Caturday

Mom didn't get a picture taken of me today.  This is an old one that she took at night with the flash.  You can see why she only takes pictures of me during the day.

Karen Jo:  I got behind getting ready for work today and just didn't have time for a photo shoot.

Things have gotten interesting around here.  We got about a foot of snow yesterday.  The bird bath not only froze, it got all covered over with snow.  Once Mom filled up the feeder, there were lots and lots of birds to watch outside.  Am I ever glad that I'm not an outside kitty any more!

Once Mom got home, I started asking for treats before she even got her coat off.  I had to wait for a little bit for my treats, though.

Karen Jo:  I really needed to visit the litter box room before I did anything else, Herman.  Walking home when it's really cold has that effect on me.  You did get your treats.  I was surprised that you could eat so many and still want your supper.

I didn't eat much supper, but treats aren't everything.  I will probably eat more of my supper later.  I did a good job of eating the food you left for me before you went to work.

Karen Jo:  You did indeed.  You ate almost all of your Medley and some of your Stinky Goodness and quite a bit of your Purina One.

There's not much to do around here but eat and sleep while you are gone.

Karen Jo:  Says the cat who has more toys than he knows what to do with.

Finally Blogging Again

 Here I am in one of my safe spots.  Mom never bothers me when I go under the table like this because  I only go under here when I am really ticked off and want to be left alone.  What ticked me off so much?

Remember this thing?  I thought it was a toy and liked playing with the white fuzzy ball on the end.  One day when she wasn't feeling too bad, Mom gave me all the nip treats I wanted, then played with me and while I was feeling really mellow, she tried to put it on my head.  That's when I realized what it really is.  It is the dreaded Santa hat!  I squirmed and struggled and wouldn't let her put it on me, then I went under the table and didn't come back out for a long time.  I hope she doesn't try to put it on me again.

Karen Jo:  I may give it one more try, but I won't really force it on you.  I have the chin strap let out as far as it will go, but I think it may be a little too tight for you.  I have been away from blogging for so long because I got worse and finally ended up at the doctor.  I thought something weird was going on because, although I felt tired, I didn't really feel sick.  It turns out that I have a very minor cold, but my allergies have gone berserk.  This can get really bad for me because my allergies not only give me itchy eyes and a runny nose, but they affect my bronchial tubes as well.  I can start coughing and not be able to stop for half an hour or more.  Now I am on a couple of high-powered cough medicines and two allergy medicines and I am almost back to normal.

Mom spent a lot of time on or in her bed and that meant lots and lots of petting and cuddling for me.  Mom has decided that I can only have as many treats as I want once a day.  I make the most of it.  Mom used to make me scratch on my platform for every treat, but when I wanted lots and lots of nip treats, I started to reach toward the bag with my paw.  Mom got the message and gave me a treat each time I stretched out my paw toward the bag.  Now she gets close to me and I tap her hand when I want another treat.  I make a meal out of them, then we play for a bit.  After the nip really takes effect, I play THoE all over the house for a while.  The other times that I ask for treats, I only get up to four.  I have learned this.  Today when she got her coat on to go to work, I asked for a treat four times, then went into the kitchen to eat my regular food.

Karen Jo:  You are always surprising me with how smart you are.  I don't know if you are counting up to four treats or if you have learned what "no more" means.  I suspect the former, because you didn't even ask for another treat after the fourth one.  I want to thank every one for all the good wishes for me to get well.  I am on my way.

Catching Up

Here's another photo of me playing with my kitty with the nip in his swim trunks.  I'll let Mom explain why we haven't been blogging.

Karen Jo:  I have a cold.  I don't feel really sick, but I have no energy and I just haven't felt like blogging.  I hope to be back to normal in a few days.

I hope Mom gets back to normal soon.  I have stories to share.  I don't get all the treats I want all the time, just when Mom has the day off or when she gets home from work.  I eat meals just like I always have, but I really love those nip treats and I can eat a lot of them.

Karen Jo:  I am just too tired to write more tonight.  Maybe tomorrow or the next day.

Nippy Tuxie Tueday

Mom finally got around to stuffing this kitty's swim trunks with catnip. At first I barely noticed it.  Then that great aroma started to get to my nose and I played and played with it.  After I finished tossing it around, I laid my head down on it like I was going to take a nap, but I moved as soon as Mom pointed the camera at me.  Mom got a whole new bag of nip treats and is giving me as many as I want when she gets home from work.  She will give me some before she goes to work, but she always quits giving them to me before I get enough.

Karen Jo:  Just what do you call enough?  I gave you about eight of them before I told you that I had work to do and quit this morning.  I gave you your nip kitty and sprinkled nip on your cardboard scratcher and Turbo Scratcher.  Just before I went to work, I gave you five or six more.  I think you are becoming a nip head.

And what's wrong with that?  I don't get really stoned, just playful and happy.

Karen Jo:  There's nothing wrong with it.  I gave you nip treats tonight when I got home until you didn't want any more.  I didn't even count them, but I know that it was more than ten.

Mom gives me other kinds of treats, too.  In the morning she mixes the nip treats up with Temptations, Greenies and Pounce.  She ran out of Greenies today.

Karen Jo:  I will get you some more Greenies tomorrow.

