Tuxie Tuesday

Mom seems obsessed with my fur sometimes.

Karen Jo:  I never lived with a cat with long fur before.  I love the way your fur gets wavy sometimes, especially the fur on your side, right next to your tummy.  If you biggify the picture, it will get all out of focus.  I forgot to switch the camera to macro mode.  I will do better next time.

Not much went on today.  Mom had turkey for lunch again, but this time I wasn't much interested.  I only ate one bite.

Karen Jo:  I have given up trying to figure out your food preferences.  Yesterday you wanted all the turkey I would give you.  Today, you couldn't care less.  Who know what you will do with it tomorrow.

I just wanted to laze around while Mom got ready for work today.  I ignored all the toys she got out for me, but I played with my nip ball while she was gone.  She couldn't find it tonight.

Karen Jo:  I will find it tomorrow in the daylight.  I always do.  You really wanted your nip treats tonight.  I just gave you nip treats when you asked for treats to see how many you would eat.  You ate eleven of them, then you raced me to your food dishes.

Sometimes nip treats give me the munchies.  I wanted my dinner and I ate quite a bit of it.  Then I wanted to play, play, play.

Karen Jo:  And play we did.  You really gave your fevver-butt squeaky mouse a workout, along with your sparkle ball and even your big ball a little bit.  I love playing with you.

Mancat Monday

I really love my ham-mick.  I nap in it after lunch every day.  It was Mom who was tilted, not the floor.  Mom, you haven't been blogging for me.

Karen Jo:  I apologize.  I tried to blog last night, but Blogger wouldn't let me.  I left you Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and came back Friday.  I was too tired Friday to blog, but I did pet you the whole time I was watching a movie on TV.

That was awesome.  A two-hour petting session.  You did some good cooking today.

Karen Jo:  I got some turkey thighs and roasted them.  When they were ready, who did I find sitting in my chair at the table?

Me!  I wanted your plate.

Karen Jo:  You had to settle for bites while I ate.  You ate quite a few little bites.

Freshly cooked turkey is wonderful.  I hope we have some more.

Karen Jo:  There is enough turkey for two more days.  I will share with you.  You sure have been asking for a lot of treats.

Those catnip treats are the best.  I want a lot of them and sometimes I get a bit buzzed.  The ham-mick comes in really handy then.  Playing THoE by myself is more fun when I am buzzed, too.

Karen Jo:  You get more playful, as well.  You really get into batting your toys around.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I have a lot to be thankful for.  I am very thankful for Friends of the Shelter, who saved me from being put to sleep when the vet discovered that I had both FIV and FeLV.  I am thankful for my forever home, with all the good noms and great places to nap.  I am thankful for my bucket of toys to keep me occupied.  I am thankful for my medicines, though I don't like some of them very much, for helping to keep me healthy to enjoy my new life.  I am most thankful for my Mom who decided that she wanted to take me home as soon as she saw me.

Here is something else to be thankful for.  My ham-mick from Forty Paws arrived today.  Mom won it in an auction.  I am checking out all the nip that came with it. After I finished with the nip, I hopped in it to take my afternoon nap.

Tuxie Tuesday

I was sleepy and Mom caught me mid-yawn.  This picture is from several days ago, but it's just the way I felt today, too.  The weather was very cold and some snowflakes came down.  The sun peeked out occasionally, but not much.  I played with Mom a little bit, but mostly I just wanted to nap.  I didn't even eat as much as usual, though I did a good job making my cheese and treats disappear.

Mom says that I am a very polite kitty.  She had the big Temptations bag open to get me a treat and I stuck my head in it.  I took out one treat and ate it.  It smelled great in there.  Mom put the nip treats in with the Temptations.

Mom invented a new game.  She puts a toy under my warming mat and moves it around, then takes her hand out and I fish out the toy.  Tonight she wasn't fast enough in getting her hand out of  the way and I got her instead of the toy.  She yelped, but she wasn't hurt.  Maybe some more stuff will happen tomorrow.

