Scrolling

I guess the day I am able to scroll through this blog and not cry my eyes out is the day they will bury me.  I absolutely love life and all that it entails, but the ending of life is something that I have a really difficult time dealing with and today is no exception.

Yesterday I drove from Denver, where my son, Emily and I are living, to Montana, to visit my brother.  On the way, I found out that my son's paternal grandmother had passed away.  My son hasn't been very close to his dad's side of the family for the past 13 or 14 years, and he hadn't seen her for at least that long, but there's no denying when you lose your last grandparent, it's difficult.

Wolf is doing alright, he says, but I know it's hard.  I just wish I could take the pain away.

Now here's a cute picture of Emily and my son's cat Willow to remind us how awesome life is.

TwoThree things...

There are three things I want you to know before I head off into the weekend...

#1. Sharp cheddar cheese and sliced avacodo on double fiber wheat bread does not taste as good as it sounds.

#2. If it is 17F, snowing and blowing and you decide to walk the errands anyway, sacrifice your hairdo and wear your hood. It IS possible to get brain freeze without eating ice cream.

#3. If you are texting to more than one person at a time and send one that says "I love you", be sure that the text goes to your son instead of to a male friend, or they might immediately text back and say "I love you too, hugs, muah".

And that's all I've got folks...aside from these words of wisdom:

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." Robert Heinlein

Have a purrfect weekend.

Radioactive?

My brother Mike is a doter. He took wonderful care of our mother and now of our dad. He spoils his nephew (Wolf), Uncle John, the kid-cousins and pretty much everyone he knows, (including myself) rotten.

His dog, Shasta, is as extremely well taken care of and so are his two newly acquired cats.

A few examples...

His cats, Cuddles, the one he inherited from Lois our favorite neighbor, and Floyd, the one that traded in his old owner (traded up in my opinion), were shedding quite a lot. I attributed it to the change in weather, but Mike set out to find a solution to the problem.

Since neither of them were fond of being brushed (can you say kevlar gloves and sleeves needed?), he went to Pet Smart and bought them kitty treats that were guaranteed to prevent excessive hair loss in felines.

There was one catch...you had to get them to eat them. Neither cat was at all interested in the crunchy delights, in fact they avoided them like the plague...going so far as to walk around them on the floor or even leave the room altogether.

Mike, in his infinite wisdom, decided that the treats were RADIOACTIVE so I agreed to take them home with me.

My cat, Emily, did NOT find them radioactive, in fact she loved them so much that she carried the bag around in her mouth...she loved them so much that I have recently bought stock in the company.


Not long after the ill-fated cat treat adventure, Mike went online in search of the perfect cat condo.

A few weeks later it arrived in the mail. Standing almost 7 feet tall it had seven levels upon which were situated a house, a cave, several pedestals of varying sizes and a hammock. Yes...a hammock. :-|

Once again...RADIOACTIVE

Apparently Emily is immune to radiation.

To make a long story short even longer...

Those of you who read this blog (both of you--LOL) know that I adore my brother Mike. He is one of the kindest, most decent people I have ever had the pleasure to know. You might think that I'm prejudice, him being my brother and all, but anyone who knows him says the same thing.

For years he took care of my mom and dad, moving into their home to provide them with the support they needed. His doing so enabled them to stay in their home for a very long time. When mom passed away, he stayed with dad to ease his loneliness and give him financial support as well.

When dad started showing symptoms of Parkinson's Disease several years ago, Mike took over all of the duties necessary to keep him home. His life revolved around dad and their dog Shasta. He did this for many years until it became obvious that dad could not be left alone during the hours that Mike worked. Dad agreed and we began the paperwork to move him into a nursing home near my brother's work.

Once dad was settled in, did Mike relax and take some time for himself? No he did not. Not a day goes by that Mike doesn't visit dad, always bringing treats for dad and his roommate and often bringing goodies for the staff as well.

