Sheltered Faces

Domino



Funny Face, adopted so quickly I never caught her name.



Griffin



Arthur, a Katrina rescue, he is still at the shelter and someone who really deserves a special home.



Charlie, the sweetest little orange tiger, he was left in the shelters dog pen early one morning. The person called later to check on him, she thought leaving him in the dog pen was funny. We were glad no one had put a dog in there before they found him.

Separation Anxiety

I'm visiting my family on Cape Cod and boy do I miss the little guys.



These photos were taken a short while ago. They have both grown so much in a month.



I love this series of them hanging out in my lazy girl chair. Harper looks like such a guy doesn't he? Like he should have a beer in one hand. These photos show their personalities. See how Ramona is kind of the straight man to Harper's funny guy cattitude? She has more dignity. And more poise. We call her Tiny Dancer. I am still trying to get that photo of her "ballet stretch."



Is it funny that the hardest thing to do when you are going away is leave your cat? I guess we know the people will be fine, and we can talk to them. I do wish I could talk to my cats. I am probably not the only one (I know I am not the only one) who calls home to talk to their animals.

Olof is taking good care of them. He has a list of exactly what, how much and when everyone eats and when to change the kitty litter.

But will Harper forget me in four days? Oh the suspense.



I'm going to help my sister silkscreen T shirts today in the back yard. It is nice and sunny out with a blue sky here in vacation paradise. Vacation paradise is my ancestral stomping grounds. I'll try to get over to the beach for a break and maybe post some photos later.

Don'’t miss the continuing torch relay at The Cat Olympics

The Tribe of Tiger

Some scenes from the peaceful Tiger Tribe. Ramona flirts with Brendan. She still adores him. He is more subtle about his relationships. More dignified too.



He actually let her eat right out of his bowl. I thought this one would get her The Paw but he didn't mind in the least. Brendan has always been rather ethereal where food is concerned. It appears, if you like it you eat it. When he is hungry he sits by his dinner table and gives you the telepathic message, "I am ready for sustenance." And food appears, done to his liking, warmish and wettish. But obviously, he is not possessive about it. I guess that is the calm security of a sixteen year old cat that has always been well treated and nurtured. He is quite a presence in our lives. He calmly watches whatever is going on here and keeps an eye on everything we do. When Olof is gardening, Brendan is usually near by, if the weather is pleasant. He is the one who gives us that "whatever craziness are you two up to now?" look.



These two are a joy. They are funny and loving and calm. Their companionship gives them a lot of security. I take them out for walks on harnesses briefly. They find it interesting, Ramona more than Harper. Harper is going to be a calm, contemplative ( you could say lazy) good natured cat. And he's funny too. It is like there is a funny little Yoda in there, he looks at you and then lowers his eyes a little in a knowing way as if, "isn't this amusing?, yes I know."

Ramona is more mysterious and it is amazing how she is obviously a girl. We have always had male cats and girls are different. She is feisty and loves to be held but when she wants to be. She is very self possessed.



And here is our Lie-On King. The elder cat is just an amazing presence. He knows us so well and he is so wise, so sure of himself. To see him become parental in his elder years is quite astounding. Especially the night he brought the kittens a live mouse. He takes his territory duties very seriously.



We know we will lose him some day but it is lovely to see him treated so lovingly by these kittens. Ramona just dances with joy whenever she sees him and runs up for a kiss. She doesn't always get it but she lets him know she really cares.



My Yoda companion.

Home Again

We're home again and boy are we exhaustilated. It's time for a Caturday Napathon. That was great fun though and we really liked Miles, Sammie and Trixie.
See you all at the lympics!

Torch Relay Update

Brendan has decided to go along with his kittens. He says it's a big world out there for the delicate Miss Ramona. So Miles, you'll be seeing him too.

I gots it! I gots it!

Official torch hand off at 6 A.M. EST. Look out Miles, here they come!

Eric spent the night and after a breakfast of Grammi's Pot Pie, he's off back to London to finish preparing for the Games. What a nice guy! There were no leftovers at dinnertime between him and Harper.

And that is a lot of cat to have on your feet all night.

He's Here!

Everybody was anxiously awaiting Eric's arrival as the hours passed.


But then, he made it! And we all hung out together after a big meal of Cowboy Cookout.



"He has a ACCENT!" says Ramona.

We think Eric is real cool. He's British you know. So Harper an Ramona are going to bed early to be ready for their Big Adventure tomorrow.



