Smart Sunday

 Today was turn away from Mom while she is taking our picture day.  Emma and I both did it.  The fan has been blowing papers off the kitchen table and Mom doesn't always pick them up right away.

Emma:  I had fun with Mom when she was trying to take my picture. First I was on the couch and she sat in my chair to take a picture on my level.  I walked over this table to stick my nose right up to the camera lens, then I got into her lap.  Mom thought that was pretty cool, so I got petted for a while.  Then I got back on the table and sat down looking at Mom, so she aimed the camera and pushed the button just as I got up and turned away.

Karen Jo:  I love it whenever you jump up into my lap.  You don't do it very often.  I have hopes that someday you will become a lap cat.

Emma:  I have something new that I like to do.  I jump up on Mom's dresser and look at myself in the mirror. I don't meow or try to play with the kitty in the mirror; I just sit and look at myself.

Karen Jo:  I have never seen a cat do that before.  It seems like Emma knows that she is looking at herself, but cats aren't supposed to be able to recognize themselves like that.  Emma is a smart cat and maybe she is smarter than I thought.

I'm smart, too.  I know just how to get you to give me treats whenever I want.  Or almost whenever I want.

Karen Jo:  You are very smart, too, Herman.  I have never seen you with a mirror, so I don't know how you react.  You know when it's time for your Interferon and remind me if I forget and you know just how to get me up early to feed you.

The put my paw on Mom's head and slowly extend my claws trick works every time.  It doesn't hurt her, but it sure gets her attention.  You didn't give me any chicken today.

Karen Jo:  When the chicken was ready to eat, you weren't anywhere in sight.  You and Emma were busy in the living room, so I had to eat the chicken all by myself.  I will be having it again tomorrow, so you have another chance.

Good.  I have always liked this way of cooking chicken.  You snipped my fur again today.

Karen Jo:  There are lots of little places where I will have to snip your fur.  You are getting lots of little mats. You have been resisting me lately, so they are building up.  You don't want to be furminated, which I understand, because if the furminator hits a mat, it pulls and hurts.  You don't want your mats snipped, which I don't really understand because I have never hurt you doing it.  You really don't want to be shaved, which I understand completely.  Snipping is the only way to get rid of your mats that you will tolerate, at least some of the time.

I guess I will have to put up with it.  I know that little mats will become bigger mats if they aren't dealt with, then I will have to be shaved, but I don't like the snipping all the same.

Caturday with Emma

Mom snapped me up here with the stuffies.  Neither Herman nor I are interested in playing with the stuffies.  I just like to rest up here sometimes and this chair is one stop in my run-around-on-the-furniture game.

Karen Jo:  I noticed that neither of you think of stuffies as toys.  I even bought one just for you to play with and it always gets ignored when I get it out. Maybe I need to roll it around in nip or something.

It has been forever since you put some new nip out.

Karen Jo:  The two of you don't seem to need it.  You are lively enough as it is.  I will try to remember to put some out on Sunday, though.

There is this very interesting smell in the kitchen.

Karen Jo:  I am finally cooking the chicken.  I used the recipe that Herman likes -- the one with the Swiss cheese.

I noticed Herman in the kitchen earlier, meowing at you.

Karen Jo:  He wanted some cheese, so I gave him a little.

You didn't give me any.

Karen Jo:  You didn't ask for any.

I probably wouldn't like it anyway.  Herman has started chasing me again.  I like it when he will play.  I have been very playful.  I got one of the balls out of the toy box with holes and knocked it halfway down the hall.  Even Herman has been fishing toys out of that box and playing with them. It's fun.

Karen Jo:  I am really glad that the two of you are enjoying that toy box so much. At first I wasn't sure that Herman would like it.  I knew that you would, though.

I still like Da Bird the best.

Karen Jo:  You are certainly putting some wear on it.  The feathers are looking pretty scraggly.  You don't mind that a bit, so there is no point in getting a new Bird for it yet.

I am glad that you started feeding the birds outside again.  I like to watch them.

