The Human

Introduction

My passion is cats, but I didn’t become a feline fanatic until the mid-80s; though, my family had 13 cats when I was a youngster.

I am not ashamed to admit that I am now a crazy cat lady. My husband, referred to on this blog as Dad Tom, and I have had a maximum of nine cats at one time and have recently added two kittens to bring our total from seven back to nine. The two newbies are Audrey and Raleigh. They joined us on July 26, 2022 at about nine weeks old and are cats numbers 21 and 22.

Our next youngest cat, Kizmet, joined the family in 2020. My favorite word is serendipity. Discovering Kizmet on Petfinder was just that. At the time her name was Janet. She is cat #20 in what I refer to as Kitties Blue throughout this blog.

The Cat on My Head

I began this blog a little more than ten years ago on a whim to combine my interests in felines and writing. My knowledge of blogging was absolutely zero. I’ve learned a considerable amount through the writing and publication of a few posts shy of 3,000. I am constantly learning through my charter membership in the All Pet Collaborative.

My goal is to entertain and inform my readers about cats, including our special needs cat, Sawyer, who suffers from frequent seizures. I am optimistic that, if you are in any way partial to felines, you will enjoy reading about the antics of my past, present and future felines. To find out more about each of them, check out The Felines page.

To learn “Why the Cat on My Head?,” check out my introductory post by clicking the link.

Awards & Projects

In 2021 I was a writer for The Jackson Galaxy Project Cat Pawsitive Pro program.

I also was given the privilege a few years ago of interviewing Jackson Galaxy. If you’d like to read the three-part interview, these are the links to those posts:

Please see my sidebar for “Top” Blog Recognitions.

I am a member of the Cat Writers’ Association and have received eight Certificates of Excellence for posts on this blog.

My Writing Background

In the past I have written for both the local city magazine and our regional business journal and worked for a local college where I was responsible for the creation of all publications: newsletters, brochures, catalogs and print advertising. My poetry has been published in the following literary journals: Deros; Harvest from the Hills; The South Florida Poetry Review; Inlet; Wind; Up Against the Wall, Mother; Artemis; Artistic License; Kentucky Poetry Review; Vintage ’45 and Gryphon.

I also designed, edited and contributed to the poetry textbook, Sky Hooks and Grasshopper Traps by Judy Light Ayyildiz and Rebekah Woodie and edited the textbook, Finding The Spark, by Mignon Chubb-Hale.

Acknowledgement

As I continue on this blogging journey, I must acknowledge two people who were helpful to me at the start: Jim Ellison for his site creation and artist and children’s book author, Steve Stinson, for his whimsical logo. The patience and expertise they offered me was invaluable!

Janet Buickerood Blue
Roanoke, Virginia
Updated: September, 2022

 

Dark grey tabby kitten hugging ginger tabby kitten.

The Newbies: Audrey and Raleigh

Two of Kitties Blue: grey tabby cat and grey cat snuggling in two different photos

The not as new Newbies: Sawyer & Kizmet