Time to Wake Up

We were anxiously awaiting for CatMom to get out of bed.
Seemed like she had been resting all day!

I guess her working in the catnip garden with Queen Bambi yesterday tired her out!

I, Timmy da Scallywag (previously da Timid), stands in doorway and repeetedly gave my best “it's time get up” yowls! But she just snuggled deeper into her pillow!

Why she do dat? She not appreesheeate my singing talents??? Bambi sez nope. She sez it cuz my singing voice is too squeeky. How cheeky of her to say that... even if she is the queen! But, methinks might be troo!

Buffy gets to go lie down on CatMom's bed all da time. In fact that exactly where Buffy is ALL da time. She never move! She just one big lump of cat fur. Usually she not move. But when we came in to check on mommy dis meowning, Buffy gave us da Evil Eye and Low Growl!

But da Queen, she not put off by da stare down! Bambi, she got real sneaky! She slinked under the bed, then stood on her toes and nudged CatMom's hand which was hanging there just waitin' for it. But, Buffy wasn't about ta let us wake her up. Buffy ran right across Mom’s belly to challenge Bambi. Thwomph! Thwomph! Thwomph!

See what I means? Is dat not the Evilest Eyes you ever saw?

So, Guess what happened next?

We were, ALL three of us, put out of the room and the door shut in our faces! How could CatMom do that to her precious furbabies? Later she got up and finally tried to give us attention. But you can have the satisfaction of knowing, we were having none of that!

Waiting for the Mousekeeper

Timmy da Timid

Timmy sat in the window all morning awaiting the arrival of Maria. She's the one who comes and tears the house apart, moving all our stuff around. Timmy can hardly wait until she shoves the broom under the fridge and digs out all his mousies he has stashed under there.

Maria smooths out the covers on the bed where we make our nests all nice and soft. She takes that nasty evil vacuum and sucks up all the catnip we have so carefully smooshed into the carpet. Whatever happened to brooms?

She runs the noisy old washing machine and lets it knock and whirl until Timmy and Buffy can't stand it anymore. Usually when that thing is running, they run away to the furthest corner of the house. Chica and Shadow hide under the beds. If the closet has been left open Timmy or Buffy go hide in there.

As for moi, I am not the slightest bit disturbed my the machinations of the laundry room. Er... my royal domain, that is.

I have more sense than my subjects, of course, and I have commandeered the dryer. It''s the most wonderful invention, made especially for royal cats such as moi-self!  Dryers also happen to be a useful item for hoomans to fluff up cat blankets and pillows. They put their towels in there to warm and fluff them up. That makes them nice and cozy in the laundry basket. It really seems to disturbed poor Mom when we lie down on them, so we really have to be sneaky about it.

Queen Bambi disappointed in mouse keeper

We were all disappointed today, however. Maria will not be returning to do any more mousekeeping for us. She stopped by to tell Mom that has found more "lucrative challenges" elsewhere.

How could she possibly give up taking care of our home?

We know she will miss us terribly, of course. How could she not? We are the most special Cats in the world and everyone loves us so much. We will miss her too.

 Especially since we had her trained to give us more treats when Mom was not looking.

The Cat's Favorites

Queen Bambi started to do the answers, but all she would write about was herself. And the kits have such bad grammar and spelling I decided to do the job for all of us.

Here are the answers to the following:

1. Favorite color:  Queen Bambi likes pink, just like her collar.  Buffy likes red, like her feather swish toy. Timmy likes yellow, just like Mom does. I prefer black, like my handsome fur.


2. Favorite animal:   Queen Bambi and Timmy  both like flies. One time they both were chasing one and bammed into each other! Buffy likes birds. (That's her in the window watching birds ).  I like dogs the best because I was raised by them. I know, I know, I sound like a traitor. But, the only time I'm interested in animals is when the dogs next door are barking.

  3. My favorite number:  Queen Bambi likes one. She says it's the only number that counts because she is number 1. (Phooey on her!) That leaves three for the rest of us. We are the 3 mousketeers. All for 3 and 3 for all!

4. Favorite drink:  We all like best the water from our upside down water bottle bowl. But, Queen Bambi has a nasty habit of licking the sink after Mom washes the dishes! Well, and Timmy likes to lick from the bath tub. How dishonorable! Ninja's would never do such a thing!

