Merry Christmas

Hahaha!  Look who's wearing the Santa hat this year!  Mom didn't even try to put it on me again.

Karen Jo:  I was going to put it on Emma, as she didn't seem to mind the St. Patrick's Day hat, but Snowball here makes a good second choice.

Mom finally put up a tree and my stocking and a wreath on the front door.  There's a bad picture of the tree on Kitty Limericks.  I like the lights.  After they had been on for a little while, I got up on my platform to admire them.  We did have steak tonight.  I got a couple of licks of sour cream and some steak juice and several bites of steak.  I was nice and turned away from the last piece Mom offered me without licking it first, so Mom could eat it.  That was my Christmas present to her.

Karen Jo:  The love you give me every day is my best Christmas present.

Mom is deserting me tomorrow and won't be back until Christmas day.  Let's have a house trashing party while she is gone.  She is going to make me wait until she gets back to empty my stocking and open my presents, so let's do it before she gets home.  I have lots of toys to play with and there is turkey all sliced up in the freezer.  We could dig it out and let it thaw and feast.  There are lots of fleecy blankets around to sleep on and even a couple of cat beds. Let's party!

Merry Christmas to everyone!  May your days be filled with love.

Bad Mom

I have been up here a lot, looking out at the snow and napping on this great pillow.  Right now I am admiring my two Christmas presents.  I sniffed them all over earlier, but Mom was too slow with the camera to get a picture of that.  Speaking of being too slow, Mom has been a really bad blogger again.

Karen Jo:  I have been really busy getting out Christmas cards, shipping packages and stocking up on food between snow storms.

We don't even have a Christmas tree.

Karen Jo:  I know.  I haven't put up a tree since my Mom died.  I will look out in the garage for the small one tomorrow.  I could put all the Christmas cards on it for decorations.  I will also put up your stocking.

Am I going to get anything in it?

Karen Jo:  Yes, you will get a toy and some treats in it.

Just one toy?

Karen Jo:  You also have your two Christmas packages from your woofy cousins.  You don't need more toys, anyway.  You have three plastic buckets full of them already.  You might get some from your kitty cousins in Albuquerque, too.

It sounds like you are going to desert me for Christmas again.

Karen Jo:  Only for a day and a half.  I will leave Christmas Eve morning and come back Christmas afternoon.  And that's only if the storm we are having now is over by then.  We are certainly going to have a white Christmas this year.

You have been really boring lately.

Karen Jo:  I try to play with you, but you don't want to play for very long at a time.  You get plenty of petting when I am reading and when I go to bed.  You also get brushed almost every day.

I haven't gotten anything much good to eat since you cut up the turkey and froze it.

Karen Jo:  You got all the turkey you would eat while I was cutting it up, though.  When I was done, I put the carcass in a plastic bag and put the bag on the kitchen floor while I went outside to take the lid off the garbage can.  When I came back, you had your head in the bag.  I waited until you were done with the carcass before I threw it away.

That didn't take long.  You didn't leave anything good on the carcass.  You wouldn't share your supper with me tonight.

Karen Jo:  I was eating fried rice with vegetables and an orange.  I let you smell it and you turned away.  That was funny.  You really meowed at the orange, until you got a good smell of it.  You couldn't back away fast enough then.  I am having steak tomorrow night.  You can have some of that.

Yay!  I love steak and sour cream, though I don't eat as much of it lately as I used to.  Are you ever going to put up my Christmas cards?

Karen Jo:  I will work on it tonight, if my software will cooperate.

Tuxie Tuesday

I decided not to get up when Mom did.  I like her pillow as much as she does and the flannel sheets are nice and warm.

Karen Jo:  I can't blame you for not wanting to get up.  We are having a big storm today, with lots of snow.  I didn't go out at all, except to feed the birds and take out the trash.

Mom finally found a small fresh turkey and cooked it yesterday.  I stuffed myself when it was done.  Mom kept offering me bites and I kept eating and eating.  I ate so much turkey that Mom didn't give me any cat food at my dinner time.

Karen Jo:  You couldn't have possibly eaten any cat food after all the turkey you put away, so it would have just been wasted.  You really do love your turkey.  Every time I get it out, you meow and meow until I give you some.

Fresh turkey is the best.  It is even better than chicken or roast beef or steak.  I hope we have it for a long time.

Karen Jo:  Not for too much longer.  I will have to cut it up and freeze it soon.  Turkey goes bad fairly quickly if it isn't frozen.

Rats.  I will have to see how much I can eat before that happens.  There was some excitement out the window yesterday.

Karen Jo:  I saw you get all excited and jump up on your platform.  There was a little calico kitty outside in the snow.  She ran away when I approached her.  I hope she got home all right.

Not much else has been going on around here.  Mom went to bed way early last night and I got lots and lots of petting.  She was pretty boring today, just sitting at the kitchen table doing something.

Karen Jo:  I finally got going on my Christmas cards.  I got them all ready to mail.  Now I just have to get them to the post office.  The storm is supposed to end tomorrow at noon and the sun is supposed to come out.  I'll go then.

I have been getting some nice cards in the mail and by e-mail, too.  I wish Mom would put up my e-cards so I can share them.

Karen Jo:  I will get started on them soon.  Copying photos from e-mail gives me a "not responding" error sometimes and that can be a pain. As soon as I can I will get them all up on your sidebar.

Out and About

I have just been brushed.  That's why my fur is sticking out a bit.  I haven't turned into electric cat again, but I am afraid that it is coming.  I found this great sun puddle and plopped down in it for a while.  Mom keeps fussing with my fur and pulling at it and threatening me with the little scissors.

Karen Jo:  I need to keep up with the little mats before they become big mats.  I got one out of your chest fur today, but it took me three tries.  You keep squirming away from me.  Tomorrow I will go after the one on your foreleg.  It beats me how you can get a mat in the short fur on your foreleg.

