Frisky

Stygia: I see you down there, Abby. Folding your ears back will not make you disappear. Look, I am very relaxed up here. This spot is mine.

Abby: But Styggie, can't you see how prone and defenseless I am down here? Maybe if you just drop down here . . . (thundering follows)

Mr. R just got himself a new car. Well, it is new to him, but used by someone else. Ms. C bought him a big snow and ice remover, but I'm quite sure this is a cat-dental-device.

Stygia: Ms. C got an early birthday present from #1 of The Poupounette today! We are sure it is a really cool, wonderful present, but to be honest, the box is much more interesting to us. Personally, I liked the tape and the label the best, I bit them both a few times:

Abby: I am a TIGER!

Ms. C says she hopes to be going to visit her parents for the rest of the week, as long as the weather holds out! We don't want her to go, but since she is OUR mom, we understand that she needs to see HER mom too.

Blurry Activities

Abby: Good evening, friends! Ms. C meant to post our pictures yesterday, but obviously she did not. She said the pictures are blurry, but she still likes them -- and they are of us, so what's not to like, right?

I have told you about how I have my own personal chair next to hers. In this picture, I had been relaxing on her desk, but the chair is a great stepping-stone towards the floor. I am a very busy cat, and I have many things to do, inspect, and know about each day:

Sen-Chan and Tama-Chan posted lovelt pictures of their whiskers this past week. Here is one of Ms. C's favorite kinds of whisker-views: whiskers in the sun. It's much easier to catch my whiskers in the sunlight than Stygia's, because mine are mostly white and reflect in the light nice and brightly, but Styggie's are black and seem to blend in with almost anything. It will take some lucky lighting to get a picture of hers!

Stygia: Ms. C was wrapping some presents up, but she considerately offered us a piece of tissue paper to have for our very own! It was so much fun, Abby and I played with a mouse in it. We love the crackling!

Also, we would like to thank Grrreta, who originally gave us this award, and we are ashamed to say we know we received it from a couple of others but cannot recall whom. We are very sorry, and next time we get anything like it we are going to harass Ms. C and makes sure she writes about it right away!

Just like a holiday!

Abby: Yessssss.....!! We haven't seen it for a few days now, but it's back, one of our favorite things in the universe: THE SUN! A whole, entire, glorious morning of sunbathing. As you can see, Stygia is half under the table, and I am on the rug, and we feel like we are on a vacation:

Oh, Styggie, you smell like yourself again. I was so worried when you came back from that v-e-t place the other day that maybe you had decided to get a job there working for them, but I can tell now that you are on MY side. We are cats together.

Ahhh . . . it feels so nice. I love it when my people scratch my head, face, and chin. I love it when the sun warms it as well. And all of the angles of my paws.

I think it's time for some bathing. Bathing in the sun is, to me, the 8th wonder of the world. It is also best to share the experience with your friends. What? You'd be embarrassed to bathe in front of your friends? Well, then, I am sorry for you and the pleasures you are missing . . .

Stygia: I am feeling very quiet today, because the sun brings me so much peace. Unless Abby tries to tackle me. It's not unusual; though you see us relaxing here, it can make us very excited and playful, especially if we have not seen it for a few days.

We thought you might enjoy seeing a "how to" video, which will instruct you in one fine way to enjoy the sun. Ms. C said something about "tail bathing" and "Abby making The Face," but you can see for yourself:

What we've been doing . . .

Stygia: Our mom has been neglecting our blog, but she has not been neglecting us! In my case, this may be a little unfortunate, because yesterday she took me to the VET! That's why I am hiding in this shoe. Please don't worry about me, it was my first vet visit since I've made my new home, and it was just for check up and basic vaccines. I am healthy! I weigh 10.9 pounds, so I have not gained any more weight since Ms. C put us on a feeding schedule.

Here I am demonstrating my "Sphynx" method of play. What I am doing is sitting with my paws on my favorite toy, pretending not to notice that it is there. Pretty soon, though, I will let myself get very excited about it, and act surprised to find it there! This is a really fun game. Another way of playing this game is to sit right down with the toy underneath my back legs. When it's time to get surprised and excited, then you can start bunnykicking right away! Try this!

I also like to request playtime with Abby. It made me pretty sad when I came home from the vet last evening, and she hissed at me right away. She told me that I smelled funny, and she ran away. She told me she was sure I worked for that vet now, and that she knew I was going to "fix" her again. I played it cool as I could, and this morning it paid off. I was relaxing in the sun, and she came by and gave me a really thorough between-the-ears bath!

Abby: While Ms. C was taking a break and being lazy, guess what? I did a lot of that too! I have my own personal chair right next to hers (which I am allowed to scratch as much as I like!), and I sleep in it too. If you look carefully, you can see that I am licking my nose:

Ms. C placed a plush snake on the lamp next to her desk. Of course, I had to check that out, too. Wouldn't you?

