Dear Pablo,

Christmas is over now. We had some interesting boxes, bags and paper around, all of which make excellent platforms for lounging. I didn't get a wooden rolling mouse, however, so I am a bit disappointed at that. I have various other types of mice around my house, but your new one does look very interesting.

Well, now something is afoot around here. Tracy and Denis are putting a lot of clothes into some boxes on wheels. When they do that, it generally means that they are going away for a while. We've been told that we are going to Grandma's house, so it must be several days that they will be gone this time. So Grandma will assist us in keeping watch of all the stuff in both houses. But we will not be able to blog while we are at her house. We'll tell you how it goes when we get back.

Christmas Tag Game

Dear Pablo,

Sherman tagged us for this Christmas wish game. It seems that mostly dogs are participating, but seeing as Sherman wants us to, we have compiled our list of wishes and non-wishes.

For Christmas we would like:

1. boxes for us to sit in - and leave them out for more than just one day.
2. interesting objects dropped onto or left on the floor for us to play with or lay upon.
3. Tracy, Denis and Grandma to stay home and hang out with us all day.

We would NOT like:

1. sticky items attached to our heads or tails.
2. to be shooed away from interesting objects (or water sprayed at us to shoo us away).
3. the Papparatzi flashing camera lights in our eyes.

Most of the animals that we know have already participated in this game, so we can't think of anyone to tag. We hope you are having a good Christmas season, Pablo, Sydney and Sherman.

Christmas Tree

Dear Pablo,

Look at what Denis brought into the house last week. This is our Christmas tree. We had one last year too and the year before that. Tracy wrapped little lights all around it and then hung dangly decorations from the branches. I helped by watching for fallen things underneath the tree. Unfortunately, nothing fell. My favorite decoration is a little red apple which is hung on the second branch up. It is just at the right height to be swatted at. I have managed to get it off the tree once and it made an excellent soccer ball. But then Denis put it back up on the tree. Bother!

Do you have a Christmas tree?

Grandma

Dear Pablo,

Our people went away this weekend and we watched out for the house. This is a serious responsibility, of course, and may be considered by some as work... Our Grandma came over each day to visit us and made sure that our food bowl didn't go empty and our litter box stayed neat. She's very helpful and provides us with grass which is a good digestive. She's also very faithful in giving us laser toy time when she comes around.

Grandma lives just next door. Sometimes when Denis and Tracy are gone for longer periods, we go to visit grandma's house. She is a very accommodating hostess and gives us her bed since it has a commanding view of our house. She knows that we must keep up with our obligations. She also keeps some different toys on hand for variety. We have a special rubber band game going wherein I knock the rubber band off the bathroom counter each night and she replaces it each morning. If she goes out to run errands, she leaves on some music playing for us. Tracy says Grandma spoils us, but it's really that she recognizes the privilege that she has in serving us.

Pet Peeve #1

Dear Pablo,

One of my least favorite things to have done is getting my toenails clipped. Wouldn't you agree? First of all, you get scooped up onto your back which is a very undignified position to be in. Then the toes are spread apart and toenails pushed forward. THEN the toenail clippers are brought into close proximity to TENDER FLESH. It's a bit scary. This is repeated for 8 toes (we used to have to endure a full 18 toenails getting clipped, but since our decimal digit amputation, we are down to 8.)

It's not that Tracy isn't careful. She has rarely caused me any pain with those things, but the potential is always there. The thought of it makes me flinch sometimes. All that being said, I must admit that there are some benefits. One is less likely to get get scolded for jumping into (or across) a lap when one's toenails are short.

Lazer toy

The preparation and ...







The pounce!







Dear Pablo,

This is my lazer light toy that I had Tracy tell you about before. You should definitely get one. You are right that it is good for night training. The only problem bit is getting your people to pick it up and engage. You can do running, chasing, pouncing, etc. Sometimes they get cutesy and point it at my tail, trying to get me to chase around in circles. Oh the things that we put up with...

Speaking of food

Dear Pablo,

This is our food dish. You notice that it is full? Well, recently we had a bit of a scare. It all started with a visit to our cat doctor - which is always an unpleasant experience in itself. There was some prodding of our ribs and discussion about needing to lose a bit of weight. No problem, we got out of there and came home. Everything seemed normal for about a week.

Then, out of the blue, Tracy started measuring our food and putting out a bit twice each day instead of just filling it up. Well, Monica and I started to conserve the food, making sure that it would last. We made sure that it didn't get all the way empty. Well, after a few days of that, she put down even less food! 1/2 cup of kibble in the morning and then another in the evening. We couldn't help but leave the bowl empty on some days. This was very disconcerting, as I'm sure you can imagine, Pablo. I mean, what if she forgot to put down some food one day? We would just go hungry until the next time. Something had to be done about it!

Well, I just would not stand for this situation. So I decided that I would put on a vomiting protest. I made sure to throw up at least once a day in a prominent location. Normally, I do try to hold back and keep my food down. I know that they get very worried about me when I am sick. But I just pulled out the stops. My protest lasted for 10 days before Tracy finally relented and filled the bowl up completely again. Now things are back to normal around here.

Turkey

Dear Pablo,

I know that you like to eat chicken a lot. Have you ever tried turkey? It is like chicken on steroids! We have one cooking in the oven today - it is a big annual thing here in our house. You should have seen the size of this bird, it's huge.

I can see clearly with my own eyes that the people have plenty of turkey to spare. You would think that they would share some with us, but they don't. They wrap it all up after they are done eating and put it in the big white box in the kitchen (they have lots of food in there). We only get a taste if they happen to drop some on the floor and don't notice it.

We are only officially allowed to eat kibble that is provided in a bowl in the kitchen. Phoebe is actually to blame for this situation. She has an intestinal disorder that causes her to vomit a lot. She is more likely to do so if she eats unusual foods. And you know how people feel about vomitting. Well, eating only kibble is a sacrifice that I make for Phoebe. She is my sister, after all.

House people

Dear Pablo,

These are our housepeople. First came Tracy. She sprung us from a kitty concentration camp of sorts. Our captor was a little old lady who meant well, but there were so many of us cats in her "foster home" that hygiene was a serious issue. Monica was actually ill with a respiratory infection when we first got to Tracy's house. We were about nine months old when we arrived at our first real home. It was just the three of us in a small house with the greatest set of stairs you have ever seen - sort of like a ladder. Monica and I had great fun chasing each other up and down.

Denis showed up a couple of years later. I think Tracy ordered him over the internet because he came from far away in Minnesota. First he just visited from time to time. We moved to our new house three years ago. It is much larger, but there are no stairs. Denis started hanging around more and more and he finally moved in along with his nice furniture. Don't think badly of him, but he made Tracy have our front claws removed. He had something against the decorating that we did to Tracy's furniture. But he's really a nice guy. He plays with us and keeps us company in the early morning. Sometimes we take nice naps together on the couch. All in all, they are pretty easy to live with.

The Object of Our Affection

Dear Pablo,

We know that we have only just met you, but we hope you don't mind us starting this fan club. If you approve, we will change the title to the OFFICIAL Pablo fan club. We think that you are quite handsome and very passionate about social causes that are very worthy. We heard about Mike and Christine and we were wondering if you think it is possible for cats to make a love connection on the internet as well.