December 2017

LILY’S SELFIE & MEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

Sunday Selfies: Week #177

My fursibs indicated yesterday that they thought I would be uncooperative and refuse to do a selfie for the last hop of 2017. I couldn’t let them be right, so here I am. Of course, being Lily Olivia and a Crotchety Cougar, I had to be a bit of a stinker and close my eyes. That means I didn’t do a very good job of lining up the shot and cut off one of my ears almost entirely. I did even worse on the second photo and cut off part of my nose as well. So, this may not be purrfect, but it’s the best you are going to get.

 

Lilly Olivia is the Sunday Selfies host for the last hop of 2017.

 

Mew Year’s Resolutions

This seems like the appropriate time to share our Mew Year’s Resolutions. Most of these are not new. We have shared them previously, but we are certain some of you have not seen them. And we made a few changes, as well as an addition, for 2017.

1. Get more scritches.
2. Get more belly rubs.
3. Get more treats and nip.
4. Always come when called unless napping, playing, eating, watching bird TV, day dreaming or participating in other cat-approved activities.
5. If in, demand to go out.
6. If out, demand to come in.
7. Refrain from washing our butts in front of company unless it is an emergency.
8. Refrain from eating Mom’s flowers when she’s watching.
9. Take up as much space in the humans’ bed as possible by sleeping east/west instead of north/south.
10. Clear the kitchen counters of all items whenever possible.
11. Pretend to be deaf whenever a human is speaking to us.
12. Always help Mom with her crossword puzzles, blogging and coloring.
13. Put our paws down and not allow Mom and Dad to adopt any additional kitties.

Time to Hop

Last week’s blog hop was really well attended; though, it occurred on Christmas Eve. For that we all want to thank you from the bottom of our furry little hearts. Today, of course, is a holiday as well, but hopefully you will not start celebrating until later this evening.

If you are new to hopping, here are a few tips to help you join our hop.

  • The link to add your selfie to the hop is below.
  • You also will find below the code to use if you’d like the hop to appear on your blog.
  • Posting on Sundays is not necessary to join.
  • You do not need to be a cat to enter. All anipals are welcome regardless of species.
  • The hop remains open for entries through Thursday midnight.
  • Please be so kind as to display our badge and/or link to The Cat on My Head.

Thanks for hopping. Wishing you every blessing and happiness in the Mew Year.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia

 



TABBY YOUNGSTERS TAKE OVER CATURDAY ART

Caturday Art

It’s time to join the party by presenting some arty for Athena Cat Goddess’ weekly Caturday Art blog hop. To create some suspense, we are showing the original photo first, an interim version and then the final version. We hope you are not getting tired of seeing Sawyer and Cooper Murphy, as they are featured once again.

The original photo was taken during a cuddling/bathing session on the humans’ bed. Wow, check out all those cute toe beans!

 

Caturday Art

 

This interim art was created with the “Griddy” effect in Painnt set to “cold” coloring.

 

Cold, griddy Caturday Art

 

The completed art creation has an added photographic border from piZap and a plain border from Picasa.

 

final Caturday Art

 

We like all the versions. Do you have a favorite?

The final version is our entry in Athena’s blog hop. To enter or find links to art created by your fellow bloggers, click on Athena’s badge.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Another year has flown by, and tomorrow is the last Sunday Selfies blog hop of 2017. If you’ve never participated in our hop, why not ring out the year with a selfie of your own?

Mom’s plan is to get Lily Olivia to snap a selfie for tomorrow, but we are not holding our collective breaths. She’s not known for her cooperative attitude. You’ll just need to stop by tomorrow to see if Mom was successful.

Until then…

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer

 

FRIENDLY FILL-INS FEATURING SAWYER

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week 86

1. On New Year’s Eve, I try to stay awake until midnight to see the ball drop in Time’s Square on television. Dad Tom usually is already sleeping.

2. One goal I have for 2018 is to comment each week on the posts of all the Sunday Selfies hoppers.

3. In 2017, I accomplished finding the majority of my classmates for our 50th high school reunion.

4. I started riding a Peloton in 2017.

I have no photos to accompany this post, as I am pretty certain you are not interested in photos from my reunion. So, I am including another photo from Christmas. Sawyer and Cooper Murphy were the only two of the kitties who had any interest in Christmas.

