Um, Skippy? Any idea where the Elf is?

Wel, mom, it's like this. The Elf wouldn't stay on the shelf, so, I ate him. He was crunchy and good with ketchup.

Twas the night before Christmas..

Hey, Lady.. this mouse.. it's stirring..  

Hey, Elf thing.. you should do something about that

Looks like I am going to have to take care of this myself

Hey.. stop stirring!!

Have you stopped yet?

nope.. You so need to stop doing that.. 

Now you sit there nicely and stop that stirring.

You're welcome.  Now.. where is my stocking?

Twenty five years and 422 animals later

Elvin, I have a secret to share.. again

Twenty five years ago, on a very very foggy night.. (mom should have known to be a bit more specific when asking for it to be 'white out' for their wedding) a man and a woman walked down an isle.  Five apartments, two homes, 11 cats, 2 rabbits, 409 fosters later, one of them is now posting photos of cats and an elf on the internet..

my favorite photo from that day

:)

Eat Gandalf.. eat!!

Gandalf is doing well enough. He is happy and active and plays with me and wrestles with me. He still sounds very congested though, and the worst part of it is that he isn't eating much at all.

He gets very excited when I show up and does the dinner dance, and stands up and looks in the bowl as I am putting it down and then saddles right up to it and eats, but about four bites in he realizes it is too much work and gives up... or maybe he can't taste it because of the congestion..

So when a box of Muse cat food showed up on my door (I won a contest somewhere, but I don't remember where I entered one) I thought that this particular flavor of sardines might help break through the congestion / lack of smell and he would eat more.

He did the dance of joy, then ate his required four bites and walked away. I had picked up a can of A/D at the shelter and so I popped that and gave him some of that too. He did the dance of joy, then ate his required four bites and walked away. I picked the bowl up and moved it. He did the dance of joy, then ate his required four bites and walked away. This was going to get old fast.. so I sat next to the bowl and called attention to it and he came over, checked it out, then ate his required four bites and walked away. Every time I called attention to the food he ate four bites..so I kept calling his attention to it. At one point I even crawled over to the bowl and hovered over it like I was eating.. he ate eight more bites.. *sigh* but that was the most he had eaten while I was in the room since I brought him home, so there was that..

Then I gave him some loving, because the experts say that petting a cat boosts his immune system. You can see how well that went.

I hope he shakes this cold soon.. or that Elf is going to show up and start telling him about Santa..

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad..

Elvin, I have a secret to share.. 

Twenty four years ago, on a very very foggy night.. (the mom should have known to be a bit more specific when asking for it to be 'white out' for their wedding) a man and a woman walked down an aisle.  Five apartments, two homes, 11 cats, 2 rabbits, 388 fosters later, one of them is posting photos of cats and an elf on the internet..

:)

Wordless Wednesday - Bare Kittenback Riding. Lena 1 / Elf 0

(no kittens nor elves were harmed in the making of this post) 

Your weekly update on Lena and Lori

Bet you can't tell who is who.. :) I only know because I took the photos and I knew before hand. Lena has white on one foot and Lori is bigger. Lena also has a bit of a rust cast to her fur as well so in person it is a lot easier to tell them apart... well easier being the keyword..

I know you all think it would be nice if they could be adopted together, but man two kittens that look so much a like might be hard for someone. I will admit I am hoping they go together too because I took them to work with me last week and they got separated when my co-workers each held one and then put them down and they each ran off in separate directions. A few minutes later there was a chorus of pathetic mews until they found each other.  They also stuck next to one another for the rest of the morning. I think they would adjust if separated but I've already mentioned to the shelter I think they should try - and hopefully... although watching Lori lay down and watch Lena eat when they are both hungry is enough for me to be okay with them being separated.

I've also told the shelter they are ready to go. I am not ready for them to go, and I wish I could keep them here longer, but they are three+ pounds at this point and I have exposed them to as much as I can. If they are to have any further progress in becoming fully well rounded kittens they are going to need to have new experiences. I am doing what I can, trying to expose them to new things and new cultures..

I just love the wide circular eyes on these two..  Just so you know, they aren't freaked, they really want the toy I was waving around..

Yes Faraday, that is a Hanukkah Harry..

I was curious if they made such a thing after you mentioned it a few times and the only one I could find was on Etsy. I laughed so hard when I saw it that I could not not buy it.. so buddy, this one is for you..

speaking of new experiences.. we are working on something else on them.. but more on that on Thursday.. I'd tell you tomorrow but I've got a good Wordless Wednesday post coming..