Mancat Monday

I'm just grabbing some sun rays while I can. The weather is turning really nasty with high winds.  I don't like the wind.  It makes me jumpy.  I was in the kitchen, thinking about jumping up on the sink to ask for a drink from the faucet and Mom's footstep on the kitchen floor startled me.  I have never reacted that way before.

I still don't trust my new cube.  Mom put a nip treat inside and I stuck my front half in to grab the treat, then exited through the closest hole immediately.  At no time was all of me inside the cube.  I have really been hitting up Mom for treats lately.  The nip ones make me frisky.  I got six treats out of her before she left for work today. She gives me different kinds each time I ask, so I get a variety.

I finished my week off Interferon yesterday.  I saw Mom get the bottle out of the refrigerator today and I meowed and meowed for it.  I love my Interferon and not because I get cheese afterward.  Mom kept on giving me the cheese, but it didn't seem the same without the Interferon first.  I even ignored it yesterday until Mom got home from work and even then I didn't eat all of it.  I ate most of it today after my Interferon.

Karen Jo:  I am so glad that you love your Interferon.  I love it, too, because it is helping to keep you healthy. I just wish you felt the same way about your pills.

Ugh!  I don't like pills.  Sometimes I threaten to poke Mom with my mighty claws when she gives me one.

Karen Jo:  Sometimes you do poke me with your mighty claws, although I have gotten better at seeing it coming and letting you go before it happens.  I can always pick up the pill after you spit it out and give it to you again.  With all this talk of Herman sticking me with his claws, I should probably explain it better.  Herman normally just pricks me lightly with his claws to wake me up or get my attention.  It is extremely rare for him to leave any kind of mark.  The exception is when he objects to taking a pill.  Then he means business and draws blood if he connects.  However, this hardly ever happens.  Just lifting his paw is enough for me to get the message and leave him alone for a bit about the pill. Usually he just tries to twist his head away or chews lightly on my finger.

Mom and I played some today both before and after work, though I didn't really seem in the mood. The wind made noises and that distracted me.  I did manage to get some sun, though, both on the floor and on my platform.

More Goodies

 Just look at all this cool stuff!  My prize package from the Halloween contest arrived today from Samantha and Clementine of Life from a Cat's Perspective on behalf of the New Tuxedo Gang.  There was even a kitten calendar for Mom.

I started to play with this one as soon as Mom got it off the card.  What's really cool about this cat is that you can stuff his swimming trunks with catnip.  Now Mom has to get me some new nip. We ran out and I feel deprived.

Karen Jo:  Oh, poor you!  You haven't used up all the nip I put on your cardboard scratcher and your Turbo scratcher yet.

I was interested in the cube until it scared me.  Mom had taken it out of the package and was unfolding it when it made a loud noise and popped out of her hands.  I went and hid behind my platform and wouldn't come out for a long time.

Karen Jo:  They aren't kidding when they call it a pop-up cube. It popped half-open.  I finished opening it, but I don't think Herman has gone near it yet.  I tried scratching on the back of it to interest him tonight, but he knows that trick.  I'll put some treats in it tomorrow to see if he can get over his distrust of it.

There were some new treats in the package.  I haven't had Pounce before.  Mom opened up the bag and gave me one when I came out from behind my platform.  I like them.  I played with my mousie and my doggie toys with Mom after she got home from work tonight. Thank you so much, Samantha and Clementine and everyone who voted for me.

Mom was hard to get up this morning.  I really had to work at it.

Karen Jo:  It was pretty strange.  Herman knows that I have to get up when the alarm goes off.  It seldom does go off because I usually wake up a half-hour to an hour early and turn on the radio, then just doze until the alarm is ready to go off, then get up.  This morning I woke up an hour early and turned on the radio, after I made sure that Herman's food was OK after his early morning feeding.  Then I zonked out completely.  I was deeply asleep when the alarm went off.  I turned it off and threw off the covers, then zonked out again and started dreaming.  I dreamed that I was in my underwear, sitting on the side of the bed and putting on my socks. Herman kept sticking his claws in my butt and I kept turning around to tell him to knock it off, I was up already.  I finally got really irritated with him and gave him a sharp rap on the head with my knuckles (which I would never do) and he began to cry.  I woke up then and sure enough, Herman was sitting right by my butt, looking totally innocent.  I don't know if he really cried out or not, but since he is so vocal, he probably did, out of frustration.  I usually get up at the first hint of claws.  He did a good job, as I got up only 15 minutes late.