Karen Jo:  I enjoy the chirping.  There are definite signs of wildlife coming into town.  I saw a bunny on my way to work a couple of days ago and I saw a coyote while I was coming home from work tonight.  The paper had a story about a mother black bear and her cub who were in someone's back yard. The fire burned up a lot of their food, poor things. At least the fire is almost out now.  The rains have really helped.

Catchup Thursday

 I was just playing with the dangler inside the Alpine scratcher.  Emma hasn't discovered it yet, at least not that Mom has seen.  Mom is giving me treats for scratching, but only three at a time.  I just wait a while on her days off and start scratching again.  I scored about twelve treats on Tuesday.  Mom gave Emma a treat while I was getting mine and she almost didn't eat it.  Mom was just on the point of giving it to me instead when Emma finally decided that she wanted it.  Darn it!

Emma: I let Mom get close enough with the camera for a closeup of me.  This is quite unusual.  I usually move away from her when she gets this close with the camera.

Karen Jo:  Sorry for not blogging in a week.  Things just kept happening to my blog time.  I was bragging last week about Herman not being jealous of Emma any more and he isn't.  However, Emma still gets jealous of Herman under certain circumstances.  Emma jumped up for her morning petting and she took Herman's usual spot.  Herman jumped up on the foot of the bed, but gave Emma room.  I reached way down to pet Herman with my right hand while I was petting Emma with my left hand. Emma smacked Herman right between the ears, then grabbed my wrist with her teeth and bunny-kicked my arm.

Emma:  Herman was moving in on my petting time.  I am fixing him now, though.  I am jumping up on the bed at night before he does and grabbing his spot.  Now I get the night petting.

It doesn't bother me.  I know that I just have to wait and you will jump over to the rocking chair.  Then I claim my spot and get my petting.  Mom bought chicken, but still hasn't cooked it.

Karen Jo:  Stuff happened to my cooking time, too, so I put the chicken in the freezer.  I will cook it tomorrow for sure. The two of you have been a bit friskier lately.

The weather has cooled off a bit.  Emma is running all over the place during the day again.  I am feeling up to trying to grab her as she darts by. I haven't caught her yet, but I am getting very close.

Karen Jo:  I wonder what you would do if you did catch her.

I am not sure.  Kitty wrestling doesn't seem to be our style.

Karen Jo:  The weather is cooler because the rainy season has started.  It either rains or threatens to rain every day.  It isn't raining nearly enough to mitigate the drought, though.

Fun and Games

 I am just relaxing again.  Lots of kitties were impressed with our buffet again.  We get so many kinds of food put out because I have both FIV and feline leukemia and Emma has feline leukemia.  Both are wasting diseases and Mom is making sure that we get enough choices so we eat enough.  We also seem to burn up a lot of energy keeping the virus in remission.  I did get too fat, so one of the choices is NOW weight control formula, which I actually like.  The other dry foods are Natural Balance green pea and duck and NOW kitten formula.  We get kitten food because we need the extra protein.  For canned food we get Fancy Feast and Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys.  Mom wishes we would eat healthier canned food, but when she tried to give me some, I barfed it right back up.  My last bout with feline leukemia left me with a slightly delicate stomach.  Mom isn't likely to mess around with our canned food again, unless she can't get the extra weight off me any other way.

Emma:  I love this chair.  I can get up on the back of it and watch the birdies and the high back makes a bit of shade in the seat.  It is also my favorite place to scratch.  Mom has given up trying to get me to stop scratching on the furniture. Bribing me with treats to get me to use the scratchers doesn't work because I don't care if I get treats or not.  I have even walked away from a treat when Mom tried to give me one. The spray stuff doesn't work because I think it smells interesting.  Mom sprays my scratch spot and I sniff and sniff it.  I scratch too many places for the sticky tape to work.  If she put it on one place, I would just scratch somewhere else.

Karen Jo:  I don't really care all that much.  All my furniture is quite old and you aren't really causing all that much damage.  I would rather you used the scratchers, but you won't, so that's that.

