Catchup Thursday

 Mom has been a really bad blogger again and there has been so much going on.  We were offline and our friends Parker and Sammy left for the Bridge and we weren't there to tell them goodbye

Karen Jo:  I feel really bad about that.  I will go by their blogs tonight and say how sad we are that they left for the Bridge.  I don't have any really good reason for not blogging.  My allergies have been acting up and I have been spending a lot of time with my friend who is having a really bad time with her mother, who has dementia.

Spyro: I think Mom finally took a picture of my face that is in focus.  Can you see the little brown smudges around my mouth?  They are not from not washing after I eat.  They are just part of my markings.  I have found out that I really like Herman's ham-mick and Herman's bed.  I have my own bed in my room, but I have never been in it.  Herman doesn't seem to mind.

Karen Jo:  I really hope that this picture is sharp enough to make your Tabby Club badge.

Spyro:  You know what?  I played and played with Herman's tail while he was eating and he just ignored me.  All he did was walk away from me when he was finished eating.  I have to pounce him now to start a rasslin' match.

And I finish the rasslin' matches.

Spyro:  What do you mean?

You are always the one who runs away and I chase you just a bit.

Karen Jo:  What I want to know is which one of you is knocking over Spyro's dry food bowl and spilling kibble on the floor.

Herman and Spyro:  We'll never tell.

I need more kibble because Spyro eats some of mine.  He never eats his own until mine is all gone.

Karen Jo:  That's why I'm not trying to stop the kibble spilling.  Herman, you are about due for a weighing.  We'll see if I have to try to find a way to keep you from getting any of Spyro's kibble.  You are also due for some shaving.  You have gotten a bad mat on your flank again.

I don't want to do either of those things.

Karen Jo:  I know you don't like to be shaved, but you will feel better once that nasty mat is gone.  I think just a little spot shaving is all you will need this time.  If I let it go much longer, you might have to have a half-lion cut again.

I guess the spot shaving is better than the half-lion.

Thursday in the Garden

 Karen Jo:  I won't be doing this as a regular thing, but I do have a few flowers to share once in a while.  These are snapdragons.  They didn't come up last year and I thought they were gone, victims of the gophers, but here they are again.

Karen Jo:  These are some of my peonies.  Luckily, gophers don't like peonies.

 Karen Jo:  Kitty rasslin'.  And below is something I thought I would never see.

 I turned my head just as Mom snapped the picture.  I was looking into the cube.  Can you guess why?

Spyro:  It's because I am in here.  We had ourselves a nice little Cube War and knocked the cube over on its side.  You know what else I like?  I like toys with fevvers on them.  Do you know what is the fevveriest thing around here?  Herman's tail!

You keep messing with my tail and I am going to whap you a good one.

Spyro:  Oh, yeah?  I've seen you threaten, but you don't carry through.

Karen Jo:  If there is room, Spyro's tail-batting usually starts another bout of kitty rasslin'.  If there isn't room, there are threats made and one or the other of them (usually Herman) leaves the area.  I thought I had made a good choice when I selected Wellness as a healthy brand for the boys.  After reading the recall notices, I am switching to something else.  I am going to try Tiki Cat and see if they like that.  If not, I'll go with Merrick.

Wacky Wednesday

 Spyro really loves this turbo-track thing.  I usually ignore it, as I do most of my toys most of the time.  I lie around and watch Spyro play.  It is beginning to rub off on me a little, though.  Today I attacked my purple kicker, which I haven't done in ages.  Spyro, the little piggy, is trying to eat all the canned food.  I will let him eat our of the dish I am eating out of at the same time, but if he gets pushy, or I really want the food, I will push him out of the way.  I never smack him upside the head the way I used to do with Emma, though.  I like Spyro a whole lot more than I ever liked Emma.

Karen Jo:  I am thrilled that you and Spyro are getting along so well.  I was beginning to worry that you weren't getting enough to eat, until I saw you gently push Spyro's sharp little nose right out of the food dish.  I had to put Spyro's dry food where you couldn't get to it, but he could, but I also (rarely) see him eating your dry food.  He eats a third of his own, as well.  I won't worry about him getting too fat, as he is extremely active.

 Spyro:  Here I am, out of focus again.

Karen Jo:  I tried the Sport setting, but it isn't any better.  I will just go back to using Auto and see if I can get an in-focus picture of your face for your Tabby Club badge. I have applied for you to join, but I can't get a good picture of you.

