Thankful Thursday

Abby: There are always things to be thankful for. One thing we are always the most thankful for are our friends. Today is the last day to cast your vote for the "Best Fur Sibling of the Year Contest." We are thankful to know Sen-Chan, so please click on the image below and cast your vote for him too, if you haven't already! All you need to do is leave a comment in that post.

You know, I was just sitting here innocently snoopervising on Ms. C's early-morning activities, and all of a sudden the thing I am sitting on started to make sounds and shoot out pieces of paper! I am not quite sure what to think of this.

We have another very sunny but very cold morning here, so we are thankful that we are cozy indoors today. I think we mentioned before how much we love the sun! Ms. C especially loves this close-up profile of me:


Stygia: Right now I am helping Ms. C blog for us by sitting in her lap. It's almost as, if not even cozier than the sun. We are both really happy right now. A little earlier, though, I was not sure if I was happy or not. I was curled up in the cat-condo, when she-who-shall-not-be-named also seemed to think she needed to be inside as well:

After that, I decided that it would probably be best if I moved on, and you can see from the evidence that thankfully I was just in time:

Honoring Sen-Chan

It is with great sadness today that we learned that Sen-Chan of The Poupounette crossed the rainbow bridge today.

Please stop by their blog today and leave #1, Tama-Chan, and Tom some love. In spite of his all-too-short life, what a fantastic life he had with wonderful friends and family.

Friends and Surprises!

I had a wonderful surprise today! The doorbell rang, and I ran to get it with Ms. C. It was the mailman, and he had a package just for me! Oh, I couldn't believe it-- I've never gotten a package in the mail before. I don't think anyone had an address for me back when I lived at the SPCA. Look, it even has my name on it:


It came all the way from France! I helped inspect as Ms. C assisted me with the opening of the package.

What is it, what is it?! (Ms. C: Abby, that's just the bubble wrap, it's not the thing that they actually sent to you, it's just protecting it during its journey)

Oh, ok, I understand. But I am still going to have to sniff it.

Wow!!! Check it out! It's from Sen-Chan and Tom, and they sent me some awesome cat toys and a beautiful card with their very own pictures on it! (Ms. C: Abby, let me take those out of their packages before you play with them)

Inside the card it says:

Dear Abby,
This is v. late but we wanted to send you some welcome gifts. We
hope you like them!
Your pals,
Sen-Chan & Tom

The handwriting is very special, I think perhaps Sen-Chan wrote it himself. I am so honored to have such wonderful friends! And they know exactly what I like. In fact, one of the toys is designed for carrying around, which is one of my very favorite things to do with my toys.

Thanks so much! Now, where is Ms. C --- it's time to PLAY!!

So much to say-- Birthdays, sleep, and more!

Today is an extremely important day! It is my pal Sen-Chan's first birthday! He is one of the luckiest cats I know; he has a terrific mom and brother. I introduced them before on my blog, but if you have not yet seen him at his own blog, please stop on by and give him your best wishes, and some chicken too!

Happy Birthday my friend! *chases her own tail in excitement*

***

Now my mom would like to share one of my oddities with you. I often sleep with my eyes open. Sleeping with eyes open does not seem to confer any special benefits to me, the sleeper. No movement in the waking world will catch my attention. Here I am in action:

Ms. C decided to capture it in video, as well. It's not the most action-packed film, but it delivers what's promised: a cat (ME) sleeping with her eyes open:

Thank you for watching it. I know it wasn't the most exciting. Since you were so patient, here is a gratuitous picture of my lovable fangs:

***

Last but not least, black-cat extraordinaire Mickey challenged us with the cold-box meme. The instructions are:

Show us a photo of the front of your Cold Box and tell us about at least one thing on it and one thing you keep inside of it! Tag your friends and remember to stay COOL!

My family just moved recently, so the cold-box is still a work-in-progress:

Ms. C has marked the important things of note:

1. A greeting card featuring Sen-Chan and Tom! The card is of course wonderful, but what Ms. C loved even more was that the French stamps themselves featured actual pictures of Sen-Chan and Tom! She collects stamps and thinks customized stamps of these important things is really super cool.
2. A drawing by her nephew. He sent her this one over a year ago when she was not feeling well. Sweet!
3. Another drawing by her nephew. This one is called "Elephants" !!