We got a tiny bit of rain this evening, so the weather cooled off.  I even felt like playing this evening, but not as much as Emma wanted.  She kept running right past me, trying to get me to chase her.  I did a little bit, but she wanted more.  I played soccer with Mom for a while.

Emma:  Now that I know that Herman is just playing when he chases me and I want to play with him, he won't do it much.  Mom and I played with Da Bird for a nice long time tonight.

Mom bought some chicken, but she hasn't cooked it yet.  She cooked something even better for lunch today -- steak!

Karen Jo:  I had started thawing out a steak for supper last night when a friend of mine invited me out for dinner.  It had thawed too much to put it back in the freezer, so I just had to cook it for lunch. Grin.

I don't care why we had steak for lunch, I just wanted my share.  I tried jumping up on the table to help myself, but Mom put me right back on the floor.  I got my bites anyway.  Emma didn't even come to investigate.  That silly girl really has her food priorities messed up. She will even eat the dry food when there is new Stinky Goodness in the dishes.

Emma:  I eat the Stinky Goodness first when it is just put out.  I am just not that interested in people food.  You eat dry food when there is Stinky Goodness out, too.

Not until it is all dried up and yucky.

Tuxie Tuesday

 I am just lying around.  I do a lot of this lately.  I am also protecting my chest fur.  Mom gets the scissors out almost every day and wants to snip off some of my lovely fur.

Karen Jo:  You are getting a whole bunch of small mats around your forelegs.  I feel them when I pet you at bedtime.  I try to snip one out every day.  I want to get it under control before you have to get your chest shaved again.

No more shaving!  I hate being shaved.  I guess I will have to put up with the snipping and the furminating, but I still won't like it.

I am getting a nice cool drink of water.  Mom just put cold water in our bowls.  We are both drinking a lot and peeing a lot in this hot weather.

Karen Jo:  I am very glad about that.  It will keep you healthy.  I froze the rest of the pot roast today.  What would you kitties like me to cook next?

Herman and Emma:  Chicken!  Just don't mess it up with a lot of herbs and junk we don't like.

Karen Jo:  Chicken it is.  I will cook some without anything on it just for you.  I am going to try to find a new recipe for me.  I am tired of baked chicken with herbs, though I can use it many ways once it is cooked.  Are you enjoying the fan while I am at work?

I love it.  I lie just in the kitchen doorway, where the fan can cool my tummy fur.  I even feel a little like playing at night.

Emma:  I like it, too.  Herman isn't much fun in the middle of the day.  I can run and jump right over him and he just ignores me.  The good part is that Mom can play  Da Bird with me for as long as I want and he ignores that, too, even though it is at night.  He isn't jealous of me any more.

I have gotten used to having you around.  I know I can pounce you when I feel like it.  I also know that Mom will give us both as much petting as we want at night and early in the morning. There's no reason to be jealous any more.

Caturday with Emma

Mom never posts on Femme Friday any more, so she said I could have Caturdays.

Karen Jo: My friend and I have gotten into the habit of going out together on Thursday nights and I don't feel like blogging when we get home.  Most of the time we don't get home until bedtime, anyway.  It gives us both some much needed R&R.

I am in the laundry basket.  I helped Mom fold the laundry this morning.

Karen Jo:  Mostly you just furred it up a little.  You did grab a couple of things as I took them out of the basket.

When you left us last night, you left something cooking that made a yummy meat smell, but we didn't get any.

Karen Jo:  I made Hungarian pot roast in the crock pot, then put it away when I got home.  You weren't interested in it today.

Herman was, but he didn't like it after he tried it.

Karen Jo:  I left the onions out, so it would be kitty safe, but I guess kitties don't like tomato sauce, paprika and caraway seeds.

At least you finally got some more kitten food.

Karen Jo:  And after all your begging for kitten food, what were you eating this morning?

The duck and pea dry food.  It is pretty good stuff.  It's a lot better than that weight control stuff Herman eats.

