Kitties Blue

Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

Time for some poetry. Angel Sammy and Teddy (Two Spoiled Cats) provided an adorable inspiration photo for this week. I am a huge panda fan, which you’ll be able to read about in my thankfuls later in the post.

If I Weren’t Human

Playing in the snow is fun,
whether your a panda or a human.
If I weren’t a person, I’d like to
be a panda or a house cat.
I bet you already guessed that!
If I was a panda, I wouldn’t need
to worry about my weight.
And, if I was a feline, I’d never hesitate
to demand whatever I wanted
even if I wasn’t asked.

© Janet Buickerood Blue – 08/30/2023

Did you notice the baby panda’s blep?

I didn’t do justice to this adorable little panda in my poem. I may try again and will include whatever I come up with in a future post. Adding a cat to the photo, as I often do, might fuel my imagination!

If you’d like to join in the fun of writing poetry, click on Angel Sammy’s poetry badge. That will take you over to Two Spoiled Cats where you can find next week’s inspiration photo. You’ll also be able to read Angel Sammy’s poem for this week. He’s a terrific poet!

Thankful Thursday

Kitties Blue and I like to share our thankfuls each week and participate in Brian’s Thankful Thursday blog hop. Here are our thankfuls for this week.

1. My first thankful has to do with the above photo. I have loved pandas for a very long time. My vanity license plate was once PANDAS. Dad Tom and I visited the original pandas, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. very often. I could spend the day watching the pandas.

One visit was during winter when snow was on the ground like in the photo. I think we were the only visitors on that day, and that’s where my thankful comes in. As we were watching the pandas in their outdoor enclosure, we were approached by a zoo employee. He just happened to be one of the panda keepers. He invited us inside the panda house and to an area not open to the public. We were able to stand right next to the pandas with just some chain link fencing between us. I could have touched Ling Ling and had to hold myself back. Pandas have very strong jaws. This is one of my best memories!

2. Dad Tom and I are thankful Misty May’s ulcer on her eye is shrinking. I, however, am weary! I’m in charge of the midnight and 4 a.m. administration of eye drops. Dad Tom does the 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. The noon, 4 and 8 p.m. are done my whichever one of us is available. Dad Tom will be leaving for a few days, and I will be responsible for administering all drops. I am already sleep deprived, but I expect I’ll be a babbling idiot by the time he returns. But Misty May is worth it!

3. Though, Sawyer had a seizure on Monday evening; we are thankful it had been at least a month, that we know of, since his last one.

4. I am thankful for 2,700 Peloton rides.

5. Periwinkle and Stinky are thankful for 200 adventures and for those who attended Periwinkle’s Birthday Party on Tuesday.

If you would like to participate in the Thankful Thursday blog hop, click on the badge below.

Thanks for stopping by to see us.

Caturday Art

Lisbeth is back again today with another photo in the bedroom near the cat toy bin.

I like how Lisbeth is looking over her shoulder at me while I snap her photo.

Of course, I used Painnt to create this. This is the Hallucinate effect with a slight decrease in brightness and increase in contrast. And, as always, my frame is from favpng.

I did create a puzzle for all the fans, including myself.

110Cat Within a Cat Art

Lisbeth will be participating in the Caturday Art blog hop hosted by Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty. If you’d like to check out the art from other bloggers or link up some of your own, click on Athena’s badge.

Friendly Fill-Ins

The Friendly Fill-Ins blog hop is hosted each Friday by Ellen (15 And Meowing) and Lorianne (Four-Legged Furballs). You can find the Fill-Ins on their blogs each Thursday. To join the hop, click on the badge at the left.

As we were celebrating Astrid and Lisbeth’s 12th birthdays yesterday, I didn’t post our fill-ins, so I have them today.

The Fill-Ins are always easier to complete when I get help from one or more of the Kitties Blue. This week I had a little help from Misty May. We both used teal italics for our completions. Explanatory information is in parentheses.

1. A sight I would like to unsee is the devastation caused by the fires on Maui. (My friend who lives in Maui had moved out of Lahaina and no longer has her gift shop there. She was visiting family in L.A. when the fire broke out. The fire did not reach her home. My nephew, who is part owner of a business in Lahaina, had returned home to California from Maui just a few days before the fire. He and his partner lost their business. I am thankful he was not there at the time. He works as a Captain with Cal Fire, and I fear he might have been tempted to try to do something to save the business.)

2. I plan to do a lot more gardening and yard work before the summer is over.

3. I sometimes forget that living with nine cats isn’t considered normal by most.

4. Misty May: If my life were a book, the current chapter I’m in would be titled, “Let’s Get This Over With.” (Misty May turns 19 on September 17. That is one birthday I won’t forget! She isn’t in any pain, still sleeps on my pillow or face, enjoys cuddling and sunbathing on the catio! We feed her every time she asks, which is several times each day. She seems quite content and is probably not thinking what I put for the fill-in. Dad Tom, however, said it was inappropriate for me to say that about myself.)

Sunday Selfies Reminder

Another week has flown by, and it’s now only 128 days until Christmas! Anyhoo, that means it is time to think about getting your selfie snapped for tomorrow’s blog hop. As usual, I have no idea which of the Kitties Blue will be here to greet you. I’ll most likely try to snag someone while they are sprawled out snoozing on the catio. We had the most beautiful day yesterday, with the high in the mid-80s and relatively low humidity. Today is supposed to be the same prior to our weather returning to hot and humid for next week. Whomever is here, as well as all the other Kitties Blue and your many blogging friends will be looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping in to see us today. We all wish you a wonderful Caturday!

Today is a special celebration day at the home of Kitties Blue with two major events.

Second Anniversary of Sawyer’s Second Gotcha Day

Two years ago today I brought Sawyer home after his three-and-a-half week walkabout. His original Gotcha Day was November 25, 2017. After being missing for an extended period of time in 2021, I felt that his return home was a second Gotcha Day.

That was one of the happiest days of life; though, Sawyer was frightened and didn’t come willing. We arrived home with me bleeding from many bite and scratch wounds. Here are links to the post I wrote and the post Sawyer wrote after his return.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!

SAWYER’S SIDE OF THE STORY

11th Blogoversary

It was a strange coincidence that Sawyer’s homecoming and our blogoversary fell on the same day. It was the second coincidence of that day, as Sawyer was retrieved from the house where Dad Tom and I adopted Skooter, our first cat. I mentioned in the recent post about Angel Mau that I believe in angels. That is the only explanation I have for these three disparate events happening concurrently.

If you’d like to check out our very first post from 2012, here’s the link to that.

WHY THE CAT ON MY HEAD?

When the blog began, we already had nine angel cats and seven current cats. The only ones of those seven still with us are Misty May, Astrid and Lisbeth. The other six are all newbies!

Time to Celebrate

I asked Cooper Murphy to bake us a big, bright festive cake, and he came through for us again.

We cannot have a party without some great noms and drinks.

Please help yourselves and stay as long as you like.

Thank You from Kitties Blue

If anyone had told me 11 years ago that I would still be writing this blog in 2023, I would have laughed. I started it because of my love for writing and cats, and because I have a terribly short attention span. I was certain blogging would hold my attention long enough to write what amounts to a page a day. And now here we are 3,257 pages later.

Two things have kept me plugging away all these years. The first is that we continued to add additional cats to the family, which provided me with more stories to tell. The second is all of you who have followed, supported, commented and befriended us. I have said it before, but I believe it bears repeating: The pet blogging community is filled with the most caring and compassionate individuals one can hope to meet. Kitties Blue and I will be forever grateful to each of you.

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

Warm hugs, Janet