I'm not allowed to foster animals.
I have a tendency to keep things............

Kristi

Are you hoping for a pregnant mommy that will give birth while she's with
you?  That would be too cool (but also so hard to give them up!)

Attitude is pretty good here, for all that I still don't have a fix on a
job.  Dad called yesterday and told me to "keep my chin up"; at least he's
not yelling at me.

I got a package from UPS tonight.  Since John was in the hospital so much in
December this is a late gift (and he says it's not the one he really wants
me to have).  I opened up the box and, wrapped in red shiny paper, a pair of
flannel pajamas!  Pink flannel jammie bottoms with red pine trees all over
them and a white tank-style top with the word LOVE embroidered on the front.
Oh how sweet!  I'm just smiling my fool head off!  How many men actually
*shop* for women's clothes?  He loves it.  When we were at the art show in
Kingwood it was hotter than Hades even though it was October.  The hotel had
a pool; I had no swim suit.  So he asked the server at a restaraunt if any
place around would still be selling swim suits.  She directed us to a
particular shop in the mall around the corner where she'd spotted some the
week before.  He took me there, helped me find a swim suit.  And then he
spent time looking at other stuff going "Do you like this?  This would look
good on you."  It must be the artist in him; he has a eye for things like
that.

Persia is happy as a fluffy cat can be.  She got some of the green stuff
(barley cat) sprinkled on her x/d food today; she adores that stuff.  And I
think she knows tomorrow she gets a can of the gooshy stuff she likes (also
x/d).  I was reading on the couch this afternoon and she was right up next
to me, purring away and giving me head butts.

I had fun with Peaches the lovebird, too.  Last night I realized I hadn't
seen her bathe all week.  She loves to take baths.  So I got the spritzer
bottle and squirted her a couple of times.  She fluffed her feathers and
chirped.  After drinking the drops of water off the bars of the cage she
went down and gave herself a thorough dunking in her water dish.  It was
almost like she was saying, "Thanks for the reminder, mom!"  LOL

Multi-purpose purrs and birdie-chirps for all who need them.

Jill

Well, I have been meaning to write an update. Djoser is happy as a
clam now. After all these years he has me to himself most of the time
at night. He finally succeeded in intimidating Sheba to sleep
elsewhere. She now sleeps in her basket or in my chir, a coveted spot.
Robin mostly sleeps with Jeff and Shasta.

He used to sleep at my feet for years and then moved into the curve by
my tummy. But now he gets near my face and kneads and claws the
covers. Pretty soon, by accident, the clever devil has pulled the
comforter down enough for him to get under it onto the wool blanket
and somehow he pulls the comforter back over all but his head. he
loves a nest. And then he purrs.

Funny thing, I have been sleeping better lately. Maybe it is the
vibration of his purrs?

--
CATherine

Well, it started off as a January day.  It;s been foggy forever.  The
arthritis pain in my left hand is killing me.  I could go on but either you
understand or no sense bringing you down, etc.

Then about three pm we got a call from a cousin from the opposite corner of
the country that I never get to see.  She was traveling with her daughters
family and could they stop by?  They were only here a little while but it
was great.  Better than the sun coming out.

Might keep me in a good mood for even a few days.

(I've been married almost 38 years.  I've probably seen her three or four
times in all that time, my hubby had never met her.)

Jo

We'll be purring that you get a pregnant cat. Frank and Nikki are doing
OK. Frank still eats his meds like a little angel. Sometimes I have to
feed him, but mostly he eats the medicine/sour cream mix himself. Nikki
is a bit more difficult. Sometimes I have to try several times, letting
her settle down between times, before she will eat it. Sometimes she
just refuses, and I have to give the meds mixed in water with a syringe
into her mouth. That's not so good either, because she will just close
her mouth and let the water trickle out through the corners of her
mouth. She can be a real PITA.

As for myself, I still haven't heard about the job, but as I mentioned
before, I'm not holding my breath. On the thickened skin thing
(scleroderma is what it's called), I've been getting the UV light
treatment for a couple of months now, and am getting quite tanned in the
middle of winter. I'm seeing the dermatologist next Thursday, and she
will check if it's had any effect (I haven't noticed any), and whether
to continue the treatment.

