Tuxie Tuesday

Mum tells us over and over again not to go on the counters

So I wasn't on the counter

Frankly I'm confused why she was still cross

When I was clearly following instructions...sheesh!



***Note from mum:  Our stove does not have pilot lights, the jets only ignite when you turn the knobs on so there is no possibility of Ben getting singed.  I just don't want him to be in the habit of hanging out on the top in case one day he jumped up and the burner was was still hot from cooking.

Mancat Monday x5

I'm not thrilled about posting this picture because the room is so untidy; the bed isn't made and my dressing gown is in a heap on the bench (with Ben on it)

But I think it is just so sweet when all the boys hang out together that I had to share :-) 

Funny Friday

We have such a tiny house that there is essentially no front hall.  Once you come inside from the porch you spill directly into the living room.  This of course makes me nuts and our next house MUST have a front hall, but I digress…

Excuse me but I think I was here first

The non-front hall is not an issue in the summer but winter in Canada is another story.  Robert and I come and go out the back door where we have a sunroom/mudroom with a wardrobe for coats and a runner for dirty boots, but when guests come over they use the front and I take their coats upstairs.   

I'm in heaven!

This Christmas we bought a small mat for the front door so people could wipe their wet or snowy shoes and I figured after the winter is over we would probably just chuck it…how was I to know the cats would LOVE this silly little mat!

You can't ignore me forever Jimmy

It's the funniest thing, they take turns on the mat, covet time on the mat and wrestle each other off the mat.  What is the appeal?  It is an unattractive, cheap, rubber-backed mat from the Costco and you would think it was heated cashmere the way they fuss over it.   

Get lost Ben it's my turn!

The other day I actually saw Jimmy on the mat squirming around on his back (in ecstasy?) with all fours in the air!  I just don’t get it... do you?

Whiskerless Wednesday

When Kip first came to us he had this one wacky white whisker.  The odd thing about this whisker other than being white...it was about three times longer than his black whiskers (which are tiny) and it stuck straight out!

weird whisker

Then the other day I noticed his white whisker was gone.  I asked him what happened to it, but he wasn't telling

I've got a secret

Monday Mancat Love

Friday Freckles

I know we've talked about it before, but I thought it was worth revisiting again...

It's my nose freckles

Here's a slightly different view

and from the other side

Mum says they're subtle and adorable :-)

Do you like them too Tiri?

Wordless Wednesday

Tuxie Tuesday

Hi there kids, I have a little story to tell you.  Yesterday I threw up on my brother Kip...

I was sitting on mum's new demi-lune table, you can see it a little in the background just over my shoulder, and suddenly I was overcome with a nasty furball.  Well I didn't have time to jump down I just vomited where I was.  Half of it landed on the table and if that wasn't bad enough, the other half landed on Kip who had walked over to see what all the noise was about and was standing on the floor underneath me.

Believe me when I tell you guys it was completely accidental like. When one is in the throes of a devil furball there is no time to yell at your younger brother to get out of the way.  Mum was walking into the bedroom when all this happened and was just in time to see Kip get splatted on the top of his head and back of the ear. He didn't even flinch or run off, he just stood there, mum thinks maybe he didn't realize what happened.

She picked Kipper up and rushed down the hall to the bathroom, grabbed some toilet paper to wipe off the vomit then washed his head with warm water.  He is such an easygoing fellow he just sat on the bathroom counter while mum fixed him up, then he gave his head a shake and followed mum back into the bedroom.  Mum had paper towels to clean up the little mess and they both wanted to check and see if I was okay.

I was totally fine, it always feels good to get rid of one of those things.  The best part though was that Kip wasn't mad or anything.  Frankly, I don't know if I would have been so relaxed if someone barfed on ME!!!  I'm glad I have such a great brother :-)

Mancat Monday + Green Mousie

Hi cats and kittens, Kip here.  Did you know that I am nine months old now...

mum says please don't look at the unfolded laundry behind me

hmmmm, I was wondering...

but I'm not sure.....

maybe I better ask my friends....

what say you???

I think that almost mancats can still play with their mousies, don't you?

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that I have my very own real-life good luck cat!!!

Doesn't Casper look like Maneki Neko?  Those are the Japanese ceramic sculptures of a beckoning or waving cat that one often sees in the entrance to shops and businesses...the higher the paw, it is believed, the greater the luck :-)

Maneki Neko; right or left paw can be raised

Tuxie Tuesday

I remember being told in school that Picasso could draw a perfect circle...