The Rest of the Party

This is my Gotcha Day gift. It's a warming mat.  There is stuff inside that reflects heat back to keep me warm this winter.

This was in the package, too.  I don't know what it is, but the white ball on the end is fun to play with.

Here I am trying out my new warming mat.  I love it.  It has become my favorite nap spot.

Karen Jo:  First, many apologies.  I had intended to keep on posting about Herman's Gotcha Day Party after I woke up again after the breakfast post.  For some reason I have been incredibly tired recently and I just didn't have the energy to post again until now.  All I can think of is that my still-working-but-woefully-inadequate thyroid gland is doing its job very irregularly.  That said, here is how the rest of the party went.

I finally had to go get Mom up because all the kitties were getting hungry again and Roxy wanted some broccoli.  We had ham, turkey, chicken, a whole salmon and the biggest shrimp ring you ever saw, plus some broccoli.  After making sure that all the food was out, Mom got out the wand toys for a while.  Some of the kitties wanted pets and scritches before their afternoon naps, so Mom was kept pretty busy.  The sun came out and melted most of the snow, but it stayed in the shady spots.  Then the wind came up and it got pretty nasty outside, so we all played inside. There were toys scattered all over the house.

When it got dark, Mom brought out tuna cake and nip ice cream.  Then she mixed up huge batches of niptinis and meowgraritas. Some kitties played with my flashy balls in the dark hallway.  We put the music on and danced and played until we dropped.  One by one the kitties and woofies teleported home after their post-party naps.  Thank you all for coming.  It was a great party.

Tuxie Tuesday Gotcha Day

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Here I am resting up in my comfy chair, getting ready for my Gotcha Day Party, which is starting right now.  One year ago Mom got home from work and called my foster Mom, who loaded me up in a PTU and brought me over to my new home.  I was set free in my "safe room" because my foster Mom was afraid that having a whole house to roam around in might blow my mind, as I had been locked up in one small room for six months. As soon as my foster Mom left and I discovered that I was staying, I wanted out. My new Mom opened the door and let me explore the whole house.  I have had the run of the place ever since.

Everyone is welcome to come party beginning right now.  Tonight we just have drinks and the buffet available, but there will be plenty of food tomorrow.  Mom is staying home all day, so we have a human slave at our disposal for the whole party.  For drinks we have niptinis, blue gizzies and meowgaritas, with Russianless white Russians for the kittens and water for those who want to keep their wits about them.  For snacks we have Temptations, Greenies, Party Mix and nip treats.  For those who want something a bit more substantial, there is the Herman Buffet:  Kitten Chow, Purina One for sensitive systems, Green Pea and Duck (grain free) and Friskies Seafood Sensations for the dry food; the canned food selections are Turkey Florentine and Ocean Whitefish and Tuna with gravy.  Um, sorry, I already licked up all the gravy.

We can basically do anything we want, but Mom has a few ground rules.

Karen Jo:  Just a couple.  Please, no THoE between 2:00 am and dawn.  You are welcome to play the stereo, the CD player and the radio, but please not too loud.

All right, lets get to it.  We have plenty of music, a whole bucket of toys, food and drink and lots of places to crash.  There are two couches, a table with a big cushion and a soft throw on it, a comfy chair, two more chairs with cushions, and my platform in the living room.  There is a comfy chair and a couch in my "safe" room.  There is a rocking chair, a computer chair and my Mom's bed in her room.  The whole house, except for the kitchen is carpeted.

Karen Jo:  All the kitties and woofies who can fit are welcome to share my bed with me and Herman.  Just remember that the space right next to my chest is reserved for Herman.  If you eat up all the food, you are allowed to wake me up at oh-dark-thirty, but I will go right back to bed after filling the food dishes.  Breakfast will be served after dawn.

All right!  Let's party!