5. Social media:  You already know about our blog (otherwise you wouldn't be here). We also like Catster even though Mom doesn't let us get on there much.

6. Our passion:  Mine is welcoming visitors who come to the house. Timmy's passion is hiding in the closet when visitors come to the house.  Buffy's passion is chasing after and attacking all of us! She's such a frisky little pesk! We all know Queen Bambi's passion is her highness herself.

7. Getting or giving present:  We all love getting catnip, except for Timmy. The vet says he doesn't have a catnip receptor in his brain. But, he does like to give toy mousies to Mom. I like to give myself over to The Monk for petting. Buffy likes to give us all a hard time. Queen Bambi? Well, you know she doesn't like to give anything.... Oops, she says she honors us all with her presence and that's the best present of all. I stand corrected.

8. Favorite pattern:  We all like the criss cross pattern of the window screen. If you stare at it long enough, it becomes invisible!

   9. Favorite day of the week:  We all like Sundays best because that's when The Monk comes to visit us.

  10. Favorite flowers:  Buffy and I all like the jasmine that grows outside the kittchen window, especially in the evenings. Timmy and Bambi like the Alstromeria. But, Mom can't bring them in the house anymore because they eat them!

Our friends Milo and Alfie did this on their blog and said we could do the same. And if you haven't already done it, go ahead and let us know you did. That way we all get to know each other better!

Cats Left Alone!!!

It's so frustrating being without the computer. Don't you think so? Mama-San left a few days ago and took it with her, much to our dismay! And if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes we might have thought Little Sister had been kitnapped!!!

They went to see the relatives down south far away and left us behind.

Neighbor Girl came over the first day to console us, but Queen Bambi was having none of it. She was worried about her little princess kitten. She just wouldn't come out to say hello, until Neighbor Girl brought in a large bouquet of fresh grown catnip to help her forget her worries. Good thing we have plenty of it in our garden!

Spyder was so lonesome for Little Sister that Queen Bambi took pity on him and kissed his head. "There, there," she said, "Mom will bring her back soon! Don't cry." She offered him some of her catnip but he was not interested in it at all. He is one of those cats who don't have a taste for it. They say it is genetic. I guess I am going to have to work with that boy! Just the same, all the more for me and Bambi.

The next day the Monk came to hang out with us. He gave treats to us all and fed the fish in the aquarium. Bambi and Spyder really enjoy helping with the fish, and sampling the water a bit, too.

I always help myself to catnip whenever it is offered, but don't go Lady Ga Ga over it the way Bambi does. I enjoy watching the fish, but as a proper Ninja, I do not overindulge. Besides, fish live in a VERY wet world!!! In a way, I think it was a very good thing that Mama-San went away. After all, that gave me constant access to the feeders, and I consoled myself there often. And when the Monk came over to take care of us, he gave me extra special attention because he loves me best!

There! I've said it! He loves me best!

Cat Garden Lovers

Cat gardening could be so much fun, if only Miss E would let us go outside! We don't have our harnesses and leashes yet. But, outside is so inviting right now. The rain has stopped and the soil smells rich with interesting microbes. Yes, even me, a ninja, knows what a microbe is. And they are growing rapidly right now in all that warm weather. Awesome nose candy!

Miss E doesn't want us out there yet because the ground is still too moist, she says.  I think she is just putting us off, and maybe disciplining us a little bit for the time I tore holes in the screens and we all ran outside. She had a hard time catching us. Of course, honorable warrior that I am, I came in first. Bambi is extremely wild outside, it took forever to get her to come in. Poor Spyder got sick out there. He must have eaten something disgusting. So you can see why Miss E is hesitant to permit us to wander the garden.

However, today, she opened all the windows. What? You might say! Remember, please, that The Monk replaced all those torn screens with cat proof screens. So we can contentedly sit in the open windows observing the garden.


Miss E went out there and pulled up her little yellow flowers. The neighbor complained they were weeds, something called Oxalis.

And she picked out the big French snails roaming around the garden, and got rid of them. We wonder a bit about those French snails. Apparently people eat them as a delicacy. They call them Escargot. I wonder if they taste like sushi?

