Casual Friday

For a Tuxedo cat, Ben is very informal today - LOL!!!

he says "Enjoy the weekend everyone"

Thankful Thursday

Ben and Jimmy are thankful that the new water meter has been installed in the basement and the man is now gone.

They emerge from the bedroom to see if the coast is clear!

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Ben hates to be left out of the action.  If we are sitting on the deck, he goes crazy at the door and the windows of the sunroom trying to get us to come back inside.  He will scratch at the glass and push his body up against the screens and generally carry on until I come inside and pay some attention to him.  Here is a little sample...

The odd thing is he really doesn't want to come out but wants me to come in because as soon as I open the door he runs away into the living hoping I'll chase him and play. 

I feel a little bad that I was laughing at him, but I couldn't help it he's such a funny boy :-)

Psycho Benners

I took these pictures of Ben the other day when I was lying on the sofa and he was perched on the back looking down at me.  I thought he looked just adorable but in the photos his expression seems a little...well...um...bonkers.

I'm not wrong am I, it is something about his eyes.  Here's a closer look just to be sure.

Yes he's a total nutter I think, but wow that is the pinkest nose ever!!!

Tuxie Tuesday

On the weekend I was doing some framing...luckily Ben was around to lend a hand paw.

Kip stepped in to help also while Ben inspected the smaller frames.

I often wonder how folks manage without cat assistance!!!

Mancat Monday

This is how I usually wake up in the mornings, with a cat on each side of my head.

Talk about bliss :-)

Tuxedo Tuesday

Blissful and snoozing,

casual and relaxed,

that's Total Tuxie Goodness!!!

Tuxie Tuesday with Ben

Benjamin the Loyal: Ben is the most overtly loving of our cats but also the most ornery, he is a cat of extremes, highly emotional and demanding.  If I am unwell he will lie on the bed beside me with a paw resting on my arm and stay with me until I am better.  He will chase the other cats off in a proprietary huff if he feels they are interfering with his doctoring duties. 

Ben perched on the pillows above me

As much as Ben adores me he is ultimately his papa’s boy and the lovefest begins the moment Robert enters a room.  Ben will literally throw himself on his back presenting his tummy for stroking and will accept nothing but full attention and praise.  Any perfunctory pets will be met with a disapproving nip, although he is quick to forgive these slip-ups. 

Ben on papa's shoulder canoodling

Tomorrow we continue with Archie....

Tuesday Twosome

It's Casper and Ben, the two elder statescats of the household.

It's been a while since I've seen them have a cuddle together.

They were inseparable when Ben was a youngster.

Even though they are mature mancats now, they're still pals :-)

Tuxie Tuesday

On the weekend we bought a new dog pad to put in our tv room for Rio. When we're watching a dvd, she likes to hang out with us.

I put it on the dining room table for a moment while I got scissors to cut off the tags.

When I returned look who had commandeered it.

Posing shamelessly.

In hopes of keeping it for himself.

Poor Rio doesn't get a much of a break living with so many kitty brothers...check out her other bed in the sunroom :-)

Thursday Three, Meeting of the Minds

Casper: mmm sounds delicious

whisper, whisper, whisper

Ben: yes I totally agree

Archie: stop talking someone's coming!

Wednesday with Ben

Um helloooo, is it just me or did anyone else notice that Casper hijacked my post yesterday with his pimple update.  May I remind you its called Tuxie Tuesday and not Dermatology Day...sheesh!

So here are some pictures that I planed to post yesterday and I think they are a lot more palatable than talking about my brohim's blackheads...

TOCKS

TONGUE

TUMMY

TOES

Wouldn't you agree???

Mancat Menswear Monday

So if Casper has pantaloons

and Ben has chaps

is Archie wearing skinny jeans?

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"  :-)

Mancat Monday

This is the cat's feeding station in the corner of the kitchen.  It has to be elevated, because the woofie has a penchant for cat kibble.  It's just a casual grazing situation at our house with no specific mealtimes.

But sometimes a line-up forms and diners have to wait their turn

nom, nom, nom

and occasionally a diner gets fed up waiting and has to come back later

sheesh man you eat slow

Casper likes to take his time and savor every bite

that was yummy

Good thing the kitchen is open 24 hours :-)

did he leave anything for me?

Wordless Wednesday

Ben the Bookie

Archie: I still can't believe the Red Sox blew a nine game lead!!!

Ben: Pay up dude...

Wordless Wednesday