June 2017

LILY OLIVIA IS A CROTCHETY COUGER

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week 60

 

 

Today is the day each week when we let you know a bit about ourselves by taking part in the Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop, created and hosted by Ellen (15AndMeowing) and Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). To enter the hop, click on the above badge, and you will be transported to Annie’s blog, where you will be able to enter the link to your post.

I did the filling-in today except for #3, which was completed by Lily Olivia. As usual, our completions are in teal italics.

1. My next post (Caturday Art) will be number 1300.

2. Fireworks are amazing, but it seems with each year I am less impressed by them. The most incredible fireworks I have ever seen were from the pier in St. Thomas.

LILY OLIVIA: 3. This week, I am thankful for being invited to be part of the Crotchety Cougars Club. Other members are Kali (The Canadian Cats), Phoebe (15And Meowing), Madi (Madi and Mom Down Home in NC), Ellie and Allie (Friends Furever) and Binga (SparkleCat). It is a club for lady cats who are at least 15 years old. At 18, I may be the oldest member. 

We ladies will be wearing red hats, and I received mine in the mail yesterday. Mom tried to get some photos of me, but I was my usual uncooperative self. She’d put the hat on me, and I would sit patiently until she was ready to take the photo, then whamo the hat was off. Here are a couple less than fabulous photos. I promise to have better ones to share very soon.

 

Friendly Fill-Ins

 

4. Freedom is something I appreciate and cherish. I feel blessed to have been born and live in the United States.

That’s it for us today. Please join us tomorrow for post number 1300!

FIRST KITTY BLUE CALICO: CHLOE

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

Thursday again and time to join Angel Sammy and Teddy for their poetry day. This week’s prompt letter is “C.” Each week the boys also are providing four prompt words from which to select as the theme for our poem. Being rebels, we’ve dismissed using any of the words. After taking a vote, we decided to write about one of the previous Kitties Blue, Chloe. Chloe was a member of the family from 1992 through 2003.

The Original Calico
Chloe

 

Chloe was our sisfur and a calico.
She lived here many years ago.
She showed up in the driveway one day
And decided she wanted to stay.
Our humans had only five cats at the time,
So told her that would be just fine.
They had no idea she was in heat,
Then she began howling for a male to meet.
Off to the vet she went in a flash.
Her hopes of more babies quickly dashed.
Our vet said she’d been a mom at least once.
Where or when we didn’t have a hunch.
Chloe, for eleven years was a Kitties Blue
But died mysteriously, not leaving a clue.
Our humans were away when it happened.
The pet sitter found her; discovered she wasn’t napping.
Lily Olivia is the only one who knew this other calico,
But we’ve seen her photos. She was adorable.
We hope you enjoyed meeting Chloe, our angel sisfur.
We know for a fact our humans still miss her.

© Kitties Blue 06/28/17

Here are a few of our mom’s favorite photos of Chloe.

 

Calico Chloe

Calico Chloe

 

We hope you enjoyed meeting Chloe.

To find links to other poems and to read Teddy and Angel Sammy’s poem, click on their badge.

Thankful Thursday

We also participate in Brian’s Thankful Thursday blog hop each week. This is the final week of National Adopt a Shelter Cat Month, and we current Kitties Blue are thankful that our humans have continued to adopt cats. As Brian always says, “Adopt cats. We deserve it.” To join the Thankful Thursday blog hop, click on Brian’s badge.

Thanks for joining us again today.

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

p.s. Most of you who joined us yesterday guessed the cat butts correctly: Cooper Murphy (duh), Mauricio and Lisbeth (and Calista Jo’s head).

SPACE STATION WINNER

The petretary is having the “blahs” today, and so we have been forced to take over the blog. After all, we promised to announce the winner of Calista Jo’s birthday party giveaway.

You may recall that the prize is a Petmate® Jackson Galaxy® Space Station.

 

Cooper Murphy demonstrates how to play with the Space Station for Giulietta.

 

Cooper Murphy demonstrates how to play with the Space Station, while Giulietta observes. A day has not gone by that one or more of us hasn’t played with this meowvolous toy.

Oh wait, you didn’t come here to see us playing. You came to find out if you have won a Space Station of your very own. How about a couple of hints first:

  • This family has three kitties and one woofie.
  • One of the kitties is a ginger tabby like Cooper Murphy.
  • One of the kitties can never sit still for a photo.
  • Their mom is the artist who created Sampson and Astrid’s wedding drawing.
  • One of the family members is named Astrid.

If you haven’t guessed, we sure hope the winner has figured it out. That’s right, it is kitties, Evan, Thimble and Eddy, and woofie, Astrid, from Four-Legged Furballs.

