Happy Birthday, Brody and Cissy!

 Brody: Man, it sure is hard to get out Mom to blog.  She was supposed to do this this morning.  It's our first birthday today and do you know what Mom gave us?

 Cissy: A trip to the vet!

Karen Jo: It wasn't that bad.  You just got looked over, weighed and had your temperature taken.

Brody: That's the bad part.

 Karen Jo: I also got you this.

Brody and Cissy:  We love that.  Now for our party.  We birthday kits--Julius, Brody and Cissy have taken over the living room for our Rock'n'Roll party.  We have the stereo turned up and Mom filled the dining room table with goodies for us.  There's a turkey on one end and a ham on the other end and in the middle is a whole grilled salmon.  We are serving meowgaritas now that we are old enough to drink them.  We also have meow-tais and nip Russians.  We can play endless games of THoE up and down the hall and play King of the Mountain on our new tower.  There are gazillions of toys lying around and Mom has promised to work Da Bird until her arms give out.

 Spyro: Horus and I have taken over the gas grill for our outside party.  We are cooking up hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks and salmon filets.  We have a picnic cooler full of niptinis and we filled up a big metal tub with ice and nip beer.  There is grass to run around in and it's pretty long on the side of the house.  The gophers have come out since the rainy season has started, so there are lots of mounds to sniff.

 Horus:  We can poop and pee out here, too.  In fact, Mom said it would be great if we pooped in the gopher holes.  Maybe we'll have a contest to see who can drop the biggest, stinkiest load in a gopher hole.  We can play in the front yard, too, but Mom says to stay out of the street or be sent home.  I should also tell you that there is a friendly min-pin who lives next door.  He will come right up to you and sniff.  Feel free to eat as much grass as you like.

 Oja: I am having my quiet, dignified party in the safe room.  I am serving cat mint tea and sushi and tuna and salmon tea sandwiches.  There are no rowdy boys allowed and I mean it! Gentleman cats may come in and join my party.  I am playing waltzes and there is a little room to dance.

 Rocio:  I will be moving back and forth between the outside mancat party and the birthday kits party.  I am staying far away from Oja's party.  She would hiss if I stuck my nose inside the safe room.

 Bambino:  I will also be moving back and forth between the outside and inside parties.  I may even visit Oja because now that I am two, I can act dignified when I want to, which is seldom, but her noms sound good.

Julius:  I will be at the Birthday Kits party.  I wanna start up a game of THoE right now.  Come one, come all and lets party!

Update from Julius: Mom says that since she was so late getting the notice up yesterday that we can party all day today (Friday), too.  There is plenty of food and drink and we are rested up and ready to go!

Happy Birthday, Julius!

 Julius: Today is my birthday and Mom almost missed it.  She's been saying that she would blog all day, but she is just now doing it.  I am one year old today.  I got a present.  It's an orange fish that makes noise and has catnip inside.  I love it.  We are having a really big party starting with a sleep-over tonight and going on all day and evening tomorrow.  Mom has a lot of catching up to do.

Karen Jo:  While I wasn't blogging, I missed special days for all my kitties, so we are having one huge party to make up for it.

 My Gotcha Day was March 20 and my Birthday was June 4. I am two now. I want a party with lots of THoE and rasslin' and toys.

 Oja: My Birthday was March 31.  I am four now.  My Gotcha Day was June 2.  I want a dignified party without any rowdy boys around.

 Horus: My Birthday was April 3.  I am also four now.  My Gotcha Day was April 28.  I want an outside party with lots of running though the grass.

 Bambino: My Gotcha Day was April 7 and my Birthday was July 6.  I am two now. I want a party with lots of playing and THoE and rasslin' and toys and food and treats.

Spyro: My Gotcha Day was April 24.  I want an outside party with lots of niptinis and food and chewing on grass and sniffing gopher holes.

Karen Jo:  I will see what I can do.  I will also show off the big gift that I got for all of you.  It will be one big blow-out of a party, I promise you that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Spyro:  Mom couldn't find the green derby.  I wonder if any of us cats had anything to do with that?  She thought she had a picture of me wearing it, but couldn't find one.  Anyway, here is our founder, Herman, wearing it.  As you can tell from his expression, he wasn't thrilled to be wearing it.  Now I turn the blog over to Brody and Cissy to tell you their gotcha story.

Brody: Hi, I'm Brody and I'm a tuxie boy.

Cissy:  Hi, I'm Cissy and I'm a house panther girl.  I do have three white hairs on my chest, but the rest of me is all black.

Both:  We're here today to tell you our gotcha story.  We were abandoned, along with our calico sister by our feral mom when we were born or shortly thereafter.  Somehow we ended up with a very nice vet lady who bottle fed us and raised us, even though all three of us tested FeLV+.  She was sure that she could find a home for us.  When we were ready to be adopted a lady whose elderly cat had just left for the Rainbow Bridge saw our calico sister and took her home.  We lived at the vet hospital for eight months in a cage, though we occasionally got let out for some exercise and loving from the staff.  The nice vet lady contacted Herman's foster mom, who told her about Karen Jo and Karen Jo came and got us the very next day.  We feel really lucky.  Our original names were Brother and Sister, but Karen Jo, who is now Mom to us, changed them.