Then, suddenly, we got a couple whiffs of the most incredible aroma. CATNIP!!! We were all excited, except for Spyder. He's too young to imbibe. He says he doesn't like it. I think there's something wrong with his brain. He's more interested in talking to his invisible Lady Dowager Queen friend. What can they be talking about?

Bambi and I raced from window to window to gather up the smell of the CATNIP into our noses! Then we honed in on the front door, and got the best sniffs from beyond the screen. Miss E was trimming and clearing out the garden right there by the front door! It was torture to sit just a screen away from the CATNIP!

When Miss E entered we were all over her. She could barely get to the kitchen to wash her hands. Then she surprised us with a big clump of leaves right in the middle of the living room!

Bambi and I are in CATNIP heaven!

Dances with Cats

We had good intrestting time da other day when Miss E went away, we had a Purrty with da catnips.

I don't like catnips, but I likes ta see when Bambi and Ninja has catnips. They funny and like ta play.

We had other cats come ta our garden for catnips, too. One, his name White Paw, him was funny Mancat.

Him jump up on our fence and dance around and then, just like majik he open gate.

Him sniffing and eating catnips he dancing all over da place. Very funny!

I likes Mr. White Paw. Hope we sees him dance again.

And then a doggie come in yard.

I wanted to be furrends with him, but Ninja and Bambi said wait. Now is not the time.

But, funny thing happen.

Today the doggie come back and Miss E find him.

She bring him inside and say he is lost puppy doggie. He scared of Ninja and Bambi, but not scared of me. So, Humfree and me is now good furrends.

We cants keep him so Miss E gots to take him to shelter so his purrsons can find him and take home.

I hopes I see my Humfree furrend again soon.

Catnip Invasion!

The other day, Miss E went to San Jose. Before leaving she picked some fresh catnip from the garden for us. What a great way to party!

Soon, we saw a neighbor cat in our backyard. He said he smelled the nip and wondered if we'd share. He introduced himself by his cat soul name, White Paw, but his purrsons call him Mittens.

We have great gardens full of nip. Why not share it?  This way we can make furrends. Since we cannot go meowtside, we convinced White Paw to open the back gate. Our dear departed Jeffery had very good skills in such matters, and gave me instructions in case I ever had the opportunity. So White Paw, opened the back gate by jumping up, just so, and jiggling the latch as Jeffery described to me.

Then White Paw invited all the other neighbor cats to come in to enjoy our catnip. This way, youngsters and our honorable elders could come to our purrty. We sure know how to share, have fun and enjoy life!

However, we didn't plan well. We had a problem! We could only watch from the plate glass window as a stray dog invited himself in. Many of the cool cats scattered as best they could. It's kind of hard to do that when one is stoned, you know.

We were left to deal with the interloper.  He had the audacity, or perhaps stupidity to come over to our full size window where he was almost nose to nose with us before he realized we were staring holes through his skull. He couldn't move. I had him in my hypnotic power.

When the moment was right, Bambi threatened him with a vengeance. All she had to do was raise her dainty royal paw and it did the trick. It certainly intimidates me when she does that! I don’t think that dogg will ever be back!

Way to go, Bambi! She may be a tiny lady queen, but she sure is fierce and tough!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please note: No animals were hurt in this encounter, and we promised Spyder we would get to know the doggie some other time under better circumstances when he's not invading our turf, if the opportunity should arise.

Computer Literate Cat

Spyder is getting very computer literate.

His dyslexia gets in the way sometimes, But he wanted me to tell you about a site where Keli and Jeffery are being honored. Keli has been gone 9 months, and Jeffery 3 months.

It's a website we are all probably familiar with called about.com They have a section on Cats that is
singlehandedly managed, organized and authored by Franny Syufu. She works hard and it shows in the quality of her site. So many cats and people who love cats benefit.

Among the many ways Franny focuses her site to meet the needs of cat lovers is that she has provided an opportunity to have a Memorial photo and story of your cat online.

I sent in the pictures of Keli and Jeffery that I would like used and wrote something about each of them. If you would like to do the same, be sure to read the instructions carefully. It is very exacting, but it's necessary for Franny to run the site, meet all the needs of cats and their people and still to take care of the technical end of keeping the site running well.

