one of those up there is most certainly better than Sudoku! RETCH.

On the way from the car to my office today a name suddenly occurred to me. One which was perfect for his personality and his look and which would fit in really well with the names of his siblings.

So what do you folks think of...


Romeo?











And don't you just lurve his widdle feets??? Me likely. :-)

Done!

I think it's done. And actually, it's better than before, I think. I cleaned up some links, removed dead ones, added new ones. So I'm pleased as punch...for now.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day. I hope I have a better result this week than last week, in which I actually GAINED a pound. Not sure how. I did everything to the letter.... Anyway, I think tomorrow will show a loss. I mean, I FEEL like it should. Does that make sense? Look all I want is my damn 10-pound ribbon! Is that too much to ask?!

Anyway, here's a funny and cute little video that Todd's friend Dan sent me:



You know that if we had a cat door that led to the outside, we'd have about 73 squirrels running amok in our house.

Gone, But Never Forgotten

My friends, as you can see, I haven't posted in a little while. The last week has been filled with much sadness and aggravation. I don't want to talk about the aggravation part, which I will only say can be mostly attributed to my job and its ever-increasing ability to DESTROY MY SOUL.

I need to talk about the sadness---a sadness so strong that I have been unable to articulate it here for nearly a week. And I'd venture to say that I still can't express it to its fullest depths.






Last Wednesday (11/12) Todd and I had to make the hardest, saddest decision of our lives. We had to have Mr. Chesterfield euthanized.









As you may recall from earlier posts I made over the summer, Mr. C had taken ill---rather mysteriously---sometime in August. He seemed to respond well to the medications and treatments we gave him and appeared to be doing ok all through the month of September and most of October. Sometime just before Halloween I thought that he looked terribly thin. He was not eating as much as usual. He was not nearly as vocal as he used to be. Mr. Chesterfield was a chatty cat, let me tell you! And he still had weird bald patches in his fur, but in different spots than he had before. He also seemed to have a cold and was wheezing. We also noticed that he had rubbed off all the fur on his nose. It was very odd.

However, as is the case with most cats, he never complained or gave us any indication that he was sick or hurting. Sometime in the first week of November we noticed that he wasn't peeing or pooping very much, if at all. His eating declined further. I picked him up one day and it was like picking up a stuffed animal. He felt like he weighed nothing. I could feel his ribcage. I cried that day. We weighed him as best we could and he was about 6.5 pounds. This cat was 12 pounds when we got him a year ago and was a little over 8 pounds when we last brought him to the vet in September.

Something was wrong. We knew we had to take him to the vet, but we were dreading the visit. We loved Mr. C and couldn't face the facts --- he was dying.

For the 3 days before we took him to the vet for his final visit, he ate practically nothing. He couldn't care less about food, water, cat-nip, treats or anything else for which he would normally come running. The only thing he did still enjoy was sitting about an inch away from the mini ceramic heater that we use in the upstairs office in our house. Maybe the concentrated heat on his old bones relieved pain or comforted him in some way. We'll never know.

The day we took him for euthanizing, we tried giving him treats; he refused them. He didn't want anything. We wanted his last moments in his home to be comfortable and the best they could be, so we turned on the heater for him one last time. He stood there, lovely, dignified, with his eyes squinted in delight. Putting him in his carrier after that was quite possibly the most heart-wrenching thing I have ever done.

We got to the vet's office---they knew ahead of time what was to be done---and were met by one of the vet's assistants, Jennifer. She is the sweetest, most considerate, caring, gentle person that you'd ever want to meet. I was immediately comforted that she was there to help attend to Mr. C in his last moments with us. We took him out of the carrier and she weighed him: 6 pounds, 4 ounces. They had placed a thick, navy blue, wool blanket on the exam table for him to lay on. He sat there like nothing was wrong. He was absolutely silent, calm, one paw tucked under and one paw resting out --- it was like nothing I have ever seen.

We waited what seemed like forever for our vet to come in. I think it was about 40 minutes. Todd and I just kept petting Mr. C and rubbing under his chin. We were both shaking, sick with terror at what lay ahead. Our vet came in and she examined Mr. C for herself. She agreed that it was time for him to go. His muscles had atrophied, the infected ulcerations in his mouth were back with a vengeance, and his kidneys were failing him. I believe he had sepsis as well. All the while she poked, prodded, and squeezed Mr. C, he never made a sound or resisted in any way. He remained quiet and peaceful, with his usual dignified expression. He was ready, I believe that now.

We were not.

She gave Mr. C a sedative so that he would fall asleep. And then we held his paws and stroked his head while she administered the lethal injection. As he let out a final little sigh, Mr. Chesterfield's sweet, gentle heart stopped beating forever and he was gone.