Brody:  I really like living here.  I am already making friends with the other cats, though Rocio and Oja hiss at me.

Cissy:  I am not at all sure about all the other cats.  I hiss and growl at all of them.  Oja and Rocio hiss back.  When I get tired of trying to deal with them, I retreat to the safe room and sometimes Brody joins me there and we nap together.

Happy Belated Gotcha Day, Oja!

Oja:  Man, am I hissed off at Mom!  She spent all her time getting ready for Rocio's birthday party and forgot all about my Gotcha Day, which was June 2.  I have been here one whole year now and I want a party, too.

Karen Jo:  Are you sure you are ready for another wild party?

Oja:  I don't want a wild party.  I am up to my curly tail with rambunctiousness.  I want a nice dignified soiree as befits my status as a lady cat.

Spyro:  You kicked up your heels with the best of them at Rocio's party.

Oja:  I still want a dignified party.  We are going to have catmint tea, tuna bites, sushi, shrimp with catnip sauce and treats.  We have regular cat food, too, for those of you who don't like people type food.
NO niptinis. There will be ballroom dancing in the living room.  All you lady cats and gentlemen cats are invited.  The younger ones can come, too, and if they start feeling rowdy, they can go out to the back yard and hunt gophers and chase birds.

Rocio and Spyro:  ::whispering::  Hey, guys, we mixed up a picnic jug full of niptinis and hid it out on the patio, in case you get bored in there with Miss Dignified, just don't let Oja catch on.

Bambino:  What are you two whispering about?

Rocio:  Never mind.  You're too young.

Bambino:  You're up to something.  I'm going to go get Oja and she'll make you tell.

Spyro:  Hush up!  We are going to have a little party of our own outside, but Oja wouldn't approve, so we can't let her find out about it.

Bambino:  You are mixing up niptinis, aren't you?  If you don't want me to tell, you have to let me have one.

Rocio:  OK, just one, but you can't go all wild on us.

Bambino:  I'm always going wild and crazy.  Oja will never notice the difference.  She told me to go chase gophers during her dance party.

Oja:  You mancats better behave yourselves at my party, especially you, Rocio.

Spyro and Rocio:  Yes, Oja, we will.

Oja:  Come on over.  The party is just getting started.  Jose, haven't you finished your bath yet?  You are my escort.

Jose:  Just a sec.  There, ready, let's go greet our guests.

Happy Gotcha Day, Spyro!

Karen Jo:  Before I turn the blog over to Spyro, I just want to thank everyone for all the love and sympathy you gave me and the cats on the loss of Austin.

Spyro:  I am resting up a bit because today is my Gotcha Day and I want to party hearty!  I was adopted one year ago today and boy have I had fun since then!  When I first moved in it was just me and Herman and we hit it off right off the bat.  I was in the safe room maybe ten minutes before I wanted out to meet Herman.  We sized each other up and started playing with each other right away.  Then Oja moved in and hated both of us on sight, but got to like both of us a few months later.  Herman had to leave, but along came Austin and Rocio and it was party time!  We had a ball together.  Austin had to leave, but Bambino moved right it and it's party time again.  You will never guess what Mom is getting me for my Gotcha Day.  I am going to love it and Oja is going to get hissed off big time.  Give up?  Mom found another mancat for me.  His name is Jose and he's a three-year-old tabby-and-white just like me.  We will be almost the same age, as I am two-and-a-half.  I just know that we are going to have so much fun together.

Now it's time to party!  Tonight we have niptinis, meowgaritas, real live dead shrimp and tuna to snack on and dance music, along with toys and lots of places to nap.  In the morning Mom will start bringing out ham, turkey, roast beef, chicken and more shrimp and tuna, along with cat food for those of you who just like canned food and kibble.  To drink we have fresh water and milk along with the nip drinks.  We have nip, more toys than you can shake a stick at, wand toys that we will make Mom work for us until her arms fall off and Spring moths to chase.  They are tiny little things and fly around in all sorts of directions, which make them lots of fun.  Mom will fill up the bird feeders and bath, so the Cat TV Bird Channel should be pretty good.  There are gopher holes in the back yard to sniff along with grass to roll in and eat and dirt if anyone fancies a dirt bath.  I like them myself, much to Mom's dismay.  There is a fairly long hall for THoE with a table for sliding across at the end.  There are two nice boxes in the living room, one medium and one really big.  Mom gives out treats to any cat who uses the scratching posts.  Kitty rasslin' is a specialty of the house, everycat is welcome to join in.

Now let's get this party started!  Whoo-hoo!

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.