I think Ben's circle is the most perfect of all :-)

Friends on Friday

All five boys...

They sleep in tidy rows don't they?

Sometimes bunched together :-)

a HORRIBLE experience

Cats and kittens, you will not believe what happened yesterday, I almost lost Kip and Ben!  

At 3:00 I had an appointment at our vet for Kip.  He has been having some ongoing trouble with diarrhea and I was taking him in for a recheck.  I took Ben also because he's been looking a little thin lately and I wanted to have him weighed.  It was the coldest day of the year so far, so I packed them into the big carrier (which has held three cats in the past) and covered it with a blanket to keep the wind off them while walking to and from the car.   

the carrier in question

 The vet visit went fine, Ben’s weight is okay and Kip has a probiotic and some new food which will hopefully help him “firm up”.  Our vet is on a busy main street, but I usually park on a residential side street then walk around the corner to the clinic. On the way back to the car the carrier broke!!!!  It just fell open!!! I was left holding the handle as the bottom fell onto the ground!!!  I placed the top half of the carrier back on the bottom, thankfully Ben stayed in the broken carrier sort of cowering at the back but Kip trotted off down somebody’s driveway.  I was very lucky that a man had just pulled up to his house and saw what happened.  He said "go after the black one" and he stayed on the sidewalk and tried to reassemble my carrier with Ben in it.  I managed to dive onto Kip at the bottom of the driveway and was walking back to the car with him when a truck roared up the street and he freaked, wriggling out of my arms, running away again.  At this point the kind stranger helped me put the still broken but slightly put back together carrier containing Ben in the car then I ran down the same very long driveway a second time to find Kip.  

I saw him go into a back garden and I followed him in. I called him and I heard him meow but I couldn't see where he went.  This house had a large deck in the yard, the bottom of which was covered with lattice, I thought he had crawled under the lattice and wondered how I would ever get him out.  I was peering through the lattice calling his name and I heard him meow back to me again but I couldn’t tell from what direction.  Just when I was thinking I would have to slither on my belly through a small opening in the lattice in order to search under the deck I finally figured out where his meows were coming from.  I found him hunkered down under the open framework stairs that led down to a basement door beside the deck.  He was hiding among a pile of leaves, I spoke to him and told him everything would be okay then I pulled him out from under the stairs.  He was shaking in my arms.  Still wriggling, I managed to get him into the Mini on the floor of the front passenger seat and we all went home.  Back in our driveway still inside the car I had to try to repair the carrier, get Kip into the carrier then get both Ben and Kip into the house.  I was able to put it back together and we got inside safely.  I really shudder to think what could have happened if Kip hadn't answered my calls (the really odd thing is that usually Kip is a silent meower; he opens his mouth but nothing comes out).  Not only was it frigid cold yesterday, but by the time I got home it was about 4:30, almost dark, if I hadn’t found Kip when I did it would have been impossible to see him at night.

Ben and Kip both safe at home

Robert came home early because I had called him in a panic while I was looking for Kip; he arrived shortly after I did.  When I saw him I bawled my eyes out...I guess relief is very strong emotion.  I think I was running on full adrenalin and when he got to the house I knew I could crash.  It was a truly awful experience, I thank god, the universe, my lucky stars and whatever other power I can think of that they are both okay!!!

PS – Robert fixed the carrier and attached locking ties to all the hinges and joins so it can NEVER fall open again.


PPS - after dinner Robert and I went back to the house to give our good samaritan a bottle of wine and a little thank you note.

Tuxie Tuesday and an Interloper

Hi cats and kittens, Ben here.  Everyone knows that I inspect Daddy's shirts when they come back from the cleaners.  I lie on the bags, give them the once over then tell Daddy they are okay to wear...

overseeing shirts

So just before Christmas when a load of shirts came home I knew I would be busy....but then....

Jimmy, WTF!!!

Jimmy was totally in the way, little brothers can be tiresome sometimes

Busy Ben

 I had to improvise and assess the shirts from up top by the hangers

Jimmy thwarts Ben's efforts

 Jimmy had no clue what to do and just sat there while I checked the other side

Jimmy speaks: "Ha, ha, ha, occasionally big brothers are just far too serious and you to mess with them"  :-)