Rest in Peace, my sweet Pablo

Dear Fan Club Members and friends of Pablo,

It is with a very heavy heart that I announce that we are in deep mourning at the Pablo Fan Club headquarters this morning. We just heard that our brave mentor and great friend Pablo was helped to the Bridge this morning (which was 12 hours ago in tomorrow).

Kate and Nick and little Alex now have a Pablo sized hole in their hearts. Everyone please send your strongest purrs all the way to tomorrow for them. Kate was a fantastic servant to Pablo over the years. Since he had so many responsibilities, it was imperative that he find such an efficient human assistant. Kate took her role very seriously and served faithfully ever since he was a young cat.

Pablo, you will be greatly missed.

Wordle

Dear Pablo,

I just did another Wordle of our blog feed and I am so happy to see that you are the biggest word in our wordle now! See?

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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.

Our gifts!

Well, onto the gifts that Pablo sent to us. Wasn't that thoughtful of him to do? Here they are directly out of the suitcases. Don't you think they look a bit banged up? Tracy should have taken better care of them on the trip.

There is also a card from Pablo with a great photo of him on the front. He's in serious stalking mode.

We were all very excited when Tracy presented them to us. Joey, that one's mine!

Phoebe read the card first, then I did. Joey still can't read that well...

Here is what it said - doesn't Pablo have excellent hand-writing? You can click to biggify and see if you can read it.

Next we all got our very own presents. Here is mine in a lovely feminine gift bag:


Phoebe's bag is nice too:
Joey was so excited, he wouldn't hold still.

Look! It's a koala.
Phoebe's is a possum. He looks cuter than our American possums.

And Joey got a kookaburra. I hear they are very jolly birds, but Pablo says he likes to eat them for breakfast!

Thank you, Pablo! We love our great gifts!

What's up?

Dear Pablo,

Joey wrote that post quite a while ago about his new "space ship". I hadn't been watching what he was typing as closely as I should have, or he wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. Just to set the record straight, this:
is not a space ship and NASA will not be calling. This is just the latest hair-brained idea of Tracy's to get out of cleaning our bathroom facilities. It is called a "Litter Robot" and you can read about it here. Joey thinks it's great fun, but me - I'll take the good old fashioned box, thank you very much!

Since I broke the news to Joey, he's been moping around, ashamed of his mistake. Silly boy!

Now, as to other news. Pablo, you mentioned twice before something about Tracy and Denis going to visit you. They never told me about it or asked my opinion. So I did some looking around to see if I could confirm this information. Here is what I found:

They have certainly been reading some books about Australia, and you live in Australia. But these are not books about Hobart, they are about Sydney. Now what does that mean? I'm a bit concerned about this whole idea. Since you are in tomorrow, are they going to have to take a time traveling machine to get to see you? Is that quite safe? So I sat them down and asked them straight out if they are going through with this trip against my advice. And they were resolute.

Well, in that case, we have got to plan what we are going to send to you, Pablo. Phoebe called the meeting to order, but Joey didn't understand how to conduct himself in a proper meeting.

We've got a good start here, but it doesn't seem like enough for you, Pablo.
Hmmm.... time to think.... what else do we need to send to Pablo?
You will find out soon! Us? We'll be enjoying a spa vacation at Grandma's house.

Pablo Watching

While Monica and I were having problems getting Tracy to help us with our blog, Pablo was doing all kinds of interesting things. He is such a good example of how to keep his household in order. He never seems to have trouble getting Kate to comply with his blogging needs. Here he is:
Reading his Christmas card collection. He receives his own correspondence.













Creating artistic shadows. Isn't that clever of him?











Warming himself in the sun. That's a wonderful sunning spot! And such an efficient pose.












Teaching Kate how to stay cool when it is WTHFC weather.












And keeping Nick on his toes.













Pablo, thanks for your great example. Monica and I will try harder to keep our household in tip-top shape!