Hahaha!  You kitties have good appetites.  We got Mom up at oh-dark-thirty to fill up the food dishes.  All the dry food needed filling up. Then we let her sleep until sunup.  Now its time for breakfast.  Mom is making kitty-sized omelets.  Put in your order for omelets with tuna, bacon, ham, tuna or chicken, or any combination you like.  To drink we have fresh water out of the faucet or tuna juice or milk.  We are going to keep her busy. Once we have eaten our fill, we will let her go back to sleep until we want the wand toys to come out. For a special bonus we have SNOW!  The back yard is safe for any kitties or woofies who want to go out and roll in the snow or eat it or throw snowballs.  There isn't much, but it looks like there is more on the way.  Mom has plenty of fluffy towels to dry you all off when you are done outside.  More fun is coming when Mom wakes up again.

Mancat Monday

I found a great sun puddle and made the most of it.  It's been cold here.  The water in the birdbath is frozen every day.  You can see my thin spots, but Mom thinks that the fur is growing in again.  I have been really active, running up and down the hall to get Mom to play with me and running from the kitchen to the living room to get her to give me a treat.  Mom found some great new treats for me.  They are Goodlife Catnip treats.  I love them.  I even got Mom to play with me in the living room in the dark.  I ran down the hall to her room to get her attention, then ran back into the living room to show that I wanted to play.  Mom came in and I pounced her feet.  She couldn't see too well, so she rolled me a crinkle ball, so she could hear where I batted it.  It took her a long time to find it, so she decided to use my big flashy ball instead.  We had a lot of fun with it.

Karen Jo:  I will have to remember that you really enjoy playing with your flashy balls in the dark.  I hope I can find another one of the big flashy balls when its battery runs out.

Mom has been being lazy and not blogging for me, but she will be sure to blog tomorrow.  It's my Gotcha Day!  I am getting excited.  Mom ordered a present for me, but she won't tell me what it is.  She has been putting weird stuff on my head, like mousies or my octopus, and says that she is just practicing.  I am not sure I like the sound of this.  I hope it doesn't have anything to do with my Gotcha Day present.

Karen Jo: I promise you that your Gotcha Day present doesn't go on your head, but something else will, I hope, at least for a little while.  It's not laziness, Herman, but tiredness.  When I find myself falling asleep over the keyboard, I go to bed instead of blogging.  Work has been crazy lately.  I hope your Gotcha Day present arrives in time.  Would you like to have a party?

Oh, yes, I want to have a big party, with lots of food and drinks and nip and toys and everything.

Karen Jo:  We will have a party, then, and everyone is invited.

Lazy Thursday

Here I am in Mom's rocking chair.  Mom decided to see if just the overhead light was enough to take a picture with and it almost is.  I usually nap here while Mom is on the computer, if I am not under her chair demanding to be petted, that is.

After reading about it on Max's blog, Mom finally found a tri-tip roast and it is every bit as good as Max said it was.  The trouble is, Mom fed me shortly before the roast got done and I wasn't hungry enough to do it justice.  She did let me lick up the juice on her plate, though.  I love, love, love beef juice.

You can find the photo that appears in the Friends of the Shelter calendar here.  When we play, Mom usually rolls or tosses a toy in my direction and I grab it.  Sometimes I pick out a toy and start playing with it.  When I toss or whap it out of reach, Mom rolls it back to me. Rarely, I will chase the toy after I whap it a good one.  Tonight we played with one of my little furry mice. When I whapped it out of reach under a chair, Mom tried to get me interested in one of my balls, but I was through playing.

Tuxie Tuesday

Mom apologizes for using the same picture of me with my toy bucket twice in just a couple of days. This was the picture she meant to use yesterday, but she forgot to uncheck the "put it in a new folder" box and she couldn't find it.  I had just gotten a bit of playtime with my toys after I got my nasty medicine and I was pooped out.  I didn't even eat all my treats, as you can still see some in the PTU in the background.  My fur is getting all stick out all over again, but this winter it still has a shine to it, so Mom knows that it is just the dry weather and the dry air from the heater making it do that.  Mom has some news on the kitty girl.