 

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #86

 

Friendly Fill-Ins are hosted each week by Ellen (15 Ad Meowing) and Annie (McGuffy’s Reader), who also select the sentences for completion. This is a blog hop which you can join by clicking on their badge. It will take you to McGuffy’s Reader, where you can enter the link to your post.

QUIET, PLEASE!

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

We kitties had a terribly difficult time creating a poem this week. We had this gorgeous photo, selected by Mom Pam and angel Sammy, as our inspiration. Regardless, our poetic abilities fizzled.

 

Kitties prefer quiet.

 

Quiet, Please!

Fireworks are extremely pretty,
Unless you are a sensitive kitty.
The booming loud noises
Never cease to annoy us.
All the people oohing and ahhing
Just causes our frantic ear pawing.
As humans seem to enjoy the show,
Under the bed we all plan to go
And not come out until it’s 2018,
When we can return to our regular routine.

© Kitties Blue 12/27/2017

We must apologize to Teddy and angel Sammy for this feeble excuse for a poem. If you go to Two Spoiled Cats, by clicking on the badge below, we know you will find an expertly crafted poem by angel Sam. You will also find links to other poems among the comments.

Thankful Thursday

This section is lots easier today, and wow are we thankful for that. We also are grateful for all the holiday cards we have received from our friends, which we will share in a few days. We received lots of new toys, wrapping paper, tissue and boxes. As with the greeting cards, we will be showing you some of our gifts in a future post. But just to give you a bit of a preview, here’s a photo of Sawyer and Cooper Murphy enjoying Christmas.

 

Kitties prefer quiet.

 

Thankful Thursday is a blog hop hosted by Brian. To join in, click on his badge.

 

 

Thanks for dropping by to see us.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer

HOLIDAY SPARK

Sparks: Week #12

 

Holiday - Sparks blog hop

 

Wishing all those who celebrate Christmas a blessed day.

 

Sparks is a weekly blog hop established and hosted by Annie at McGuffy’s Reader. In establishing the hop, she wrote this, “I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world!”

If you’d like to join the hop, click on the Sparks badge.

 

Birthday Wishes

Today is not only Christmas but also the birthday of a very special cat mom. Kitties Blue and I are sending her our very best wishes and love. (Please stop by and wish her a happy birthday.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOM BARB, THE MOTHER OF MARVELOUS AND ANGEL NELLIE! MAY YOUR DAY BE FILLED WITH LOVE!

TOO CLOSE?

Sunday Selfies: Week: #176

 

 

Sawyer's Christmas-themed selfie.

 

Here we are at Christmas Eve already. I’m not exactly certain what this holiday is all about; though, I do know gifts are involved. Kitties Blue have already gotten some from Mom and Dad that were too big to wrap. And we got some from Tom’s nephew, Chuck, and his family. Everything else we must wait until tomorrow to open.

Anyhoo, I volunteered to do the Christmas selfie. It does appear as if I might have gotten a little too close to the camera lens, but I am still learning.

We know everyone is super busy, but we sure are hoping some of our regulars will hop with us today. If you’d like to post a holiday-themed selfie that would be great.

Here’s some pointers on hopping with us if you need them.

  • The link to add your selfie to the hop is below.
  • You also will find below the code to use if you’d like the hop to appear on your blog.
  • Posting on Sundays is not necessary to join.
  • You do not need to be a cat to enter. All anipals are welcome regardless of species.
  • The hop remains open for entries through Thursday midnight.
  • Please be so kind as to display our badge and/or link to The Cat on My Head.

Thanks for hopping. Wishing you a Meowy Christmas and Happy Mew Year.

Flashback: Christmas 2013

A few days ago we were reading a friend’s blog, Momma Kat and Her Bear Cat. Bear is a very cheeky snd somewhat egocentric cat, and he wrote his own “12 Days of Bear-mas.” This reminded us that somewhere in the archives was our own version of the this often parodied song, “The 12 Days of Christmas.” If you need a giggle or two, read on. Mauricio actually wrote this for Cat Scouts, when he was just a lowly Bobcat. We present this with apologies to our friends, Da Tabbies O Trout Towne.

THE 12 DAYS OF CATMESS

On the first day of Catmess my true love gave to me, a partridge with some nip tea.

