Grandma's in the hospital

Hello furriends. I just wanted to let you know that our Grandma is in the hospital today. She had a surgery on her heart. It's called "atrial valve replacement and double bypass". I asked Tracy if I could go visit Grandma in the hospital, but she said that we can't get any furs into her operation, so I have to stay home. I can go visit Grandma when she is back home in about a week. Tracy's not sure how much we will get to blog in the next few days.

Grandma's house

Dear Pablo and everycat,

Do you remember when I told you about this lady?

She is my grandma and she lives next door to our house. While Tracy and Denis were visiting Pablo in tomorrow, Phoebe, Monica and I got tooken over to her house for a vacation. I'm going to give you a tour of Grandma's house.

In these two pictures, you can see that Grandma has some good toys for us to play with. One is a furry animal on a string and the other is a birdy. This birdy doesn't fly like MY birdy does, but it does bounce up and down on it's string.

Here is Phoebe showing you the living room and the chairs that we have at Grandma's house to rest on. Grandma has lots of interesting stuff to look at in her living room. I especially like the pretty shiny crystal glass things that sit on the window sill. Grandma didn't like me investigating them, though.
This cat lives at Grandma's house, but she doesn't say a word. She just sits and stares at you all the time. It's kind of creepy.

Monica is showing you the best chair at Grandma's house. It's a great place to stretch out and have a nap.

And here Phoebe is showing you the bedroom with the bed where we all liked to sleep. This is where Grandma click, clicks on the computer and so we like to keep her company.
Grandma only has an old-fashioned litter box (not a robot one like at our house), but she keeps it nice and clean.
I hope you liked my tour.

They're finally back!

I think that Tracy and Denis got lost in a time warp somewhere for a while, because they were gone for a VERY LONG time. But they finally made it back to today and came home with some very special presents from Pablo. But before we get to the gifts, let me show you what I found when I looked through Tracy's picture files:

Look, it's Pablo! Isn't he looking very handsome and stately in that stance?

And he gave a special smile for us.

Here are our gifts placed in an important spot in the house.

Tracy, Kate and Denis in Pablo's very presence! It was really such an honor for them.

Pablo said he didn't get to spend a lot of time with Tracy and Denis because he was busy with important business. Here he is hard at work on a photo shoot.

And Tracy said he conducted a lot of important business from this "office space" in the garden. An excellent location! See below for another post about our presents from Pablo.

Hi Everycat!

Monica here giving you an update. Tracy has been doing all sorts of silly things on the internet instead of helping us blog. First it was puzzles, then word games, now she's so distracted with a game called Packrat. It's sooooo boring - just click click click. that's all we hear from the computer. I have been laying a big fat guilt trip on her and I'm hoping that she will soon come to her senses and help us blog more regularly again. Pablo is counting on us to keep up his fanship! Well, while we wait, we have been watching some moths flying outside our windows.

This is my Grandma

Dear Mr. Pablo and everycat,

Do you see this lady? She doesn't usually wear that red and white hat. She usually wears a baseball hat with a feather and lots of cool buttons on it. She comes over here to my house a lot. I learned something new this month. A little after that Christmas, my man and the lady went somewheres and me, Mommyca and Feebee stayed at her house for a week. Her house is just next door to ours. Mommyca says that she is our Grandma and she is very nice. Well, that is true! She likes to play with me and she kept filling up our food dishes every day. Do you have a grandma?

What we've been doing.

Dear Pablo and friends,

I am very sorry that Monica and I have not been blogging or visiting our friends' blogs lately. We have been so busy trying to keep that little Joey in line that we have been very distracted. We also had company for a little over a week this month and I was participating in all the activities. Monica was mostly hiding, but she claimed the people's laps when they would sit still and be quieter for a while. Joey has been tormenting me day and night because he always wants to play. He has demolished one of our mice - it was a wobbly mouse and fortunately, not one of my favorites. Here are some pictures of life around here for the last month or so.

An eventful weekend

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Monica and I had a very busy weekend. We had company come to our house. It was Gilbert and Sydney's mom (T) and dad (D). I could smell them on their clothes. They stayed for two nights in our extra room - the one that Monica and I are not allowed inside of. But when they were not inside that room, I got to visit with them. It was very interesting.

We did a lot of work while they were here. I helped Tracy and T move papers and boxes from one room to another. There were lots of boxes and papers going from here to there. I snoopervised to make sure that they were doing a good job. For a while, everything was a mess, but in the end, the extra room and our computer room both look much better. I think that Monica and I will be able to find important things much more easily now.