Ms. C says she refuses to decorate anything for Christmas yet because not only is it not even Thanksgiving yet, but her birthday (which is on the last day of the month) must pass before the decorating can begin. We are wondering if Christmas means she is going to put cat toys up all over the house? Is it true?!

Cat Frills

Stygia: It is getting colder out. When it's cold, I fluff a bit. I was sleeping in a ball on the cat condo, and Ms. C took a picture of what she likes to refer to as my "cat frills." Do you other cold-climate cats also like to fluff and frill?

Ms. C is insisting on including this next picture of me. I don't know why. It's blurry and not even a good pose, but she said something about some thing stuck on my nose. What's the big deal? (Ms. C: It's cute and silly!)

8 Random Things

Abby: The most handsome cat-vocalist Tristan Tabby Cat Longtail has tagged me for the 8 Random Things meme! The rules are as such:

1. Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. A the end of your blogpost, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their name.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

Now, let me get started!


1. When I sleep, I often squish my ears in ways that my humans think must be uncomfortable. In fact, as you can see, sometimes they even flip inside-out! What can I say, except that I am a very happy and safe-feeling cat, so I can really let go and totally relax when I sleep!

2. I do not like being left out of anything and I am naturally attracted to the most active person in the household at all times. When Ms. C's dad was here and assembling the catcases, I mean bookcases, I helped him every step of the way. And please, do not shut me out of any room. It makes me very, very sad and I will let you know -- loudly!

3. Last time I was at the vet, Ms. C asked them to clip my claws, and when the vet's assistant came in to take care of me, Ms. C (who was patting me) looked at me, then the assistant, and said to her, "Here's my monster." She could not have been talking about me. Monsters are the things that live on the stairs and come up when we turn our backs and scare us. Anyway, ever since I got fixed a few months ago, I have developed a passionate hatred for every member of the vet's office, and I hiss at them all!!!

4. Right before I have to go to the bathroom, the stinky kind, I run around the house like crazy. My mom says that most cats run around afterwards. Well, I live by my OWN rules.

5. I am a very concerned cat. Even if it's Stygia hacking up a hairball, I am right there to make sure everyone is okay. When Ms. C is feeling blue, I am by her side. Although, sometimes when Ms. C is singing around the house I get concerned, too.

6. Ms. C has a digital piano that she sometimes likes to leave on, because I often walk across it during my house-prowlings. She calls the sounds that come out "Abby's Songs."

7. Some cats chatter about birds or squirrels. I like to chatter at the rain. It just does something to me, it's so exciting!

8. Many of my whiskers are bi-colored. The begin white, but at the base they are black for about a centimeter. My mom calls this "the floating whiskers" because they almost look like they levitate from my face!

And now I will tag 8 cats and dogs to carry on the meme:

1, 2, and 3: Sen-Chan, Tom-Kun, and new Tama-Chan of The Poupounette
4 and 5: Ambrose and Grrreta of Grrreta
6 and 7: Niko and Cloud of Cats in Maryland
8: Pearl of PB&J is my Favorite

I can't wait to see what you have to say!

It's HER fault....

Abby: It's her fault. Look at me, can't you tell right away that I am starving? What?! Whose fault, you ask?!

Yes, it's her fault. STYGIA. Just look at her, all curled up so peacefully on the cat condo. You can even see that she still has catnip on her head. She doesn't look like she is suffering. And, fat as she is, I don't think she is suffering at all. Oh, no, not at all!

What did she do? I know you are wondering. Well, you see, Stygia has been overeating. She eats even when she is not hungry. Believe it or not, when she arrived here in the middle of August, she only weighed around 7 pounds, and now she weighs ELEVEN pounds! Ms. C and Mr. R thought they had gotten an 'Oriental' type of cat, but they had never had one before, so they did not realize that her bones were actually jutting out of her famished frame.

Unfortunately, because Stygia hogs all of the food and is starting to have a jutting belly, Ms. C is limiting and snoopervising our feeding. Each of us has our own food bowl and our feeding times are to be strictly scheduled now, so she can know exactly who eats what and how much. It's not fair! I don't overeat, and I have no jutting belly. Yet, I love and trust Ms. C, and know she will not ever let me starve.

ANYWAY! Yesterday our friends over at The Poupounette presented their toes. Today I will show you a view of my own:

My toes are licorice colored, and almost as rough as Tom-Kun's toes, because I run around all day long. I even earned a new nickname last evening from Mr. R as I galloped across the room and leaped on to my glass-topped table and slid, almost sliding right off. "Whoa, Cowboy!" he exclaimed. Maybe he should have said COWGIRL, but what does it matter?! I was excited!

Ms. C asked that she be allowed to include this next picture of me, because she thought it was artistic:

In spite of our very different fur-coloration, you can see that my fat sister and I have similarly colored paw-pads. Maybe I can teach her a better way of seeing food, poor sis.