While he's on his daily visit, Mike dotes on the residents as well. He fetches them water, finds and returns their lost items, helps them eat, and consoles them when they are sad. He's so helpful, that many of them think he's on staff there.

The staff think the world of him, too. Every time I stop to visit someone tells me what a great guy he is and I've even had them try to set him up with their friends!

And what does Mike do when he's not at work or doting on the residents of the Beartooth Manor? He dotes on his dog Shasta and his two newly acquired cats, Floyd and Cuddles.

Floyd showed up on the doorstep one day and of course Mike let him in and fed him. He came and went as he pleased for several days until a lady showed up asking if he'd seen a yellow and white cat. Mike said that he had and in fact the cat was sleeping on the couch at the time. The woman was quite thrilled to have "Pretty Boy" back and took him home with her.

The next day, Pretty Boy was back. Mike petted him, but did not let him in the house because he didn't want to encourage him. He came back day after day and finally the woman asked if he would like to keep him, since he obviously preferred Mike to her. Mike, of course, said that he would and promptly renamed him "Floyd" saying no WONDER he ran away!!!

Since the first of the year, Mike had been taking care of his neighbor's two cats while she convalesced in a nursing home after an illness. A few months ago her daughters decided that she should move to an assisted living facility near them. It was a good plan, except she would only be able to take one of her dear kitties, so she asked Mike to take the other, which he did!

After Mike officially adopted Floyd, he tried to make him an indoor cat, but Floyd would have none of it. He was used to coming and going as he pleased and he made the most pathetic noises at the door and finally Mike gave in and let him out. Cuddles, on the other hand, was perfectly content to stay in.

Mike works 12 hour shifts, going back and forth between days and nights. He hired a young man to come in and walk Shasta for him, but the schedule didn't work well for Floyd, who had his own timetable and didn't seem keen on adjusting it to anyone else's. Finally Mike came up with a plan.

He put a cat door in between the basement and the attached greenhouse and one from the greenhouse to the backyard. He placed a table leaf (oak no less) between the pool table and the shelf under the window so that Floyd (and Cuddles should he ever desire to leave the house) didn't have to (God Forbid!!) jump all the way up to the shelf to exit the premises.

Floyd was free to come and go as he pleased, but as you can see from the photo, Mike can close the basement window when he doesn't want Floyd to go out.

Problem solved.

Mike calls it....

Are you ready for this?

The Catobahn.

Oh the joys...

...of working from home.

My tidy little work space.



OK, so there were a few kitty toys on the floor. What self respecting cat lover doesn't have cat toys worth more than their annual salary around the house? But look how neat and tidy the workspace was.

Emphasis on WAS.


Hi mom, whatcha doing? Can I help in any way?


Yes, those are my important papers and paperclips that spilled out of the holder when she threw it on the floor.

Yes, folks, it wasn't enough that she batted the papers to the floor, she then looked me in the eye and knocked the paperclips off too.

She was going for the hole punch (and wouldn't that have made a lovely mess) when I picked her up off of the table and put her on the floor. As you can imagine that didn't go over very well, so being the strict disciplinarian and incredible cat whisperer that I am, I went and opened up a can of albacore tuna and put it into her dish. That held her attention for nanoseconds and then she was back to cause more trouble.


She looks like a vulture, doesn't she?

Finally everything settled down and she fell to sleep in the middle of my bed. I tippy-toed back to my work space and struggled to meet my (personal) deadline.

Typing oh, so, very, quietly so as not to awaken the little darling. Please, dear god, don't let the keys make so much noise! I have a deadline!!

Well darn, that didn't work out very well for me did it?

My new best friend

There were several reasons that made me take the 200 mile drive to Billings today.

My cousins were having a bit of trouble and I was able to help them out of their dilemma. If spending those months with Dale taught me anything, it is that the people you love are what matter most in this world. It's a long-standing family tradition to lend a hand to those in need and I was able to do that today and it felt DAMNED GOOD!