Monica didn't help much, but she made sure she got enough rest to keep Denis and D company watching TV at night.

Meow - a practical exercise.

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Phoebe really did a good job of explaining some Meow basics (I helped her). And here is your chance to practice what you have learned. Gather your people around and see if they can figure out what I am saying in this video. It's a tricky one. Pay attention to body language, eye contact and inflection.

Litter Box development

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

I am very excited to show you what I bought the other day. This is a special cat litter try made especially for our new twig-style cat litter Phoebe mentioned in a previous post. See, there are really two trays there. The top one keeps the twigs in it and the bottom one collects the saw dust. This will keep our toilet facilities much nicer. It will also keep the sawdust cleaner. Since it goes into our compost pile that is important. You can read more about it at their website.

I also bought this special scooper that has big holes to let the twigs go through it. We need to keep things as simple as possible for Tracy because she is not so great at keeping our facilities in tip-top shape, if you know what I mean.

Some Pictures

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

I would like to tell you a little bit about what Monica and I did while Tracy and Denis were gone on their vacation. Firstly, I was right about that nice girl. She did come and stay with us, but not every night. She visited every day for awhile and took me Outside each day. We left my harness on again so that it would be easy for us to go for walks. She stayed overnight twice and watched TV with us. We tried to use the computer, but the screen when blank. Monica thought that she could fix it, but it didn't work.

After a LONG time of that arrangement, Grandma came by one day and took me for a walk and we accidentally wound up at her house. Monica came over too and we stayed at Grandma's for another LONG time. It was a little confusing, but I was glad to have Grandma's shoes to sniff anyway.

Thanks for everyone who teleported over to keep us company. It was nice because we were by ourselves a lot of the time.

Now that Tracy is back, she told me all about her trip. I found some interesting pictures. Some of them are quite scary so look at them at your own risk!

This one is not scary at all. I would like to meet that little guy and play a game of tag with him. I think that I would win and he might make an interesting meal.
Now this one is a little bit scary. These are some large birds which may be vishus. They have a big nest and they are up high where they can swoop down and grab some cats right off of the ground.

This one is even scarier. Look at those big horns that he has. He could spear a cat with those things. He look very much like a vishus deer but with more dangerous horns on his head.

Here is the scariest one of all. He is very very big and vishus. Tracy said that he can jump right over that fence if he wants to and trample you. She and Denis stayed in their car.

With all those dangerous, vishus animals around, I'm amazed that they made it home alive! They are very brave (or else they are not very smart... that is a possiblity.)

We're Back!

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Phoebe and I are finally back at our own home with Tracy and Denis in their proper places. As you can see in this series of photos, that place is on the couch petting me. I have really missed all of you my friends. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Firstly, Pablo has nominated me as a top notch schmoozer. I have to research what cats have been nominated and put my mind to whom I may nominate as well. I can consult with Phoebe on that, since Pablo nominated her as well. We also have a meme to complete that Pabs tagged us for.

For now, I'm content to be kneading a soft pillow while lounging on top of Tracy. I've had to look at all her pictures that she took on her trip a couple of times now. They are mostly of different people and mountains. Kind of boring. Here is the most interesting one that she took as far as I can tell.

They're going away again...

UPDATE from the secretary...

7/7 - Denis and I are in Missoula Montana right now. I hope everycat who is teleporting over for the party at our house cleans up after yourselves. Have fun! You only have two days before the girls' grandma gets home.


Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Tracy and Denis have been putting a bunch of clothes and things into their boxes on wheels again. They went away just last month. Can you believe they are going again?! A nice girl was here earlier today and Tracy was showing her our food, water and litter box. Then she gave me a pill while that girl was here - how embarrassing! Then she showed her how to use our computer and TV. I think that girl is going to come and stay with us. I guess that will be okay. She petted me and said I was a nice kitty. She also said that Monica is beautiful! Well, she is right about that too.

I doubt that we will be blogging for a while. They are packing a LOT of clothes. Bye everycat! We will miss you...

addendum from Tracy - we are going on a two week vacation. The "nice girl" is watching Phoebe and Monica for the first week and then their grandma will be back to take over.

Naptime

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Earlier, I showed you a picture of Monica and I watching TV with Tracy. Then I told you about my Denis and how he sometimes naps with us on the couch. Well, here is a picture of us three having a nice nap on the couch. Denis sometimes falls asleep here at 3 AM and forgets to go into the bedroom to sleep with Tracy. That's what happened this time. Tracy got up in the morning and found us all snuggly together.