Karen Jo:  It isn't the news I was hoping for, but it is still great news.  The kitty girl was adopted over the weekend.  The lady at the shelter said that she was amazed at how many people showed an interest in adopting her.  It looks like more people are now willing to give kittens with problems a chance.  My name has been added to the list of people interested in adopting cats with feline leukemia, so I may find out about another one some time.  It has been my experience in life that cats who need me have a way of finding me.  That brings me to a dream I have had twice now.  Each time in the last year that I have decided that I was really interested in adopting a cat, I have dreamed about a part Siamese or part Himalayan cat.  The first time was just before I found Herman and the second time was just after I found out about the kitty girl and had made up my mind that adopting her would be a good idea.  I have no idea if it means anything, but I find it interesting.

I chased a fly all around the kitchen this morning.  I almost caught it, too.

Karen Jo:  You could have caught the one I found swimming in your water bowl.

That would have been too easy.

I got some really nice cuddle time this morning.  Mom isn't quite used to the new time yet and woke up an hour early, so she spent the extra time listening to the radio and petting me.  After she got home from work, I ran up and down the hall twice, just to let her know that I was ready to play.  And play we did.  I used to just play with one toy for a few minutes, then I was done playing for that session.  Now I will play with a toy, get tired of it, go to another toy and play with it and even go on to a third or fourth toy.  My play time has gone from 1-5 minutes to 5-10 minutes.  I even run after toys and keep whapping them time after time, which I rarely did before. Tonight I was celebrating that I didn't have to take the nasty medicine today and I won't have to take it any more until next month.  I feel so good that I am just bursting with energy and fun.

Karen Jo:  I have some news for you.  I just heard from The Friends of the Shelter and their calendar is out and you are in it.

Yay!  Now you have to get a photo in for the PAWS calendar.  I want to be a big time calendar cat.

Karen Jo:  I will do that tomorrow, Herman.  I have so many pictures of you that it is going to be hard to choose, but I will do it.

Mancat Monday

I like hanging around near my toy bucket.  I might like to get something out of it.  I got some exciting news.  I won the tuxedo category in Hansel's Halloween Contest. I never expected that with just my collar.  Thank you all so much for voting for me.  Not much has been going on around here.  Mom didn't want to get up Sunday morning.

Karen Jo:  The time changed, Herman.  I didn't have to get up until an hour later than usual.  I still got up early and fed you.

You mean I wasted my time making sure to get you out of bed at your usual time?  I wondered why you just checked my food and went back to bed. That must be why my Interferon and cheese were so late. Why do humans have to mess around with time, anyway?  It is all so confusing.

Mom and I had a lot of fun playing Sunday night.  We mostly played with my little mousies, but I knocked my flashy ball around a little, too.  I whapped my mousies and picked them up in my claws and bit them and tossed them around.  When they got too far away from me, Mom batted them back to me. We played for a long time until I decided that I was a little hungry again.

Karen Jo:  I love playing with you, Herman.  I am loving it that you are eating very well, but haven't been gaining any more weight.  You seem to have decided that 14 pounds is your ideal weight.  You do jiggle a little when you run, but I don't think you are really fat.

Ayla and Iza are curious about what the little kitty girl looks like.  She is a black and white long-haired kitty.  If I don't hear from her rescue group tomorrow, I will be calling them on Tuesday.  I really hope that this works out and I can adopt her.  I think it will be lots of fun for everyone involved, once the adjustments are made.

Caturday

Sometimes I like to relax next to my scratching post.  You can see that I have been giving it a workout.  Mom is a bit upset about something.  I'll let her tell you about it.

Karen Jo:  I am really disgusted.  I set aside several hours for the Blogblast for Peace, to get globes for me and Herman ready and I had my limerick all written.  When I turned on the computer, I discover that my ISP was down and it stayed down the whole night.  Of all the times to lose the internet, it had to be then.

Other than that, things are going well.  Mom hasn't heard from the people with the girl kitty yet, but she will call them on Tuesday if she doesn't hear from them first.  I found a fly on the floor and gave it a real workout before it flew away.

Karen Jo:  You really batted it around.  I was surprised that it wasn't too dizzy to fly.

Mom cooked the lamb roast and guess what?  I liked it.  I ate every little bite that Mom gave me.