Karen Jo:  Herman eats the duck and pea, too.

Herman eats almost anything.  I don't know what he sees in human food, but he is always trying to get some.

Karen Jo:  Herman loves steak.  You didn't even come into the room while I was eating my steak on Tuesday.

It's OK.  I have eaten a bite or two.  I much prefer cat food.

I enjoyed watching you crawl around yesterday, looking under the couch for lost toys.

Karen Jo:  I found quite a few, including both nip balls.  I also found the beat up Bird.  I put it on the line with the "new" one to make a bigger toy to play with.

I like it.  We played for quite a while tonight.  Herman decided he would rather eat than play.

Karen Jo:  I don't think either of you eat very much in the heat of the day while I am at work.  I keep finding uneaten Stinky Goodness in your dishes.  I also gave Herman his yucky pill just before playtime.  He was probably trying to get rid of the taste or maybe his treats made him hungry.

Treats are another thing I don't understand why Herman gets so excited about.  I will mostly eat one if you offer it to me, but I won't ask for one.

Karen Jo:  You and Herman are very different.  I like it that way.

Tummy Thursday

 This is what Mom saw when she got up and started to get dressed.  I decided to nap at the foot of the bed.

Emma:  I decided to nap in the computer chair.  We love doing this to Mom.  She has to get up and get dressed and go to work and we can just nap around.

Karen Jo:  You both were showing off those lovely tummies, so I decided to take pictures.  I have to be fast to get a picture of Emma these days, as she retires to her hidey-hole so much.  It's dark and must be cooler in there, she spends so much time in it.

Mom ate something interesting for lunch, but she didn't give me any of it.

Karen Jo:  I was having turkey dogs with mac and cheese.  I offered you a piece of turkey dog, but you didn't want it after you licked it.

I think I would have preferred the mac and cheese.

Karen Jo:  I will try to remember that for next time.

Emma:  I helped Mom eat something good last night.  She was sitting and eating, then she turned away, so I helped myself to some.

Karen Jo:  That was banana ice cream.  I am glad you liked it.

Emma:  I played with Da Bird for quite a while tonight, but Herman didn't want to play.

I played with my mousie wand toy for a while.  I pounced you while Mom was in the bathroom.  That's how I like to play.

Emma:  That was fun, but it didn't last long.  You leaped out and pounced me, but didn't chase me.

It was still a bit too hot for chase games.  You don't get as hot as I do.

Emma:  I am really glad about that.

Karen Jo:  The weather report keeps saying that it might rain, but it only rained on Sunday and Monday.  I wish it would rain some more.  We really need it both for the moisture and to put out the fires.

Mancat Monday

 I am just relaxing in the living room.  Mom tried to get me to play a little bit, but it's just too hot during the day.  I play more at night.  I do chase Emma around some during the day because she just asks for it, but I save playing with toys for the night time when it's cooler.  Mom's bitey is all healed up now.  I have been playing with the toy box with holes in it.  It's fun to push the toys around and try to pull them out.  I get some petting time in bed with Mom every night. She says that she is going to have to do something about the little mats she feels around my armpit, but I'm not worried.  I know now that she isn't going to hurt me with the scissors, so I don't fight her about it.  I am not looking forward to it, but I don't think it will be too bad. Emma's lucky.  Her fur is shorter and not nearly as thick as mine, so she doesn't get mats.  She sure sheds, though.  She got in bed with Mom one morning for a long petting session and practically turned the sheet black with her fur.  Mom just laughed about it.  Now Mom has some stuff she wants to say.

Karen Jo:  The picture doesn't do them justice, but these are the pendant and earrings that I got from the auction.  Someday I will learn how to take pictures that are actually in focus.  The best thing happened tonight.  It rained!  It didn't rain much, but it really cooled off the temperature and it got the ground all wet.  I hope it rained all over the fire.  The paper is back to normal publishing, but I haven't found out much.  A fellow says not to put out bird feed, because the bears are hungry, so I haven't been doing it.  I notice that my neighbors are all still feeding the birds and I miss the chirping.  Bears were spotted in town during the evacuation, but I haven't read any more about them coming into town after we all came back.  I think I will start feeding the birds again.  They will need food more than ever with so much of their natural food sources being burned up.

