December 2012

WHAT A BORING BUNCH OF BUMS

I’ve been sitting at the computer waiting for even one kitty to do something cute, amusing, unique or naughty. No such luck. I thought I was going to have the opportunity to report on the Winter Kitty Olympics, but that’s not going to happen either.

Early this morning we had a beautiful, large-flaked snowfall. Snow had been forecast west of us. We were on the outer edge of that area so I didn’t expect to get anything. The snow was short-lived and didn’t hang around so no Olympic report for now.

The bums are mostly lying around and napping on the heated kitchen floor. Lisbeth has been taking a bath. She is a slurper and very loud. I find this particularly annoying. My parent’s dog, Dino, was the same way, and he drove me crazy. A couple of our other pusses are noisy, but I can usually tune them out. Lisbeth was about four feet away and the kitchen was otherwise quiet, not even any snoring, so she was impossible to ignore. Agh!

I hope this current listlessness isn’t a foretelling of their future winter inactivity. We will be bored out of our minds by spring, and I won’t have anything to write about.

In protest of my working on a puzzle of Lisbeth, Calista Josette spreads herself across my keyboard.

In protest of my working on a puzzle of Lisbeth, Calista Josette spreads herself across my keyboard.

While waiting, I have been working on a 400-piece, computer-generated, jigsaw puzzle of Lisbeth. I created it from the photo of her published on Christmas Day.

In Lisbeth’s and Calista’s defense, they had a hard workout early this morning chasing each other back and forth across the bed while we and the other kitties tried to sleep. Without this early burst of energy we probably never would have seen the snow.

The others have done nothing to warrant such behavior. But they are cats after all, and I shouldn’t expect much more!

CHRISTMAS: DAY 12

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: CHRISTMAS MORNING

And just a few words: The kitties enjoyed playing with new toys thanks to their Aunt Elizabeth.

Lisbeth

Lisbeth

Fiona

Fiona

 

Calista Josette

Calista Josette

 

Fiona admires my ornament from Elizabeth!

Fiona admires my ornament from Elizabeth!

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS: DAY 11

Merry Christmas from the Blue kitties: LILY OLIVIA, MAURICIO, MISTY MAY, GIULIETTA, FIONA, ASTRID, LISBETH and CALISTA JOSETTE

and from the humans: JANET and TOM

Our tandem bike dressed up for Christmas.

One of our tandem bikes dressed up for Christmas.

We’ve been riding our tandem bike (weather permitting) during the day with the lights lit, and we have received many positive comments. We had planned to ride around after dark Christmas Eve to look at the outdoor lights and Christmas displays. To our sadness it was 39 degrees and raining for most of the day with temperatures falling through the evening. So…we stayed safe and warm at home with the kitties.

CHRISTMAS: DAY 9

Blue Christmas Tree 2012

Blue Christmas Tree 2012

As promised, here’s a photo of this year’s tree. I finally finished decorating it yesterday and then started baking some goodies. Tom’s watching football and wrapping his gifts…an entire day early. And we have been working on our annual holiday letter, “Blues’ News.”

We didn’t want to rush into anything this year just in case the world ended on the 21st. The only unusual thing going on here on the Winter Solstice was a day of snow flurries!

I have decided to take all this lateness in stride just like the kitties. The only time they get upset about something expected arriving late is when breakfast and dinner are not served at the accustomed hour!

 

 

CHRISTMAS: DAY 8

These larger-than-life-sized, topiary, pink flamingoes at the Biltmore Estate Conservatory in Asheville, North Carolina, are dressed for Christmas.

DSC00703

 

CHRISTMAS: DAY 7

Crazy for Christmas Cat

Christmas Crazy Cat: Tuxedo cat sitting on stairs beneath a Christmas garland hung with faux apples.

Daphne feigns disinterest.

Daphne was the third cat to join our household, and she was crazy for Christmas. When she was a youngster, I hung apple ornaments from the garland wound around the bannister. She would spend hours batting at and removing the apples so she could play with them on the hardwood floors. For a few years, I would continually replace the apples after she removed them. And each year I would buy new apples, as they inevitably cracked and lost their paint when they hit the floor. Eventually, I gave up and threw them away as the whole process became exceedingly tedious.