I am just talented that way. Mom deserted me for the first time since she got sick.

Karen Jo:  I had to go to the store.  I was going to go out again, but decided that it was too cold.

What was that yummy stuff you were making in the kitchen after you got back?

Karen Jo:  I am going to a Christmas party tomorrow and needed to make a snack.  I made a Braunschweiger ball and boy, were you interested.

It all smelled so good that I just had to have some.

Karen Jo:  I let you have a few licks of the Braunschweiger/Neufchatel mix before I added the seasonings.

It was really good.  I want some more.

Karen Jo:  Sorry, Herman, but it's for the party.  If there is some left over, I will bring it home, but you still won't be able to have any more.

Why not?

Karen Jo:  I added onion and horseradish and bourbon to it.  None of that is any good for you.

Rats.  If you eat any of it in front of me, you better be prepared for lots of begging.  Not much else happened today.  I curled up on the couch with Mom while she read after her chores were done.  I love the way she pets me while she reads.  She even put the book down and just petted me for a while.  Then she found the mat on my foreleg and I left when she reached for the little scissors.

After the Storm

I'm just napping in my ham-mick again.  I love my ham-mick, especially in the winter. Au was wondering just how big I really am.  This ham-mick is 20 inches long and 13 1/2 inches wide.  As you can see, I fill it up.  Mom was acting really weird for a while.  She was staying in bed, but getting up and down all the time.  I couldn't get really comfy with her.

Karen Jo:  I got pretty sick last Friday, going at both ends.  I am all well again now, but it really wiped me out and I needed to rest up after I got better. It's a good thing I did all that shopping last week.  I haven't needed to go out again yet.  I did cook the turkey and the roast beef and Herman got his turkey bites and roast beef juice and some bites of that, too. The storm didn't amount to all that much.  We only got a few inches, but we needed it.  We are still in a drought and need all the snow we can get this winter.

I like the snow.  It makes the birdies easier to see.  I get up on my platform in the afternoon to watch them some days. They really splash around in the birdbath right after Mom puts in fresh water.

Karen Jo:  I put warm water in the birdbath in the winter.  I think it must feel good to them.

I am playing with more of my toys.  Last night Mom got out my flashy ball and I knocked it all around the living room.  I am even playing with my Starlight Turbo Scratcher, which I haven't done much of since it was new.  Oh, I have been using the scratcher part, but ignoring the ball, until a few days ago.  I also knock around my crinkle ball and my regular balls and even a mousie or two.

Karen Jo:  I am really having fun playing with you, Herman.  I thought you might be interested in the laser dot again, but you ignored it.

I gave up on that one.  I can't catch it or bite it, so why should I chase it?  Mom thinks I might be getting interested in her lap.

Karen Jo:  I do.  You get up on the couch to read with me and put your paws or your head on my thigh. The lap is only a step away.  I put you up on my lap the other day because you kept pawing at my knee.  You even stayed for a minute.

Your lap is lumpy.  I prefer the couch.  The bed is even better.  Boy, did I get a lot of petting time while Mom was sick!  It would have been perfect, if it weren't for all the getting up and down.  I would just get all comfy and blissed out, then Mom would get out of bed again.

Karen Jo:  Sorry, Herman, I couldn't help it.  I am well now, so you can get in your uninterrupted hour or so of petting when I go to bed.

I love that, along with snuggling up to you to keep warm.

I Wanna Treat!

I was giving Mom my "Please give me a treat" face just before she took the photo.  I looked down just as she pushed the button.  I did get my treat, though.

Karen Jo:  I think I am going to have to hold the treat or the treat bag in my hand next to the camera if I really want to get that look.

I have just about finished off my Duck and Pea and there is no sign of any more coming.  Sigh.  At least I still get my Medley and Stinky Goodness three times a day.  Mom got up early to go to the store to get the groceries that she would need for the next few days.  We are supposed to get a big snow storm starting any time now, but it hasn't started yet.

Karen Jo:  If I had known that the storm was going to hold off this long, I wouldn't have gotten up.  When I got up, it looked like it was going to start snowing any minute and there were tiny flakes in the air as I walked to the store.  Then at noon we actually got sunshine for a little while.

It made a big sun puddle on my big green pillow and I made the most of it.

Karen Jo:  It is certainly cold enough for a big snow storm.  The birdbath was frozen solid.  I couldn't get the ice out to put in water, so I just poured some water on top of the ice.  Hopefully, that will melt enough ice to get it out of the birdbath, so I can fill it with water.  The birds are really going after the suet, so I put out a new cake today.

You are doing something funny with your fingers and my fur.

Karen Jo:  You are getting little mats in your chest fur again.  I am trying to work them out with my fingers.  I don't want to try to cut them out because you have a thin fat layer and loose skin right where the mats are.  I am afraid that I might cut or pinch your skin.  At least you are enjoying your brushing again and don't run from me any more.

Most of my fur isn't long enough to catch in the brush, so it feels good.  You can forget that Furminator, though.

Karen Jo:  It's not that bad.  I need it to thin out your chest fur so you get to keep it for the winter.  Remember how cold you got last winter because you had to have your chest shaved for mats?

Boy, do I!  Did you find something good at the store?

Karen Jo:  I found some turkey thighs and a roast beef.  I will cook the turkey thighs, then get rid of the skin and bones and cut it up and freeze it for lunch meat.

Don't you dare put it in the freezer before I get some!

Karen Jo:  Don't worry.  I will save some out for treats for  you.  Tomorrow I will cook the roast beef. Then I will have lots of food to see us through the storm.  I will let you lick up the beef juice after I carve it.

Yay!  I love beef juice.