Eric is real tired so he's going to get a good nap in before he heads back across the Atlantic. It was a long trip!

Eric is Coming!

Eric is coming!!

Ramona is far too nice to call him Fat Eric.

The stinky goodness is waiting and Ramona is waiting at the window as Eric makes his journey across the Atlantic. I'm sure he'll be exhausted and will reat up here before heading back.



And tomorrow Harper and Ramona will carry the torch to Miles in NY.

Catolympics

The torch relay begins today in Singapore with Bangles and Bombay traveling all the way to London where Fat Eric
will take over and race to New Hampshire. I bet he will lose a few pounds. Then Harper and Ramona will carry on, passing the torch to Miles in New York. Good thing we have a short run because we have to be home for dinner!

Keep up with the action as the countdown begins at The Catolympics

Today's Carnival will be hosted by Niobium

Summer

Ah, time to write another Caturday. I wonder where I can find some inspiration? Yes, Caturday is microchipped. Actually it resides on my server ,not Blogger, so if there was ever a total Blogger crash I could rebuild it as a web site. I try to keep photos backed up too.



The Tribe of Tigers congregate peacefully in the mornings to assess the day and read some cat blogs. Brendan has done Dawn Patrol and been greeted by his youngsters.

It is really summer here and I have been feeling a great lack of energy. Maybe it's all the work piling up or maybe it's the landscaping going on around here. We have a vegetable garden and lots of places that need fixing up. A house and a studio and all need cleaning. Sigh. I have only gotten up to chapter seven on my book rewrites. But once I finally do get that chapter done ( it is a new one) I think the rest will go quicker. But I also have TV commercials and videos to produce this summer. And I really do want to repaint my kitchen.

Harper is chortling. He makes the coolest sounds. But this morning I heard a mini tiger growl coming from under the bed and it was Ramona. She had Red Fuzzy and was being ferocious with it. For some reason the red one is the favorite. So Harper, being a nice guy, had the purple one.



He is a nice guy.

We are all thinking of Edsels Mom and hope the surgery goes well for her. It sounds very scary and we will keep her in our thoughts. You too, Edsel.

where have we gone?

Caturday was missing this morning.

Getting to Know You

Things are pretty busy around here and I have been kind of tired. It doesn't help that Brendan is insisting the whole crew wake up at 5 AM. ( He's retreated a bit, it was 4:45) I think he has vanquished Jakey the Barn Cat from the territory because he does seem more relaxed about it, but still, that first round of markers saying BRENDAN IS HERE, have to be laid down early. And since he has to be out for work early we are doing what any devoted cat people would do. We are going to bed early. I guess that will make us healthy, wealthy and wise, right?

I usually wake up sometime in the night with Harper and Ramona purring up a storm next to me. I found out from Olof that they spend half the night doing it to him. So they are already aware of the concept of time sharing, equal purrs for equal humans.

Now that we have been together for a little while (seven weeks?) we're seeing the kittens personalities come out. They are both very nice cats. Harper is a gentleman cat, a blessing, in that he doesn't seem to need to be top cat and he has a warm relationship with Brendan. They don't cuddle ( after all, they are guys) but they do communicate in an affectionate way and it is obvious Brendan has R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Brendan does seem five years younger and I bet the loving kisses he gets from Miss Ramona have something to do with it. This is a cat who has never known a female cat and Miss Ramona is, as he says, "really something." She is sweet and lively, more like Fergus than Harper is. She is playful and funny and she is also very loving to us. She decides when she needs a hug and then she comes right up and plops herself down in the spot she wants. And those eyes are just too much. Her motto is "I really care." I remember one night when Brendan sneezed from the bed room and she was off in a flash to check on him.

And Harper, well, Harper is a major love bug. He will lie in my arms for as long as I can sit still during his rest times. He loves Ramona and can't stand to be apart from her. They play together and the fact that they have each other makes them secure and less needy of us. Harper's motto is " I came for the food" and he is already a chunky monkey. Olof insists he has a double chin but I really don't think so. When kittenhood ends the diet will begin. And Olof says he thinks Harper might be lazy.

Go on, you can laugh. A lazy cat, yeah.

But he is an amiable fellow, happy and contented and good for all of us here at Caturday.

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and everything nice.