Flowers for Suzanne

Our dear club member, Suzanne, is very sick today. She is spending some nice quiet time with her mom, Toni. I think she will like these flowers and they may help her feel a little better.

We got our new computer box today and I am back in my rightful place on top of the desk, dictating to Tracy. I've got her working on reinstalling all of our programs and bookmarking our internet sites.

My Denis

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Since I am having to use Denis' computer and can only use the pictures on his computer box, I thought I would tell you a little bit about him.
1. Tracy ordered him over the internet at a person store called Christian Matchmaker. I don't know how much he cost.










2. He is very handy. He built that railing that he is standing in front of above. He also built this rock wall.




3. He is missing a leg like our dog friend Jasmine. Sometimes he walks with sticks under his arms and sometimes he straps on a spare leg. I wonder who he got it from.

4. He plays the guitar. So does Tracy, but Denis plays better. I don't like it when Tracy plays the guitar, but I sometimes stick around when Denis does.
5. He likes to own special guitars. But when he moved in here with us three girls, he decided to sell some of his guitars. He sold three guitars on Ebay, but he still has three (two acoustic and one electric). This one was a special guitar made in Ireland that he sold to a man in the UK. They don't make very many of them so the UK guy couldn't find one there. Isn't that funny?



6. He works until very late at night (1 or 2 AM), so he keeps me company after Tracy has gone to bed. Then he sleeps during the day until about noon. This is great for me because one or the other of them is around for me to observe most of the time.
7. He is a "little person" like on that TV show Little People, Big World. He is shorter than Tracy. They both seem tall to me though.
8. He likes me better than Monica. Shhh, don't tell her... He pets me and talks to me and thinks I'm cute and funny. He thinks Monica is too pushy and bossy.
9. He plays finger games with me - like poking his finger through the holes in the crocheted afghan or the laundry basket. And he lets me bit his fingers when we play. It's very exciting.


Those are the most interesting things that I can think of about my Denis.

Lounging

Here is a family picture of Monica, Tracy and I lounging in the evening. This is where you will usually find us watching TV if we are not blogging. We like to watch crime dramas, sit-coms, cooking shows and poker. We also watch several shows on TLC like What Not To Wear and Little People, Big World. The best part is really just being together.

Vacation

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Phoebe and I are going on vacation for a week starting tomorrow. We are going to Grandma's house for some rest and relaxation. As I have mentioned before, Grandma is an excellent hostess and knows how to run a tight ship. The litter box gets cleaned daily (which is often a shortfall in our house), the water stays fresh and there's lots of recreation time. When a cat has a need, Grandma is right there to accommodate. Plus, Phoebe wants you to know that Grandma's shoes smell great (She's a little weird, that kid. She likes to hug Grandma's shoes.)

So, we will be away from the computer for a time. I know that you will all miss us terribly and we will miss all of you. Especially you, Pablo. We will think of you daily.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Tracy and Denis are going to Portland to visit all their friends from when we lived there. Boy am I glad they aren't taking us on that long car ride.

Observation platform

Dear Pablo,

This is my observation deck where I sit to do my research on the hygeine habits of humans. From here I can look clear around to the left where Tracy keeps some of her clothing on the floor and clear to the right where Denis does his morning preparations. But straight ahead is where the main research takes place - I can see directly into the bathroom sink area. I have been studying Tracy for about five years now and Denis for three, and I still haven't figured them out. Here are some observations I have made:
1. bathing takes place in an enclosed area of the bathroom where they stand under a torrent of water. This seems terribly unpleasant to me, but they seem to emerge quite pleased with themselves.
2. bathing takes place sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and sometimes in the evening. There doesn't seem to be a predictable pattern to it at all.
3. various instruments are used on their head fur - creams, lotions, sticks and a wand that makes a terrible loud whooshing noise. (Tracy uses all of these, but Denis just uses a simple stick)
4. they both use the deodorant sticks under their arms, but they use different kinds - seems kind of frivolous.
5. they insert strings and sticks into their mouths. This is done mostly at night before they go to bed, but sometimes during the day. I haven't figured that one out at all.
6. Tracy takes great care to put various creams and potions onto her face, but Denis doesn't bother with his face at all.

Has anyone else made any observations about humans? Or have some suggestions as to conclusions that we can reach?

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.

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.