I felt like someone cut out my heart and tossed it out in the street. I had to try to hold back the
floodgate of tears I could feel ready to come pouring out of my eyes. Whatever grief I showed at that moment was nothing compared to Todd's. He sobbed uncontrollably. He was inconsolable. I managed to sign the paperwork for Mr. Chesterfield's ashes and we left via the side door. I wept in the car.

Today we're feeling better, mostly. I mean, we know it was the right thing to do. But we miss Mr. Chesterfield terribly, and always will. I know I will never meet another cat like Mr. C. I'll repeat what I've said countless times before: he was the sweetest, loveliest animal anyone could ever want as a pet. He is physically gone from this world, but never from our hearts and minds.

We love you, Mr. Chesterfield.

Mr. Chesterfield Needs Your Good Karma!

Most of you who read this blog know that Todd and I have expanded from 1 cat to having 6 cats over the last 3 years or so. Our most recent addition is Mr. Chesterfield. We acquired him last year in September.

Even though he's only been in our family for less than a year, we adore Mr. Chesterfield. Last week (while I was away in NC) Todd needed to bring Mr. C and Sophie in for a check-up. Both of them are on medications---Sophie for thyroid and Mr. C for high blood pressure. You can imagine how concerned and sad I was Todd told me that the vet said that Mr. C was not doing well. He lost about 3 pounds. He was severely dehydrated. He had ulcers in his mouth that were infected. And his blood pressure didn't seem to be any better either.

Todd (the saint that he is with animals) made three visits to the vet with Mr. C, all during the week I was away. The initial visit with a blood test, then a visit for a urine sample/test, then a visit for an enema. Results of the blood and urine tests showed problems. Low levels of something-or-other. High levels of such-and-such. Whatever they were, they were definitely not good.

Now Mr. C is on a medication for the infectious ulcers, a stool-softener, his BP meds, and Todd has to give him an I.V. of fluids every night at dinner. :-(

The verdict? Well, we have one more visit to the vet today, to see how he's responding to the fluids and such. Probably another blood and/or urine test. Here's what the vet thinks. It's one of the following things:

1) Mild kidney toxicity caused by ingesting some chemical (like soapy water from our shower or worse, a cleaner for the shower). This most likely can be flushed through his system. This is the best-case scenario.

2) Averse reaction to his BP meds. Now, he's been on these for almost as long as we've had him. However, in January when he went in for a check-up, the vet said that his BP wasn't coming down enough so they raised the dose. It's possible that this higher dosage is too much for him and has caused the other problems.

3) Acute renal failure, or cancer, or liver failure. This means euthanasia. :-( :-( :-(

Mr. C doesn't seem to be showing any of the typical signs of a cat with kidney or liver failure. I know because I've had cats or have seen other's cats with these conditions. For one thing, he eats whatever you feed him. He drinks normally. He never throws up. He uses his litterbox without issue. He doesn't seem lethargic or abnormal in any other way. However, I believe that he is OLD. Whatever the folks at Forgotten Cats said was tragically incorrect. I think I recall that they aged him between 5 and 8. Our eye specialist vet said "at least 10." I think he's 15 or 16. I've always suspected that he was an old guy.

Anyway there are 2 things that we noticed that are different than normal.

One, he's been meowing or calling out a lot, especially in the evening. He's always done this. It will be 2:00 am and suddenly you'll hear "Meow! Meow! Meow!" Well last night it was noticeably more frequent and with greater intensity and length of time.

Second, on his right side towards the upper thigh, he is suddenly missing a patch of fur. We noticed it 2 days ago. Last night this bald patch seemed 3 times the size that it was when we first noticed it and the skin underneath was very flushed and hot. Maybe this is a reaction to the anti-biotic? Or maybe he's just stressed?

We have no idea. But all we know is that he's a sick kitty and we want him well again. As soon as I know anything about his condition from the vet, I'll post it here (good or bad).

So please send some love to Mr. Chesterfield today. <3

If I Were To Ask You...

...How many cats are on this bed?



First you'd say, "Um...too many?" Then, you'd say, "Three." From top clockwise: Hercules, Sophie (near my pillow, GORRAMIT), and Ophelia.

Good answer!


But WRONG:



Yes, that's Titus holed-up in there. (Love Fi-Fi's surprised/concerned look there, too.)

Come out of there, you goofy Squinty McFootball Head!



Here's Mr. Chesterfield poking around. He's really found his way around the house well. He's a lovely cat and super smart too.



And now, some close-ups:

Ophelia, looking very, very concerned (as usual):

Hercules, looking very, very confused (as usual):

And Luna, looking positively evil (as usual):

What's wrong with this photo?:




If you said that it has obscene amounts of yarn in it, then you are only partially correct.

Keep looking...

...see it yet?

This next picture will help....