We are curious as to whether or not woofie Astrid will try to play with it? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Congratulations to these friends. We hope they have as much fun as we’ve been having.

If you didn’t win, do not rend your furs in despair. We have two additional Jackson Galaxy toys to review and giveaway in the near future.

Until then…

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

 

 

SUNDAY SELFIES: REMEMBERING FRIENDS

Sunday Selfies: Week #150

Mom asked me to do a selfie so I could thank everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. I am more than happy to say, “thanks,” but I wasn’t too happy about the selfie thing. First she woke me up from a nap. I snapped off two quick photos then. They were crummy. Then she interrupted my bath. At that point I decided to accommodate her, just so I could get back to my ablutions. However, I refused to look at the screen as I snapped my photo. So today, I am giving you a profile selfie. I actually think it turned out very well.

 

C.J.'s profile Sunday Selfie. Sunday Selfies Blog Hop

 

In addition to thanking all my furiends for the birthday wishes, I must thank my special friend, Zorro (The Swiss Cats), for the nose kisses. I am blowing kisses back to him.

Remembering Friends

I also have the privilege today of dedicating this Sunday Selfies post to two furiends who recently received their angel wings, Minko (Meezer’s Mews and Freckles’ Woofs ) and Bilbo (Da DB Boyz). Both of these anipals are members of families who have been long-time supporters and participants in Sunday Selfies. If you have not had the opportunity to visit their blogs and leave your condolences, I hope you will do so now.

 
Remembering Minko on Sunday Selfies blog hop.
Remembering Bilbo on the Sunday Selfies blog hop.

Rest in peace, sweet friends.

And I have one additional duty today…

Space Station Giveaway

That’s right, you still have time to enter my birthday giveaway for a Petmate® Jackson Galaxy® Space Station. The is a super toy, and I know whoever wins it will enjoy hours of fun. You have until 5 p.m. ET tomorrow (Monday, June 26) to leave a comment on my birthday (Birthday Party & Space Station Giveaway) post for the opportunity to win. The recipient will be selected using Random.org and announced on Tuesday.

Blog Hop

Finally, it is time to hop. The link to add your selfie to today’s blog hop is below. If you’d like, you also can post the hop on your blog by using the code below. As always, should you decide to do this, would you please be so kind as to link back to The Cat on My Head and/or display our badge. If you don’t post on Sundays, you still can join our hop.It remains open through Thursday.

Wishing everyone an easy Sunday.

Purrs and paw-pays, Calista Jo

CAT WORLD DOMINATION DAY 2017

Caturday Art on Cat World Domination Day

 

Lisbeth's Caturday Art for Cat World Domination Day.

 

As today is Cat World Domination Day, I asked Mom to use this photo to show my domination over Lily Olivia. She cropped it down for the art, so I am making her post the original as well. She says it is blurry. Well, of course, it is. She took it! That’s why we are using it for Caturday Art.

 

Lisbeth shows how she tries to dominate Lily Olivia for Cat World Domination Day.

 

No matter, I am in the top position, inside the sphere, and Lily is stuck on the lower scratcher/shelf. Ha, ha. I’m the dominate cat over the queen of the house.

Cat World Domination Day is really about the dominance of cats over humans. It was established by now angel, Sparkle, and coincides with her birthday. Summer, Binga and Boodie (SparkleCat.com) have continued the tradition of celebrating as has most of the feline portion of the blogosphere. So lets all get together today and demand that our humans think ONLY of us and cater to our every desire. In other words, treat today like you would any of the other 364!

Cat World Domination Day

 

So now that we have established that today isn’t just about my domination of Lily Olivia, we must jump back to our Caturday Art. To create this incredibly, arty photo of me, she started in LunaPic. She applied the Fire filter, followed by the Surreal Painting and Beveled Edge effects. The final step was to add the Yellowed Papyrus filter with AdornPic. She thinks the end result looks unfinished, but all the other effects and filters she tried added nothing to my beauty. Both Dad Tom and I told her to quit fiddling, and she finally listened.

This is our entry in Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty’s Caturday Art blog hop. To join the hop and/or view the other submissions, click on Athena’s badge.

Space Station Cat Toy Giveaway

If you missed Calista Jo’s birthday party, you also missed the opportunity to win the super fun Petmate® Jackson Galaxy® Space Station toy. You can see C.J. playing with it on yesterday’s post. If you’d like to have the chance to win, leave a comment on the party post, Birthday Party & Space Station Giveaway. You must comment prior to Monday, June 26, at 5 p.m. ET. The winner will be selected using Random.org and announced on the following day’s post.