Spyro:  I am a very helpful kitty.  Here I am helping Mom make up the bed.  I help her like this every morning.  I also help with the laundry.  I sleep in the laundry basket to get my fur on everything.  When Mom tries to fold the laundry, I jump right in the basket and snatch the socks out of her hand when she picks up the wrong one.

Karen Jo:  I am grateful for all your help.  It gets my day off to an amusing start.

Spyro:  There is a door that is always closed in this house.  Mom goes in there sometimes, but always shuts the door behind her and won't let me in.  I want in there so much!  I sit outside the door and meow to be let in, but Mom always says that I can't go in there.  I dig my paw under the door and try to open it, but it never works.

Karen Jo:  That is the door to my parents' bedroom.  It is an awful mess in there, as I have been tossing whatever I don't have room for, but am not ready to throw away yet in there.  Emma got in there once and knocked all sort of stuff (like pins) on the floor that might be dangerous to kitties before I got her out again.  Some day I am going to clean it up and turn it into my computer room.  I keep saying that, but I really do think that the day is coming.  I really am starting to be a better housekeeper.

Spyro and I have a new game:  kitty rasslin'.  We both love it.

Spyro:  I love it because I always win.

You win?  You are always the one who runs away.

Spyro:  I win because I am always the one on top.

I let you be on top because it gives me better leverage to bunny-kick you.

Karen Jo:  I think you both win.  I love watching you have so much fun with each other.  I am really glad that Spyro is sometimes the one who starts it.  They only started rasslin' a few days ago and it was always Herman lying in wait to pounce on Spyro that started it. Today I watched them and Spryo ran away, then came right back and pounced on Herman from the rear to start it all over again.  I tried to get a picture, but they broke and pretended that nothing was going on as soon as they saw the camera.

Spyro:  I love it here. There is always something to do.  Not all the birds have left because Mom feeds them every once in a while.  Mom picks up all the toys every day and puts out new ones.  If I decide there aren't enough toys out, I knock over the orange toy bucket and empty it out.

Karen Jo:  I decided that it was silly to let the bird seed I have on hand to go to waste, so I am giving it to the birds until I run out.  When I put out seed, I put out water, too.  We got a lot of rain in the last few days, so the bear danger has diminished somewhat.

Why is Spyro getting more blog space than I am?   It's my blog.

Karen Jo:  Spyro does more than you do, Mr. Lazypants.  You spend most of your time lying around.  Your vet said I should use wand toys to get you more exercise, but you just ignore them.  Maybe I'll try one of those Neko-flies.  I have to go to the pet store to get Spyro some more dry food tomorrow anyway.

Cinco de Mayo!

 Wouldn't you just know it?  Mom decided to put the little sombrero on us this year instead of on the stuffie.  I tolerated it -- just barely.  Mom had to be quick on the button to get the photo before I shook it off.

Spyro:  Nobody's puttin' nuffin' on my head!  I grabbed it off and put the bitey on it!

Karen Jo:  We hope that everyone has a great Cinco de Mayo.  Be sure to head on over to KC's party

Spyro:  Mom even helped the birdies celebrate by putting out food and water for them, which she didn't do yesterday.

Karen Jo:  I am afraid that the Bird Channel is going off the air soon.  We have had a dry Spring and the bears may be getting hungry.  There was an article in the paper advising people to stop putting out bird seed and water.  I am going to use up what I have on hand, which isn't much, then stop until winter. Sigh.  I so love to hear and watch the birds around the feeders and bird bath.

Herman and Spyro:  And so do we.

Enough bad stuff.  Let's celebrate!  Mom is cooking steak tonight and we get bites of steak and tastes of sour cream.  Yummy!

Spyro:  I don't know how you can eat that sour cream stuff.  I think it's yucky.

More for me!  Yay!

Herman, Spyro and Karen Jo:  Have a wonderful celebration, everybody!

Frootbat Friday

Spyro:  Mom says I get the blog all to myself today.  I'm showing off my frootbats.  Mom had a hard time getting this picture, because I wanted to smell the camera and play with the strap.

Karen Jo:  It's out of focus.  I put my little point and shoot camera into portrait mode to take pictures of the cats, but they come out out of focus almost all the time.  Could someone give me a suggestion?

Spyro:  I had some fun this morning.  After Herman got Mom up at dawn to feed us breakfast, I started playing with the kitchen doorstop again.  I got tired of it and went into the living room.  The wind blew the kitchen door mostly shut and Herman had to go wake Mom up again to get her to open it.  He could have pushed the door open himself, but he's lazy that way.