Yup, Titus again. He just thinks everything is for him, you know?

Cats, OY!

Another Funny Cat Cartoon

Remember the one I posted here with the cat trying to wake up the guy in his bed? This is by the same person:

Week of Love, Images

Happy Valentine's Day









To commemorate Valentine's Day and continuing in my Week of Love blog celebration, I'd like to present to you some of my photos that have special meaning for me and that I really love.


Here's little Aubrey looking like a tiny, delightful, garden sprite. I took this picture of her back in December during the week I took care of her.



Here's a funny profile picture. No, it's not Alfred Hitchcock. Gotta love those cheeks.




Here's my friend Katie (Katie, please don't kill me), who does an uncannily accurate impression of a Hummel figurine, evidenced by this photo. She also happens to smell fantastic, is an expert knitter, and can sing like the loveliest songbird you'd ever want to hear. Anyway, I couldn't get through life without people like Katie and the rest of my knitting buddies. I love you guys.


Devotion to Felines

Ah, cats. I have many cats in my life at the moment. I think it might not be an exaggeration to say that I know more cats than people. Why, I have 6. My parents have 2. My sister has 3---that's Neko right there to the left, one of hers. Most of my friends have a cat or 2 or 11. What is it about cats? Every cat I've ever known has has its own distinct personality. The brood of 6 currently residing in my home proves this point to a T. I love them all: my silly, soft, beguiling, fuzzy children.









Here is Titus I, posing for heads of the royal coin of Catopia. An impressive animal he is.

Here's my favorite picture of Sophie, taken when she was still an only child!

And here's a bunch o' cats on the bed. Let's see, here we have (clockwise from the top) Hercules, Sophie (who always sits either right against my pillow or ON IT), Luna, and Fi Fi.






And here's my sweet gentleman, Mr. Chesterfield. One of the smartest, loveliest animals you'll ever meet. EVER.



Oh my goofy, wild Hercules.







One of my parents' cats, Honey. She's as sweet as her name implies.








Here's my little Ophelia, who isn't so little anymore. But when we found her, she was a tiny little baby, weighing less than a pound. Fi Fi always has a very "concerned" look, a look she's donned she was 1-month-old. See?




Ye Olde Tyme Cats

Everyone asks me how I got this photo to look this way. I assure you, it was by accident. It's from my cell phone, of all things. I came home from the grocery store one day and was greeted by this trio in the window. That's Fi Fi on the left (see how very concerned she is?), Herc in the middle and Titus on the right (football head).

Little Luna. My sweet, silver doll.

Japan

I don't recall talking too much about my trip to Japan on this blog, if at all. Suffice it to say, we had a great time there and will be going back at some point.
Here are some of my favorite photos.




Me in a gift shop that sold only cat-themed items. You'd think I would have had enough of them in my every-day life!








A LATE dinner at a restaurant in Ginza with friends. Left to right: Hanae, Scott, Mutsumi, me, Todd.

Here's Todd and I outside a Kabuki theater. It was closed for renovations, so we didn't get to go to a show. Next time!

This is the Hie-Jinja shrine. This shrine was very close to the hotel where we stayed. All the shrines in Tokyo are quiet, peaceful places. Even when we were at a particularly crowded one (this one was not crowded at all), there was this gentle, serene beauty about the place. I liken it to the feeling of being in your grandmother's house: warm, welcoming, with a lot of things to see and do, clean, unconditionally accepting of you and so glad you came to visit.



Mutsumi and I in kimonos, which her grandmother made. Believe it or not, we were standing in the hotel's gardens. Yeah. It was a lovely hotel, the New Otani. The gardens are centuries old, actually. They actually built the hotel around the gardens to preserve them. Something to think about. Here's something else to think about: Mutsumi's grandmom took to making kimonos for a living because she was widowed in WWII. It's so eye-opening to realize that losses in WWII happened everywhere. No matter the "side," people died, families suffered. The pointlessness of war just really slaps you in the face.





Dinner with our friend Yuko and her parents. One of the great highlights of our trip. That's Todd and I in the front, of course. So Yuko's mom made her own plum wine. Yeah, just take one look at me and you'll know how awesome it was. :-)







More Photographic Love

I had a professional photographer at my wedding and she took some wonderful pictures---and a lot of them. However, my most favorite photo of my wedding is this one that Mutsumi took. Can you believe it? She came all the way from Japan to be at our wedding!







This last picture is just a special memory for me of the fun times I had with Kathleen. We were at Todd's friend Dan's home for a Fourth of July barbecue. Great memories.






I hope you enjoyed seeing some special photos that I love. I'm sure this collection will keep growing and growing thanks to all my friends, family and CATS. :-)

Caption The Cat: #6

Do you mind? I'm posing for heads of the $.03 coin of Catopia