<snip>

The short answer is we're all doing OK. The longer one:

Laku and Nico are playing tag, playfighting - which sometimes sounds
quite real, but apparently they don't hurt each other - and sleeping a
lot. Nico promises to become bigger than Laku as he's not much smaller
now at 5,5 months of age. There's a lot of swiping at the other or
bopping on the head when they pass each other, but they have been seen
to leave the other one be too. It is mainly Laku doing the bopping on
the head tho, Nico seems to prefer the wrestling bouts, racing around
the apartment and jumping on Laku from an elevated position like the cat
tree or a chair etc.

They don't yet sleep side by side, not quite, but have been seen to
sleep on the same side of the bed only inches apart in distance, Laku
above covers and Nico underneath. Laku doesn't sleep under covers, but
Nico sometimes wiggles his way there himself if we haven't happened to
cover him. It gave me a real fright in the beginning when I couldn't
find him, not realizing he was just under the bed cover doing the "bed
bump", as I wasn't used to that from Laku. Another thing they don't do
yet is wash each other, but there's plenty of time for that to happen yet.

Nico gets the zoomies quite often when he's awake, racing around the
apartment, over tables, along the top of the couch back, scattering
stuff in his wake. Then he can just "shut off" suddenly, as if his
batteries run out. Oh well, I guess he'll calm down some after he's had
the snip done, which I think will happen within 2-3 months from now.

I seem to have lots to do at home, which is why I still haven't got
around to uploading a pile of photos we've taken with the "non-digital"
 camera (got them developed into paper copies as well as onto CD) into
my Yahoo Photos album. Will attempt to tackle that one soon.

DH Janne and I are both OK too. Janne's still a "home-dad" for the
kitties and also does most of the house work, which is OK by me as long
as we manage on my salary. I seem to have a bout of lack of motivation
for my job and have sent a couple of internal applications for other
jobs within the corporation, but I haven't heard from them yet. Maybe
I'm just getting a bit bored with what I do and looking for a change. Or
maybe it's a touch of the midwinter blues. Oh well, life goes on.

Our furry three are finally getting healthy and settled in.  The
rambunctious Lucy (AKA LucyFurr) goes back to see TED today or tomorrow
for a follow-up on her earmites.  After that I hope to stay away from
that place for a while as we've spent way too much time (and money!)
there in the last couple of months.  Lucy still wants the other two
furballs to die.  We are trying to be patient, but seeing no progress at
all is disappointing.  

Ty has finally gotten over her URI.  All three ended up with it, but Ty
had the hardest time getting over it.  I have been finding little
patches of cat snot, but not near as often.  I may have finally found
them all.  Ty is back to being a lovebug laying on my chest or in my
arms like a baby for longer periods of time, but she will no longer come
up on our bed. She did her first few nights here, but not since she got
sick.  

Last but not least, Indie is forever moving it seems.  We have started
bringing Lucy upstairs and confining her to the bedrooms with gates in
the hallway so she gets time in the sunshine and more exposure to the
others.  This opens up the basement for a while to the other two.  Ty
will not go down there yet, but Indie loves it.  She wears out Brian's
wrist chasing the red greebling from one end of the basement to the
other.  He has her making U-turns on the back of the recliner.  I have a
feeling we may regret that someday.  Indie will play with the red
greebling for hours if we're willing.  She takes short rest periods, but
then she's right back at it. Indie has been sleeping more frequently on
the bed.  She was there everytime I woke up last night for the first
time, but she stays at my feet.  

My bare baby (almost 30 years old, but still my baby) is expecting her
second bare baby any time now.  SIL and first granddaughter stopped by
yesterday afternoon while they were out on a bike ride in 20 some
degree(F) and windy weather.  They said Mama was grouchy.  She must be
if they're out in that weather on a bike.  Yesterday she was 80%
effaced, dilated 2-3cm and at -1 station and having sporadic mild
contractions, so we're really hoping for this weekend -- for everyone's
sake.  We could probably use some birthing purrs in this direction.

