Tuxie Tuesday

I am just chillaxing on the carpet.  Not much has been going on around here.  Mom fell asleep watching TV last night, so that's why we didn't blog.  I keep getting up on my platform to watch the birdies, but they mostly don't show up.  That big snow we were supposed to have didn't come down.  We just got a light dusting.

Karen Jo:  It looked more like a heavy frost than a snowfall to me.  You are getting me up for breakfast before dawn again.

I get hungry.

Karen Jo:  Then why don't you eat the food that is in your dish already?

By just before dawn it's all dried up and yucky.  I want fresh.

Karen Jo:   I guess I can't blame you for that.  I think I got some about to form mats out with the Furminator yesterday.

I don't really like that.  It pulls.

Karen Jo:  It's better than getting mats.

I guess so.  You sure are stingy with the treats.  You opened a new bag of my catnip treats yesterday and so far I have only gotten two of them.

Karen Jo:  I alternate back and forth with the Temptations.  You only get one treat at a time now because you are supposed to lose weight.

Poop on that.  I want more.

Karen Jo:  Sorry, that's the way it is.

We're Back!

 This is my Christmas loot.  The wooden ball is from Mom. The rest is from my woofy cousins.  I also got two packages of Temptations -- one from Mom and one from my cousins.  I like the wooden ball best.  It doesn't look like much, but it was well marinated in really good nip.  Actually, I like the Temptations best of all.

I am chilling out on the couch next to where Mom sits to read.  Mom is really sorry about us being gone for so long.  When she got back from her Christmas visit she started going out every night.  After New Year's all the excitement was over and she got a bad case of the sads. She is all better now and promises to be a much better blogger and visitor.

Karen Jo: Herman gave me quite a Christmas present.  I got back much later than I expected on Christmas Day and was too tired to blog.  I sat in my rocking chair to watch TV and Herman actually got on my lap for a few minutes. He hasn't done it again, but he does get up beside me on the couch when I read and puts his head on my leg.  I guess I don't expect him to ever become a lap kitty, but he is very affectionate.  When I go to bed he is there almost immediately and stays most of the night, just getting up to eat and use the litter box.

I like being next to you at night.  You give me such good chest scritches and belly rubs.  It's been kind of boring around here.  There aren't many birdies to watch and Mom hasn't been doing much.

Karen Jo:  I am getting better about doing stuff.  You are very particular about when you will play with me.  You haven't responded to me much at all.  There are fewer birdies around than there were last winter.  It is colder with more snow than last year, so maybe more of them went farther south this year.  I haven't found the bird feeder empty in a very long time.  I only fill it up now if it is more than half empty, which takes a couple of days.

I only play with you when I feel like it.  I play by myself sometimes.  Most of the time I would just rather be near you and get attention.  I am letting you brush me a lot more and I even let you snip out that mat on my leg that you have been trying to get to for weeks.

Karen Jo:  Yes, you were really stubborn about letting me get that mat off your leg.  I enjoy brushing you, especially when you start purring while I am doing it.  Hopefully, now you will let me brush you enough so you won't get any more mats.

Don't count on the mats staying away.  My fur mats easily and it's growing back now and getting nice and long.  It's a good thing, as we are having another snow storm tonight.

Karen Jo:  It's supposed to get pretty cold tonight and the snow is supposed to get about three inches deep on top of what we already have.

I am snuggling close tonight.

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.