What's inside? Well, I think it's very important to note that my stinky-goodness tuna is in there. Almost every time Ms. C goes to the kitchen, I follow her hopefully, wishing that it would be tuna time. She gives me a small bite 3 times a day: once at lunch when she eats, once at dinner when everyone eats, and later after my foul medicine.

For this meme I am going to tag Texas and Oliver! Tell us about your cold-boxes.

***

PS. I just learned it is also Percy's birthday, over at Jan's Funny Farm! Wish him a happy birthday too.

Great News & Playful Start!

The News
First of all, I am really excited to welcome some great friends of mine to the blogosphere! I introduced them last week, and now Sen-Chan and Tom have their own blog, The Pouponette! Visit it to see all the fun they are having, find out what a Poupounette is, and see all of their beautiful pics!

Playful Start
I was a little bit confused when Ms. C took my favorite place to lounge away, the table in-between their two desks. She said something about "painting the ugly thing," whatever that may mean. But as you can see, she kindly placed a temorary table between their desks and put a nice, soft cloth on it for me. I think it really sets off my stripes:

But do not be deceived by that pose of repose. I have many games to play each day, each of vital importance. Some, like this example of Catzilla, I like to play with Mr. R:

This morning I was up very, very early with the crazies at 4am. I viciously attacked those monsters under the bedcovers. Mr. R tried to calm me with some corporal cuddling. Just what is corporal cuddling? Ms. C has located (but had nothing to do with the creation of) a fun and educational video concerning this topic:

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

When the corporal cuddling failed, Ms. C decided to just do the right thing after all and get out of bed. I followed her, and while sitting in the chair next to hers, discovered that my tail was getting out of hand!! You can see here, I almost Got it:


Never fear, even though you see my claws viciously extended in the previous pose, no harm came to any tails:

Meet a friend: Sen-Chan

Today I’d like to introduce a friend of mine! His name is Sen-Chan, and he is a gorgeous pure-bred Sorrel Abyssinian. Born on July 9th of 2007, he is in charge of a human, Ms. V, and an English Springer Spaniel six weeks younger than himself named Tom. They live in harmony together in France. Ms. V describes her first encounter with Sen-Chan:
“When I first met him at the breeders, he was already coming down with cat flu, so he wasn't feeling great, but he immediately knew what he wanted. He climbed onto my lap, and up my arm and to my face so he could give me lots of cuddles. This propensity for dishing out love is still, months later, one of his most endearing characteristics. He uses his paws, his head, and of course his tongue, to show his affection. And it's not at all limited to me. Anyone who crosses his path is treated as a potential best friend, and that includes all dogs!”

And as you can see, Sen-Chan really loves and cares about his “brother” Tom, the Spaniel. They play and nap together:


Like all of us kitties, Sen-Chan loves to stalk, chase, and play with his toys. Here is one of my personal favorite pictures of him, playing with the late Mr. Bun:

Unfortunately, Tom has a bad habit of stealing Sen-Chan’s toys (including Mr. Bun!) and chewing them to death. I am sure he just wants to share in the fun, but doesn't he know you can’t play with something once you’ve eaten it!?

In spite of this toy-stealing, Sen-Chan and Tom are devoted to each other. Ms. V writes that Sen-Chan “tries his best to keep Tom tidy and grooms him vigorously although the task is almost impossible. The two love to chase one another and often sleep curled up together.” I sure wish I had a pal like that!

Sen-Chan does not have his own blog, but as you can see he is a very up-to-date cat, and we keep in contact with frequent correspondence about important subjects as you can see from his screen:


Sen-Chan is so energetic that Ms. V has to feed him about six meals a day! If he's like me, I bet he wouldn't mind more! You can see just from looking at his pictures what a sleek, muscular, beautiful boy he is!

Special thanks to Ms. V for sharing the pictures of Sen-Chan. I could look at them and hear the stories all day long about how he likes to "get out" and runs around with his tail like an antenna, causing Ms. V and Tom to chase him minute after minute! Oooh, I love the game of Chase too! He is truly a lucky cat.