All Back to Normal

 As you can see, I don't have any trouble looking at Mom any more.  The bitey is healing up nicely -- the redness and swelling is gone, except for just a little at the puncture site.  I discovered the dangler inside the Alpine Scratcher and played with it for a few seconds.  For some reason that made Mom really happy.

Karen Jo:  It made me really happy because it means you are fully over your bad experience with all the moving around.  You had stopped playing altogether and now you are playing again and having fun.

Emma: Mom was afraid that this picture wouldn't come out at all.  When she pushed the button to take the picture, I was lying on my side and looking at her.  As soon as I heard the click, I got up and walked away.  Herman and I played chase today for the first time since we got back home.  Mom is very amused, because I have been the one trying to get the game started.  I have been jumping over Herman and racing past him very closely.  What finally worked was when he was walking down the hall and I sped past him.  He couldn't resist that.  Mom doesn't know which one of us did it, or maybe both of us, but lots of little toys were pulled out of the toy box with holes when she got home.  I also pulled out the octopus and catnip banana from a toy box and played with both of them. All in all, we are totally back to normal.

Karen Jo:  This makes me very happy.  Stress can do very bad things to kitties with FIV and feline leukemia.  I am thrilled that both of my darlings have come through this with flying colors.  My digestive system is also back to normal.  I received the labrodite pendant from the auction and ML even threw in a pair of earrings.  I am delighted.  I will post about them tomorrow with a picture.  I didn't see any smoke or fire coming from the ski hill, so I think the fire is definitely out there. I hope that the local paper gets back on schedule soon, so I can find out some things for sure.  The rest of the fire rages on.  In an arc from almost due west to almost due north, the mountains are dotted with fire. It looks like a thousand campfires, but it is many miles away.  Since this fire is so huge, the best that the fire fighters can do is contain it and wait for the rains.  The percentage of containment goes up a little every day, but the devastation is tremendous.  The Santa Clara Indian Reservation watershed is burning, so they are looking forward to real problems in the near future, not that they don't have enough now.  Please send them some purrs.

Settling Down

 It's hot here, so I spend a lot of time just lounging around, pointing my tummy at any breeze I feel. My head is a little fuzzy, because I moved it while Mom was taking the picture.  Mom apologizes for not posting yesterday.  We kitties didn't get sick from the stress, but Mom did.

Karen Jo:  You might say I am a very visceral person.  If I get stressed out, I also get intestinal distress.  I was also eating a different diet from what I am used to while evacuated.

Mom didn't find the extension cord that she was looking for, but she found another one that works.  Now we get a fan blowing while Mom is at work.  Yay!

Emma:  Mom couldn't take a picture of me today, because I was in my hidey-hole from the time Mom got up until it was time for her to go to work, so this is a pre-fire photo.  I am playing with the wand toys by myself because Mom won't always play with me.

We were so glad to be back home Sunday night that we both demanded a lot of kitty loving in bed.  I jumped up as soon as Mom got in bed and get petted just the way I like for a looong time.  Mom finally told me that she really had to get some sleep and stopped.  I stayed right where I was all night long.

Emma:  Monday morning was my turn.  After Herman got Mom up early for breakfast and we both ate, I jumped up on the bed and demanded attention from Mom.  She petted me for a looong time, until I had enough and went to sleep by her feet.  Herman was on her other side, hoping to get some more petting, too, and he did.

Karen Jo:  Monday night you both deserted me.  Herman didn't come to bed until I was nearly asleep and Emma didn't show up at all.  I guess that means that both of you are totally back to normal.  The other clues are that Herman is back to pouncing Emma and Emma is teasing Herman by jumping over him.  We had a nice play time tonight, though Herman didn't play much.  He really enjoys watching Emma play, though. Sometimes this makes Emma nervous, because he used to pounce her while she was playing.  He hasn't done that in quite a while.  Now the two of them have a staring match, then Herman pounces.