Christmas Crazy Cat: Tuxedo cat stands on hind legs on stairs batting at a faux red apple hung from Christmas garland.

Daphne caught in the act.

 

It has been at least two decades since I have hung apples from the garland, but every year as I am decorating the stairs, Dad Tom asks me if I am going to attach the apples. I know he does this to tease me, but I also know he enjoyed the game between human and cat and would love to watch a whole new caboodle of cats doing just as Daphne once had.

Daphne also enjoyed waiting for her holiday fan mail. She would take up residence in our Christmas mailbox, created by Tom’s sister, Bonnie, and wait to be swamped by her greetings of love and adoration. Of course, she wasn’t opposed to the fact that her nest was atop a nice warm radiator.

 

Christmas Crazy Cat: Tuxedo cat sitting in a painted letter box adorned with a giant panda.

Daphne waiting for her fan mail.

 

Christmas Crazy Cat: Tuxedo cat under a Christmas tree tangled in red ribbon with a brown tabby cat looking on.

Daphne begins unwrapping gifts early while Steamer watches.

 

Update: 12/10/2023: For the past few years I have been hanging small stuffed angel bears from the garland. A few are removed by Kitties Blue each year, but so far none in 2023. And we still use that same letter box. You can see it behind one of our Christmas trees in the post, “The Adventures of Periwinkle & Stinky: Part CCXIV.”

🎄 MEOWY CHRISTMAS 🎄

 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS: DAY 6

Getting ready for Christmas can be exhausting, especially if you are a kitty and self-appointed quality control inspector of all things Christmas.

These are eight of the things for which my eight take personal responsibility:

1. Tasting the butter before it goes in the cookies to ensure that is fresh, pure and yummy. Leaving some fur on the stick of butter is also very important as they don’t have any “inspected by” stickers to apply.

This being Calista's first Christmas, she had no idea as to the hard work expected of her.

This being Calista’s first Christmas, she had no idea as to the hard work expected of her.

2. Playing tug-of-war with all garland to make sure it is strong enough to swing from once it has been hung.

3. Nosing a few ornaments off of “Twinkle‘s Tree” (the only one to which they have constant access as it was named after one of our past kitties) and shoving them under the rug to assure themselves they won’t break and will be available for future play.

4. Nesting inside the wreaths prior to my hanging them as a check for symmetry and fluffiness.

5. Testing all light strings to make certain each bulb is securely inserted into its socket so no outages will occur after lights have been applied to the tree.

Image 1-009

Giulietta (the big ball of fur on the left) and her sister, Fiona, take inspector duties very seriously and napping just as seriously. Giulietta was snoring when this photo was snapped.

6. As they were not allowed near any gift wrapping activities this year, they are now responsible for clawing and sniffing each package, chewing on the bows and burrowing into the gift bags in order to ascertain that gift wrappings will hold up until presents can be opened.

7. Shoving the glass, votive candle holders off the counter and watching them crash to the floor just because she (Lisbeth) can!

8. Burrowing into all the stockings to look for any treats or catnip that may have been left behind last year while making sure plenty of space is available for this year’s goodies.

CHRISTMAS: DAY 4

Christmas 1966

Christmas 1966

My dad was conservative and a neat-freak, but he had some pretty unconventional ideas when it came to Christmas trees. After the years of the tree in the barrel—Christmas: Day 2—(As yet I have not found a photo to share with you.), he wanted to hang the tree from the ceiling upside down. He figured that we could pile the presents underneath and they would not take up so much space in the living room. My mother vetoed this idea. I wanted a variety of ornaments in different colors. She also vetoed that idea. We only had silver and blue balls with blue lights and tinsel. Her vetoes held until she passed away.

This was the mid-sixties and the practice of the time was to have your tree flocked to look as if it was covered in snow. Living in Silicon Valley in California, we never had snow on Christmas and only twice while I was growing up.

In 1966 my father figured out the engineering problem of hanging the tree in his desired position without permanently damaging the ceiling. The picture here shows the result; though, my grandmother, Shirley, my sister, Judy, and I are blocking most of the tree. My grandmother was the chronicler of all family- related affairs through a daily journal and photography. In most instances, if she didn’t take a photo of an event, we didn’t have one. Since she is in the photo, I am lucky to have this one!