Sunday Selfies Blog Hop

One of us will be right here tomorrow to host our popular weekly blog hop. We’d like to thank everyone who joined last Sunday’s Father’s Day hop. Tomorrow we will be dedicating the hop to two friends who recently received their angel wings, Minko (Meezer’s Mews & Freckles’ Woofs) and Bilbo (Da DB Boyz, formerly Dory’s Backyard). Both are members of blogs that have been consistent and long-time supporters of our hop. Please drop by and honor these special angel anipals.

Purrs and paw-pats, Lisbeth

 

ASTRID & SAMPY CELEBRATE 1ST ANNIVERSARY

Friendly Fill-Ins: Week #59

As we do each Friday, Kitties Blue are entering the Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop. This hop is hosted by Ellen (15AndMeowing) and Annie (McGuffy’s Reader). Ellen creates the first two statements for us to complete and Annie the second two. To enter the blog hop, click on the badge below and be whisked away to Annie’s blog.

Two cats and two humans completed the fill-ins this week. As always, our completions are in teal italics.

ASTRID: 1. A recurring dream I have is of my sweet husband, Sampson, from Kitty Cat Chronicles. Today is our first wedding anniversary. We were married last year in Phoenix at the BlogPaws Conference.

 

Astrid & Sampy celebrate their 1st anniversary.

 

DAD TOM: 2. If I could turn cat poo into money, we’d be rich. Dad cheated a bit on this one and added the three words at the beginning where a fill-in blank did not exist.

PETRETARY: 3. Lily Olivia is driving me crazy! If you are wondering why, here’s the reason: She constantly walks across the laptop keyboard making a circle around it so she can cross over again and again. When she is sitting in my lap, she must have her paws on the track pad, so I am unable to do anything.

MAU: 4. Lately, I have been wrasslin’ a lot with my brother, Cooper Murphy. It is all in good fun, of course! Cooper’s the one making all the noise!

 

Jackson Galaxy® Space Station Giveaway

As part of her birthday celebration, Calista Jo is giving away this really fun toy. The kitties reviewed it on Tuesday in their post, Space Station: Best Toy Ever. But to have the opportunity to win one, you must leave a comment on yesterday’s post, Birthday Party and Space Station Giveaway. Leave your comment prior to Monday, June 26, 5 p.m. ET for the chance to win. Random.org will be used to select the recipient, and the winner’s name will be posted the following day.

Calista Jo asked to show you a short video of her playing with the Space Station. Of course, as soon as I spoke to her, she quit playing and walked away.

 

 

We’ll be back tomorrow to share our Caturday Art and to participate in the very important Cat World Domination Day.

 

BIRTHDAY PARTY & SPACE STATION GIVEAWAY

Thankful Thursday

We are beginning our Thursday post with the thankful part this week, as the poetic part includes not only a birthday party but a giveaway as well.

We were shocked this week to not only be tied for First Commenter on Angel Sammy and Teddy’s (TwoSpoiledCats) Tuesday Teaser, but we also were the first to guess the location (Pike’s Peak, Colorado) of the Teaser correctly. We won these two terrific badges.

 

 

With the thankful part of the post completed, we are joining Brian’s Home for their Thankful Thursday blog hop. You can join as well by clicking on their badge.

 

 

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

This week’s poem is a belated birthday poem for C.J. And, how fitting, today’s prompt letter is, “B.”

Sometimes Our Humans Forget
A Belated Birthday Poem for C.J.

 

Sometimes it’s hard to keep things straight
When a person is dealing with a family of eight.
At my age, I’m lucky to remember their names,
Much less the days on which they came.
But I am so sorry for sweet Calista Josette
For possibly my biggest, embarrassing blunder yet.
As friends were sending her best birthday wishes,
I didn’t for a minute become suspicious.
When a person’s brain gets filled to the brim,
The results often can be quite grim.
Today we are setting things right with a party;
Though, with it we’ve been terribly tardy.
Our master baker, Mau, has provided the cake,
And there are noms a plenty, so grab a plate.
Calista Jo, our hearts are full of love for you,
So let’s party and give away a Space Station too.
I can’t promise I won’t forget again next year.
Just remember you’re loved by me and the whole blogosphere!

© Janet Buickerood Blue 06/21/2017

To read Angel Sammy and Teddy’s poem and find links to other poems, click on the link above to be whisked away to TwoSpoiledCats.

 

Birthday Party Time

So let’s get this party started with some delicious drinks and foodables.

 

C.J.'s birthday party: noms.

We have bacon (of course), sushi and sashimi, real live dead shrimps, tuna and anchovy pizza, greens for our vegetarian friends and meaty bones for our woofie friends.

 

C.J.'s birthday party: drinks.

You may choose from a variety of nip beers, nip iced teas, mixed drinks or lemonade.