It's really too hot to snuggle.  I do appreciate all the petting, though.  You know how fickle Emma is.  She is always jumping up on the bed and down again.

Karen Jo:  You have both regained your appetites as well.  Neither of you ate well while we were evacuated.  Herman especially was off his food.  Now the food is disappearing at its normal rate.

Emma:  The kitten food bowl in my room is almost totally empty.

Karen Jo:  I was going to get you some more kitten food last Tuesday, but we evacuated on Monday.  I will get you some more on Thursday.  You do a pretty good job of chowing down on the duck and pea.

Emma:  Yeah, but I like the kitten food better.

Karen Jo:  There was a lot less smoke in town today.  Sunday night and Monday night, I could see fire on the ski hill west of town and on the mountains to the northwest.  Tonight, I only saw the fire to the northwest.  I hope that means that the fire on the ski hill has been put out.  I hope so.  There was a real danger that the ski lodge would burn down.  The local skiing facilities are provided by volunteers and fixing up the damage is going to take a lot of their resources.  So far the worst damage I have heard about is that the cable for the chair lift burned through.  The rainy season is due to start in two weeks and I pray that it does.

Home Again

 These pictures were taken shortly after we got home.  I didn't want to look at Mom for reasons that will become apparent.

I couldn't wait to get back in my window and look out again.  Part of the haze you see is dirty windows and part of it is smoke.

Karen Jo:  First of all, I want to thank all of you for all of your prayers, purrs, crossed paws, good vibrations, pug snorts, and good thoughts.  They worked!  The fire fighters kept the fire completely out of town and off lab property.  I am writing this late Sunday, but it won't get published until after midnight, so whatever I or the kitties say about today is Sunday. The evacuation order was lifted today and my brother drove us back home this afternoon.  I got home too late to go to work (I thought), but I was feeling a bit guilty about it until I discovered that I wasn't on the schedule for today.  I fed and watered the kitties, unpacked, fed and watered the birds and did the laundry.  I will now turn the blog over to the kitties, who are aching to tell you their tale of woe.

Sunday night was really weird.  Mom came home and fed us and put on her PJs and played with us, just like usual.  Then she started putting all sorts of things in bags, including some of our stuff. She was running around like crazy and then went to bed really early, for her.  Monday morning, I thought things were back to normal, but Mom kept stopping whatever she was doing and listening to the radio very intently.  Just about time to go to work, the phone rang and after Mom talked for a while, she started throwing even more stuff into bags, including our food.  A lady we know came over and suddenly Mom stuffed us both into our carriers and we got put in a car and off we went.  It was awful.  I was in the back seat with three other kitties, while lucky Emma got to sit on Mom's lap. Two of the three other kitties were meowing up a storm.  I chimed in once in a while, but Emma barely said anything.  I bet it was because she was embarrassed.  She pooped in her carrier before we were even halfway there.

Emma:  I was scared.  I am not used to being near so many other kitties, especially loud ones.

You were in Mom's lap.  I was stuck in the back with them.

Emma:  I got Mom's lap because I am small and fit into a smaller carrier.

We finally got where we were going and we got stuffed into a bathroom.  We didn't even have a litter box at first.

Karen Jo:  I had to go out and buy you one.  The litter box I packed for you wouldn't fit in my friend's car with all of our stuff and you five kitties.

We finally got a half-size litter box and food and water.  I kept asking when Mom was going to open the door and let us out, but it turned out that we were stuck in there.

Karen Jo:  It was very kind of my nephew to volunteer to take us in, but he has two kitties of his own and you two have feline leukemia.  You had to be kept separate and the bathroom was the only room available.

Emma:  I adapted much better than Herman did.  He kept rushing the door and getting shoved back in and scooped up just outside the door and brought back in.  I just stayed put.