We are all very tired here at Caturday. Brendan started us off at 4:45 this morning for dawn patrol, making the territory safe for little girls. The humans did video at the shelter and started editing for tv. Then Harper and Ramona went Outside on leashes and it was very exciting and scary. So everyone is cuddled up, Ramona in my arms, Harper on my knees, Brendan at my feet, us beans in our lazy chairs. TV is off, sun is down.

Good night, moon.

Thank Heaven

for little girls.



Purr, says Brendan. Let little girl sleep.



And thank heaven for cuddly little boy cats.




The Tribe of Tigers gathers at the watering hole. And Midnight Munchie Bar.

Napilation

I don't pose them, honest. I just pick up the camera and sneak a shot before they wake up.

Harper Is

Growing up to be a nice guy.



Actually, he has been a nice guy from the start. On the nine hour trip from NY he sat next to me on the back seat and every once in a while he would look up at me and half close his eyes. I'm sure that I've written that here before but it was so cute. And he was so easy going about the whole thing. And he was happy when we stopped for a meal break. A cat has to be pretty cool to eat on the road and use the bathroom. Ramona came out of the crate and sat next to me too. She follows Harper's lead in a lot of things.

He is sitting on my lap in front of the computer with his paws on the keyboard. Ramona is in front of the computer soaking up the heat from the fan. Brendan is next to me. He went out for Dawn Patrol, waking us at 4:40 AM. It was a beautiful morning and I should have followed him around with the camera but I needed some more sleep. Then he comes in and gets a kiss from Ramona and a respectful greeting from Harper, having made the world Safe for My Kittens.

We never expected when we brought the kittens home that having a little girl would spice up Brendan's life. But just think of it, he's an old man and never had a girl in his life.

"She's really something." he says.

We agree.

Kitten Season

It’s Feline Friday at The Modulator

Little kitty whose name I didn't get.

I promised kittens and here they are. It is kitten season at the shelter. Take two, they're small.



Ivan!



Kenny!



Elroy!



Bella!



Josh! Yes.mom, a cat called Josh. Do you want him?

In other news, a man from Virginia was at the shelter adopting Boone for his wife back home. Boone is a big black character with a few white spots. The cool thing was the guy obviously loved cats and his wife saw Boone on Petfinder and said he was a Himalayan. Now, whether Boone is a Himalayan or just a cool looking floppy, long haired black cat, his name in a southern drawl sounded really great. You imagine.

Harper Says

Blogger is driving us a little nuts this morning, something going on with the photos. I am working on it. Yesterday I finally got the smile kitten up but it is not sizing it properly. This morning it won't display anything.

I found a piece of dried up salmon with cat hairs attached to it and Ramona has stopped coughing. So I think that may have been it. I am relieved.

Harper says" I'm here for the food". He ate his breakfast while his sister turned her pretty little nose up at Wellness kitten formula. There's been some runny poops lately so I have put them back on that and no more scarfing up Brendan's leftovers. But I gave in and put a spoonful of tuna on top of it and then she starting eating. But Harper of course, smelled it and made a dash for her bowl. I mean, a dash, a sprint, a 100 meter run. So I restrained him, he finished off his bowl and then when Ramona was done, he finished off hers. The Buddha Belly is in good form. I guess it will be nice to have a large cat to hug come cold winter nights.

Smile

So what do you think about this fellow?

Smile

I am having trouble getting a photo to upload this morning. I will keep trying since you do want to see this one!

I swear, I did not Photoshop this photo. I have other ones of this cute little shelter kitten that look perfectly normal. He is a handsome fellow and I bet he has already been adopted.

Just like this smile, the sun came out in New Hanpshire this morning to our great relief. It is a beautiful morning. Just as beautiful as the last week has been awful. Our river didn't flood, but it has in years past. Occasionally access from both ends of our road has been cut off. There is a hundred year flood plain below our house. But we are well above that. The flood plain is responsible for the great amount of privacy we enjoy here at the Caturday den. No one can build on three sides of us. We like that.

Last night I dreamed that we built a beautiful new house and there was a birthday party going on there. I was looking out the windows at the view, enjoying the gorgeous house and I said to Olof. "How about we sell this house and then retire to our old one?" Goes to show you, though we would like to build a smaller, better laid out home, deep down we both love this one too much. We built it when we were twenty for ten thousand dollars. The windows were home made and we slowly replaced them with better insulated ones. We built a foundation under the house a couple of years ago. We added to the insulation and built a garage. You get the picture.