 

Let’s not forget the cake. Mauricio tried hard to airbrush the cat to look like dilute tortie C.J., and I applaud him for his efforts.

 

C.J.'s birthday cake made by Mau.

 

And please take a piece of catnip pizza and a catnip birdy as party favors.

 

C.J.'s birthday party: favors.C.J.'s birthday party: favors.

 

 

Space Station Giveaway

In celebration of Calista Jo’s birthday, we’ve been given the okay to give away a Petmate® Jackson Galaxy® Space Station cat toy.

We reviewed the toy on our Tuesday post, which you can read at Space Station: Best Toy Ever. For the opportunity to win one of these super fun toys, you must leave a comment on this post prior to Monday, June 26, at 5 p.m. ET. Even if you left a comment on the review post, you must leave one here for a chance to win. The winner will be determined using Random.org and announced the following day. Good luck to all.

Now …let’s get back to that party!

JUST HANGIN’ OUT

Wordless Wednesday – Astrid Hangin’ Out

 

Astrid, is hangin' out in the little hammock of the QuickSnap Replaceable Cat Scratcher by Feline Innovations.

 

Though this post is supposed to be wordless, the petretary has asked if she may write a few words. I would have refused out right, but as it is an apology to Calista Jo, I have given her permission to infringe on my post.

Purrs and paw-pats, Astrid

Thank you, Astrid. Once again, it seems as if I have lost any opportunity of receiving The Cat Mom of the Year Award. I am here to apologize to Calista Jo for missing her fifth birthday yesterday. I love her dearly and pray I didn’t hurt her feelings. At least Calista and all the kitties received a new toy for their amusement. By way of apology to C.J., I will write her a special belated birthday poem for Thoroughly Poetic Thursday tomorrow and have a blog party for her. Everyone is invited to join in the merriment. On behalf of C.J., I’d like to thank everyone who wished her a Happy Birthday yesterday. Your thoughtfulness is truly appreciated.

Warm regards, Mom Janet

BP_Wordless_wed_Hop_Logo_2014

 Wordless Wednesday at Create With Joy

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SPACE STATION: BEST TOY EVER

Product Review: Jackson Galaxy’s Space Station

 

Well…we suspect we have probably made that claim previously. But that was prior to getting our paws on the Jackson Galaxy® Space Station from Petmate®. It is the toy we teased you about in yesterday’s International Box Day post. One look at it, and we were intrigued.

Are you wondering how we know this is the best cat toy ever? The answer is simple: Misty May has been playing with it. And Misty May does NOT play, at least not until now. Misty May’s idea of play has always been bullying Lily Olivia and Astrid. And you don’t have too take our word for her interest. We have photographic proof.

 

Space Station play by Misty May.

 

So what’s so great about this toy? First of all, it was developed by Jackson Galaxy, the noted cat behaviorist. Galaxy knows what cats like, and he definitely delivered with this inspired creation.

That track at the bottom has a bright yellow ball in it. The ball wobbles as it goes around and even reverses direction. It can be hunted and batted from either inside or outside the Space Station, as Misty May is doing. None of us have tried playing from the inside as yet, where a scratch pad (replaceable) is located.

Cooper was the first to investigate the Space Station as C.J. looked on.

 

Cooper Murphy investigates Space Station.

 

Of course, being the curious young cat among us, he also was the first to play.

 

Cooper Murphy swats Space Station ball.

 

And play…

 

Cooper Murphy discovers he can play with Space Station while lolling on his back.

And play…

 

Another swipe at the ball of the Space Station by Cooper Murphy.

 

Though we haven’t tried it yet, multiple cats can play at the same time; one from inside the bowl and one on either side of the bowl. We’ve been nicely taking turns with no squabbles.

Calista Jo has a go at batting the ball around.

 

C.J. takes a turn at the Space Station.

 

Lily, as yet, has not been enticed to play, but she was fascinated by the ball whirling around the track (with a bit of help from our mom).

 

Lily Olivia watches the Space Station ball whiz by.

 

The Space Station promotes a cat’s natural instinct to pounce, catch and play. Kitties Blue recommend this fun toy for all kitties who enjoy these activities.

One note of advice: If you have kitties who like to play while you are sleeping, put this toy away or in a room far from your bedroom. The ball is very noisy as it travels around the track.

The Space Station is available from a variety of retailers, including Jackson Galaxy’s on-line store, Amazon and PetSmart.

Disclaimer: Kitties Blue received one Jackson Galaxy Space Station free-of-charge from Southard Freeman Communications for the purposes of testing and reviewing. We received no other compensation. The opinions expressed are those of Kitties Blue, and represents their honest and unbiased review.