This is where my darling Keli Clementine was featured

I wrote a poem for her.
 I hope you will drop by the site and read it.
Doesn't she look lovely in this picture?

Can you notice the aura about her head?

She was a very special creature.

This is the memorial link for my Jeffery

He loved sitting out in the garden beneath the pine tree.

And in this case, surrounded by fresh catnip
Isn't he a handsome fellow?
I just love this picture of him.

It's Queen Bambi's Birthday!!!

On the day before ChrisMouse,
Not a creature was stirring, Well you know about the mouse.
The stockings were rolled in Mamma's bed to help keep her warm
In hopes that her kittens soon would be born.

Then we kittens were nestled all snug in soft warm fur,
While visions of our futures danced in our heads.
And Mamma in her little nest, and we newborns in her lap,
Had just settled our down for a long winter’s nap.

When out in the field there arose such a clatter,
Mama sprang from the nest to see what was the matter.
Her fur up in hackles, her eyes warned a flash,
She glanced around and put on her fierce guard.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen frost
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects nearby.
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
Mama told us it must be the Chris Mouse.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now ride to the new kittens so I can see them all!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You see my friends, it was the day of my birth and that of my dear siblings out there in the field.

I remember it well. Though there are those who think that not possible. I remember my Mama so warm and loving, protecting us from the cold. She worried day and night where we would get food, when a stranger came along and offered us some, and took us all home. It wasn't long before the shelter took us in and helped us find forever homes. We knew we couldn't stay together, but we were happy to go. We said our farewells and began our new lives.

I was adopted by a sweet girl who went to school. We celebrated my first birthday and ChrisMouse with a great deal of joy. I was happy to be growing up, and a short time later I had kittens of my own. Then, I understood the deep love of my Mama, and fierce protection she gave us. Soon it was time to say good bye to my little ones. I still miss them sometimes, but I know they have good forever homes.

Then the day came when my school girl had to say good bye to me, and for a while I lived with her kin. This made me angry and they gave me back to the shelter, where I was unhappy until I met Miss E, and she took me as I was, grouchy and all. At first I scratched her. It was hard to trust, after all. But, I met my hero, Ninja, the all black cat, who I liked right away. He knows I'm a Queen and is there for me whenever I need him. Then along came precious little Spyder. Oh my, what an odd looking kitten with his odd mismatched eyes. He's got all white fur, like mine, but for that little black Mohawk style on the top of his head. Did I mention his strange eyes, one yellow, one blue. I knew he was special right away. We bonded like Mama and kitten, and I protected him fierce. But now he's growing and taking care of himself.

It's been a year of downs and ups, and now I am so fortunate, and grateful. I don't feel angry anymore. I don't bite or scratch. I have a home with beds to sleep on, lots of food or catnip anytime I want, room to play with toy mousies, and Miss E to take care of me, and visits by the Monk, a real special human. Everyone respects me and loves me. What more could a young Queen want?

Now, it's my birthday, a very special day!!! Even Catster is honoring my birthday in their site!

I am two years old by human time, and 24 in cat time.

We're going to have a party to celebrate and my favorite, salmon pie!
Ninja is going to test the cake first to make sure it is safe to eat.

I wish you could all be here, too. I look forward to many more birthdays to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Chris Mouse! 
You can read about him here!

Cat Funeral Plans

Keli was born alive with me as mid-wife. She and I have been bonded ever since. She never slept or fed with the other kittens, always being on her own schedule and left her siblings when she was old enough to be with me, follow me everywhere.

She had a way of understanding when I've been ill, and offered so much comfort to me over the years. She was 19 1/2 years old. I think that's about 96 in people years. I have had many cats in my life, but not one like her.

It is inexplicable to me how much more bereft I am than I thought was possible. It's physical as well as emotional. I feel like I have been hit by a truck.

Kats and Xavier will be here this weekend. Her grave has been dug (very deep) by Miguel, Esther's father in law, and she will be put to rest beside my back door on Sunday.

I intend to put her favorite plant over her. Cat Mint instead of Cat Nip. Though she liked both, she preferred the first.