I am trying to write with three cats pushing up against the computer. I spent yesterday working in the house and being amazed at the kittens. Isn't it incredible that these creatures want to be with us? Everywhere I went they wanted to be near me. I was working on the kitchen counter and they both decided to take their nap there, on the hard surface. It didn't look comfortable so I got them a round fuzzy bed and they stayed there through me cooking dinner. Fergus used to love being there keeping an eye on things.

Around midnight they both want a cuddle. Harper comes right up and gets on my arm under my chin. Then Ramona arrives and she wants to be there too so I put my arm around both of them. They both purr loudly. I remember coming home with them from NY. Harper, all of seven weeks old, sat next to me on the back seat looking up at me, purring and half closing his eyes, giving him the look of a wise little old man. He had always been treated kindly by people but still what trust, he was going off into the unknown world with a person he had just met. Ramona follows his lead, so soon after she came out too and sat with us for the nine hour journey.

I am marveling at watching the kittens personalities develop and watching the relationships between them, them and us and them and Brendan. Brendan is a bit of a curmudgeon as you might guess. But I watched as Ramona put her cheek to his head and let it stay there for a while softly. Then the other night Brendan came up the stairs and Ramona was walking carefully next to him, matching his every step. Her motto could very well be "I really care." Harper was right behind them. They need Brendan to show them how to be proper cats and he is fulfilling that role.

Harpers motto, I'm afraid is "I'm here for the food." He is proving to be a good natured, loving and playful fellow. Respectful to Brendan, deeply attached to Ramona and loving to me. He's a sweet fellow.

Ramona has eaten something she shouldn't have. I caught her chomping on a bit of carpet from the cat tree Sunday night and brought her in to the vet's Monday. They couldn't find anything, or any obstruction and she has been eating and pooping. But she has been making strange coughing sounds and I am concerned. The vet said she may have irritated her throat. I guess that is possible because she sometimes sounds like she is coughing up mucus and swallowing it down. I don't know how that works in cats. But I think I will call the vet again today because it hasn't stopped. She had said something about giving her slippery elm so I'll ask about that.

I'll be off to take more shelter photos today and get some kids up on Petfinder. Kitten season is upon us so be prepared for some impossibly cute kitten photos.

Wrassling Practice Part Two

In one corner we have the petite agile and lightening quick Miss Ramona and in the other the solid heavyweight Pork Chop. Who gets the title Top Paw?



Ramona leaps into the fray with a beautifully executed "Tiger Leaps to the Attack" maneuver as described in that ancient text, "Meow Do for the Fighting Feline."



But Harper responds with a "Turtle Grabs Hold"



He flips the Divine Miss R over in a classic "Lion Rolls and Shows Belly to Sun."




However the lithe Miss R escapes his grasp with a "Tiger Leaps to Escape" move too fast for the camera to catch. But Harper responds with a quick "Shark Swims Through Water and Chomps" move.



Then Harper moves in with a quick " Tiger Pulls Rabbit in Circle" move and then executes a stunning one two "Tiger Makes Fist and Chops"



The action then moved to the higher position where Harper ended the game with a stunning example of "Tiger Spreads Wings and Flies to the Moon."

That move brought the house down and ended the game with a standing ovation. We leave it to you to determine the winner. They are still best of friends.

Everybody Loves Ramona

A rainy Sunday morning here. The Man with the Cam took this shot as the Tribe of Tigers were hanging out after coffee and world news. We have decided that Mona Lisa's motto is "I Really Care." Brendan's is "Let All My Days be Normal" and Harper's, well Harper is a Work In Progress. He does look remarkably like a flying squirrel as Olof pointed out this morning.

Caturday at the shelter went quite well. I attended the Red Cross seminar on Pet First Aid. That does not mean I would actually be able to perform CPR on a Great Dane but I did learn quite a bit about animal care.

There was quite a hubbub in the cat room and they actually ran out of adoption forms at one point and were running off to print more. I know that two pairs, Phantom and Topper, and Vesper and Stormy went together, also I saw Gandolf going home and a puppy. And the big news is Shelley, the Katrina rescue was adopted by a woman who saw that great photo of her I posted on Petfinder and said any cat that looked like that had to be a character and she came and got her.

If you scroll down to the post titled "Shelter Faces" Shelley is the one at the bottom, the multi-colored face with one bad eye. I don't think anyone ever thought Shelley would find a happy home so we are thrilled with the news.

I'll post some photos of the day later this week and also the exciting conclusion to Harper and Ramona's Catolympic work out.