How to Spend a Holiday

Abby: Today is Veteran's Day, and we all had a very nice day here together at home. We have a few words of advice on how to spend holidays at home, which should be increasingly valuable over the next month or two.

First of all, it is important to play games with your family. As pictured below, today we engaged in at least one of our favorites, called Chase. Games should be played both before and after a good meal, although you may want to tone down your play-style after eating to something more moderate, to something such as Put the Toy Under the Newspaper and Get It.

Of course, if you really stuff yourself, you may just need to lounge and nap. I have selected Ms. C's desk as an excellent location for not only lounging and napping, but also for snoopervising anything exciting that the others may get into while I am in repose.

Stygia: Did we mention the importance of games? One of my favorites, and probably one of yours, too, is to Get those dangling objects. Ms. C has a shoelace that she runs around with and I love to chase. There are also some danglies coming from her bathrobe that she attempts to protect and we have to try to loosen. Fun Stuff!

Last but NOT LEAST, a big thank you to all of the Veterans out there. Your day should be every day.

Monday Agenda -- Celebrate!

Abby: Today is a very special day, it is Ms. C's mom's birthday! Ms. C is our mom, so we understand the importance of celebrating your mom's special day! The first thing I am going to do in celebration of this holiday is to roll around and look cute:

The second, and also very important thing I am going to do, is to attack and bite Mr. R's unruly shoe. We would also like to mention that today is the birthday of one of Ms. C and Mr. R's favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. We cats honor him because he once wrote a very important work called The Dream of A Thousand Cats, among many others.

Stygia: I have had a rough end of the week. My people could not understand why I was grumpy, but then they got up to find my hairball in the middle of the living room in the morning. Needless to say, I am feeling much better now. I am back to rolling in the 'nip and chasing my sis.

Happy Birthday to everyone having a birthday today!!

Lights, Camera.... Action!

Abby: I'm not here. I am a very secret cat, no one can see me. Even though I now weigh just over 10 pounds, I can still fit into very sneaky places! We call it a catcase for a reason!

Oh, hey! Look, if you could please excuse me and my toy, we are having a little staring contest here and we don't want to be disturbed . . . yet!

But wait . . . what's that glorious scent??? It's NIP!!! WHEEE!! (runs across the room)


Stygia: I love the NIP too! We get so excited and we just have to wrestle about it. Here you get to see my action pose, in mid-diveroll towards my crazy sister. She was whapping me so I decided my next move would be a pre-emptive wrestlelockwhap move!

Abby: Well, folks, that's all for today. I am just gonna clobber Ms. C's camera now so that she will put it down and give me some chin-scratchies instead. We were good models, I don't think it is too much to ask, do you?

The Catcase

Abby: How many cats do you see here?

Ms. C says this is a bookcase, but I've decided it's a catcase. What do you think?

Ms. C will have to get a picture of one of our favorite toys, which is a mouse with a feather-butt that dangles from a stick that hangs off the top of a door. This morning, I finally GOT it. I removed it from its string, but to be honest, even though I was proud of myself for getting it, it was a little bit sad because it no longer wiggled on its own in the air anymore. I promptly carried it to Mr. R who was getting ready for work, requesting that he remedy this situation. I guess there is some wisdom to that saying, "be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it."

An Abby kind of Wednesday

Abby: Ms. C would like to note regarding the previous blog entry, that in spite of us cats' abandonment of art projects, she has made progress on them but cannot reveal the results on this blog because they are secret Christmas presents.

Now, on to more important things, such as, don't I look cute? Appealing? Don't you want to snuggle me? Oh, here comes Ms C's hand right now!

It comes to snuggle, and I curl around it in my "shrimp" fighting pose. I bite! I almost bunny kick!

Well, lest you or Ms. C think I am really serious and rude, I make sure I follow my attack with immediate licks. I want everyone to know I am just playing, I didn't even use my claws, and that I even welcome the attentention and fun!

You know, that was so exciting, I think I will get underneath the desk. There could be something under here that I really need to know about!

Oh, hi Ms. C! I wasn't sure if you could see me because I am pretty much hidden. That's why I make all kinds of little trills to you while I am here. I like being with you!

Helping

Stygia: Ms. C is about to start an art project, and we are going to help her! We are absolutely convinced that nothing will happen unless we are right there, watching closely. Now, the very first thing that I am going to do is make sure that the newpaper is spread out perfectly on the floor. I walked across it very softly.

I hope the light is going to be good enough for her to see what she is doing. This lighting makes me feel like a model. Do you think she will use me as a subject? Abby, what do you think of the light?



Abby: Hmm, this light smells okay, and it is nice and warm. I don't mind sitting up here near it. The way she is moving that brush is really kind of fascinating, that's why my head is moving from side to side, right along with each stroke she makes. But actually, Styggie . . .

CHOMP! !!! !

This art project is boring, Styggie! Let's PLAY instead!!