Thankful Thirteen

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Phoebe and I are working together on this special Thursday Thankful Thirteen. There are a lot of things to be thankful for this year.
1. It has been almost exactly one year since we met Pablo. We are very thankful that we met him. He has been a great inspiration to us and it was through Pablo that we learned about blogging.
2. We have blogging for just over a year now! We are very thankful for all the great friends that we have met on the blogosphere.
3. We are very thankful for our people, Tracy and Denis. They are good for giving scritches, playing with the laser light toy and doing litter box patrol.
4. We are very thankful that Phoebe is getting a bit back to her old self. She still feels a bit crabby, but she is hanging out with us all now instead of hiding all the time.
5. We reluctantly admit that we are thankful for Joey. He can be a real pest, but he sure is entertaining. We are especially thankful that he is not homeless and out in the cold right now.
6. We are very thankful that we learned about going Outside on our harnesses this year. We learned about that from our good friend and fan club member, Tara.
7. We are thankful that we have lots of food here at our house. My goodness, we have lots of different foods these days than we have ever had before.
8. We are very thankful for our Grandma who lives just next door. She comes to visit us and plays with us. She keeps us company when Tracy and Denis abandon us for a trip. Grandma has been gone for almost a month now on a vacation herself. She comes back next week and we will be glad to see her.
9. We are thankful for our nice wide windowsills where we can look out our windows at the birds.
10. We are thankful that the big red monster machine does not live next door to us anymore.
11. We are thankful for warm cozy blankets and soft pillows to sleep on.
12. We are thankful for each other. Phoebe and I have been together since as long as we can remember.
13. And finally, we are very thankful for all of our friends' good wishes and purrs for Phoebe as she has been sick. Thank you everycat!

Happy Thanksgiving from Phoebe and Monica!

Fashion Friday on Thursday

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

I have never done a fashion show friday post because I don't wear clothes. But I did find this fancy feather hat to wear a few weeks ago. (it is really the feather from our wand toy. Joey has managed to get most of the feathers off it by now). I would like to wear it to welcome all of our new friends to our blog. If you are a fan of Pablo's and would like to join his fan club, please let me know. Membership requirements are simply to be a fan of Pablo's and show and interest in the fan club by commenting on both blogs. The Fan Club pledge is found in the sidebar for all members to refer to. A big welcome to recently added members Adan and Michico, Lord Jaders, Frodo, Fiona and Ali, Skeezix, MoMo, Tybalt and the (Mostly) Black Cats!

I'm also wearing my hat in respectful memory of one of our favorite dog Fan Club members, Jake. Jake was sick with heart failure for several months and finally went to the Rainbow Bridge last evening. If you would like to send condolences to his family, their blog is here. Jake's blog was taken down a while ago.

Finally, I'm wearing the hat to try to cheer up Phoebe. She's still not back to her old self and I can tell that Tracy worries about her. Phoebe is taking her medicine and eating some, but she also tends to hide for a lot of the day. She got tired of her special new wet food and is only interested in Joey's food. However, she doesn't like to eat when me and Joey are eating. Please keep purring for her. Thanks.

Thirteen Things - Joey

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions and tips. You all asked so many questions about Joey that Phoebe and I did some research to find out more about him.

And so I present to you: 13 Interesting Things about Joey

1. He smells funny. Now that Pablo has explained to me that it is just boy smell, I have decided that we can live with that. Afterall, Pablo is a boy too.
2. He is about 3 months old.
3. He has already had his hooha-ectomy.
4. He is FIV and feline leukemia negative.
5. He used to live out in the wild with his mom and all his brothers and sisters.
6. He was caught so that he could have a hooha-ectomy and he was supposed to go back out in the wild.
7. They clipped one of his ears at the V-E-T's office so they would know he had been there before if he ever came back.
8. He decided that he liked the people and didn't want to go back with his family.
9. He could have gotten eaten by a cougar out there.
10. He doesn't have a mommy cat anymore.
11. He is rather polite and not too pushy in trying to be friends with us.
12. His special kitten food is really yummy. Phoebe can steal it out of his bowl through the prison box window.
13. He looks a bit like Pablo, don't you think?

I guess he's not too bad, but I'm still gonna keep my eye on him.

Go Swans! (see below for another new post)

Phoebe and I took 7th place in Pablo's Awesome Footy Finals contest and our team for the final 8 competition is the Sydney Swans. We have got a big elimination game coming up on Saturday. Here is an excerpt of a news clip about how GREAT our team is:

PAUL Roos says the Sydney Swans must replicate the intensity they showed against Hawthorn to give themselves a chance of beating Collingwood in Saturday's elimination final at the MCG.

Roos said he knows how good Sydney can be, especially after thrashing the Hawks by 72 points last week.