Mom is eating turkey again.  I ate a little bit of it today.

Karen Jo:  A friend of mine has a family that doesn't like the dark meat, so she brings some of it to me.  You only ate two bites.  I don't know why.  It is really good.

I think maybe I only really like freshly cooked people food.  I am not so keen on leftovers.

Karen Jo:  Your loss.  I still don't understand your reactions to my cooking.  You won't touch a bite of pot roast, so the last time I cooked it, I put in onions and herbs.  You kept meowing and meowing at me all the time it was cooking, like you wanted some.  When it was done, I let you smell it and you walked away like you were offended at the very idea that you might like to eat some.  I wouldn't have given you any because of the onion at any rate, but I wanted to know why you were meowing.  Were you disgusted at the smell or what?

I am not telling.  I have to keep you guessing.

Weird Stuff Going On

Mom took whatever was in the mysterious box and put it in here.  I don't know what it is, but it has a picture of another kitty on it.  I am not sure I like that.

Karen Jo:  It's your Christmas stocking, Herman.  I am going to replace the picture of the other kitty with a picture of you, once I get the right picture.  Sorry about the photo.  I never have gotten the hang of the flash on this camera.

What's a Christmas stocking?  We didn't have anything like that last year.

Karen Jo:  I know.  My cracked ribs were still healing.  Santa Paws and I will put toys and treats in your stocking for you to have on Christmas day.  We had a little Christmas last year.  Remember all the crackly paper?  You got treats and toys, too.

 I remember.  That was a fun day.

I have been acting totally normal today.  This morning I ate part of my breakfast, asked for lots of treats and played with Mom for a little bit.  I guess I just had a bit of a bad day yesterday.

Karen Jo:  You may have had a bit of tummy trouble.  I found a really mushy poop in the litter box today.  You are going back to getting two doses of poop medicine per day.

Rats!  At least the poop medicine isn't really nasty, like the other stuff.

Karen Jo:  You only have two more days of the nasty stuff to go for this month.

Yay!  Mom and I really had fun tonight.  I asked for lots and lots of treats and got a good buzz going.  I ran all over the house and then played with Mom.  Then she got my dinner and I ate some, then I let Mom change out of her work clothes.  After a little while, Mom came back and gave me nasty medicine, then I got a whole bunch of treats again.  Life is good.

Caturday

I just felt like lounging around this morning.  I even think I scared Mom a little.

Karen Jo:  Just a little.  You got me up at 6:30 for breakfast, but you didn't eat any of it.  You didn't want to play and you didn't want treats when I got my jacket to leave for work.  You always ask for treats when I get my jacket. Last night I had steak and you didn't want any of it.  I was a little bit afraid that you weren't feeling good.  Tonight when I got home, you were totally back to normal again, thank goodness.

Some kitties have been asking about my nip treats.  They are made by The Goodlife Recipe and they look just like Temptations, which isn't odd at all, as they are made by the same parent company as Temptations.  They have chicken, carrots, grains and catnip in them.  I think they are the best treat ever.  Mom is feeling bad about something.

Karen Jo:  I feel a bit guilty, actually.  Clean+Green sent me a free can of their carpet and upholstery cleaner a long time ago on the condition that I review it.  I accepted their offer, as you were being a barfy kitty.  Fortunately, you haven't barfed since and you haven't had an out of the litter box experience since you got well, so I haven't had a chance to use it on anything.  I am delighted about that, but I still feel a bit bad about it.

A package came but Mom didn't let me see what was in it.

Karen Jo:  It's something I won at an auction and I am saving it for Christmas. You will get it then.

I hate waiting for stuff.

Not Enough Treats

Mom didn't take a picture of me today, so here's another shot of me checking out the nip on my ham-mick.  At least Mom hopes that it's the other shot.  The two pictures are so much alike that she couldn't tell which one she had used already.  Mom finished off the turkey today.

Karen Jo:  You were meowing at me the whole time the turkey was warming up, but when it was ready, you only took two little bites before walking away.

It smelled better than it tasted.  Besides, I had just had my elevenses.  What's next on the menu?

Karen Jo:  Pot roast.

Yuck!  I don't like pot roast at all.  When are you going to cook something that I like?

Karen Jo:  I might be able to work in a steak soon.

That's more like it.  Mom did find my nip ball.  She always manages to find it.  Once it took her a couple of days, but she found it.  Mom isn't giving me all the treats I want.

Karen Jo:  I got you to scratch on your platform instead of the couch by giving you a treat every time you scratched the platform.  Lately you have been really overdoing it.  You will scratch a little, then look at me, eat your treat, then scratch again.  Every time I pick up my coat, you race to your platform and start scratching.  The other day I was a couple of minutes late for work because of all the scratching and eating you were doing.  So now I will only give you up to four treats before I leave for work or when I am busy getting ready for work.  You can still have all you want when I get home or when I have a day off.

That's not fair.  I am supposed to get a treat every time I scratch.  Maybe you should just put all the treats in a bowl on the floor and let me help myself.

Karen Jo:  I can just see the results of that.  You would probably eat so many that you would barf them all up again.

I haven't barfed up any treats yet, even when you give me as many as I ask for.

Karen Jo:  You still are not getting your treats in a bowl on the floor.

Rats!