I got the nickname Houdini because I got out the second night and the humans never did figure out how I did it.  I am tall enough to reach the doorknob, but the door opened in.  Anyway, about four in the morning the lady human found me in the living room looking out of the sliding glass doors.  The bathroom door was open, but silly Emma was still inside.  I got scooped up by the nephew and shoved back in the bathroom. The third day, I discovered that I just fit into the sink and started taking my naps there.  The morning of the fourth day, we got stuffed into our carriers again and off we went.

Emma:  This time Herman pooped in his carrier before we were halfway there.

I had to go.  At least I went in the back corner of the carrier and used my towel to cover it up.

Emma:  Herman complained all the way there and it was a long time.  I just settled down in my carrier and tried to nap. When we got where we were going, we got stuffed into an even smaller bathroom for a long time.

Karen Jo:  We had to get the bedroom ready for you and my brother wanted to check that there wasn't anything left in that bedroom that you could mess up.  It was just a couple of hours.  Then you got a whole bedroom to yourselves, with a full sized litter box that I bought for you.  I tried to sleep in there with you the first night, but my allergies got too bad and I had to move.  The next day I got permission from my brother to open the back door to that room and lock the screen door and put on a fan, so you could get more fresh air.  I slept in there with you that night.  The last day we were there, my brother found the door to the bedroom open twice, so we actually had to lock you in there and I had to sleep elsewhere, because the lock only worked from the outside.

Emma:  Again, I adapted right away, but Herman kept trying to escape.  The second night we were there, he actually bit Mom.

I didn't really mean to hurt her as badly as I did, but I was scared and hurt.

Karen Jo:  It was as much my fault as it was yours.  You made a run for it and I made a grab for you and all I managed to catch was your tail.  You wouldn't stop pulling and I wouldn't let go, even when you growled at me.  I and your hind end were still in the room, so when you turned and bit me, I closed the door.  I was afraid that if I let go, you would run and hide and getting you back would be a real problem.  My brother's house has so many places for a kitty to hide.  I was also afraid that if you got upset enough, you might pee or poop and contaminate my brother's house.  I figured that getting bit was a better option.  I never expected you to bite me as hard as you did. Six teeth punctured my skin and the deepest one from a fang got infected.  So today I got to visit an urgent care center and got a shot and ten days worth of antibiotics.

Emma:  After Mom got back from the doctor and she and her brother ate lunch, Mom came into our bedroom and started throwing things in bags again.  Then we got stuffed in our carriers again.  Herman didn't put up any kind of a fight, but I did.  I thought where I was wasn't so bad.

I just wanted to go home.

Emma:  Then why did you poop in your carrier again?

I didn't know we were going home.  I was stressed out.  I meowed all the way home.  It was the longest trip yet.  I pooped on my towel and kicked it to the back of the carrier. At last we got home again and do you know what I found there?  Empty food bowls!  I complained about that, you can be sure!

Karen Jo:  Of course.  I emptied the Stinky Goodness bowls just before I left because I thought they would get really stinky while we were gone.  I fed you as soon as I got your stinky carrier out of the house and threw away your ruined towel.  Now we are home and everything is getting back to normal, sort of.  The town is full of smoke and I could see the fire on the ridges west of town.  The fire fighters set a back fire in the canyon that was the fire's easy way into town and feel totally confident that that edge of the fire is contained.  Keep purring for the rest of the people threatened by this fire and the others in the state.  This fire is called the Las Conchas fire and it is the biggest wildfire in New Mexico history.

Fire Update

Karen Jo: There isn't much I can tell you. We moved on to my brother's house, as he has more room. The poor kitties have to remain isolated because of their feline leukemia. At my nephew's they had to stay in the bathroom. Here they have a whole bedroom and I sleep with them. So far the fire fighters have kept the fire out of Los Alamos and away from the lab. It is beginning to look good for going home. Some county and lab workers are being recalled to get the town ready for re-occupation. Things could still go horribly wrong, but so far it looks really good.