Karen Jo:  I thought that Herman just wanted the dry food put out.  I didn't do that at dawn because there wasn't enough light to see the measuring cup marks and I didn't want to turn on the light because I was going right back to bed.  I opened the kitchen door and replaced the door stop and gave them their dry food and went back to bed.  The boys let me be until I was ready to get up for the day.

Spyro:  I have started carrying toys around in my mouth until I find the perfect place to play with them.  The balls in cages that rattle or jingle are a lot more fun in the kitchen on the smooth floor than on the carpet.  I took one of the jingle balls to Mom in her room so I could be with her while I played with it.  I also found out that if I lie in a chair, I can give Herman a swat as he goes by and make him run.  That was really funny.

Karen Jo:  I wonder what Herman thought of it.  Maybe he was hoping that you would chase him.  He really wants to play THoE with you.

Spyro:  I don't know that game, but maybe I'll learn.

Tummy and Toes Thursday

 I have discovered the joy of small pillows.  Comfy!  I am showing off my pure white toes.

Spyro:  I have discovered the joy of big pillows.  Really comfy!  I am showing off my pure white tummy.  In case you are wondering, it is very touchable.  I love tummy rubs.

I think Spyro is a little nuts.  He keeps closing the litter box room door from the inside.

Spyro:  I do it so I can play peek-a-boo and pawsie with you.  It's fun.

But you can't get out again.

Spyro:  Mom will let me out.  If I really try, I can drag the door open with my toes.

Karen Jo:  It's true. This is Spyro's new game.  I was taking my bath when he did it the first time.  He stood up on his back feet and leaned his front feet against the door to close it.  Then he used his paw and claws to open it back up enough to peek out the door at Herman.  They played until I opened the door to leave.  In the next half-hour, Spyro closed the door twice more.

The new food is pretty tasty.  Spyro and I take turns eating the Stinky Goodness and the new stuff.  We both eat both kinds of dry food.

Karen Jo:  I don't think I will try to keep Herman from eating the dry food I got for Spyro.  It's high-quality and good for him, though it is a little higher in calories.

Spyro:  Another one of my favorite games is knocking stuff over.  I knocked a whole bunch of pens and a funny blue ball off the kitchen table today.

Karen Jo:  That was my rubber band ball.  I get a rubber band around my newspaper almost every day and I ran out of places to put them, so I started making a ball out of them. It's about the size of a cat toy now and Spyro enjoyed playing with it for a little while.  I picked it up again when he was finished because I am a little bit afraid that he would bite the rubber bands off the ball.

Spyro:  I love finding stacks of book or papers and knocking them over.

Karen Jo:  Are you sure you do it on purpose, or are you just a klutz?

Spyro:  I don't think that question even deserves and answer.

Brothers

Karen Jo:  Sorry for the crappy picture, but I had to shoot into the light to get this shot.  Are you two brothers yet?

Herman and Spyro: Yes!

I think Spyro is beginning to get the hang of Thundering Herd of Elephants.

Spyro:  Herman is fun to play pawsies with under the couch or the kitchen door.  His floofy tail is fun to bat, too.

Just watch the claws, OK?  I bat at Spyro, too, as he runs by.  Sometimes I wait in ambush to tag him as he races by.

Karen Jo:  I think it's great that you share the food so well.  When one of you gets to the dish I put down first, the other one just goes for the second dish in Spyro's room.  Spyro has discovered that Herman's food is just as good as his, so they trade off.  Sometimes Herman eats a little Fancy Feast, then lets Spyro have the rest while he checks out the Wellness.  Since I stopped serving Medley, there is very little canned food going to waste.  I measure out the dry food and it all disappears by morning, too.  I have to take Herman in to get his mouth checked next week, so I will ask if I am giving them enough food.  I think so, as neither of them is crying for food.

Spyro:  I am exploring all the time.  There is so much interesting stuff to see.

Karen Jo:  And sometimes it gets you into just a little bit of trouble.

Spyro:  Like what?

Karen Jo:  Like the time you shut yourself up in the litter box room.

Spyro:  Oh, that.  I jumped up on the clothes hamper and tried to get in the cupboards and something fell out against the door and shut it.

Karen Jo:  You were lucky that I was home to let you out.

Spyro:  You are home most of the time, so I don't worry about stuff like that.

Karen Jo:  If you keep playing with the door stop under the kitchen door, you are going to get yourself shut up in there, too.

Spyro:  That wouldn't be such a tragedy.  There is plenty of food and water in there.

I can let him out of the kitchen.  That door doesn't close all the way and I can push it open.