Lorraine

--
http://www.raineforest.com/gallery/thecats

Well, the biggest news is that DH and I just adopted two cats from the
shelter. :o)

They're 9-month-old brothers, and prior to our bringing the boys home, the
shelter saw to it they they were neutered and got some of their shots.

Normally, the shelter requires that the people bring the cats to their own
family's vet within 72 hours, but Philadelphia is in the process of
getting BURIED in snow. So my main goal is "get them to the vet ASAP", but
that might exceed the 72-hour time window if we have the kind of blizzard
conditions that are being predicted.

I'm NOT happy about the possible delay in visiting a vet, btw, because
both little guys are sneezing. Sigh. All I can do is keep an eye on the
boys and make sure that their conditions stay relatively good (besides the
sneezing) and judge what to do from there.

OK, so, about those cats. :o) Captain is an orange tabby with white boots,
and he has the more dominant personality. He's been exploring the basement
since they arrived. (I am having them stay in the basement for a few days,
until I'm sure that they consider it a safe haven. Then I'll introduce
them to the rest of the house.) He's playful, outgoing, and I've seen him
bop his brother a couple of times when Stanley had something Captain
wanted. He's also the loudest-purring chirruping little love sponge
imaginable. He LOVES attention. Loves. Petting, skritches, cuddles,
sitting on laps, it's all grand and he revels in it.

Stanley is the gray tabby boy, and he is as affectionate as he is MELLOW.
My gosh! He purred himself sound asleep on my lap within two hours of the
cats' arrival here. Then I had to stand up to get something, so I
carefully eased Stanley into another position. I cradled him like a baby,
got what I needed, and kept petting him all the while. He promptly fell
back asleep *again*, in the "cradled like a baby" position with his feet
in the air. Color me amazed.

I got to witness a game of "Stalk the Brother" later in the evening. It
started when Captain started walking around the hooded litterboxes and
"mrrp"ing at them. I got up (whereupon he looked at ME and said, "Mrrp?")
and showed him how to go in the litterboxes (which are hooded and have a
swinging door). He proceeded to use the box for both kinds of output.

Then I thought, "Captain forgot how to get in the box (which I'd shown
them both immediately upon taking them out of the cat carrier). Maybe
Stanley will do well with a little refresher course, too". So "helped" him
start on his way into the other box, by nudging the door and putting him
partway in. He slowly made his way into the box. Soon, all that was
visible was his tail, as Stanley hadn't entered the box fully enough to
ensure that his tail came inside with him.

Captain, meanwhile, had finished using the first box, and came out to see
Stanley's gray striped tail protruding from the second box. POUNCE!
Captain tried to nab the tail. The tail disappeared into the hooded
litterbox.

Captain stood in wait for Stanley to come back OUT. As soon as Stanley's
head and front paw came out the swinging door, POUNCE! Captain leaped.
Stanley retreated inside. He tried twice more to come out on the lower
left=hand corner of the litterbox door, only to get sprung upon by
Captain, who utterly loved this new game.

OK, the left-hand-side of the door had Captain in wait, so let's try the
RIGHT-hand-side of the door (about 6 inches away) and maybe he won't be
there. Um, wrong. POUNCE.

I was laughing my head off at their antics, but on the other hand I didn't
want Stanley to have negative associations with the hooded litterbox. So I
picked Captain up and started giving him skritches. That way, Stanley
could get out of the box without incident.

Then I took the hoods off the litterboxes. There'll be time for those
later, once the boys are absolutely used to going in the boxes.

This morning, Stanley was drinking from the water dish. Captain decided
that HE wanted to do the same, so he sat on the other side of the dish and
glared balefully at his brother. Stanley wouldn't look up and meet his
eyes. He knew he couldn't be stared down if he didn't ever meet his
brother's gaze in the first place. :o) Captain finally had enough and gave
Stanley a bop. Then Stanley gave place.

Today, Stanley has eaten, drunk, used the box, gotten a ton of doting, and
slept. Captain has done all that, plus played with the new kitty toys we
got them. Life is good.

It's time for another "getting to know you" session with the boys, so
downstairs I go.

Donna, Captain, and Stanley

Tanada    Jan 21, 3:06pm   show options
<<If I were to yell this in a group of military, the answer would be to

scream back "F*ck You!"