“Certainly last week the guys showed that their best is very, very good. And that gives everyone confidence when you know that you can put a very, very competitive team on the field and beat a team fourth on the ladder by 70-odd points.”

The Swans' confidence also stems from that fact that they played so well against Hawthorn without Tadhg Kennelly, who will miss out on the Collingwood clash due to a persistent knee problem.

So, we are cheering on our Sydney Swans. Sing along, everycat!

Cheer, Cheer the Red and the White
Honour the name by day and by night
Lift that noble banner high
Shake down the thunder from the sky
Whether the odds be great or small
Swans will go in and win over all
While her loyal sons are marching
Onwards to victory

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.

Doing our part

Dear Pablo and fan club members,

Well, we finally got our pictures into the new computer box and then the new ones off of our camera. Hooray! Here is a picture of our new cat litter. One day, Monica and I were discussing the public service announcement that Pablo gave a while ago about global warming and wondering what we could do about it. Our old cat litter was a clumpy kind. Tracy took out the clumps and put them in a bag and threw them in the garbage can. From there they went to the dump and sat there for who knows how long in with all the other gross stuff.

Well, we searched for something better and this is what we found.Our new litter is really different. It comes in little twigs. When we pee on it, it turns into sawdust. Tracy scoops out the poops and flushes them. When it all turns into sawdust, we will put it in our compost pile and it will be useful! Isn't that a neat trick?

A Poem for Pablo

Lately, Jeter Harris' brother Mickey Mantle and Chairman Mao's sister Marilyn Monreow have been leaving poems for each other. I think that this is a great idea and that Pablo should also have a poem. So I scoured the internet for a poem that made me think of Pablo and here is it:
The Cat of the House

Over the hearth with my 'minishing eyes I muse; until after
the last coal dies.
Every tunnel of the mouse,
every channel of the cricket,
I have smelt,
I have felt
the secret shifting of the mouldered rafter,
and heard
every bird in the thicket.
I see you
Nightingale up in the tree!
I, born of a race of strange things,
of deserts, great temples, great kings,
in the hot sands where the nightingale never sings!

Ford Madox Ford

I hope he likes it! I haven't seen Pablo around for a while. He must be very busy with business for his company, Pablo Enterprises or his football team, the West Hobart Tigers. Or perhaps Kate is off on a research project again. I miss him.

Thursday Thirteen

Dear Pablo,

I have never done a Thursday Thirteen before. I figure that the most obvious choice of subject for my first one is you. So here are thirteen note-worthy things about Pablo:

1. He is a savvy businesscat. (CEO of Pablo Enterprises)
2. He is the captain of an active football team (the West Hobart Tigers)
3. He is a mentor to younger cats
4. He advocates for cat rights
5. He's an excellent hunter
6. He helps out his friends (he recently offered to beat up a cat that has been bothering club member Faz the Cat)
7. He is very handsome
8. He stays abreast of current events
9. He gives to the needy
10. He knows how to stretch a buck
11. He is very smart
12. He is very thoughtful (he sent me a valentine in February)
13. He has great taste in food

Fan Club Expands

Dear Pablo,

Tracy explained to us the other day that a fan club is generally comprised of more than just two cats. So in the spirit of inclusiveness, we have enrolled our friends into the fan club member list (seen on our side panel as "Pablo admirers"). We weren't sure about including Beto. I'm not sure if he is really an admirer of yours so much as an apprentice. Plus, he, Possum and Luna do not live in the US, but oh well. Who cares about the details.

So, Daisymae, Luna, Gilbert, Possum, Jake, Jazz, Sydney, Sherman and Beto, welcome to the fan club!

Addendum: Sherman asked a very good question about what you do when you are a member. After consulting with Tracy again about fan clubs, I have decided that we need a fan club pledge. So please repeat the following oath in front of a witness ( everyone will have to provide their own witness. We will take your word for it):

I, (insert your name), do solemnly swear to remain faithful to the Pablo Fan Club purpose, which is to admire the exceptional qualities of the great feline leader, Pablo of West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. I will heed his wise counsel in feline social causes, defend his honor to any detractors and strive to follow his example in my daily life.**

** We understand that canine members will not be capable of some of the advanced feline skills, but membership will still be extended on the basis of friendship with Pablo.

A Poem

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Pablo is Tiger-striped
And he's very handsome, too.

Thank you for our Valentine's Day message, Pablo!

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.