On the second day of Catmess my true love gave to me, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the third day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the fourth day of Catmess my true love gave to me four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the fifth day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the sixth day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the seventh day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, seven swans-a-simmering, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the eighth day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, eight squirrel Schnitzels, seven swans-a-simmering, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the ninth day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, nine lox for licking, eight squirrel Schnitzels, seven swans-a-simmering, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the tenth day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, ten bugs in butter, nine lox for licking, eight squirrel Schnitzels, seven swans-a-simmering, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the eleventh day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, eleven prawns with pasta, ten bugs in butter, nine lox for licking, eight squirrel Schnitzels, seven swans-a-simmering, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

On the twelfth day of Catmess, my true love gave to me, twelve rodents roasting, eleven prawns with pasta, ten bugs in butter, nine lox for licking, eight squirrel Schnitzels, seven swans-a-simmering, six geese in gravy, five pheasant wings, four broiled birds, three fried hens, two turtle stews and a partridge with some nip tea.

© Bobcat Mauricio Blue
December 2013

 

Purrs and paw-pats, Sawyer

 



CHRISTMAS CARD ART AND FILL-INS

Caturday Art

For those of you who did not receive one or more of our holiday cards via snail mail, we are sharing them here for today’s art submission. I do have a few more cards ready to mail, but please feel free to grab a card now.

The first card is the one from Kitties Blue. Astrid is the featured cat. This was actually created from Caturday Art that we posted last year.

 

Kitties Blue 2017 Christmas card.

 

This card is the one that Cat Scouts Mauricio and Cooper Murphy sent to their Cat Scout pals.

 

Cooper Murphy and Mauricio's Cat Scout Christmas card.

 

This final card is Lily Olivia’s Crotchety Cougar card.

 

Lily Olivia's Crotchety Cougars Christmas card.

 

We will be entering Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art Blog Hop with our first card. If you’d like to join or find links to art created by other bloggers, click on her badge.

Friendly Fill-Ins

As promised yesterday, we are doing our fill-ins today. Yesterday we reviewed a new product from PetSafe®. If you missed it, the link for that post is at the bottom of this one.

1. I can’t wait to see my friend of more than 30 years, Mary Jane, open my gift to her. Unfortunately I won’t, as she will open her gifts Christmas morning with her family. She is getting several gifts from me, and I know she is going to love all of them. Each was selected with love and care.

2. I have had the same house for 33-plus years.

3. I would not mind if Santa were to bring me a sunny day with the temperature in the 60s. I am going to get that wish for the next couple of days. Christmas Day, however, is predicted to be only 38 degrees.

4. On Christmas Eve, I always would celebrate my grandpa’s birthday with the rest of the family, until I moved away in 1972. The kitties’ dad and I really have no specific Christmas Eve tradition. Sometimes we will go out to dinner at a favorite restaurant. We haven’t planned that for this year.

Ellen at 15 And Meowing and Annie from McGuffy’s Reader create and host Friday Fill-Ins. It is a blog hop. To join in, click on the badge below.

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we suspect most of you will be busy, but we are hoping you’ll still join us for Sunday Selfies. Our selfie will be Christmas-themed. Not only that, but it will be a doozy as well…one you don’t want to miss seeing. So, paste a smile on your face and hop on over tomorrow.

 

PETSAFE® SIX MEAL FEEDER REVIEW

Fill-Ins Postponed

For those of you stopping by for the weekly Friendly Fill-Ins, we will be posting ours tomorrow with our Caturday Art, which will include our 2017 Christmas cards.

PetSafe® Six Meal Feeder

Today we are reviewing the PetSafe® Six Meal Feeder. When I agreed to try out this product, I thought it worked in a different manner and that I could program it for six different cats. That, however, is not the case.

The feeder can be programed to dispense up to six meals per day but not meals for individual pets. When Dad Tom and I discovered how it worked, we decided to use it for Sawyer’s kitten food. It hasn’t kept the other cats from eating his food, but it does allow him to get first crack at it. When he hears the food drop into the bowl from the holding chamber, he comes running. We have it scheduled to release food every four hours.

 

PetSafe® Feeder

The feeder just dropped food into the bowl seconds ago, and Sawyer ran to it immediately.

 

Each chamber is large enough for one cup of dry or semi-moist food. Unless you are feeding multiple pets, we can’t imagine you would need to load in that much food. But, it is nice to have the option.