Actually I remember this from the times I would go with my buddies to
the Rocky Horror Picture Show

"Attitude Check!!"
"F*** You!!"
"Hormone Check!!"
"F*** Me!"
"Reality Check!!"
"What the F***!!"
Sorry, just had to share that..... hehehehehe

Kristi

Furry: life is OK.  Jasper's face-fuzz has grown back now after his
abscess, but the whiskers on the affected side are still not back to
normal. It doesn't seem to affect his general zest for life in any way
though; neither does his diabetes.  He goes out, he plays in the garden,
he comes back in.  Carrie is just her normal, cuddly self and not
impressed with the fact that it's cold and windy out a lot of the time.
She just finds herself a warm spot indoors and stays there.  Sensible
girl.  She's keeping the weight off on her diet of senior food, and
really does seem much happier for it.

Bare: both horrendously busy.  Richard's just moved office, and is
trying to continue to do his job whilst unpacking boxes and getting used
to a whole new routine.  The office move has meant that his commute is
less complicated though.  Previously it was two trains, now it's just
one and a walk.

Me: I've just finished admin-ing a course for new bishops at work, and
am looking forward to having spare time to go and find that large,
brown, wooden thing which is currently hidden under heaps of paper in my
office. I think it's called a "desk".  I even had to traipse up to
London with them, about which I was decidedly unpleased, as I was
looking forward to a day in the office without constant demands on my
time and sanity.  However, I did get to meet the Archbishop for the
first time, which brightened the day somewhat.  I've collected a few
famous people in this job now!

Things are going reasonably well for us.  How could they not be,
Dennis is coming back on Wednesday :-)  I'm very excited and I'm sure
Vino will be so happy to have his Paw back.
We were going to go to Vietnam for 2 weeks in February but had to
cancel the trip (for the 3rd time, aaargh!).  The reason we can't go
is because the Australian department of immigration is making me take
an English test.
The test is on Feb 5 in Bangkok.  I had to go in by Jan 21st to
register for it and pay.  So on Thursday I headed in to do that and to
visit my friend Elsa.  On Thursday night I happened to mention that on
Monday I was going to have to drive to Cambodia because my visa
stipulates I leave the country every 90 days.  Elsa and her husband
Joseph and our other friend Meghan said that we should all use the
opportunity to go on a weekend trip to Singapore instead.  There are
really cheap flights now.  I emailed Dennis and he said go for it, so
we planned this trip on Friday and took off really early on Saturday.
We had a real blast, it was good to get out of Thailand for a bit.
It's easy to get "Thai'ed out" here after a while.  And my visa is
good till April 22nd now :-)
The Aussie visa people are also giving us difficulties about our birth
certificates and we're caught up in a muddle of paperwork.  But it's
all solveable stuff and we're working on it.  Things are coming
together, slowly but surely.  So we are staying home in February to
deal with all that stuff.  Maybe we'll go to Vietnam in April instead.
Vino will be happy to have us stay home anyway.  Vino is doing great,
he's got a new friend.  A cat with a collar and bell on it from the
neighbourhood has been sleeping on our porch.  Vino gets very excited
in the beginning but then gets bored when the cat only sleeps.
There is another cat from the neighbourhood, Spot, who's been coming
for years.  Vino and her hate each other passionately.  Last week she
climbed up the side of the house and was stuck on the outside of my
open but screened living room window.  Probably 10 feet in the air.
She was hissing and cussing the whole time.  Vino was upstairs but by
the time he came running down, she had fallen off and ran away.
A few months ago, Vino's maid had indicated that she was going to quit
to go back to the banana plantation in her home town.  But since then
I haven't heard any more about it.  I'm certainly not going to ask.  I
will assume she's decided to stay until I hear otherwise.  I'd be very
happy if she stayed.  She always takes good care of Vino when we're
away and I think she's finally accepted the fact that I'm not going to
have a baby and that Vino is my baby.  I've seen her chasing Vino
around the house with the feather duster and laughing her head off,
LOL!  All the other maids on the road gather on the street or the
fence and play with the babies of the people they work for.  My poor
maid must get teased that her "madame" only has a cat ;-)
--
Britta
Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's
covered in fur!
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album