Keeping an eye on that Elf..

Man that elf sure does get around.. Hanging out in the stocking, checking it out to make sure it is worthy of goodies from Santa, to hanging out in the sleigh Santa and Mrs Mouse Claus.. Wonder where he'll turn up next.. Kittenback riding??

A Gift for the Kittens

Remember my little 3000th post giveaway? Indulgent Furries won and when I sent her an email to let her know, Donna and Raven replied asking me to use the gift card to purchase a gift for The Girls.

I really liked the feathered toys by Kong she mentioned as a possible gift, but they were an 'add on' only item and could not be purchased outright. I lamented about it while I was at work and a co-worker was about to place an order and so she ordered them for me, YAY! They came in over the weekend and I got them yesterday.

Lori could not resist them, and went right for them. The balls themselves are about two inches in diameter and are full of catnip. Not sure why they are called crinkle balls, as they don't really make any noise when you handle them like traditional crinkle balls... but they are still pretty awesome.

I am still learning how to use my new flash and sadly these photos are a little dark, also just to be clear this is not a sponsored post, this was a gift by a friend - I just happen to think they were pretty awesome.

Thank you Donna and Raven, it was so kind of you to do this, it was much appreciated..

Play time with Lena and Lori

I've been hoping to catch some of the real cuteness these two have going on when they play, and I caught a bunch of it. Lori has a habit of trying to pounce and jumping straight up instead that I didn't catch, but there is a whole lot of goodness going on here..

Who's the new guy?

He isn't going to eat my food is he??

It is that Elf on the Shelf time of year.. Our Elf simply hangs out with the kittens.. no spying, no telling.. just visiting.

I grew up with an elf and sadly he didn't make the move when my parents sold the house I grew up in. He was just an elf that I liked, we never did anything with him growing up.. he just sat on a shelf (well okay fine, he sat in the tree, we didn't really have a shelf in the living room). I looked for one for years and nabbed this one just before they became really big a few years ago.

The day before the night before Catmouse

Twas the day before the night before Christmas, and the kittens thought it was about time I put up a tree for them so Sandy Paws would have a place to leave a present or two..

We have been good, I promise!

Adoption Story - Mr. Crazy Pants

Well our Mr. Crazy Pants has found himself a home.  He is actually going to be the "cousin" to Issac Arnold and Smedley!!

Shortly after Issac Arnold and Smedley went home I got a message from Deb who saw the video of the furkins playing and fell in love with out little Crazy Pants. They came up on the weekend and I invited her and her family over to the house to meet the kittens.  Sadly Lion and The Melody look alike stayed safely ensconced under the couch and would not come out, but CP and Penelope did.  See, Deb's family included a daughter who adores kitties.

Isn't this just the sweetest thing??

I was a little afraid that CP (who they tentatively called Norman) was going to be all crazy and not want to sit still for a little girl to get to know him, but he seemed so smitten with her, that it just absolutely seemed meant to be.  I mean seriously, look at that face!  We had been calling him Norman, but the dad was not thrilled with that name.  While we were visiting Deb called him Perkins and it just seemed to fit.. So now he is officially Perkins.

I met them at the shelter on Sunday with every intention of taking more photos of them to share with you, but it very quickly became busy because they had some puppies for adoption that I just didn't feel comfortable trying to get them to pose with Perkins, with all of the comings and goings and the dogs barking and the birds chirping and the kittens meowing and the degus running around in their cages.. so I will settle for sharing the couple of photos I took before the shelter officially opened.

Yup, I'm silly :)

I have heard back from Deb, and all is going well.  Perkins has to win over their current kitty, but I'm sure that won't take him long at all.

Their siblings don't seem to miss him at all, which is nice. I still have yet to win over The Melody Lookalike, she still thinks I'm useless, but I have been able to hold the Lion and get him to purr twice.. The first time it was very soft and faint, the second time it was much stronger.  He is still very cautious and avoids me when I go directly at him, but if I play it cool I can get my hands on him pretty easily unlike TML.  I have decisions to make at this point.  Penelope will be going home today if the weather doesn't hinder it, and I will be left with two less than outgoing kittens.  Since they are of size, they can go back to the shelter and sit in a cage where they will be forced to deal with people all day long which has been known to help a lot of not quite so outgoing kittens.  Or I can keep them here for a while longer but I am headed out of town for a few days at the end of the week. I really do not know what I am going to do because I really want to win TML over (and find a name for her)
*shrug* I guess I'll play it by ear.

Wordless Wednesday - Play!