Karen Jo:  I liked it, too, though it was very bony.  I got the shoulder roast because I hadn't ever tried that cut before.  I think I will go back to the leg from now on.

I found a new way to get attention.  If Mom is on the computer and I want to be petted, I go under her computer chair, then stick my claws in her ankle.

Karen Jo: I don't mind petting you at all, Herman, but you are really hard to reach when you are under my chair. Why don't you just jump up in the rocking chair right next to the computer chair, where you are much easier to reach?

It's more fun to make you work at it.  Mom tried to get me to watch the ravens while they ate my leftover food, but I wasn't interested.

Karen Jo:  I like to watch them eat your food.  They hop around and sometimes do a little dance, where they walk up to the food, then hop backwards, then go forwards again and take a little bite, then hop back again.  I find them very entertaining.

Just Hanging Around

I'm just relaxing next to my toy basket.  I was all stretched out in a sun puddle, showing off my floof, but just as Mom got down on the floor with the camera, the phone rang.  Of course I had to get up and help her answer the phone.  Mom didn't blog for me yesterday like she said she would.

Karen Jo:  Sorry, Herman, I got all wrapped up in watching the election returns, then I went to bed.

I have been doing a lot of running up and down the hall and through the living room.  I feel so good I just have to do something.  I found out that I can jump up on the kitchen sink and look out the window.  There are little birdies in the bush right by that window sometimes.  I meow and meow at them to come in, but they never do.

Karen Jo:  They can't get in through the window, Herman, any more that you can get out.

That's too bad.  I have been playing with Mom quite a bit, too.  I am mostly a good boy about taking my medicine, but Mom is giving me the really nasty stuff again.  I let her know how I feel about it.  I stuck my claw right in her finger and made the blood come out.

Karen Jo:  You are halfway through this month's dosage now.  Just a few more days and you won't have to take it again for three weeks.

That's a relief.  I got all fresh litter today.  I like new litter day.  My dry food bowls are getting low and Mom isn't refilling them.

Karen Jo:  I am going to dump all the left over dry food tomorrow and give you all fresh. The ravens are really going to have a feast.  You should watch them.

I don't like watching those big birds as much as I like watching the little ones.  Have you gotten my Gotcha Day presents yet?

Karen Jo:  Not yet.  I will put in the order tomorrow.  I got some interesting news today.  How would you like a little sister?

I'm not sure.

Karen Jo:  There is a three-month old kitty girl with feline leukemia being fostered nearby who really needs a home.  I am seriously thinking about giving her a try.  You are very secure and healthy now, so it shouldn't stress you out too much.

What if I don't like her?

Karen Jo:  I can take her in provisionally.  If things don't work out, I can give her back.

Election Day

Mom is taking over the blog today, but I will be back tomorrow.

Karen Jo:  I just want to remind everyone to go vote if you haven't already.  Voting is our right, our privilege and our civic duty.  It makes me really sad when I read statistics that indicate that less than half of the registered voters generally vote in a non-presidential election year. Every election is important and I always go vote and I want you to do so, too.

Mancat Monday

Mom didn't get a picture of me today, so here is one of the first good pictures she took of me.  She picked such an old picture because this is my Gotcha Day month.  I got a good treat for Halloween.  Mom and I played and played with my flashy ball in the dark.  We batted it all over the living room and into the kitchen.  We played with it there for quite a while, until I knocked it up against my food bowls and I decided that I would rather eat than play.  Another reason that Mom decided to show a really old picture of me is that I am feeling really good.  I am playing with Mom as much as I did before I got sick last Spring.  I even started wanting to play with her before she goes to work, as well as after she comes home.  I am even playing with my toys after she goes to work.  I haven't played this much since last winter.

Karen Jo:  You are making me really happy, Herman.  I love to see you having so much fun.  I am overjoyed to find your toys scattered far and wide when I get home, instead of where they were when I left. We had lots of fun when I got home.  We played with your pink pig from the Hams of the Werld Tour, nip ball, another ball, fevver-butt squeaky mouse and eraser mouse.  We haven't had a sustained play session like this in such a long time.  Aside for the occasional pudding poop, I think you are as healthy as you were when I got you.