Another reason I went to "town" was to pick up kitty litter, cat food and a new stash of cat toys. The poor darlings had lost or damaged all of their cat soccer balls and had resorted to fetching their stuffed toys and I certainly couldn't expect them to keep doing that, now could I? I spent a small fortune replenishing their stock.

I also picked up a couple of toys that resemble carpenter's tape measures with a twist. Instead of the little pull tab on the end, there's a little mouse stuffed with catnip on the end. You can imagine what the little darlings do when it is fully extended and then retracted, can't you? I'll try to get a picture to post later on, right now they are all catnipped out and snoring on the couch, bed and chaise lounge. As a matter of fact, I think one of them is in the bathroom sink (again).

After spending a truly obscene amount of money on others, I did spend a few shekels on myself. After trying on every single pair of dollar store reading glasses, I picked out the pair that made the kid cousins laugh the least.

At the big box store I bought a pair of shorts in a size I haven't been able to wiggle into in years! Like I said before, about 4 or 5 more bouts of the flu and I'll be in perfect shape!

I also bought one more item. After yesterday's marathon bike ride on the fantastic new blue bicycle, my poor Norwegian bum was feeling mighty abused. I might be fluffy, but not a whole lot of that fluff is in the area that makes contact with a bicycle seat.

So please, without further ado, meet my new best friend!

When the Boss is Away, the Cats will Play

Remember this?
After Goober knocked the cat tree down in the spare room, I moved it to the living room. It was hooked to the ceiling with extremely strong wire.

Can somebody tell me how it became this?

The Top Ten Fifteen Reasons I Don't Always Usually Make My Bed in the Morning...

Aside from numbers 1, 7 and 15, these are in no particular order. To be honest, I could make this the top fifty twenty reasons why, but I'm kind of pushed for time. I apologize for the quality of some of these photos (you'll know which ones). I had to leave the drapes open for the cats (because it really IS all about them) and it caused some glare.

15.

14.

13.

12. 11.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5. 4. 3.

2.

And the #1 reason why I don't always usually make my bed in the morning...

UPDATE: I would have liked to add several more blogs to this list, but I had to go to the office and ran out of time. You KNOW who you are!

Just One Cat-astrophy After Another Around Here

No animals were harmed during the shooting of this photo. Not for the lack of trying on their part, however.

A Cat-astrophy in the Making...

Because I am trying to get ready for a watershed meeting tomorrow night, an administrator’s meeting on Thursday and our annual banquet on Sunday, I have decided to let the furkids post on my blog tonight.

Views and opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of the blog author.

Of Stuffed Animals, Lamps and Cats

I know my last post made it sound as if I had no romance in my soul at all. But that isn’t really true. I’m a loving sort of person, who enjoys giving gifts and also receiving them. To emphasize this point, I am going to show you what I really enjoy getting for Valentine’s Day.

Ever since my son was young, he has given me stuffed animals for VD and Birthdays. They were usually things he picked up on road trips or won out of a claw machine. Being the momma, I, of course, kept every single one of them. The tradition has carried on for over 20 years.

Since meeting HWDDD, he has joined in the practice and has been faithfully giving me cute stuffed critters for a couple of years now. They are much cheaper than Black Hills Gold Jewelry, which I never wear, and they don’t make the cats puke, like flowers do.

Behold my collection of miniature stuffed animals, not to be confused with my collection of medium or large stuffed animals.

Another thing I enjoy buying or receiving are lamps. I’m not sure when this particular affliction manifested itself; I just know that I get a lot of pleasure collecting them. The picture below is of one that my son gave me. It wasn’t expensive; you see them every day at Target, but I like it and I especially like the way it looks in the corner by my computer desk. There’s just something about the play of light and shadow in this shot that I really like.

The final obsession I seem to have is for collecting…you guessed it...cats. I think in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

And that my friends, is what I enjoy receiving for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t get another lamp (HWDDD says we have no more corners to put them in) nor another cat (he thinks we've met our quota), but I did receive a very nice new stuffed miniature teddy bear.