The feeder is easy to fill after removing the clear, locking lid, which allows you to see if you need to refill the chambers. This design also ensures that the food remains fresh and pilfering paws cannot remove food from full chambers.

I think the best use of the feeder will be for those who are trying to keep their pet from over-eating. Once Sawyer is off kitten food, we will be using it for the regular kibble that the others eat. As we have a few pudgies in our house, I will be happy to have a way to limit their intake. And if needed, I can immediately dispense the next meal by the push of a button.

The feeder has an LCD display and built in clock. It is easy to set-up and easily programmable. Setting the actual clock to the current and correct time, however, was not easy, as it can be advanced only one minute at a time.

Additional Facts About the PetSafe® Six Meal Feeder

  • A removable, one-cup, dishwasher-safe bowl is included;
  • Four D-cell alkaline batteries are required but not included;
  • Feeder has a one-year warranty;
  • Feeder is for indoor use only;
  • Materials are food grade and free of BPA;
  • Assembled feeder is 9.6 inches wide by 15.7 inches long X 6.4 inches high;
  • Your cat will prefer the box, as evidenced below.

 

Sawyer in PetSafe® Feeder Box

Sawyer played in the box the entire time I was writing this review, and then fell fast asleep in it.

 

In conclusion, I would recommend this product for anyone who wants to control their cat’s food consumption or is away from home all day or overnight.

Disclaimer: Kitties Blue received one PetSafe® Six Meal Feeder free-of-charge in exchange for our fair and honest review. 

 

PetSafe® Feeder

Astrid waits to see if she can score some kitten chow when Sawyer finishes.

 

If you are looking for the perfect gift for the pet guardian or pet in your life, PetSafe® Six Meal Feeder is available on the PetSafe® web-site for $89.99 with free shipping and Amazon for $83.51 with free-shipping if you have Amazon Prime.

 

LETTER TO SANTA CLAWS

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

We are begging forgiveness this week from Teddy and Angel Sammy for going off-script with our poem this week. This is the photo for which we were challenged to create a poem.

 

 

We thought it was pretty depressing for the week prior to Christmas. And we really wanted to reshare this poem, which we originally wrote and posted for Christmas 2014.

 A Cat’s Letter to Santa Claws

Santa
Oh dearest Santa, I promise I’ve been good.
Always used my litter box and eaten all my food.
That broken lamp was a minor transgression.
I don’t think it required that time-out session.
And it wasn’t I who shred the arm of that chair.
Besides, isn’t that why they come as a pair?
The hairball on the human’s pillow didn’t come from me.
I don’t have floofy furs, as you can plainly see.
And all that litter spread throughout the house hither to yon…
It sprang right out of the box long after I had gone.
And you know that sandwich the human left on the table…
I swear it was stolen by a stray mouse named Mabel.
And the Christmas tree that suddenly toppled over…
Was not pushed by me but a marauding gopher.
I have no idea how these critters invaded my space.
I never leave the cat door open or out of place.
Oh. dearest Santa, I’ve truly never ever been naughty.
So please bring me some toys from Jackson Galaxy.
And a big bag of nip to last a whole year…
Please, oh please, oh please Santa dear.
And some nommy treats would be totally pawsome.
I’d eat every one and not leave a crumb.
For I, the cat, have been as good as a cat can be.
So please don’t pass me by this Christmas Eve.
If you’ll stop by my house once again this year,
I promise to leave cookies and a bit of good cheer beer.
And as to next year, I raise my right paw
And promise to be a good cat, oh dear Santa Claws.
Yours truly, The Cat

So now you know what happened yesterday…a marauding gopher! If you missed yesterday’s post, the link is at the bottom of this post.

We also are sharing this today, as on Mondays we participate in the Sparks blog hop at McGuffy’s Reader, which we think is a good thing for sharing on Christmas Day.

We are joining Thoroughly Poetic Thursday at Two Spoiled Cats. To read Sammy’s poem, which he transmits each week from the Rainbow Bridge, click on his badge. You also will find links in the comments to other blogs with poems.

 

Thankful Thursday

We also are joining Brian’s Thankful Thursday blog hop. Our “thankful” was easy to select this week. No one got in trouble yesterday for the little “oopsie.” And it was not reported to Santa,

If you’d like to tell everyone for what you are thankful, join the blog hop by clicking on Brian’s badge.

 

Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy and Sawyer